The single clerk in a small Maine town resigned after the board of selectmen denied her vacation request
Read more- https://t.co/4MOjdsB9tl pic.twitter.com/6L3nfMqG1j
— BreezyScroll (@BreezyScroll) May 20, 2022
Christen Bouchard was the town clerk in Passadumkeag, Maine, since 2020. She requested a two-week vacation about a month and a half ago. Her plea was denied by the board of selectmen. They claimed that no one was available to step in for her.
She left on April 7. The town has had no one to register vehicles, keep crucial records, or communicate with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
The position of town clerk isn’t the only important opening in Passadumkeag. The town of 356 people also lacks a code enforcement officer, an assessor, an animal control officer, and a school administration official, according to The Bangor Daily News.
The town office shut down to in-person visitors until further notice, according to a statement sent out on April 19.
Town's wife had finally had it doing everything for everyone else with no break & up & left the relationship, & now town isn't sure how all the appliances work https://t.co/nLF3GUffCG
— Anne-Marie Clark JD ⚖️ for 🇺🇦🌻 🌎🌍🌏 (@AMWClarkLaw) May 20, 2022
It’s Saturday! What’s everyone doing today?
This is an open thread
Foreign Affairs Open Thread: Repubs, Scrambling to Get Back on the ‘Popular’ Side
David Collier-Brown
The Romans used to distribute city jobs to the patricians by lottery. You picked a tag by reaching into a wide-mouthed jug and pulled out … “you’re the dog catcher this year”
JanieM
I saw this in the Bangor Daily News a few days ago and laughed out loud. Maybe the Select Board hadn’t heard of the Emancipation Proclamation…? There must be a name for this variation on “Be careful what you wish for…”
raven
My old man ran a couple of pools in a townhouse complex in the 60’s. They had really complicated filtration systems and, after a couple of years, he asked for a raise. HOA said no so he walked. . .two weeks later they hired him back with the raise!
Jackie
I’m sure Susan is concerned.
WaterGirl
I suppose taking out a small ad saying “are you ready to approve my vacation now, bitches?” is probably out of the question.
WaterGirl
What am I doing today? I have the Saturday Balloon Juice zoom open, but so far no takers.
And I am baking bread and cooking for the week.
edit: CaseyL just showed up and I bet she would love some company!
Almost Retired
Here I sit, checking out the Balloon-Juice site, while sitting in the far back row at a legal conference pretending I give two shits about whatever is the subject of the speaker’s bloviation. If it weren’t for the internet, at this point I would be diverting myself with paper airplanes, spit balls and armpit-fart noises.
Right now, I’m getting helpful discovery and trial tips from some kids who were just learning long division when I tried my first case.
I can’t believe I put up with this sort of thing for over 30 years. Retirement can’t come soon enough. Nor can the open bar, although 10:00 a.m. seems a little early.
HinTN
Our flight out of LGA is delayed, delayed, and delayed. So far I have resisted the urge to head for the bar directly behind this waiting area.
MomSense
Hahahaha! This is so fucking BMW (Big Maine Woman)energy.
Had an insane work week. Today I have a headache and sore throat so I’m going to knit and watch Star Trek until I figure out if I’m just overtired or fighting something off.
Dorothy A Winsor
‘@Almost Retired:
Someone on twitter advised that if you want your prof to respond to your email quickly, send it during a faculty meeting. Maybe that’s good for lawyers in continuing ed too
frosty
I sense a theme from the last two comments!
Skepticat
‘@ jackie “I’m sure Susan is concerned.”
I’m pretty certain she isn’t, as nothing about her actual constituents really matters to her.
I’m filling knapsacks with essentials for people without walls for Maine Needs to distribute.
OzarkHillbilly
HinTN: Hillbilly’s Rules of Flying #7: The quicker you get to the bar, the sooner your flight will be announced.
Almost Retired
So true, DAW. I’m actually responding promptly to clients’ e-mails this morning. Ugly precedent.
Math Guy
Spending the day packing up the house in preparation for our move from a red state to a blue state. So happy to see BJ up.
M4
Samwise just got back from the vet. He was a brave boy! Gained two pounds when he should’ve gained one, nothing unhealthy but I’m turning the kibble machine down a click. Minor gum disease, they say he doesn’t need a cleaning until next year though?
WaterGirl
‘@M4
That’s all good news, especially about the cleaning. Why was he trying to gain one pound?
Steeplejack
‘@M4:
Initially read that as Samwise gained two pounds while at the vet’s. Whoa.
Steeplejack
‘@Math Guy:
Which states?
zhena gogolia
I’d love to join the zoom but we’re about to have our alumni/graduate reception. It turns out the table in the room is about big enough for a few plates, but not the food. But then maybe the food won’t get delivered and it will be okay.
Ruckus
Almost Retired
I won’t bore you with the actual effects of retirement. I will say that if you don’t enjoy it, you aren’t doing it right.
Yes there is still work to do, food to prepare, actual fucking dishes to wash, etc, etc but that only ends when you can’t feed and clean yourself. Or you don’t give a damn how you smell. (OK for me that smell part doesn’t count, my sense of smell left the building 5-6 yrs ago.) But I’ve held a job for 60 yrs and retirement is nice. (Yes I am rubbing it in – get over it.) A clock is only useful for telling me what to have to eat, B-L or D. Not that it’s all that important to differentiate unless one is tied to procedure and custom.
Hope you make it to retirement and many years after so you can properly enjoy it.
Phylllis
Appreciating the alternate site, as I’ve really missed my fellow jackals this week. Also binge-watching The First Lady and generally having a lazy Saturday.
raven
I’m off to one of two “Celebrations of Life” now and missing one in Champaign tomorrow.
Math Guy
‘@Steeplejack
Missouri to Minnesota.
Major Major Major Major
‘@watergirl he was a little too skinny last year
Gin & Tonic
‘@HinTN – One time, long ago, I sat at an LGA bar waiting for a flight and Andre the Giant was sitting by himself at the end. I didn’t strike up a conversation. Dude was *large*
CaseyL
Those tiny little towns are between a rock and a hard place. They have hardly any tax base to support a municipal infrastructure, and of course no one wants to pay more in taxes. So they wind up holding things together with chewing gum and string – and no resilience if someone leaves.
What’s funny is how often people move to those small towns precisely to get out of paying municipal taxes – but still want the municipal services.
WaterGirl
‘@Almost Retired
The worst is when you are at seminars and conferences and you think “I could be presenting this material and doing it better”. And repeating that experience in most of the sessions.
Edmund Dantes
This is the “my pto request was not a request. It was notice to find someone to cover for me cause I’m not going to be here” meme come to life. Also this town is just two towns over from where I grew up. And I can assure you, a bunch of old white guys are all sitting around the local coffee place bitching about how the services in the town suck (and they all voted against getting more money to make the services better).
Jay
Happy to see Jackals again.
Kathleen Kramer
this is cool thing
bluejersey43 (fka texasboyshaun)
Hi everybody! It’s the first “hot” day here since I got to Jersey in March. So far so good, I’m concerned about how my old man dog will take the hear with no AC. But I have his fan on him, the windows are open, and he’s dozing quietly so I think he’ll be ok.
featheredsprite
Hi. Nice weather in the PNW today. Covid alert is high, even though we are quite a ways rom Seattle. This is a good day to stay at home.
I’ll repeat myself: It’s good to see you guys!
realbtl
I was at a state wide Dept of Health and Human services in Helena with my friend from the next county over, We’re in our mid-50s, everyone else 20s and 30s. Boring and dumb. It was all I could do not to start the “bullshit cough” from Animal House as I knew he would pick up on it and we would probably get kicked out.
Jackie
Just saw Putin has banned almost a thousand Americans from Russia – including POTUS and MVP – but not Trump.
HinTN
‘@OzarkHillbilly – in this case, no. Plane’s coming from St Louis and apparently you have weather out there.
@ Gin & Tonic – that’s got New York all over it! We saw two plays and a concert while we were here and we still had time to ride the carousel in Central Park. Glad to be headed home.
Steve in the ATL
“ The worst is when you are at seminars and conferences and you think “I could be presenting this material and doing it better””
I have done a fair bit of speaking at CLE conferences and I guarantee anyone in the audience who stayed awake was thinking this!
WaterGirl
‘@Jackie
You said:
“Just saw Putin has banned almost a thousand Americans from Russia – including POTUS and MVP – but not Trump.”
Total coincidence!!!
mrmoshpotato
Rain delay here. (No, I’m not at the Friendly Confines.)
Why can’t the White Sox and the (fuck the) fucking Yankees both lose?
JAFD
‘@WaterGirl @Jackie – The only MVP I can think of offhand is Melvin Van Peebles, filmmaker who produced _Putney Swope_ waybackwhen …
I am obviously not ‘au courant’, and would be grateful for enlightenment
@bluejersey43 – Welcome! Hope you can make it to meetup sometime (Would suggest the Mastoris Diner as central location for NJ gathering, but, alas, that eatplace is COVID casualty :-( )
BillinGlendaleCA
‘@WaterGirl
In fairness, banning Steve in the ATL was probably a good move on Putin’s part.
Steve in the ATL
It’s sad, Bill—I never got to use my “Steve in the SVO” nym!
Jackie
‘@WaterGirl: Apparently Moscow Mitch and squirrel hair Paul are also excluded from the ban. KY should be renamed New Russia.
WaterGirl
‘@Jackie
Wow, so they are supplying a list of people in Putin’s pocket, by exclusion?
WaterGirl
‘@JAFD
Acronyms drive me crazy, but i do know this one. MVP is Madame Vice President, I believe.
kalakal
‘@JAFD
MVP I think is Madam Vice President
Jackie
‘@JAFD: Sorry! MVP = Madam Vice President.
CaseyL
Did Putin also indicate that the Moscow Senators who went there on July 4 are also free to visit the place?
Getting banned from Russia is a badge of honor.
Not being banned is… the opposite. Might as well paint a big ol’ arrow pointing at them, “This is the Putin Caucus in your Senate and House!”
Chetan Murthy
‘@CaseyL: A-yup. Or at least, “Toupee pretending the be a Senator” Paul was exempted from the list.
BillinGlendaleCA
‘@WaterGirl
May 21, 2022 at 2:56 PM @JAFD
The Home of the Orange Apron would drive you crazy then…
OFA -Order Fullfillment Associate(that’s me)
MOD – Manger On Dudy
SM – Store Manger
HC – Head Cashier
ASM – Assistant Store Manager
CXM – Customer eXpirience Manager
The list goes on and on..per SOP.
Suzanne
The northeast is having a “heat wave”. It’s so cute. It’s 90 degrees.
Anyway, I went to my hot yoga class and it was brutal. The higher heat outside translates to higher heat inside. Usually it’s at 105, but it was hotter today. I was sweating just being in the studio lying on my mat. Great shit, though. My muscles feel like overcooked spaghetti.
Mr. Suzanne and I are taking Youngest to a Daniel Tiger performance this evening. Should be adorable.
Scout211
Thanks, WG, for posting Cole’s epic email from Hell. I still wonder how the “security incident of May 14” has not been reported, even on the typical security sites like Krebs. Hmmm.
Also, too, we voted last Monday and dropped our ballots off that day. We both got emails from BallotTrax that our ballots were good and counted. The primary is June 7th.
I wonder what is wrong with all the states that refuse to mail ballots to all of their registered voters. Why would any state make it hard to vote?*
*Not intended to be an actual question.
WaterGirl
‘@ BillinGlendaleCA
Here’s one: FU
Just kidding! That list wasn’t too bad because those are fairly standard.
Feathers
Agreeing with @CaseyL. There is no way a town of 365 people can afford to have a staffed public office to handle this sort of bureaucratic paperwork. Whatever made it sustainable before is clearly gone and the people of the town don’t want to admit it. It’s a real problem in New England where things are run on a town basis, rather than county. Huge inefficiencies. It does mean that you have more people with government jobs and pensions, but you also end up with very real grievances that these are the only people who make a comfortable wage and have a secure retirement. Except for the property and business owning gentry, of course.
Apparently they are required to fund some of these functions to remain an independent town. We’ll see what the state does. They probably don’t want to pay for this directly, but don’t want to be “against” rural small towns either. The taxes in whatever town they would be incorporated into are undoubtedly higher than whatever they voted down.
Small town America is deeply corrupt.
WaterGirl
‘@Scout211
Yes, the silence is deafening. It’s either very hush-hush for reasons that we will eventually learn, or 357 (and counting,… well, subtracting anyway) is hiding something and their PR people done an amazing job of keeping a lid on this.
Chetan Murthy
BillinGlendaleCA: And I’m reminded of Adam S’ posts, where he regales us with all the variegated multitudes of military acronyms.
StringOnAStick
I’m about the head out to start taking wheelbarrow loads of coarse compost for mulch into all my new garden beds in the backyard, all 4.5 cubic yards of it. I just got back after scoring some willow trimmings to make birdhouses out of, so it was a nice drive in the country on a road I haven’t been down yet.
BillinGlendaleCA
WaterGirl May 21, 2022 at 3:29 PM
@ BillinGlendaleCA
But wait, there’s more…
BillinGlendaleCA
Chetan Murthy May 21, 2022 at 3:34 PM
The military(DOD) makes it an artform.
kalakal
‘@BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl
IBM back in the day achieved peak TLA (Three Letter Acronym) with AMD.
This stood for Air Movement Device ie a fan. An acronym that use 3 letters to describe a single 3 letter word.
There were loads of joke versions of what IBM stood for, my favourite was I’ve Been Moved which was the inevitable reply the second time you called any contact you had within the company
JAFD
Thanks for the enlightenment !
Earlier this week, ’twas a comment on the former Secretary of Defense’s book, he talks about TFG disliking the aesthetics of new US Navy ships, forwarded it to some USN veteran friends, wife of one emailed back asking “DDG ?”
I replied “Hadst thee Gooolgleth that, ‘twouldst have learned ’twas the stage name of a rapper, and abbreviation for ‘Drop-Dead Gorgeous’, thus applying to you
But to the US Navy, is abbreviation for ‘destroyer with guided missles”
lahke
Went to Met Opera simulcast, Lucia di Lammermoor. Alas, I’m at the age where I sleep through the mad scene, but still was pretty good. They updated it to current era rusted out Detroit and all the Ashtons had ganger tattoos.
Jay S in WA
‘@Kalakal IBM from the customer side often stood for “I’ve been Misled”. Parsing their announcement letters was like Kremlinology for what features were really there.
Math Guy
Re: Acronyms. Enjoying the discussion about GNATs: Garish Name Association Tags.
West of the Rockies
In regards to Almost Retired way above… I truly welcome the new generations taking over, but sometimes the condescension and ageism ( which goes both ways) is irksome.
West of the Rockies
Boy, I’ve sure missed Adam’s nightly updates.
WaterGirl
‘@West of the Rockies
I’ll be putting that up (Adam’s Ukraine writeup) later this evening.
CaseyL
Thanks, WaterGirl! I have Adam’s latest in my email, but it will be good to see it here as well, and talk about it.
hedgehog mobile
Just got power back after 9 hours due to spring snow. Many broken branches, including one that landed on my car, without damaging it. Now drinking wine and watching Svengoolie on Me TV (movie is The Return of Dr. Phibes).
Stephen
IBM’s also been known to stand for “Involuntary Bowel Movement”. when something went pear-shaped.