Venting

Argh.

So the Whistler has been on vacation since last Wednesday. I worked my butt off while he was gone, even staying until about 9PM last night trying to get things done before he came back today. This morning I tried to be nice and tell him how hard it was for me to do his job and how glad I was that he was back. It worked for a couple of hours, he was all laughing about it and saying stuff like, hey, it's a lot of work, and it's easy to forget stuff when you're not used to doing this every day like I am (because even though I stayed almost all night last night I still forgot to do something). Blah blah blah.

Then a few minutes ago he goes.. "Yeah, this glassware wasn't washed well enough, see the boiling stones are stuck solid to the bottom. It's all like that."

WELL EXCUSE ME FOR HAVING TO DO YOUR DAMN JOB AND MINE AND SOMEONE ELSE'S AND NOT DOING EVERYTHING PERFECTLY WHEN I HAD A TON OF OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES ON TOP OF YOUR CRAP.

OMG that made me so mad.

I just said, "Sorry, I'll try to do better next time."

But really... I wanted to punch him in the face. A lot.

Hallelujah!

The oldies station that the Whistler listens to has changed their format from oldies to classic rock. He is really mad, he says he doesn't listen to that music any more. They played Foreigner and he got all grumpy. So it looks like we'll get to listen to actual rock every day now, which means that the whistling will be extremely curtailed.. at least until he learns the songs that they play on the rock station.

I'll take it! XD

Also, a belated happy birthday to my niece, and a belated happy 4th of July! :D

Useless information is not so useless!

I made the Whistler's day today.
The radio station he listens to does trivia every morning, and they give out different prizes each week. This morning they were giving away a night's stay at a ski resort here in Michigan. He won it last year for himself, and was hoping to get it again this year, because he really likes to ski.

This morning's question was: "What was the name that Ferris Bueller gave when he took Sloane and Cameron out for lunch at the fancy restaurant?"

I knew it, and I had him call, because I heard that they were giving away that prize again that he wanted. He got it to ring, and tried to give me the phone, I'm like NO, it's the prize you want, you do it! So he waited, and when they answered, he told them what I said, and he got it right, so he won his prize.

We listened after, and three or four people had gotten through before him, and they were just guessing. One person said James Bond, another said his dad's name, and the last one before the Whistler said Tom Cruise. Silly people. Of course, the people that listen to this station probably haven't seen the movie as often as I have, it's one of my favorites.

What about YOU guys? Do you know the answer? :) No sneaky looking it up, now!

Whistler Quote of the Week

I think enough time has passed that I won't feel like a total jerk for posting this.

Background information: My boss is lactose intolerant, so he generally doesn't eat chocolate cake, or anything with milk chocolate in it.

Today the Whistler brought in brownies that he made last night. Of course he had to mention that he made them with Ghirardelli chocolate, but he had added in a lot of chocolate chips, I think they were Nestle milk chocolate chips. So he's been offering them to everyone, and our newest coworker walks in, and of course, "hey, there's probably three brownies left, better get one while you can!"

As he's eating the brownie, he has the following conversation with the Whistler.

Whistler: I thought about offering one to the boss, but I don't think he'd be able to eat it.
Other Employee: How come?
Whistler: There's an egg in there. He doesn't eat dairy.

I didn't know cows laid eggs.

Comments taken out of context are funny.

The Whistler: "I had a big one at home."




(he was talking about coffee)




(Honest.)

Two in one day?

And it's not even Christmas yet!

"She's not a team player at all, she has never helped me."

One-upmanship at its best: Another conversation with The Whistler

Long title for what was really a short conversation.

Him: I got KL (my shiny new abbreviation for his girlfriend, known from here on out as Keen Lover) her presents. I told her she gets two, and she was like, "Only two???" But hey, two is better than none at all!
Me: Yeah, well, hubby got me FIVE. And I got him five too, so we would have the same.
Him: *bluster* Yes, but two presents at a hundred dollars each.. blah blah blah (translation: Because you have more presents in QUANTITY, I must make up for this in total dollar value, I'm sure your presents didn't cost nearly so much as mine!)
*pause*
But of course, it's not about how much you spend..
Me: (under my breath) of course it's not, but you still had to bring it up anyway, didn't you?

He's been doing that a lot lately, like he thinks I'm poverty-stricken and need reassurance that a cheap gift is still a worthy one. *pat pat* It's ok to be poor. Oh, why THANK YOU for that! Bah.

In other (WoW) news..
Asara is now 79! We did so well with all of our present-wrapping that we were able to spend some time in WoW yesterday. Ran a couple of instances, got some new gear, all in all a highly enjoyable day. I also managed to get Saraabi up to 71, and have some fun with the Winter's Veil achievements. I may even do the PvP one, but I don't know. I die a lot in PvP, and to have to finish up a battleground after getting only one or two achievement-qualifying HK's, or worse, none at all.. not the best prospect in the world right now. I do want to do the Ogri'la one on a reindeer though. I've got lots of holly stored up, so even if I do get dismounted a few times, it shouldn't be a problem. Hubby has some snowflakes for me, so I'll be finishing up that particular one this evening, providing Dalaran is as busy as it usually is. I got all of the alliance ones over the weekend, gotta find some hordies to sprinkle snow on! I also still need to find the rest of the "brothers" and toss them some Mistletoe. I found everyone in Stormwind, it's time to do some traveling! :)

Just don't know when to shut up, do you?

It's been a while since my last Whistler story, but boy do I have a doozie here that happened yesterday. Hubby's probably tired of hearing about it, since I told him already, and was still venting about it last night when we went to bed because I was so mad. But I wanted to share with you all too, so here we go.

One of the things that annoys me about this guy is his elitist attitude. I'll be talking with someone else in his hearing about oh, say, that I'm going to get McDonald's for dinner on my way home. He'll butt in about how he just can't eat fried food, that it makes him sick and stuff. Halloween just past, he always has to mention about how he doesn't like Hershey's chocolate, because it's "cheap", he only likes Dove chocolate. So it's sort of become a running semi-joke between us that I'm burgers and fries, and he's escargot and veal tenderloin. I try to laugh it off when I can, but it does bug me that the things that I find delicious are "beneath him". This applies to more than just food, but that's the one that comes up the most.

So yesterday he's talking at me about what his girlfriend wants for Christmas, and he says she wants a pair of Keans (I think that's the right spelling), and he asks me if I've heard of them. I say nope! He says, well, of course you wouldn't they're really expensive, like $150 a pair, and prattles on about how he told her that she could buy them for herself if she wanted them that badly because he wasn't going to spend that kind of money on a pair of shoes.

Excuse me?

Of course I wouldn't know the brand because they're pricey?

Up yours, buddy.

I called him on it too, I told him I was kind of offended that he'd just outright say that the reason I don't know about these shoes is because they're expensive. He just kind of went, yeah, well, ok.. and went back to talking again. No sorry, no nothing. I may not be Mrs. Haute Couture 2008, but I'm familiar at least in passing with most of the well-known designers.

He did apologize this morning for offending me. So maybe I'll give him another week or two before I haul off and punch him in the face, what do you think? :D

Being obstinate makes you look stupid.

I was minding my own business at work, while the Whistler was on the phone. Of course, he can't just have his phone conversation and get back to what he was doing, he has to tell me what he was on the phone about. He says to me..

"I never got my dental insurance card, so I called to ask for a new one."
Me: Um, yes you did, I gave them to you.
Whistler: (shows me his wallet) No I didn't!!! I got the two from the health insurance, but I never got dental ones.
Me: Yes.. you did. I handed out big packets of information on the dental insurance, and your cards were attached to the bottom of the first sheet.
Whistler: Oh, I bet I threw that away! (looks through his paperwork and finds the packet, but the bottom - where the cards were - has been cut off) No, here it is.. See, this is where the health insurance cards were, and I HAVE those, but not the dental ones!
Me: No. Your health insurance cards came in the mail. They're plastic. The dental ones were right there, they were paper, I remember when you got them. Another coworker got her packet, and I told her about the cards, and you went, "Oh! I didn't see there were cards down there!" and cut them out.
Whistler: Oh.. I should still have them then.. (looks through the rest of his wallet).. oh. Yeah, I do have them.

Another gem from the Whistler.

I hate to bump down my post from this morning, but I have to share this one.

He says to me, "You know that guy who works on the meat dock?"
Me: "Yeah..."
Whistler: "I asked him today if he was Mayan, and I think I offended him."
Me: "Well, maybe it would have been more diplomatic to just ask him where he was from..."
Whistler: "Yeah, I did, and he said an area.. that didn't mean anything to me at all, so I asked if he was Mayan. I still think he is, or at least he's of Mayan descent. I mean, he doesn't have any body hair at all, and Mayans don't. They never have to shave or anything."

Dude.. I don't even want to know where that particular observation came from. To say "at all" in that context is not something I really want to think about, you know?

Ah, blessed relief...

Hubby went out and bought a new air conditioner for our bedroom last night. It sits on the floor, and it's HUGE, but it works really well. It was so nice and cool in there, I felt perfectly comfy with my blanket on, so I slept a lot better. I'm still tired from having to get up early, but I haven't had my morning caffeine yet!

My web browser is acting up this morning.. I think it's time for a virus scan!

The Whistler is in for the morning, and already bragging about stuff. He's going to Seattle for vacation, and he talked to the people he's going to be staying with while he's up there (because why stay in a hotel when you can sponge off people you know). Apparently they offered to let him stay there as long as he wants, either at their house, or at their beach house. Yep, you've made it quite clear many times that all of your "friends" are rich, buddy, you don't need to keep rubbing my face in it. When you've got your own beach house, then we'll talk, ok?

Coworker Story Time!

I know I'm not the best storyteller in the world, but bear with me here.

The scene: I am sitting at my desk, The Whistler is sitting across from me blathering on about giving blood and how he hasn't done it in years, but if he were to go live in Africa he'd stock some of his own blood there so he didn't get AIDS. One of the newer members of the department walks in at this point, and she only caught the last few words of what he said. The following conversation ensues (more or less, I've been interrupted in my typing a few times now, and the details are slipping, lol).

New Coworker: Who's got AIDS??
Whistler: Third World Countries. I was just talking about giving blood and how I'd want some of my own blood on hand if I were to live in Africa.
New Coworker: Oh.
Whistler: Anyway... you want some of the good stuff? (points down into his lap)
The new coworker just stands there and stares at him for a minute. My jaw hit the floor.
Whistler (embarrassed): Oh.. um.. THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I was offering you the CHAIR, you pervert!
New Coworker: OH! I didn't even know what to think, "You want some of the good stuff" and you're pointing down at your lap!
Whistler: I can't believe you would think that! You're sick! I didn't even mean that.

Now, she's on her feet most of the day, so I understand he was trying to be nice and let her sit down. But come ON! I just kept my head down and tried not to laugh out loud. It was VERY difficult!!!

Will you please just SHUT UP??!

I work with someone that I would love to nominate for the Worst Coworker of the Year award, if such a thing exists.

Let me break it down for ya.

When I first started here, things were a great deal different. There were no radios allowed in the plant, so it would be just me and him in the lab, doing our various work things. Fine, right? Sure. Then he started whistling. I believe the song is called "Annie's Song", the only thing I associate it with is a scene in My Best Friend's wedding when all the boys suck helium out of balloons and start singing it. Anyway, because we had no radio, every day, at least four or five times a day, he would start whistling. I would have to leave the room because he would just do the first part over and over and over. After a few months I couldn't take it any more. So when he would start whistling, I would start whistling along. He would usually stop.

Besides this, he's a big talker. He likes to be the center of attention, so he always tells extravagant stories about his friends. They all have tons of money and tons of cool things, so every day he has to mention at least one of them and the cool stuff he did with them last week/month/five years ago. Today it was about a friend of his who died when he was only 26, "he just made too much money too fast for how young he was.. he was making $50,000 a year, and this was back in the 70's, you know, that was a LOT of money, we'd go over to his house and drink 3 or 4 bottles of $40 wine, that's like $150 a bottle these days." Other days it's how he went out on "the boat" with his friends, or maybe his friend who lives on a boat in Florida and lets him stay there for a week for free if he's down there on vacation, or his friend with the business credit card with no limit who took him and his buddies out for dinner at some fancy restaurant and bought them sooo many rounds of drinks. Or his friend in the wheelchair who doesn't have to work, he just sits at home all day and plays around with his computer, and my coworker goes over there now and again to take him out (at his friends' expense, of course) and relieve the monotony for him. The guy could go on for hours.

I'm long past the point where I thought any of this was interesting, or cool, or whatever. I make noncommital noises and nod my head when appropriate, but he still just keeps going. Never realizing that after 8 (almost 9) years, odds are I've probably heard that story before. More than once. I'm just stuck in here day after day, desperately hoping for laryngitis or at least my own office.

And the whistling? That never stopped. Except now we've got a radio in the lab, so he'll whistle to that instead. Oh, but he makes his own tempo, he'll whistle the chorus in the middle of the verse, and heaven forfend there might be commercials because he'll be stuck on the same part of the last song that played until a new one comes on.

The Whistler. Reason 1 of many why I REALLY need a new job!

MaNiC mOnDaY ~ Over

This post is going to take me a while to type.. the tendonitis in my right wrist started acting up over the weekend, so I've got a brace on it. It usually takes a week or so to stop hurting, so I probably won't be extremely prolific this week. Expect a lot of YouTube :)

I had a very short weekend.. thanks to summer being the ideal time for having hot dogs, we always work a lot of overtime. This summer has been no exception, in fact we've worked quite a few Saturdays already. I'm really hoping that phase of production is over, because everyone is just getting exhausted, and one day to recover before having to get right back to work just isn't fair when you're working 11-12 hours a day.

I'm really tempted to find a new job, but I'm scared at the same time. After almost 9 years, I'm really getting tired of where I work now, but considering the state of the economy currently, I'm terrified of switching and then losing my job due to downsizing. As annoying as this place can be, I know they need me, and that's a small bit of comfort that I really don't want to be without right now. We'll see :)

And now, thanks to my super-annoying coworker, I have a question to end with (for now, I'll probably post a bit about WoW later). The radio station he listens to every day mentioned something about giving away a suite at a Tigers game. This guy says "hey, that would be great to win, a suite!" And I replied, "yeah, but you'd have to watch the Tigers!" I say that because I'm not a huge fan of baseball.. it seems like a lot of time invested for little return, most baseball games I've seen have not been overly interesting. So I wouldn't enter this contest because I would rather the prize go to someone who would really want to watch the game. He, on the other hand, would, because he would rather have the service and amenities of the suite, and never mind the game. He also expressed interest in tickets to game 5 of the Red Wings' current series for the sole purpose of selling them.

What would you do? Enter the contest and fill a suite with a bunch of people who are just there to chitchat and have free food, or leave it for someone who would enjoy both the suite AND the game?