Screw those sonsabitches! I remember them at the hotel I worked at. Smarmy. Blarmy. Thinking they deserve the utmost attention, and they deserve is now. Ugh. Forget 'em! They can poop themselves. They rcan go blow an elephant. Seriously.

I had a woman complain once because we didn't have Splenda. I reminded her that that shit had arsenic in it, and she got all bitvhy with me. Burt nooooo! She still wanted her Splenda. IHG Properties (Owners of Holiday Inn branding) fined us 150 buckraroos because of that shit. Seriously, they charged us 150 for each complaint filed, before investigating the complaint. What a racket.

Customers are just little shits. Like seriously, 90 percent of them are okay peeps that just want to get a service or product and be on their way, but you get that 10% little shitstatin on your white sundress that just won't leaverr you alone and stinks up the place. What turds.

I remember one time, when I worked in a call center that had Toys R Us as a client (I no longer work for them, and TRU pulled the plug on that company handling their customer service calls)... This woman from England called to ask about bicycles, and I was explaining things using small words, because she just wasn't getting it, and my supervisor came over to listen, and then the woman asked for my supervisor, so I handed the headset to her, and the woman proceeded to try and pull the same crap and even went as far as to say "She never told me that!" when my supervisor explained the same exact thing I had said, and my supervisor said, flat out, "Yes she did, because I was standing behind her and listening to her explain it to you." That supervisor was awesome.

Supervisors like that deserve a gold medal and chocolate.

The absolute worst job you can have is a shit job with an amazing manager, because they can make you feel like it is worth it. And the worst thing is that your best memories will be with that job, because they made it that way for you. And you'll yearn for those days of shit pay and awful people because someone made them worthwhile and had your back instead of these dead eyed boring cut throat people you deal with now.

And what the hell is there to understand about a bicycle? It's a bike. You ride that shit. You pedal when you want to go and stop pedaling when you, you know, want to stop. Like I know it's an American invention but I have the internet, I've seen bicucles in other countries! People all over the world know how to ride a bike. Sheesh.

it was related to assembly fees. That's all I remember about it. Sadly, that supervisor was fired several months before I finally quit...

I have spent most of my life working as a receptionist for a mental health facility. So largely I can't talk about any of that. However, we did have a guy who wanted to be a patient call in, and we never accepted him so I can talk about that.

He wanted to be scheduled so I got all of his information down and everything and then he fires out "i have a permit to concealed carry so I will have a gun on me, I just wanted you to know that so we won't have any problems."

Of course, this is a mental health facility --- there's no way we could have somebody come in with a gun.

It turned into a huge fight that I had to escalate to my boss because he was shouting about his second amendment rights and I am having to counter with the fact that most of the people there were unstable and would either have complete melt down freak outs, perhaps try to steal his gun, or if he was unstable enough to need our services, we couldn't guarantee the other patient's safety. That was my most frustrating customer experience at that job that I can talk about. ouo

With my past job we were selling the medicinals so most people were pretty nice, just excited to be there. I made a ton of friends ouo even met a relative of Kurt Cobain. But every once in awhile you get a real pot snob. We had two customers who worked at a different dispensary and they kept telling us we needed to come by their shop so we could learn how they did things. Every single dispensary these people worked at got shut down or went out of business. Why in the world would we ever want to go there? Also, the people who would come in and claim that we were lying about what our strains were because back in the 60s they smoked some panama red and what we had on the shelf didn't smell the same to them so it clearly wasn't what we were saying. But then somebody else would come in and be like "omg this takes me back. . ."

So. . . I guess I am pretty lucky ouo

Well I know it doesn't matter now, but most hospitals (mental or otherwise) have 30.06's posted, which means that you cannot legally carry on their premises. This is by law, and they have to submit to it or they are violating federal law.

Secondly, having to be checked in to a mental ward can most likely end up revoking your carry license in some states, as well as your ability to own or purchase weapons, depending on how it was done.

Thirdly, 99% of us gun owners are just effing crazy dingbat wingnuts who, despite owning a shit ton of guns, are afraid and paranoid. It's like the better you can defend yourself, the more scared you are of getting hurt. I don't get it.

*Looks at dad's gun collection* Meh.

Hmm...as a question about such facilities, what are the standards for things like outside contact and activities? (Always had the idea of very strict environment, a bit like military school)

Well it was in Idaho you know . . . those Idahoans and their guns. . .

It was an outpatient facility, people would come for group therapy all day and go home in the afternoon so it was a little different than one you get checked into.

Drink tonight: Peppermint Tea, no alcohol.

I've delivered to a few, and was forcibly put in a 'behavioral hospital' by a very corrupt judge and counselor when I was a teenager. They vary. You got your outpatients like Glitch said, and then you've got your permanent ones, which range from semi decent to fucking scary. I've delivered to the 'fucking scary' kind.

The worst thing is a lot of people who are mentally unfit or have learning disabilities do not get sent to the ones that can care for them, and instead are abandoned to nursing homes or even jail, where they are around people who are harmful to them and do not know how to care for them. I've met a lot in my previous job, and it's a sad thing.

One thankfully got shut down not too long ago here in town. They made one of the residents do the lawn work outside, and were abusive as hell. The state finally shut them down after finding *shudders* several piles of human feces in the kitchen area.

As far as my own personal experience, I was only there for 2 weeks and it was a fucking nightmare. Treatment is not given, because treatment means you leave. The one I went to gave each kid pills and shots each day to keep us...I don't know, sedated or something? I still don't know what the shots were, they never told us. Went to bed when they told us to, got up when they told us to. No doors to our rooms. I got paired with some very young kid who had anger issues, supposedly because I was the 'most calm' and 'level headed'. Also, I didn't belong there and was part of a god damn Cash For Kids program. Strict meals, hours sitting in a quiet room doing tedious 'schoolwork' and listening to people talk, never being directly addressed about whatever may have brought us in or helping us. One girl was in there for being repeatedly gang raped. They sent her to essentially kid prison for that, instead of getting her the proper help she needed.

I was lucky. I got out. I only spent two weeks there. Some of the kids were there for months, years. Others were just abandoned by their families. They pretty much grew up there, in that hell. I heard so many pitiful stories, so many lives ruined. I made friends with a guy there who really needed help, tried to commit suicide. He's the one who introduced me to tabletop RPG's. Obviously couldn't keep contact with him after I made it out, but I bumped in to him about 7 years later at a tabletop meet. He told me he was stuck in there for over a year before he was released, and was never given help.

Their diagnosis system is off too. They have you look at a series of pictures. Not an ink blot test though, actual drawn pictures, and want you to tell them what is supposedly going on in the pictures. Most of them are of violence or things that can cause violence, like a boy and his dad with a rifle or knives and things like that. They then use what you tell them to tell your parents and the state that you are 'Homicidal, Suicidal, Depressed, and a Danger to those around you.'. It's how they get you.

Emilie Autumn's 'Fight Like a Girl' album is eerily close to the treatment people receive in a lot of those places, if setting is omitted. There are some good places, but there are also those that will abuse you. Stay safe.

*Watches Paranoia climb Clingmans Dome* Going...going...gone!

...Sort of what I had been hearing, to be honest. Just wanted to confirm suspicions. (As I sort of know I tend to assume that things hate me, and that biases things towards the negative)

Actually just did a Rorschach (ink blot) test. Tried to make an adventure/mystery out of the colorful cards. "And here, the Behemoth and the Leviathan go down the orange rabbit hole to have tea in a most curious manner."

For us, we got people who just left the inpatient hospital in the area but that liked it. It was completely volunteer, people came because they wanted to and they missed the group activities. While I never visited intermountain it gave me the impression that it sometimes did something good for somebody. But we also dealt with substance abuse persons which were a lot more difficult because they wanted suboxone and would do anything to have more suboxone. #1 excuse: "i dropped all of my pills in the toilet so i need a new prescription." How many people can honestly drop a whole bottle of pills in the toilet? I had to administer the pee tests too which totally suckssss.

You could read/watch It's kind of a funny story. It's not hard-core or scary like the ones Salone explained but I liked to imagine that intermountain at least tried to be like that one. Although I did hear stories from friends that that place was horrible. So I don't really know.

I did try seeing a therapist when I was a teenager because my hormones were out of control and I was the angriest most depressed person, and I didn't want to be but I couldn't control my emotions. The lady had me fill out a questionnaire, she read over it and then told my mom I needed to be on 3-4 different kinds of medications. She didn't even talk to me to find out why I answered the questions the way I did or why I was there or what was wrong or anything ,she just read a paper. My mom refused and said we would try an over the counter option first so then I got to actually talk to her . . . and I decided she was a complete wacko. She had me close my eyes and tap my arms for 5 minutes and I was supposed to be thinking about what I wanted to talk about while I did this, but I already knew what I wanted to talk about so I was just annoyed and got very frustrated with her. Then she told me that she believed people who were interested in genders of the same sex were only that way because they had bad relationships with their mother or their father and were seeking a better one with a female or male partner. I cancelled all of my future appointments after that. Then she called my house and demanded to speak to my mom who told me to take a message and the lady told me I was veyr sick and needed serious help and to reconsider cancelling all of my appointments.

That was my only experience with that, never tried again and eventually puberty ended and I like to think I got over it.

The counselors I worked with were really nice people though and I really liked all of them, although they were group therapists rather than individual counselors so that could make a difference I suppose . . .

Yeah, that could deffo be it. All the individual counselors I've had have been sadistic bastards. I made the mistake of wearing an old French wool trench coat (I had a bit of a paramilitary punk phase, sue me), and was accused of wanting to shoot up my school because of it. She worked very hard at separating me from my mother during a rough time, and actually ended up getting both of my parents put in jail for a very brief time. Completely shattered my trust in the mental health field and now I refuse to see anyone because of it. Which honestly, is probably not for the best. The memory of having my independence and autonomy forcibly taken from me is the greatest indignity I've experienced. I know a lot out there genuinely want to help, but the one on one sessions are a dangerous and delicate place where someone can easily impose what they think is 'right' on to a suffering individual.

Sort of been my experience with all but a group of professionals. School counselors tried repeatedly to put me in special education - I wasn't too social and always was reading or working.

...Think my dad may have talked to the same or similar person you did, Glitch. He has refused to trust any since.

sadly, it's the bad ones that give the good ones a bad name. I went to a therapist when I was in high school because of my ADHD, and she was pretty decent. I remember that she had a lot of antique toys and things that caught my interest... I even remember where her house is located, and could probably drive out there just from memory.

I haven't really been to therapy since high school though, due to various reasons.

Tonight's Drink: Lemon Spice Tea, non alcoholic (Wish I could taste this shit!)

So a few days back I had quite the experience. I had went out for frozen yogurt and food, ended up eating like, 2 pounds of frozen yogurt (sue me). Hit the bowling alley, realize they have bought a new air hockey table (I broke the last one).

Unbelievable. They have an 8 foot Dynamo table, tournament legal. I am slightly aroused. Like, it's beautiful. It was meant for me. I am going to tear that table apart.

I love air hockey. So much. You do not understand. I became good at Blackjack just so I could make enough money in Welding class so I could actually pay to go play air hockey. I can say hands down that I am the best player easily of anyone that I know. I am not defeated. If I was a pony, a mallet would probably be my cutie mark. So I want you to know just how much I am salivating at seeing this new angel in the corner, this beauty that is asking me to play her.

And I do, for over 3 hours. 3 hours of constant air hockey. I'm tired, I'm sweating, but oh my god I am having fun. And then this girl approaches, and asks if we'll be done any time soon. I realize I've been hogging it and tell her I'll let them play, but she wants to play me. This is odd, but sure.

So I'll admit, I lost. She cheated by blocking with her palm and arm (Kinda hard to get it in if your flesh bits are blocking the goal post!), but her offense was amazing. Granted I was losing steam and was sweating all over the table, and 2 pounds of yogurt didn't help much, but my god she had some reflexes and was able to keep up with me on a lot. She beat me twice, I beat her twice. Would have won all of them if it wasn't for the arm thing, but I wasn't going to call her on it. I mean, she was cute. Way cute. I'll let it slide.

I really don't know where I'm going with this, I'm having alcohol withdrawals I think. I told myself I need to train, work out, and get better because apparently my hubris has been my undoing. So, no alcohol until then. Which I'll probably give in and start drinking again tomorrow because I have the discipline of a heroin addict. But still, I must be the best, no question about it!

So what are some things that you feel you are incredibly good at? Doesn't have to be in a competitive sense, but something you feel like you are a well versed expert in the field of? Have any cool or crazy stories about them?

In the last few costume contests I've entered, I've impressed the judges to the point that they wished they had more awards to give out... 's kind of a nice feeling knowing that I'm getting noticed for my giant robot costumes (that is, costumes of giant robots, not GIANT robot costumes...). I've only been building robot costumes for about four years now...

Yes actually, although I doubt it'll become anything more than air hockey rivals. I mean it could, who knows? Like dating is cool and all, but air hockey is life here. Pucks before, er...well never mind.

The urge to rhyme nonsensically rises. Well, nonsensically in that "make anything into a One eyed, one horned giant purple people eater" way.

Tonight's Drink: Washington Apple

The only thing she'll be eating is her words when she sees that no matter how she cheats, I will still be the victor!

And yeah, we've been kinda talking back and forth. But anyway! So I'm dealing with a lazy coworker who I am picking up the slack for. They don't like me because I was hired on for the full time position they were vying for, but they have a long history of not doing the very little actual work my position does. Tell me about your peeps. You ever have that one lazy ass coworker? What did they do or not do?

Ugh. What a jerkfaced thing to do. *sympathy hugs*

This person sounds like they suuuuuuuuuck.

Oh uh, Tonight's Drink, Granny's Surprise
1 ounce Sour Apple Vodka,
1 ounce Sour Apple Pucker,
Top with lemonade.


Seasonals. Hate seasonal employees. You train 'em, you invest in 'em, and they ditch you on the one day of the year you brought them on for. I had a girl do that to me at Gamestop, back in the day. I ended up working a Black Friday open to close because of her. It was that day that I died on the inside.

That's odd. That's usually when we want them there. Black Friday is when you decide if a seasonal is worth hanging on to and they get to cut their teeth on a hell week. Really surprised you weren't brought on for it!

I did the seasonal thing from October of last year to early January this year. Black Friday suuuuuuucked. 'Course it sucked working in a call center for Toys R Us, too, but on the sales floor itself? Nine new layers of hell.

Reason I quit at the store, even though I liked working there (t'was a Hancock Fabrics), was that our upper management (DM and higher) refused to give anyone hours. I went from 20-24 hours a week during peak to 4 if I was lucky. 4 hours was just enough for me to afford gas each week to get to work. When one is homeless and living out of one's car, minimum wage and minimal hours are not a good combination.

One of the things I liked about Hancock Fabrics was that my manager was understanding when I came in on one of my (many) days off to tell her that I'd found a new job that I'd be full time at.

Gamestop was dirty like that. We would hire like 4 or 5 seasonals, only give them about 5 hours a week, and then just not schedule them. So instead of having one or two reliable seasonals who got hours and time to gain experience and know things (all we needed), we had a bunch of flakes who had no reason to come to a job that didn't pay anything and and when they did they didn't know shit. It's stupid dirty practices like that that turn me inside out, but I just left a place a few months ago that fired someone because we had 'too many women' and they wanted more guys. So yeah, someone got fired for being a woman. Legality aside, some of your small businesses are even worse than a corporate setting.

if I could've just gotten a steady 20-30 hours a week, I would've been more than happy to stay on as back room stocker. I liked opening boxes, organizing merchandise and making the back room all nice and tidy. I was good at it, and I always got the weekly truck shipment sorted and out onto the floor within 1-2 shifts (four hours each. If I'd've had 8 hour shifts, i could've gotten it done in one shift, with time left over to try and sort other stuff. I was that fast and good, within a few weeks of starting). Sadly, our corporate sucked, and after Christmas, as I said, my hours went from enough to afford a full tank of gas and money for the laundromat, with money for the occasional fast food treat (I love me oreo mcflurries) to only having enough for half to three-quarters of a tank of gas each week.

Sometime, if I can get a new job soon and can get some money saved up, I'm gonna go down to my store and see if my manager's still there, and if my coworkers're there... I'll bake them cookies, too.

Tonight's drink: A lot of them.

By the time I finish writing this, my birthday will probably be over.

Anyway, today is my birthday. I generally hate my birthday, as it is so close (or sometimes falls on) to Thanksgiving and Black Friday that it is overshadowed, or I have to shove any plans I may have for it out of the way. I've spent quite a few years of it working 12+ hour shifts in retail hell, or disappointing family members by choosing what part of the family I spend Thanksgiving and also my birthday with. This year though, was most likely the pits. Worked my ass of, then went home and had a few drinks, alone, in the dark while listening to old records.

Who else has a shitty birth date eh? Or, tell me about a crap birthday.

*has cranberry juice and vodka. Will have Moscato d' Asti later*

All the booze in the world wouldn't make my brother less of an ass.

Exactly one week before Christmas. In my family it's never usually celebrated the day of, it kind of gets mixed in with the Christmas celebration/pushed back until a weekend afterwards sometime.

I really don't mind that much though. Presents are nice, but I don't feel as if my family or friends are obligated to spoil me around the wallet-breakingest time of year. I just use it as an excuse to spend the day pampering myself in whatever way I choose. Lately it's all about getting spectacularly drunk, and calling in sick to work the next day. A lot of my employers have been very understanding about my tradition.

What sort of assery is going down over there?

well, for starters, before he fixed what he did, he put a password on the modem so I couldn't get online to job-hunt, and then he came upstairs and had the nerve to lecture me and say i was just using being an introvert as an excuse not to socialize, and that anxiety and depression are excuses.

Every year, he and I get into some sort of argument or fight, because he just can't grasp that he's the reason I don't come downstairs to hang out with the family for very long, and that Mom and Dad are okay with me keeping to myself for the most part, because I don't do stupid stuff like try to hurt myself or hide drugs (I'm too broke to afford drugs anyway), and it's generally more peaceful when I can just chill and do my own thing. One year, back when I lived in a city about an hour away, he upset me to the point that I packed up and drove home in the middle of the night.

This morning's drink: Coffee. With milk and sugar. Not as fancy as last night's "Dark Chocolate Delight" tea, but kind of need it right now.

On mental issues: I've heard the nasty stories about mental health care, and I've always just thought myself lucky to have always been with good people, but I wonder now if some of that is because of my physical health history, too. Except for some time when I was going to community services, all the times I've been talking to social workers and psychologists, psychiatrists, etc, have been in conjunction with some other health issue. When I went to a walk-in clinic to get more anti-depressants, while I was detailing my health history, he actually said "wow, you need these." Maybe my physical problems somehow justify the mental ones in the eyes of other people?

On seasonals: yeah, I was *that* person. I worked at a party store as a Halloween employee and ended up missing Halloween due to stomach problems. In my defense though, they did find gastric problems and a tumour showed up a few months later.