The Vent and Rant Thread

[covingtoncat73]

I don't know if anyone is following Louisiana's budget woes but I am getting really scared. Because of budget cuts in 2013, my position at one school was cut to part time. I ended up full time at a larger school but now it looks like the situation is even more dire. I don't know what I will do if I am let go. I probably shouldn't and won't go into details of my situation but I am in a worse situation for moving, etc. now than I was in 2013.

[Katsunami]

At my father's house....

Me: "What's that popping and hissing noise?"
Dad: "What noise? I don't hear any noise."

20 seconds later...
*bang!*
*hssssss*

As I walk into the living room, the third bang and hiss ensues, but then I'm able to locate the source. A battery charger.... I pull its power plug. As I expected the moment I saw it, it's fully loaded with 8 Alkaline batteries. The entire thing is smeared with battery acids.

Dad, if I told you once, I told you a thousand times: you can only charge NiMH batteries, not alkaline. As I tell him that his battery charger is possibly shot and/or unsafe to use now, this is the response:

"Nonsense."

And he merrily squirts some dish washing detergent onto it and rinses it under a hot running tab. I start to flip out completely, because I *know* he'll just dry the thing on the heater and use it again tomorrow. Response:

"Shut up!"

He doesn't even take the trouble of drying it on a heater. A quick wipe with a towel, and he just pops in a few batteries and puts the thing back into a power outlet before I could stop him.

*BANG! WHAM!*

Charger smoking, lights out, power gone.

And still, colleagues and friends regard me as being some sort of moron when I state my opinion that many people are becoming too old for their own good nowadays?

The terrifying thing is that my dad might actually live another 15 years or so, because he's generally in good health. I dare not imagine what could have happened if I hadn't happened to be there.

I think I'm going to prepare for the fact that some day, I'll be getting a call that he torched his house.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

At my father's house....

Me: "What's that popping and hissing noise?"
Dad: "What noise? I don't hear any noise."

20 seconds later...
*bang!*
*hssssss*

As I walk into the living room, the third bang and hiss ensues, but then I'm able to locate the source. A battery charger.... I pull its power plug. As I expected the moment I saw it, it's fully loaded with 8 Alkaline batteries. The entire thing is smeared with battery acids.

Dad, if I told you once, I told you a thousand times: you can only charge NiMH batteries, not alkaline. As I tell him that his battery charger is possibly shot and/or unsafe to use now, this is the response:

"Nonsense."

And he merrily squirts some dish washing detergent onto it and rinses it under a hot running tab. I start to flip out completely, because I *know* he'll just dry the thing on the heater and use it again tomorrow. Response:

"Shut up!"

He doesn't even take the trouble of drying it on a heater. A quick wipe with a towel, and he just pops in a few batteries and puts the thing back into a power outlet before I could stop him.

*BANG! WHAM!*

Charger smoking, lights out, power gone.

And still, colleagues and friends regard me as being some sort of moron when I state my opinion that many people are becoming too old for their own good nowadays?

The terrifying thing is that my dad might actually live another 15 years or so, because he's generally in good health. I dare not imagine what could have happened if I hadn't happened to be there.

I think I'm going to prepare for the fact that some day, I'll be getting a call that he torched his house.

Does he still think there's nothing wrong with using it that way? Or did he finally get the point?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Does he still think there's nothing wrong with using it that way? Or did he finally get the point?

Sometimes I don't know what he's thinking. Almost every time I'm here, he asks me: "Can these batteries be charged?" So, each time I tell him: "NiMH can be charged, alkaline can't."

Half the time he doesn't seem to listen to anything. Sometimes he just comes up with an opinion or a way how something should work (without knowing anything about the subject at hand) and proclaims it to be fact.

His response to this episode of idiocy was: "But I can use my electric shaver in the shower!"

Yeah dad. That device is made to be used like that. And it runs on a 9V battery (it has an induction charger), not on 220-240V.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Sometimes I don't know what he's thinking. Almost every time I'm here, he asks me: "Can these batteries be charged?" So, each time I tell him: "NiMH can be charged, alkaline can't."

Half the time he doesn't seem to listen to anything. Sometimes he just comes up with an opinion or a way how something should work (without knowing anything about the subject at hand) and proclaims it to be fact.

His response to this episode of idiocy was: "But I can use my electric shaver in the shower!"

Yeah dad. That device is made to be used like that. And it runs on a 9V battery (it has an induction charger), not on 220-240V.

How old is he? I mean, my FIL is a bit forgetful like that (asking each time), but, s**t, he's 94.

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

And still, colleagues and friends regard me as being some sort of moron when I state my opinion that many people are becoming too old for their own good nowadays?

Not just the old, believe me. Earlier this week, when we had just opened an owner of one of the nearby restaurant came by, in complete panic. Every time he turned on the lighting in the restaurant the fuses blew (or rather they switched off, since he has a newer fuse box). This has never happened before. And if my father would please please please could come to see if he could find the problem.

My father returned fifteen minutes later laughing. It turns out the owner had asked his cleaning crew the night before to give the light fixtures on the walls a good clean. It turns out those Dodo's took each fixture off the wall and put them all in the dishwasher (restaurant grade, so very hot and powerful). They didn't wait for them to dry before putting them on the wall again. Inside, those things were not only dripping wet but some of the cables and insides of the sockets were damaged as well.

My only advice regarding your father is to get a good smoke alarm system. Probably one that is child (or hufter) proof can only be taken apart by (special) tool, so he won't take out the battery when it goes off. Maybe even one of those smart alarms, that will send you a message when it goes off.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hitch

How old is he? I mean, my FIL is a bit forgetful like that (asking each time), but, s**t, he's 94.

He's 76; but he doesn't forget many other things. He also writes things down. It would be easy enough to write "NiMH - Charge; Alkaline - Not charge" on the back of the calendar. (Probably he actually has, as he keeps everything there.)

Probably he's just unable to read the small print on the batteries, and is just lazy when asking me. As the 8 alkaline batteries were of the same brand as the chargeable ones he normally uses, I think he may have just disregarded everything apart from the brand out of sheer laziness, not bothering to get out the magnifier to read the print or to wait until I visit.

What I *do* know for sure is that he's just too bone-headed and stubborn as an ox to admit that he did something wrong. He never, ever admits a mistake. He probably just "nonchalantly" rinsed, dried and put that charger into a power socket to prove that he doesn't have to listen to anyone, ever.

I know my father well enough to be quite sure that I'm right about this.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

<snip about blown fuses>

My only advice regarding your father is to get a good smoke alarm system. Probably one that is child (or hufter) proof can only be taken apart by (special) tool, so he won't take out the battery when it goes off. Maybe even one of those smart alarms, that will send you a message when it goes off.

LOL.... taking the light fixtures off the wall and putting them into a dish washing machine? That's like beyond stupid. Nothing holds a candle to that kind of idiocy.

A few smoke detectors are already installed in several places. Regarding the blown fuses... I have a similar tale, of a few years ago. My father's neighbor is an 81-year old woman who as very little family left, and who don't live nearby.

One day, she had a problem with her house's power system, thinking it was 'completely broken'. It's a very old system; the one where you actually replace fuses, not the ones where you just flip a switch to power it on again after something goes wrong. She went to my father, but he was also unable to resolve the problem... so he called me.

After work I visited my father's neighbor and she handed me a box with fuses. None worked (I tried only three or four), so I put a fuse in out of the box I had picked up on the way there, just to be sure I had some working ones. I assumed that, if the system was 'completely broken', it may have blown a bunch of fuses or even all of them.

It immediately powered on and everything worked.

For years (since her husband died, 10 years ago now), she just replaced a broken fuse with a new one, and put the old one in the box, so she ended up with a box containing something like 20 or so broken fuses.

She is actually at the stage now that she doesn't want to replace or change anything her husband has ever touched.

"No, I don't want to replace this power system with a new one. My husband has installed this."

Yes ma'am, he did. In 1964. Maybe it's getting a bit long in the tooth now...

[Hitch]

@RUMPLE & KATZ: (sorry, new kb..urk)...

We spent a small fortune, and untold hours, "dad-proofing" the place we built in the mountains, because he's up there quite by himself, more than 60 miles from any kind of realistic help (like ambulances, fire, etc.), and at 7300ft. in altitude, usually snowed in for 4-5 months of the year. I know this scenario all too well. Idiot-proof fire alarms. A massive triple-backup heating system, not only so he doesn't manage to freeze himself to death, but explode all the pipes and fittings as well. Hydroponically-heated floors (slate), which are operated from the hot water boiler system. Two massive stone fireplaces, gas-operated, as yet ANOTHER heating backup system.

I feel for you. I know that pigheaded, "I'll kill myself to prove I'm right" thing better than I ever wanted to.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot: we had the roofs engineered, engineered again, and triple-checked, to hold a massive snowload, of over 8ft of accumulated snow, so that he NEVER had to worry about it. I mean, after all, not only does the snow accumulate like mad, but it can ice over, as well, into murderous sheets of frozen snow that can hurtle off the (rather high) roof at amazing speeds. All good, right?

Sure, so ask me, HOW MANY TIMES have I called there, only to find him...you got it. Beating at the snow on the roof, to "get it down from there." AAGGGHHH.

Yup, I'm properly sympathetic.

Hitch

[Katsunami]

Sometimes I wonder if all people get to be like this when they become old enough.

If the answer is "yes, it's only a matter of when instead of if", I sincerely hope I'm dead and gone before I reach that point.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Sometimes I wonder if all people get to be like this when they become old enough.

If the answer is "yes, it's only a matter of when instead of if", I sincerely hope I'm dead and gone before I reach that point.

I have an aunt that is either 96 or 97 and she still has all her facilties.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Sometimes I wonder if all people get to be like this when they become old enough.

If the answer is "yes, it's only a matter of when instead of if", I sincerely hope I'm dead and gone before I reach that point.

Everybody hopes that. Just like everyone--women particularly--want to "age gracefully." (Note: that's a moronic phrase. Know what it means? It means, NOT aging. Looking younger than your chronological age. Utter B*.) We all hope that of course, we won't turn into slobbering, doddering wrecks. And surprise! Guess what? Most of us don't get that. Welcome to adulthood.

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Quick rant.
My mother just lost her long distance math helper. She just told me that we got the answers wrong. She blamed the calculator and me.
I just looked up the formula. Had she given me the correct formula, we would have gotten the answer right.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Quick rant.
My mother just lost her long distance math helper. She just told me that we got the answers wrong. She blamed the calculator and me.
I just looked up the formula. Had she given me the correct formula, we would have gotten the answer right.

When she blamed you did you tell her that her reasoning just didn't add up?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by cromag

When she blamed you did you tell her that her reasoning just didn't add up?

No, because it isn't worth it. I wish she would not wait until late to do her homework and take advantage of all the labs and help she paid for.
I also think she needs to pay more attention in class.
My mom is 68 and has at least 13 indoor cats.

Oh for anyone interested, the formula was Planck's law energy flux density.
I googled it and the formulas were not even close.