The whiny thread

[JackFavell]

Wait...have I seen that one before?

[charliechaplinfan]

It sounds like you've every right to whine on this thread otterhere.

[movieman1957]

Did you ever have anyone come into your business that just flat out scared you? I spent an hour with one today. He didn't get violent but he got a little crazy. 911 was moments away from being notified. We are dazed but fine.

[knitwit45]

Did you ever have anyone come into your business that just flat out scared you? I spent an hour with one today. He didn't get violent but he got a little crazy. 911 was moments away from being notified. We are dazed but fine.

Yes! An independent contractor came in screaming because he thought I had shorted his check. First he threatened me on the phone, then he came in. I'm 5'2, and one of the guys in the office was 6'3, weighing in at 350...we called him "Tiny". Anyway, when my guy stepped up in front of me, the I.C. calmed down quickly. I explained that I had paid him on what he had turned in....he had forgotten to report an entire job..he shut up and left. Made me mad that I had to depend on someone else to fight my battles, but I was very very grateful that Tiny had done just that!

[moira finnie]

Did you ever have anyone come into your business that just flat out scared you? I spent an hour with one today. He didn't get violent but he got a little crazy. 911 was moments away from being notified. We are dazed but fine.

Life is full of scary moments, (heck, I have a tough time saying "hi" sometimes to people) but once I look back on them, I can't quite believe I faced looney people and lived. You should be proud of yourself, Chris. I bet your kind and calm demeanor helped a great deal in keeping that guy from going off the deep end. I am SO glad that the guy didn't flip out on you Chris.

Is it my perception or are there way too many crazy people nowadays? I'm not sure what causes it. The loosening of the moral and social values in the last fifty years? The loss of inhibitions in general? The mainstreaming of psychotics along with everyday neurotics instead of warehousing them as was once done in asylums? Overindulgence in psychotropic meds that never really seem to do the trick and that make things worse once they are withdrawn?

Does separating two guys trying to kill each other with a broken beer bottle count as being scared? Neither of them spoke English very well, but by the time my red-haired outrage over their behavior rolled over them, they were the people who wound up scared. (I didn't stop shaking for a few days either). That was one occasion of several scary moments at my job I had for fifteen years--working with all men--eventually having to learn to supervise them, and explain to management that some of them were--uh, a tad volatile.

Otterhere--
Living well is the best revenge when it comes to old boyfriends!! Please feel free to vent if it will help you cope with the tasks you are trying to juggle. I hope that we can help to give you a bit of chuckle here too. I have been the person who took care of my parents every need as they were dying. There were times when I never thought it would end. It did. And now I miss them, though I am so glad they are free from pain. Please let us know if we can cheer you up in any way.

On the up side--All your kind thoughts and prayers must have done the trick. Today I am now the proud (if poor) owner of a used blue Nissan Sentra.

No, it's not fancy, but it does give us reliable transportation at around 35 mpg on average, has lots of nice features, but best of all, it has power windows. I haven't had power windows in a car since we had Mom and Dad's 1959 Buick beauty with all the bells and whistles back in the '60s. After driving my dying Chevy Cavalier for the last few years, the precise feel and smoothness of the NIssan is like going from writing with a stubby pencil to writing with a Waterman pen! What a diff. Thanks for the spiritual support, gang!!

[knitwit45]

Wow, Moira, you are STYLIN'!!!! That car is a beaut, I hope you have safe travels for many miles to come! Congrats, you so deserve the good things and happy times in life! (and with that red hair, you'll be turnin' heads for sure!)

Have you seen the Geico commercial with the teenage boy hosting a call in radio show? "I'd take the blue one!"

[moira finnie]

Wow, Moira, you are STYLIN'!!!! That car is a beaut, I hope you have safe travels for many miles to come! Congrats, you so deserve the good things and happy times in life! (and with that red hair, you'll be turnin' heads for sure!)

I wish the first road trip this Spring could be out to Kansas, where I could pick you up and keep on tooling out to California to visit the TCM Film Fest! We can dream, can't we?

Have you seen the Geico commercial with the teenage boy hosting a call in radio show? "I'd take the blue one!"

Yeah, I thought he was pretty accurate about the approach of many of us to cars. I wasn't quite as "all business" as the guest on his talk show, but I looked up the carfax, read pros and cons on Edmunds, checked various blue book values and prayed to the Blessed Mother, Saints Jude, Francis, and Christopher (he is still a saint in our house), and drove a dizzying number of different cars before making a decision. Then I had a good independent mechanic give it a once-over before signing on the dotted line. He gave me a list of items to have the dealership take care of beforehand, which they did without a whimper. I hope I get another 12 years out of this car, like I did the last one. Cross your fingers.

[klondike]

. . and prayed to the Blessed Mother, Saints Jude, Francis, and Christopher (he is still a saint in our house) . .

Dang straight!
That whole deal about the Vatican giving Dashboard Chris & Jolly Old St. Nick their walking papers was bogus to the max! Can you imagine firing Santa Claus? You'd be lucky if all you got was coal in your Xmas stockings, for the rest of your entire life!
And trust me, most veteran flaggers still wear St. Christopher medals . . and small wonder - every time they land feet-down, sliding off another hood, they're grateful!
Speaking of which - Moira, cool new ride!
Drive safe, drive happy {and obey your local traffic controllers}.

[JackFavell]

I worked in a bank for 13 years. People are crazy in general, but when it comes to money.... let me just say that I am jaded now after having seen grown men steal money from their kids and other really horrible acts almost as bad.

I've seen some whackos, but the worst by far for me was a cop, who went berserk one day and told me that I had been a b--ch to him the week before, and he was going to make my life a living he-- from now on, pulling me over if he ever saw me on the road, etc. He said he would shoot me if he could. The really scary thing was, I didn't even remember waiting on him - I am a very friendly person in general, so when I did get ticked with a customer I remembered it because it was very unusual. I think he had me confused with someone else, or else he was overly sensitive, or else he had been talking with the voices in his head and not me. Nice to know who's out there "protecting" you....

Congratulations Moira! Your new car is beautiful!

Our new used car has one of those electronic keys that beep and the lights flash! It's very exciting and it has butt warmers which is a luxury I never thought I'd be able to appreciate - they're GRRRREAT!

[movieman1957]

Good Lord everyone. My incident doesn't seem so crazy compared to what all of you went through. It was a technical problem that goes beyond anything in our office but he was saying to do this or that and we can't and some things we won't. The more it went on the worse he got. His language got worse and then started into a whole history thing. I told him good bye. I had enough. We were done. At least he left.

I'm not so sure I was all that calm.

[charliechaplinfan]

Moira, your new car looks lovely, happy motoring.

Nancy, your story about standing up to the IC contractor is similar to my expereince on holiday last year when we were stranded, I just saw red at this bully who was pushing around the poor young holiday rep, great big bully was gobsmacked when a 5ft 3in woman stood upto him, then I learnt that he asked around to find out who my husband was, trying to see if I had a man with me and if I could be intimidated, even if Chris hadn't have been there his antics wouldn't have stopped me. There aren't many people around who would try to intimidate a woman but when I see it happening, my hackles go up.

I still work in a bank, we've got some weirdos that come in from time to time but I really saw life when I worked in my Mum and Dad's newsagents shop. I don't know how it is in America but here it's perfectly legal to have porn magazines on the top shelf, they're not in wrappers or anything like that just up high so only adults can reach them, they are expensive too and I was quite used to men coming in spending £20 a week, this was 20 years ago. There was one man who came in every week knowing me to be alone and wolud bring his purchases to the counter and open them in front of me showing me the poses he liked. It really annoyed me, I was only 16 when I started working there but there was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of flinching or reacting. For some reason I didn't mention it to my parents for a while and they were shocked when I told them. We didn't live at the shop but 5 minutes away and I was told to ring my Dad when he came in but he never caught him. We used to get crank calls to from men who were trying to work out if a woman was in the shop by herself, we used to pretend me Dad was there all the time.

There was also some mentally retarded people who were allowed out every saturday and they used to come into the shop and buy the strangest things, one day they discovered the top shelf too. That was really difficult to deal with because they'd reach the magazines down and flick through them and make comments and the shop always had kids in because we sold sweets and comics. What they wanted was the magazines with the biggest chests, so Dad used to put them their magazines aside so they could buy them and enjoy them outside. Heavens only knows what their carers thought when they went home at night but they were encouraged tohave freedom and given spending money and it's perfectly legal to sell them. I did have problems with the ethics of selling them but it wasn't my shop and they could get aggressive if they didn't get their own way.

I certainly saw life in the newsagents shop, it's a place were you see all types of mankind.

[charliechaplinfan]

I went back to the doctors yesterday and he signed me off for 2 months, no hesitation and he's reduced the dose of a tablet I was taking to help with symptoms because it's sending my blood pressure down too low. So tablets changed again, this week hasn't been great, I'm meant to rest but even doing the absolute minimum I do quite a bit.

Anyhow, what's making me feel a little low is the fact work are launching an investigation about my absence. Makes me feel like a criminal. I've been open and honest every step of the way, taking treatment that they are recommending even though they are trying to treat depression which i don't have, I'm still going through the treatment. I'm also being referred to the specialist clinic for this illness and now I have to have a home visit and open my medical files up for scrutiny.

[JackFavell]

That burns me up - the first thing they should do is speak to your doctor before they start trying to treat you for something - it's obvious that they know nothing about you. Sheesh.

[feaito]

I'm sorry to hear that Ali. I'd feel annoyed too. Corporations are sometimes run (and decisions are taken) by mindless people...

[charliechaplinfan]

Yes, they are and I work for a global bank. It still sucks though, no doubt I'll get over it soon. Chocolate usually helps.