The Trivial Complaints Thread... number 2!

[Ponyfan]

I'm sorry that happened to you, Taffeta.     Your story reminds me of a professor I had in college that would tell us to do things one way and then criticize us later for following her instructions.  When I tried to type my lesson plans on 2 pages she said that they should be 1 page.  When I typed them on one page she complained that the print was too small and she couldn't read it.   She wanted everything we used for mock lessons including things like markers while she graded them.  I was doing a solar system lesson and had bought a small solar system model system along with a large playground ball to represent the sun. The professor told me I didn't need to turn in the "balls" and then when I got the lesson back she said that they were too small and I should have used something else for the solar system.


Ponyfan 

[BlackCurtains]

I was asleep and my cat walked across my face, her back claws scratched my cheek and nose and they were bleeding.

Not a nice way to wake up.

[Griffin]

Another day, another journal paper rejected. This may be a long rant so it's going in spoilers Read at your own risk.

Spoiler

This in itself is a pretty normal part of being a struggling academic in a pandemic, but it's not so much that which has got me really frustrated.

One of the reviewers clearly doesn't know my specialist topic very well.

The article is a combination of my specialism and another, and I'm fully prepared to be brutalised and educated on the second as it isn't an area I know as well as mine. But this review is a...problem, and I really hate when I get reviews like that.

The reviewer managed to confuse one historical figure for another, and then lectured me on my use of one thinking it was the other.

They dismissed the relevance of the text my article was focused on, and instead decided to cite another related text - I still don't really know why, but the best I could glean was that they felt like one text was as good as another? In any case they told me it wasn't productive to look at the variants as their detail didn't matter...?

Then they lectured me on a particular facet of the texts I study which I didn't include. Because the facet doesn't apply to the text I was using as my source material.

And then they closed off by telling me that I should do more reading on my specialist subject.

...This is a summary of course. But seriously? You muddle up the characters, choose to cite a different text, ignore the actual text, try to impose an irrelevant interpretation on that text and then tell me *I* need to do more reading?

Seriously, I don't expect every Academic to know every detail of subject, but if you're going to be a patronising jerk in your commentary, at least make sure your patronising lecture is correct.

 

How frustrating! Is there another journal you can submit to? If you feel like talking about it my inbox is always open   (I'm currently waiting for the editors' response to a chapter draft I sent, I fear they might reject it but we'll see...)

[Taffeta]

Another day, another journal paper rejected. This may be a long rant so it's going in spoilers Read at your own risk.

Spoiler

This in itself is a pretty normal part of being a struggling academic in a pandemic, but it's not so much that which has got me really frustrated.

One of the reviewers clearly doesn't know my specialist topic very well.

The article is a combination of my specialism and another, and I'm fully prepared to be brutalised and educated on the second as it isn't an area I know as well as mine. But this review is a...problem, and I really hate when I get reviews like that.

The reviewer managed to confuse one historical figure for another, and then lectured me on my use of one thinking it was the other.

They dismissed the relevance of the text my article was focused on, and instead decided to cite another related text - I still don't really know why, but the best I could glean was that they felt like one text was as good as another? In any case they told me it wasn't productive to look at the variants as their detail didn't matter...?

Then they lectured me on a particular facet of the texts I study which I didn't include. Because the facet doesn't apply to the text I was using as my source material.

And then they closed off by telling me that I should do more reading on my specialist subject.

...This is a summary of course. But seriously? You muddle up the characters, choose to cite a different text, ignore the actual text, try to impose an irrelevant interpretation on that text and then tell me *I* need to do more reading?

Seriously, I don't expect every Academic to know every detail of subject, but if you're going to be a patronising jerk in your commentary, at least make sure your patronising lecture is correct.

 

How frustrating! Is there another journal you can submit to? If you feel like talking about it my inbox is always open   (I'm currently waiting for the editors' response to a chapter draft I sent, I fear they might reject it but we'll see...)

Thanks for that . THanks to you too, Ponyfan I ranted to one former university friend about it last night. She had a similar experience with a course she attended a few years ago, but she had the opportunity to put the person in their place about their assumptions. This is anonymous and so there's not a lot I can do about it but suck it up I guess. She said it sounded like mansplaining, but I don't know if this person is male or female.

I think I'm calming down now, but yeah. It's annoying.

I'm not good at writing articles anyway, I know this. I have trouble organising ideas and so it's a real achilles heel of mine, making myself understood.

It's really the fact they think they know what they're talking about, and they don't. And they're so patronising about it. It's really awkward, when someone with a really limited knowledge of your field tries to lecture you on it, gets it all wrong and then tells to read more about the subject...sigh

@ Griffin, good luck with your draft.

[BlackCurtains]

Man, this day sucks!

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday. The transportation service needs 24 hour notice for you to book a ride. I thought calling on Friday for Monday was enough time. Apparently not! I should have called yesterday. I was told this of course after dealing with the automatic thing that asked my phone number 6 times and put me through to an agent after I'd answered all the questions anyway.

My mom's birthday is coming up and I wanted to buy her a CD. Her laptop doesn't have a drive, so I thought maybe I can get a portable CD player. How much can they be these days? A LOT. Retro music devices are 2 cool 4 skool and you can't find a decent one for an affordable price anywhere. Amazon has a couple that are 20 bucks but they are all sold out!

Next thing I thought I'd set her up with iTunes and get her the album that way. What has happened to iTunes cards? They are no more. It's an ~AppleCard~ now and unlike iTunes, it doesn't come in $10 or $15 - or at least, not that I can find. The album is 9.99. Do I really have to spend 25 dollars? I want to buy her other things too. Ugh!

Then for lunch I was craving an Impossible Whopper and fries. So I go to the website and place my order. The Door Dash driver contacts me and say hey, they are out of the Impossibles right now, do I want something else? Um. No. No, I do not. So he says they'll refund me and he'll take care of the order on his end. Okay. Bummer. My phone rings again a few minutes later. It's a different Door Dash person telling me the same thing. I say I already talked to a guy and he said he'd take care of things. Well, he didn't. The second person did though, and I got my refund.

Xfinity is bothering me about unreturned equipment. I DID return it. The dude scanned it. There better not be a second $14 charge on my next bill or I'm going to be really annoyed.

There's like 2 flies in here, on top of the fruit flies I'm still dealing with. They always bother me but today it's 10x worse. Also, ants were in the food dish this morning... again! Coming from a place I just sprayed. Again!

Last night a small lizard came in I'm assuming the crack in the door. My cat saw it before I did and chased it onto the carpet, where it promptly disappeared like a magic trick (my carpet is beige and so was the lizard). I don't know where it went, but it's going to die in here if I don't find it.

I still can't get any lettuce from Wal-Mart grocery.

And now to finish things, I have a headache.

[Beth3346]

BlackCurtains i can't remember where but i saw an article that was ranking the best portable cd players. are they becoming a retro thing like record players were for millennials back in 2008? i'm so old.

my complaint is that i really want to get some new pots and pans. the ones i have are non stick and i really want some stainless steel ones without the non stick coating.

i've been cooking a lot more since covid and my partner can't really eat out since he's on a low sodium diet. i'm not really supposed to buy new stuff since we're moving. hopefully this move will be the last one for a while i'm being impatient but maybe i'll just replace the non-stick ones by one and my partner won't notice

Also in other cooking news i just realized that the clip on my deep fry oil/candy thermometer is adjustable. i thought it was just for deep pots. of course this is only after dropping it into oil twice and melting the top a little. sigh. i guess when you wonder what idiot needs instructions for such simple products? it's this one.

[Ponyfan]

I'm pretty sure Apple Cards lowest amount is $25 now since they switched to those instead of iTunes cards.


Yesterday at work I hit my hand on a door latch so hard that not only did it leave a mark on my hand but it also made my hand swollen and my fingers hurt.  Even now it hurts to flex my hand. 

I've been trying to find some new headphones but most of the ones I looked at either look like they are cheap quality or are Bluetooth wireless/ USB ones.  I do use headphones when I'm on my computer sometimes but I also want ones that I can use with my iPod. Why is it so hard to find a pair of headphones?


Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

Yeah, portable CD players are popular retro devices now. I checked eBay and the prices are better than Amazon and you can find old ones made by Sony and Magnavox for $35 or so.

It was time to wash the litter box today so I got a garbage bag to dump all the litter in so I could replace it with fresh. I lost my grip on the box and it spilled all over the floor. Then when I went to open the new box of litter I hurt my knuckle trying to get it open.

The right side of my jaw and my Wisdom tooth on that side (I only ever had the bottom two) are really bothering me. My jaw cracks and makes a crinkling sound and my tooth and gums hurt. I can't chew on that side at the moment. I know I should get my Wisdoms removed but it's complicated since I have an implant in my head - my neurosurgeon warned me that work on my teeth could cause an infection that gets inside my brain. Soooo. I haven't been to a dentist in 21 years.

I have a free pizza waiting for me on Domnios.com but the website won't load. I don't think I can use my points over the phone.

[LadyAmalthea]

LadyAmalthea, so sorry to hear your news, it must be really scary for you - I am hoping for a great outcome with your impending surgery  take one day at a time and I hope you feel some comfort in knowing that folks here are rooting for you!! xx

Thank you Glitterball, that really means a lot to hear. I have opted not to tell anyone I know in real life (other than my husband) about my diagnosis until after my surgery, so it is a relief to have a place to come and know I have some support. Just a few more days from now, and I should have some answers...just gotta get through it!

Went in for my mandatory pre-op Covid test this morning, and now my left nostril has been running and my eye on that side has been watering all day after that swab! That's my trivial thing for the day.

[glitterball]

Just a few more days from now, and I should have some answers...just gotta get through it!

Oh, the waiting... doesn't the time just crawl by when you need to know...

Spoiler

Keeping the news to yourself IRL is totally understandable, so I am relieved to know that you feel comfortable sharing it here, under some kind of anonymity, but still getting that little bit of mental support that is so important.

I hope the kids behave themselves for you (I am guessing that you have not yet told them).

Please update us on your results, if you feel that you need to.

I do not know what "type" you have been diagnosed with, but can share that my Mum had the stomach one (diagnosed in her 50s); we were very lucky in that they caught it just before it breached the lining, so it was still contained.

Mum still had her stomach removed, resulting in the equivalent of a gastric bypass. The side effect was, of course, significant weight loss, but Mum was cool with that!  she had radiotherapy and chemo too; the first chemo round was tolerable & she kept her hair. On her second chemo cycle, they upped the strength, so she was very, very tired as the drugs did their thing; there was a bit of hair loss but it grew back - with a wavy texture & strangely darker? Mum had hardly any greys when she approached her 70s, whereas my maternal Granny & Great Granny where snow-white by that age! Isn't that strange?

I hope that the answers are the best type of answers!! 

My trivial complaint - built a bunk bed for my kid who begged me to have a "sleepover" with her last night - currently typing this on my laptop form the top bunk, reliving my youth and fighting vertigo... oh and my butt is too big to wiggle down the narrow kiddy ladder, so instead I'm performing my own clumsy version of parkour & jumping on strategically-placed furniture to climb up/down 

[LadyAmalthea]

Another day, another journal paper rejected. This may be a long rant so it's going in spoilers Read at your own risk.

Spoiler

This in itself is a pretty normal part of being a struggling academic in a pandemic, but it's not so much that which has got me really frustrated.

One of the reviewers clearly doesn't know my specialist topic very well.

The article is a combination of my specialism and another, and I'm fully prepared to be brutalised and educated on the second as it isn't an area I know as well as mine. But this review is a...problem, and I really hate when I get reviews like that.

The reviewer managed to confuse one historical figure for another, and then lectured me on my use of one thinking it was the other.

They dismissed the relevance of the text my article was focused on, and instead decided to cite another related text - I still don't really know why, but the best I could glean was that they felt like one text was as good as another? In any case they told me it wasn't productive to look at the variants as their detail didn't matter...?

Then they lectured me on a particular facet of the texts I study which I didn't include. Because the facet doesn't apply to the text I was using as my source material.

And then they closed off by telling me that I should do more reading on my specialist subject.

...This is a summary of course. But seriously? You muddle up the characters, choose to cite a different text, ignore the actual text, try to impose an irrelevant interpretation on that text and then tell me *I* need to do more reading?

Seriously, I don't expect every Academic to know every detail of subject, but if you're going to be a patronising jerk in your commentary, at least make sure your patronising lecture is correct.

 

Sorry that happened to you Taffeta. Despite it being a very different situation, it reminds me of a dispute I had with a teacher back in high school in regard to the headline I had titled an article I had written for our yearbook. This particular teacher just took a real dislike to me, and would gaslight me every chance she got.

Spoiler

She just couldn't make sense of the title 'Diamonds in the Rough' for an article about the school's baseball team,
who had played a mostly losing season, but managed to pull it out at the end of the season and made it to the state championship. You know...'diamonds'...as in baseball diamond...she didn't get the play on words. Or how it tied in with the theme of the yearbook, which was something to do with gemstones. Or how the meaning of the phrase, in relation to how at outward appearance the team wasn't that good, but in the end had been able to work together enough to beat the best teams in the conference and region. She even called my mother in to a meeting about my 'insubordinance', and called me stupid right to my mother's face. My mother was never one to take my side on things back then, but she was an English major/journalism minor in college, and she read my article and pretty much told the teacher that she was a crackpot for not understanding my pun, and use of the expression to describe the team. The principal got involved, and while it was agreed upon that I was in the right, it was probably best for everybody that I be removed from her class.

The article did appear in the yearbook, but that petty woman went back in and edited the byline herself so that my name was spelled wrong. She also took every other photo or mention of me out of the rest of the yearbook other than the senior photo shot (which would have required complete rearranging of the layout of the several pages after mine would have appeared alphabetically, had she removed it), and blatantly stole my artwork for the cover and credited herself for it.

I was a bit vindicated to hear a few years later that she had been fired for mistreatment of another student.

Post Merge: August 22, 2021, 07:46:38 AM

Just a few more days from now, and I should have some answers...just gotta get through it!

Oh, the waiting... doesn't the time just crawl by when you need to know...

Spoiler

Keeping the news to yourself IRL is totally understandable, so I am relieved to know that you feel comfortable sharing it here, under some kind of anonymity, but still getting that little bit of mental support that is so important.

I hope the kids behave themselves for you (I am guessing that you have not yet told them).

Please update us on your results, if you feel that you need to.

I do not know what "type" you have been diagnosed with, but can share that my Mum had the stomach one (diagnosed in her 50s); we were very lucky in that they caught it just before it breached the lining, so it was still contained.

Mum still had her stomach removed, resulting in the equivalent of a gastric bypass. The side effect was, of course, significant weight loss, but Mum was cool with that!  she had radiotherapy and chemo too; the first chemo round was tolerable & she kept her hair. On her second chemo cycle, they upped the strength, so she was very, very tired as the drugs did their thing; there was a bit of hair loss but it grew back - with a wavy texture & strangely darker? Mum had hardly any greys when she approached her 70s, whereas my maternal Granny & Great Granny where snow-white by that age! Isn't that strange?

I hope that the answers are the best type of answers!! 

My trivial complaint - built a bunk bed for my kid who begged me to have a "sleepover" with her last night - currently typing this on my laptop form the top bunk, reliving my youth and fighting vertigo... oh and my butt is too big to wiggle down the narrow kiddy ladder, so instead I'm performing my own clumsy version of parkour & jumping on strategically-placed furniture to climb up/down 

Thank you for sharing your mum's story...sounds like in some ways, she came out better than before! That's interesting about her hair, I have heard that hair can grow back differently!

Spoiler

It is breast cancer. There is a rather large mass on one side that was easy to have mistaken for a clogged milk duct (I was nursing and pumping for twins). The surgeon thinks just from feeling it that it is free-floating, so hopefully it is not tied down and spreading into my chest. He recommended a lumpectomy vs full mastectomy for now, despite its size, it didn't exceed the size of where it would be impossible to get away with only removing the lump.He will take a lymph node out along with the mass to biopsy to see if it has spread there, and thus will determine if I need to have genetic testing to see if I have the gene that predisposes me to anything worse. So that's why I'm waiting on answers...yes, the waiting is the hardest part!

My kids are little, my oldest being only 6, so they don't have the capability to understand much of this yet. My son knows that I am 'sick', and that all these appointments are to get me better and stronger again. I will tell him more on the day of the surgery, but I don't want him to bust me out to my mother, who we will be seeing today. Plus, he is sensitive about things right now relating to death (thanks to his recent obsession with The Lion King!), and is already expressing anxiety about dying or family members dying. I am hoping to just get through surgery and be able to tell everyone 'oh yeah, I had that a while back, but it's over now and I'm okay', and skip the concerned fussing-over everyone might do and/or the people avoiding me because they are uncomfortable with the subject. I do plan to tell 2 friends prior to surgery, who I know will be discreet, and can offer the type of support I need, as they both work in the medical community, and can give me more fact-based and rational support than some others can. I'm just having a really hard time making those phone calls right now, though.

Bunk beds are a pain! My son has them, and I hate making the top bunk! Thank goodness he sleeps in the bottom bunk, so I only have to make that one up occasionally, when I have to pillage the sheets (usually for a bed-wetting incident). I can't count how many times I've smacked my head on the ceiling trying to put sheets on that bed.

[Taffeta]

@LadyA, that teacher sounds horrible. At least in this case for me it's just an academic being a jerk, not anything personally against me. I mean, the really hardest thing for me is biting my tongue and not sending an itemised file back with corrections and a 'please try harder' commentary. I really hate being told to read more on my special subject because they know the broad strokes cliche version but not the details.

...You guys know how much I hate when people throw wrong information at me like it's fact. You've all seen me go into implosion mode when someone says something stupid about ponies in the UK or Europe. Imagine that on steriods...

Regarding your tests and such, I hope the wait isn't too painful for you and the news at the end is good.

Spoiler

In my mother's case, the first treatment she used to have were self-administered injections, but the last round she had in 2012 was actual chemo. She didn't ever lose her hair with either treatment. Actually, she came home from chemo and cooked dinner, not because she had to but because she felt like it was a lot of fuss about nothing. My Dad also got himself in hospital right after her treatment so she was also racing around after him. We all think my Mum's got mad biology because yeah, who does that.

 But the chemo then put her in remission. The cancer is still there in a tiny amount in her bone marrow (it's a blood cancer, not really a leukaemia, kind of a lymphoma leukaemia I guess, so it's not the same as standard leukaemias) and they keep that monitored. Fortunately hers is a slow developing one. It did impact her immune system - both the disease and the chemo - but little by little that has recovered a lot as well.  It's not perfect but it's not as bad as it could be.

Treatment these days is also so much further on from where it was when Mum was first diagnosed, for all kinds of illnesses. I'm really wishing you and your family the best. You're right to decide yourself when to tell people. Mum has said the hardest thing for her was telling her Dad (my grandfather).

In a way I feel like once you know what you're dealing with, you can build a strategy. So I'm crossing fingers that the surgery will make a big impact for you and that the treatment after, whatever it is, will just be a temporary mopping up.

[glitterball]

"Diamonds in the Rough" is a brilliant pun! Wow, that teacher had issues, LadyAmalthea!  Glad that another student served her the karma...

That's interesting about her hair, I have heard that hair can grow back differently!

Mum never needed a "perm" ever again afterwards! 

Spoiler

Thanks for telling us what type you have - the lumpectomy sounds straight forward, and I am crossing fingers that the other biopsy shows clear.  The genetic testing sounds really interesting, yet I hope the predesposition (is that a word?) chances are low.

Yep, tricky situation with kids so young, but at least they are not at that age where they can work out exactly what the sickness is. *shakes fist at Lion King for causing anxiety*

Taffeta, the person who critiqued your work - yikes 

[BlackCurtains]

Spoiler

LadyA, as I understand it, breast cancer is one of the easier types to treat. I hope everything goes well for you!

My complaint today is I hurt my back majorly yesterday. I think it happened when I did the litter box. Lifting it, washing it, picking up the new box of litter, and then sweeping up the litter I got on the floor. The left side hurts a lot more, and that's the side I sleep on so I think I made it worse.

A more trivial complaint for the trivial complaint thread - I'm having a hard time finishing a game. It's a visual novel and I'm missing a big chunk of CGs. I tried finding a complete guide online but none of them have the section I'm missing. So I'm just kind of flailing around blindly choosing different things. I'm getting bored of it.

[Ponybookworm]

Hang in there Lady A, you'll make it xxx, & so far the news sounds good on that front. Here's hoping it stays that way xxx