Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!

Renting a car for a vacation. Even going through aggregate sites is useless. I can find 10 different "levels" of car (A,B, C or economy/mini/family, or budget/luxury or whatever), all of them showing one type of car "or similar (which are never similar or equal), and even so, when clicking through, oh this site asks you to pay extra for additional driver; that one for additional insurance; this rental agent asks for an amount per kilometer after X, yet another one is everything included but you have to add VAT, another one charges extra for a built-in (so not an option) satnav, here you pay extra cancellation insurance that includes Covid,....
Worst part is that I KNOW most of those rental companies are all owned by the same parent company. The only reason they "compete" is to not seem like a monopoly, and the only reason they make their prices so opaque is because they can so it makes good business sense to try and confuse you as much as possible.
I just want a car that's big enough for 2 and a large suitcase, with an airco and an engine that'll get up a hill. I don't give a rat's ass about anything else. Fuck if I know what the best choice is though.
 
My neighbor got two new dogs. Barky fucking dogs. The entire time I take Ralph out to go poop they aggressively bark at us. It unsettles Ralph and he forgets to poop half the time that he needs to. So we have to go out more often than I like. So the dogs get to bark at us more.... And about twice a week Ralph will sneak into my bedroom and crap in there.
 
On topic post:

Innocently munching down on M&M's. Suddenly, something among the M&M's doesn't feel like an M&M.

Oh crap, is that what I think it is...

Yep. Crown on lower right pried itself right off.

Just what I wanted to do this afternoon: go sit in the dentist's chair while they re-cement the former crown on as a "temporary".
 
This is a whine; just attended an online training session run by Provincial Scouts on topics that dealt with how to use our collaboration software, to better collaborate. Found some of it useful, but fuck me the disparity in resources is fucking sickening. My group is rural, the presenters is urban; they have 15 times as many youth and 5 times as many volunteers. They can do wonders with these numbers, so it felt like an hour long session of seeing what we don't have. The only thing that I can say we do better is, well, Scouting skills, what urban sees as advanced, rural sees as basic, so our adventures are a lot more fun!
 
Last edited:
Another day off. Another perfect day for biking. And I just...didn't. I stayed home, depressed, and played video games.

What's the point? I'm just a fat loser who's wasted his life, with nothing but my own useless nerd hobbies to continue to drown everything out.
I'm know this isn't quite the same thing, but I occasionally find that getting on the bicycle and riding a little changes how I feel about the days ride. Often, it becomes self-sustaining after a block or so as my perception changes.
 
I was meant to have a new and more aggressive pain procedure today. They called and said that they couldn’t do it due to a clerical error.

They performed the standard one I get twice a year so the good news is that at least they were able to help me.

I am disappointed/frustrated however as I was really looking forward to this new one to offer me better pain relief long term.
 
I'm sorry?
I have 0 interest going to Vegas, for work or otherwise. Even if I wanted to go I'll have 0 time to myself to actually do anything there by the sounds of the schedule I was given. Despite how the world has shifted in treating it like its over, we are still in a global pandemic and I don't really want to be flying anywhere. I wasn't asked if I wanted to go but rather told I had to. I've had to spend $200 already of my own money for this and after the clothes I'll need to buy and various other expenses work isn't going to cover it's going to be likely double that. Plane tickets they will be reimbursing but eventually whenever they get around to processing it so that's another $700 I'm out until they do.

And Monday is my Anniversary that I'll not be here for now.
 
I have 0 interest going to Vegas, for work or otherwise. Even if I wanted to go I'll have 0 time to myself to actually do anything there by the sounds of the schedule I was given. Despite how the world has shifted in treating it like its over, we are still in a global pandemic and I don't really want to be flying anywhere. I wasn't asked if I wanted to go but rather told I had to. I've had to spend $200 already of my own money for this and after the clothes I'll need to buy and various other expenses work isn't going to cover it's going to be likely double that. Plane tickets they will be reimbursing but eventually whenever they get around to processing it so that's another $700 I'm out until they do.

And Monday is my Anniversary that I'll not be here for now.
Okay, yeah, that's some serious BS and I'm sorry (for real this time).

If my work was sending me somewhere and I had no choice, they damn well better be covering all of the expenses involved.
 
I have 0 interest going to Vegas, for work or otherwise. Even if I wanted to go I'll have 0 time to myself to actually do anything there by the sounds of the schedule I was given. Despite how the world has shifted in treating it like its over, we are still in a global pandemic and I don't really want to be flying anywhere. I wasn't asked if I wanted to go but rather told I had to. I've had to spend $200 already of my own money for this and after the clothes I'll need to buy and various other expenses work isn't going to cover it's going to be likely double that. Plane tickets they will be reimbursing but eventually whenever they get around to processing it so that's another $700 I'm out until they do.

And Monday is my Anniversary that I'll not be here for now.
Who books fucking anything in Vegas in the summer? What mad person was involved in this decision?
 
Okay, yeah, that's some serious BS and I'm sorry (for real this time).

If my work was sending me somewhere and I had no choice, they damn well better be covering all of the expenses involved.
Plane and hotel are covered, as well as 50$ a day for food. Everything else will end up out of pocket though I'll try to get it reimbursed for sure.

Who books fucking anything in Vegas in the summer? What mad person was involved in this decision?

But yeah, I'm gonna fucking melt. It's been under 18°C/64°F so far all month here. Currently, the weather is calling for 41°C/105°F while I'm there. Another negative but I felt like I was dog piling already.
 
Last edited:
No, an umbrella. Works just as well.

Stay indoors as much as you can, try to figure out where the cheap buffets are, and keep track of ALL your expenses.
 
Here in Taiwan (and other southeast Asian countries, I think) it's considered quite normal to use an umbrella when it's sunny. Though women generally do it more than men. When you buy an umbrella here, they'll often ask you if you want one with a UV-blocking layer.
 
they'll often ask you if you want one with a UV-blocking layer.
This right here highlights the differences between Taiwan and the US in terms of customer service, and really makes me want to visit Taiwan.

In the US, if you buy an umbrella, more often than not it will be on a rack in a big department store, and nobody will ask you shit, because the closest employee to you will likely be the cashier. If you want to know if it's UV blocking, you'll have to read the tag which may or may not tell you anything.
 
Here in Taiwan (and other southeast Asian countries, I think) it's considered quite normal to use an umbrella when it's sunny. Though women generally do it more than men. When you buy an umbrella here, they'll often ask you if you want one with a UV-blocking layer.
It took Jun a long, long time to stop using an umbrella here in the US.
 
My fedex driver is now so lazy all they do is take the packages out, set them next to their van in our driveway, and take off. I know I live in the middle of nowhere, but you could at least set it on the steps of our deck. That way if it does rain, it won’t sit in a pool of water.
 
It’s 5 feet away. It’s not going to make a noticeable time difference.
Yeah, it is.
I mean, obviously I can't speak for where you live and your driver. But in some areas, round times are literally down to seconds if you want to make it back within paid time. And if they're self-employed "working for" it's sometimes even worse.
Last mile drivers are, by and large, still a very exploited, underpaid and overstressed group.
 
It’s 5 feet away. It’s not going to make a noticeable time difference.
If his only delivery was to your house, sure. But he probably drops the stuff close to his van everywhere so he can make his quotas and deadlines.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be annoyed. It is shitty. It’s just that the driver probably deserves less blame than FedEx and their shitty policies.
 
This right here highlights the differences between Taiwan and the US in terms of customer service, and really makes me want to visit Taiwan.

In the US, if you buy an umbrella, more often than not it will be on a rack in a big department store, and nobody will ask you shit, because the closest employee to you will likely be the cashier. If you want to know if it's UV blocking, you'll have to read the tag which may or may not tell you anything.
This actually annoyed me a bit when I first came back to Taiwan after living in the US and UK for all my life. Every time I walked into a store, whether it's a big department store or a roadside stall, a shop assistant would come over and ask me if I needed help, and usually start recommending things despite not knowing what I was there to buy. I was all like, "WTF, I'm perfectly capable of browsing on my own, thanks."

I eventually got used to it when I realized that they know their store better than I do, and I can just tell them what I'm looking for and they'll make recommendations. I'll usually still browse a bit afterwards to see if I can spot a product they should've recommended but didn't, but overall I'm now saving time.

(And then when I lived in the UK for a year with my wife a couple of years back, we were all like, "WTF why is it so hard to track down a shop assistant around here? We have questions!")
 
This actually annoyed me a bit when I first came back to Taiwan after living in the US and UK for all my life. Every time I walked into a store, whether it's a big department store or a roadside stall, a shop assistant would come over and ask me if I needed help, and usually start recommending things despite not knowing what I was there to buy. I was all like, "WTF, I'm perfectly capable of browsing on my own, thanks."

I eventually got used to it when I realized that they know their store better than I do, and I can just tell them what I'm looking for and they'll make recommendations. I'll usually still browse a bit afterwards to see if I can spot a product they should've recommended but didn't, but overall I'm now saving time.

(And then when I lived in the UK for a year with my wife a couple of years back, we were all like, "WTF why is it so hard to track down a shop assistant around here? We have questions!")
I am old enough to remember when in the US, well at least Texas had full service shoe salesmen. I went to buy some cowboy boots a couple of years back and got pissed that there were no sales people to help me out. If I am dropping $200+ for some dead cow, I want some fooking help.
 
Top