Dear So and So

[lph]

what oak said!

[Trek420]

what oak said!

what lph said.

[tangentgirl]

dear friend: are you sure you still want to be my friend? your actions dont reflect it these days. i know you are busy, but this last time you flaked, it was intentional, and that hurts. after 20+ years of friendship, i think i deserve more consideration.

i think i'm trying too hard. i'm here if you want to reach out, but i'm not initiating this any more. you know where i live. oh wait, you don't, you've blown off all my invitations to the new place. the one i've been in for like six months.

yeah.

[channlluv]

{{{{snap}}}}

I know what you're going through. It's one year ago today that my grandfather passed away in a hospice facility. Peacefully, and with my grandmother by his side, holding his hand.

And a year ago November that I went to my father's house for his final transition, too. That took a week. He had at-home, round-the-clock hospice care. Those nurses were amazing.

You're absolutely right to take some time off. I will tell you, though, that there may be times that you really need to take a break -- a mental one -- from the bedside care. I did a lot of paper grading while I was at my dad's house and he was sleeping, then comatose, and the rest of us were just waiting for the inevitable. If you can do work at home, you might welcome the diversion.

You take your time and give yourself some space to grieve. And I think if you're financially set for retirement, go ahead and take it. Your boss has no right to expect you to focus on work when your family needs you like they'll need you these next few days.

Much, much love you to and your family.

Roxy

[OakLeaf]

Dear national chain pharmacy:

What in the world were your people thinking when you decided to package each of my prescriptions in a SEPARATE sealed plastic bag, printed with my name, address, telephone number, the name of my prescription plan, the plan price of the medication (which was certainly enough to raise a thief's interest, in one case) and the difference between the plan price and the retail price? (I think my DOB was on there too, but I don't remember for sure, I was so stunned.)

I realize that waste doesn't even enter into pharmacy calculations, when you already package 30 tiny pills in a 75 ml bottle. But did they stop for one second to think that plastic bags won't pass through a shredder?

Plastic is slippery and staticky. It was just about all I could do to cut each one of those panels into enough pieces that my identifying information was more or less obliterated. My dad has a tremor and there's no WAY he'd have been able to do that. My friend has arthritis in her hands, and she wouldn't have been able to do that, either. I'll bet you have a LOT of customers who are physically unable to prevent the identity theft you're inviting.

I'll be getting my next refills somewhere else, thank you, and I certainly hope my state's new anti-pharmacy-shopping law doesn't get in the way of my doing so.

[marni]

Your corgi only weighs 14 pounds? Is she a puppy?

no she is actually two years old and full grown. She is just a very tiny, not purebred corgi. I think she is actually a borgeranian (corgie, beagle, pomeranian)or some such. She has a corgi head and ears, the typical corgi shed a rugs worth of coat every day of the year, and the corgi bunny butt but her legs are quite fine and her chest is not as broad as it should be. She is amazingly agile and can get all four feet off the floor at the same, something I have never seen another full blood corgi do.

in the picture she is sharing my lap with Tux our Main Coon who actually outweighs her but is about the same size, if you ignore the projectile shedding armpits

[snapdragen]

Oh she's cute! My corgi, Chloe, does the four footed jump, I always said it was because she grew up with cats.

[OakLeaf]

She is darling.

My Measle did the four-footed jump. By appearance, we guessed he was half Dalmatian and half greyhound. When he jumped with all four feet, he could clear the sofa. He liked to spin in the air, too, so he'd come down facing the opposite direction he started from.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

ignore the projectile shedding armpits

Um...how could anyone ignore something like that ? lol!

What a mental image!

[BikeDutchess]

Dear telephone solicitor for some firefighters organization: When I firmly, but politely, tell you that I never commit to donations over the phone, but will be happy to decide whether to donate after reviewing any written materials they care to send me, telling me "I hope your children never get burned" is NOT the way to change my mind!

[Crankin]

I hang up on any solicitor who happens to get through the do not call list. Who thought the list of non-profits that call me would be so long? This includes the ASU alumni association, who I told to quit calling me. They ask poor students to do their dirty work. I am a life member and I give almost every year, but please, let me do it by mail.

[OakLeaf]

I'm acquiring a decent sized database of call center phone numbers. Whenever I get a spam call, I program my phone to send that number straight to voicemail. Some still get through (got one this morning, actually), but you'd be surprised how many solicitors use the same call centers, thus the same numbers. The longer I do this, the more numbers are in my phone, and the fewer I have to answer.

[indysteel]

Dear telephone solicitor for some firefighters organization: When I firmly, but politely, tell you that I never commit to donations over the phone, but will be happy to decide whether to donate after reviewing any written materials they care to send me, telling me "I hope your children never get burned" is NOT the way to change my mind!

OMG. That's ridiculous. I don't care how worthy a cause is; it's not an invitation or excuse to be rude. I'd be calling the Powers that Be at that organization and giving them an earful.

[bmccasland]

I'm loving having functional caller-ID on the house phone. I can see who's calling, and choose whether to answer or let go to voice mail. Amazing how few solicitors continue to the option of leaving a message.

[OakLeaf]

Amazing how few solicitors continue to the option of leaving a message.

Mostly these days it's all machine dialed, so the worker doesn't even get connected to you if it's voicemail. Our landlines are all forwarded to our cell phones, and a lot of times even the little hesitation that goes with call forwarding will kick us out of their system (not always quick enough that the phone doesn't ring, though).