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Post by Phalon on Jun 20, 2007 0:44:08 GMT -6
Yep, I agree, Marjancin. There is no way around embarrassing your child in some ways; the ways parents dress, the music they listen to, (although, my daughter and I share much of the same tastes thus far in her pre-teen life)...it is the nature of the beasts; the gap in age between parent and child. And there are times that unknowingly a parent will say something in public that will embarrass their child, or hurt their feelings.
But to knowingly dredge up something personal for no other purpose than to embarrass or try to be cute or funny, is not the way parenting is supposed to be done.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 20, 2007 1:00:53 GMT -6
Grrrr....when you spend time writing a post, hit the "post reply" button, only to have that page appear that states "page can not be displayed", and everything you've just written is wiped away.
I hate when that happens. Off to re-type....maybe tomorrow, it's past my bedtime.
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Post by marjancin on Sept 5, 2007 17:28:01 GMT -6
Well, I had been doing pretty good with restaurants for quite awhile, but a few weeks back, I had another bad experience. Then again, no. It was the ultimate in bad experiences and made the ones I mentioned earlier seem almost pleasant. Let me tell you about it. I was going over to my best friend’s house, but first, I stopped at McDonald’s to grab lunch. Now, since it was the noon hour and this restaurant was a small one, there weren’t that many tables left. I ended up sitting at a small table near the corner of the restaurant. I was sitting on a long seat that lined the exterior wall. Right next to me was a family, consisting of a mother, a father, and two children, including a boy, approximately five years of age and he could not sit still to save his life. He was talking with his mouth full and, instead of telling him not to do it, his mother, who was sitting on the long seat on the other side of him, was actually laughing, clearly thinking that what he was doing was clever. He was also repeatedly swinging his feet up on the seat that we were sitting on. I looked over at him the first time he did this and was totally disgusted by what I saw. This kid had his shoes off and I believe we’ve already established that I am totally grossed out by feet, especially when I’m eating. But this kid’s feet were extremely dirty, especially on the bottoms, which was the part visible to me when lifted them up onto the seat. I tried to ignore it the best I could, but about the third time he did this, he knocked into me. I asked him very nicely to stop. His mother, instead of telling the kid to knock it off and maybe making him tell me he was sorry, said, “Oh come on, he’s not hurting anything.” I said, “Well, ma’am, he kicked me.” Her reply was, “Well, I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose.” I said, “I realize that, but I would just rather he stopped.” She kept making excuses for him, but I merely responded by saying that I'd rather he did not do that. As I was getting ready to really tell them off, I saw a group of people across the restaurant leaving. So, rather than to keep arguing with them without really getting anywhere, I decided to just move to the table that just opened. I thought that was the end of the issue, but was I ever wrong! It was just the beginning.
So there I was, eating my lunch and minding my own business when I noticed someone walk over to the table and stop. I looked up, seeing that it was an employee (who turned out to be the owner). He started chewing me out for "harassing that family over there" I told him several times that I was doing nothing of the sort, but he didn't want to hear it. He told me "to get my stuff together and get out of (his) restaurant." I protested at first, but then decided it wouldn't do any good, so I obliged. As I was walking out the door, he came up to me and had the unmitigated audacity to ask me if I could give him my name "for future reference" I was like, yeah, as if! I merely walked out the door, ignoring the mother of the little boy, who said as I left, "You are the weakest link, goodbye!" The owner then took down my license plate number as I was driving off.
By the time I got over to my friend’s house, I was in tears. My ex-boyfriend answered (he’s my best friend’s brother and we’ve decided to be friends instead of boyfriend/girlfriend, but let’s not stray from the point). Anyway, he asked me what was wrong, and comforted me as I told him the story. My friend, who walked into the room when I was still telling my story, also consoled me because at this point, I was crying so hard, I could hardly speak. I was just so upset at the fact that the owner did not want to listen to me, nor did anyone else who witnessed the incident speak up as this guy humiliated me by chewing me out in a manner just this side of a Drill Instructor.
A few days later, I received an e-mail from my ex, saying that he had a cousin who had, up until about a month ago, worked at that McDonald’s. Apparently, this family was good friends with the owner and it was not unusual for them to hang around the place for hours on end, just sitting around. During slow times, the owner would come over and sit and talk with them, at times, for up to an hour. According to this cousin, there were several occasions when he let the family into the work area, where they’d stand around and talk. This was apparently during business hours.. I mean, can you say unprofessional? Not to mention irresponsible! Who knows what kind of trouble the little boy, as wound up as he was, could get into there? He could be running around and knock into someone carrying food supplies, or burn himself on something, such as the scalding hot grease in which the French Fries were cooked! The owner would be the one liable, having to pay for the kid’s medical bills. I worked at a restaurant when I was in high school and the manager never let any non-workers into the kitchen, even if they were a former employee. In fact, he had a rule that you were not allowed to come in and visit on your day off. The reasons for this were the very same reason I cited above - if something should happen, the person could sue. Anyway, I just sent a letter to the Better Business Bureau this morning, documenting everything that had happened, as well as what my friend's cousin had heard (the cousin okayed me to give them his name and number to give them more details about that, if need be). I really don't expect anything to become of that, but at least I'll have voiced my opinion. Meanwhile, I will just avoid that particular McDonald's again. I still can’t believe how the guy blew everything out of proportion like that. He just chose to believe what the family told him just because they were friends of his. Talk about first class favoritism! I hope his restaurant goes out of business, but I wouldn’t count on it.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 6, 2007 5:46:25 GMT -6
One more chapter for your forthcoming book titled, "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Appetite".
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Post by marjancin on Sept 6, 2007 9:59:33 GMT -6
One more chapter for your forthcoming book titled, "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Appetite". Heh, you got that right. This would be for the chapter, "WORST! RESTAURANT! EXPERIENCE! EVER! The McDonald's Fiasco". Oh well, at least I had support from my ex, my best friend, and their cousin. I feel sorry for him, having had to work for that bully. Not to mention the people that work there. I imagine that there's a rapid turnover rate at that particular McDonald's.
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Post by marjancin on Nov 6, 2007 17:06:32 GMT -6
Due to several circumstances, I've decided to refrain from posting long, complex rants in this topic for awhile, so rest assured: this is not one.
I love the show Family Guy, but one thing about it that irks me is those damn fights between Peter and the chicken. I've only seen this in a few reruns, so I'm not sure they still make shows with these sequences, but they annoy me so much that I always change the channel until it's over. I'm not sure; I guess it's just because they go on and on and on forever. 30 seconds wouldn't be so bad, but several minutes long is definitely driving it into the ground.
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Post by vox on Nov 7, 2007 16:06:05 GMT -6
Hey Marjancin, I quite agree with you about McDonalds, we have them over here in Blighty, and to be honest, I have only been in them a couple of times, didn't enjoy my food, so no longer go in them. In fact, my eldest Grandson got food poisoning after eating there! so we now go to a local restuarant called a "Harvester" they have a lovely big "Salad Bar" with all kinds of salad that you can go to and re-fill your plate as many times as you want (a bit like Homer's Eat All You Want!") the only problem with that is, you are in danger of filling yourself up before you get your main course! You are quite within your rights to complain, not enough of us complain if we do not like our food! Anyway, that's enough from me, but I do love reading your restuarant rants! keep em coming!
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Post by marjancin on Nov 8, 2007 12:27:36 GMT -6
Actually, I haven't had much bad luck at restaurants lately (knock on wood), but I've decided, due to several people who were offended about my McDonald's post a few months back, I've decided to kind of cool it with the rants.
Speaking of the McDonald's post, some of you who read it might have noticed that I edited it, cutting out the parts with my loaded opinions, since that was the part that pissed off the members (at least two of whom have since left). I did, however, leave the part in about the family being allowed to hang around the work area because that is obviously not right.
That would be funny if the next Family Guy featured Peter Griffin getting into a fight with the big chicken at a McDonald's restaurant. ;D
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 22, 2007 0:22:06 GMT -6
I don't know if I've posted this before, but I hate when people use 1's for l's. Seems to me that l's are easier to hit than 1's. It wasn't too bad with a typewriter, because the font didn't change, and the 1's tended to look a lot like an l, but with computers and a pick of any font you have installed, the 1's tend to stick out like a sore thumb.
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Post by marjancin on Jan 22, 2008 15:53:57 GMT -6
At the risk of opening up another can of worms (which I hope doesn't happen), I have an update on the McDonald's situation. Now I never heard from the Better Business Bureau, but lately, I have heard through the grapevine that the McDonald's where I had the bad experience has recently changed ownership. Now I'm unsure what happened - there are several possible scenarios. No doubt that many of you figure that the one I have in mind is that, because of my letter, he got in trouble for letting this family into the work area during hours of operation, but it could also be that someone else reported that he was just not a very responsible manager, perhaps for other reasons besides letting non-workers into the work area. It must have been something bad because I asked someone I know who works there what happened and he said that he was not at liberty to talk about it. So we probably won't know what happened, but that's OK. Maybe I can start going there again, unless the former owner told the new owner about me - something I wouldn't put it past him to do for one second.
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Post by marjancin on Feb 5, 2008 16:10:30 GMT -6
This past weekend, I witnessed two incidents that totally angered me. Excuse me if I overdo it with loaded words, something I'm now very careful about doing on message boards nowadays. That's why I waited several days before posting this. As I was running my weekly errands this past Saturday, I stopped at the library so I could check out a few books and check my e-mail. I got a letter from an old friend that I haven't spoken too since high school, so naturally, I was excited to read what had been going on with her. Well, as I'm doing that, I'm vaguely aware of a little kid nearby, approximately three years of age. Well, his mother has him on her lap as she's on the computer, checking out websites that, from my observation, would be obviously very boring for a kid that age, so he was fussing. Some kids when they're getting cranky make this noise as they cry and whine. It's kind of hard to explain, but it sounds almost like a squeaky wheel, and it's very annoying and distracting. Well, the mother totally ignores him and stays planted there, continuing to scan her websites rather than to take her kid for a walk, like most parents do. It wasn't until the kid started screaming that she said something. What did she say? "Stop that," in a very non-chalant way. Like that's going to get the kid to knock it off! Eventually, she looked like she was getting her stuff together and said, "OK, we're going home," Then a few seconds later, she said "Do you want to go home?" The kid said, "NO!" She said, "Then behave yourself or we'll go home and we won't get any movies." This routine ran five more times, if not more. Most parents with kids that are acting up in public remain true to their word that they're leaving the first or second time, but not five times and then some! She finally drags the kid kicking and screaming out of the library. I was like, finally, some peace and quiet! Not exactly. I could still hear the kid crying and whining and I thought that I was just hearing things (as I said, the sound he was making was annoying and it tends to stick in your head. Well, I soon realize that they're indeed still in the library. Not only that, but they came back to the area where the computers were. The mother puts her kid down in a nearby chair and said, "Time out for kicking me!" I'm like, oh give me a freakin' break! Yeah, like you put your kid in time-out at the library. The kid is going to be throwing a fit for the entire time they're in time out, and the library is supposed to be a quiet place! I was thinking, OK, this is going to go on for just three minutes or so (since generally, kids are put in time out for a minute per their age). But the kid kept carrying on and his mother kept tacking on time. What really pissed me off is that, not once, did anyone come over to talk to them (I have learned in the past, however, that the librarian on duty is very passive and almost never does anything about unruly patrons). Well, they were finally gone, so at long last, I was able to read my e-mail, although by now, I was very agitated and I can't really comprehend what I'm reading when I'm feeling like that. No matter though; this annoyance would be overshadowed by what happened later that day. A few stops later found me at Wal Mart, where I was picking up a few odds and ends. I apparently had something for breakfast (or supper the night before) that didn't agree with me. I'll spare you the gross details but this necessitated an emergency trip to the bathroom. As I was in there, I heard several girls come in to use the bathroom. Naturally, I didn't think much of it. Soon, I heard the door open and a male voice angrily bellowed, "What is taking so long in there - oh that's just great. You didn't even need to go to the bathroom, you just came in here to screw around. Get your little asses out here, you little brats! We're not going to the pizza parlor now; we're not doing anything. We're going home!" Two of the little girls started to cry. He continued to yell at them, calling them derogatory names and threatening them. One girl was afraid to come out of the bathroom. All the while, I am feeling so mad that I'm unable to get up off the toilet, because if I was, I'd be in that man's face like a rabid hyena. How dare he say such things to little girls who couldn't have been much, if any older than six. Moreover, how did he know that the girls didn't go to the bathroom. Did he come in and watch? If so, then their not using the restroom was the least of his worries. Finally the little girl comes out of the bathroom and I hear three cracking noises followed by a blood-curdling scream. It sounded to me like the girl was hit by a belt, and on bare skin. I decided that was it; I finished up and then came out, not even bothering to wash my hands. I wanted to at least follow that guy out to his car so I could take down his license plate and report him to the police. I hurried through the store, seeing if I could find an angry man with three or four crying little girls. I couldn't see them anywhere, not even out in the parking lot. I cursed, because I could only imagine what that guy was doing to those girls now. Why do some parents even bother having kids if they're going to treat them like shit? He sure didn't deserve them! I was so upset for letting that guy get away I didn't know what to do. I thought of going to the police anyway, but what should I say; to stake out Wal Mart for the next few weeks? So that was a perfect example of overdoing it and underdoing it. A mother in the library acts like nothing much is happening when her kid is crying, kicking and screaming and carrying on, yet a girl might have gone into the bathroom without actually using it (Like THAT's crime of the century ) and she gets a what sounds like a severe beating for it. Anyway, that's about it. Thanks for the taking the time to listen to (or actually read) my rant (and again, sorry if I posted anything offensive). I sure hope that guy eventually ends up in jail before it's too late, if you know what I mean.
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Post by Siren on Feb 7, 2008 20:31:18 GMT -6
Those are two examples of why intelligence tests should be required before you can have kids. We don't need more ignoramuses in the gene pool.
I feel sorry for those little girls. When parents are acting that way, you wish you could videotape it and show it to them later, when they're calmer, so they could see how horrible they look and sound. But then, someone who would speak to a child that way in the first place probably wouldn't be ashamed about it later. And as for that idiot woman at the library, parents like that are one of my biggest pet peeves, right up there with drivers talking on their cell phones.
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Post by marjancin on Feb 11, 2008 21:02:49 GMT -6
Those are two examples of why intelligence tests should be required before you can have kids. We don't need more ignoramuses in the gene pool. I feel sorry for those little girls. When parents are acting that way, you wish you could videotape it and show it to them later, when they're calmer, so they could see how horrible they look and sound. But then, someone who would speak to a child that way in the first place probably wouldn't be ashamed about it later. Probably not. As I said, I so felt like kicking that jerk in the you-know-what. Or at the very least, telling him off. The very idea, calling your own kids derogatory names and hollering threats to them for, what, coming into the bathroom when they didn't really need to? Come on! They probably came in there to get away from their father. I mean, can you really blame them? I sure can't! I'd want to get away from him every chance I'd get, especially if I had to endure that kind of crap 24/7 like they probably have to! And, as I said, the one girl got one hell of a whipping when she came out of the bathroom. I sure hope someone saw him and called the cops. If I would have seen it, I would have grabbed something heavy off one of the shelves and cracked him across the face with it. That would sure put him in his place! He's going to end up in Hell if he doesn't clean up his act and start treating his kids right. Yeah, what really pissed me off is that she kept saying, "OK, we're going home!", each time, getting her stuff together as if she was really going to go through with it, but then saying, "Do you want to go home?" Don't keep giving him the choice, lady! He'll never learn that way! And when I finally thought she was gone, she comes back and puts him in time out, at the library. Totally out of line, that! Especially when she kept tacking on extra time. You don't do that in the library! You wait until you get the kid home, THEN put him in time out. Simple as that! I tell you, the number of times I've seen parents dish out the correct amount of punishment is very few. Either they way under-do it (like the McDonald's and library incident) or they way overdo it, like the Wal Mart incident. I would have just let that one go, since as I said, it wasn't exactly crime of the century.
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Post by marjancin on Jul 15, 2008 15:03:29 GMT -6
Argh, I had a very annoying experience today, this time at the local mall. I used the restroom, which was unusually crowded. As I was sitting there, I became aware of a woman asking, "You goin' stinkums in there?" I didn't pay much attention to her, since I assumed she was talking to the child in the stall next to mine. Well, she asked several times, then tapped on the door of the stall and repeated her question. I said, "Ma'am, I really don't think that's any of your concern." The lady goes, "Well excuse me, Alanis Morissette! I thought you were my daughter!" Now mind you, I didn't yell or say it in a hostile voice, or even an annoyed voice, so I don't see why she got so pissed off. Heck, if I'd made such a mistake, I'd be so embarrassed, I'd probably head for the exit as fast as I could. Moreover, there's something wrong with this picture here. You can see the floor under the stalls, so she should have been able to see that my feet were touching the floor and that I was not a little kid. And if she could see that, then what was she doing asking something that you'd ask your three-year old? The only logical explanation is that her daughter is a giantess. Nevertheless, as she continued to berate me, I asked her how old her kid was. She said, "WHAT THE HELL IS IT TO YOU??" I said, "Well, if she's a little girl, like several things you have said imply, then I'd be looking for her instead of standing there hollering at me." She said, "DON'T YOU BE TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!!" Then, she walked out the door, shouting, "GOD!!" I'm sorry, but I knew what I was talking about. For all we know, some strange man could have been talking to that girl, wherever she had gone, asking her to help her "find his lost dog" all the time that lady was getting on my ass. She sure doesn't have her priorities in order, that's for sure!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 17, 2008 6:09:39 GMT -6
Unfortunately, the point you make in this sentence is all too true. All it takes is for a parent to turn their back for a split second in a public place, and the child can disappear. Hopefully, more often and not, it's just a case of the child wandering off to explore something that catches their eye, but there is always the chance that a moment of inattention could have devastating consequences.
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Post by marjancin on Jul 17, 2008 7:44:29 GMT -6
Unfortunately, the point you make in this sentence is all too true. All it takes is for a parent to turn their back for a split second in a public place, and the child can disappear. Hopefully, more often and not, it's just a case of the child wandering off to explore something that catches their eye, but there is always the chance that a moment of inattention could have devastating consequences. Absolutely! I remember a few years back, I was over at my great aunt's house, celebrating her birthday. My aunt lives in a residential area on a highway that can become quite busy. A few other relatives were over at my aunt's house as well, including her son Daniel and his two young boys, ages three and seven. Well, we were all in the kitchen talking, when the doorbell rang. At the time, I was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, closest to the front door, so I went to answer it. A man that I had never seen before said, "Excuse me, but do you have a little boy?" I said, "Why?" He pointed to the street and in the middle of the road was cousin Daniel's youngest son! I called, "Dan! Come quick!" He ran to the door and we explained the situation. Dan ran outside like a bat out of hell, yelling at Christopher to stay where he was, which was in front of a stopped car, presumably the man who came to the door. Dan ran out to get him and when he was safely out of the street, the boy got a whipping. Frankly, I felt that Daniel should have gotten a swat as well, since he wasn't watching the boys. His other son, Jason, was relatively well-behaved and knew not to stray too far, so he didn't need too much attention like that. But little Christopher, young as he was, could be a handful. I guess Daniel was just too caught up in the festivities that he assumed that Christopher was in the other room playing, which he had been, but Daniel never went to check on him. Later that day, I tried to explain that to him, but he just played it down, saying that "boys will be boys". Uh, yeah, but in this situation, he almost lost a boy. Christopher was so tiny that he's lucky that driver was observant enough to see him before it was too late. Fortunately, Christopher is about ten now, I think (not quite sure, because I don't see them very often), and he's still alive. And the same goes for this lady. The mall we were at was at the intersection of two busy highways and for all we know, her little girl could be out there, or in the parking lot, which isn't very safe either, especially the time of day it was. Yet this woman was too concerned about me admonishing her. And she had the gall to refer to me as "Alanis Morissette". Now don't get me wrong; I like Alanis Morissette; when I was in junior high school, she was all over the radio and I liked her songs. But I know that she could get very angry in a few of her songs (i.e. "You Oughtta Know") and I know that this lady was implying that I was getting too mad at her and, as I said above, I wasn't mad. I just told her in a regular voice that whether or not I was going number two was none of her concern. She must have grown up in Mister Rogers' house or something, to perceive that as being hostile.
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Post by marjancin on Nov 10, 2008 15:48:20 GMT -6
I got another one. When the announcers of a TV station talk over dialogue at the end of certain TV shows.
I was watching "Family Matters" on Nickelodeon last night, and as some of you may remember, in the mid-90s or so, during the credits, there'd be an extension of the show (called the "Tag"). Well, a little less than halfway through, they shrunk the picture to the bottom of the screen to promote an upcoming TV show, or something. Um, couldn't they just promo the damn shows during the regular commercial breaks? I find this practice very aggravating.
At least during the second show (the one where Eddie dated the older woman who turned out to not be interested in a long-term relationship), they waited until Urkel started playing his accordion at the club, but still.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 10, 2008 15:58:49 GMT -6
I hate that and the dumb logos and ads they splash across the screen that blocks out the action on the show. And when the weather guy jumps in to tell you what's happening in a storm. And when sports cause the shows to be late and your VCR shuts off before the program airs or is even over.
DON'T MESS WITH MY PROGRAMMING!!!
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Post by marjancin on Nov 12, 2008 8:41:24 GMT -6
I hate that and the dumb logos and ads they splash across the screen that blocks out the action on the show.That annoys me too, especially during Family Feud. They seem to do it when the host is revealing the answers that weren't guessed at the end of the round. And, the ones that stay on the screen because what if something's happening on the area of the screen where the logo is placed? Well, that's not quite as bad, especially if you're having severe storms in your area. I think that it's better to miss a few minutes of a show than to be blown away in a tornado. Yes, or cancelled altogether. They have to play catch-up, so they forego a show or two, depending on how long the game lasted past the scheduled airtime. Not sure how they decide which shows to drop and which ones to keep. Some stations one would swear that they use a dartboard. Yeah, that's annoying too. Which is why I check to see if the tape I'm using has enough tape left. And I always have it start a few minutes before the show starts and a few minutes after it ends. Back in the 1990s, some VCRs had some special feature where you punched in a few numbers and it would record a certain show that had those numbers listed by it in TV guide. What was that called? Anyway, that turned out to be a bust, because it didn't necessarily start at the beginning of the program or shut off right at the end. This feature would be useful if the shows you wanted to tape were on different channels, but it was stupid to use it if all the shows were on the same network. In that case, you might as well set it up the old-fashioned way. DON'T MESS WITH MY PROGRAMMING!!!
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Post by marjancin on Feb 5, 2010 15:42:50 GMT -6
Sorry I haven't been posting here of late. The past year has been quite busy.
Anyway, I got another rant about a co-worker. A few pages back, I told you about another fellow employee who always jumped in when someone was complaining about something, telling them it did no good to get upset when someone says or does something that you don't agree with. Well, she quit last month and I was quite glad. And, I do mean "was" because the person that they hired in her place has a very abrasive personality, making me almost wish that "Paula" was still here. This new woman is not only overly vocal about her opinions on very trivial matters, but she insists that you agree with her.
An example of this was the other day, when I was in the break room with this woman (we'll call her "Michelle") and Kathy, my best friend who also works there. She was listening to the radio and a song from about ten years ago, called "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals was playing. I casually remarked to Kathy that the guy singing sounded like Mick Jagger. Before Kathy could answer, Michelle pipes in, "What? He doesn't sound a bit like Mick Jagger." I said, "Well everyone has their own opinion." Michelle said, "Kathy, does this guy sound like Mick Jagger to you?" Kathy said, "Well, now that Jackie mentions is, he does kind of..." "Who asked you?" Michelle cut her off as another co-worker walks in. Michelle asks her the same question, and she says, "A little bit." Michelle is furious by now, "HE DOES NOT! You guys need to get your ears checked." Now, any other time, I would figure that she was just having a bad day, but I knew this person before she started working there, and we had a similar disagreement about eight years before. But that's another story for another time (anyone who's interested in that, let me know and I'll send it to you in a PM, as I have the incident documented).
So anyway, I was hoping that this would be the end of the issue, but dream on! This morning, Michelle came up to me and tells me that she talked to someone who thinks that the New Radicals don't sound like Mick Jagger and said something about getting her on conference call to tell me about it, but I wasn't about to do that, especially on the clock. So I said, "Michelle, would you just forget about it already? Different people have different opinions, and they're entitled to their own opinions. Do I keep pestering you until you agree that NR sounds like Jagger?" Once again, Michelle says, "No because he doesn't sound like him. How can..." "Michelle, you have your opinion, I have mine, and this is the silliest thing in the world to be quarrelling over. As of now, I consider the matter closed!" With that, I walked away, thankful that I'd be working in a different area than her today. She called after me as I walked away, but I just jammed my fingers in my ears and went, "Lalalalalala...."
From now on, I'm going to keep my mouth shut around her. Or better yet, avoid her when I can. As I said, she is quite abrasive. Just imagine how she'd be if we were disagreeing about a serious matter!
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Post by Gabrielle On Nutbread on Feb 5, 2010 15:47:58 GMT -6
Wow... sounds like a very annoying person. There are so many of those type in the world, who insist that they are right and everyone else is wrong. My grandpa, the live one, is an example. It wouldn't be quite as annoying if all his opinions weren't racist and homophobic, but I guess it would still be a bit annoying. Hey, I noticed this is your first post in a couple years... glad you decided to come back to share this story with us!
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Post by marjancin on Feb 5, 2010 19:29:26 GMT -6
Wow... sounds like a very annoying person. There are so many of those type in the world, who insist that they are right and everyone else is wrong. My grandpa, the live one, is an example. It wouldn't be quite as annoying if all his opinions weren't racist and homophobic, but I guess it would still be a bit annoying. Hey, I noticed this is your first post in a couple years... glad you decided to come back to share this story with us! Yeah, I didn't realize it had been so long, but I checked and my last post was in November, 2008. I swore I was here sometime in 2009, but I guess not. Anyway, yeah, this person is quite annoying. You know what, I think I'll post the story about my other encounter with her, to give you more of an idea what kind of a pill she is. Back in my late teen years, after graduating from high school, I volunteered for an organization that I refuse to name because of the bad experience I had with them. But first, here's the disagreement I had with Michelle - one I dub, "The Silliest Argument Ever". (The dialogue here is approximate, as, of course, I don't really remember, but it's basically how the conversation went): We were working together one day, about a year after I joined the organization when we heard an emergency vehicle going by outside. One of our members, said something about there being a fire somewhere. She was a few years younger than me and she was a little slow. So I told her, "Nah, that's not a fire truck. It's either the police or an ambulance." She asked me how I knew and I didn't really know how to explain it; having lived here all my life, I could differentiate between the different kinds of emergency vehicles. As I said, the girl (who I'll refer to as Katie) was mentally slow, so I knew not to overdo it with big words, so I said, "A fire truck has a more serious sounding siren." Michelle, one of the newer members of the group (one I had not-so-good vibes about from the beginning) said, "What, that's not a serious siren?" I realized that wasn't the best way to put it. I said, "Well, yeah. I just said it wrong." She said, "You sure did. Jeez, if that were an ambulance, there might be somebody dying in there. You don't call that serious?" I said, "What I meant to say is that it's a more shrill sounding siren. More sharp." Michelle said, "But you said serious." I said, "I didn't mean serious." Michelle said, "Then why did you say it?" Already, I was beginning to see that this was getting out of hand, so I said, "Forget what I said. I didn't know what I was saying." She said, "You don't think before you speak, do you?" I said, "Michelle, you're making a big thing out of nothing." She said, "Nothing? You called something that could be a dire emergency not serious and..." At that moment, I was thinking that maybe she had a friend or relative that was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and ended up dying en route or something like that, so I asked her and she was like, what the heck does that have to do with anything? She did, however, say that never happened. I said, "Well, I apparently hit a raw nerve. I thought that something like that may have happened." She said, "I just don't get why you said that someone dying isn't serious." I said, "I have already said that I just said it wrong. Could you forget what I said and instead, consider what I meant - that a fire truck a more shrill, sharp sounding siren. You're absolutely correct - there's no such thing as a non-serious siren, be it a fire truck, an ambulance, an air-raid, a bad storm." Michelle said, "But you said..." "Forget what I said. I'll say this one last time. I just phrased it the wrong way." She said, "You sure did." I said, "OK, now that we got that straight, let's forget about it." She said, "Oh, just forget about your ignorant comment." I said, "Michelle, I consider the matter closed." (My very words to her earlier today). She said, "Well I don't. I just can't believe that you said that an ambulance, rushing someone who's hurt or sick, possibly dying, isn't serious." I just shrugged, indicating that I meant what I said about not talking about the subject anymore. She said, "Oh, I see how you are. Just blow it off as if it doesn't matter." I almost said, "It doesn't" but thought better of it; saying so would probably start her up again. There were also a few times I had to stifle myself from uttering an oath, because, although this organization wasn't religious-affiliated, Michelle would have probably started going off about how I shouldn't take the name of the Lord in vain. And the little thing she was dwelling on was enough, thank you very much. One of the other members of the organization (who was friends with Michelle) said, "Why don't both of you just stop?" I shrugged, "I already have." Just then, the leader of the organization walked into the room. Now, she didn't ask what was going on; as far as I know, she didn't even hear the commotion. But then, Michelle, just like a second grader, goes up to her and said, "Mrs. Lewis, guess what? Jackie just said that an ambulance doesn't have a serious sounding silence." When Mrs. Lewis looked puzzled, I said, "Just ignore her. She's just making mountains out of molehills." Finally, one of the other people spoke up in my defense. It was Katie, who said, "Then Jackie said that it was a sharper sounding siren than a fire truck." I said, "Yeah, I corrected myself, but Michelle kept harping on my original comment, at times twisting my words around." Michelle started to say something else, but Mrs. Lewis said, "I'm sure Jackie didn't mean any harm so let's just let the matter slide." As Michelle once again tried to say something else, Mrs. Lewis said, giving Michelle a smiling, yet stern look, "Thank you." Michelle mumbled, "Fine, take her side!" I figured Mrs. Lewis would try telling her she wasn't taking sides, leading to another blow-up, but she did not. Thank God! I mean, can you imagine that? In trying to explain something to somebody mentally challenged without using big words, I just misphrased something and that Michelle goes and blows it way out of proportion. So this was quite similar to the work incident - I say something that she doesn't agree with and she gets all pissed off. And people agreeing with me made her all the angrier. The really bad experience - the one that makes me refuse to say the name of the organization, went like so: You see, since I was one of the older members of the organization, I served as the assistant leader of it. But Mrs. Lewis ended up leaving and, since Michelle was older than me by a few years, as well as the fact that, for reasons unknown, everyone there liked her (she must have brainwashed them when I wasn't there or something!), she ended up taking it over and I was more or less ousted from the organization (which actually was no big loss, as I wasn't about to stick around with Michelle heading it up), but still, it pissed me off going from being the assistant leader to being kicked out. However, on a side note, the organization, which wasn't a well-known one - just exclusive to our town - went under not long after, so I got to laugh in their faces (not literally, however; I don't stoop that low). My guess is that everyone eventually got sick and tired of Michelle acting like she was God and quit. So I hadn't seen her for quite some time after that, but when I met the replacement for Paula, I didn't recognize her at first, but then when I saw her last name, it rang a bell. Then, I realized that she was the same person as the one at the organization. I sort of hoped that she had grown up since then, but I guess not. As far as I know, Michelle doesn't remember me, since she hasn't mentioned anything. Then again, maybe she remembered the argument about what I said about the siren and wanted to start something to get back at me (since I had kind of won that argument, after Mrs. Lewis basically told her to shut up). Anyway, I can just picture Michelle wasting her weekend trying to find a whole crew of people that agree with her about the New Radicals song. BTW, here's the song in question: (Don't worry, it won't make any difference whether or not you agree with me. It's not like I'm going to show this to her or anything. As I said to her, I refuse to discuss the matter with her any further. Unlike her, I choose my battles wisely.)
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Post by EllieNeo on Feb 8, 2010 5:39:18 GMT -6
a major pet peeve for me is... people who pretend to know what they're talking about when they really have no idea. ...and this happens a lot at my job.
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Post by marjancin on Feb 9, 2010 16:23:27 GMT -6
Yesterday was my day off (I work every other Monday) and I heard that Michelle was really being a pain in the butt yesterday. I guess she and a few others were in the break room and somehow, the draft came up in the conversation, and Michelle said something like everyone should have to serve some time in the army (or all men or something - remember, I'm hearing this second-hand, so I can't say exactly what was said). Well one of my co-workers, who's male (and anti-war), disagreed right off, saying that he's glad that he's too old to be drafted (he's in his late 30s), and glad that it was never in place when he was in the 18-25 age range. Apparently, Michelle went right off on him. And when the two others (both female) jumped in, she got in their faces too. I guess it was so bad that, by the time it was over, one of the girls was reduced to tears.
I was shocked, but felt a sense or relief, not because I wasn't there, but because if she doesn't clean up her act, or start keeping some of her opinions to herself, she's gonna end up getting her ass fired. Of course, all three people she verbally attacked refuse to go to the boss about it. I think they're scared of Michelle. But I am not - the only thing keeping ME from discussing this with the boss is simply because I was not there and didn't see it; therefore, it's not really my place to do so.
Oh well, I'm sure that Michelle will get in my face sometime soon, and if she does and it's serious enough, I will report her to the boss. I know to some people, that might seem like I'm tattling, but I don't give a damn - Michelle is creating a poisonous atmosphere and she needs to be put in her place. She hasn't been there for two weeks yet and she's already caused two heated arguments.
(If I had witnessed the donnybrook I heard about, I would have right away said that everyone has their own opinions, and that she should stop insisting that everyone agree with her.)
Who knows, maybe in addition to my book about restaurant experiences (which hasn't even been started yet), I should write one about bad work experiences...
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