Q: What kind of assholes makes their low-paid workers work on Memorial Day?
A: The “property management company” (read: “lawn mowers”) who mow my neighbor’s yard with two industrial-strength mowers at a time.
Share your first world problems, or anything else in this open thread.
Southern Beale
You know, I feel bad, because we’re having our windows washed in the house today. It wasn’t necessarily my choice, they were scheduled for a month ago and I had to reschedule the appointment. When the guy said “May 27” over the phone, I did say, “You know that’s Memorial Day, right? You guys aren’t working, are you?” And he said, Oh. Wow, it sure is, isn’t it? Well yeah, we’re working because we have other clients booked that day, too.
So … I guess I’m the asshole today for saying OK but I was open to doing this another day.
Punchy
Ya think those workers are making 2x their salary for working on a national holly?
Southern Beale
Also, it’s the Tennessee Gun Report. Not too much lunacy and bloodshed since the last report, but enough.
Cacti
My 7-year-old had one of the best ever “first world problems” this weekend.
Saturday evening, I felt like making surf and turf for dinner, so the missus picked up steak and shrimp from the grocery store.
When my son asked what was for dinner, I told him, and he replied…
“I hate steak and shrimp.”
different-church-lady
@Punchy:
What a quaint, 20th century notion.
Cassidy
My son got upset that he had to turn off the Xbox and stop playing Skylanders.
cathyx
Mine.
cathyx
Will anyone go shopping today? Thank a minimum wage worker for that.
gene108
Got into a conversation with my brother yesterday about politics and the economy.
For whatever reason he really thinks the private sector will be the harbinger of prosperity, but they are holding back from investing because of a lack of confidence with Obama.
I’ve developed a strong distrust of the private sector. I think if the rich make some money, you may lap up the crumbs and government is needed to keep things from getting out of whack.
He’s worked in IT product development for various banks or financial service firms. I’ve worked for a small IT company, mostly focused on staffing.
I’m not sure how we’ve come to such opposite conclusions about the economy and politics.
I don’t think we’re 180 degrees, apart, we just don’t line up completely.
Anybody else experience this sort of disconnect with people they are close to?
JoyceH
I lost my best friend on Friday. Sweetest, most beautiful dog in the world.
http://joyceharmon.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/memorial-to-maggie/
Brendan in NC
Same here – heard the leaf blowers at full song, and someone with one trudging up the stairs to my doorr to blow off the front stoop.
Cacti
@gene108:
The private sector’s been doing just fine, as evidenced by the 15,000+ DJIA. The problem is the same as it has been for the past 30 years…none of that prosperity has made its way down to the working people.
Eric U.
the private sector has really been hiring pretty strongly. The real problem is that the austerians have forced job cuts in the public sector. If we manage to get at least some of those jobs back the economy will take off for all of us
I think the kind of people that would be holding off on growth because they didn’t trust Obama either go out of business or get carried along for the ride anyway. A lot more people are just being cautious, and I can’t say I blame them much
Linda Featheringill
@JoyceH:
Sorry to hear about your loss.
[hug]
Origuy
So this happened last night. I heard the shots, but my housemates didn’t, so I tried to convince myself it was firecrackers. Then I heard the sirens a few minutes later. When I went out for burritos two hours later, the police had the road outside my townhouse complex blocked off. Two teenage boys were dead. The article I linked to still doesn’t give their names, but the comments do. The Facebook page of one of them shows him flashing gang signs. Crazy.
Roger Moore
@Punchy:
No. Chances are they aren’t legally employed, so their employer isn’t going to have any compunctions about overtime.
jenn
@JoyceH: I’m so sorry about Maggie. She was beautiful! How wonderful though, that she was able to be happy and active until so close to the end, and that you were able to be there with her. Best wishes!
Higgs Boson's Mate
Oh shit.
Fears grow of clash between Israel and Syria
Punchy
@Origuy: Are we as a society supposed to feel sad when a gangstah dies? Or indifferent? Cuz it’s real hard to do the former knowing they chose that lifestyle.
Elizabelle
@JoyceH:
So sorry, Joyce. Lovely dog.
Phylllis
My employer. Of course, it’s too sacred a holiday to have the regular school board monthly meeting tonight, per the board chair. That’s been postponed to tomorrow night.
SiubhanDuinne
@JoyceH:
Your blog memorial to Maggie made me cry … and laugh. And the photos, from puppyhood to hanging out with the cats to BEING (well, trying to be) a cat, are all wonderful. What an adorable puppy and beautiful dog. I share your sorrow.
This may not be the time/place, but I do hope you have another mystery in the works. I loved Died on the Vine and Bidding on Death, and really hope there are more to come.
In the meantime, though, big hugs.
Corner Stone
@Punchy:
They were 14 and 15.
raven
I’ve been a vet for 45 years and I can only recall one or two veterans day that I had off. Sure, I took annual leave on many but still.
eta But in all fairness my wife does get Confederate Memorial Day off.
Corner Stone
@Eric U.:
I think we should carefully examine the public sector job losses. IMO it’s not easy to pin it to the forehead of one specific group.
Punchy
@Corner Stone: Im not understanding how that matters. So 15 yr olds cant be in gangs? He flashed gang symbols in photos by mistake?
greennotGreen
I’ve worked on Christmas day before, and I did it because it was easier than taking the day off. I’d prefer to take the time off when it’s advantageous to me rather than when it falls on the calendar. And don’t give me this, “But you should be honoring our war dead.” What, with burgers and a brewsky? I’d rather honor them by working and voting to try to avoid wars in the future so we don’t have any more war dead.
TG Chicago
I don’t think you should complain about “making them work” so much as not giving them a paid holiday.
Assuming they weren’t getting a paid holiday, many of them might have preferred to bring the money in rather than sit around fretting about how to pay the bills when their paycheck will be short this week.
Short Bus Bully
Anyone considering going out to eat today? The ENTIRE food service industry works today and every fucking holiday you can imagine.
Paid holidays? AHAHAHAHAHA!!
Origuy
@Punchy:
I don’t know if they were actually in a gang, or if he was flashing signs because he thought they were cool. This neighborhood doesn’t have a lot of gang activity, although it’s close to some that do.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
This. Unfortunately, state level spending cuts are pretty much mandatory, because states are required to balance their budgets, and that’s where most of the austerity has been. They austerians have managed to prevent more stimulus spending and more federal aid to the states, but they’re at most indirectly responsible.
SiubhanDuinne
I saw a funny a few minutes ago. My apartment complex is a haven for squirrels. They’re pretty fearless (and/or stupid) and I’m always careful when I drive through the place because they’re quite likely to just sit down in the middle of the road and chill for a while. Anyhow, I was heading out and saw, just a-sittin’ and a-chillin’, a smallish squirrel with A HUGE BAGEL in its mouth. I tapped the horn, squirrel adjusted the bagel with its paws and managed to stagger off. Wish I had had the presence of mind to pull over, get out the iPad, and take a photo, but I know the squirrel would have been long gone by then. But it was a wondrous sight to see.
Schlemizel
My kid is working his job as a customer service rep for one of the wireless giants. Being its a holiday and everything he is being paid double-time and a half. That is not horrible
Corner Stone
@Punchy: I don’t feel it’s as easy a demarcation as you do.
How many stupid decisions did you make when you were 14? Ever go along with something stupid because you were bored, or wanted to fit in, or couldn’t say no and still safely walk away?
My guess is if you asked the average 14 year old male in an urban setting, or hell, nowadays in a rural one as well, what it means to be in a gang or be a gangmember you’d get language that indicated the “in group” or family, sense of belonging, etc.
Southern Beale
@JoyceH:
Ohhh so sorry for your loss. I hate losing a furry friend. Their lives are just too short.
MikeJ
@Corner Stone:
14 year olds are brain damaged. Their brains are literally defective compared to those of an adult.
Yatsuno
@MikeJ: This is why we’re (supposed) to have a juvenile justice system. Teenage brains aren’t fully wired yet and can’t totally absorb the consequences of their decisions. Throw in hormones and everything goes ungestuppt.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I was supposed to work today. If you consider going to the airport and flying from Detroit to Hermosillo work. I volunteered for it, though. Paperwork snafus robbed me of 10 hours of sweet 1.5X OT pay. To say nothing of the free mini pretzels.
jeffreyw
Those bastards at Verizon deleted the OCR app in my Galaxy S4 phone to make room for a GPS app that duplicates the included free Google Nav app. The Verizon Navigator app is $5/m.
AWJ
Hollywood to United States Government: “Legalize ransomware!”
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
This is why I got a Nexus phone (Galaxy Nexus). The carrier isn’t allowed to load it up with their crapware.
Hungry Joe
Yesterday somebody thought I parked too close to his truck, so he keyed my car, then climbed up on the roof and stomped some dents into it. (The fading Obama sticker might have sent him over the edge.) The good news: A witness left me a note with his contact info, the guy’s license plate #, and a description of the truck. Very nice, very professional policewoman came to the house, took my statement, checked out the car, kept the note for evidence. The wheels of justice begin to turn. CSI San Diego!
Nicole
I worked for over a decade at a facility that was open 365 days a year. I had over a decade of never getting a summer holiday off, because I was working virtually every weekend and holiday, since those were the days the public had free, and so they’d come to visit in the largest numbers, of course. If you were a seasonal worker (which could mean working 46 of the 52 weeks; they would lay you off for six weeks every year so they didn’t have to offer anything toward health insurance), the ones actually taking tickets and talking to the public, after four consecutive years of working for this place, you would get time-and-a-half on the holidays. The full time, managerial staff, who had benefits and an office with air conditioning, of course, got a paid holiday off. This was a not-for-profit place.
If we want everyone to have Memorial Day off, we’d have to be content with staying home all day. But it would be nice if there were laws about pay for those who have to work holidays so the rest of us can get out and get some entertainment on our days off.
Speaking of, back to work (freelance, though, so at least it’s my choice)…
TG Chicago
From an email I got today:
Do they really think it’s appropriate to shill their rag “in remembrance of” soldiers who have died in service?
cathyx
@Hungry Joe: You are a very lucky person.
pokeyblow
Not to pick on Obama (this time), but I heard on the radio that he is spending time today with “Gold Star” families, who have lost a loved one in a recent war.
“Gold Star Families?” WTF? Jesus, we are a fucking stupid country.
AdamK
I was trying to take a nap yesterday, and a damn chipmunk started up this incessant chirping right outside my bedroom window. Goddamn chipmunk.
jeffreyw
@Roger Moore: Alas, Verizon is the only viable choice in this area. I do love my Nexus 7.
Eric U.
two of my relatives have recently had parking lot related hit-and-run incidents. One had too many witnesses with conflicting reports so the cops are too confused to find the perpetrator.
Higgs Boson's Mate
“Star-Spangled Nails” —
You’ve got some “Star-Spangled” nails in your coffin, kid.
That’s what they’ve done for you, son.
-Richard Brautigan
Eric U.
@Corner Stone: there are very few non-austerians at any level of government, unfortunately. Dems are not off the hook on this one, for sure. That’s why I didn’t say Republcians, although they deserve the bulk of the blame.
Violet
@Hungry Joe: Wow, that’s amazing! I’d love to hear an update on your case if you ever get a result. What a crazy person to do something like that.
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow: What’s the issue here? You disagree with the name, or the group it refers to, or ?
SiubhanDuinne
If Kos is to be believed, the Wingularity is uncomfortably close if not actually here. Well, we’ve been predicting this for a long time. Sigh.
Karen in GA (who really needs a better name)
Oh, FFS. I write a comment blogwhoring and it disappears (the comment, not the blog). I am sad. Now watch it turns up, and I look particularly shameless for mentioning it twice. But if anyone wants to read a new blog with only five posts and offer any feedback, I’d really appreciate it. As I mentioned in the first (seemingly lost) comment, the writing muscles are kind of atrophied, but anyway. Click my name.
Fuck, I’m needy sometimes.
Speaking of whoring, though:
@TG Chicago:
It’s always appropriate for them to shill. Those rubes aren’t going to fleece themselves, you know.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow: This is something that dates back to WWI. It has no relation to getting a gold star on homework like kids do in school.
pokeyblow
@Corner Stone: The name. You get a gold star when you are eight and do well on a quiz, and also when your kid/spouse/parent is blown up fighting to avenge the embarrassment of GWB’s pussy father.
Infantile.
pokeyblow
@Omnes Omnibus: I am aware of the history. I disagree that there is no relation.
Your child is killed in Iraq, and you get a gold star. What purpose does that serve? Other than bullshit-spreading?
Just because something predates 1980, say, doesn’t mean it’s not ridiculous.
trollhattan
Have worked at two our our fine nation’s top ten engineering firms. Here’s a list of paid holidays both had between New Year’s Day and Fourth of July.
[SFX crickets]
Am enjoying the day off, droning leaf blowers notwithstanding.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow: Since the gold star flag thing probably predates gold star stickers for homework, your argument should be with using the thing in schools.
ETA: So basically, you disagree with the idea of families displaying service flags? There is no obligation to do it and I think that families have every right to commemorate the service of family members if they choose to do so.
Roger Moore
@pokeyblow:
It’s a pretty old tradition, dating back at least to WWI. Families with members in the armed forces during wartime fly a flag with one blue star for each family member who is serving. If a family member dies in the service, the blue star is changed to gold, so “gold star families” is a shorthand for families who have lost a member in wartime service. Before you mock others, it’s good to learn something about what you’re talking about.
trollhattan
@Hungry Joe:
God, some people suck. Good luck, I hope they find time to do something about the bastard before he unleashes his second amendment on somebody. Anger management, stat.
raven
@Roger Moore: My dad kept mine and gave it to me and it’s right here.
pokeyblow
@Roger Moore: Yes, I know. I looked into it before posting.
What does a gold star accomplish? About as much as Sean Hannity does every time he unctuously says “thank you for your service” to someone whose life and safety he doesn’t give a shit about.
lojasmo
@SiubhanDuinne:
A few weeks ago, I saw a medium sized squirrel carry an entire large red delicious apple up a tree.
Pinkamena Panic
@SiubhanDuinne: I assume you’re posting that in full realization that it’s fake.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
Why don’t you ask a family that chooses to display one? It is for them, not for you.
raven
Caroline’s Spine
Sullivans
Home
Uncle Sam will send you a telegram,
so he doesn’t have to tell you over the phone.
I heard she cracked up when she found what the war had cost.
All five of her boys were lost.
Say goodbye Mrs. Sullivan don’t you cry.
“…we regret to inform you all your sons have passed away.”
All five…
So change your blue star to gold.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t try to reason with that stupid cocksucker.
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
Are they no longer offering the Galaxy Nexus?
MikeJ
@raven:
Come on now, that’s uncalled for. Cocksuckers perform a valuable service.
pokeyblow
Well, folks disagree with me. I think it’s an insult to trade a loved one for a slogan, ribbon, sticker, star, license-plate design, or whatever.
But if it makes folks happy, and provides what some take as compensation for their loss, let them enjoy it.
pokeyblow
raven, you have a foul mouth.
Shame on you.
lojasmo
@Corner Stone:
That is an astoundingly naive POV. I live in a community of 100K, and our son is very sheltered, and he knew about gangs and gang activity at the age of 14. He also knew not to flash gang signs around (but probably didn’t know any actual gang signs)
SiubhanDuinne
@Pinkamena Panic: I though it probably was, but it’s one of those plausible-enough-to-be-true things. That’s why I weaseled with “If Kos is to be believed….”
Violet
@pokeyblow: Have you spoken with a variety of Gold Star Families, perhaps representing a variety of wars and eras? Check with them, see what they think. If they want to change the name, then you have a point. If they’re happy with the name, then there doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Feel free to let them know you think the name of their organization is stupid. That will no doubt be of great interest to them.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
They didn’t trade a loved one for anything. Christ. Do you also think that people traded their loved ones for tombstones?
@raven: Sorry.
Roger Moore
@pokeyblow:
Service flags were created during an era of popular (i.e. involving the whole populace) wars. They were a way of proving that your family was doing its part for the war effort and not shirking service. The gold star was proof of the ultimate sacrifice for the war effort. Mock at your own risk.
gogol's wife
@Hungry Joe:
I love that you parked “too close to his truck.” Because his truck was probably one of those big-a** things that takes up more than a parking space, right?
gelfling545
@Punchy: I’ve known a lot of gangsters and many who got killed. That sounds like a crazy thing for an old white lady to say but it’s true. Too many of my kids went that way and for a lot there was precious little “choice” of lifestyle. You may be as indifferent as you please. I wept for every one of them.
Just One More Canuck
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t you realise, it’s all about him. Pokey’s a special snowflake
Pinkamena Panic
Why are so many of you responding to a known troll?
idahoflaneuse
@JoyceH:
I am so sorry for you loss. I hope the memories of all the good years together helps
Omnes Omnibus
@Pinkamena Panic: It’s rainy here.
gogol's wife
@JoyceH:
I’m really sorry. She was very beautiful.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
And upon careful re-reading, I see all kinds of clues that I was uncaffeinated enough to miss on first reading. Sorry, all. It’s really kind of amazing I didn’t send John money for a Balloon Juice subscription back in, oh, sometime in early April.
Mandalay
@pokeyblow:
That’s a bit like asking why people bother keeping photos of their children when they were babies. That doesn’t “accomplish” anything either.
(Or am I being trolled?)
gogol's wife
@Mandalay:
You are being trolled.
pokeyblow
@Roger Moore: Good point. You demonstrate that the Romneys, for example, are simply ineligible for Gold Star status. How unfair to them.
pokeyblow
@Mandalay: I don’t see any relationship whatsoever to baby photos.
lojasmo
@pokeyblow:
Way to slag on families of fallen servicemembers on Memorial Day.
You are the epitome of class.
Citizen_X
The gold star is a signal to most of us that we should show some respect.
Apparently, some of us take it as a signal to show your ass.
Roger Moore
@Pinkamena Panic:
Because the site upgrade broke Cleek’s Pie Filter.
pokeyblow
@Omnes Omnibus: Your kid enlists, because he/she doesn’t have a $50MM trust fund. George Bush says “Fuck Saddam, we’re taking him out.” Your kid is blown up by an IED planted by someone whose brother was killed by a shock-and-awe bomb.
You are now a Gold Star parent.
Later, you watch W at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, on film joking about looking for WMD under couch cushions.
All’s good.
Corner Stone
@lojasmo:
Wow.
I’m actually speechless.
Thanks for…uh..this.
pokeyblow
@lojasmo: At least I don’t threaten to kill my colleagues.
Redshift
@Roger Moore:
I think it’s misleading to say that. To people who are not devoted to denying previously commonplace economic knowledge (i.e., austerians), it’s completely commonplace for the federal government to funnel money to the states during an economic downturn so they don’t have to lay off workers and make it worse. The effects are one step removed, but the responsibility is not.
jeffreyw
@Roger Moore: I don’t see it in their lineup. Does it handle LTE? I require that as well as wifi hotspot. Two year contract renders that moot, anyway. I waited until the HTC rumor was squashed and then jumped onto the S4. Good phone even with all the crapware.
JoyceH
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks! Complimenting a writer on their writing is never out of time or place.
I do intend to return someday to the Passatonnack Winery, but right now I’m working on a Regency romance. I always loved the books of Georgette Heyer, and she’s not writing any more, so I’m giving it a shot.
Though right now I’m going to spend a few days just letting myself deteriorate before I pull myself back together.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
Yesterday I got into a spat with someone on the book of faces because I didn’t consider Robert E. Lee particularly honorable (I may have used the words “treason” and “traitor”), and the other person had the nerve to bring up Benghazi. It did not end well.
MikeJ
@Roger Moore:
There is a newer version up that works now.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
I have no idea where you get that idea. If a family wants to use a service flag to commemorate their loved one’s military service, what concern is it of yours? The fact the George W. Bush was a classless asshole does not make a family’s loss less real. Further, I think it is a good idea that the President spend Memorial Day with families who have lost loved ones; people who have the power to start wars should be aware of the costs.
Violet
How many of you and how many folks in your neighborhoods have put up an American flag today? My neighbors did–one of them anyway. Neighborhood is really quiet today. I think people might be out of town.
raven
@Roger Moore: But there is a block thingy that works for me, I had just forgotten about it.
raven
@JoyceH: Sweet baby.
We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan.
â Irving Townsend
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
Flag is up! My sister is a fanatic about displaying the flag. I don’t know what has come over her, she never used to be like this, but she leaves reminders for herself to display the flag on a list of recommended dates.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
Like you didn’t see that coming right up Broadway. Dissing the great hero of the Confederacy leads to some neo-Confederate shitstain railing about Benghazi. Whocoodanode?
Roger Moore
@MikeJ:
I’m actually running it, but the upgrade deleted my list of trolls, so I have to add them back one by one as they annoy me. Pokeyblows hadn’t been added yet.
Hungry Joe
I did indeed park close to his big-ass truck — because he parked askew, his front wheels well over the line, and the spot next to him was the only one available. As I walked away I glanced at it and thought, “Kinda tight, but what the hell,” because he had plenty of room to get in on the right side if it came to that, and he was the one over the line. My car is a ’97 Camry, a real beater that I can’t get rid of because it just keeps running perfectly, but the paint is flaking and it has 288 scratches (now including four fresh keyed scratches), 81 scrapes, and a couple of dents (now featuring a partially stomped-in roof). I’m hoping he’ll have to pay to get the whole thing smoothed out and re-painted — pimp my ride on his dime.
Corner Stone
@Hungry Joe: Kind of a nutjob to have an out of control temper like that.
You don’t happen to live in MN, do you?
Karen in GA (who really needs a better name)
@JoyceH: Beautiful Maggie. I’m so sorry for your loss.
pamelabrown53
@pokeyblow: pokeyblow blows. Here’s a collapsible shovel just like the ones that are used to dig “foxholes”. Keep digging and thanks for the reminder that I don’t want you in mine.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
Your typical teatard. Duh.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, I should have seen in coming when the person started in with the statement “you must be one of those people who has fallen for the propaganda that the Civil War was about slavery …” All of my heads/All of my desks.
MobiusKlein
Nurses, Doctors, Cops, Firemen.
Prison Guards, Soldiers, Air Traffic Controllers, Plumbers. (yes, holidays are big for backed up sewer lines)
Baseball players, concession stand workers, and prostitutes.
And don’t forget mothers of newborns – the work does not follow bank holidays.
Life is work, and that is why we should honor it.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Hungry Joe:
I’d be very surprised to find out that this rageoholic roof stomper was a stranger to the cops. If parking proximity sent him over the edge, he’s probably got 9 toes dangling to start with.
gogol's wife
@Villago Delenda Est:
I wonder if the discussion was prompted by the very interesting article in the NYTimes yesterday about how many of our Army bases are named after Confederate traitor generals.
Roger Moore
@Hungry Joe:
People like that don’t deserve to have nice stuff. I say that not in the sense of “I hope somebody messes up his truck” but in the sense of “it’s inevitable that his truck will get messed up if he behaves that way”. Naturally, he’ll blame everyone but himself for the damage whose root cause is his inability to park his oversized phallic symbol.
Arm The Homeless
Well, I went to work today because temp employees don’t get time off and I didn’t want to spend time over the weekend having to pretend to work, but I digress.
I will instead focus on the metric ass load of good news from the past two weeks:
The future spousal unit was offered a contract for a time limited instructors position, which sort of calmed her fears she would never be hired.
My thesis was accepted and is being prepared for submittal to US Fish and Wildlife and the Corps of Engineers. I also have an interview with the regional water management district tomorrow for an underpaid and over worked position that has been open for months. Probably due to the previously mentioned suckitude, but I ain’t gonna’ complaisance a full time gig is a nice step up from indentured servitude.
The future spousal unit also informed me that we will be getting a dog before the end of the year. That’s cool, even if the breed is entirely in her hands. Happy Memorial Day everyone!
trollhattan
@Hungry Joe:
There’s a substantial subset of truck owners who mistake their eff-two-fiddys for Ferraris (they’re easy to spot, too). Rarely are they working trucks, mostly ill-handling pimpmobiles.
At my last job we had one such individual, who would take FIVE spots in the office parking lot with his truck. I’d have never thought it possible but by gawd, he got their early to meet a field crew and parked it just so. No idea why the property management let him get away with it.
Roger Moore
@MobiusKlein:
You can add anyone who has to look after animals to your list. Or living cells, for that matter; most of the biologists I know will have to come to work for at least a little while to look after their cells.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@gogol’s wife: actually, it was related to a discussion about Washington & Lee U.
Death Panel Truck
@Punchy: I had to mow a lawn today, and I didn’t get double time.
Of course, it was my own lawn, but still… ;)
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m supposed to be doing yard work today, re-seeding a dried up patch of turf. But it’s clouded up and looks like rain. That would suck for people having cookouts but it works fine for me.
Roger Moore
@Death Panel Truck:
Sure you did. Twice nothing is still nothing.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
Yes, the well known propaganda of the Confederates themselves in 1861, which was rapidly revised after the traitor armies had been crushed in 1865.
WereBear
The blue laws were rolled back everywhere because both shoppers and shopkeepers found they were in the way of enjoyment. In light of the increased traffic on such days, I, as always, tip well if I’m eating out on such a day.
I had a nice chat with someone in retail recently, who I wished a nice day off… in recognition of the fact they would be working on the holiday. She shared the time a couple came in, obviously After Church, and while the wife browsed the husband lectured the staff on how the sabbath should be a day of rest and relaxation.
Her co-worker pointed out that if THEY were here, the workers had to be, and it shut up the sanctimonious clueless idjit.
Chris
@gene108:
There is an absolute fucking mind block among far too many people, even those who aren’t 27%er fuckjobs, against the concept that wealth, growth and prosperity can come from anything other than the private sector, and that government and unions could possibly ever do anything other than mess things up. I’m really not sure what to do about it.
WereBear
@JoyceH: I’m so sorry. What a sweet soul!
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
The wit and wisdom of Cyrano Jones!
Mike D.
Trash collection happened here today. Private company. Bastards.
Bob In Portland
It looks like the Laurelwood microbrewery is closed today, which is good and bad.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chris:
It’s absolutely maddening, because it’s demonstrably false. These intertubes we’re using to discuss this? The product of government initiative. Completely. Both the computers and the connections themselves, in their entirety. The “private sector” told the government that the idea of computers talking to each other over phone lines was ludicrous.
Yet here we are.
Mandalay
@pokeyblow:
Gold stars and baby photos are both tangible reminders of people you love.
That is their relationship, and that is what they “accomplish” (to use your term).
gene108
@Cacti:
I think in some sectors of the business world they just assume the massive income inequality just to be the norm.
And there isn’t another way to both make things more equitable and still have private sector investment / innovation.
I think bridging this gap is the biggest political challenge we have. Getting both the business sector and liberals to buy in is hard.
Violet
@MobiusKlein: In the UK they tend to call holidays like this Bank Holidays, although that term does have a specific meaning and isn’t always used correctly. I like the term because it seems to describe what happens–banks close, government offices close, people who have desk jobs usually don’t have to work–and everyone else seems to have to work.
ruemara
@Punchy: HAhahahahHHAHAHAHA! I r ebil guvmint worker. If I work today, I get regular pay, because I’m under full time. The supermarkets that are open are paying normal pay. Ditto restaurants. Holiday pay is a quaint notion.
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I posted to you yesterday in the gardening thread bout your turf project. Here’s the link to the comment: https://balloon-juice.com/2013/05/26/sunday-morning-garden-chat-exotic-incognita-2/#comment-4456934. Give the compost a try. It works wonders. Might save you having to re-seed and all that work.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
I agree that the government has a role to play in growth and prosperity, but if it’s a source of wealth then we’re doing it wrong. The government should be trying to do enough for as many people as possible, rather than giving too much to too few.
Mnemosyne
@WereBear:
I usually try not to shop on holidays since I know the workers get screwed, and I am uncomfortable participating in their being exploited.
If retailers were required by law to pay at least time-and-a-half on those days, I would be more likely to shop since at least I would feel like the worker was benefiting as well.
gene108
@Chris:
My brother brought up something I hadn’t heard before called No Action Letters. Because of Dodd-Frank banks get notices that ‘x’ rule will be in effect, but then the government says not to worry about complying with’x’, so weeks of work get wasted.
Obama’s screwed up on things like education, where he’s pissed off a lot of would be supporters, so I’m not surprised bureaucratic nitpicking occurs in other areas.
The problem is making an argument for change and executing it, which was done with Obamacare. It just needs to be done with imvestment and less income inequality.
dmsilev
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): Texas’s declaration of secession, third and fourth paragraphs:
Similar documents from the other Southern states have similar language. If you think this particular debate might recur, I’d recommend quoting these.
Edit: From further on down in the same document, complaining about the sins of the non-slaveholding states:
They’ve outvoted us! Not fair! WAAAAAH! Truly, the teabaggers of the mid 19th century.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
It’s a source of wealth only in the sense that government takes the risk of R&D that has no obvious ROI (as is true with most infrastructure…no one seems to envision that it IS an investment that will have payoffs that are not literal enough for the mind of an MBA) and makes tremendous new opportunities for private sector growth possible.
However, there is, as you’ve noted, the direct spigot approach, which is what most “privatization” is all about…hence no-bid Halliburton contracts, privately owned prisons, barely concealed graft, etc.
HinTN
@raven: Decoration Day
MikeJ
@dmsilev: Don’t forget the “vice president” of the rebellion:
Steeplejack
@gene108:
This argument has started to drive me nuts. It hit me when I was reading one of Alan Furstâs novels about World War II (I think Spies of the Balkans). There is a section where a police inspector needs to get from point A to point B, and, because it suits the interests of some powerful players, he is given a ride on an airplane carrying black-market goods. Over the Alps the plane is tracked by a German fighter plane, which pulls alongside, gives them the once-over and then peels off. And itâs clear: the fix is in. War, hell, thereâs money to be made! The black-marketeers of World War II werenât sitting around wringing their hands over a lack of confidence in Hitler or whatever. Everything was in demand, and they were filling the need.
The point is that we are in a demand recession now. People donât have enough money, or enough security about their precarious financial positions, to buy stuff, or do much except try to pay down debt, so there is not enough incentive for businesses to expand or to invest the vast mountains of cash they are sitting on. With inflation so low, they can just sit on the money and bitch about Obama and their taxes. Which is what they are doing (with a few exceptions).
dmsilev
@dmsilev: And similar language from the Mississippi declaration:
South Carolina:
Anyone who denies that the Southern states seceded because of slavery is either ignorant or a liar. Or, quite possibly, both.
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
Um, er, “states’ rights!’…”oppressive tariffs!”…”argle bargle!”
gene108
Other than Christmas or Thanksgiving, I don’t see the “crime” in people working on holidays.
They are hourly and get paid hourly. When I worked hourly I like getting more hours because I got more money.
A lot of the desk jockeys off today (myself olncluded) are salaried. I get paid the same if I work today (which I have to do in a bit for a minor issue that can’t wait till tomorrow) or if I stay home.
The people I’ve known in retail usually got another day off to make up for working weekends/ hololidays.
cckids
@Schlemizel: That is pretty good. My daughter (18), is working in a movie theater today, lots of screamy, spilling small children, 3 big movies dropped this weekend so very, very busy. No pay bump at all.
And she feels pretty lucky; unemployment among teens here (Vegas) is probably close to 40%. There are still plenty of adults whose unemployment has run out who are working 2-3 part time, min. wage jobs who are doing the jobs teens used to.
Dee Loralei
@JoyceH: So sorry for your loss. Maggie was beautiful. You guys had a great life together. Loved the pics too. Now, I’m off to amazon to buy your book for my mom.
Steeplejack
@JoyceH:
My condolences to you.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
The way I see it, the wealth that government creates should be national wealth rather than personal wealth. Infrastructure and basic research are things that make the whole country better. Unfortunately, our economic system is currently set up to reward capital at the expense of labor, so any wealth we create winds up in the hands of the few rather than the many.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
Point well taken, which is why we need to Adam-Smithize this country. Because the Wealth of the Nation is being stolen by a handful of criminals.
Mandalay
McCain went to Syria today! It’s hard to believe he did this with the blessing of the Administration….
McCain is such an asshole.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mandalay:
He is the guy who thought supporting the Georgians in a shooting war with Russia was a great idea.
Never mind the logistics of such an operation would be formidable, to say the least.
Another fucking dilettante at actual strategy.
Higgs Boson's Mate
My son works at the local grocery store. He gets few a cents an hour override for working today. That’s because he’s covered by the “new” contract. Those employees who are covered by the old contract are being paid time-and-a-half. The UFCW voted in the two tier system when they settled their last big strike. Having strong employee unions would help to reduce the economic disparities in this country. Unfortunately, the forces arrayed against unionization have been way more successful than the union folks and I don’t see that turning around.
elmo
Kinda OT, but can I just take a moment and complain about people who undertip? It’s to the point that I actually dislike being treated to a meal, because I don’t trust other people to tip properly (that is, generously).
Servers don’t make minimum wage in this country, because we as a society have determined that they should be compensated with tips. Fine. But that imposes an obligation on the restaurant-going population to fucking tip.
Every restaurant meal is an opportunity to make somebody else’s day – somebody who works a crap job, for shit pay, and whose service was a vital component of your enjoyment of your meal. For a $50 tab, the difference between a 20% tip and a 30% tip is five bucks. If you’re eating a $50 meal, five bucks isn’t going to break the bank, but it will put a smile on somebody’s face in the middle of a hard day.
Grrr.
Cacti
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
Mars Bobby was anti-American in the most literal sense of the word. He resigned his commission in the United States Army and took command of insurrectionist forces determined to split the United States apart.
Today, in part, we remember those who wore the blue, and preserved our nation from the machinations of scum like Robert E. Lee and his slave labor profiteering overlords. May those who wore the grey be ever remembered as the traitors that they were.
AHH onna Droid
@Punchy: Yeah, that’s right, just like their parents chose to be poor, work two jobs so theyre never around and have as their only family babysitters substance abusers, users and creeps. That anti social outlook and pack behavior is just a sign of poor moral fiber, probably the result of eating sugary cereals. I dont know what beef these rebels without a cause could have with society. I have it on good authority that there are plenty of jobs for the asking appropriate for their station.
Mandalay
@Villago Delenda Est:
Exactly. Back then President McCain said “I know I speak for every American when I say to him today, we are all Georgians”. I guess that means we are all Syrian rebels today.
I’ll notify the President to cancel Memorial Day so we can ramp up the war effort.
Cacti
@Mandalay:
I’m guessing these weren’t the rebels who have pledged loyalty to Al Qaeda.
Roger Moore
@gene108:
I don’t see a problem with people working on Christmas, or any other religious holiday. There are plenty of people in this country who aren’t Christians, or are from some Christian denomination that doesn’t celebrate Christmas on December 25th. If those people want to work on somebody else’s religious holiday, that’s fine. What isn’t fine is when people are expected to work on legal holidays without any kind of extra compensation. Holidays should be holidays for as many people as possible, and the best way to ensure that is to force employers to pay extra for having people work that day. That will ensure that truly vital jobs are still filled, and people who are forced to give up a holiday get some kind of compensation for their inconvenience.
Roger Moore
@Mandalay:
Maybe they were hoping there would be a tragic accident while he was there. Please gramps McCain, present yourself as a target in as many hotspots around the world as you can find.
Mandalay
@Cacti:
I think that is irrelevant. The only objective of President McCain’s visit was to tell the black fellow to get off his lawn.
cckids
@JoyceH: Maggie is lovely, and your tribute/memorial to her is sweet & touching. Our pup is getting on in years & slowing down due to a degenerating disc; this is a reminder to me to give him extra snuggles. So sorry for your loss.
MikeJ
@Cacti:
Why would you guess that? You don’t think that Chris Pine refuses to talk to Benedict Cumberbatch off the set, do you?
gene108
@Roger Moore:
I put in Christmas and Thanksgiving as my “bad holidays’ to work on is because those are the two holidays, when most folks get together with family and working on those days makes it hard to have quality family
Of course there are plenty of people, who can’t stand their families, so I guess working might not be such a bad thing for them.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Cacti:
What in the world does that old fuck think he can accomplish? The rebels are not unified, they can’t even decide who will represent them at the Russian brokered peace talks. Now Israel wants to get involved under the justification of preventing Syrian weapons from getting to Hezbollah. This is going to get very ugly and the last thing Syria needs is McCain sticking his oar in.
Roger Moore
@gene108:
And I’m less excited about that because I work with lots of immigrants who don’t have family traditions of celebrating those holidays. My general feeling is that for every holiday you can think of, there’s some group of people who don’t care about it who logically might work on that day without great personal sacrifice. But I do think that everybody deserves some time off, and people who lose official holidays need to be compensated in some way for sacrificing that time off. They should at the very least be given an equal amount of time off at a time of their choosing plus some kind of bonus for working on a holiday. If their employer is willing to pay that to get people to work that day, well and good. If not, the employer needs to do without rather than screw their employees.
Violet
@elmo: Fairly recently we had a long discussion on tipping. Interesting thread if you want to check it out.
Mandalay
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
President McCain wants to make it very clear to all Americans that he is in charge:
Actually, all McCain really wants to do is poke Obama in the eye, and this is the closest he can get to doing that without being hauled away by FBI agents.
The White House must be seething over this.
Death Panel Truck
Obama should do what the Kennedy administration did whenever LBJ went overseas on “goodwill” trips.
Roger Moore
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Interestingly, the LA Times, at least, is reporting that Israel isn’t supporting the rebels. They’re apparently convinced that Assad is too weak to do anything to Israel- he didn’t retaliate for their attack on Syria’s nuclear complex- and the rebels may be worse. They’re presumably happy to have both sides beating the snot out of each other and are genuinely worried about Hezbollah getting chemical weapons from Syria. It seems like as plausible and explanation as any for their behavior.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mandalay:
Hmmm, provide modern weapons and while we’re at it please bomb Syria and Lebanon. What could possibly go wrong?
Heliopause
A: The entire retail, food service, entertainment, and hospitality sectors.
Mandalay
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Absolutely nothing.
The hands off approach worked out fine for us in Iran and Nicaragua, and it will be a glorious success here as well, thanks to President McCain, and no thanks to the junior senator from Illinois.
We will be greeted as liberators and showered in flowers in Damascus, just as we were in Baghdad, Managua, Beirut, Santiago, San Salvador, Guatemala City, Kabul, Tripoli, Tegucigalpa, Bogota, Hanoi, Saigon, Caracas, Phnom Penh, Vientiane….
lojasmo
@pokeyblow:
Whatever, cudlip.
Mnemosyne
@gene108:
I am not salaried, but I did get today off with pay as a company holiday. If for some reason I had been required to work, I would have gotten time-and-a-half.
I think you have forgotten the gap between hourly and salaried workers. Why are hourly workers supposed to go without pay on a holiday just because you don’t get extra pay when you choose to work on a holiday?
MeDrewNotYou
@JoyceH: I know I’m really late to the party, but maybe you’ll catch this. I’m really sorry for your loss; Maggy was a very pretty girl.