Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Biggest pet peeve of the day
Here's mine: I work on the 15th floor and when people get on the elevator on the 8th floor to go up to the 9th floor. Really? You really can't walk up one flight of stairs? Now if they're elderly or disabled then absolutely use the elevator, but 90% of the time they're perfectly able to use the stairs. It bugs me even more when we're going down and people do that.
There was sign in a building that I used to work in: Walk up 1, down 2. Makes perfect sense.
What's your pet peeve of the day?
Re: Biggest pet peeve of the day
My pet peeve is that i get really pissed off everytime I go over to the bump parenting boards and have to hear some person crabbing about how they have to get rid of their pet because it isn't "good" around their kid...well train your F*ing dog, and kid so that you don't have to get rid of them. When you got a dog you invested in their future, you agreed to raise them and care for them until they went over the rainbow bridge, you wouldn't get rid of your kid that way so why would you do that to your dogs.
This. I go the extra mile for nice clients.
People who mark a voice mail as urgent when it's not. I practice immigration law so an urgent message is something like "client was just picked up by immigration." I have one client who marks almost every voice mail as urgent. Today, he had to urgently tell me that he sent his payment early. They obviously don't have the story of the boy that called wolf where he's from.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
My pet peeve is self-righteous morons who post on message boards.
I have arthritis in my knees. I certainly don't look disabled but it can make my knees swell really bad if I go up and down stairs too frequently. So I use the elevator. I've actually had someone say to me that "I can't believe you are taking the elevator up one level." I seriously almost attacked him and ripped his f?cking face off.
So I'd back on your self righteous judging about who is and who isn't allowed to ride in the elevator because it makes you look like an assh0le. If you have that big of a problem with it, quit your job and work in a building with one floor.
Judging
Judging
Nice use of Passive Agressive Behavior.
And she's not even from Minnesota!
I always wonder about the people who sit and wait for a spot really close to the door at the gym. But now I wonder if maybe they have something that makes walking difficult and they are going in to lift arm weights?
My pet peeve today and every day is idiot drivers who just don't pay attention.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Yeah, please let me know where I was passive. I was trying to be very clear.
Was it the part about ripping his f?cking face off?
Judging
Just got my weekly MN Senate update and I'm getting steamed.
PissOff Item #1
GOP Education Committee Members Vote to Freeze Pay of all School Employees
GOP members of the Senate?s Education Committee voted this week to freeze pay of all school employees from janitors to school cooks to teachers. They also voted to end dedicated funding for school nurses, school counselors and school social workers. The bill passed 9-7 with all DFL committee members voting no.
It also repeals the January 15 contract deadline, which will cost the state about $1 million. Although school administrators and board members testified that the bill would save them money, the bill contains no accountability measure such as directing that the money be used for class-size reduction or classroom program enhancements.
As to teachers, more than half agreed to no salary increase for the current school year and a record number of local unions agreed to pay freezes, including steps and lanes. Some teachers fortunate enough to receive small increases were like many other Minnesotans?they use all or more to cover the ever-rising cost of health insurance for their families. On average teacher salary increases this past year averaged $17.
At the hearing, Chris Moe of the Minnesota School Counselors Association, reminded members that Minnesota ranks 49th in its counselor to student ratio: 799:1. As school budgets tighten, counselors have to take on more work to relieve overburdened classroom teachers. Counselors also help with career and college advice for high school students.
The freeze would not allow any pay raises, steps and lane increases or retroactive increases for two years. Currently teachers and school district negotiators set contracts every two years.
Although superintendent salaries would be frozen, they are not subject to a salary cap, as their counterparts in city and county governments are. Caps on school superintendent salaries in Minnesota were dropped in 1998.
In 2009, Fox 9 news reported that some metro administrators were making over $200,000 in salary, bonuses and car allowances. In 2008-09 only eight out 42 metro superintendents took pay freezes or salary cuts. According to committee testimony, 60-70 percent of superintendents did not take wage freezes this year.
The School Employee salary freeze bill was referred to Senate Finance Committee and will be heard on Tuesday, February 1.
PissedOff Item #2
Republican Cuts Target Children and Vulnerable Adults
The budget-cutting bill that Republicans are calling a first step in addressing the state?s $6.2 billion budget deficit includes several cuts to Health and Human Services programs that directly affect children, adolescents and vulnerable adults.
<</span> Child and Community Services Grants ? Recipients of these funds experience dependency, abuse, neglect, poverty, disability, chronic health conditions, and mental health conditions. Example include: children in need of protection, abused and neglected children, adults with mental illness, children and teens with emotional disturbances, and children and teens at risk of involvement with criminal activity. ($27.3 million cut )
<</span> Emergency General Assistance/Minnesota Supplemental Aid ? These funds provide a safety net for single adults and childless married couples who are unable to work, and for people who are aged, blind or disabled, and who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Emergency assistance is available under these programs for emergency situations; for example, when an individual faces a lack of shelter which threatens that person?s health or safety. ($12 million cut )
<</span> Medical Assistance/Basic Care Services -- A permanent reduction of 1.5 percent is made in the payment rate under Medical Assistance for basic care services. Medical Assistance provides for health care for very low-income Minnesotans. More than half are children and families; the rest are age 65 or older, or are disabled. ($11 million cut)
Republican leaders say these reductions merely continue budget cuts approved by legislators during the Pawlenty Administration. The reality is that most of those previous cuts were made because one-time federal dollars were available at the time to help keep the programs running. Those federal funds are no longer available, and these cuts pose devastating impacts on many vulnerable Minnesotans.
I seriously can't believe how shortsighted some of these people are. They all use the term "investment in education" but I don't think they have any idea what that means.
Judging
Here's the overview of all the stuff that's going on. I'm kind of frightened.
Republican budget bill has real impacts, little input
Republican Finance Committee members passed a bill Wednesday that is predicted to increase property taxes statewide by $322 million, increase tuition among state colleges and universities, and eliminate or reduce child protection and mental health services provided by counties. Senate Democrats said they are concerned that the Republican majority?s first priority of session is to increase costs on Minnesota families.
Senate File 60 has three main components: Cuts to property tax relief, health and human services and higher education in 2012-2013; cuts to state agency budgets before June 30, 2011; and federal tax conformity that will align Minnesota?s tax form with only some federal tax measures recently passed.
The $487 million cut to state aids to cities and counties will cause about $322 million in statewide property tax increases, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. The bill also reduces the renter?s property tax refund program, generating an average $170 tax increase for renters and eliminating refunds for about 19,000 renters statewide.
The bill?s cuts to health and human services budgets breaks the promise Senate Republicans made just three weeks ago: To protect funding for children, the elderly, the disabled, and those who are unable to take care of themselves. This bill?s $46 million reduction to things such as child and community services grants will have devastating effects to these populations across Minnesota, according to experts testifying before the committee.
In addition, the legislation would make permanent last year?s one-time, $185 million reduction in higher education budgets, risking tuition increases that add to the double-digit tuition hikes families have experienced during the past decade. Finally, the bill asks the Department of Management and Budget to make $125 million in unspecified reductions to yet-unspent state agency funds before the end of the current Fiscal Year, which ends June 30. Although certain programs are restricted from being cut, many ? such as $4 million for public safety and $731,000 for veterans affairs programs ? are not.
Senate Democrats raised serious concerns about being asked to pass budget cuts without knowing, specifically, what might be eliminated. In addition, they said the two, 90-minute committee hearings the bill received this week was hardly enough time to allow the public ? whose property taxes and tuition bills will rise as a result of this bill ? to have their voices heard. Only three members of the public were allowed five minutes each to speak to the bill in the Finance Committee before it was passed.
The legislation is awaiting action by the full Senate. Governor Mark Dayton has rejected the notion of piecemeal budget cuts and is working on a comprehensive budget reduction package that will be released in February.
"We know this bill will increase property taxes; we know it will make tuition more expensive for Minnesota kids, but there are a lot of things we don?t know, and that?s what?s worrisome. We are being asked to approve a bill that makes millions of dollars in cuts without knowing where those cuts will be directed?We?re going to end up with some very harmful, unintended consequences if this bill is signed into law."
Did you see how low MN ranks with the counselor to student ratio? 799:1, which is 49TH in the United States. SHAME.
Judging
Hmm. Sounds like health care.
I am glad there are people who want to try and tackle these issues because I don't know that I could do it. It makes my head hurt. :-(
Kind of hard to do that. I'll think twice about posting here again, though. Thanks.
Agreed. The health care thing seriously terrifies me. I work for a medical provider and can see things from 3 sides: patient, provider, payer. I can't even imagine a way for our government to effectively reform the current system. It baffles me when people are against change and think that the US has the best system in the world. It's shocking how bad our system is overall.
Judging
I'm sorry. I can totally be mean. I am just sick of people presuming that they know what other people's issues are. It's very easy when you are young and healthy to be judgmental about other people. Just because it looks like it should be easy and the person is being lazy, doesn't mean they are. And even if they are being lazy, it's none of your business.
I'm not sorry for almost attacking the guy in my building. He takes the stairs now.
Judging
ummm wow. This got a little bit ugly pretty quick.
My biggest pet peeve of the day is pretty much everything my teeny bopper co-worker does. I really wish that she could appreciate the fact that she has a job and perhaps treat her responsibilities with a little tiny amount of respect. Showing up to work 3 hours late because she "partied too late last night" and not calling anyone to tell them she'd be late is just kinda rude. Bragging about how much you drank is also so classy. I'm 8 years older than her and in a totally different period of my life, but even when I was that age, I wouldn't have pulled that kind of crap.
I'll never understand why people think this is something to brag about. You just look like a trashy lush!
It didn't get ugly, it got interesting. finally. People DO judge without merit and *** about things that don't really matter. Don't stop posting because someone called you out on something that was true.
My pet peeve of the day is my nostrils. Unplug, please.
Speaking of... I have THE MOST embarrassing drinking story ever.
I am not a really big drinker and I usually drink really light beer. Last weekend I was drinking something else and got much more drunk than I intended. Anyway, I got home and went right to bed. I got up when I had to pee and my BF found me peeing on the carpet by the dryer. I guess I thought I was in the bathroom. Talk about classy! He said I thought it was really funny at the time, but the next day I was MORTIFIED.
So there. I will b*tch you out for judging me take the elevator, but you can call me a trashy lush for peeing on the floor. I will respect that.
Judging
Thanks Melinda. I have to admit I've had thoughts along the same lines about people being lazy for taking the elevator one floor. This is a good reminder not to judge and mind your own business. You don't know what is going on in other people's lives/business. Thanks.
For the record - I would NEVER say anything to a person taking the elevator one floor, and anybody who would deserves to have their F0cking face riped off.
My elevator pet peeve is mostly only at malls. There is no need to take the elevator if you can stand. If you can stand, you can take the escalator. It still requires zero effort. Leave the elevators for people in wheelchairs, with walkers or people with kids in strollers.
I hate waiting forever for an elevator at the MOA because the elevator is full of people who could have just as easily taken the escalator. Especially at the MOA, because the elevators and escalators are basically always right next to each other.
Stay away from the 9-12 month board. This week is a bunch of a-holes who think pitties are the devil and one moron who's yorkie was her "baby" until she had a real baby and now it needs to go.
my read shelf:
In our employee handbook it specifically states that employees are not supposed to use the elevators, so they are free for food service and all of our clients with mobility issues. Ok, maybe I'm judging, but if you are a nurse who is going to work the floor and can't take a flight or two of stairs I'm going to judge you. It is also the slowest elevator ever, so people can't even use the "I was running late and needed to save some time" excuse.
Agreed, though, that I would *never* actually say anything to the person unless I knew them well enough to say it nicely. Common courtesy still applies.
LOL! I actually can't stop lauging at this. Thanks for the entertainment and the above public education. I was totally thinking what you said and was happy to read your response on the issue of invisible disability. I work with people with chronic pain who would be pissed to read the rude elevator comments above.