Best posts made by Aria

@Tinuviel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

the "stuff to do" section of our wedding website

"Attend our wedding, then do whatever you want you're an adult."

"It's 2019. If they're on our website, they presumably have access to the internet. Fucking Google it."

Honestly, for people travelling in from out of town - and especially out of state - I don't mind providing a few tips on what to check out or some mentions of our favorite places. But two pages has made me feel like we're on the verge of treating a two-day trip to a college town in central Pennsylvania like we're asking our relatives to visit us in a particularly remote region of the globe and need to provide them with a multi-day itinerary including a guided tour by an English-speaking local.

It's not like we're in the mountains of Tibet. I'm pretty sure people will be able to read a menu and check the weather forecast without me, dude.

@AeriaNyx So I'm saying this to make you laugh at the mental image rather than making a serious suggestion, because JFC, you have the patience of a thousand saintly turtles for not totally losing your cool....

But have you considered getting a spray bottle for operant conditioning? Like, every time she picks up a drink in front of you, you just squirt her in the face and say sternly "No, Myra! NO!", like she's a cat scratching the couch or something?

@surreality said in RL Anger:

@Aria I recommend, "No, Myra! No! No one in your family has ever been a drinker!" because I'm mean today.

Maybe also a very visible tally board? Or make up a custom punch-card, like a loyalty card, and just punch a hole in that fucker every single time, loudly.

I vote loyalty card. For every ten punches, you get a free intervention from your disappointed family members.

@insomniac7809 said in The Work Thread:

@Aria said in The Work Thread:

I wish managers would accept honest feedback! Someone questioning an idea or even saying outright "I'm not sure this is going to work and here's why" is not the same as "You're a turd and also bad at your job and PS, you should be embarrassed in front of all of our colleagues." Unless they fall into the category of sleazy office politics asshole, they're honestly probably trying to help you make the underlying thing you're trying to achieve work.

Yeah. The idea is dumb, and the effort being put into it would be better spent digging holes and then filling them back in--at least that would be pointless, rather than counterproductive. But if management is married to it and all I'd get for pointing this out is looking like a malcontent troublemaker, well, fuck that; I'll keep my head down and hope someone above me suffers an unexpected attack of good sense.

I mean, I get paid either way.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeah, I've definitely worked for that manager, too. More than once. And I am super spiteful, so I was very happy when one of them got fired and another one had the company collapse under his horrible leadership. No luck on the shit-heels at the pharmaceutical sales company, but... well, they're pharmaceutical sales reps. I assume they're probably going to hell at some point. /shrug

@Auspice Maybe? If not, I'm going to offer to rent them a P.O. box.

@surreality There's this old bit of advice for women going on dates with new potential romantic partners:

"If your date is nice to you and an asshole to the waitress? Your date is an asshole."

From this, I tend to extrapolate a more universal policy that if someone consistently behaves badly towards people because they think they can get away with it -- people in customer service jobs, online because they're protected by "anonymity", power imbalances based on real authority or that granted by gender/race/ethnicity/class -- do not trust them. Do not be guilted into feeling bad for not trusting them, or into changing your mind. They've shown you who they really are.

@Auspice said in RL Anger:

@Ghost said in RL Anger:

but are also at the same time giving blowjobs in airport bathrooms.

at least go somewhere clean to give blowjobs, jesus.

"Like a lady."

...You know why.

@JinShei said in Resume Help:

@2mspris said in Resume Help:

3. Keep in mind to include any skills that you have used in the time since you've worked - any groups you've been part of (professional or hobby) could have marketable skills. (Not joking, I know a lot of people who have used gaming related skills on their resume - I'm one of them.)

Three friends of mine got jobs at Sony, citing the work they did on Discworld MUD. Include your gaming skills!

^ What JinShei said. Skills built from hobbies and volunteer experiences are valid. The amount of time I spent as a volunteer/foster coordinator for a dog rescue got me my first non-internship job working at the headquarters of a chain of pet stores. While it wasn't amazing, it kept me employed as a receptionist, then an administrative assistant/database manager, then an executive assistant for a solid 10-12 years before I jumped into project management this past June.

The real trick is not listing what your title/responsibilities were, but the specific skills you built and how they transfer. Employers are not always great at connecting those dots, even when it seems particularly obvious.

Like, yes, hello? Hello? I've spent 12 years as an admin of varying levels. Yes, I can in fact juggle varying priorities from a number of stakeholders, schedule work activities like a boss, track invoices/budgets across the fiscal year, parcel out limited resources depending on priority of the associated work, and write executive summaries that go to upper management about various initiatives my managers are working on. That... that is also a very large part of what a PM does. Duh. But I had to spell it out that clearly, bit by bit, because otherwise interviewers assumed that I only spent my day booking meetings and ordering catering.

Note: If you are looking for fall shoes and need to take your cankles into consideration when shopping, typing "plus size boots" into Amazon will in fact produce lists for cute wide-calf boots.

If you think typing "plus size booties" into Amazon will result in cute lists for cute wide-calf ankle booties, you would be very wrong.

And it's not even porn.

It's butt padding, you guys. It's definitely butt padding.

Brought to you by "Things Aria Does When She Has Not Had Coffee Yet Today".

Heartbreak is trying to explain to your dog that he was just having a nightmare.

"Join the office bowling league!", my friend Michael said. "It's really fun and super casual!," he said. Don't worry about being a terrible bowler. No one takes it seriously! It's not actually competitive....

I now know more about bowling ball coverstock and internal weight layouts than I ever thought I would or, if we're being honest, wanted to.

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Alamias said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:.

START PUTTING UP YOUR SPOOPY DECOR ON JANUARY 1ST PEOPLE!

Hell, I never take them down to begin with.

My big ol' skull is still up on my desk at work.
As is my halloween wreath on my door at home. >.>

@Roz Ding. A lot of my friends know that I am a horrible flake and will arrive to everything under the sun at least 15 minutes late, with some not-chilled wine or some I-barely-wrapped-this-in-the-car present, maybe a store bought whatever the thing is supposed to be for a fancy dinner, with the big accomplishment being that I put real pants on and came at all...

Until the shit hits the fan, at which point at least one of my friends has turned my (real) name into a verb. "Just let Aria come over and Aria all over everything." Suddenly they have groceries delivered to their doorstep, or a room in their house packed, or their errands run, or their dishes washed, or their paperwork sorted. I am the the friend you call when you're suddenly single and homeless or need someone to drive you home from the hospital.

Just show up. Even if it's weird and hard and sad for you, it's way worse for them.

Also, I'm sorry to hear about your brother. It's probably been a long time, but holidays always suck for that even when it has been. I hope your friends and family are good to you until there's sunshine and flowers again.

@Auspice said in RL things I love:

94 decks of cards in this photo.
2 are not shown (one is a jumbo deck that was already packed, the other is the deck in my backpack).

I am FAIRLY CERTAIN this is all of them. But considering I found 17 just packing things around my apartment, I may very well come across more.

I need to figure out the best way to display them after I move. Keeping them in a box makes me sad.

^ Me but with Tarot cards.

@TheOnceler said in Good or New Movies Review:

What was it? Literally the only thing I can think of is Melissa McCarthy in Spy.

Double-post because I wanted to add that I absolutely adore Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson, who are both insanely funny, but it's only been a more recent thing that the characters they're playing are just.... that size because that's the size the actresses are, and not something that's made a regular joke of in whatever they're doing. (Looking at you, Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect.)

Even sitting down and really thinking about it, the only exception that comes to mind is McCarthy's role as Sookie St. James in Gilmore Girls, but bear in mind that her character in that show is:

a) the quirky, crazy best friend and not a lead role
b) literally a chef
c) has exactly one romantic relationship.... with her produce supplier

Plus McCarthy was significantly thinner then than she was during the majority of her recognized film roles. Sooooo.... Sookie's a great character, but even so, she's a funny sidekick whose life revolves around food and is rarely taken seriously by the people around her.

So.

Bad news: Looks like someone broke into the trunk of my car.
Good news: Looks like I had so much shit in there they couldn't be bothered going through too much of it for stuff to steal.

Yay, me?

@Auspice said in Good TV:

Who else gonna be binging season 3 of Sabrina this weekend?!

Me! I have an SCA thing on Saturday, but Sunday is going to be watching Netflix, bullet journaling, and hanging out with the dog.

I want to be Hilda Spellman when I grow up.

That is all.

@Pandora said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

My favorite new author is a struggling young artist & I started supporting him on Patreon last year, in October. The tier I subbed at gets you a handwritten thank you card, a bookmark, stickers, and the best part - a collectible fridge magnet in the shape of one of the cans of the canned human meat they eat in the cannibalistic post-apocalyptic setting of the novels: "Good Boy" made of healthy young people, "Foi Ras" made from the liver of people that were force-fed corn, etc. It's grim, I love it.

Anyway! I subbed in October. So that's October, November, December, and now the end of January. I didn't get any of the things in the mail! I was so miffed, and since I finished reading all the books to-date anyway, I cancelled the sub and added the reason was not getting the tier stuff. This was like 2 days ago. TODAY, I get a package in the mail from him with all the stuff and a personalized note apologizing that it took so long and including some extra freebies - including the full set of the magnets!

I feel terrible for being an impatient asshole, but I'm too fucking embarrassed to re-sub. What do I do? So annoying!

Re-sub and say thank you. I recently received a Kickstarter for an indie tarot deck I ordered awhile back and somehow ended up with five nines and zero eights. I messaged the artist and she was so sweet and apologetic and offering me all sorts of free extras, but I told her not to worry about everything else as long as I could get the missing cards. They came super fast, she sent out a note to the other backers in case someone has many eights and no nines, and seemed really happy I was so chill about it.

It's okay to ask someone to fix a mistake in something you paid for! It's not okay to be an asshole about it.

Also, they would probably be happy to have the subscription money coming in again.

@Kestrel I was mostly thinking toppings, not weird blended in flavors. (It's already weird that we serve hummus cold.)

I will admit, however, to liking a good white bean hummus with garlic and za'atar and pine nuts. That stuff is delicious and I have no regrets.