We had a candy cane ornament on our tree that Phoebe, a one-pound ferret, decided was hers. She climbed up the tree and absconded with it. We got it back, put it back on the tree, and she climbed up and absconded with it again. We got it back, put it pack on the tree farther back on the branch than at the end so she couldn't just grab it.
She climbed up the tree, pulled the ornament down to the end of the branch where she could get it, and absconded with it again. We gave up. It was hers.
I have never lived with a ferret, but I imagine them smart and stubborn little guys. Kind of like cats, but with even better abilities to squeeze into forbidden spaces.
My then-wife and I once had a small tree like that one on the kitchen counter. A few days before Christmas, as we were... relaxing... in bed, we heard this ruckus from the kitchen. We sprang from our bed, naked, to see what was the matter, and there was the cat, so tangled up he was essentially wearing the tree. As I looked on, trying to figure out how to extricate him, my wife started to giggle. The cat's eyes were fixed on my loins, clicking back and forth like one of those mechanical cat clocks. I let her rescue the cat.
That Wonkitty is invited over to my house to just plain knock my tiny artificial tree over any time before January 30. (January 30 is my traditional 'Day of Repacking The Tree Because Who Gives A Fuck'.)
Kitty splat! Our first Christmas with Farrah, the tree lasted oh, I don't know... 6, 7 hours? 😃 We eventually just gave up trying. My first cat Thea was soooo good around the tree, and apparently spoiled us rotten! She used to love napping under the branches and sparkling lights. Maybe Farrah will get there someday? If so, there's your Christmas miracle right there!
So far, no shenanigans from any of my five feline charges, but only the lights are up so far. I imagine when I get to putting the ornaments on, some will find their way off again, with a bit of cat assistance of course.
sooo -the R's push 'alternate facts' lie, cheat and steal, and threaten anyone who opposes them with violence, and then when one of their own goes and turns on them using the 'god told me to' religious freedumb bullshit that must be protected at all costs, they ask 'when does it end' and clutch their fucking pearls? good job promoting terrorists to your own ranks guys, no notes.
"Biden fucked up the pardons though, and I’m not talking about Hunter, that pardon was absolutely reasonable and fine. The rest of these, after we yelled at him to pardon more people? What the FUCK"
I guess he thought we meant (or perhaps he just HEARD) "more White people"
Which has been a whole lot of the problem the whole time whenever Joe Biden screwed something up ... going all the way back to refusing to allow more witnesses after Professor Anita Hill to keep Clarence Thomas off SCOTUS
Link to a video about book "Wisconsin Death Trip." Perhaps knowing that we aren't that much worse than we were at the turn of the 20th century will make the next four years easier to bear.
Dear Wonkette, the WaPo changed its comment section for the worse, there's a lot of screaming by subscribers. I'm telling them to come here and give you money, hope it works.
Per the geriatric Connolly, he apparently deserved to win bc "experience." Yep, you'd sure hate to put a woman of color in the role who has experienced student loan debt & never being able to own a house.
And also more "capable". So I am going to demand that everyone I talk to today address me as more "capable" due to my having the same "qualifications".
So, I have a question for you. But first, an explanation. (TL;DR: a guy I work with might've gotten *way* out of line.)
We have a guy at work, who I'll call Problem Child. This guy and I have clashed a few times, but he's since stopped talking to me. (I think I finally put him in his place.) Unfortunately, he's now apparently targeting a work buddy of mine, who I'll call Work Buddy.
First, Work Buddy confides in me that Problem Child walked up to him and said something like, "If you want to get fired, come slap me in the face." (As far as I know, this was unprovoked.) Work Buddy reports this to HR, because WTF. HR does nothing, however. Then Problem Child decides to escalate things. From what Work Buddy told me, it looks as though Problem Child deliberately pretended to ram a package cart into him in retaliation for reporting the prior incident. Work Buddy, of course, reported this to HR as well, although I don't yet know the outcome. (I should find out soon, though; I'll be back at work tomorrow.)
Here's where I come in. I think the time has come to break the silence, because this has (from what I can tell) gone from work drama to the potential for workplace violence. On the one hand, I don't want to go behind Work Buddy's back; we've become fairly good friends. On the other hand, if I don't say anything to the managers, and if that lets Problem Child injure Work Buddy on-site, then I'd consider myself partially responsible. I think the best option would be to convince Work Buddy to tell a manager himself, so that management would at least be aware of the possibility before anything happens--and so that Work Buddy knows I didn't go behind his back.
So, the question: am I handling this right? It's Work Buddy's problem, really, but it's turned into something that could be *my* problem as well. I figure that, should any of this get back to Problem Child somehow, I can handle him myself; I have no problem standing up to him again. We also have a "see something, say something" policy w/r/t violence at work, so I should be in the clear as far as management is concerned. Should I get involved at all, however? Should I lean on Work Buddy to talk to the managers himself, so at least I'm not *directly* involved? I'm not trying to provoke Problem Child, or get him fired, but still.
I just had to go through HR's yearly training (slide show of lots of words) and decided I could probably pass the final exam without viewing it again. Even the *threat* of workplace violence must be reported to a supervisor within two hours, and there's a whole process for incident reporting and compliance. I passed the final with 91.2%; 85% is a passing grade. Best of luck.
This is not my area of expertise— whatever that is is probably still to be determined— but from my perspective, failing to say something is doing a disservice to everyone involved, even PC. And this would not be a matter of you getting PC fired, but PC getting PC fired if that’s appropriate.
WB might feel that saying something again is useless because it’s he said/he said. But having a third-party step in and say, I feel the time has come for me to speak up can put legs underneath that. Also, encourage WB to document document document. And if you feel like it’s a matter of going behind his back, then talk to him first. But don’t ask, because he’ll probably say no. Tell him that you have observed this situation, and it’s not OK, and you are required by company policy to say something. He will probably appreciate it. But even if he doesn’t, this is a matter of you doing the right thing.
That’s classic behavior of people who are being targeted by workplace bullies. They keep thinking it will get better, if they just keep taking another step back. It doesn’t work that way.
Thank you. I was thinking along similar lines, but I wasn't sure.
I'll talk to WB first and try to convince him that I'd be acting in his interests as well as mine. On the other hand, I'll also mention company policy--and step in regardless. I'll even tell him to document the crap out of everything that happens between him and PC. I'm documenting things in my own right, but anything I don't personally hear or see is basically hearsay. On the other hand, if PC does try anything with me, I'll document that too.
So he also needs to document the interaction with HR. Whom he spoke to, when, what was said. Tell him to put it in an email, and send it to his own email address off the work site. Tell him you know how tedious that is, and it’s probably the last thing he wants to do, because that makes it real. But do it anyway.
I think you’re at the point where trying to convince him of anything could go sideways. It will be cleaner if you just make a simple declaration that you feel you can’t keep silent about this, and you feel that PCs behavior is escalating and is potentially dangerous. Tell him that you’re talking to him about it first as a courtesy, but this is the action you’ve decided upon. Tell him you hope it won’t affect your friendship because you really value that.
Thanks for the follow-up. Yeah, I suppose he needs to document his dealings with HR as well. You may also be right about not trying to convince him of anything.
Bear in mind that I am an Internet stranger and what the hell do I know, but trying to convince him of something makes it seems like it is open for negotiation. I would not move ahead until you have that mindset that you know what you’re gonna do.
These things are never easy. But once you decide, it’s the right thing to do. It gets simple.
Also, your problem coworker is very deliberately looking for a victim. He pushed you, you pushed back, he moved along. He pushed your friend, your friend stepped back, and this guy is escalating, and he’s escalating quickly. I think you’re right to be concerned. This guy is weird. I would present it that way to HR.
I didn't mention the worst part, then: from first verbal confrontation (the one I paraphrased) to last known physical encounter (the cart incident), we're talking maybe a week, or a week and a half at most.
But yeah, dude's moving quickly. I don't even know what I'll come back to tomorrow, to be honest. Hopefully, things will be calmer, and I'll do what I have to do.
Hi Rebecca. Just wanted to share a post from Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket via beehiiv. I had gotten an email from the Substack founders yesterday trumpeting their plans to partner with Bari Weiss and her Free Press. I know Substack also supports (and monetizes) other Nazi and Nazi-adjacent publishers, like Bari Weiss. Because 10% of my subscription to Wonkette, as well as several other sites I support, ends up also supporting hate speech from other Substack sites, this is very troubling. This latest announcement seems like an escalation on the part of Substack founders to amplify hate speech.
We desperately need information we can trust from sources we can trust. I trust and admire all the writers and contributors to Wonkette. There are many other excellent, trustworthy sites published on Substack, which I also subscribe to. But, as with Twitter, when it became obvious it was descending into a fascist sewer, I had to bail. I hope Wonkette, and other reputable Substack publishers are considering their options, and possible move to some other platform which doesn't require subscribers to hand over a percentage of their subscription fee to Nazis. I hope you know how much I love Wonkette, and understand this isn't a criticism.
OK. So instead of subscribing, just send directly to the site owner you want to support? Does that then cut Substack out of the percentage they would normally take?
Wonkitty, doing what cats everywhere do. Many more examples at your hed gif link: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/classic-holiday-battle
And today’s meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/b7d8bac1-30f2-4f12-94ef-651c7d303855?utm_source=share
We had a candy cane ornament on our tree that Phoebe, a one-pound ferret, decided was hers. She climbed up the tree and absconded with it. We got it back, put it back on the tree, and she climbed up and absconded with it again. We got it back, put it pack on the tree farther back on the branch than at the end so she couldn't just grab it.
She climbed up the tree, pulled the ornament down to the end of the branch where she could get it, and absconded with it again. We gave up. It was hers.
well she wasn't wrong then, it was hers!
I have never lived with a ferret, but I imagine them smart and stubborn little guys. Kind of like cats, but with even better abilities to squeeze into forbidden spaces.
They are impressive reverse engineers.
Fortunately, they have the attention span of a two-year-old child.
My then-wife and I once had a small tree like that one on the kitchen counter. A few days before Christmas, as we were... relaxing... in bed, we heard this ruckus from the kitchen. We sprang from our bed, naked, to see what was the matter, and there was the cat, so tangled up he was essentially wearing the tree. As I looked on, trying to figure out how to extricate him, my wife started to giggle. The cat's eyes were fixed on my loins, clicking back and forth like one of those mechanical cat clocks. I let her rescue the cat.
I don’t dare put up a tree with bonkers kitten on the loose. I love the shower stall I saw around a tree.
She's very dainty, unlike my weirdos.
My daughter sent me this to go under the tree, but I'm afraid to leave it there lest Tater decide to piss on it.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/718aCIFNawL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
Mine is obsessed with electrical things so she would unironically chew on that.
Yay, Taters! My kid's cat is also named Tater!
Mine's a chiweenie.
That Wonkitty is invited over to my house to just plain knock my tiny artificial tree over any time before January 30. (January 30 is my traditional 'Day of Repacking The Tree Because Who Gives A Fuck'.)
Kitty splat! Our first Christmas with Farrah, the tree lasted oh, I don't know... 6, 7 hours? 😃 We eventually just gave up trying. My first cat Thea was soooo good around the tree, and apparently spoiled us rotten! She used to love napping under the branches and sparkling lights. Maybe Farrah will get there someday? If so, there's your Christmas miracle right there!
So far, no shenanigans from any of my five feline charges, but only the lights are up so far. I imagine when I get to putting the ornaments on, some will find their way off again, with a bit of cat assistance of course.
No shenanigans yet? I take it back: That's the Christmas miracle!
At least Wonkitty only knocked off an ornament. Shadow chewed on the tree - an artificial tree!
Naughty Wonkitty!
Nya~
Freddie piddled outside. I call that a win.
Freddie needs to go outside. Be back soon.
So it's been an actual full week since I got fired. Fuck New Seasons Market. btw.
sooo -the R's push 'alternate facts' lie, cheat and steal, and threaten anyone who opposes them with violence, and then when one of their own goes and turns on them using the 'god told me to' religious freedumb bullshit that must be protected at all costs, they ask 'when does it end' and clutch their fucking pearls? good job promoting terrorists to your own ranks guys, no notes.
"Biden fucked up the pardons though, and I’m not talking about Hunter, that pardon was absolutely reasonable and fine. The rest of these, after we yelled at him to pardon more people? What the FUCK"
I guess he thought we meant (or perhaps he just HEARD) "more White people"
Which has been a whole lot of the problem the whole time whenever Joe Biden screwed something up ... going all the way back to refusing to allow more witnesses after Professor Anita Hill to keep Clarence Thomas off SCOTUS
I'm afraid to look - what about Marilyn Mosby
Link to a video about book "Wisconsin Death Trip." Perhaps knowing that we aren't that much worse than we were at the turn of the 20th century will make the next four years easier to bear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGtGbffvhHc
Dear Wonkette, the WaPo changed its comment section for the worse, there's a lot of screaming by subscribers. I'm telling them to come here and give you money, hope it works.
I also posted this more than once, just so you know. I really hope it helps.
Per the geriatric Connolly, he apparently deserved to win bc "experience." Yep, you'd sure hate to put a woman of color in the role who has experienced student loan debt & never being able to own a house.
Wow - is that a quote?
Depressing
Yes.
And yes it is.
And also more "capable". So I am going to demand that everyone I talk to today address me as more "capable" due to my having the same "qualifications".
I bend the knee to your seniority, good sir.
I appreciate the shoutout of my article! Great roundup 🙌🏾
"Looks like North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has run out of fucks, which is hard because that man was BIG ON FUCKS! (WRAL)"
Honestly, I think most of it was manual labor.
If he was spending multiple hours every night in a dirty bookstore, trust me, he had help.
Without a doubt.
I'm Crazy for my Tab's and Coffee in the morning ☕ and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍
In the event that someone should need to look at a picture of trees in the moonlight, here you go: https://substack.com/@ontheotherhand124816/note/c-82075548?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=106di
Whose woods are those?
I think I know!
I love the wedding photos! The brides look so lovely, and the day sounds like a delight.
So, I have a question for you. But first, an explanation. (TL;DR: a guy I work with might've gotten *way* out of line.)
We have a guy at work, who I'll call Problem Child. This guy and I have clashed a few times, but he's since stopped talking to me. (I think I finally put him in his place.) Unfortunately, he's now apparently targeting a work buddy of mine, who I'll call Work Buddy.
First, Work Buddy confides in me that Problem Child walked up to him and said something like, "If you want to get fired, come slap me in the face." (As far as I know, this was unprovoked.) Work Buddy reports this to HR, because WTF. HR does nothing, however. Then Problem Child decides to escalate things. From what Work Buddy told me, it looks as though Problem Child deliberately pretended to ram a package cart into him in retaliation for reporting the prior incident. Work Buddy, of course, reported this to HR as well, although I don't yet know the outcome. (I should find out soon, though; I'll be back at work tomorrow.)
Here's where I come in. I think the time has come to break the silence, because this has (from what I can tell) gone from work drama to the potential for workplace violence. On the one hand, I don't want to go behind Work Buddy's back; we've become fairly good friends. On the other hand, if I don't say anything to the managers, and if that lets Problem Child injure Work Buddy on-site, then I'd consider myself partially responsible. I think the best option would be to convince Work Buddy to tell a manager himself, so that management would at least be aware of the possibility before anything happens--and so that Work Buddy knows I didn't go behind his back.
So, the question: am I handling this right? It's Work Buddy's problem, really, but it's turned into something that could be *my* problem as well. I figure that, should any of this get back to Problem Child somehow, I can handle him myself; I have no problem standing up to him again. We also have a "see something, say something" policy w/r/t violence at work, so I should be in the clear as far as management is concerned. Should I get involved at all, however? Should I lean on Work Buddy to talk to the managers himself, so at least I'm not *directly* involved? I'm not trying to provoke Problem Child, or get him fired, but still.
I just had to go through HR's yearly training (slide show of lots of words) and decided I could probably pass the final exam without viewing it again. Even the *threat* of workplace violence must be reported to a supervisor within two hours, and there's a whole process for incident reporting and compliance. I passed the final with 91.2%; 85% is a passing grade. Best of luck.
I'm not a hundred percent sure just what our policy entails, but you can bet that I'll look into that.
You *need* to get Problem Child fired. Right now.
This might be what does the trick, to be honest. Not a whole lot of places play around when it comes to workplace violence.
Yes. Let us hope so.
This is not my area of expertise— whatever that is is probably still to be determined— but from my perspective, failing to say something is doing a disservice to everyone involved, even PC. And this would not be a matter of you getting PC fired, but PC getting PC fired if that’s appropriate.
WB might feel that saying something again is useless because it’s he said/he said. But having a third-party step in and say, I feel the time has come for me to speak up can put legs underneath that. Also, encourage WB to document document document. And if you feel like it’s a matter of going behind his back, then talk to him first. But don’t ask, because he’ll probably say no. Tell him that you have observed this situation, and it’s not OK, and you are required by company policy to say something. He will probably appreciate it. But even if he doesn’t, this is a matter of you doing the right thing.
That’s classic behavior of people who are being targeted by workplace bullies. They keep thinking it will get better, if they just keep taking another step back. It doesn’t work that way.
Thank you. I was thinking along similar lines, but I wasn't sure.
I'll talk to WB first and try to convince him that I'd be acting in his interests as well as mine. On the other hand, I'll also mention company policy--and step in regardless. I'll even tell him to document the crap out of everything that happens between him and PC. I'm documenting things in my own right, but anything I don't personally hear or see is basically hearsay. On the other hand, if PC does try anything with me, I'll document that too.
So he also needs to document the interaction with HR. Whom he spoke to, when, what was said. Tell him to put it in an email, and send it to his own email address off the work site. Tell him you know how tedious that is, and it’s probably the last thing he wants to do, because that makes it real. But do it anyway.
I think you’re at the point where trying to convince him of anything could go sideways. It will be cleaner if you just make a simple declaration that you feel you can’t keep silent about this, and you feel that PCs behavior is escalating and is potentially dangerous. Tell him that you’re talking to him about it first as a courtesy, but this is the action you’ve decided upon. Tell him you hope it won’t affect your friendship because you really value that.
"So he also needs to document the interaction with HR."
So nice we're making the point twice
Thanks for the follow-up. Yeah, I suppose he needs to document his dealings with HR as well. You may also be right about not trying to convince him of anything.
"So he also needs to document the interaction with HR."
So nice we're making the point twice
Bear in mind that I am an Internet stranger and what the hell do I know, but trying to convince him of something makes it seems like it is open for negotiation. I would not move ahead until you have that mindset that you know what you’re gonna do.
These things are never easy. But once you decide, it’s the right thing to do. It gets simple.
Also, your problem coworker is very deliberately looking for a victim. He pushed you, you pushed back, he moved along. He pushed your friend, your friend stepped back, and this guy is escalating, and he’s escalating quickly. I think you’re right to be concerned. This guy is weird. I would present it that way to HR.
I didn't mention the worst part, then: from first verbal confrontation (the one I paraphrased) to last known physical encounter (the cart incident), we're talking maybe a week, or a week and a half at most.
But yeah, dude's moving quickly. I don't even know what I'll come back to tomorrow, to be honest. Hopefully, things will be calmer, and I'll do what I have to do.
https://www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe?ref=QQNqL9J36t
Hi Rebecca. Just wanted to share a post from Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket via beehiiv. I had gotten an email from the Substack founders yesterday trumpeting their plans to partner with Bari Weiss and her Free Press. I know Substack also supports (and monetizes) other Nazi and Nazi-adjacent publishers, like Bari Weiss. Because 10% of my subscription to Wonkette, as well as several other sites I support, ends up also supporting hate speech from other Substack sites, this is very troubling. This latest announcement seems like an escalation on the part of Substack founders to amplify hate speech.
We desperately need information we can trust from sources we can trust. I trust and admire all the writers and contributors to Wonkette. There are many other excellent, trustworthy sites published on Substack, which I also subscribe to. But, as with Twitter, when it became obvious it was descending into a fascist sewer, I had to bail. I hope Wonkette, and other reputable Substack publishers are considering their options, and possible move to some other platform which doesn't require subscribers to hand over a percentage of their subscription fee to Nazis. I hope you know how much I love Wonkette, and understand this isn't a criticism.
Oh, I saw that too. Yeah.
You can always mail your contribution to Wonkette directly to Rebecca. That is what I do.
OK. So instead of subscribing, just send directly to the site owner you want to support? Does that then cut Substack out of the percentage they would normally take?
Yes.
Wonkette
PO Box 38273
Detroit MI 48238
Thank you! I will contact the others I subscribe to and see if this is an option for them.
moi aussi