Oh javachik, I'm so sorry. This is an awful time to be letting people go.

Likewise, Barb. I hope things settle out positively for you.

WindSparrow, is your manager person a parent? Because the behavior you're trying to model, which beth calls non-reaction, works on offspring, too. And if she had any, I'd think she'd have learned that. I sympathize--it's so damn hard to see where a superior is repeatedly, dedicatedly going wrong, determined to make the situation change to suit his/her standards and ideals, and won't deal with what is.

Actually, that's sort of true across the board. Stupid people make me tired, and it's so much worse when they're your "supervisors".

Cashmere, I'm glad for the good news.

I have no stake on the math stuff. I was in my mid-30s before I successfully managed my checkbook, and then a job handling thousands of dollars of other people's money. My elementary math was unrelentingly correct. A hard-learned skill, learned well and one I was constantly paranoid about messing up. I have no wish nor need for math more intimidating than that. Those of you who math for fun, who are charged up by it, find it fascinating and fun, I salute you. Thank heaven you do, so I don't have to!

I was in my mid-30s before I successfully managed my checkbook

I still haven't managed this. Most mathematicians I know haven't. Almost none of us are any good at arithmetic -- several of the grad students in my department, including me, were recommended to be tested for math disabilities as kids.

The worst group of people to figure out a check at a restaurant: a mix of professional physicists, astronomers and mathematicians. Their kingdom for an english or history major! (OK, so not really that bad but still. )

We usually use the method of everyone throwing money into a pile, someone counting it, and then everyone either throws in some more or takes some back until the total is right.

Perzactly. I'm used to tossing in extra when it comes up short. I usually figure how much I owe, rounded up roughly, and figure I'll get it back someday when someone else overestimates.

I just got a visit from the police. Apparently the house across the street was burglarized today.

When she found him, he was crying over the bodies of his parents, and soaked in their blood.

Poor, poor baby. I'm so sorry, little one. I wish there were words that could fix this for you, but there never will be. Still, grief and healing~ma for you, the best I can send to you. May there be always gentle, loving arms around you when you are in need.

{{DJ}}

javachick, I'm so sorry. That had to be an incredibly hard thing to do.

Cash, that's great news about your MiL! Yay for aspirin therapy!

I am no help when it comes to the maths. While I'm fairly decent in algerbra and calculus, I fail at geometry and trig. I can handle simple volume sort of stuff, but once you start taking slices of spheres and cones and stuff, I can't quite get there. Give me imaginary numbers and polar to rectangular notation, I'm your girl. Electronics training will do that for you.

Wait ... someone in your line of work doesn't know the value of the non-reaction? I mean, there is a whole range of behaviors that fit in non-reaction that are very effective.

Apparently if it doesn't involve whining until other people's ears bleed, it doesn't count as effective.

WindSparrow, is your manager person a parent? Because the behavior you're trying to model, which beth calls non-reaction, works on offspring, too. And if she had any, I'd think she'd have learned that.

Yup, she's got 4 kids. And I have had this conversation with her, when I point out the ineffectiveness of her freaking out over simple bodily functions. She excuses herself by saying that she just automatically slips into "mom mode". So I asked, very gently, if she found it particularly effective with her kids, and she said, no.

She constantly complains about how her kids and husband will not help out around the house, and how gross they all are about burping and passing gas. Of course no one wants to help at her house - when one of the residents puts a hand to any housework, I always praise them for their efforts, and then ask if I can help put the finishing touches on. It's not the best detail cleaning, so yeah, we kinda have to go over stuff again, but I am so not ever going to say anything to discourage the folks from trying to clean up after themselves. Her reaction to their attempts to clean? "OMG, look at all this that you missed! This is so gross! That will attract rats, we can't have this! I'm going to have to do it all over again!" and on and on for longer than it takes to do the job. Only, the sick-making part of it is, she says it with the kind of cheerful tone of voice that you would expect of a kindergarten teacher handing out crayons. If this is the way she thinks is appropriate to talk to people with developmental disabilities, can you imagine how stultifyingly shaming she is to her family?

And now for some earth-shaking revelations to hit a city in Minnesota, today:

Drug-sniffing dogs had never found contraband at Chaska High School until a random search recently turned up six student vehicles containing marijuana or other illegal substances. The sweep was the first time the student parking lot had been searched for drugs.

Drugs? High school students? I'm shocked! Shocked!