So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[AmateisGal]

It can be something of a hot potato commenting on the relationship of others, so I hope I'm not infringing in any way.
I do remember you mentioning your daughter, so if your ex has parental visiting rights, next time he drops his daughter off, hand him a written notice that unless he clears his car parts and any other property that is still at your address, you will dispose of them as you see fit. Give him some time, about a month is reasonable. Hope that helps.

He has visitation rights but never uses them. Last time he saw her was in May. Plus she's off to college this week so he has no excuse to stop by (thank God!).

He actually came and picked up a bunch of stuff in March, I think, but left this stuff behind. When I texted him to ask if he still wanted it, he said he did, that he would come and get it soon. Well, that was months ago. And as I am now no contact with him, I will probably ask my divorce attorney what to do instead of texting/calling him. Can't even stand to hear his voice.

 

[Harp]

When the ex STILL hasn't picked up his old Mustang car parts more than a year after the divorce was final. I'm thinking I need to sell them and get some cash!

If you are the sole owner of the real property of where said was abandoned over one year ago,
you are within your rights to sell said upon published newspaper claim of your intent. Cross all Ts and dot the I's.

 

[BobHufford]

On-line-only auctions that are also pick-up-only... How hard is it to ship a hat?

 

[Zombie_61]

On-line-only auctions that are also pick-up-only... How hard is it to ship a hat?

Ask anyone here who has bought a hat online and received it folded or crushed into a shipping container that was clearly too small to properly accommodate it. For some people it's apparently more difficult than we think.

 

[LizzieMaine]

People who act like self-absorbed jackasses in grocery store express lines.

There's a right way and a wrong way to check out in the express line. Number one, if you're just going into the store to buy a couple of small things you don't need a whole full-sized friggin' carriage. Get a handbasket or one of those little mini-carriages. Second, when you get to the front of the line immediately step as far forward as possible, pushing your carriage in front of you, so that the rest of the line can move forward and the poor soul carrying the fourteen-pound box of cat litter can set it down on the belt. Number two, have your coupons and your courtesy cards and your game pieces and all the rest of that fussy horsecrap out of your wallet and in your hand ready to go before your turn comes. Third, if you've got twenty items and the sign says "14 or Fewer" GO TO THE OTHER LINE. The rules apply to you. Fourth, if the sign says "14 Items or Less" nobody wants to hear your pedantic whining English-major mouth going on about how it should be "or less." STFU and just buy your groceries and go home and yell at the internet.
And fifth, USE THE DIVIDERS. Don't make me boardinghouse-reach across your twelve bottles of Five O'Clock Gin and your basket of peeled onioins to get the divider.

THANK YOU.

 

[Fading Fast]

People who act like self-absorbed jackasses in grocery store express lines.

There's a right way and a wrong way to check out in the express line. Number one, if you're just going into the store to buy a couple of small things you don't need a whole full-sized friggin' carriage. Get a handbasket or one of those little mini-carriages. Second, when you get to the front of the line immediately step as far forward as possible, pushing your carriage in front of you, so that the rest of the line can move forward and the poor soul carrying the fourteen-pound box of cat litter can set it down on the belt. Number two, have your coupons and your courtesy cards and your game pieces and all the rest of that fussy horsecrap out of your wallet and in your hand ready to go before your turn comes. Third, if you've got twenty items and the sign says "14 or Fewer" GO TO THE OTHER LINE. The rules apply to you. Fourth, if the sign says "14 Items or Less" nobody wants to hear your pedantic whining English-major mouth going on about how it should be "or less." STFU and just buy your groceries and go home and yell at the internet.
And fifth, USE THE DIVIDERS. Don't make me boardinghouse-reach across your twelve bottles of Five O'Clock Gin and your basket of peeled onioins to get the divider.

THANK YOU.

And only tangentially related - it wouldn't kill the supermarkets to once in a a blue moon clean those hand baskets (the ones in the supermarkets near us are absolutely filthy - even in the markets that are basically clean).

 

[MisterCairo]

if the sign says "14 Items or Less" nobody wants to hear your pedantic whining English-major mouth going on about how it should be "or less."

Would you figuratively smack me if I pointed out that I think you meant to type "or fewer"? (nervous looking smiley face here because I cannot see the icons)

 

[MisterCairo]

Single vehicle self-serve gas bars with no directional controls. Can you say "vehicular chaos"?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Would you figuratively smack me if I pointed out that I think you meant to type "or fewer"? (nervous looking smiley face here because I cannot see the icons)

Acknowledged. When I'm in a blind rage, it's hard to see what I'm typing.

 

[MisterCairo]

That we live in an age where hand washing instructions to this degree are considered necessary.

For posting on an army base.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

People who act like self-absorbed jackasses in grocery store express lines.

There's a right way and a wrong way to check out in the express line. Number one, if you're just going into the store to buy a couple of small things you don't need a whole full-sized friggin' carriage. Get a handbasket or one of those little mini-carriages. Second, when you get to the front of the line immediately step as far forward as possible, pushing your carriage in front of you, so that the rest of the line can move forward and the poor soul carrying the fourteen-pound box of cat litter can set it down on the belt. Number two, have your coupons and your courtesy cards and your game pieces and all the rest of that fussy horsecrap out of your wallet and in your hand ready to go before your turn comes. Third, if you've got twenty items and the sign says "14 or Fewer" GO TO THE OTHER LINE. The rules apply to you. Fourth, if the sign says "14 Items or Less" nobody wants to hear your pedantic whining English-major mouth going on about how it should be "or less." STFU and just buy your groceries and go home and yell at the internet.
And fifth, USE THE DIVIDERS. Don't make me boardinghouse-reach across your twelve bottles of Five O'Clock Gin and your basket of peeled onioins to get the divider.

THANK YOU.

You forgot the morons who get in line with their shopping cart, change their mind, and walk away leaving the shopping cart in the line.

 

[Bushman]

That we live in an age where hand washing instructions to this degree are considered necessary.

For posting on an army base.

View attachment 131190

The armed forces these days is more of a bureaucratic maze of red tape than an actual national defense these days. At least, it is in the US. You can't take a piss without requesting a requiescence form for it, filling that out, then filling out the piss form, then having it notarized in triplicate. These days soldiers have to keep track of every bullet on the battlefield. I'm pretty sure their grandfathers weren't burying the Nazis under mountains of ridiculous paperwork.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dunno. I've known more than one WWII vet who said the most common piece of war machinery in the Allied arsenal was the mimeograph.

 

[Fading Fast]

The armed forces these days is more of a bureaucratic maze of red tape than an actual national defense these days. At least, it is in the US. You can't take a piss without requesting a requiescence form for it, filling that out, then filling out the piss form, then having it notarized in triplicate. These days soldiers have to keep track of every bullet on the battlefield. I'm pretty sure their grandfathers weren't burying the Nazis under mountains of ridiculous paperwork.

I'm not saying it isn't worse in the military, but everything today is suffocating from over-documentation. Before I started working for myself several years back and I was still at a large financial firm, I used to half joke that my day was mainly composed of my documenting what my team did before (reviewing yesterday's trades, last month's reports, etc.), what it was doing now (real-time sign off on this or that trade, submission or meeting notes) and what it was going to do (forward budgets, next year's business plan, etc.). There were (mainly online) forms for all of that that had to be used and that were reviewed (at least by a system) that sent you ever increasingly aggressive alerts if you fell behind. It never stopped.

And notice how much time your doctor / doctor's office takes documentation your visit (some of which they push off on you with all those docs you fill out). Several doctors now sit and type notes in real time as you talk to them - which makes for a very unsatisfying way to connect with your doctor.

Heck, I pity the poor supermarket checkout clerk who has to fill out a form when she accidentally double scans an item and then has to credit it back (some even have to get that signed off by a manager before they can move forward).

In the apartment building I live in, the staff has to fill in several forms all day long - what repair guys came, document every package received, delivered, anything that breaks, anything they fix on the fly (nothing is just "done," it all has to be captured on a doc). Since we are not a fancy or wealthy building, it's still all on paper (we are reviewing online systems right now) with the amount of paper being crazy as is the time the guys spend on it. I truly believe our society is drowning is documentation.

The economists tell us that all this new technology (web, digital, communications, etc.) in the last two decades hasn't increased productivity much and it's a mystery since it seems like it would have dramatically increase productivity. My guess is part of the mystery is that we lose so much more time today to documenting our work that we've offset the productivity gains form the new tech.

 

[MisterCairo]

That my wife peels her peach before eating it.

I had never met anyone who did that. She says it's like eating Velcro.

 

[Fading Fast]

That my wife peels her peach before eating it.

I had never met anyone who did that. She says it's like eating Velcro.

That is a new one.

 

[MisterCairo]

I know, right?!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm not saying it isn't worse in the military, but everything today is suffocating from over-documentation. Before I started working for myself several years back and I was still at a large financial firm, I used to half joke that my day was mainly composed of my documenting what my team did before (reviewing yesterday's trades, last month's reports, etc.), what it was doing now (real-time sign off on this or that trade, submission or meeting notes) and what it was going to do (forward budgets, next year's business plan, etc.). There were (mainly online) forms for all of that that had to be used and that were reviewed (at least by a system) that sent you ever increasingly aggressive alerts if you fell behind. It never stopped.

And notice how much time your doctor / doctor's office takes documentation your visit (some of which they push off on you with all those docs you fill out). Several doctors now sit and type notes in real time as you talk to them - which makes for a very unsatisfying way to connect with your doctor.

Heck, I pity the poor supermarket checkout clerk who has to fill out a form when she accidentally double scans an item and then has to credit it back (some even have to get that signed off by a manager before they can move forward).

In the apartment building I live in, the staff has to fill in several forms all day long - what repair guys came, document every package received, delivered, anything that breaks, anything they fix on the fly (nothing is just "done," it all has to be captured on a doc). Since we are not a fancy or wealthy building, it's still all on paper (we are reviewing online systems right now) with the amount of paper being crazy as is the time the guys spend on it. I truly believe our society is drowning is documentation.

The economists tell us that all this new technology (web, digital, communications, etc.) in the last two decades hasn't increased productivity much and it's a mystery since it seems like it would have dramatically increase productivity. My guess is part of the mystery is that we lose so much more time today to documenting our work that we've offset the productivity gains form the new tech.

What gets me is we have to go thru all kinds of umpety-ump lengths to document the use of passes, and then the paperwork all ends up heaped on a desk, in the open, where anyone and everyone could tamper with it, for a week until someone actually pays attention to it. There's legitimate work, and then there's "busy work." I think if you trace all of this type of stuff, it's driven by someone, somewhere, who's just trying to cover their ass. Even though said ass is usually far more exposed than they think it is.

And there's also the likelihood that requiring excessive documentation from workers is a way of ensuring that they can be replaced in an instant if they get out of line. When they come around and ask you to "update your job description," start feeling around for the knife in your back.

This type of stuff started in the seventies, and there was movement then for the disgruntled to carry a pocket magnet, useful for wiping magnetic codes on punch cards, and otherwise creating havoc where havoc was deserved. Be a shame if something like that happened today.

 

[Fading Fast]

What gets me is we have to go thru all kinds of umpety-ump lengths to document the use of passes, and then the paperwork all ends up heaped on a desk, in the open, where anyone and everyone could tamper with it, for a week until someone actually pays attention to it. There's legitimate work, and then there's "busy work." I think if you trace all of this type of stuff, it's driven by someone, somewhere, who's just trying to cover their ass. Even though said ass is usually far more exposed than they think it is.

And there's also the likelihood that requiring excessive documentation from workers is a way of ensuring that they can be replaced in an instant if they get out of line. When they come around and ask you to "update your job description," start feeling around for the knife in your back.

This type of stuff started in the seventies, and there was movement then for the disgruntled to carry a pocket magnet, useful for wiping magnetic codes on punch cards, and otherwise creating havoc where havoc was deserved. Be a shame if something like that happened today.

I agree with the CYA and job replacement reasons as they are simply real and I've seen it. But also, the "sue at every moment, for any reason and for every thing" litigation industry is a big cause, too, as a lot of that documentation is in case the company gets sued. If so, it has to show "we" (the company) (1) had policies and procedures in place to mitigate "that" risk, (2) trained our employees per those procedures, (3) supervised those employees to ensure they followed those policies and procedures and (4) reviewed and updated #1-#3 as needed.

Well doing #1 - #4 is only valuable in a lawsuit if you can conclusively demonstrate that you did all of it regularly, which requires massive documentation: Detailed written policies and procedures that are updated regularly; training sessions / tests / manuals / etc. that you can document your employees had to attend / study etc.; regularly filled out supervisory reports that are carefully reviewed and signed-off by, usually, at least two layers of management and, of course, you have to demonstrate that every step is regularly updated as needed.

It is insanely overwhelming. Yes, it's a lot of CYA, yes, it makes it easier to replace an employee (but, in truth, it is hard to argue that you shouldn't have an update job descriptions [I've tried and was told the following] as the company shouldn't be scrambling if you quit voluntarily or are out sick), but the documentation for lawsuit protection is a big part of it as well.

 

[Harp]

The armed forces these days is more of a bureaucratic maze of red tape than an actual national defense these days. At least, it is in the US. You can't take a piss without requesting a requiescence form for it, filling that out, then filling out the piss form, then having it notarized in triplicate. These days soldiers have to keep track of every bullet on the battlefield. I'm pretty sure their grandfathers weren't burying the Nazis under mountains of ridiculous paperwork.

The US Army is meticulous, rigorously so in its application. I was ordered to write my will once, at 18 all I had was
a paperback of David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, which I listed for the Scottish-born first sergeant just
to piss him off for fun. He had a habit of needing to be pulled out of the red-light district and would lead us into
a bar packed with British merchant sailors and proclaim "the sun never set on the British Empire, and now it
doesn't even shit on it." He was a meticulous, rigorous, passionate and very unreasonable ba***rd.