Apr 9, 2019, 4:21 PM
Best writer in my class fractured her finger yesterday.
Guess who barely managed to even start her response on the state test?
I hate this test.
RL Anger
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Firing someone for looking elsewhere seems like the stupidest thing, to me. If the person is important enough, wouldn't you rather try to tempt them to stay with benefits? And if they're not important enough for that, they're not important enough to fire either.
He/Him
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Firing someone for looking elsewhere seems like the stupidest thing, to me. If the person is important enough, wouldn't you rather try to tempt them to stay with benefits? And if they're not important enough for that, they're not important enough to fire either.
I'm not gonna defend anyone for this practice on a moral level because it's not defensible but from a bottom-line kind of view it does make sense. Depending on the job position, the first few months of an employee's tenure can and are often a loss - not only are they not yet versed enough in your business flows and their own duties to be efficient but they're also a drain on resources since you have to assign more experienced people to train them, correct their inevitable mistakes, evaluate them, etc.
So if you know someone is leaving in a couple of months you could decide you're not getting enough out of them to be worth it, especially if you have more applicants in the pipeline who might be just as good and they're not planning on leaving.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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So if you know someone is leaving in a couple of months you could decide you're not getting enough out of them to be worth it
That doesn't follow from what you said, though. If you know someone is going to be leaving soon, and you need to replace them, it makes far more sense to have them train their replacement than taking anyone else away from their own duties.
He/Him
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So if you know someone is leaving in a couple of months you could decide you're not getting enough out of them to be worth it, especially if you have more applicants in the pipeline who might be just as good and they're not planning on leaving.
I get this to some extent when it applies from a business perspective. But, for reference, I'm a dog groomer with over a decade of experience in an industry that has a hard time getting and keeping decent, experienced people because it's not difficult (theoretically) for them to either open their own business or find someone else to hire them.
I was their only groomer, and their only employee. By firing me, they're losing their grooming business until they can find another groomer who, as I said, can be difficult to find.
I hate this industry so much.
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@PuppyBreath said in RL Anger:
So if you know someone is leaving in a couple of months you could decide you're not getting enough out of them to be worth it, especially if you have more applicants in the pipeline who might be just as good and they're not planning on leaving.
I get this to some extent when it applies from a business perspective. But, for reference, I'm a dog groomer with over a decade of experience in an industry that has a hard time getting and keeping decent, experienced people because it's not difficult (theoretically) for them to either open their own business or find someone else to hire them.
I was their only groomer, and their only employee. By firing me, they're losing their grooming business until they can find another groomer who, as I said, can be difficult to find.
I hate this industry so much.
Unfortunately, like many industries now, people tend to get it in their head of 'how hard can it be; we can just hire some kid to do it.'
That's what I encounter re: writing. I once spoke with a guy who runs a business filming commercials (local stuff) and he commiserated that he just. fucking. wishes. companies would hire professionals to write their commercial scripts rather than some rando executive penning off something last minute because 'oh it's just writing, how hard can it be?'. He told me horror stories of some of the cringe he had to work with.
I see it day-to-day in my jobs, too. Professional emails, etc., that need to go out and I'll offer to do them and some boss who can't even remember to capitalize shit 'It's just writing, I do this all the time' and he turns around and makes the whole damn team look bad with some drivel.
More and more industries are getting that way. Ignoring the people who are trained to do things for a fucking reason because they turn up their nose, personally, at the job itself so much.
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No boss, we were told we got paid vacation time. Period. None of this "Well you don't have that many hours banked." We didn't pick and choose, we had to bid. There was no way at 5 hours of PTO every 2 weeks, I could accumulate enough time to take 2 and a half weeks of PTO time. WTF.
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More fear than anger. One of my twins passed out for seemingly no reason. He was not standing up suddenly, wasnt exercising, had eaten about 30ish minutes prior. It is bringing back a lot of memories. My boys were very ill with twin to twin transfusion syndrome (only happens with identical twins) when I was pregnant (we are very lucky at the stage they were at, back in the day before the laser surgery now available was available in out area, it was considered experimental at that time and not covered under insurance either, that they did not both die, intense daily monitoring with daily suggestions for interventions that would have for sure saved one and for sure killed the other, ect in short, pure hell).
Because in TTTS the twins circulatory systems are hooked up to each other basically one twin is donating their blood to the other, leaving the donor with much lower growth and risk for brain and other problems due to lack of oxygen/nutrients, while the recipient can get heart and kidney damage because they are dealing with an abnormally high volume and pressure from having extra blood pumped into their system.
My recipient kiddo did have a heart murmur as a kid but outgrew it. Known issues have cropped up for TTTS kids in this regard again in adolescence and beyond. So to say my heart has been in my throat since this happened and it is hard for me to think of much else is a gross understatement. But at least we got in to the doctors office appointments the day after tomorrow. I hope it is nothing. Trying very hard to not infect my kiddo with the extreme fear I am feeling right now.
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This evening my writing mentor—and friend—passed away.
I've known her for fifteen years and I don't have the words for how much her friendship and encouragement has meant to me in that time. She brought me into a social circle of speculative fiction writers and fans that has meant a lot to me over the years. She was a wonderful woman with a big heart, dozens of friends, and hundreds of anecdotes to share.
It honestly wasn't that long ago that she was abruptly diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 pancreatic cancer. They originally gave her maybe 9 months. Then after another exam, they revised it down to about two months. It's been maybe two and a half weeks since that diagnosis; things went very quickly.
I take some comfort in the fact that she finished her final book perhaps two weeks ago; she'd been working on it for several years, and I know it meant a lot to her to see it completed.
Still, it doesn't feel a fair trade for her.
Fuck cancer.
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
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@Sparks I am so sorry to hear this. All the hugs, if welcome. That is heart-breaking.
Oh fucking well.
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@surreality Thanks. I like to think she might at least be reunited somewhere with the friends who went before her, the ones I know she missed fiercely.
And I think maybe when I finish the book I'm currently reading, I'll go pick up one of her books to re-read. Just as a way to hear her voice one more time, if nothing else.
- 7 days later
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Comcast/Xfinity customer 'support'. Need I actually type more? I don't think I do.
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Dear everyone who does this: I do not exist to be your emotional support system/punching bag/sage guru.
More than that, I am a person who has her own shit to deal with at the moment.
I am not a symbol of this, that, or the other. The next person who tells me how I'm 'the symbol of <X>' or 'the embodiment of their <Y>' or 'the archetype of their <Z>', so help me fucking gods, the size of the hole I am going to tear in them.
Even if, in (generic) your mind, I am the AYYYYYYY of your ZED, that does not mean I am obligated in any way -- to be beat on, yelled at, insulted, accused, to provide sage counsel, or even listen to you at all, period.
That is your mental construct, and it is your problem and responsibility.
Not mine.
I try to be compassionate. I am a more empathic person than I will ever admit to being here. I give a genuine damn about the well-being of any number of people.
I am real tired of people who think that they can exploit these traits on a whim while refusing to seek the qualified help they need that I am not equipped or able to provide.
If I tell someone I am dealing with my own shit right now and cannot offer them what they need, I am really past the point of apologizing for not being able to do so at that time.
(Generic) your fucked up is not cosmically more important than my fucked up.
If I need to focus on fixing my fucked up right now, all the guilt trips, accusations, and tantrums are not going to change that fundamental reality, and they are not going to make me want to help you when I am in the headspace in which I might be able to do so, either.
ETA:
3. WHAT IN THE EVER LIVING FUCK IS IT WITH THIS SHIT ALWAYS HAPPENING ON THE DAY I HAVE TO GO IN TO DO MY FUCKING TAXES?! -
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Ugh. I am surrounded by drama right now.
It's hard sometimes holding back saying "I empathize, but altogether I dont give a fuck what your problem with our mutual friend is. You should be talking to them about it; not I."
But noooOoooOooOooOoOoOoo
Facebook message the fuck out of my SO and I every day wanting to pile in at our place for a 4 hour unmoderated bitching session.
Some people don't seem to get that being friends doesn't mean it's my responsibility to shoulder the weight for all of your social-level bullshit. Stranded on the highway at 4am? Gotcha. Hospital? Gotcha. Death in the family? Gotcha. Help Balancing your finances because you're bad at not spending money and then moderating fights between you and literally every person you know and I'm a bad friend if I'm not there for you 3x/week because you're constantly in Jerry Springer mode? Nope.
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Best writer in my class fractured her finger yesterday.
Guess who barely managed to even start her response on the state test?
I hate this test.
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@silverfox Isn't mandatory state school testing like ITBS, AIM, etc just "A Hunger Games Thunderdome where schools compete with each other for how much funding they get?"
Like... I know the school board officials give some big speech about how it's "finding out where we stand educationally blah blah blah" but now that I'm a parent and had a kid through school it seems more like school district officials going "Y'all better get a high rating because mama wants her smart board technology"
TL;DR: Is standardized testing basically a BS front for schools fighting over funding?
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Ghost NGL, that's how it looks from my perspective too. I had one child go through this already and the second is hip-deep in it now. He showed up at the front door today at 12:30 and I didn't even question it because I knew state testing is this week.
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I have been trying to get a very simple yes/no answer from a coworker for 24 hours now. Every time I bring the subject up, she goes off on a tangent that is only tenuously related and doesn't bring her any closer to answering the original question.
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It really can be. The biggest impact I've seen is on parent perception. Since scores are published and a lot of parents shop around for schools now (which I can't dig, since 50% of our school population comes from without our district) they look HEAVILY at those scores. THAT impacts heavily what funding most schools get since they're paid on a per-pupil ratio.
Where it gets super yucky is if teacher pay is tied to performance goals. The district next door has a very complicated teacher pay system based partly on student achievement. This means that the teachers literally do not know how much money they'll be getting for doing their job. Other times money can be tied to one off bonuses. Last year we got 500 extra if our school met our growth goal, and 500 if we met our achievement score. It was nice money, but not anything we ever expected to actually get.
All of THAT said, mileage will vary by state and by district. Every area has a slightly different way that they are able to get funding for schools, and how they allocate those dollars. District/corporation (for charters) set forth how teachers get paid and what incentives there might be.
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Fuck my boss sideways with a chainsaw. No, you can't discipline me for using my accommodation days for the month already - that is what they are there for. When the Supervisor for the whole department told me they were going to take care of the thing, why would I follow behind them, doing the same things? I wouldn't. I'm pretty sure you can't give me a monthly review, and then a week and a half later tell me you're putting me on a final, when I have a month to correct the minor extra step that you implemented two weeks ago. No, my sugars are not predictable when they add a new med to my collection to take daily. No, you can't discipline me for taking the time to correct them that I have the accommodation paperwork for. ...time to look for a lawyer, I guess.