Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[besleybean]

Yeah, as a friend of a friend said...

I am offended by people who are offended!

[Artemis]

29 minutes ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

So, with those out of the way for now, who should we complain about in rant thread??

Loud people?? There are couple of those here and I have serious headache. 

Stupid HR? I'm getting more and more convinced that HR always tries their best to work against employee's welfare.

People without backbone who lean against you in subway? Goddammit. DAMN your backbone!! Grow some!

I have a FILE of other things we can rant about.

All worthy candidates for our disdain.  But ugh, get me going on HR and I might never stop. 

I saw Christmas decorations for sale in the store today.  And then I saw a Christmas commercial on TV.  I love Christmas, but IT'S TOO EARLY.  At least wait until Halloween is over, please people!

 

[besleybean]

Don't even start me on the 'C' word!

[Artemis]

What, 'candidates'?  'Commercial'? 

 

[besleybean]

Xmas isn't even allowed to be mentioned in this house until Advent at the earliest.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I won't allow Alex to turn on the Christmas tree lights till the day after Thanksgiving  (which is in late November).

With the store displays and the TV ads getting earlier and earlier, somebody suggested combining everything into one long holiday called Hallowthankmas.

[Pseudonym]

Less 'chicken' more angry, which I'm trying to ignore. So... Why must the low Autumn sun torment me? In the morning I drive east... into the sun. In the evening I drive west... into the sun. And when it's low, like now, you never know when you're about to turn a corner and not be able to see anything. 

[Artemis]

^ That drives me crazy too, I can't see a thing!

Hallowthankmas, lol.  I think I've heard that before, too.

When I was a kid I could swear there was an unwritten rule that Christmas decorations were not supposed to go up until after Thanksgiving, which most people followed.  I wonder if I imagined it.  I like Christmas lights so I really don't mind if they go up a little earlier, but especially with autumn being my favorite season and Halloween my favorite holiday, I don't want to hear anything about Christmas until Halloween is well over.

2 hours ago, besleybean said:

Xmas isn't even allowed to be mentioned in this house until Advent at the earliest.

I admit my knowledge of the Catholic calendar is rather sparse... *Googles the start of Advent*

Do people still know that the 'X' in 'Xmas' stands for 'Christ'?  My dad always get miffed when he sees 'Xmas' because he says it's "taking the Christ out of Christmas".  I don't know whether that's the general intent of people who abbreviate it that way or not, but either way, the 'Christ' hasn't gone anywhere, lol.  I told my dad, but he still writes 'Cmas', lol.

 

[Pseudonym]

I was talking to someone the other day who said she celebrated Yule rather than Christmas because it takes the religious element out. 

*sigh* And the religious conversation continues. 

[Artemis]

Sorry, lol.  But hey, you started it with your complaint about Jehovah's Witnesses! 

(...Wasn't Yule also religious though okay I'm done.)

 

[Pseudonym]

OMG I am so bored! It's like there's no one in the world anywhere. A chat room I frequent has tumbleweeds in it, all my forums are deserted, my WhatsApp group had some life but then they started discussing their kids... BORED.

 

[Artemis]

Same, I've sort of run out of places online altogether.  Other than this forum, Tumblr's pretty much the only site I visit anymore.

 

[Pseudonym]

I think everyone in mine must be busy working... it's no excuse!

 

[Arcadia]

7 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

So, with those out of the way for now, who should we complain about in rant thread??

Loud people?? There are couple of those here and I have serious headache. 

Stupid HR? I'm getting more and more convinced that HR always tries their best to work against employee's welfare.

 

6 hours ago, Artemis said:

All worthy candidates for our disdain.  But ugh, get me going on HR and I might never stop. 

You two start dissing HR and you will have a fight on your hands! I used to work in HR and we bent over backwards on behalf of employees.

But I will concede that our boss may have been unusual in that regard … the other HR department I had contact with seemed far less helpful to me. So maybe my department was just that extra special. Of course it was, they had me!  

5 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I won't allow Alex to turn on the Christmas tree lights till the day after Thanksgiving  (which is in late November).

You realize that implies he's installing the lights well before Thanksgiving. 😉

I guess we're weird … my family's never done any decorating until after December 10 or so. And then it all comes down on New Year's Day. Almost doesn't seem worth it, does it? I've tried to cut back on the amount of decorating we do, but my Mom likes for everything to be up, and guess who wins that contest....

[Artemis]

17 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

You two start dissing HR and you will have a fight on your hands! I used to work in HR and we bent over backwards on behalf of employees.

My complaints are mostly with the hiring side of HR.  The way job applications are received, screened and processed has changed drastically in the last 10 years, and even more in the last 5.  It’s not all their doing, by any means, but some HR people encourage what I think are often detrimental practices to people in need of work.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

9 hours ago, Artemis said:

Whhen I was a kid I could swear there was an unwritten rule that Christmas decorations were not supposed to go up until after Thanksgiving, which most people followed.  I wonder if I imagined it.

Nope, don't think so.  We really did have more holidays back then.  Then they started putting up the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, and now some are jumping the gun even more.  I suppose it's because most people don't decorate as much for Halloween or Thanksgiving, plus there's no gift-giving except for trick-or-treat candy.  Wonder how many more years it'll be until they just leave the Christmas stuff up year-round?

9 hours ago, Artemis said:

Do people still know that the 'X' in 'Xmas' stands for 'Christ'?  My dad always get miffed when he sees 'Xmas' because he says it's "taking the Christ out of Christmas".  I don't know whether that's the general intent of people who abbreviate it that way or not, but either way, the 'Christ' hasn't gone anywhere, lol.  I told my dad, but he still writes 'Cmas'

I don't think many people ever did know that.  It's not really an "X", it's the Greek letter chi, which (in Greek) is the first letter of "Christ."  (Likewise the "XP" that's seen in Churches is actually chi and rho, equivalent to "Chr.")  Your dad's "Cmas" amounts to the same thing, the initial plus "mas."

[besleybean]

I confess that is why I deliberately use Xmas...becaue I am not religious.

But I obviously accept it is a Christian festival...as long as Christians realise that Jesus wasn't born on 25 December.

[T.o.b.y]

For me, Christmas time begins on the first advent Sunday and ends on epiphany. We decorate gradually between December 1st and 24th and don't light the tree until the evening of the 24th. We use real candles. It's beautiful. I love Christmas so much. 

Eta: and I am not religious either. But I don't see why that should stop me. Half our Christmas traditions are pagan in origin anyway and everyone can celebrate peace and love and family. And I sing all the carols, too, because why not? It's fun having Christian in-laws now though because I used to be the only one. And I like their surprised faces when they realize that the unbeliever knows their songs by heart... 

[besleybean]

I AM THE GRINCH! 

I hate it.

[T.o.b.y]

4 minutes ago, besleybean said:

I AM THE GRINCH! 

I hate it.

That's okay! Go ahead and rant about Christmas, this is the rant thread after all. 

What holiday do you like? 

I am not a fan of the classic New Year's celebrations where everyone gets drunk and throws firecrackers around. I am a total party pooper. And I get up early on the 1st and complain about all the trash. 

[besleybean]

Well I am tee total, so for me no celebration involves alcohol and I do not like being around alcohol.

To be honest I love any celebration that involves chocolate, so that is the only part of Xmas I do like!

[T.o.b.y]

Isn't there a chocolate themed holiday in Japan? I think I read that somewhere... That people make their own chocolate and give it away. Sounds fun. 

[besleybean]

Sounds good to me!

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Arcadia said:

two start dissing HR and you will have a fight on your hands! I used to work in HR and we bent over backwards on behalf of employees.

But I will concede that our boss may have been unusual in that regard … the other HR department I had contact with seemed far less helpful to me. So maybe my department was just that extra special. Of course it was, they had me!

Well of course it was!

The HR departments I've seen ranged all the way from upper management's hatchet men (and I don't mean that in a good way) to conscientious employee advocates, with a lot of so-so bureaucrats in between.

6 hours ago, Arcadia said:

You realize that implies he's installing the lights well before Thanksgiving. 😉

Nope!  We just leave 'em up year-round, but only have them on between Thanksgiving (late November) and Groundhog Day (February 2nd).

[Arcadia]

6 hours ago, Artemis said:

My complaints are mostly with the hiring side of HR.  The way job applications are received, screened and processed has changed drastically in the last 10 years, and even more in the last 5.  It’s not all their doing, by any means, but some HR people encourage what I think are often detrimental practices to people in need of work.

 

Fair enough, it's been well more than 10 years since I was in HR, I have no idea what it might be like now. I was just sort of funning you anyway, I have a generally negative impression of upper management as much as anyone else. 😉 Although my boss genuinely was an employee advocate, bless her. About the only thing I liked about her, I'm afraid.   

35 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Wonder how many more years it'll be until they just leave the Christmas stuff up year-round?

I think you just answered your own question.....  read on ….

13 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Nope!  We just leave 'em up year-round, but only have them on between Thanksgiving (late November) and Groundhog Day (February 2nd).