The Vent and Rant Thread

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Then there's that, granted.

Sometimes, I feel as if the only "normal" people (edit: as in, present in the here and now, with conscious thought) are the ones between 30 and 70 or so (or maybe even between 35 and 65), at least around here.

The ones under 30 are completely oblivious to everything due to their eyes being riveted to a phone and/or earbuds being lodged in their ears, and the ones over 70 can't think properly anymore.

The former:

I can't even count the times I've been almost been hit by a bicycle careening around a corner, driven by some 15-25 y/o... which shouldn't be, because if my traffic light is GREEN, the bicycle's light is RED.

This is getting so bad, BEN (mobile network provider) and KNGF (Koninklijke Nederlandse Geleidenhondenfonds / Dutch Royal Guide Dog Foundation) have started a campain:



Rest assured: it's not only pedestrians that use mobile phones and/or earbuds in traffic...

The latter:

Yesterday I walked home, in the dark, turned a corner, and almost crashed face down in the earth due to getting entangled in a dog leash. There are many old people around here. They all have chihuahua-sized lap dogs. And they ALL use a roll out leash ("Flexi") that is between 10-15 feet in length. And, invariably, the ALL use the maximum line extension, stretching the line across paths, pavements, walkways, and in town, even across narrow streets.

If you have a chihuahua-sized dog, in the dark, it's not guaranteed that others will see it. It's not even guaranteed they see YOU, let alone the line stretching between dog and owner.

Katsunami,
The latter isn't age but the my dog is special syndrome.
Those leashes are hard to see. Chihuahuas are not easy to see either.
I wouldn’t use the full line in traffic. Stupid would be like oh cool, chase smaller animal and run out in the street. Or worse see a Labrador retriever and go into his big bad dog act.

[Hemmi]

So, it was a bad week at work last week. First of the year hell plus we had people out sick nearly every single day. I ended up working overtime. On a holiday week (we were closed Monday) and that's nearly impossible to do since you have to actually work more than 40 hrs. My paycheck will be nice but I was so done with work when I left Friday. Told them do not call me this weekend. Now, I NEVER say that. I'm a people pleaser and usually don't care if they call me.

What happens yesterday? The first call woke me up to ask a really stupid question. How do we reboot the computer system? Really? You see that every single day when you log into it! You can either log in, log off, or reboot the system. Every time you go to log on you see the reboot option.

Then, they call late afternoon and want me to work for an hour. No, nope. I felt bad saying no but I did it for once. Well, I can't even say I feel all that bad. The people working the weekend all had 3 days off last week. In fact, everyone else had 3 days off but me so it was someone else's turn.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

As a casual observer I get the impression that both the US and the UK healthcare systems 'encourage' the use of Emergency Services over a regular doctor - that's crazy. Maybe its a cultural thing.

No, it's not exactly that. The population has doubled, tripled, quadrupled, but the number of hospitals have remained stagnant. My area actually needs two more hospitals, but it took 20 years to get ONE more. Requiring everybody to have health insurance reduced some of the pressure on our local ERs, as have additional Urgent Care outlets, but it still hasn't eliminated the problem. People put off going to the doctor until they are so sick, hospitalization is their only option.

Blossom, so sorry to read that you were sick AND THEN had all that hassle and concern at the ER. FWIW, unless the baby had a broken bone or has problems breathing, they wait until the on-call pediatrician arrives to see the baby. So giving up your place in line probably wasn't going to make any difference since you wouldn't see the same type of doc. I have no personal experience of hallway triage, but several experiences of family members in the ER until early morning hours waiting for a room. In some cases, there ARE rooms, but nobody there to staff them. If they get enough people waiting, then they call in more staff and open those rooms.

From my many experiences of visiting the ER, always assume you will be there for 8 hours. Take some entertainment with you. While I usually read, if I'm the patient, I just want to listen to relaxing music usually because I'm in pain and can't concentrate on reading.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Then, when the bus arrives, those people get in, then remember their check-in card, and go hunting for it, in 25 pockets, three bags, some wallets and purses, and the bus just stands there, after which the driver frantically tries to make up 5 minutes.

NYC public transit has mostly shifted to Metro Cards. You purchase a Metro Card at a station with debit or credit card, and specify how much you want on it. You swipe your Metro Card at a card reader at a turnstile to a subway platform, or dip in in a reader as you board the bus, and the fare is deducted from the amount on the card.

NYC now has a new wrinkle called Select Bus service. On routes where it runs, you use your Metro Card to pay the fare before you even board the bus. The machine where you dip your card to pay gives you a paper receipt you are expected to carry and present if asked. It makes service faster because you don't have a line of people paying as they board - you just board via an open door adjacent to the driver or midway down the bus.
______
Dennis

[Dazrin]

We've just gone to a tap system where you are supposed to have a refillable card you just tap as you either enter the station (trains) or get on the bus. I have had a monthly pass for years and never needed to do anything other than carry it with me unless I was asked to show it or was getting on the bus (very rare for me) but now they expect us to tap each time I get on a train and I am having a very hard time remembering that.

It says "valid till <end of the month>" but they still want me to tap it each time. If the reader says "valid till <EOM>", why do I need to tap it again? I was given a warning a couple weeks ago about that. Grrr.

(The reason they give is so they can track riders for, supposedly, only their own internal purposes but I hate giving them that sort of information. The time, date and specific location I get on the train is all tracked and there is no opt-out for that.)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Blossom

This has just started in the last ten years. I've never seen anything like it. If your blood tests are fine then you are fine. They don't care that you're in severe pain because your blood tests say you are perfectly fine. And they can't be bother finding the cause that's for a real doctor to do. The real doctor will tell you to go to the ER. It's a never ending loop and meanwhile the bills mount up and doctors get richer while the nurses get worn out and not care anymore.

Sent from my XT1528

There is also the problem or reality that even with the advent of mass health care, whatever, that some folks flood the County health system, here, because they can basically just not pay. Our County Hospital system is set up for indigent care. (This is how most folks who needed health care got health care, prior to the advent of OCare.)

So, in addition to those folks who, for whatever reason, go to ER or UC rather than their regular doctor, are those who go to the ER because they end up not paying.

Honestly, I don't understand the whole "put it off until you're in the ER" thing, myself. Nyet. A broken bone, or whatever, sure, but otherwise...I'd avoid it like the plague. I shattered my big toe, a few years back, and ended up waiting several days (so that I could hop into the shower and get clean, before inflicting myself on the docs/nurses), and ended up at an urgent care. That was bad enough. I'd literally have to be at death's door to subject myself to an ER trip, these days. 8 HOURS? No, thanks.

Hitch

[Tarana]

Hitch, it doesn't always pay to wait. I slipped and fell. Resisted going to ER. What could have been fixed immediately now can't be, so I have an unstable leg for life. It affects me every single day now, making going up and down stairs difficult and painful. Don't make my mistake yours. If it hurts a lot, get it checked out.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

F***, that sounds more like a war zone (been in a couple) and worse than some of the out of the way places I've lived in.

For most of the rest of world, the US healthcare 'system' beggars belief. I cannot understand how y'all put up with it. The highly regulated UK NHS system is not the only alternative as is often posited in the US. Indeed, only a few countries have anything similar. Most have a mix of universal government funding for the 'basics', and private (via insurance if you have it) funding for the 'extras'. As a casual observer I get the impression that both the US and the UK healthcare systems 'encourage' the use of Emergency Services over a regular doctor - that's crazy. Maybe its a cultural thing.

I didn't know what a 'GI Cocktail' was so I looked it up. Might interest you know the use of them is discouraged by the Aus&NZ equivalent of the FDA.

BR

Here in my section of Canada we're encouraged to go to the drop-in clinics for minor ailments, it's free either way so that's what we do. And we live right by a Children's hospital so emergency visits haven't been horrible and when my son severed the tendon in his index finger, the surgery was done as quickly as could be expected on a Sunday.

On the minus side my teenage daughter needs minor surgery on her big toe (nasty ingrown toenail that's not healing and keeps getting infected). She was told that they'd phone her a week before her surgery sent her home with a script for her current infection and another script for the *next* infection. As she's otherwise healthy, who knows how long she'll have to wait.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Hitch, it doesn't always pay to wait. I slipped and fell. Resisted going to ER. What could have been fixed immediately now can't be, so I have an unstable leg for life. It affects me every single day now, making going up and down stairs difficult and painful. Don't make my mistake yours. If it hurts a lot, get it checked out.

It wasn't a real option. I was cruddy, and badly in need of a shower. (Even if I'd been sparkling clean, I couldn't have driven to the UC, immediately after the injury.) I had some older scrips on hand, to manage the pain, AND, Mr. H was out of the state at a National shooting competition. I've fractured toes before, (more often than I'd like to admit) so...even though it was the big toe, I know enough to manage it for a few days until I could hop-hop-hop into the shower to get clean ENOUGH to manage the trek to the UC. It was, heck, 4-5 years ago now. The toe never did heal "right," not due to delay but because it was a communited non-displaced fracture, and the "bone" of the big toe is now dust, in that last joint, held kinda in place by the sac that surrounds the bone area. {shrug}. It suffered more by me rebreaking it, over and over, in the ensuing 9 months that it took to "heal" enough for me to wear a shoe. Annoying as crap, tell the truth.

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

It wasn't a real option. I was cruddy, and badly in need of a shower. (Even if I'd been sparkling clean, I couldn't have driven to the UC, immediately after the injury.) I had some older scrips on hand, to manage the pain, AND, Mr. H was out of the state at a National shooting competition. I've fractured toes before, (more often than I'd like to admit) so...even though it was the big toe, I know enough to manage it for a few days until I could hop-hop-hop into the shower to get clean ENOUGH to manage the trek to the UC. It was, heck, 4-5 years ago now. The toe never did heal "right," not due to delay but because it was a communited non-displaced fracture, and the "bone" of the big toe is now dust, in that last joint, held kinda in place by the sac that surrounds the bone area. {shrug}. It suffered more by me rebreaking it, over and over, in the ensuing 9 months that it took to "heal" enough for me to wear a shoe. Annoying as crap, tell the truth.

Hitch

Sympathy on the toe. I once broke the bone between my big toe and the rest of my foot. On a swing set and toe caught on the ground. I went one way, toe went the other. I didn't bother with the ER because I had a party to go to that night. My toe was the life of the party. I had no less than 6 emergency medical people look at that toe. All confirmed it was probably broke but where the break was nothing could be done.
The hardest part was Tuesday when I had to explain to the vice principal at school why I didn't have a doctor's note.
He then asked why I was at a party with so many medics. He thought I didn't date because I didn't have a school boyfriend.

[Rumpelteazer]

I just had my Spotify account hacked. I wanted to finish listening to a podcast I started last night and someone else was streaming music, not mine, to a device. I immediately changed my password and chose to sign out all active log-ins.

The hacker had also deleted my playlist, artists I followed and albums I had had added to my account. I managed to get my playlist back, I deleted to artists, albums and songs the hacker had added to my account. Now I just need to add back a couple of albums and songs.

I've also changed various passwords, including my Google and Paypal account. I'm so glad I refuse to link websites and apps to my Facebook account, God knows what they could have done if I had a habit of doing that.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Sympathy on the toe. I once broke the bone between my big toe and the rest of my foot.

The big toe is remarkably painful, and difficult, compared to all the other digits I've smashed, cracked, broken, sprained, etc. I'd be just as happy not to ever do that again--and the metacarpals, or whatever those are, in the foot? OISH.

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

The big toe is remarkably painful, and difficult, compared to all the other digits I've smashed, cracked, broken, sprained, etc. I'd be just as happy not to ever do that again--and the metacarpals, or whatever those are, in the foot? OISH.

Hitch

If I remember correctly I think the foot is metatarsals.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I just had my Spotify account hacked. I wanted to finish listening to a podcast I started last night and someone else was streaming music, not mine, to a device. I immediately changed my password and chose to sign out all active log-ins.

The hacker had also deleted my playlist, artists I followed and albums I had had added to my account. I managed to get my playlist back, I deleted to artists, albums and songs the hacker had added to my account. Now I just need to add back a couple of albums and songs.

I've also changed various passwords, including my Google and Paypal account. I'm so glad I refuse to link websites and apps to my Facebook account, God knows what they could have done if I had a habit of doing that.

Good you found out in time.

Smart choice to not use Google/Facebook or any other site to authenticate logins on a different site.

Now, I beg the question: why didn't the hacker change your password, e-mail, and/or other recovery options? You'd effectively have lost your account and Spotify would have to step in to recover or block it.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

(The reason they give is so they can track riders for, supposedly, only their own internal purposes but I hate giving them that sort of information. The time, date and specific location I get on the train is all tracked and there is no opt-out for that.)

I imagine they have to keep track so they are putting the buses where they need to be when they need to be there. If you're concerned about privacy, couldn't you pay cash to buy your monthly card?