Things I find a tad exasperating v.3

[wolfking]

I get that a lot via text.  "Tell us how we did!"

I told you when I was there.  And I'm coming back.   That's all you need.  (Though it does occur to me to respond to the survey: "The service was great, the people were great, but all the annoying surveys after ruin the experience!")

Quality post this.

[TAC]

There was another thing that bugged me while we were at the doctor's in Boston last week. There was a sign on the wall to please refrain from using a cell phone. WUT?
I pointed it out to my wife and was like WTF? So I could talk to her in the waiting room, but if she were at home, I wouldn't be able to talk to her? That makes no sense.

[Harmony]

So awhile back we got a flyer in our mailbox (isn't that illegal?) to join Nextdoor which is an app where you can have convos with your neighbors about shit going on in your neighborhood.  I checked it out.  What a fucking shit show.   

I will file this under 'things I wish I didn't know about my neighbors' and call it a day.

[pg1067]

There was another thing that bugged me while we were at the doctor's in Boston last week. There was a sign on the wall to please refrain from using a cell phone. WUT?
I pointed it out to my wife and was like WTF? So I could talk to her in the waiting room, but if she were at home, I wouldn't be able to talk to her? That makes no sense.

Those signs exist in virtually every medical facility.  The theory is that the cellular signal will interfere with certain medical equipment.  I have no idea if it's real, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's BS (much like when they used to say that having your cell phone on in a plane would interfere with the plane's operation).

So awhile back we got a flyer in our mailbox (isn't that illegal?) to join Nextdoor which is an app where you can have convos with your neighbors about shit going on in your neighborhood.  I checked it out.  What a fucking shit show.   

I will file this under 'things I wish I didn't know about my neighbors' and call it a day.

I'm a member of Facebook groups for the unincorporated community in which I live and the two small neighboring cities.  There's a lot of the same crap but also a fair amount of worthwhile stuff.  I remember once posting something and someone responded with, "You should also post this on Nextdoor."  My thought was something along the lines of, "I have no idea what that is, but I'm not joining anymore online community groups" (it was the first time I'd ever heard of it).

[Grappler]

I used to be on Nextdoor, but deleted my account.  I HATED that it matched up my name and address on a map, which was visible to the overall group.  I don't need someone in town easily seeing which house is mine, even though they could just google my name. 

Facebook neighborhood groups are exactly the same.  I stopped contributing to most of them, since it's either neighbors tearing each other apart, or deciding that they're a know it all on a certain subject, so if I offer some input, it just gets shot down by someone who must know more than me.  I read them to stay abreast of things but there's no point in arguing with people who I'll end up running into in town or my kid's teachers.  I do tend to stick up for the teachers and local park district when people are constantly attacking them though.   

[cramx3]

So awhile back we got a flyer in our mailbox (isn't that illegal?) to join Nextdoor which is an app where you can have convos with your neighbors about shit going on in your neighborhood.  I checked it out.  What a fucking shit show.   

I will file this under 'things I wish I didn't know about my neighbors' and call it a day.

I've gotten multiple flyers for this over the years.  A big nope for me.  I like my privacy in my home and I follow local news on social media, don't need the neighborhood chatter.  Maybe if I had kids it would be more useful.  I do often wonder if my neighbors go on this and talk about me though. That weird guy on the block who never has lights on or something. 

[TAC]

I have literally never heard of this. Never seen a flyer on it.

[King Postwhore]

I have literally never heard of this. Never seen a flyer on it.

No shit.

[jingle.boy]

I have literally never heard of this. Never seen a flyer on it.

[Stadler]

Kids on TV. Okay, we're worried about guns in the hands of 20-year-olds, well, we should be worried about kids under the age of 12 on TV.   My wife is watching "Master Chef Junior", and I'm watching - against my will; married guys, amirite? - some eight-year-old slicing a salmon that is bigger than him and he's already got all the reality TV lingo down; "if I don't step up my game, I'm not going to get the immunity and I'll find myself in an elimination challenge again!"    Are you fucking kidding me?   I love Gordon Ramsey, and I watch Master Chef Regular (whatever it's called) but this is, IMO, one of those things that sure, you can do it, there's no law, but SHOULD we?  I didn't consciously know this at the time, but in hindsight, at 8 I was finding my way, playing Legos, negotiating the friend groups on my street, going to Disney with my family, learning to read and write, establishing the building blocks of my life.  Things that for better or worse I'm still calling on today to be successful.   What are we teaching these kids when we're imbuing in them the sense that life is but a series of cook-offs, and as long as we cut our salmon perfectly (metaphor) we'll be fine and immune and we'll be thrust into the finale like the script says.

Life doesn't work that way.  Life is unpredictable and not always fair.  You can do EVERYTHING right and find out you're no better off than the guy next to you.  There is no "immunity" in life, real or metaphorical.  And I haven't even touched on the concept of the "one-on-ones" with these kids, where they are "forced" (I don't know how much is scripted and how much is impromptu) to come up with quippy summations of the last ten minutes of screen time.

I think it's important to step back and assess what are we teaching these kids, and the kids that watch this on television (and see this as "success").  What messages are we sending?  What values are we promoting?  Maybe it's fine, maybe there's no harm here, but we don't know that, and we haven't looked hard enough at it, IMO.  It used to be a running joke about the "problems" facing kid actors; given that in 2022, "celebrity" includes things like "reality TV star", isn't it at least in the realm of possibility that this is contributing to some of the problems we're seeing elsewhere?

[romdrums]

I wonder how much of that is the parents living vicariously through their kids.  I bet many of those kids would rather play legos and worry about who's got cooties, but their parents have decided what these kids are going to do and they will do it come hell or high water.

[jingle.boy]

I can't argue a single thing about that post, Bill.  Didn't this really start with the Dance Moms/Pageant shit craze on TLC/MTV from like the late 90s/early 00s?  It's now getting out of hand.  Food Network is really bad for it.

[Stadler]

I can't argue a single thing about that post, Bill.  Didn't this really start with the Dance Moms/Pageant shit craze on TLC/MTV from like the late 90s/early 00s?  It's now getting out of hand.  Food Network is really bad for it.

Honestly, I feel bad for the kids; I guess it's a special experience, but just like we consider "will my eight year old really remember Disney?" it's the same here.  And there's no guarantee it will be a positive experience, so there's the notion of carrying that for the rest of your life.

[cramx3]

Yeah, I really like Gordon Ramsay TV (my gf and I have been watching Hotel Hell lately which is so good) shows but the kid one is where I draw the line.  I have no interest in watching that and I have no idea why people think putting young children in those positions is a good idea, even if the child is 100% onboard with doing it.  It just feels a bit unethical in a way.  I don't know.  I won't support it.

[Adami]

I don't think it's a huge deal. They're cooking. The chefs are usually really kind and supportive, the parents are always around, they get lessons and everything and a good amount of support. It also seems most of these kids come from really privileged families, so they have a lot of support.

[Stadler]

I don't think it's a huge deal. They're cooking. The chefs are usually really kind and supportive, the parents are always around, they get lessons and everything and a good amount of support. It also seems most of these kids come from really privileged families, so they have a lot of support.

Yeah, one of the girls in the final four is from Darien, CT (southwest CT) in Fairfield County.  One of the richer counties in the United States.

[Adami]

I don't think it's a huge deal. They're cooking. The chefs are usually really kind and supportive, the parents are always around, they get lessons and everything and a good amount of support. It also seems most of these kids come from really privileged families, so they have a lot of support.

Yeah, one of the girls in the final four is from Darien, CT (southwest CT) in Fairfield County.  One of the richer counties in the United States.

Yea, I can usually tell by how they discuss their dishes.

"So my family travels to Japan and Norway often for vacations, so I've become very accustomed to cooking Norwegian/Japanese fusion"
"Yea, I tend to make oysters and beluga caviar for my family every week so I should be good with this"

[Dublagent66]

I can't argue a single thing about that post, Bill.  Didn't this really start with the Dance Moms/Pageant shit craze on TLC/MTV from like the late 90s/early 00s?  It's now getting out of hand.  Food Network is really bad for it.

Honestly, I feel bad for the kids; I guess it's a special experience, but just like we consider "will my eight year old really remember Disney?" it's the same here.  And there's no guarantee it will be a positive experience, so there's the notion of carrying that for the rest of your life.

Stads, you keep overthinking things all the time.  It's good for kids to know that life isn't always a positive experience.  Otherwise, you might as well be giving out participation trophies so the kids can grow up to be spoiled, entitled and whiny adults.  Even though I'm not that fond of kids and don't really care to see them on tv, a cooking competition (just like any other competition) is a good learning experience, win or lose.

[El Barto]

So apparently there is some made up poutrage over how people end their emails.  It is no longer acceptable to write "Best" or "Regards" because they are somehow passive aggressive?

 


After some consideration, I've decided that my email sign off will now be, "I blame millenials" 

Curious as to how you all do it.

Your loving son,
Queen Victoria

[El Barto]

I wonder how much of that is the parents living vicariously through their kids.  I bet many of those kids would rather play legos and worry about who's got cooties, but their parents have decided what these kids are going to do and they will do it come hell or high water.

I think it's a couple of things. Rather than living vicariously, it may also be that they're hoping for a meal ticket. It may also be the case that the kid is wanting to train for a cush gig as an influencer.

[Stadler]

I can't argue a single thing about that post, Bill.  Didn't this really start with the Dance Moms/Pageant shit craze on TLC/MTV from like the late 90s/early 00s?  It's now getting out of hand.  Food Network is really bad for it.

Honestly, I feel bad for the kids; I guess it's a special experience, but just like we consider "will my eight year old really remember Disney?" it's the same here.  And there's no guarantee it will be a positive experience, so there's the notion of carrying that for the rest of your life.

Stads, you keep overthinking things all the time.  It's good for kids to know that life isn't always a positive experience.  Otherwise, you might as well be giving out participation trophies so the kids can grow up to be spoiled, entitled and whiny adults.  Even though I'm not that fond of kids and don't really care to see them on tv, a cooking competition (just like any other competition) is a good learning experience, win or lose.

Well, first, I'm the Yngwie Malmsteen of overthinking things, so there's that.

EDIT:  And while I concede that point, I'm not apologizing for it; most people don't think ENOUGH about this stuff, and thus the reliance on "opinion" and "feelings".  I think that is a byproduct of social media; we don't have to dig in, we don't have to think, and so everything becomes a tactical, in the moment, visceral reaction.  I'd like to think I'm doing yeoman's work

And second, I'm with you 100% on the "good that kids know".  In fact, that's kind of why I posted what I did.  It's not really about the cooking competition.  If they were doing that at a local fair, entering their chili or whatever, then we'd be in full agreement.   It's all the trappings of reality TV that I'm bogged about.   I played sports since I was in Kindergarten, up to about five years ago.  The things I learned about sportsmanship, leadership, teamwork, and winning and losing, have carried me to this day.  Reality TV is not that; that's no more a "competition" in the true sense of the word than a WWF match.  It's all the tropes that go around a reality TV show that give it the trappings of a real competition.

[Adami]

I wonder how much of that is the parents living vicariously through their kids.  I bet many of those kids would rather play legos and worry about who's got cooties, but their parents have decided what these kids are going to do and they will do it come hell or high water.

I think it's a couple of things. Rather than living vicariously, it may also be that they're hoping for a meal ticket. It may also be the case that the kid is wanting to train for a cush gig as an influencer.

As far as MCJ goes, I'd say more the latter. As Stads and I have been mentioning, the families of these kids are usually quite wealthy, so it's unlikely they want a meal ticket, but they might want to set up their kid for a more famous future.

[romdrums]

I wonder how much of that is the parents living vicariously through their kids.  I bet many of those kids would rather play legos and worry about who's got cooties, but their parents have decided what these kids are going to do and they will do it come hell or high water.

I think it's a couple of things. Rather than living vicariously, it may also be that they're hoping for a meal ticket. It may also be the case that the kid is wanting to train for a cush gig as an influencer.

I don't think a kid would care about being an influencer, but I can definitely see the parents thinking of their kids as a meal ticket. 

I would never try and force that kind of thing on my son, though.  I don't ever see him really wanting to do something like this. He is a big fan of YouTube stars like Mark Roper, and he loves the YouTube channel Squirrel Stampede, so he sees that you can make money on YouTube as an influencer (god I hate that term!), but he's also only seven and I don't want to rush him into anything unless he really wants to do it.  He's got plenty of time!

[cramx3]

I think the dream job for kids these days is to be an influencer. It's the modern equivalent of wanting to be famous via sports or acting.  It's certainly not as peachy as one may think though.  I don't think it's all the rad to be an influencer. Those who actually can make a living off social media work VERY hard and don't really make much money (unless you are at the top) and get no benefits.  But that's a whole different topic.

I also think Stadler's point that I agreed with goes beyond just the one example of a cooking show where I trust Gordon isn't screwing with these kids.

[Cool Chris]

My wife is watching "Master Chef Junior", and I'm watching - against my will; married guys, amirite?

My wife and I figured out pretty quickly when we were dating our TV viewing and preferences were different. I told her I am pretty much never going to watch any "reality" show - which is basically all she ever watches - and she didn't have any problem with that. We did make a special point to watch Reacher as we are both fans of the books.

... some eight-year-old slicing a salmon that is bigger than him and he's already got all the reality TV lingo down; "if I don't step up my game, I'm not going to get the immunity and I'll find myself in an elimination challenge again!"   

Did he make the heart symbol with his hands? I know that is your favorite.

[jingle.boy]

Jingle.wife will watch “her” shows while I’m watching hockey with jingle.kids, or while I’m working out. I don’t ask/expect her to watch the show *I* like that she has no interest in, so that door swings both ways.

[XJDenton]

There was another thing that bugged me while we were at the doctor's in Boston last week. There was a sign on the wall to please refrain from using a cell phone. WUT?
I pointed it out to my wife and was like WTF? So I could talk to her in the waiting room, but if she were at home, I wouldn't be able to talk to her? That makes no sense.

Those signs exist in virtually every medical facility.  The theory is that the cellular signal will interfere with certain medical equipment.  I have no idea if it's real, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's BS (much like when they used to say that having your cell phone on in a plane would interfere with the plane's operation).

They can interfere with pacemakers, and I assume that a doctors office is a place where you are more likely to find a fair number of them.

[Stadler]

My wife is watching "Master Chef Junior", and I'm watching - against my will; married guys, amirite?

My wife and I figured out pretty quickly when we were dating our TV viewing and preferences were different. I told her I am pretty much never going to watch any "reality" show - which is basically all she ever watches - and she didn't have any problem with that. We did make a special point to watch Reacher as we are both fans of the books.

We aren't that firm about it; she watches a lot more reality TV than I do.  She watches that "Below Deck" show and she watches the "90 Day Fiance" shows as well.  I sometimes tune in, primarily for the cute girls, but draw the line at the ridiculous stuff like "Darcy and Stacey".  Where our paths cross is when we sit down for our evening together and one of us gets there before the other.  She doesn't like "The Curse Of Oak Island" or some of the Food Network stuff I watch (Guy's Grocery Games) but we don't really force the other to watch stuff we don't like.

... some eight-year-old slicing a salmon that is bigger than him and he's already got all the reality TV lingo down; "if I don't step up my game, I'm not going to get the immunity and I'll find myself in an elimination challenge again!"   

Did he make the heart symbol with his hands? I know that is your favorite.

I don't remember exactly, but you're right; that stupid symbol makes me want to break someone's fingers. 

[Harmony]

Employer mandatory meetings shoved up against the end of the fiscal year so the employer can check a box.

Today's is on sexual harassment in the work place.  Supposedly it is an 8 hour training condensed into 2 hours but I'm currently 1 hour in and this attorney guy is yammering on and on about stupid shit we all should've learned in middle school and I feel like screaming.

"Be sure to make sure that hug is wanted.  If the person you are leaning into leans away you need to pay attention to that."   

[TAC]

There was another thing that bugged me while we were at the doctor's in Boston last week. There was a sign on the wall to please refrain from using a cell phone. WUT?
I pointed it out to my wife and was like WTF? So I could talk to her in the waiting room, but if she were at home, I wouldn't be able to talk to her? That makes no sense.

Those signs exist in virtually every medical facility.  The theory is that the cellular signal will interfere with certain medical equipment.  I have no idea if it's real, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's BS (much like when they used to say that having your cell phone on in a plane would interfere with the plane's operation).

They can interfere with pacemakers, and I assume that a doctors office is a place where you are more likely to find a fair number of them.

So do people who have pacemakers advised not to have a cell phone?

And is it only a phone call, or do the dangers also lie in texting, DTFing...?

[wolfking]

Employer mandatory meetings shoved up against the end of the fiscal year so the employer can check a box.

Today's is on sexual harassment in the work place.  Supposedly it is an 8 hour training condensed into 2 hours but I'm currently 1 hour in and this attorney guy is yammering on and on about stupid shit we all should've learned in middle school and I feel like screaming.

"Be sure to make sure that hug is wanted.  If the person you are leaning into leans away you need to pay attention to that."   

It's all about the bonuses and KPIs for the managers, it's so infuriating and shallow.

DTFing during it too......nice.

[King Postwhore]

Not with my company. Very strick and modern with meetings and training. Maybe it your place Harmony. As a manager,  I want to be proactive.

[wolfking]

Not with my company. Very strick and modern with meetings and training. Maybe it your place Harmony. As a manager,  I want to be proactive.

I'll come and work for you mate.

[King Postwhore]

The OSHA standard % is 7% for jobs.  We set it at 1.5% this year. Safety is our #1 priority.   Safety bonuses wvery minth. As a company,  we had 8 OSHA incidents this year with 2700 employees.

Hell of a feat

[wolfking]

The OSHA standard % is 7% for jobs.  We set it at 1.5% this year. Safety is our #1 priority.   Safety bonuses wvery minth. As a company,  we had 8 OSHA incidents this year with 2700 employees.

Hell of a feat

Shit, no vacancies for me then.