The Vent and Rant Thread

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I feel ya. When Mr. Hitch fell ill, and couldn't do grocery runs, I finally ended up using Walmart's shopping service, and picking up from them. We *do* buy in large quantities, because everything is a schlep. There aren't any milk runs, or "Oh, I need a loaf of bread" type outings, not here. So, as it usually takes me two carts, I needed that extra hand.

The one gotcha, of course, is fresh fruit and produce. That's always extra trips, at least weekly. We try to wrap them into others, but...all the necessities are spread out in various directions, unfortunately. Opposite directions, as it happens.

At least you won't run out of caffeine! You're probably set for the Zombie Apocalypse. :-)

Hitch

How did you know the two things I do need?
Huge grocery list this week.
Milk and bread. Maybe whatever produce looks good. Though bread is optional since I do have the ingredients to make it and a bread machine.
So we shall pick up 3 gallons of milk tonight and possibly a loaf of bread.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

How did you know the two things I do need?
Huge grocery list this week.
Milk and bread. Maybe whatever produce looks good. Though bread is optional since I do have the ingredients to make it and a bread machine.
So we shall pick up 3 gallons of milk tonight and possibly a loaf of bread.

The whole world runs out of those, don't they? God, you could probably find empathy with husbands, (or whomever works latest in the day), all over the globe, on that one. "Honey, could you stop..." :-)

For us, while we'll run low on those, it's fruit. That's always being demolished here.

Hitch

[Hemmi]

I hate it when I spend the time teaching someone, and they actually seem like they'll be good at it, and then they up and leave. Been there, done that.

I went and retrieved my lost pink pen this morning, smiling all the way. It's now safely hidden in the back of the drawer with its friends.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

The one gotcha, of course, is fresh fruit and produce. That's always extra trips, at least weekly. We try to wrap them into others, but...all the necessities are spread out in various directions, unfortunately. Opposite directions, as it happens.

There are reasons I love living in NYC, and this is one of them. Pretty much everything we need is in walking distance or a subway stop or two away.

My SO shops daily. She's "early to bed and early to rise", and is up at 6am. One destination is the farmer's market, two subway stops away, and she arrives early when the other patrons are mostly chefs buying fresh produce for their restaurants. Food here tends to be "What's in season?"

Fresh asparagus is now no longer in season, to my SO's sorrow. She adores it, as do I. And she announces "I regret nothing!" as she heads to the bathroom. A side effect of eating asparagus is really stinky pee. I never noticed, but it's apparently a genetic quirk - only about 40% of the population can smell what makes the pee stink after eating asparagus, and I'm not in the 40%.

Thursday is Chinatown, for roast pork and sundries like duck hearts. My SO has been shopping at a particular Chinese market long enough that she's simply another Chinese housewife shopping for her family with her folding cart who just doesn't happen to be Chinese. The clerk she normally deals with is insistent that she get hot and sour soup for me in weather that provokes sinus problems. I suspect it's what she feeds her husband in such weather. My SO doesn't argue.

I've been watching the supermarkets for years. At one point, there were three 24 hour supermarkets within a few blocks. They've dropped, one by one. A Sloans was the first to go. A Food Emporium folded recently, and a Gristedes which was across the street from it closed soon after. The last man standing is a new entrant - a Trader Joes took over the space the Food Emporium used to occupy. They seem to be thriving thus far, probably because they now get the traffic that use to be spread over three competitors.

There are an assortment of 24 hour delis as well, though we generally keep track of what we need and don't need to resort to them.
______
Dennis

[Blossom]

We have food delivery here by all major grocery stores and our Walmart does have curbside. I can walk there if I had to. My neighbor does every day for work. Now last month we got Uber and Lyft. Oh and a public bus too last year started. Our little county is growing.

Sent from my XT1528

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

AND, yet more fun from the World Headquarters; got a book in today, in Word, and most of it is text topiary. GOSH, do you think that maybe, the author has never even SEEN a Kindle/Nook/iBooks/Kobo/you-name-it?

I'm trying to figure out how the hell to explain what's going to happen when the font size is increased. {SIGH}.

Spoiler:

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Why don't authors EVER, EVER, EVER look at other books? Whether it's print or e, there's always some sort of mind-boggling SHITE!

I think of many of them as "write only", and believe they don't, in fact, read.

(I'm likely biased, because my preferred genre of SF/F has lots and lots of noobie self-published types blissfully unaware that their spiffy new never before done idea has been done at least a dozen times, beginning before they were born, and done better than they can ever hope to. What's that? Actually read the genre you want to write in to get an idea of what's already been done to death? Nah. That's boring... )

Why me? I musta been a real horror, in my past life, to deserve this never-ending parade.

You didn't duck fast enough?

An old friend named Val used to describe himself as "the guy standing up when the feces hit the fan."

In one notable instance, he was first one in the office, shedding his coat and sipping his coffee when the phone rang. It was a woman he knew. She had gone into her garage, opened both driver's and passenger side doors wide, climbed into her car, and then attempted to back the car out of the garage. The garage door wasn't wide enough to permit that. What she did was tear both doors off the car, and drop the front of the garage onto her car's roof. She had to crawl out through a rear passenger windows. She was on the street, staring at the totaled remains of her car and garage, and all she she could think to do was call Val and gasp her tale of woe.

As Val hung up the phone with a stupefied expression, his boss came out of his office and said "Oh, you heard about your units!" "No. What about my units?"

Val was an industrial designer, and lead designer on a new product. His company made big mutha rooftop air conditioners. They had a new model in prototype, and the plant in Tennessee had loaded a couple on a flat bed trailer for transport to the design offices in suburban PA so the Underwriter's Labs engineers could give them UL certification.

One of them came off the trailer on an up ramp to the VA turnpike, and drop forged the Buick Regal driving behind it into a pancake. The driver of the Regal was in serious condition in the hospital, and as Val put it, "the lawyers have not yet been born who will be getting rich on the litigation of this case!"

Meanwhile, Val faced the prospect of an invasion of lawyers and company loss prevention specialists who would want proof that Val's shop had issued precise, word of one syllable, profusely illustrated with pictures documents on exactly how you secured a unit for shipment, because the trucking company would point at the loading dock personnel and vice versa in assigning blame for how it could happen.

I never did hear how that all came out. Val left the company (and the reasons why are another classic story) before the case came to trail.
______
Dennis

[Cinisajoy]

I think of many of them as "write only", and believe they don't, in fact, read.

(I'm likely biased, because my preferred genre of SF/F has losts and lots of noobie self-published types blissfully unaware that their spiffy new never before done idea has been done at least a dozen times, beginning before they were born, and done better than they can ever hope to. What's that? Actually read the genre you want to write in to get an idea of what's already been done to death? Nah. That's boring... )

But they herd that righting in sci-fi and/or romance is an easy way to make bucks or does while avoiding the reeds.

Sorry couldn't resist.

[cromag]

I usually trek out to the grocery stores once or twice a week, but our son is home so now it's more like three. The real governing factors are milk and fruit. I keep relative prices for most items in my head and the two cheapest grocery stores are conveniently lined up so I can get to them both on the same trip. The stores are both open until midnight, so I leave at about 9:00 and the aisles aren't too crowded.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

But they herd that righting in sci-fi and/or romance is an easy way to make bucks or does while avoiding the reeds.

Sorry couldn't resist.

Or they do crossover romance/sci-fi, and get the best of both worlds.

Learning that making actual money doing it isn't as simple as they wished to believe tends to come as a rude shock, however...
______
Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I had a similar experience some years back ... the company had FINALLY hired a person with a functioning brain that could learn how to do things competently. I invested a LOT of time in training & encouragement, etc. -- and was wallowing in happy dreams of no more night or weekend work ... when I found a letter of resignation on my desk -- yep! a better job that paid more .... I maintained composure that day but bawled like a baby during my drive home -- fortunately no cop pulled me over. It's like getting a gut punch!

It was. I mean...I don't harbor any ill-will, I don't. And I suspected he was ging to have to bail before he was willing to admit that he needed to. What slays me is bloody AMAZON. What? It's not enough that they have to muck about with their intake, etc., week in and week out, driving me batsh*t, routinely and constantly and consistently, but they have to HIRE the best assistant I've had, ever, away from me? What, did I piss on Jeff B's Oat Toasties? Dammit!!!

In fairness to him, I always knew that he worked days, and had a full-time gig. So, he didn't just up and leave me. And he's hanging in there, working as he is able, and he'll help me train the new guy/gal. But dang. Just DANG.

Yup, Pooh, that gut blow? That's pretty much exactly how it feels.


Hitch

[silverraven]

I made the mistake of going to Walmart yesterday. Yes, stupidity on my part in it's highest form!! But, could someone please explain to me why anyone would think it's ok to let your 2 kids ride bikes through the grocery section when it is packed??? Granted, they weren't going fast, just kind of using their feet to push them selves along, but really??
I'm staying in today, I don't want to deal with the crowds. Hubby has to work, son has to work, so it will be just me and the pups hanging out today.
S

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by silverraven

I made the mistake of going to Walmart yesterday. Yes, stupidity on my part in it's highest form!! But, could someone please explain to me why anyone would think it's ok to let your 2 kids ride bikes through the grocery section when it is packed??? Granted, they weren't going fast, just kind of using their feet to push them selves along, but really??
I'm staying in today, I don't want to deal with the crowds. Hubby has to work, son has to work, so it will be just me and the pups hanging out today.
S

Since our city did the 4th on Saturday I doubt there will be many crowds.
In semi-defense of the woman with the bikes, she was probably thinking why are we having a barbecue and how much will hubby drink tomorrow. So not at all focused on the kids.
Though yes, letting kids ride bikes anytime in Walmart is inappropriate.

[Hemmi]

The grocery store was crazyness yesterday. They have to be open today regular hours too. I love working for an employee owned company. Not only are we closed major holidays but they are paid days off. As is our birthday.

[Cinisajoy]

Yes, the stores were over crowded.

[Blossom]

Why do these things only happen on Friday!?!

They are rushing my sister to the hospital. Possible stroke in progress. Mom is at the doctor's and sis tagged along. Mom's doctor took one look at sis and said she was calling an ambulance. Mom will have to ride home by herself in a medical transport. I'm not sure how she is going to get from the transport into the house. They do not have a home health aide yet. Just nurses and a physical therapist for mom set up. She will be alone again.

Sent from my Nexus 7