Just curious - Am I insane?

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:Why is #1 an option? What obligation do you have to attend your spouse's X-mas party? Get a sitter, tell her to have fun at the party, and spend the night with buddies, doing rails off of a hookers Donkey.

Seriously though, the question isn't what is should you do, the question is, why do you even remotely consider work on the same level of importance as family?

:^^^^: Hahahah. Oh...man...you're not married, right Hemlock? You have to attend everything that she does - more or less. My wife is going to some happy Social Tea or something and I don't go to that, but an office party? You bet you're going.

The thing here is, she's also Clutch's sister-in-law, so you skip the office function and enjoy your immediate family. That's my opinion anyway.

I'm married with 3 kids. I've never (nor would I ever) attend a function for my wife's work. She does not hang out with work people, and would consider them coworkers and not friends. I'm not about to spend an evening during the holiday season (or anytime really) pretending to be interested in what some jerkoff in the sales/engineering department has to say.

My post was partially in jest, but during the holidays especially, family trumps everything. That's it. I could see Clutch's wife having to attend. But him? Nope. He has kids. That's the best built in excuse for getting out of anything, ever. I've used that as an excuse so many times, under so many circumstances I've lost count.

You don't want to go Clutch? Your child has the runs and you can't find a sitter willing to spend the night on mop up duty. Problem solved. As long as your wife doesn't mind, noone can hold it against you.

Employers rent you, they don't own you.

hemlock wrote: I'm married with 3 kids. I've never (nor would I ever) attend a function for my wife's work. She does not hang out with work people, and would consider them coworkers and not friends. I'm not about to spend an evening during the holiday season (or anytime really) pretending to be interested in what some jerkoff in the sales/engineering department has to say.

My post was partially in jest, but during the holidays especially, family trumps everything. That's it. I could see Clutch's wife having to attend. But him? Nope. He has kids. That's the best built in excuse for getting out of anything, ever. I've used that as an excuse so many times, under so many circumstances I've lost count.

You don't want to go Clutch? Your child has the runs and you can't find a sitter willing to spend the night on mop up duty. Problem solved. As long as your wife doesn't mind, noone can hold it against you.

Diddle, that's fair enough actually - and very funny.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Employers rent you, they don't own you.

I worked at Fat Albert's some years ago. I slept in one day, and when I showed up (after a wake up call from the manager), I got to work to find out that the greasetrap was conveniently due to be emptied and cleaned, and what do you know, it's my turn. That unholy fuckng thing smelled like a rotten corpse, covered in feces, basted in a mixture of piss and tomato juice. I spent an entire afternoon dry-heaving as I shoveled buckets out of it. If I'm ever in that position again, I'll have to tell them, straight up just Diddling kill me.

Sure, they don't own you, but they can make your working experience very unpleasant.

hemlock wrote:
Sure, they don't own you, but they can make your working experience very unpleasant.

I got the same treatment for going to a funeral.

I'd go with Option 3... "Take your Brother and his Child to the Office Christmas Party."

When you titled this thread "Am I insane" I figured you were going with option 1. I'm a firm believer that family trumps work. But then again I'm currently unemployed, so advice from me is probably not the best idea.

I agree completely with SSF. Work is work. If the choice is a bunch of people you don't know who probably aren't overly comfortable in the situation either over family, it isn't a choice at all. You don't choose your co-workers but you spend most of your time with them anyway. I'd hope that your wife would realize the importance of the event and either make an appearance at the work function and bow out early, or skip it altogether. Unless of course there's some Machiavellian reason to show up to the work event.

As far as scooping out buckets of death for (what was likely) minimum wage or darn close, some jobs aren't worth doing. It's one thing if you're getting paid well above your skill set, but, if not, tell them where they can stuff their buckets full of stench and find something more fulfilling/better paying/less offensive and move on.

I don't mean any offense and I hope none is taken, but jobs at Fat Albert's are easy to come by and a dime a dozen. If they want you to do something that you can't justify for the wage, leave and find something better. Otherwise, you'll end up cleaning the grease trap again when your turn comes around. To me, it's not worth $8 for an hour of dry heaves.

My dream is to be hired by someone named Tuttle just so I can quit using Costanza's: "ta - ta, Tuh-tell" line

spader wrote:I agree completely with SSF. Work is work. If the choice is a bunch of people you don't know who probably aren't overly comfortable in the situation either over family, it isn't a choice at all. You don't choose your co-workers but you spend most of your time with them anyway. I'd hope that your wife would realize the importance of the event and either make an appearance at the work function and bow out early, or skip it altogether. Unless of course there's some Machiavellian reason to show up to the work event.

As far as scooping out buckets of death for (what was likely) minimum wage or darn close, some jobs aren't worth doing. It's one thing if you're getting paid well above your skill set, but, if not, tell them where they can stuff their buckets full of stench and find something more fulfilling/better paying/less offensive and move on.

I don't mean any offense and I hope none is taken, but jobs at Fat Albert's are easy to come by and a dime a dozen. If they want you to do something that you can't justify for the wage, leave and find something better. Otherwise, you'll end up cleaning the grease trap again when your turn comes around. To me, it's not worth $8 for an hour of dry heaves.

Hah. I was 17 at the time. And I needed the job. Even though it sucked, it was one day and I laughed about it afterward. It could be worse.

Here's a $2-5 dollar a day job working in conditions I cannot even fathom.

http://www.technologystudent.com/culture1/fez1.htm

It's a tannery in Fez, Morocco. Beyond disgusting.

That would be terrible. I guess no one would ever have to ask what you do for a living, as your legs and arms would be permanently dyed red.

Many, many people don't have options. Those of us that do probably take that fact for granted.

Thanks for posting that, it was worth a read.

One question though, am I obligated to draw the map and the flowchart now?

spader wrote:That would be terrible. I guess no one would ever have to ask what you do for a living, as your legs and arms would be permanently dyed red.

Many, many people don't have options. Those of us that do probably take that fact for granted.

Thanks for posting that, it was worth a read.

One question though, am I obligated to draw the map and the flowchart now?

It's gross in the extreme. That article really doesn't do it justice. National Geographic featured that tannery in an episode of the show Taboo called Gross Work. The other two jobs? Body collecting in Bangkok. People from all walks of life do it for free, so as to collect spirtual credit for their next life (they are Buddhist). The third job was sewer divers in Mexico City who have to dive into the system to repair pipe and clear blockages. They have to do it completely blind as the water is pitch black due to the sludge from 19 million people.

I highly recommend this series if you have any interest in foreign cultures and their practices.

Interest in foreign cultures? I'm in South Korea for several reasons, one of which is interest in foreign cultures.

In that flowchart, did anyone notice the progression from a full head of hair, to typical MPB, and finally to no hair at all?

He goes from 2) full head of hair to 3) cul-de-sac to 4) bald to 6) some sort of hair replacement system.

A sad, sad progression.

spader wrote:Interest in foreign cultures? I'm in South Korea for several reasons, one of which is interest in foreign cultures.

Here's the shows webpage.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/taboo/all/Overview

I can point you in the right direction if you are the downloading type

isohunt?

This poll was to make sure I actually wasn't insane. In these options I am the younger brother who made the 7 hour drive when my daughter was 2 and a half months old.

The one immediate family member who has yet to meet her gave option one as his reason for not seeing her that day.

My wife would never guilt me into going to an office function over meeting my niece for the first time.
I should also mention that my brother only had to make an hour drive to make it to the x-mas party.