Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[G-Dog]

hmmm...if you're wearing her down, does she still have her flight feathers?

Yes, mikie, I believe she does still have her flight feathers! And I see the regret in her ex's eyes when we visit with their kids, (that I helped raise much more than he did). But, after 37 years, she still makes me feel like I've still got my flight feathers, too, though I know different (and my ex is whacked out on painkillers in a nursing home). We've worked too hard, for too long, raising our blended family and creating our "happily ever after" to mess it up now.
.

 

[Winslow]

I got a phone call — but not a line in my permanent record — after I faxed my expense report with a cover sheet composed in a typeface called "Ransom"

 

[Winslow]

For those who don't want to commit to font installation:

The Ransomizer

 

[GwenOnBass]

With a single week's AmEx bills in the thousands, expense reports are important

 

[gtmalone]

I refuse to work anywhere or even attend a meeting that required me to wear a suit. My brain has to be comfortable for it to work. I have made other people (bankers) take their jackets and ties off.

When were in StL, we would have casual Fridays. Normal attire for guys was nice pants, shirt, and tie. After a couple of weeks of casual, one guy said in a very frustrated voice "I can't work in casual clothes!" Wha???? Dude, you're sitting at a desk doing IT stuff.

 

[gtmalone]

I cold/cool weather we usually wear sweat pants and a long sleeve T around the house. I might put on a pair of jeans if I go somewhere, maybe. In hot/warm weather it's usually shorts and T-shirt. I might put on a pair of jeans depending on where I'm going, maybe. I'll usually wear a ballcap, too. There is no one to impress when you go to the groc store or Lowes. If you look around most everyone else is dressed that way, too.

After a couple of reorgs at work and certain people were gone from our building, we pretty much started wearing jeans and a nice shirt to work. After we were relocated to the corp buildings downtown, we still kept the jeans. No one ever said anything to us.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Always in front of clients, here.

The sum my fine employer charges to place me there in person also translates to a client's higher expectations. As to air travel, the reason cheap fares exist ( ... then ... ? ) is because our fine airline industry is free to charge more or less as they please for people who need to be somewhere now.

Not that a great deal of that exists here in the Enforced Zoom Era.

Been going that way a good while.

Sure a lot of it is/was theater on some levels, except for the levels that aren't. And forgotten until this moment ... my graduate school advisor tells us in our first moments in class he has an explosive temper that will erupt with no notice. And that when it is directed at one of us (it will be), it's not personal. By the time I was in the field I knew instinctively how to deal with chaotically explosive moments.

And in this recollection as my nails dry (a shade of lilac named Sail La Vie) feel a great deal better back at my roots with music. Don't have a lot to do but practice, and I look nice for the dog

 

[gtmalone]

Speaking of ransoms, this is a true story from work. We had a gal doing the night computer operator job (end of day processing, backups, etc.) She would bring her supper to work with her. We came to work one morning and found a note on the door about "missing tuna" This is what happened over about three days:

missing tuna

 

[GwenOnBass]

Speaking of ransoms, this is a true story from work. We had a gal doing the night computer operator job (end of day processing, backups, etc.) She would bring her supper to work with her. We came to work one morning and found a note on the door about "missing tuna" This is what happened over about three days:

missing tuna

awesome

forgot until now we had a guy who made a video about how people from different departments deal with the bill-to-coin machine in the cafeteria

 

[beans-on-toast]

There was a guy who used to eat lunches and leave money in the bags thinking that made it alright.

One day someone left a slice of pizza in the fridge with a big cockroach cooked into it. It came like that from the pizza place. He took a Polaroid of the piece as evidence. The box was marked “do not eat” but that didn’t stop the raider. He got sick when he was shown the photo.

 

[notJaco]

There was a guy who used to eat lunches and leave money in the bags thinking it made it alright.

One day someone left a slice of pizza in the fridge with a big cockroach cooked into it. It came like that from the pizza place. He took a Polaroid of the piece as evidence. The box was marked “do not eat” but that didn’t stop the raider. He got sick when he was shown the photo.

My wife used to say it (eat someone's lunch) used to happen a lot where she worked. I don't get some people

 

[GwenOnBass]

Fun at the home office*

​

* co-workers at the home office had literally never seen me. They saw an empty desk, a phone that never rang, and a chair that was never used. Apparently it became something of an office joke. They all shook my hand the day I did show up at "my" desk for some administrative tidying ... they'd waited years for the moment

 

[René_Julien]

My wife used to say it (eat someone's lunch) used to happen a lot where she worked. I don't get some people

I don't get that either. First of all, it is extremely rude. In the animal kingdom you could get killed for that. I also am sort of a picky eater so I wouldn't even think of taking someone else's food. Unless they want to share and tell me what's in it.

Which reminds me of a long-ish anecdote I want to share:

I once worked in a factory, 3 shifts at our production line.
A shift was a team of 3 people, but we could do the work with 2 at slightly reduced production. One of our coworkers always liked to take fridays off. So it was usually me and the other guy, who I got along with very great.

One friday my coworker brought in an entire leftover pizza from home. He said to me: take a slice... or however many you want. It was nice pizza for being cold. From there on it escalated every friday.

Our ongoing "prank" was: "to fatten your coworker up". Luckily the other guy with the usual friday off was constantly on a diet so he didn't miss out. Next time I brought a pizza. Then we brought in various snacks, fruit, cakes, pies, potato chips, subs, etcetera.

We were good friends so we knew what the other one liked for the stupid "prank". It got so ridiculous that we couldn't get it all on the little table and in the little fridge at our station. During the shifts we often had to call other stations to come over: "hey, we got sausage rolls, come and get them." And to the shift after us: "we got you guys breakfast".

After 6 weeks or so I had to concede. He won.

 

[gtmalone]

The group I worked with in StL was like family - a dysfunctional family. The first day of work I was being introduced to folks. This one girl shook my hand with a handful of the slime stuff. I knew I would fit in!

You always worried about going on vacation because you didn't know what would happen to your cubical. One person went on vac and we moved all of his stuff out and hid it. Another went on vacation and came back to about 25 lbs of potatoes on her desk. We called her "spud" from then on. I was talking to a gal about redecorating her cube and she said she would like to have a roof. She went on vac a couple of weeks later. We stretched computer paper over the top of her cube then threw packing peanuts on top.

 

[René_Julien]

The group I worked with in StL was like family - a dysfunctional family. The first day of work I was being introduced to folks. This one girl shook my hand with a handful of the slime stuff. I knew I would fit in!

You always worried about going on vacation because you didn't know what would happen to your cubical. One person went on vac and we moved all of his stuff out and hid it. Another went on vacation and came back to about 25 lbs of potatoes on her desk. We called her "spud" from then on. I was talking to a gal about redecorating her cube and she said she would like to have a roof. She went on vac a couple of weeks later. We stretched computer paper over the top of her cube then threw packing peanuts on top.

Oh, workplace prank stories.

Mind if I share another?

That factory I worked at was an aluminium factory.
During a night shift a guy was sitting in the middle of the workfloor sitting on a desk chair. I'm surprised he was able to sleep with all the noise going on.

We had big heavy metal containers to throw aluminium plates in. We got an empty one and turned it upside down.

Then I moved it over on top of him and very cautiously and quietly lowered it down, trapping him. I am an excellent bridge-crane operator. Then we took metal rods and started banging on the container.

Night shifts were fun.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Oh, I have been thoroughly pranked at work.

 

[ahc]

Re attire: The day I retired10 years ago, I swore I would NEVER wear a necktie again. So far so good. If I could travel back in time I would strangle the Earl de Cravat with his own creation. Why anyone would willingly put a noose around their neck is beyond me.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

There was a guy who used to eat lunches and leave money in the bags thinking it made it alright.

One day someone left a slice of pizza in the fridge with a big cockroach cooked into it. It came like that from the pizza place. He took a Polaroid of the piece as evidence. The box was marked “do not eat” but that didn’t stop the raider. He got sick when he was shown the photo.

Same here. The guy was the son of the head of R&D. His name was Barry. His dad got him a job in the mailroom. That's when the internal mail system went up for grabs. When someone went looking for an expected package and couldn't find it, we'd tell him that it got Barry'd.

Anyway, this knucklehead used to eat other's lunches and leave $1 (wow!) in the bag. One of the engineers finally got even with him. He bought a Nestle's Crunch Bar and an Exlax bar, ate the Crunch bar and rewrapped the Exlax bar in the Crunch Bar wrappings and kept putting it in his lunch bag until Barry finally picked his one day.

Good lord, but the afternoon was filled with ginormous humor.

We told him what happened. He never ate anyone else's lunch again.

 

[Polish Thunder]

When I started as an engineer 25 years ago, dress code was shirt and tie. I would buy white dress shirts so I would not have to worry about making sure my clothes matched but would pick up colorful ties. Then it was dress pants and a collared shirt. It is now business casual with jeans. When I was still in the office, I always wore a nice polo or button down shirt, nice jeans, and either dress shoes or Rockports. Since the pandemic, I have been working from home. Tee shirt and shorts year round now. I am more productive when comfortable. When I put on big boy clothes now I feel restricted.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

When I started as an engineer 25 years ago, dress code was shirt and tie. I would buy white dress shirts so I would not have to worry about making sure my clothes matched but would pick up colorful ties. Then it was dress pants and button shirt. It is now business casual with jeans. When I was still in the office, I always wore a nice polo or button down shirt, nice jeans, and either dress shoes or Rockports. Since the pandemic, I have been working from home. Tee shirt and shorts year round now. I am more productive when comfortable. When I put on big boy clothes now I feel restricted.

Exactly! You can be a musician or an adult, but not both! [Love that meme!]