In my last brief sojourn in support most people were within what I consider normal parameters of confused and upset, and one guy was "I have an audit on Monday and I didn't try logging into your system until Thursday despite the due date for doing so having been three months ago! Why are you escalating my case instead of helping me immediately???"

I felt bad for the person who ended up with the case.

And then I got him again the next day, as my final case.

^^ What askye said. I think she has a surprising amount of that still pushing her rep.

Oh, yeah, America's Sweetheart heartbroken by the exotic beauty who lured Her Man away. Unfortunately, Her Man is ecstatic with the exotic beauty who loves kids as much as he does. So while Brad and Angelina are the poster parents of Celebrity Parenthood, Jennifer looks more and more like "Oh God, I Must Have a Man!"

Is there any point in posting a Snopes link on the FB of a family friend, pointing out that her copy-pasted screed against Obamacare isn't actually factual?

I know the answer is "No", but I had to ask.

I tend to Snopes people like that with a "That's pretty scary stuff. Fortunately, its not completely accurate..." and THEN I Snopes 'em.

I tend to Snopes people like that with a "That's pretty scary stuff. Fortunately, its not completely accurate..." and THEN I Snopes 'em.

My line tends to be, "I see that you are concerned about ____. So you will be relieved to know (summary of Snopes results). For more details, see (link to Snopes page).

Burrell and sj, I am sending out the ~ma for your sister and uncle.

Oh, yeah, America's Sweetheart heartbroken by the exotic beauty who lured Her Man away. Unfortunately, Her Man is ecstatic with the exotic beauty who loves kids as much as he does. So while Brad and Angelina are the poster parents of Celebrity Parenthood, Jennifer looks more and more like "Oh God, I Must Have a Man!"

Honestly, at this point I wonder whether she herself actually cares about Having A Man so much as keeping the publicity machine rolling by being who everyone expects her to be.

I also wonder (while knowing damn well that it's none of my business) whether she quietly doesn't actually want any kids at all, ever, and is just making the PR-approved noises because how can you continue to be America's Sweetheart and not want kids? Because, really, there are plenty of either home-grown or adoptive single moms all over Hollywood, and if being a mother was a huge priority for her she would have had no trouble long before now finding either an amiable pretty boy to knock her up or a kidlet in need of adoption. But even now, even today, when I try to imagine Jennifer Aniston or any other American Sweetheart shrugging and saying, "Nope, I like my life exactly as it is and I just don't want children," the only public reaction I can imagine is an obnoxious scolding shaming shitstorm of epic proportions.

(And, probably, a lot of women quietly thinking, "Thank God it's not just me... I really hope I didn't say that in my outside voice.")

OK, I feel a little guilty for having good news in the midst of the stupid fucking shutdown that is going to make life significantly more difficult for a huge number of people, including many of our own, BUT:

They offered me the job! WOO! And now I'm about to schedule a meeting with their HR dept to talk about salary/benefits/etc. So, my question to the hive mind: In my phone conversation with the library director, who just called me to make the offer, he said that based on my experience and their "metrics," they can offer me a salary of $[redacted], which is more than I'm making now, but I would like to at least try for $[redacted]. Can I still negotiate for a higher salary, or would you assume that the number is more or less set in stone? (This is a private K-12 school, FWIW.) I know most public schools have pretty rigid salary steps, but I don't know as much about private schools. Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

I mean, I know the answer is Always Negotiate, but... eep! I don't have much experience with this.

Always ask for more. It can't hurt, and if they can't offer salary, is there anything in terms of benefits that you can ask for?

No, don't feel bad, this is Really Good News, Kate!

(German proverb: sadness shared is halved, happiness shared is doubled.)

Sorry I don't have any advice on negotiating. My response to a job offer is pretty much always rolling over on my back and showing my soft white belly.