OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[FearlessF]

always

[bayareabadger]

I spent 17 minutes yesterday afternoon getting reamed on the phone by a faculty member who did her review process wrong and needs to re-do it.  Even my long-winded arse doesn't have the willpower to recount that conversation at this point.  Though I will say my favorite part of it was where she asked me what I meant by saying I'd recommend a department chair do something.....she said no, I need to demand he do it.  I tried to explain to her that I can't demand he do anything....he doesn't work for me.  But she was more interested in ranting and threatening me than solving the problem. 

She told me she was writing everything down, and due to some federally protected information she included in her review being routed to the wrong department, I'd be getting a written email from her, and she was going copy "the very highest levels of authority." 

Welp, she did send the email, and she did copy the university president, the provost, the dean of her college, the head of HR, my boss, and two representatives from some state faculty representation outfits I'm not familiar with.  My boss Replied All pretty quickly with receipts, showing where she'd failed to read the instructions we provide and do what they tell her to make sure and do so that everything goes smoothly. More email exchanges ensued between the two of them with everyone in the chain still copied, but I stayed out of it.  17 minutes on the phone with her was enough. 

My boss' boss contacted me shortly before I left work and asked me to write up a narrative of my recollection of the phone call.  So I got to spend a while last night doing that after supper, instead of relaxing and decompressing. 

I was never worried about it, and I've already been informed by both my boss and his boss this morning that I did everything correctly and not to worry about anything.  There's a lot of issues at play here I can't comment on.  My only remaining irritation about the whole thing is that the president, provost, and that particular dean don't know me, and this is the context in which they first see my name.  Where I'm being accused of negligence and mishandling sensitive data. 

I figured no matter how ridiculous her claims are and despite her refusal to accept any help to correct the situation, this would be taken seriously because of her claim that her ADA privacy rights were violated.  And it appears that it's indeed being taken seriously.

Though I was never worried about it, that doesn't mean I wasn't livid.  This happened to me several times when I worked at a medical clinic and patients' children would call and act like assholes about the type of care they thought their parents were getting when they didn't know what the hell they were talking about.  My blood boils in those types of conversations.  I hate it when people don't know what they're talking about, trying to blame me for their stupidity, and I can't really say any of the things I'd like to say to them. 

Grumpy. 

“Ma’am. If it makes you feel better to yell at me, you’re doing that. But you didn’t follow the process as instructed and as such, you have to do it the proper way for reasons I can’t control. That’s the same for everyone else. If you need to talk to someone else about alternative arrangements, you can do that, but it will likely get us to the same outcome. Thank you, bye now.”

I’m guessing you can’t talk about it, but I would be fascinated to know the tortured ADA logic there. Like, what disability prevents me from filling out, annoying forms for a second time.

[MikeDeTiger]

“Ma’am. If it makes you feel better to yell at me, you’re doing that. But you didn’t follow the process as instructed and as such, you have to do it the proper way for reasons I can’t control. That’s the same for everyone else. If you need to talk to someone else about alternative arrangements, you can do that, but it will likely get us to the same outcome. Thank you, bye now.”

I’m guessing you can’t talk about it, but I would be fascinated to know the tortured ADA logic there. Like, what disability prevents me from filling out, annoying forms for a second time.

That's a good response.  Unfortunately, she never let me get that many words out in a row.  

[Cincydawg]

Tax time, enough said.

[Cincydawg]

Somehow on Facebook (I know) I've stumbled across "conversations" frequently conversed about the flat Earth notion, faked moon landings, JFK assassins, atheism vs creationism, aliens, and more ...

They don't make me grumpier, if that's even possible, but I do find it entertaining at times.

I know everything on FB has to be true as it's all fact checked by fact checkers, but at times, some things seem off to me.  

[FearlessF]

some segments of the unwashed masses are sometimes off a bit

[Cincydawg]

I think it goes to a human desire to "show someone up" by making some pithy post that "proves" another wrong.

[FearlessF]

yes, there are many posts looking for clicks that are obviously wrong - hoping to bait folks into providing the correction

posts referring to Camaros with a picture of a mustang and such

[Cincydawg]

Indeed, I am still not clear how that benefits the originator unless it leads to some commercial or captures one's personal info.

[FearlessF]

I think if you somehow garner enuff "clicks" you're then an influencer and can get paid - don't really know
maybe for some it's a competition to gather clicks for their ego

[betarhoalphadelta]

Decided to try a new barber shop for a haircut today on my day off. Made an appt for 11:30. It's 11:53 and I'm still not in the chair... 

[Gigem]

I watched a pretty lengthy “moon denier” podcast a few weeks ago. Bart something or other , and Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke ( Apollo 15). 

Aside from Charlie being 90+ years old and perhaps a bit senile on his answers the Bart person had a very poor case. A couple of seconds of video or film where something didn’t quite make sense and a supposed lag in the communications that didn’t exist. 

[Gigem]

Oh, and the other concrete proof (that we didn’t land on the moon) was some random nobody that claims their father died and on his deathbed he confessed that he was part of the fake filming and tv in some govt warehouse somewhere. Oh, and he’s never known his dad to lie. 

I really have no idea why so many people buy into this crap. I do get it that the govt lied and lied about so much stuff but all of this fake moon landing stuff just seems silly. 

[Cincydawg]

It also makes no difference in my life now, and to become somehow consumed with proving it was false is ... dubious.

I have read it was faked, but they insisted on filming it on location for realism.