When I was living in Erie, I went shopping with my roommates. We went grocery shopping, which was something we did about once a month.

One of my ‘mates was this big burly man named Mark. He was a silly guy. Drank Pepsi cola like no one else alive. Perhaps twelve bottles a day. It was his way of coping as he distanced himself away from his drug abusing past.

A coping mechanism. I get it.

Well, as I checked out and had the groceries, Mark was no-where to be found.

We looked and looked, until he finally came out one hour later.

He strolled up to the car.

We asked “where the fuck were you?”

And he said “I don’t want to talk about it”.

But, later on he did.

It turned out that he was drinking a Pepsi in the store, and instead of taking the empty bottle to the checkout counter, he placed it on a shelf. And it was caught on the CC television video system, and the store detective nabbed him.

As he was on parole, this could have gone very badly for him. But… life is strange. It turned out that the store detective was a classmate of his, and after the mandatory beat-down, they warmed up and kicked-back and shared memories and stories.

Life is sometimes like that.

I am sure that Mark has since thought long and hard about this kind of “store grazing” behavior. I like to think that he is a better person for it. Ah I hope.

As I review my life, I am constantly amazed at how many times coincidences seem to intertwine the threads of our lives together.

Today…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever bought something at a garage sale that turned out to be unexpectedly awesome?

Not quite a garage sale. A good friend, “ George” was a coin collecter, who noticed a small ad in the local News paper. “ selling late husbands coin collection – make an offer.” With nothing else to do that day he called and went to see the lady. He started to poke through and told her he need a bit of time, but he found 3 coins he wanted, for himself. He said to the lady I will buy these three right now, on the condition that if anyone else calls you tell them the “ entire collection is sold “ she said but you are only buying 3 coins what about the rest, what do I do. He said “ I will sell them for you, please give me a chance” She reluctlently agreed. He paid $300 cash each for the coins he picked out. He saw that the lady was not to well off and had lost her husband. He sat down and selected 10 coins, wrote down what they were and description, and said he would sell them for her. He was in touch with her every day, and about 10 days later, he went to see her and told her he was able to get a decent price for 3 of the coins he left with. he handed her $8000.00. and confirmed he would sell all of the coins that she had. She said as she was going through her late husbands things she had found other coins. She really had no interest in the coins and said they had taken up so much of her husbands time away from her. George told her that her husband loved her more then she knew. In about one year, he had sold off the entire collection of coins for just over $450,000.00 A few of the gold coins he told her to keep for herself.

 

 

What was your most embarrassing moment in a retail shop?

My wife loves a deal. If they offered a free toaster with an Aston Martin, I might be driving my dream car.

So we were on vacation in Athens and she pulled off a haggling master stroke – a bag, a dress, and a speedo (hey, it was Europe) and got them to knock a few hundred euro off the price. All she said was, “is this the best price you can do?”

And this was at Dolce & Gabbana!

So, while on a business trip in Venice, I decided to pick two things up for my wife:

A dress and a deal.

At Prada!

I found the perfect dress. Something she definitely wouldn’t buy herself, but would look great on her. It was pricey, but I had my ace in my sleeve. My all-purpose Euro retail haggling pass.

The saleswoman approached me. I explained that I wanted the dress. She was pleased with my selection.

And then I did it.

I whipped out my haggling secret weapon, with Blue Steel swagger, and an expectant attitude.

“Is this the best price you can do?”

She paused and just stared at me.

I’m thinking, haha… didn’t see that one coming did you?

She keeps staring. She wrinkles her brow, like she’s computing the speech in her head.

Now I’m getting worried.

Then, she has a moment of clarity.

“Oh, are you trying to negotiate?”

She’s says it like I’m some 9 year old kid who just asked his 24 year old babysitter to be his girlfriend.

Me: (trying to stay cool) “Well… um, yeah…. You know. If there is any room for…..”

Her: (interrupting but sincere) “We don’t negotiate at Prada.”

I paid full price for the dress.

Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?

Ordered 4 new bras from an online shop, ended up receiving 32 new bras, none of which were the color I had ordered.

The receipt in the box was tallied for 8 bras with a note that they’d been running a promo the day I ordered that they were buy 1 get 1 free. I don’t even want to fathom how 8 turned into 32, but when I called the company to get a return label the gal informed me that the bra sale had actually been buy 1 get 2 free, which should have only been 12 bras, not 32, and who the heck gives away 2 forty dollar bras?

Got transferred to a different representative and was informed that the bras I was trying to return where non-returnable since they’d actually been discontinued and were now “on clearance” neither of them had addressed the issue that the bras I received were the wrong color (right size at least)

I was transferred yet again (gotta love “that’s not my job” employment opportunities) where I was quickly informed that they would send out the bras in the right color.

Fast forward a few days and I received 12 of the right size, right color bras. They had honored the buy 1 get 2 free sale apparently. I also received 8 additional bras in colors I hadn’t even known were available in my size as a “consolation prize” for my troubles.

So, 52 bras for the price of 4 at forty dollars each. I haven’t had to special order bras in years…

 

What are some skills possessed by software engineers at big companies like Google, that software engineers at no-name companies usually don’t have?

I’ve worked in software engineering for 20 years. I come from a no-name college in India, and my grades weren’t stellar. SO, getting into top tier companies was hard for me. Over 20 years, I’ve worked my way up, and I’m in Amazon now. On the way, I have worked in all kinds of companies: startups, mid sized companies, large multi nationals; and in all kinds of industries: consumer goods, healthcare, finance, education

First of all, Companies are tiered in terms of the skill levels of their engineers. They pretend not to be. Everyone claims that they hire the smartest engineers. WHat they mean is that they hire the smartest engineers that they can get. There is a definite differrence in Engineers working in FAANG companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google), I’ve seen all kinds of engineers

Here’s the kicker. The biggest difference isn’t in the quality of the code that they write. FAANG engineers, on the whole, write as buggy code as engineers in decent companies.

The biggest differentiator is Communication. When I was in mid-tier companies, I was constantly finding myself explaining and re-explaining things in great detail. In fact, I would say that at most companies at mid-tier level, your success as an engineer depends on being able to drive people in the right direction by communicating to them.

There are 3 kind of people in tech. There are a) arguers:- people who will fight every point of view that isn’t their own, b) receivers: people who will try their best to understand what you are saying c) analyzers: people who start thinking critically while you are talking to them. Arguers are toxic. Receivers are good but slow. Analyzers are good and fast. In mid tier companies, you are more likely to find Arguers and Receivers, whereas in top-tier companies, you are more likely to find Receivers and Analyzers.

To be a successful tech company, you need to get in as many Analyzers as you can. Because these are the people who generate ideas. These are the people you give 2 and 2 and they figure out how to make 8. Not only that, with ANalyzers, you have to spend less time getting the team on the same page. Less miscommunication = Less rework = shorter turnaround = lower time to market = win.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying communication is bad. Communication is good. You need to make sure everyone understands what needs to be done. Communication is essential. All I’m saying is that in top tier companies, communication is lot more efficient. It’s like getting onto a highway. You are just going faster.

 

Have you ever told a ridiculous lie just to see how someone would react?

Not me, but my ex-wife, and I didn’t witness it. She told me about it several years after the fact.

My ex and I are both blind. As in without sight. One of the things you have to understand about blind people is probably something obvious. To wit, we don’t drive. We can’t. Has never happened and ain’t gunna ever happen; no, not ever. Another thing you have to understand about blind people is that sometimes sighted people will ask the stupidest questions or do the dumbest things. Usually this happens when we’re just walking along, minding our own business. One day this happened to her.

I can’t remember what she was doing at the time, but she was walking along, doing whatever errand she had to do, when this group of women happened to come upon her. One of them was obviously drunk.

“So,” said the drunk woman, “you’re blind, right?”

“Yes,” she said.

“So, um, like, how do you drive?”

My ex, who walks with a cane because she’s obviously blind, said:

“Well, I have two canes. When I drive, I keep one cane out the right window, and another out my left window. That way when I bump into something, I know when and how to turn.”

“Really?” said this other woman. “That’s amazing!” And she went on and on for some time about what an amazing feat this was,, while the other people she was with were laughing and calling her an idiot, which she so obviously was.

 

 

What is the weirdest thing people have ever done?

Probably convincing others that this is a good look. It isn’t — your lips look like a baboon’s anus swelling to indicate it’s ready for mating. I’ve never in my whole life met a single person, male or female, who appreciates this aesthetic. And yet I keep seeing it, with increasing frequency.

This weird bimbo-style… the heavy makeup… the facial fillers… and those God-awful inflated lips. Shudder. It’s horrific. So painful on the eyes that it makes one question the existence of the God who supposedly made our species in His image. The fake lashes don’t help, either… I mean why bother changing yourself in a way that isn’t genuine? I get going to the gym, working out or getting a tan, all those yield tangible results. But why alter yourself in ways that a single shower or missed injection could erase?

The weirdest thing people have ever done is invent this made-of-plastic bimbo aesthetic and promote it on social media as something to aspire to… it’s giving women in their twenties the appearance of elderly Hollywood stars in denial of their age. Turns the “girl next door” into whatever-the-hell-happened-to-Madonna. It’s an absolute travesty.

Who was the most ignorant American you have ever met?

Originally Answered: Who was the most ignorant person you have ever met in America?

This happened many years ago, but it is what came to mind when I read this question…

I was teaching class, and we were discussing the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Students were discussing their various thoughts on the situation.

One student stated, very loudly, “You know what really bothers me? All those people who are shouting and holding up signs…why aren’t they speaking English?”

I explained that it is unreasonable to expect people in a foreign country to protest in another country’s language. She didn’t understand what I meant, and the class was trying to explain to her that Arabic is the language of the people who were protesting.

After a while, I stopped everyone and asked her where she thought “those people” lived. She said, “I don’t know…near Arizona?”

That is when I realized that she thought the the Middle East was next to the American Midwest! I showed her where it is on the map, and she said, “Oh! Things make so much more sense, now!”

 

 

As a doctor, what is the best lie a patient has ever told you?

OK, here goes.

I’ve had some real doozies in my time.

The most intrepid drug seeker I have ever seen was Mr. C.

He walked in a very hunched-over posture, leaning on a walker, to elicit sympathy.

We would not even say his name, as that might bring the bad luck of the ER calling to admit him…AGAIN.

If one of my colleagues were to talk about him he would say, “Mr.” and then crook over his index finger.

We all knew who he meant.

This guy was the biggest pathological liar in the universe.

Every time I’d get a call from the ER his story was different.

He was a missionary, a teacher, a policeman, you name it.

His favorite was to tell people he was a former PA or MD.

ER calls….

“I’ve got a 68-year-old former doctor down here. He looks so decrepit that I think he needs nursing home placement.”

Right away, I knew who it was.

He went from hospital to hospital to hospital. I don’t think he had permanent address. Why would he?

“Uh,…I know who it is. He’s not a doctor. He’s a drug seeker.”

“No, Maureen, he’s such a nice guy. You must be thinking of someone else. I think he IS a doc.”

“Go ask him what a CBC is (complete blood count, a common lab test). I’ll hold.”

Off he goes.

“For Pete’s sake, he doesn’t know.”

“Ah…yup. Don’t give him any narcs.”

“OK. But he still needs admission because he has been having recurrent temperatures and can hardly walk.”

“Did you document a temperature?”

“No, he is afebrile.”

”Labs and imaging normal?”

“Yeah.”

“Wanna see him take up his bed and trot, upright, right out of there?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell him that Dr. Boehm will be admitting him. I’ll be happy to evaluate and treat any of his complaints. I won’t be giving any narcotics, however.”

Off he goes.

“Uh, he got up and left AMA.”

“Did he ask for a cab voucher?”

“Yeah.”

“He wants us to pay for his transportation to the next ER.”

Sometimes, I would come in and he had been admitted overnight by some unsuspecting doctor.

His nurse called me.

“Mr. C is very lethargic. He’s becoming hypoxic”.

“How can that be? He’s not getting any controlled substances.”

Well, he sure was.

He had called down to the OR and interrupted a surgery. He told them that he was one of our orthopedic surgeons. He demanded that a message be given to the Ortho PA.

“Why does Mr. C have uncontrolled pain? I want him on a Dilaudid PCA NOW!”

I walk in. Mr. C, not only has a Dilaudid drip running, in one of his groggy little hands he had a bottle of Percocet that he had brought from home. In the other hand, the button to deliver a hefty bolus of Dilaudid to himself.

He was “out” with a mouthful of half-chewed Percocet, the drip just dripping away with a hefty basal dose.

He could have killed himself.

Never have I relished the delivery of Narcan like I did that day.

One little squirt and he was wide awake and pissed that his nice “double” high was ruined.

After that we had to do a complete search of him and his stuff, with security, so he didn’t get away with it again.

I often wonder what happened to Mr. C after the new system was available to track and prevent his overuse of narcotics.

He couldn’t go to five doctors in a month and get narcs from all of them. He couldn’t go ER to ER.

I just don’t know what happened to him.

What’s the etiquette for feeding a babysitter? They’re looking after your kids, so shouldn’t you feed them?

When I was 15 I used to babysit these 2 super lovely Chinese kids every friday and saturday night. It was only ever for 4 hours, 8pm to midnight. The family owned the local fish and chip shop, that also sold Chinese food. Now I never got fed while babysitting, but the parents would pay me my time AND bring me chinese food to eat when I got home. Always asked me what I wanted when I went to the house. The were an awesome family.

Another time my GP asked if I would babysit his kids on new years eve, and stay over night. My mum agreed and he would pay me £50 for it. I got told to eat and drink whatever I wanted, watch whatever I wanted on the tv, and the room they let me sleep in also had a tv. Easiest babysitting job ever! The kids were in bed before I got there at 9pm, I was told to check on them at 10, 11 and midnight which I did. They never woke up, I got to eat junk food all night, and got paid for doing it. I was actually happier about the junk food and tv than the money. At home I wasnt allowed food between meals, junk food was never allowed, and forget about watching anything other than my mums choice of program on the tv.

 

Have you ever smelled something but only found the source of the smell a while later?

I was in the military (USAF) and until you reach a certain rank, you are assigned a roommate in your dorm room. I was stationed in Germany in a unit that traveled extensively 300+ days per year. Commonly we would travel 6 months, come back for a week or even a weekend, and then be back on the road. I was assigned a roommate whom I met… He was the typical “computer geek”. Greasy hair, showered infrequently, was a slob, almost never left the room when he was not on the road, and played a lot of the “Oregon Trail” computer game.

Mind you both of us were in the same unit that traveled a lot, but we were on different teams, so we traveled to different places at different times. One time after being gone 6 months in England, I came back to station, and opened the door to my room, only to be gagged by the smell. I set my luggage down in the hall and went to the communal bathroom, wet some paper towels, and covered my nose and mouth area. Then went back into my room to locate and remove the source of the smell.

At first glance everything seemed in order, but the smell was overpowering… I walked over to his side of the room and it got even worse. His bed was raised up on blocks that gave him a couple feet of storage underneath it, and I saw a shirt sleeve sticking out from under the bed. When I lifted up the bedspread, it reeked to high heaven, but all I could see was his dirty clothes. They were stuffed under his bed to the point that it took up all the room in under the bed! I couldn’t imagine that this horrific gagging smell was just his dirty clothes (although they did stink terribly), so I started reaching under there and pulling clothes out a handful at a time…. When I had pulled out about half the clothes, I found the source of the pugnant aroma.

At some point when he was stuffing all his dirty clothes under there, he apparently forgot that he had also put a half a pitcher of OJ under there as well. When he pushed more clothes under there, the pitcher of OJ got pushed back into the middle of the pile of clothes. I had been gone 6 months and come to find out he left the week after I did! That OJ sat in that pitcher in the middle of his stinky clothes for basically 6 months, rotting! It was a solid black and green mass all around the outside with Orange pulp in the middle, and OMG did it stink. I was gagging and running to the outside trash can holding the pitcher behind me to get rid of it once and for all! Once it was gone, I went back to the room. I stuffed all of his dirty clothes into big black garbage bags, zip tied them, and put them back under his bed.

When he got back the following week I was already gone again, but I left a note for him and told him what had happened and what I had had to do! I also told him if I ever come back to something like that again, that I would be turning it in and reporting him to the First Seargent! It neverhappened again. (THANK GOD!!!))

strong independent woman instantly REGRETS their lifestyle

https://youtu.be/7UoWgu6zCoc

What was the meanest thing someone has ever done to you? And did you ever get revenge?

When I was a toddler my father had an affair. The woman started calling our house and tormenting my mother in order to break up the marriage. My mother wasn’t emotionally stable. After a certain time each evening, she knew that her friends and family wouldn’t be calling so late, and when the phone rang my mother would cry, wail and scream. I remember answering the phone myself in an attempt to stop my mother’s over-the-top reaction and at some point learned to leave the phone off the hook but my mother didn’t leave it that way for long. On some level, she liked the drama I guess. This went on for months. I’d have been 3 or 4 when this was happening. It was very traumatic for me because I had no idea what was going on until much later. In my pre-school mind, the threat on the phone had to be very dire and worthy of my drama momma’s reaction. I was absolutely terrified. I’d wake up many nights to answer the phone and cry “please don’t hurt us” into the phone, but she didn’t stop until the divorce was done.

30 years later, my father dies, leaves that woman a penniless widow, which was the result of gross financial mismanagement because he’d had money and didn’t support those of us in his first family (a man could get away with that back then). The one thing she has is a lawsuit for his death. It’s a good case. The payout is potentially large but that’ll take years in court and may never payout as the company responsible will probably go bankrupt. The defendant has offered settlement and would payout quickly but the only requirement is that all of his heirs agree to accept the settlement and agree not to sue separately at a later date.

But I don’t need money and I’ll never sign. I’ve been getting certified letters for years asking for my signature. They’ve threatened to have me arrested (which was clearly a ruse) for refusing, offered me cash to sign, on one occasion her grandson connected with me on social media explaining that she needed a new roof and could I please sign off on the settlement and I ended up blocking his whole family. Last year I got a letter that the county was going to auction her house for non-payment of taxes. She is probably living with one of her kids and collecting social security so not quite homeless but I still feel like I’ve gotten a little revenge.

 

What is the sneakiest thing you did to get back at an awful neighbor? Did you get caught?

Many years ago I lived in an inner suburb of Sydney, in a terrace house.

The next door neighbour was an alcoholic bricklayer. Call him Don.

Don had decided to do some extensions, or renovations, and had three pallets of bricks dropped off in front of his place. They partially blocked the footpath and leaned outwards, dangerously overhanging the road.

One of the.pallets was in front of our house. Effectively our parking was blocked and the footpath was hard to negotiate.

The first Saturday they were there I knocked on his door, (interrupting a fight with his wife as he had accidentally lost her car the previous night, as far as I could work out he had parked it near a brothel and could not find it when he staggered out) and offered to help him shift the bricks around the back. He declined and said he would get to them during the week.

A few weeks went by. I offered again to help shift them, and got told to f off. I explained they were dangerous and inconvenient. Got the door slammed in my face.

I complained to the local council, and I suppose they sent him a letter, but the bricks remained.

By this time the bricks had been there about four months. The pallets were deteriorating and the stacks leaning. It was getting more dangerous by the day. It was only a matter of time before they collapsed on a car, a person or the busy road.

I wrote up a couple of large signs “ free bricks, help yourself” and put them on the pile about 6:am on a Saturday morning.

By the time Don surfaced around 11, there was probably half a pallet or so left… which he moved to his back yard.

I go

 

Could swingeing EU import tariffs on Chinese EVs trigger retaliatory action by China?

Of course.

Without a doubt. Any unfair action by the EU Will be met by an action that U.S. fairer but with a much bigger consequences to EU. Let that be a solemn promise.

Europe will have to suffer a total collapse of the automobile market if it dare to try any shit. Don’t forget that many European cars companies are surviving only due to the Chinese market and consumer. And the reason it still can compete is only due to its production efficiency and capacity of its plants in China!

DIY for a boyfriend

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K2PCi8qiZS4?feature=share

What was your biggest “I never thought of it in that way before!” moment?

Years back, I sat in a sombre home where a young man in his 30s died untimely in an accident.

I, along with my family, went there to pay respects.

Sitting on the sofa I was nudged between two middle aged women who were discussing the next course of events.

“I heard Sheela is going to go to her maternal house to stay! How would Usha bear this? First she lost her son and now with the daughter-in-law gone she will lose her grandchildren too.”

“That’s true! I had the same reaction when I heard about it. We must put some sense in Usha and stop her from letting Sheela go.”

When Usha aunty came towards us, these two woman grabbed her and made her sit with them, squeezing me.

They then narrated their opinion on the grieving mother and stopped her from taking a ‘foolish’ decision and going against a tradition where the widow usually stays with the in-laws.

After listening to their valuable advice Usha aunty spoke.

“True, I lost my son. But Sheela has lost her husband too. A person she vowed to spend her old age together. A person who was a loving parent to their children. Sending them away to her parents place will surely make me sad and lonely but it would be a much needed change for Sheela. At this time, she needs her parents the most. If she stays here, this house would remind her of him everyday. At her parents place, she would slowly come back to her usual self soon. I lost my son. I don’t want to lose my daughter because of some tradition.”

The two women were speechless, so was I. I hadn’t thought of it in that way either. Usha aunty left and consoled her daughter-in-law who sat in a corner with a pale and teary face.

That day it was just a conversation I unknowingly was a part of. But today, I think what Usha aunty did was so right.

Thinking about someone else in the event of your child dying, needs immense amount of courage and determination.

Sheela di did recover soon and moved back to her loving mother-in-law’s house and now cares for them as their daughter.

Unconditional love surely goes a long way.

 

What’s something a police officer knows that would scare normal people?

Seeing how quickly and unexpectedly you can die.

Man went to McDonald’s — which was a treat — for his family’s dinner, and on the way back, was broad-sided in the driver’s door. He’s dead in the driver’s seat and his family’s dinner is all over the front of the car. When he didn’t come back, his 10-year-old son went looking for him on his bicycle and came up on the accident scene. The child climbed into the wrecked car and was hugging his dead father. We weren’t going to stop him, and the fire department stayed longer than they normally would have in case there was any unexpected fire.

Another officer took the child home in his police car and informed the wife of what had happened. Prime example of one of those evenings when a cop skips dinner because he has no appetite.

The driver that hit him was a teenager who had just stolen a tank of gas from the local AM/PM Mini Market, and was being chased by the idiot store manager in his own car. We arrested them both, though that did not make the outcome any better.

The only decent thing that came out of it is that the owner of a local McDonald’s franchise read about it, came in the station and we helped him arrange to pay for an elaborate funeral. The owner insisted we not talk about it publicly; he didn’t want his kind act to look like a PR move. That is class.

 

What is the single most underrated trait a person can have?

J.K. Rowling had just got a divorce, was on government aid, and could barely afford to feed her baby in 1994, just three years before the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, was published. When she was shopping it out, she was so poor she couldn’t afford a computer or even the cost of photocopying the 90,000-word novel, so she manually typed out each version to send to publishers. It was rejected dozens of times until finally Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, gave it a second chance after the CEO’s eight year-old daughter fell in love with it.

Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so NEVER GIVE UP on yourself.

This Thing Is About To POP: Putin, Biden and The Trainwreck

Rumble and murmurs inside the USA…

https://youtu.be/zOSCVc0KZKU

 

Have you ever witnessed an “I demand to see the manager” moment?

This was one that I witnessed, but wasn’t a part of.

I was working in the hardware section of a department store, right beside the sports department.

Straightening up/stocking the shelves just near the boundary between the departments, I saw a fellow salesperson talking to a customer with his small son. The child was bored and started to wander around, touching everything he could reach.

After a couple of minutes, the other salesperson saw the child start to try to climb a display of weightlifting equipment. He quickly excused himself and rushed over to the child, not touching him but gently suggesting that the boy not climb on anything and particularly not on the heavy weights.

The father turned around and seeing what was happening was incensed.

“How dare you tell my son what he can and cannot do! Who do you think you are?”

“I was just trying to keep him safe.” said the salesperson. “The weights are heavy and he could hurt himself.”

“Oh really? You have no business disciplining my son. I want to see the manager to complain.” said the father.

By this time, the child, seeing that he was again being ignored, went back to the weight rack and started to climb again.

The father fumed on at the unlucky salesperson.

And just at that moment, the rack of weights, unbalanced by the child fell over on top of him, a couple of weights pinning him to the floor.

He started crying.

The father started ranting about suing the store.

I later heard that he lost because the salesperson had tried to stop the child from climbing and had been forbidden from doing so by the father.

 

What did your boss ever say in the office that caused you to resign?

I got a performance review that ripped me up, down and sideways, and was totally unjustified. I refused to sign it and requested a second meeting later that afternoon. I attended that one armed with statistics showing how I had reduced the work ticket backlog on our software library from over 800 to just 2.

Now, a little technical explanation. This was pre-Windows. We had a software library written in Microsoft Pro Basic. Everything worked for the most part when I took it over, except it was slow. I fixed the outstanding bugs, then went looking for the cause of the slowdown and I found it: type declarations.

There were none. If a variable name ended with a $, it was a string. Otherwise, it was a number. But there are all kinds of numbers, and the default was double-precision floating point. Microsoft made a big deal about how indexes and array subscripts should be integers and pointed out that it was a speed deal. I went through, explicitly defined all variables and made sure that anything used as a loop index or array subscript was declared as either a short or long integer. Massive increase in speed. Calculations that used to take 20–30 minutes now ran in a minute or less.

Now, back to the meeting. I pointed all the improvements out to him, including comments from customers praising the improvements. He looked at everything and had the gall to say that my review was not going to be changed. I walked back to my office, made a couple of phone calls and had a job, paying more, starting the following Monday. I then edited the library and took out every one of the integer or long type declarations, recompiled the new version and saved everything into the distribution folders. I cleaned out all my work directories so that what I had done was not readily available, then walked by his office, tossed my keys on his desk, said I quit and walked out.

 

What did your boss ever say in the office that caused you to resign?

I had applied for a promotion that I was overqualified for. Had a great track record of mentoring new employees, working above and beyond, coming up with great ideas. I had been in the position for 7 years and with the company for 11.

My manager and supervisor told me that I wasn’t “ready” for this promotion (a 6% raise) and that I could try again next January. I told them “there would not be a next January”

Fast forward a few months, I was already applying for jobs and went on a few interviews. My manager and supervisor called me into a meeting to let me know one of the males on the team who have been at the organization and position for 2.5 years was getting the promotion (it was a promotion multiple people could get). When they asked me if I had any questions I said “No – his promotion doesn’t age t my career”

1 month later when I was putting in my 2 weeks notice for a company giving me a 30% raise my manager and supervisor asked me what they could do to retain me…I say nothing.

Left the job May 2021 and it was the best decision ever. Never knew I could get such a big pay bump for NOT being loyal to a company.

Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?

Not me, but my dad.

And if you are going to do it, this is the way. Not by shooting somebody or anything else.

My dad was a small builder. A few houses a year. He enjoyed it and it made him good money in retirement. He was building one of the only spec houses (not already sold when he started) he ever built.

One night, when the house was almost done, the furnace and airhandler disappeared from the garage. No signs of breaking and entering.

Now it takes a couple of hours to remove all of this w/o damaging anything. So my dad quickly guessed that his HVAC contractor (one he had never used before) had made a copy of the key my dad had given him. Let himself in, opened the garage door. Backed his truck in. Closed the door. And got to work.

He told the police this. They talked to the contractor who denied everything and suggested my dad had done it to collect on the builder’s insurance. This made my dad MAD! The HVAC guy however didn’t know the police told my dad he said this.

So my dad had the same guy put a new furnace and airhandler in the house. Yep, same guy.

What the guy didn’t know is that before hand my dad had a security system installed. Hidden motion detectors only, no contacts on the windows and doors to be spotted. And no audible alarm. Silent only. He registered his cell phone with the security company.

Sure enough, a few nights later he gets a call in the middle of the night from the security company. He tells them to call 911 and jumps in his truck. By the way, he lived only about 90 seconds down the road.

He pulls up and can see light around the garage door. He pulled quietly into the driveway at an angle, all the way up to the door, completely blocking it. And quietly waited for the police to arrive, which they did a few minutes later.

The guy heard him talking to the police in the driveway and put the garage door up. My dad couldn’t stop laughing at the expression on the guy’s face when he saw my dad standing there with four deputies!

And the best part? My dad hadn’t yet paid the contractor for his work. And he never did.

Remember silence

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5aBHoyIR4mQ?feature=share

How do you respond when your boss says, “I need this done by Monday”?

This actually happened to me years ago. It was a Friday evening. An entire group including me were in a meeting. We had a code thoroughly tested and ready for production. This Manager went and made changes without consent and broke the code but they still wants to keep the implementation date which was ten days away.

Now the ten days included two weekends. I’m sitting in the room. They totally ignored the fact that I was the one responsible for testing the changes. Nobody asked me what my plans were for the weekends and proceeded to agree upon meeting the date. I stayed mute. Now at that time my husband was in the army and and deployed to Bosnia, so they thought I had no life. They talked and laughed and when the meeting was over, I spoke.

“Who is coming in tomorrow because I need a ride”. They all said they were not. That’s when I dropped the bomb. I said, “Neither am I”. Everybody sat down, I got up, saluted them and walked out.

A tooth fairy

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UAlutNCOF5w?feature=share

Have you ever been invited to something that turned out to be another thing entirely?

I had just finished a year of substitute teaching and had few. if any, prospects for a full-time job come that Fall. So when I saw that ad in the paper, my eyes lit up.

This company was wanting to hire teachers for a summer job. Was it evaluating textbooks? Maybe we would be tasked with creating exciting curriculum or conducting research into how children learn. Maybe a private school wanted to hire a number of tutors for their summer programs? The ad didn’t get specific.

I fired off a resume and waited to hear back. I didn’t wait long before being contacted with a time and place for the interview. When I arrived, I saw a room full of people dressed in typical teacher fashion-Dockers, Polo shirt, etc. I must be in the right place! But why are they doing a group interview? A bit later, a man walks in dressed more professionally. He asks us to tae a seat. He then gives a presentation into what sort of summer work they had for all of us education professionals.

STEAK KNIVES!!! He was wanting to “hire us to be door-to-door salesmen for his company’s line of cutlery. For a low investment of only (the cost of 2 sets) we could have unlimited earning potential. He must have seen the disgusted look on my face and figured I was going to let the more naive know exactly what the deal was, for I was the first to be invited into the office for a second interview.

Why is the US government restricting the importation of Chinese lower-cost cars and at the same time allowing US manufacturers to dramatically raise their prices?

It showed clearly that it does not care for its people but it protect profiteering and too big to fail companies. Such actions never ends well. The day will come when the U.S. citizens rebel and raised up against them. And these companies will continue to be unproductive and inefficient to the point of becoming irrelevant.

Pease remember the US has been dictating free trade and freedom of choice to Americans and the world for the longest time! What happened?

An abandoned mall in Ohio

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2TaOGVdlEmY?feature=share

Little Italy Sausage Soup

This tasty and easy Italian Sausage Soup Recipe is loaded with onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, and a healthy helping of Italian Seasoning in chicken broth with tomatoes, cannellini beans, and elbow noodles. It is the perfect pick-me-up for cold, wet weather, coughs, ailments, or just because your soul needs a little warmth. This Italian Soup Recipe is one of our favorites.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds mild or hot Italian sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 6 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 1/2 cups red wine (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
• 3 tablespoons parsley
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 medium zucchini, sliced
• 3 cups pasta shells, cooked

Instructions

1. In a large pot, cook sausage for about 15 minutes.
2. Pierce with fork to release fat; drain well.
3. Cut into bite-size pieces.
4. Add remaining ingredients except zucchini and pasta.
5. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes, then add zucchini and cook until tender.
6. Add pasta shells just to heat through.

Recipe notes and helpful tips

• If you have a nearby meat market, call and ask if they make their own Italian Sausage. It is well worth the added expense and trip to the market.
• For aesthetic purposes, peel the carrots. It brings out that beautiful bright orange color.
• You can sub any medium to small pasta in this soup, including penne, rotini, shells, farfalle, ditalini, or radiatori.
• Fresh thyme is always delicious, and I usually have it on hand. However, you can substitute fresh chopped parsley or a little dried marjoram or thyme.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Heat on the stovetop over low heat or in the microwave at reduced power.
• Freeze in an airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag for up to 3 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a waiter, what is the cheapest thing a customer has done?

One summer as a college student (many years ago) I worked at a now defunct “family” restaurant called The Ground Round. One room was a bar, and the other room was for families and they were famous for showing old silent movies in the family room and giving out free peanuts and popcorn (that usually ended up all over the floor).

Unfortunately, they were also famous for their “Penny-a-Pound” Thursdays where children under 12 who accompanied an adult would be weighed on a big scale at the front of the restaurant and could then order anything off the children’s menu (including unlimited free drinks) and be changed a penny for each pound they weighed. So, yeah, a kid could order a hot dog or a hamburger or a bowl of mac&cheese and get an orange soda (with 3 refills) for $0.40.

Most of this time this worked out OK and people enjoyed the deal responsibly. A family of four would come in, say, both parents would order full meals, and the little ones would get to basically eat for free. However, there were quite a number of occasions when people would completely abuse the deal. We’re talking situations where a single adult would come in with 5 or 6 children (obviously not all their own kids due to them all being the same age), the adult would order something cheap like a bowl of soup, and then the kids would proceed to make my life a living hell by constantly ordering drink refills every single time I walked past them on my way to take care of my other tables.

That wasn’t the worst part, though. No, the worst part was when it came time to pay the bill and the cost would end up being something like $9.27. And the person paying the bill would leave a $10 bill and say “keep the change.”

ALL the waiters dreaded having to work the main room on Thursdays, but since I was the newest employee there I ended up having to do it every week.

What’s your favorite stupid joke?

Dave was bragging to his boss one day, “You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them.”

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, “OK, Dave, how about Tom Cruise?”

“No drama’s boss, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it.”

So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise’s door and Tom Cruise shouts, “Dave! What’s happenin?!? Great to see you! Come on in for a beer!”

Although impressed, Dave’s boss is still sceptical. After they leave Cruise’s house, he tells Dave that he thinks him knowing Cruise was just lucky.

“No, no, just name anyone else,” Dave says.

“President Bush,” his boss quickly retorts.

“Yup,” Dave says, “Old buddies, let’s fly out to Washington.”

And off they go.

At the White House, Bush spots Dave on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, “Dave, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let’s have a cup of coffee first and catch up.”

Well, the boss is very shaken by now but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds he expresses his doubts to Dave, who again implores him to name anyone else.

“The pope,” his boss replies.

“Sure!” says Dave. “My folks are from Poland, and I’ve known the Pope a long time.”

So off they fly to Rome. Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Dave says, “This will never work. I can’t catch the Pope’s eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I’ll come out on the balcony with the Pope.”

And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican. Sure enough, half an hour later Dave emerges with the Pope on the balcony but by the time Dave returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics. Working his way to his boss’ side, Dave asks him, “What happened?”

His boss looks up and says, “I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, “Who the fuck is that on the balcony with Dave?

What’s wrong with being a functional addict?

Define “functional”.

My uncle was a functional alcoholic. He had an advanced degree and was extremely accomplished in his career. He never did the kinds of things that would result in legal problems, he didn’t drink and drive, didn’t get in fights, or commit crimes. He and his husband were wealthy. They had a house with a swimming pool in a HCOL area. He was well-loved by everyone in the family but no one was able to get him to stop drinking or seek help for it. By and large, no one really wanted to argue with him about it either because it was pointless.

My uncle died during the pandemic and it wasn’t due to COVID. He drank everyday starting early in the morning and continuing through the night. He had done this for as long as I can remember. He cared about his appearance but completely neglected his health and refused to see doctors probably because they would tell him what he didn’t want to hear -alcohol was killing him.

Heavy drinking doesn’t only affect the liver — although that would be bad enough in itself — it also messes up the functioning of multiple other organs and body systems including, but not limited to, the heart, brain, kidneys, digestive system, and the nervous system. In my uncle’s case, he developed a cardiac problem and died suddenly. For many other alcoholics, dying is a slow, painful decline that involves a lot of suffering drawn out over many years.

Even if a person manages to avoid major illness, alcoholism, whether functional or not, does not make for a happy, fulfilled life. By nature, alcoholism requires that people prioritize alcohol over and above everything else in their lives, including all the meaningful things like important relationships, personal values, activities that bring joy, and personal accomplishments.

A person who drinks their way through life is never really present in their life and thus misses out on fully experiencing life itself. It may be feel pleasant to temporarily numb or black out distressing emotions but this comes at the cost of numbing positive emotions too. It comes at the cost of losing intimacy in your relationships, or just losing relationships altogether. It comes at a cost of not being able to remember your life or make good decisions.

Alcoholism and addiction in general, whether functional or not, is sad. It’s sad to see people searching for life satisfaction in the one place it will never be found.

 

Do babies cry so much because that’s the way they are, or because we have spoiled them since the moment they were born?

Have you heard that “African babies cry less”? It is true, but the why of it is more interesting. They cry less because they are attended to. They are carried by their mothers, they co-sleep. They are always with their mother, who nurses the baby as soon as it starts to fuss. Doesn’t matter if it’s for comfort, for hunger or thirst. The baby never gets to the point where it *has to* cry.

Crying is the only way a baby has to communicate…..sort of. They also wiggle, and fuss and make weird faces and reach toward something, and when none of the rest of it works, THEN they cry. So it might be better to say that crying is the LAST way babies communicate. Even so, they can’t tell you they had a bad dream, or their stomach is upset, or there’s a string wrapped around their toe and it feels weird, or they have an itch but no fine motor skills to scratch with. We have to learn to decode baby language other than crying, before it gets to that. And we don’t.

You can’t spoil a baby. Moreover, when did giving someone attention get such a bad rep? Why is it bad to give a baby attention? What defines ‘too much’ attention, and why should we ration it? Is there a limited amount available? What idiot made this up?

By giving a baby the attention it needs when it needs it, and not when you feel like giving it, or when some book says you should give it, you teach the baby that you are always there for it. You aren’t teaching them to be clingy, you are teaching them that no matter what they do, what new things they explore, you will be there. It gives them confidence to try and do new things, knowing this.

But let a baby go untended until he gets to the point of crying, and then wait some more? What good does that do? The baby is not going to become less hungry or thirsty or scared or wet. Baby isn’t going to decide, oh, I guess I wasn’t actually hungry after all, I guess I’ll stop now. It will cause a lot of stress hormones to be released in the baby’s brain. A baby who cries until he stops has given up on you. He’s learned that you are NOT going to be there for him, and his needs might not be met. That, in his desperation, he reached out to you and you turned away.

Soon enough, he or she will be telling you not to hold their hand at school, or kiss them goodbye in front of their friends. The time when they need and depend on you is only a small part of their lives, and yours, so you should enjoy it while you can.

Why books have covers

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/USroKDplbOI?feature=share

What is a time when you’ve seen a co-worker get fired who totally deserved it?

It’s really hard to fire someone in the government, but if they are an intern, it’s pretty easy.

We had three people start at the same time as interns. The two women were fantastic, interested in learning the job, hard working, never called out, etc. but “Charles”, not so much. I had just been promoted to supervisor. A week after he started, he stuck his head in my office and offered to help me with my supervisory duties. He didn’t know how to do the work yet, but he was going to help me supervise. Got it.

A couple days later, he walks into my office, plops down in a chair and says “I don’t know how you work with some of these fucking bitches. Those dumb cunts deserve to be fired”. Now I’m not a prude, but I also behave and speak in a professional manner. I had done nothing to make Charles think my office was some “safe zone”, where he could denigrate other employees, or use that kind of language.

He would sleep at his desk, call out, leave early, not what you would expect from any professional, let alone an intern trying to make their mark.

A lot of our job entailed technical writing. He wasn’t much of a writer to begin with, and often sent supposedly final versions of documents on the the next department with track changes and edits still in them. I had to fix a lot of his supposedly finished work. .

The crown jewel was him loudly proclaiming that life would be great in two months as he would no longer be an intern, so it would be near impossible to fire him. He was fired the next day.

 

What’s the sweetest way you’ve seen someone get fired from a job?

I had to let an employee go when I owned a security guard company. He’d been involved in a fatal shooting — he killed a man who’d fired at him — before I bought the business and he shot and killed a drunk who attacked him after I took over.

After the second shooting my insurance carrier gave me an ultimatum: Fire the employee or lose my insurance. I promised them that I would not allow him to carry a weapon and that I would assign him to my office as Operations Manager but they would not budge. I had to choose between him and insurance coverage but without insurance I was out of business.

I called everyone I knew in the business trying to find him another job. They all knew about the shootings so they weren’t interested. So I began reaching out to my clients. My guy was ex-military and very smart and I hoped that one of them might be interested in him.

It turned out that a car dealer I was providing patrol coverage to was thinking about taking his security in-house so he agreed to talk with my employee.

Long story short, I lost a $1,000 a month patrol contract but the guard was hired by the car dealer. I haven’t spoken with my ex-employee in years but the last time I did he was head of security for the dealer, in charge of 4 different car lots. Like I said, he is very smart.

Celebrating mental disorders

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDCa2Fwl5pA?feature=share

What facts about the United States do foreigners not believe until they come to America?

I’m from Russia. Below are a few things I almost always have to explain or discuss with visitors from Russia.

1. Why individual houses are so large? We always get into discussion that house is not just a shelter, but also a manifestation of one’s financial achievements.

2. Philanthropy. There is no culture of philanthropy in Russia and many view American philanthropy either as a waste of money or as some intricate plot to get some additional benefits.

3. People don’t walk places. They go everywhere by a car.

4. There is almost no public transportation except in a few large cities. People actually have to have cars to get places. Cars are necessity, not luxury.

5. Majority of high and middle schools have sport facilities of very high, almost professional quality.

6. Many schools have orchestras, bands, theaters of a very high, almost professional quality. Free.

7. Every state has a lot of autonomy.

8. President’s salary is comparable with the one of a plastic surgeon.

9. President doesn’t automatically become the richest person in the country.

10. Majority of things in the US aren’t controlled or regulated by the government.

11. Children are expected to leave home when they are 18.

12. Students prefer and are expected to live in a dorm and not with parents.

13. When relatives visit they often stay in the hotel.

14. Many children, even in well to do families, work in fast food, car washes and do a lot of other things to get money and it is not an embarrassment.

15. Parents have their babies sleeping in separate rooms almost from the day of their birth.

16. Russians find 11-15 are particularly absurd, offensive, and egotistical.

17. Many Russians believe that American system of primary and secondary education is very inefficient. As a mother, I have to explain that it is very diverse and essentially even in the poorest districts there are tons of resources available for children who are willing to use them. There are also an opportunity for kids to take advanced and extra advanced classes providing they are willing and able to do the work. And this differentiation is available as early as elementary school.

18. How well elderly live, even those on SSI and Medicaid. How many services are available to them.

19. How open Americans are about their shortcomings and always ready for self criticism.

20. Millions of people don’t have medical insurance.

21. Some hospitals look like five-star hotels.

22. Budgets of some hospitals are equal to h/c budgets of small countries.

23. Doctors tell their patients everything.

24. Return policies and free refill.

25. Idea of a liberal art education. In Russia, after high school graduation, a student should decide on vocation: engineer, doctor, teacher, lawyer, accountant, etc. It seems inconceivable to attend a university and then to graduate without a solid specialty. I often have to explain that not knowing what one wants to do after high school is an acceptable norm in US. A student can still acquire marketable skills, expand his or horizons, get a job after graduation, and, what is even more surprising, obtain an advance degree in a totally different field later. Yes, accountant can attend a medschool and become a doctor and musician can go for aa master degree in computer science.

I’m afraid I can go on and on and on…

Good bye

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZfAw8Xej1GA?feature=share

What is the most inappropriate clothing you have seen a student wear at school?

Long ago when the no bra and see through crazes overlapped for a while (late 70s I believe) I had a young lady walk into my 1st Period class with no bra and a see through blouse. I took roll while the students started a mini lesson on the board. Then I started to write a note I intended to give to her to go to the office for a ruling/talking to by a female counselor. I had just started when the young lady called to me “Mister, tell them to stop staring at me!” I looked up and of course every boy in class (11th grade) was staring, standing to see over other students etc. Before I could say anything another girl loudly proclaimed “If you don’t want them looking, why did you dress like that?” Another girl handed the young lady a sweater jacket to put on. Then the young lady came up and whispered “May I have a bathroom pass?”

I gave it to her and put my note aside to see what happened. 10–15 minutes later she came back wearing an over sized PE uniform t-shirt over her clothes, handed the sweater back to the girl it belonged to, looked at me and then at the one who had spoken up and in a very soft voice said “I guess I didn’t think. It won’t happen again.” It didn’t.

 

What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?

On October 25, 2009, I was working like I always did and my supervisor came up and asked if I wanted an early out. I didn’t usually take early outs because I was a single mom and my supervisors knew it. I shocked him because I agreed to leave early. I said it’d be nice to have some extra time with my kids. I went to the babysitter’s house and her brother told me that she took my kids to her grandparents farm and he’d let her know to bring them straight home when they got back. I left there and at a stop sign and ambulance went flying past me and I had such a strong urge to follow it but I talked myself out of it. I went home and was pulling stuff out of the fridge when my phone rang. It was the sitter’s cousin asking me where my kids were and I told her they were with Nikki and then she told me that Nikki was in a head on accident and they may have to life fight her. She swore my kids weren’t with Nikki and I knew they had to be. After that Nikki’s boyfriend called me and told me that Nikki and my kids were in a head on accident and I must have let out a really loud scream because my neighbors heard me in their house. I called my parents as I rushed out the door and I asked them to keep me calm until I found my kids because they were in a head on accident. I didn’t even notice my neighbor standing in the yard. Apparently they heard about the wreck on the scanner and then heard me scream so they’d came out to drive me wherever I needed but I didn’t hear him talk to me. I was too focused. I had no idea where to go so I decided to go straight out the direction that I saw the ambulance go earlier. I came up to an accident and I tried to get past all of the cars and a police officer stopped me and said I couldn’t go any further. I told him it was my kids without knowing 100% at the time but just by my gut feeling. He called ahead to another officer and he said they were okay but my son’s face was cut a little bit from the airbag and his glasses. They allowed me to drive up to the ambulance but I still wasn’t allowed to see my kids. I followed them to the hospital. From the look of the truck, I knew the police officer was wrong. It took over 2 hours to be able to see my kids from the first call. I only got to see them when once the arrived at the hospital. My son’s face wasn’t just cut a little it was several cuts and two black eyes. My son ended up with permanent brain damage that was diagnosed later on. He didn’t want to walk and we just thought it was because he was scared so we carried him home. He’d just crawl on the floor and not walk. When we took him to his so called specialist, he told me I needed to institutional him because he’d never be able to learn again because he no longer had a short term memory and part of his long term memory was gone. I fired him and worked to teach my son how to walk, use the bathroom, and worked with him on his schooling. I’d enrolled in college just to help him learn. I needed to know how the brain worked to teach him and him retain things. He did learn it and more after I was told he never would. He also had whiplash extremely bad. Our attorney found it in the x-rays but the hospital never mentioned it. My daughter had to be potty trained again and she had severe whiplash along with a severe concussion. For the police to tell me they were fine I knew they weren’t. especially after seeing the truck. II wish my intuition was wrong that day. I’m fortunate that I didn’t lose my kids but we still lost my son as we knew him. When my older kids saw the actual changes in him they broke down crying. Fortunately it wasn’t all at the same time. As for the child the told me to institutionalize because he’d never learn again and could never live alone, He proved them all wrong. He’s got an amazing job, lives on his own, drives himself to work, and is having a babe in a couple weeks. He thanks me all the time for not giving up on him. He and his sister are best friends because she stood up for him when he couldn’t. I hope I never ever get the urge to follow an ambulance again. That’s not something I’d normally do so that day I had gut feeling and I was right. BTW, the engine was pushed all the way to sit in the back seat where my daughter was sitting. Her seatbelt wouldn’t work so she wasn’t fastened in thank God. If my kids would of say any other way I probably would of lost one if not both. Good was looking out for my kids that day. I’ll never ever forget that day.

Tuscan-Style Ribollita

Ingredients

• 6 slices (1/2-inch thick) day-old crusty French bread
• 3 cloves garlic
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chicken broth
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow squash, sliced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 cups torn escarole or dark cabbage
• 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can plum tomatoes, drained, juices reserved
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• Oregano leaves (garnish)

Instructions

1. Grease a baking sheet. Put the bread on the sheet and bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove from the oven.
3. Cut 1 garlic clove in half and rub on each side of the toast slices. Sprinkle with black pepper and set aside.
4. Heat the oil and broth mixture in a 4-quart pot. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Mince the remaining garlic. Add the garlic, carrots and celery to the pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
6. Add the zucchini, squash, sweet peppers and oregano; cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add the escarole, beans and tomatoes; cook until the escarole wilts, about 2 minutes.
8. Add black pepper. Pour the vegetable mixture into a 3-quart casserole and top with the toast.
9. In a large measuring cup, combine the reserved tomato juice and the broth; pour over the toast. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
10. Bake at 375 degrees F until the cheese has melted, about 30 minutes.
11. Let stand for 5 minutes and garnish with oregano.

Serves 6.

 

What is the most unusual reason someone has called 911 for help according to a police officer?

One night as I proceeded through an intersection when the light turned green I heard a car accelerate and saw it nearly t bone me. I made the stop and saw it was a local shithead kid I knew well as having a major chip on his shoulder. He blamed his faulty brakes to which I replied I’d have to impound his car for a safety inspection. At this point he changes his story and tries to reach down and roll the floor mat under his brake pedal to blame for the incident. I issued him summonses for unsafe speed, running a light a failure to yield with the warning to keep it on the straight and narrow. A short time later I received a call for a 911 hangup at his address. The door opened and a middle aged male walks out. I ask him if he was the homeowner and if everything is OK. He addresses me by name and says he’s a corrections officer and asks why his son was not given a courtesy and gives me a rehash of his sons version of events. I ask him if he called 911 over this event and he said yes he was trying to lodge a complaint against me. I replied that his son is a liar and that’s not what 911 is for. He went on grumbling about courtesy and I shot back neither you nor your kid know the meaning of the word. After that incident the kid was noticeably quieter during the numerous encounters we had with him and his delinquent crowd.

 

 

Have you ever had a coworker try to get you fired?

Yep, had a woman who did the same job as me on alternate days and was jealous as I was asked to do the important stuff so to speak on my shifts and not her, the boss, female would confide in me and not her as she was a straight out the door on the dot person and would never cover in an emergency etc. She started to file fake complaints on night reports …he didn’t do this etc but of course we had CCTV. She would send watsapp messages to me complaining and then the best one…my wife is Asian…one night she sent a message insulting my wife and Asian women calling them Ting Tongs and Asian brides.

What she failed to realise is that the CEO despite having an English surname through marriage was Asian. I simply replied… our Thai CEO will enjoy reading that

Never a peep from her again

AI thought process

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SZXvwi2CycQ?feature=share

Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?

Years ago I was driving home from a night out in Memphis, TN. It was roughly 3 AM, and I was driving about 60 to 65 mph along Walnut Grove Rd through Shelby Farms. The speed limit stepped up from 40 mph to 55 mph pretty close to that spot, and I don’t recall which side I was on. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. I saw the reflection of my headlights on his patrol car and started to pull over before his blue lights came on. Once stopped, I rolled down my window and had my license and registration ready for him when he walked up to talk to me. He looked at them, at me, and at the officer decal on my windshield and said I could go. Greatly surprised, I asked him why, and I would never have predicted his response. “You pulled over so fast and in such a short distance that I don’t even have to go around [a mile or so down the road to a break in the median] and come back to my spot [where he had set his speed trap].” I was not intoxicated, and I was far from the fastest car to travel that road. But at that particular time I was the only driver around, so I got his attention. The whole thing was a bit surreal, but I was grateful for the outcome. I thanked him and went home to get some sleep.

 

 

Have you ever called in a “welfare check” to the police? Did it turn out there was a real need? Officers, how often are “welfare checks” something where a person does need assistance?

I called for what I said was, I guess, a welfare check. I saw a young girl, probably mid-teens, walking on the rural road near where we live. I didn’t think much about it, even though there are few people who walk on that road, and very few homes. Later, as I returned home, I found her walking up the even more rural road leading up the mountain to where we live. I stopped and asked if she needed a ride. To my surprise, she said yes (her a young girl, me an old man). I asked her where she was going, and she said to visit someone. We passed my house, and she said to stop at a neighbor’s house. I asked who she was seeing, since I knew our neighbors, and she just said, “Someone.” I let her out and went home. I had to leave a while later and found her walking back down at the bottom of the mountain on the road near where I first saw her. I had also noticed that she had taken off her jacket and dropped it on the road. At that point I called the police and said that I was worried about her. I described her and told the 911 operator where she was. A short time after that a police car passed me going in that direction. I did not see the girl later when I returned home. I don’t know what happened, but she seemed troubled in some way, and was definitely acting odd. I hope the police gave her a ride home, or helped her with whatever her problem was, but I have no idea.

Power in a relationship

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fIOZcX17b8A?feature=share

What are the things guys find annoying about girls?

• You are all the same
  • Ladies, this is the worst expression you could tell a man. Don’t tell him all men are the same because no one told you to try them all.
• Men do not like to be told what to do and how to do it all the time.
• When you ask stupid questions like “Do I look fat to you?” “Do you still love your ex?” “When I grow old, will you still love me?” “Do you think that woman is more beautiful than me?”
• We all hate it when you bring up old things every time we fight.
• Talking to your Friends about Anything and Everything
• Men don’t like it when you talk about your exes, especially if you do it a lot or bring up details.
• Even if you are just friends, men hate to be friend-zoned.

 

 

 

What are some mind-blowing facts about South Korea that might surprise someone who lives there?

• Average height of a female Korean is 5′4′ (~162cm)
• Average height of a male Korean is 5′9′ (~175cm)
• Nearly 1/3 of Korean women undergo at least one cosmetic surgery
• “Gangnam Style” is still the highest ranking K-Pop song ever on Billboard

• Korea has the lowest obesity rate in the world
• You can get your drink on just about anywhere you want
• Korea’s Internet speeds are some of the fastest on Earth
• Shopping and eating can be done at virtually any time of day or night

• It is common to force criminals to recreate their crime for the press, for public humiliation.

 

What did your boss say to you during a meeting that resulted in you immediately resigning?

Not really a meeting, rather a gathering.

I was the IT manager at one of the Maryland Job Corp centers. I was in the process of upgrading government cast off computer equipment from 486s to Pentium Ones, if that tells u how long ago.

Being a nonsmoker, I never take breaks. Ever. I was coming across campus carrying 4 CPUs. I walk really fast so it alway looked like I was running to other staff. They’d joke about me working so hard, so fast. I stopped outside the admin building to catch up with the HR assistant. I was changing her computer next. In front of probably 10 of these smokers, my boss, the director of Finance and Administration took a puff and asked, “Christine, isn’t there someplace you should be?”

Dead, shocked silence.

The 60 hours I’d put in the week before, being forced to sign something that I was volunteering so wasn’t paid OT, and this comment flashed thru my mind.

I took a breath, bit back my inner voice’s come backs, smiled and set the computers down on the sidewalk.

I said, “There sure is.”. Smiled, walked inside, got my keys and kept walking.

What is the oddest reason you have been contacted by your child’s school?

When my older son was 7 (he’s about to be 28), the school nurse called because my son had an accident on the playground and sustained a large bump/knot to the center of his forehead. They said he was fine, but that I should probably take him to the doctor just to be sure. The nurse kept… almost giggling?… and when I asked what happened, she reiterated that he was okay, but that he would best be able to explain when I got there.

i should probably mention that he was already a big nerd, an advanced reader who used words many adults didn’t even use and wasn’t athletic AT ALL. He didn’t like to sweat or get dirty and was always afraid of injuring himself. Needless to say, all the way to the school I was perplexed at what MY KID could’ve possibly been doing so carelessly or vigorously on that playground to have injured himself.

When I got there he was embarrassed and mad af at himself but also laughing and I will never forget what he said. “My arch nemesis challenged me to a duel and I won. And it felt so good I couldn’t hold it in. I did a victory lap, but was stupid and did it with my eyes closed and ran into the tether ball pole. Mom, I gloated too hard.”

Three things

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lW87EQw8UdU?feature=share

Have you ever discovered that you fired someone wrongly, and did you do anything to make it right?

Months after buying a security guard company, from my former employer. one of my guards was involved in a fatal shooting at a nightclub. A drunk wielding a tire iron ran at him and the guard shot him once, through the heart, from about six feet away.

Houston Police investigated and eventually the guard was no-billed, meaning a grand jury declined to indict my guy, but that didn’t stop the drunk’s family from filing a wrongful death suit against the club and my company. My liability insurer wound up settling my part of the suit for $30,000 but after doing so they blindsided me by insisting that I fire the guard.

A couple of years earlier, while working for the man I bought the company from, he was involved in another fatal shooting at an apartment complex. In that case, a man shot at him from across a courtyard and his return fire struck the man in the head, killing him instantly. No lawsuit was filed in that case but my insurer still believed that two fatal shootings in such a short time indicated that the guard was too much of a liablility, so I was told to fire him or they’d cancel my coverage. I proposed giving him a job in my office so he wouldn’t be working a post, but the insurance company wouldn’t budge. I had 25 other fulltime employees to consider so I had to let the man go.

But I knew that a car dealer I provided security for was considering taking their security in-house, meaning they’d hire guards directly who’d work for the dealership. I talked with the owner and told him that my (former) guard would be a great choice to run his security team and, after checking the guy out, he agreed. I wound up selling my company and leaving Houston 10 years after I fired the guard but we’d stayed in touch over the years so I had a chance to visit with him before I left. He’d left the car dealership and was assistant security director for Occidental Petroleum. He said my firing him was the best thing that ever happened to him.

 

 

As a teacher, to what lengths have you gone to catch students cheating?

I use an iPad mounted facing down and connected to a projector as a document projector. The mount is flexible, so I can aim the iPad at the class, if I want to. If I suspect that students are cheating when I’m not looking, I just set the iPad to record a video or time-lapse, then quietly flex the mount, so the iPad is pointed at the students.

Then I walk around the room, making sure to turn my back on the students I suspect are cheating.

Then, I come back to the iPad and stop the video.

Finally, at the end of the quiz or test, I turn on the projector and show the students the beginning of the video I made. I pause it just a few seconds in, so they can think about the fact that I caught them on camera, and I ask the students to be honest with themselves and me. If they were cheating, let me know, before I see it in the video. It’s the right thing to do.

Most of them confess right then and there. Some of them don’t. We have to watch the video together and I have to point to the moment when they’re cheating.

If they know they cheated, but don’t confess, I show their parents the video.

They usually never cheat again.

 

What are some interesting facts about Nazi Germany?

They were excellent baby boom-ers.

But still in an evil way

Nazis had a pretty weird thing about blonde, blue eyed babies.

During Hitler’s rise to power, he initiated a program to raise the percentage of Aryan children. This was called a Lebensborn

program.

They basically made every available child to be in peak physical condition and made to match the Aryan race standards.

This included treatments such as: a very strict diet, early indoctrination with Nazi ideologies and even the usage of ultraviolet rays for hair color (in case a baby wasn’t blonde enough)

Most children came from German impregnated moms but after WWII started , the Nazis encouraged SS soldiers to ‘’get to know’’ the beautiful girls of Europe. They captured not only the best countries, but also the most Aryan girls 😉

If those ladies got pregnant, and their children were deemed as desirable, they were sent to a Lebensborn house where their kids would get a treatment like the one written above. The main ‘’factory’’ (besides Germany) was Norway, with 12.000 kids born during WWII.

When there were not enough moms available, the SS would simply kidnap children that fit their Aryan standards, as Himmler himself said

‘’It is our duty to take [the children] with us to remove them from their environment … either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or we destroy this blood’’

The USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Norway and Yugoslavia were serious targets. Poland reportedly lost as many as 100.000 children during the whole war.

(abducted Polish children in a special labour camp)

After WWII, most children could not be found and linked back with their families because their program files were destroyed to hide war crimes. Hence, an exact number of Germanized children is impossible to tell.

Frid Lyngstad of ABBA is a known survivor of this terrible initiative. Her German father who was an officer in the German army, befriended her Norwegian mother to supply the SS with enough moms. After the war, she and her mom migrated to Sweden.

(The one with dark hair)

At least something good came out of this whole mess.

What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?

I worked for a very large, blue, trash company for about 7 years. After the first year I was running routes so efficiently that there were no improvements left to make so they pulled me from those routes and made me a swing driver. I started running everyone’s routes faster by an average of 3 hours per day, other swing drivers would take 60 hours to run the same routes it was taking me 36 to run and pick up what they missed. I did this for a long time and after several talks with management to make the pay more fair they told me that there was nothing they could do. We were paid hourly and thats it. I told them I was going to find another job then. They freaked out and I told them I wasn’t leaving just yet but as soon as I found something else I was leaving. Fast forward 3 years and I walk into my managers office to tell him I am quitting. He couldn’t believe it because it was out of nowhere in his eyes. I walked away from a fun fast paced job making $20 per hour getting anywhere from 33–56 hours per week depenfing on which routes i would run or who they would let me help. I am now working a job where I only work 6 months out of the year, easy work and make $120k and only requires 8 hours of overtime every other week. Now fast forward another 4 years and I run into the new manager and supervisor. We talk for a minute and the supervisor tells the new manager I used to work for them. He offers me my job back. Before I could even speak the supervisor tells him they can’t afford me to come back. I wished them a good day and walked away. So to answer your question, probably not fired but definitely passed up for promotions. That’s what they did to me.

 

Why did you call off your wedding?

Because of her eyes that were getting angrier at me by the day. Because of her eyes that were getting hungrier by the day, but not for me. Because of the divide that had started to appear, and there was nothing I could do about it.

It started with a crack (that I didn’t notice at first).

And when I did notice more cracks, only hours later — on that very same day — I realized that she already was in a very different place, and that she might be cheating. Her cell phone behavior had become erratic. Her reactions on my every sentence aggressive. Just like that.

She must have been hiding it, but now the cracks started to appear.

Hours later, in one of the longest nights of my adult life — and still on that very same day — she blatantly stated in the darkness of our cold bedroom that her love for me had faded. (“It was not like before anymore.”)

And day after day, week after week, the space between us became bigger, and the cracks grew into an abyss of anger and distrust.

At one point, the divide became too big, and she was standing at the other side — not even waving. She was just looking at me with empty eyes, as if she was not seeing me anymore. (And I think she really didn’t.) I would see that same empty look on her more than fifteen years in the future — in the awkward silence only separated people know — when she was in the final days of late stage breast cancer.

Much further away on the other side of the divide now, and about to disappear.

The problem is that back in the day, we were already married.

And there was nothing to call off except our every shared memory. As if life had become a text, written on a chalk blackboard.

Ready to be erased.

 

What would you do if your bridesmaids all decided to ditch you on your wedding day?

A friend of mine was having a medieval themed wedding. She had this gorgeous green gown and planned this elaborate hairstyle with flowers braided in. She asked her best friend to be maid of honour, and I got to be bridesmaid.

Get to the big day, and maid of honor is a no show. No phone call, text or email either. So I get upgraded and asked to help with my friends hair. I know NOTHING about elaborate hairstyles, there was no way I could do the style she wanted. So we ended up settling on a simple braided style with green ribbons and flowers threaded in. My friend was pissed. Not with me, but with her now ex-friend. Rest of the day went without a hitch and was gorgeous. My friend thanked me for helping at the last minute.

She never did get an explanation from that other girl, and refused to ever see her again.

 

Have you ever quit a job without notice?

I’ve quit without notice twice in my life. The first time was when I was passed over for promotion at Walmart but was offered a 25¢ an hour raise, instead, in recognition of the good work I was doing for the store. 25¢ an hour came out to $520 a year while the promotion would have resulted in a pay increase of around $12,000 annually. I told the store manager to shove the raise and walked out.

Several years later I was working in IT for a clothing manufacturer but I wanted to leave because I was, once again, denied a promotion. I soon learned that my boss and her toadie were holding me back by giving tepid references when companies I’d interviewed with called, so when I finally was offered a job I accepted immediately and told them I’d start the following Monday.

Before leaving work on Friday I drafted a companywide email telling my boss, and her toadie, and the business owner exactly how I felt about them, and I delayed delivery until Monday morning, so it would be the first thing everyone, including the three stooges saw. My boss actually called me on Monday morning, around 5 AM, before the email was delivered and asked me to come in early because she was having trouble with a printer. I told her I’d be right in and then rolled over and went back to sleep. She never called me again.

Biology

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aAKwQW1G_EQ?feature=share