I'm sorry for the tough, Sheryl. May the week be shorter than you anticipate.

That's a remarkable admirable comeback, Vortex. In the same circumstance I'd just trot out, "I'm ADHD and I take horrible notes. I mean, I'll do it, but pretty sure even I won't be able to make heads or tails of the results." And it's true. I can't take notes, really.

I taught myself ten-key on calculators OJT, and loved it--one-handed, without looking, while I handled currency and checks with the left hand. I handled $$$ cash daily--other people's money. Math is not my subject, never has been, but I needed the job so I focused and (okay, overfocused, ADHD can be good for that) got the job done. Tellers at the bank we worked with told me they loved to see me coming because my deposits were always on the penny. And my own finances benefitted, too. Once I had my trusty ten-key I stopped bouncing (personal) checks, and actually stretched a paycheck to cover the necessities. There was a shortage of calculators in the office so I went out and bought my own to use in the office and seriously locked it in my desk at night. And took it home with me when I left the job. I still have the calculator, but because times change, and online banking (no fun. Frustrating), I don't get to use it anymore.

Ahem. See also envelope stuffing and stamping with a roll of stamps. No machine could beat me.

My mother, on the other hand, refused to learn to type because she was NOT going to be a secretary,

This was my mother. She was born in 1931 and there were two tracts for women in her educational setting. Secretarial or Nursing. She chose nursing, and that did not include typing. So she never learned.

Born in 1985, I never learned to type.

it was in response to the asshat who would "misremember" what was decided in the meeting and just do what he wanted. When that shit happened (with stuff I cared about), I would respond "my notes say . . ." He said "well, if you take such good notes, why don't you do it for every meeting?"

Wow, a true asshat. Damn.

"I'm happy to take my turn occasionally, but I can't participate in the meeting and take the kind of notes that would helpful to anyone but me. If you think that there is more value in me taking notes than participating in the meeting, then it sounds like I don't have anything meaningful to contribute and my time would be better spent elsewhere."

Vortex, I think I'm gonna steal it and use it when the time comes. With your permission, of course.

In other news, I have no idea why the government of my country is really into starting another unnecessary war, but I do not like. At all. And they've been trying. (For those who are not following, mandate on government forming is now in the hands of Netanyahu, who is also on trial. If he fails, mandate will probably go to Lapid or Bennet. And per the newspapers, in the past months Israel has been attacking Syrian and Iranian targets because reasons. So. Do not like. We're still handling the pandemic and post-pandemic here. A war would be even more terrible than usual).

War as a distraction from the trial and endless failed attempts to form a government seems a super bad plan to me, but probably not to the powers that be. I'm sorry, Shir.

Oh no, Shir. Good luck with all of that.

In high school (back in the 1960s), my mother insisted I take typing so I'd "have something to fall back on" and my father insisted I take Home Ec because when they were first married, my mother had no idea how to cook or keep house. Her mother had not let her do any housework, wanting "something better" for her. I learned how to sew and took over most of the housework by the time I was 14 (my mother had an outside job ... where she refused to learn how to run their switchboard because she wasn't a receptionist) but I wasn't allowed to cook. I learned cooking from cookbooks ... my basic was the Settlement Cook Book (which I still have and call my "everything you need to know about chicken Julia Child won't tell you" book).

My mom wanted to be on the college-prep track in school, and the school wouldn't let her, because she was the youngest of six kids of a divorced mother. They made her take the secretarial course instead.

This bit me in the ass in a few ways, 30 years later. She let me take typing, but she wouldn't sign off on me taking cooking, sewing, home ec, or, for some reason, technical drawing.

Cindy, a while back I came across an abandoned adding machine with receipt at work and I was SO EXCITED but it turned to not actually print. It was a sad day when I understood that no amount of tinkering on my part would fix it.

-t, I don't suppose it needed a ribbon?

This was a while ago, but I think I replaced the ribbon. I replaced everything that was replaceable, basically, to no avail. In any case, it's gone now.

2nd shot complete.

No typing in my highschool, but mother tried to get me to self teach at home. It failed. I type using mostly two fingers on each hand and make lots of mistakes if I do not look at the keyboard.

I had a whole long, ranty post about jobs and respect, but it sounded all preachy and shit, so... cosigned on people and jobs (paid or unpaid) deserve respect. Maybe just people deserve respect covers it. I mean, until they blow it.

Now I need to start breaking down the packing boxes to get them into the recycle bin to go out tonight, which is probably why I was procastiranting in the first place.