Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

I'm amazed I'm going to work today.

Last week was surprise overtime after a huge hour cut. Massive deliveries and not staff.

Saturday required help from other departments since I was basically on my own. One hour into my shift I got asked why one pallet of stock wasn't cleared. I was yelled at, berated and everything. I had to explain that look, one person is stuck on tills, one hasn't worked food before, I've got a damaged hip now because of this job, there are new SKUs that need places to be, customers are everywhere and I'm depressed enough as it is.

This was after I nearly threw things at this guy mind. Not the first time it's happened. It's like they expect a pile of stock with literally hundreds to thousands of individual items to go as fast as the bulk stuff like furniture.

@Knuckles-Fajita Damn this is horrible. If they are short on staff couldn't you tell them to stop being little sh***?

@Knuckles-Fajita
That sucks man, im with you hope jou are better soon.

I was outside late last night with my dog on his final potty break of the day, and I accidentally stepped on a small toad who was hanging out on the brick pathway. The crunch and squish was nauseating. I couldn’t tell what it was, so I got a flashlight to see. I felt really bad, there was nothing I could do. It was quick for him at least. I was also a bit relieved because my first thought after the crunch was that it was a tarantula sized spider, which would have been a nightmare.

@bimmy-lee Same damn thing happened to me 2-3 years ago. It was long time but I still remember it. Like a Vietnam flashback.

@Tyranexx Sounds like hay fever? I used to have hay fever-like symptoms for a period of over 5 years, back in my twenties, but except for slightly lessening the symptoms, all the pills and inhalers/sprays I used never really seemed to be up to the task. At some point, I decided to get a referral to a specialist, because I felt like I didn't have hay fever at all, and I don't like taking medicine too much, so if it's not really needed or appropriate for what ails you, then you're basically putting chemicals inside your body.

So, ultimately, I got my referral, and went to an ENT specialist, who luckily had the luminous idea to make a scan of my head, and guess what he found? A rather large clot, the size of a big marble, resting comfortably in one of my sinuses, irritating the membrane, which caused the hay fever-like symptoms. And I'd been walking around with that for over 5 years! Of course, it wasn't that big initially, but because my own doctor never discovered it, it kept accumulating mucus and dirt, so that ultimately turned into this end result.

Following that discovery, I got a small drain installed in my nose, and in two or three treatments, I got my sinus flushed out with some kind of fluid, might also have been lukewarm water or something (couldn't tell, because during the first treatment, I was locally sedated, because of the installation of the drain), and in the end, they got it cleaned out completely.

Unfortunately, because of the clot having been in there for so long, the damage to my sinus is permanent, so I'm still relatively sensitive to pollen and what not, so I do sneeze around this time of year, but I don't need any medicine anymore, it's just going to be a sensitive area for the rest of my life. Yay, medical science!

Concerning the eyesight discussion: even with my relatively weak lenses, I'm still experiencing the same effects to some degree, of only seeing fuzzy images when taking them out, albeit obviously not to the degree that you experience it. Still annoying, though. That is why I still keep my glasses around. At the end of the day, in certain periods of the year, my eyes also get too dry for the lenses, so instead of continuously spraying or putting drops of fluid in my eyes, I just take them out, and wear my glasses for the rest of the evening.

@bimmy-lee Well, if you compare the American celebrations to most European ones, you'll clearly see the difference. What nearly always shines through in them is the whole ""we are greater, bigger, better" thing, that's so stereo-typical of us, and then, sometimes, there's the superlative "we are the greatest country in the world" which is particularly nauseating, even to me...

Even as young as I was (age 9, remember?), I had to more or less defend myself from things like that, once people found out where I originally came from. Along the way, over the space of many years, I've been able to bend that prejudice around concerning myself and some others, but in general, that stereotype is still there, and because (most) Americans aren't making any effort to show otherwise, probably because most of them simply don't care about those silly Europeans, it'll probably remain with us forever, and there'll always be some contempt/disdain towards us because of this.

In the specific case of this World Championship it wasn't so much the entire team taking it too far, but Megan Rapinoe. Like I mentioned, her goal celebration was too brash, almost like some kind of Roman emperor, WAY too egotistical, and the stunt she pulled on the stage was truly embarrassing for me as a Dutchified American.

She was supposed to receive her award, then go on to the stage, take a picture with the other two (Alex Morgan and Sari van Veenendaal, the Dutch goal keeper), and then step off, to give Sari her well-deserved moment in the spotlight, being the best goal keeper in the entire tournament. Morgan understood and/or respected this, and walked off stage after the picture was taken, but Rapinoe simply remained on stage, doing her annoying Roman emperor pose again, so instead of the ceremony going how it should have been going, it kinda became the Rapinoe show.

It isn't so much about them being too free with their celebrations: you should have seen the celebrations of the Dutch during this tournament, those were equally wild, if not more. No, it's about being too brash and too smug. We should tone it down a notch, but we probably never will...

And that was after what I told you earlier, about her not even acknowledging the Dutch goalie, when she came on stage for the photo op with her and Morgan. So, basically, it was insult upon insult, well, insults... let's call them slights, but still not nice of her to do. I have a strong feeling that all of this was in large part fueled by Rapinoe's one-woman anti-White House campaign, and as such wanting all the glory for herself in some ways, so maybe, she was drinking a little bit too much of the celebrity Kool Aid...

It was all over the news and sports programs over here, replayed, analyzed, dissected, and harshly scoffed at. But luckily for me, bathing in my substitute shame/shame by proxy during all that, there was a redeeming factor at the end of the evening, and that was some of the normal, every day American people: Dutch reporters were in a number of cities/places in the States, where the match was shown on screens, such as in bars and so on, and the people there were very positive about the Dutch team, giving compliments, acknowledging their skill and so on, so that was nice, and that made me feel a little less embarrassed about it all.

I wonder how it's gonna go down now, once team USA is back in the States. I suppose none of them are going to visit loony Donald, but we'll see.

I do get the bit about inspiring kids though. And I also applaud that, because it's not only nice, it's also very necessary. It's also happening over here, and luckily, women's soccer is getting bigger and bigger. But in the States, there's even more catching up to do, seeing as soccer as a whole will probably not even rank in the top 5 of most important sports over there, while by rights, it absolutely shouldn't be lower than being featured in a top 3, if you consider that it's the world's number 1 sport.

On a side note: another thing that also stood out about team USA, is how literally EVERYTHING is planned down to the smallest detail. The Dutch sports program that followed after the match showed the celebration of the US team in the locker room and what I saw immediately made me think "only in America" and "oh, boy, here we go again... " in the same moment.

It was truly ridiculous, seeing the whole locker room being taped off with plastic sheets or something, and all the players of the team, substitutes included, wearing (skiing?) goggles, so as not to hurt their sensitive little eyes while they were spraying champagne on each other...

If you don't know or understand how ridiculous that looks, well... then I'm afraid that this is where the problem lies with how we are perceived by a lot of Europeans. Things like a locker room celebration shouldn't be planned, it should be completely off the scales, wild, spontaneous, and it doesn't matter if anyone gets a bit of champagne in their hair or in their eyes. It all goes with the territory.

Oh well, at least it gave the Dutch commentators a good laugh, which was at least something positive to end the program with...

@Zuljaras - Blech, why are they full of chocolate pudding and yellow gelatin? I went to sleep thinking about the crunch, and it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up. At least now I know every time I step on something that crunches, I’ll have an immediate flashback to the toad situation.

@ThanosReXXX - You know, it used to really bother me that we were world wide villains, but I’ve given up on that burden. We’re an enormous country filled with good and bad people, and I can’t let myself worry about what our idiots are doing online or out in the world. The general population is the same as any other country in the world, there’s just so many of us; we have more outliers. When I had kids, I realized my responsibility was to raise two decent humans, not decent Americans, humans. The locker room champagne celebrations started here in baseball decades ago. A reporter took a cork to the eye, and everyone has been wearing the goggles since.

I’d say there’s overwhelming odds they’re not going to the White House, seeing as the orange guy is the face of what some of them are fighting against. Rapinoe’s celebrations were intentionally emperor like. I wish we could handle things like these celebrations in a more appropriate manner according to world view, but we’re talking sports. If someone wants it to end, beat us, and the victory will be so sweet. It happened in basketball after the ‘92 Olympics. Charles Barkley single handedly inspired entire countries to up their basketball game, and now a significant portion of the NBA is comprised of European players, and there are professional leagues around the world providing opportunities for athletes and entertainment.

I realize football is the world’s sport, our women are on top, and that drives people crazy. Hopefully it inspires a generation of European women, and the sport continues to evolve and go to new heights the world over.

@bimmy-lee It felt like a marshmallow situation for me.
Anyway it was quick for the poor fellow. I was not walking a dog but it was dark in my defence.

My take on celebratory poses has always been that if the person didn’t like it, go beat the winner. Of course humility is important, because there will always be someone better at something. But like most things, if you don’t like something, change from within not without. I do acknowledge that an athlete worked much harder before being able to celebrate than I did before turning on the television 😂

@Zuljaras - Interesting. Bulgarian toads are filled with marshmallow, and Merican toads are filled with pudding and gelatin. Just a slight deviation in evolution based on immediate surroundings. There’s nothing we could have done. It was dark, and the toads didn’t move. It’s their nature to sit still and assume they’re camouflaged. It’s our nature to be heavy and stomp around.

@bimmy-lee Well, villains is a big word. But besides what I already mentioned, we're seen as meddlers, and as pretentious. It's a general view, mind you, much like how all tourists over here wonder why the Dutch aren't all walking around on wooden shoes, and living in windmills, eating cheese, and looking out over a backyard filled with tulips. Oh, and obviously, the Dutch are all stingy as hell...

The thing is, that occurrences like these always strengthen those stereotypes, so much like if you see one Dutch guy not tipping a waiter in a restaurant being a confirmation of them being stingy, so is looking at Rapinoe's celebration a confirmation of Americans being smug b****ds, that don't give a care about anything in the world except themselves and their greatest country of the world.

Rapinoe was out of line, there's no doubt about that. It being sports is no excuse. In fact: it should be the opposite: being a professional sports player, you should know your place, know what etiquette to follow, and be humble to the sport itself, not rise above it for self-glorification. If no European player does that, so shouldn't she. Genuine happiness and celebration is something else entirely, but this wasn't that.

Earlier in the tournament, I actually stood up for her, applauded her, because of her achievements in one of those matches leading up to the final, also of course because I wanted my two favorite teams to end up playing for the win, but the contrast with her behavior in the final and during the ceremonies was night and day, and it truly was a shame.

I don't know about other countries (although I can probably guess), but the Dutch don't need the American team to inspire them. Infuriate them maybe, probably (especially over that cheap penalty), but they already have their own team to be proud of and inspire them, and it has already done so, ever since they won the European Championship two years ago.

But yeah, at the end of the day, even sports is just a game, so once the wounds are licked, and tears are dried, the teams that lost will rise up again, and prepare for the next run, eye on the price.

I think it does help that I was still favoring two teams, regardless of my earlier musings. Normally, I'd be having a hangover for two days or more, but now I'm already over it, pondering if my current discussion with you isn't a bit too harsh, but it truly is a huge annoyance for me, being what I am, and also having this empathy thing going on, but obviously, it's only an annoyance towards the team, and/or particular players, never against you, much less against all Americans. You're simply served with it, because we happen to be discussing it, but I think we're out of the woods now.

Unless of course we still have some more episodes of the Rapinoe show in store...

Got asked to do overtime three times today. Up to 40 hours.

Have to ask where this money came from and if they needed help why not schedule me in for it from the start.

@HobbitGamer In general, that's true, but if only the US (or rather: one specific US player) stands out like a sore thumb compared to ALL other teams of the world, then it's pretty clear where the problem lies.

@ThanosReXXX - I don’t think you’re being too harsh. You’re simply confirming my suspicions that maybe we weren’t celebrating the “right” way, and that many people around the world did NOT enjoy that ceremony. I saw when all three women were on the podium, but I was unaware of the protocol there.

That was a fairly tame celebration by American sports standards, but I knew it was probably over the top for a world wide sport played for centuries with more unspoken “this is how the game is played and won the right way” rules than even baseball. I absolutely believe the Dutch women’s team is an inspiration to their country, I just meant that maybe the US team gave them a villain with added incentive to take them over the top. Like when Drago killed Apollo and Rocky knew he had to jog up mountains to get to the next level.

For something that doesn’t matter at all in the big picture of life, sports losses are just brutal, and stewing on it for days is a completely natural human reaction; especially when national pride is one of the trophies. I’m still mad about a Colts/Steelers NFL playoff game from 1997. Still. Mad.

@Anti-Matter pretty excited cant wait!

@ThanosReXXX Agreed, and the world has the lovely opportunity to shout down that player and express their displeasure at the offender. But just like one person’s actions shouldn’t dictate how others ultimately view all the players, people also shouldn’t think “well that’s a typical American, for you”. It goes both ways. But humans like baskets, and they like putting things in those baskets even more so.

@bimmy-lee yea it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I guess you CAN hit this particular boss with regular combat but I tried relentlessly and failed. I put nearly 30 hours Into the game and im sure people may be thinking, what's another 3 or 4 grinding and replaying the dungeon. In all honesty, It kind of started losing the appeal for me around 8-10 hours in. Every palace is pretty much the same just with different maps. Push a button here or step on a switch there. Alot of bosses are reused multiple times which wore out it's welcome quickly for me. I know this game has a huge following, and I don't want to step on the toes of people who DO love it, but it just kind of felt a little samey to me. A little repetitive. And not great enough to have me jump back in today and finish it. But, I still want to try it's predecessor the final fantasy adventure as I hear it plays like links awakening. I also want to give 3 a shot too since the remake coming out next year looks be great.

Saw your post about the toad and thats unfortunate. I've run over little rodents while driving and it breaks my heart every time. Like you said I'm sure it was quick enough to not even feel a thing

@NintendoByNature You know what your trouble was? You didn’t Collect enough Mana.... badum pshhh

So I had to take the truck back to the shop because the driveshaft sounds like a squeaky door hinge since they changed the seal last week. Turns out, the deal they used has a dust boot on it, and that’s causing the noise. There is another factory variant that doesn’t have the boot. They’re gonna replace it under warranty. Yay