Ok, Brenda, that's good enough for me, it's just too early in the morning for me to do my own thinking. Thanks.

Sox, ~ma to you. There is no coffee, yet, so I can't figure out what you need it for, exactly -- do with it what you will!

Aims, that really sucks. It looks to me like the Michigan Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefit Act says that if you have a contract that spells out you don't get vacation days paid on termination, then you don't. If the contract is silent, then I think what Perkins found applies. She's closer to being an employment lawyer than I am. My degree does look pretty on the brag wall, though, because I paid for the fancy hand-done calligraphy.

eta: Aims, if he has someone new in your old job, I think you should call the office (when he's out) and leave a long, detailed message for the boss with him/her for the boss about this matter and how it fits in with the history of problems.

TGIF! It's graduation day here, so there will be free booze this afternoon after all the dull speeches.

While Ex-Boss is indeed an asshat and shady and immoral, he is within the law to not pay the vacation days. I'm trying very hard not to take it personally - he would do this to anyone who worked for him.

I'm much, much, much better off and so is my family and that's what matters.

Did you know that if the coffee is good and freshly ground and brewed you don't need 17 sugars and half a cup of milk to drink it?? I hadn't the slightest.

I would totally have a sash - but not like the Girl Scouts, ike Miss America. It would say, "Empress. All you need to know."

But not a doctor or a Steph, so...

People, bear in mind that I just know where to look stuff up, and can (generally) translate it from Medical to English.

That said, I take ibuprofen for just about every analgesic need, because it's an anti-inflammatory, and most of my pain-causing problems are inflammation-related. Also because it plays nice with my liver.

Did you know that if the coffee is good and freshly ground and brewed you don't need 17 sugars and half a cup of milk to drink it?? I hadn't the slightest.

And thus, my coffee making skillz are impugned.

Though, to be honest, I don't grind them and Maxwell House is not "good" in the same sense as Blue Mountain or something.

My sash: I Am Already Impatiently Waiting For You To Go Away Or Die And It Is Only By Dint Of A Herculean Effort Of Will That I Am Not Rolling My Eyes And Stabbing You In The Face.

While Ex-Boss is indeed an asshat and shady and immoral, he is within the law to not pay the vacation days.

Within the law, but still unbelievably douchey. And worthy of either the phone call Sparky mentioned or of a comment on his Craigslist post if it's still up.

That's the kind of thing I'd want to know right away about a new job, so I could either be aggressive about taking the leave I'd earned when I wanted, be damned to his weasely passive-aggressive attempts to talk me out of it--or else decide the job wasn't worth it, and not even apply.

I want to live in a world where giddy teenagers with no tact and little sense can gross me out regardless of their orientations, then develop what I would consider a sense of decorum.

Bwahaha! Oh, so much this.

I Am Already Impatiently Waiting For You To Go Away Or Die And It Is Only By Dint Of A Herculean Effort Of Will That I Am Not Rolling My Eyes And Stabbing You In The Face.

Damnit, MM stole my sash. Though mine would probably just read "Not Your Mom (Unless I Actually Am. Hi, Honey!)"

My sash: Catholic. Feminist. Progressive. Yellow-Dog Democrat (Progressive, But Realist). Wendell Berry and Frances Kissling Speak For Me; Bill Donohue Can STFU. Also, Got One Amazing Kid; Please Stop Jovially Saying "Better get started on the next one soon!"

JZ, you also need a button that says, "I stapled my pants."

People, bear in mind that I just know where to look stuff up, and can (generally) translate it from Medical to English.

I do know this, and greatly appreciate it.

I don't want a sash. I've learned again over the last few days that I'm not ready to display my patches yet. I still only share them once I know you're not going to throw them in my face -- or I throw it in your face when you say something completely stupid and uneducated.