Open Bar MMXIV^2: Solace of Quantum

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I finally understand tucson now nigel. In two weeks ill have there for thirteen fucking years.

Yep.

That's how they get you.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It's funny because of how scared I was to go back to school. I mean, I put it off for YEARS. I had what I thought were good reasons, but reality is, even though they were valid enough, I still should have made the jump 20 years ago. I kept putting obstacles in front of myself. Mostly, I recognize now, it was intimidation, because I didn't know how to navigate the system. So I worked retail for 13 years, and then I made beads for 9 years, and while I certainly don't regret making a living as an artist and raising my kids, I am also VERY clearly able to see how phenomenally much better my life would have been had I finished school in my 20's, including the likelihood of meeting a much much more compatible mate than the choices I had exposure to as a non-college-educated woman.

Which still may happen, but I think I would have lived through significantly less stress and would be healthier now, certainly physically and quite possibly emotionally, had I gone to school in my 20's.

I really can't overstate the benefits and privileges higher education opens up. There is a reason so many of the upper class want to make it harder for the lower classes to have access to it.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Sorry you had a shitty day, Twid. Hope your weekend goes better.

It wasn't really a shitty day though, that's the funny thing. It was a work day like any other day. Long, boring, and monotonous. I had corrected probably about 50 errors on different questionnaires for that same question. This of course is ignoring all of the 100s of other errors I corrected for different questions. And maybe that's what set the stage. I went out for a clove in the morning, because I wanted to not be at my desk (seriously. I'm not addicted to nicotine. Yet, I smoke without inhaling still, and smoke cloves because they don't taste like ass). I start heading back in at around the time that someone else was starting and they mentioned that someone else was an ass for this one thing, but it was said in such a way that the person thought the other person was an ass in general. These are both people I like, btw.

Then in the evening, I hear this person, who's doing the same task I am whisper under her breath, "Oh for fuck's sake" I turn around, and smile, and they asked if I heard what they said and then we started talking about all of the stupid fucking errors that other employees make that for some reason we have to correct after they've gone through the computer. I was on questionnaire 90 of 90 for that folder at the time and I told her that I was going out for a smoke after because the errors were so fucking stupid, finished it up, and that's when I ran into to other people who made the snoop comment, which made me laugh because even though I didn't notice the snooping, I did notice that the person in question likes to walk around a lot.

And then here I was shortly before 7 pm, cursing Monday me for making me stay this late, not because I had to finish the work, because the task goes on forever either way, but because I wanted to make x amount of hours. And I wanted to just plow through this last bit of 15 questionnaires before Friday time. And there it was, the cereal question.

It's set up like this:
What brand of cold breakfast cereal do you eat?
Bubble for "don't eat cold breakfast cereal"
Write in box for brands.
On the next page we have frequencies for amount of specific selected foods in each food group. Under grains, there is cold breakfast cereal.

Usually the fuck up that you get is Don't eat cold breakfast cereal, something like Kellogg's with no further specification and 1-3 times a month. Ok, the participant does eat cereal, but not on a regular basis. Erase don't eat, keep the rest. That sort of thing.

If they write in brands for breakfast cereals, we fill in bubbles with number codes for that brand. We even have some cheat bubbles so if they put Cherrios, Wheaties and Kashi, we can cheat Cherrios and Wheaties, and bubble in the number for Kashi.

So I get to "Don't eat cold breakfast cereal" with a write in for Special K. Special K is not bubbled in, and don't eat is not erased. And I'm like, fuck it, I don't care about the 8 minutes. Then I stop, think and go, purely out of curiosity, what's the frequency. 5-6 times a week. That's when I was like, what the fuck are the coders doing? Are they even looking at these fucking things? Why am I doing their fucking job for them? Why am I not doing other tasks? Why am I supposed to be working fewer hours than these worthless employees?

No. Fuck this shit. FRIDAY TIME.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It's funny because of how scared I was to go back to school. I mean, I put it off for YEARS. I had what I thought were good reasons, but reality is, even though they were valid enough, I still should have made the jump 20 years ago. I kept putting obstacles in front of myself. Mostly, I recognize now, it was intimidation, because I didn't know how to navigate the system. So I worked retail for 13 years, and then I made beads for 9 years, and while I certainly don't regret making a living as an artist and raising my kids, I am also VERY clearly able to see how phenomenally much better my life would have been had I finished school in my 20's, including the likelihood of meeting a much much more compatible mate than the choices I had exposure to as a non-college-educated woman.

Which still may happen, but I think I would have lived through significantly less stress and would be healthier now, certainly physically and quite possibly emotionally, had I gone to school in my 20's.

I really can't overstate the benefits and privileges higher education opens up. There is a reason so many of the upper class want to make it harder for the lower classes to have access to it.

I hear that completely. But you know, better late than never for the both of us. I can't see myself still doing this shit in 2026 without driving a car off the Zakim Bridge.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Sorry you had a shitty day, Twid. Hope your weekend goes better.

It wasn't really a shitty day though, that's the funny thing. It was a work day like any other day. Long, boring, and monotonous. I had corrected probably about 50 errors on different questionnaires for that same question. This of course is ignoring all of the 100s of other errors I corrected for different questions. And maybe that's what set the stage. I went out for a clove in the morning, because I wanted to not be at my desk (seriously. I'm not addicted to nicotine. Yet, I smoke without inhaling still, and smoke cloves because they don't taste like ass). I start heading back in at around the time that someone else was starting and they mentioned that someone else was an ass for this one thing, but it was said in such a way that the person thought the other person was an ass in general. These are both people I like, btw.

Then in the evening, I hear this person, who's doing the same task I am whisper under her breath, "Oh for fuck's sake" I turn around, and smile, and they asked if I heard what they said and then we started talking about all of the stupid fucking errors that other employees make that for some reason we have to correct after they've gone through the computer. I was on questionnaire 90 of 90 for that folder at the time and I told her that I was going out for a smoke after because the errors were so fucking stupid, finished it up, and that's when I ran into to other people who made the snoop comment, which made me laugh because even though I didn't notice the snooping, I did notice that the person in question likes to walk around a lot.

And then here I was shortly before 7 pm, cursing Monday me for making me stay this late, not because I had to finish the work, because the task goes on forever either way, but because I wanted to make x amount of hours. And I wanted to just plow through this last bit of 15 questionnaires before Friday time. And there it was, the cereal question.

It's set up like this:
What brand of cold breakfast cereal do you eat?
Bubble for "don't eat cold breakfast cereal"
Write in box for brands.
On the next page we have frequencies for amount of specific selected foods in each food group. Under grains, there is cold breakfast cereal.

Usually the fuck up that you get is Don't eat cold breakfast cereal, something like Kellogg's with no further specification and 1-3 times a month. Ok, the participant does eat cereal, but not on a regular basis. Erase don't eat, keep the rest. That sort of thing.

If they write in brands for breakfast cereals, we fill in bubbles with number codes for that brand. We even have some cheat bubbles so if they put Cherrios, Wheaties and Kashi, we can cheat Cherrios and Wheaties, and bubble in the number for Kashi.

So I get to "Don't eat cold breakfast cereal" with a write in for Special K. Special K is not bubbled in, and don't eat is not erased. And I'm like, fuck it, I don't care about the 8 minutes. Then I stop, think and go, purely out of curiosity, what's the frequency. 5-6 times a week. That's when I was like, what the fuck are the coders doing? Are they even looking at these fucking things? Why am I doing their fucking job for them? Why am I not doing other tasks? Why am I supposed to be working fewer hours than these worthless employees?

No. Fuck this shit. FRIDAY TIME.

Dang, dude. That sounds like a WONDERFUL use of your time. O.o

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Sorry you had a shitty day, Twid. Hope your weekend goes better.

It wasn't really a shitty day though, that's the funny thing. It was a work day like any other day. Long, boring, and monotonous. I had corrected probably about 50 errors on different questionnaires for that same question. This of course is ignoring all of the 100s of other errors I corrected for different questions. And maybe that's what set the stage. I went out for a clove in the morning, because I wanted to not be at my desk (seriously. I'm not addicted to nicotine. Yet, I smoke without inhaling still, and smoke cloves because they don't taste like ass). I start heading back in at around the time that someone else was starting and they mentioned that someone else was an ass for this one thing, but it was said in such a way that the person thought the other person was an ass in general. These are both people I like, btw.

Then in the evening, I hear this person, who's doing the same task I am whisper under her breath, "Oh for fuck's sake" I turn around, and smile, and they asked if I heard what they said and then we started talking about all of the stupid fucking errors that other employees make that for some reason we have to correct after they've gone through the computer. I was on questionnaire 90 of 90 for that folder at the time and I told her that I was going out for a smoke after because the errors were so fucking stupid, finished it up, and that's when I ran into to other people who made the snoop comment, which made me laugh because even though I didn't notice the snooping, I did notice that the person in question likes to walk around a lot.

And then here I was shortly before 7 pm, cursing Monday me for making me stay this late, not because I had to finish the work, because the task goes on forever either way, but because I wanted to make x amount of hours. And I wanted to just plow through this last bit of 15 questionnaires before Friday time. And there it was, the cereal question.

It's set up like this:
What brand of cold breakfast cereal do you eat?
Bubble for "don't eat cold breakfast cereal"
Write in box for brands.
On the next page we have frequencies for amount of specific selected foods in each food group. Under grains, there is cold breakfast cereal.

Usually the fuck up that you get is Don't eat cold breakfast cereal, something like Kellogg's with no further specification and 1-3 times a month. Ok, the participant does eat cereal, but not on a regular basis. Erase don't eat, keep the rest. That sort of thing.

If they write in brands for breakfast cereals, we fill in bubbles with number codes for that brand. We even have some cheat bubbles so if they put Cherrios, Wheaties and Kashi, we can cheat Cherrios and Wheaties, and bubble in the number for Kashi.

So I get to "Don't eat cold breakfast cereal" with a write in for Special K. Special K is not bubbled in, and don't eat is not erased. And I'm like, fuck it, I don't care about the 8 minutes. Then I stop, think and go, purely out of curiosity, what's the frequency. 5-6 times a week. That's when I was like, what the fuck are the coders doing? Are they even looking at these fucking things? Why am I doing their fucking job for them? Why am I not doing other tasks? Why am I supposed to be working fewer hours than these worthless employees?

No. Fuck this shit. FRIDAY TIME.

Dang, dude. That sounds like a WONDERFUL use of your time. O.o

That was my conclusion too.

Out of the 13 years that I've spent there, a year and a half were worthwhile, that was working for Dr. S as his admin Asst, and he gave me the boot anyway because fuck all, I was a college drop out whose previous work experience was filling out bubbles. I got hired because they knew I was in Tucson.

I don't know about God or this afterlife thing, but I know for a damn fact that Purgatory exists. I go to this place to earn a meagre amount of money so I can buy beer or shitty whiskey to deal with this place where I earn a meagre amount.

I understand it all now. I feel shitty because of this shitty job that pays me just enough to get drunk enough to deal with this shitty job so that I can make enough to.... ad fucking infinitum.

I'm a slacker who does some stupid shit on a regular basis, but even at this point I got to ask about the squandering. And I'm not unintelligent either. It's all a fucking waste. I work a shitty job so I can make just enough money to survive and drink enough to deal with my shitty job. Fixing other fucking people's messes. Messes I haven't made since 2001 because I fucking learned.

[Suu]

The GRE sucks balls. I am going to cry tomorrow.

In other news, the Pope is Catholic.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I MEAN NO FUCKING SHIT, THESE PEOPLE MAKE MORE MONEY THAN ME BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING ALLOWED TO WORK TWICE AS MUCH AS ME, AND FUCK UP CONSISTENTLY, AND I HAVE TO BE PUT AT AN APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF HOURS WITH WIGGLE ROOM WHILE YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST FUCKING DEMOTE ME SO THE JOB GETS DONE RIGHT AND I GET PAID MORE FOR A JOB I'M ALREADY FUCKING DOING FOR THEM BECAUSE OF FUCKING TEABAGGERS BECAUSE OF FUCKING COMPETITIVE FEDERAL GRANTS.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

fuck my job

[Suu]

I MEAN NO FUCKING SHIT, THESE PEOPLE MAKE MORE MONEY THAN ME BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING ALLOWED TO WORK TWICE AS MUCH AS ME, AND FUCK UP CONSISTENTLY, AND I HAVE TO BE PUT AT AN APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF HOURS WITH WIGGLE ROOM WHILE YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST FUCKING DEMOTE ME SO THE JOB GETS DONE RIGHT AND I GET PAID MORE FOR A JOB I'M ALREADY FUCKING DOING FOR THEM BECAUSE OF FUCKING TEABAGGERS BECAUSE OF FUCKING COMPETITIVE FEDERAL GRANTS.

Thank you for calling Capitalism. Your rant will be answered in the order it was received. In the event of disconnection, shut up and swallow.

[Left]

Ah, it appears I DO have a novel infection.
Bronchitis (viral, mebbe) is making the rounds here @ work.
...In retrospect, I had a mild sore throat last week, plus trouble sleeping.
I have elderberry extract I can take, and will stop by the store to get GARLIC, both are antiviral.

@ Twid...Sympathies.

The Universe has a really mean sense of humor.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The GRE sucks balls. I am going to cry tomorrow.

In other news, the Pope is Catholic.

What about it is getting  to you? Curious because at some point I need to start actually preparing for it so I can brush up on my weak areas.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ah, it appears I DO have a novel infection.
Bronchitis (viral, mebbe) is making the rounds here @ work.
...In retrospect, I had a mild sore throat last week, plus trouble sleeping.
I have elderberry extract I can take, and will stop by the store to get GARLIC, both are antiviral.

@ Twid...Sympathies.

The Universe has a really mean sense of humor.

Ugh, that SUCKS.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Ah, it appears I DO have a novel infection.
Bronchitis (viral, mebbe) is making the rounds here @ work.
...In retrospect, I had a mild sore throat last week, plus trouble sleeping.
I have elderberry extract I can take, and will stop by the store to get GARLIC, both are antiviral.

@ Twid...Sympathies.

The Universe has a really mean sense of humor.

Likewise. I hope you heal up well.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I MEAN NO FUCKING SHIT, THESE PEOPLE MAKE MORE MONEY THAN ME BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING ALLOWED TO WORK TWICE AS MUCH AS ME, AND FUCK UP CONSISTENTLY, AND I HAVE TO BE PUT AT AN APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF HOURS WITH WIGGLE ROOM WHILE YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST FUCKING DEMOTE ME SO THE JOB GETS DONE RIGHT AND I GET PAID MORE FOR A JOB I'M ALREADY FUCKING DOING FOR THEM BECAUSE OF FUCKING TEABAGGERS BECAUSE OF FUCKING COMPETITIVE FEDERAL GRANTS.

Thank you for calling Capitalism. Your rant will be answered in the order it was received. In the event of disconnection, shut up and swallow.

WHERE'S MY TEXTBOOK?