The Venting/Ranting Thread, >:( Options

[Klokinator]

@Kread he saw the post and we worked it out.

[Kaust]

Library fees.
The only validation for being charged money is if the inconvenience I caused cost them money... which it didn't, its a library.
Also, it'd only be an inconvenience to whoever tried to take out the book, which no-one will have because judging by the date stamps the book has been there at least twenty years but has only been stamped eight times, twice by me.
Finally, I was charged 25p for missing one day. Its not a lot of money for me to lose but imagine if I'd missed a week.

Today I was sent a letter 'informing' me (as if I was unaware) of my failure to pay them said fine. The letter probably cost them more than my fine, and so will every subsequent letter, 'cause if I'm being charged for being too lazy to return a book on time I'm certainly too lazy to pay some BS fine.

[X-M-O]

My college library has a system where I can re-checkout a book/item without having to appear physically, and the charges exist if I don't call them and re-checkout the book/item however there is a "cap" at like a dollar. (10 cents per day, and after 10 days they don't charge further - but you still have to pay the dollar whenever you return the book/item.)

[TheBen]

My library's like that, too, except without the cap.

Honestly, the distribution of money when it comes to discretionary spending in the US is just plain ridiculous. I mean, the budget of the Department of Defense is a whole half a trillion dollars - equal to the budgets of the next ten departments combined. Yes, Overseas Contingency Operations (#2) got cut down a serious amount (thankee, Obama), but do we need to spend that much freaking money to fight wars that don't really matter? Better yet, why don't we take, say, just 10 billion dollars out of there - that's 2 percent of their budget! - and give it to something worthy, like the EPA or NASA? If we're going to be advocates of world peace and all that crap, then we might as well show it in our pocketbook.

(Yeesh, I actually had to go and look for something to rant about. And I wasn't even angry about it... although I might send a letter to someone of decent importance about the idea.)

This post has been edited by TheBen: Feb 11 2012, 08:02 AM

[Kaust]

To paraphrase Bill Hicks;
"Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defence each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for, many times over with not one human being excluded, and we could explore outer space, together, forever, in peace".

But yeah, ever read 1984 Ben? There's a great bit in there about how wars are created simply to expend resources, to account for and keep the masses in poverty, simply to maintain power over them (well that's oversimplifying but w.e the books too complex for such a sweeping statement).

[TheBen]

And by that, we assume that the book is 100% correct in its assumptions. Can we please have some intelligent examples or explanation as to why a government would actively kill its citizens in order to fulfill bourgeois desires when the companies could do it themselves with a few choice price hikes?

(Aside from, what, every unofficial war the United States has engaged in since after WWII? ... )

Ooh, hey, somebody who's played Metal Gear Solid 4 chime in on this for me! I want to see what happens when "War Economy" and "1984" collide!

This post has been edited by TheBen: Feb 11 2012, 01:45 PM

[Kaust]

First off, by what exactly?

I never said the book was accurate, nor did I say the ideas in it are false, I said they are just that; ideas, used to encourage people to think. Anyways its clear you haven't read the book as it contains the very things you're asking for in the first couple of pages (there are no businesses, all resources are controlled by the state). Having Google isn't the same as having a genuine opinion/understanding.
As a side note, it was written during (or around) the time of WWII, big business was war, that's why depressions occur after them.
Anyways I find it funny you would try to disprove what is popularly considered one of the greatest works by one of the greatest satirists of the last century (the real kind, not the idiots on Mock the Week), with the ideas expressed in a game. I mean, I said somewhere else on this forum that games have cultural relevance and a right to critical opinion, but MGS is just not one of the series I would consider to accomplish that, but I confess I've not played 4 (I confess it, I don't merely google a quick synopsis).

I'll include in this edit that Orwell was a soldier and experienced not only real war, but what is considered the lowest point in human history. But, no, you're right, anyone whose played MGS better understands warfare.

[Sparrowsmith]

let's not go off topic here guys. This is a venting thread, we're not trying to create heat we're trying to release it.
I think we can all agree that the economics of warfare and intentions of the state is probably an issue too complex for anyone on this forum to have sussed out to a T. Orwell had some very good ideas, you are right in that respect, but there are some equally valid arguments that war is used to obtain resources - especially in regards to WWII, which was rather profitable to the U.S if my sources are reliable.
I'm not supporting either side, I'm simply saying it's off topic and there are arguments to several sides to this. If you would like to further this discussion, by all means, open another thread, but this is not the place to discuss it.

Anywho.
I don't get mad that often, well I suppose I do, but it's a futile exercise that I refrain from where possible. Lately I've been getting very angry though. I suppose it's my own fault, and it's quite an odd reason to get mad, but I'll try to express it.
I study English Language at college. I quite enjoy it. Recently we've been looking at dictionaries. Now the first thing we learnt is that no one dictionary is perfect. It's up to lexicographers (word compilers for dictionaries) to choose which words go in, and what the definitions are, and this requires a lot of research.
However, there is a clash between two different views of lexicography. Descriptive: Where the speaker is right, and it is up to the dictionary to describe how language is used. Prescriptive: The dictionary is right, and the speakers should do as the dictionary says.

Descriptive is clearly preferred, but some weird stuff has been happening with the English language lately. Basically, people are making antonymous/synonymous words into synonymous/antonymous words.
Example:
Regardless and irregardless. Irregardless is used as both the opposite and the same as regardless.
nonplussed. Nonplussed is supposed to mean confused, and altered by a fact, but people use it as if means exactly the opposite.
guesstimate. Go on Urban Dictionary and you will see definitions like "a moronic term used by those with low IQ because they're too fucking retarded to say estimate or guess." go elsewhere and you'll see "A neologism used by statisticians to refer to somewhat reliable estimates that are achieved through guess work due to lack of sufficient data"

For some reason this makes me mad. I don't care if people use words wrong, but a twenty second google search could tell these people what words actually mean, and instead they spent a minute writing the exact opposite definition somewhere else.
It baffles me. It absolutely baffles me how people could be so disingenuous.
The worst thing is, these people are the same ones who blame texting for dumbing down language (it's actually doing the opposite) and complaining about words in the first place.

You read it here first, the people complaining about words are the ones who know fuck all about them.

I feel pretty bad with myself that this is what pisses me off...

Edit: In retrospect, actually, I think it's people who claim to be experts on a subject matter, purely based on their misconceptions, that pisses me off. It could be compared with how creationists make scientists mad.

[TheBen]

I was originally going to post this on the Spaminator, but it doesn't belong there. I'm honestly beginning to feel terrible at the ranting I'm doing, I need to stop now and go do something appropriate.

[Show/Hide] Not worth the read

This is a new era, people, an era of really bad world leaders. I kind of forget how it happened, but don't worry, the previous ones were better, what with rampant serfdom, squabbling nobles, pointless conflict, corrupt religious figures, and not giving a damn about "representation" or "fair trials" or any of that worthless crap. Yup, those were REALLY the days when nobles ran over peasants with their carriages and people couldn't eat meat without getting arrested. Today, oh, TODAY, our presidents and prime ministers are such ASSHOLES, the way some of them actually try to respond to the people's desires in order to increase their approval rating and get re-elected. That wasn't how they did it back in GRANDPA'S day, oh no, things were such better then, with 25% unemployment, rampant global warfare, slavery, sexism, and wild bear attacks.

And that's how I always focus on the positive in my life!

This post has been edited by TheBen: Feb 12 2012, 07:31 AM

[kayden997]

I should warn for lolcats. I also should warn myself for spamming earlier but well, let's forget about both.

Well, to give this post more substance than the previous one, let me elaborate: I hate Valentine's day almost as much as I hate Christmas. For the exact same reason.
Basically, it's not the day itself I have a problem with, because it's, after all, just a normal day. For instance, due to heavy snowfalls, I couldn't go to work and my stepson couldn't go to school, which means I've spent a good part of the day playing tabletop games and making a snowman (my girlfriend did work, as the police station is, like, 100 meters from the house). If anything, it was an enjoyable day which just weighted a bit on my wallet.
No, the real reason why I hate it is because of the week preceding it. A full week (well two full weeks this year) during which every store in the town is trying to tell me what the fuck I should buy, and what I should do. TV and radio commercials blaring with stupid special-Valentines-day exceptional offers nobody give a damn about, especially because said offers cost 150% the price they do the rest of the year URHGGHGHNNNFHNN I know I'm getting ripped off I don't need everybody to remind me HURR DURR.

So yeah. I hate Valentine's Day, Christmas, the start of school-year, Easter, the 14th July, the 15th August and probably a whole lot of other things.

And I feel better when bitching about it.

^^

[Kaust]

The way every case of cold or severe sniffles has become the '24 hour flu'.
If I had a Grandpa I'm sure he'd have a thing or two to say about how this would be unacceptable back in his day.

[Shadyone]

God damn year level co-ordinater giving me a fucking detention just because my pants broke. Fuck that. Stupid bitch go to hell >:|

[Kaust]

So...you got a depantion?
It does seem pretty ridiculous to punish you for wearing damaged clothes on school property by making you stay longer on said grounds. Its like when they tried to expel me for absenteeism. Makes you wonder who comes up with these rules.

[Shadyone]

Yeah this school decided to implement a uniform for the first time ever in the same year I went there, even though they advertized with no uniforms, and all the students above us don't have to wear the uniform. It's fucking stupid. And then they're also super strict with the god damn uniforms, I'm not even allowed to come to school in my sport uniform even if I have sport first thing. And my friend got a detention just for wearing WRONG COLOUR LACES.

This bullshit be bullshit yo!

[Yuu-Mon Musuedo]

By Odin's beard... You just gave a warrior with hidden anger a room to unleash his fury lass!

My so call big brother is a HUGE pain, not just to me, but to my grandmother too. Okay, here is the setting. I'm the youngest in my mother's family, I live at home with my grandmother because we refuse to send her to a rest home. 4 years ago, something bad happen with my brother and he moved back in till he can get a job and get his own place.

Doing the first year, I helped him out to get his laptop out of a pawn shop, giving him $340 dollars, plus 10 more for his gas. He said he was going to pay me back on it... It's been 4 YEARS since he said that and he didn't even give me a dime. The closet thing to money he gave me was a half eaten chip. And I NEVER once told him: "When you gonna pay me back bro?"

Then he got the balls to ask for five dollars for other things. He haven't yet got a job. He leaves the doors open in a neighborhood where I actually saw a guy get shot in the leg in front of me so he could cool off half-naked in the living room, while we freeze in the house. He tries to demand me to do things where he owes me. GOD KNOWS, if I refuse a command from him, he tries to intimidate me with his gangster looks, saying: "I'll break ya laptop yo! See what'cha you do!?"

Me: "I'll call the police about your weed bush in the backyard and force you to pay $ 1.6k for my laptop... -_-"

He not only is a pothead, but he is a thief too. Two times my wallet gone missing I had to regain my SS card and ID, which was a pain, $20 was lost when I needed it the most. He also steal money from my grandmother. It gotten so bad for her she actually locks her door after 24 years of me living in the house. She never locked her room's door, and recently, my PSP is missing so now I can't even finish Persona 3. The #@$er...

I know I'm suppose to love him, and I do, really. But even a nerd like me has a breaking point, and one day I'll man up, break my kind self, and punch him in the jaw. He is a pothead, a thief, deadbeat, and a dog. (Yes, he brings random women in the house, and do them while my friends and grandmother is up.)

I hope he hurries up and get out since he keep saying he is moving this summer. Because he doesn't pay the bills and he eats up the food really quick. I got SO much to rent about his dumbass that I can write three chapters. But I don't want to write a wall o' text for you guys so sorry. This is me just letting off some quiet stream for once.

This post has been edited by Yuu-Mon Musuedo: Feb 21 2012, 07:21 AM

[Kaust]

Got the post-gig blues. Hecklers are the worst.
It sucks being insulted by someone who can't do what I do (otherwise they'd understand and forgive, in this case, a little timing error), but in front of a room full of strangers? Not cool.

[Pharonix]

Finally Someplace to vent my anger.

My roommate is a d-bag. And by d-bag I mean a giant pain-in-the-ass d-bag.
Come to think of it, I haven't gotten a good-night's sleep since last semester, since last semester I didn't have a roommate.

So anyway this guy is from India so he doesn't bring anything to school really... And he acts like the frickin king of everything.
He blasts his crappy music all the time, forcing me to wear headphones. and when I complain he makes that annoying sigh like it's killing him or something. THEN HE Bitches to the RA that I'm being annoying and whatnot and I end up getting warnings. So now, the RA's won't listen to any of my shit.

To top it off he insists on turning on all the lights at 2am, disregarding me sleeping at the time. When I tell him off. he answers with a d-baggy comment "I live in this room, I can do what I want"
Yeah? so do I asshole!

Oh you want to use my tv? my microwave? AND you want me to treat you with the respect you deserve?
Well eff-off and go Hell. I've had enough of your attitude.
Oh You're Indian and I should be nice to you because I'm white?
That's fu**in racism in itself. I happen to be Part cherokee myself so don't tell me what to fu**in do.

On top of all that bullshit, He acts like I'm a fu**in sociopath.
I get letters on my desk from him sometimes. And these letters? Oh dear god they are bad.
They are mostly informing me of how he "Is concerned for my health" and "How it's frightening that i don' drink alot of water"
It's my fricking body. stfu.
If I want to destroy my body with a crazy amount of caloric intake, then so be it. YOU ARE NOT MY GODDAMN MOTHER SO SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!

Oh and also, I was woken up at 4am this morning. BECAUSE OF HIM.
He stays up until the break of dawn, complains that he's tired. AND HE DOESN'T Have class until 2pm.
UH dude, I have class at 8am everyday. I can't afford to be woken up at random hours of the morning. Because you just had to play FIFA 12 at 2am.

I finally gave up and decided to play the passive-agressive game.
My TV is now enjoying it's new home on my desk here in my dorm-room. It now doubles as my computer monitor as my laptop has no screen and is now essentially a desktop.

So yeah. I hate him. I hate him with a goddamn passion. I'm just glad finals are in two weeks.
But today is Wednesday, he works until midnight. Which means I either need to go to bed with the lights on, or wait until he gets back.
THough the latter choice also includes him turning on his solar-flare of a desk-lamp tonight.
So I think I will go to bed with his desklamp on, that way I wont be woken up

Actually, come to think of it, he was much nicer before he broke it off with his girlfriend. It's almost as if he's taking it out on the guy who had absolutely nothing to do with it. And besides, whenever she came over, he was douchie and I was the nice guy. Because I'm such a loveable guy. And then he would ask to use my xbox when he had a freakin PS3 which he claims is better, yet begged to use mine because I had black ops and ps3's World at war just wouldn't cut it on terms of zombies. She was too good for him anyway.

Well, as you can see, I'm gettling less angry as this post goes on. And I thank you for giving me a place to speak my mind.
If I have anything else to rant or bitch about. I will come here.

That is all.

[Magical_RuNE_Kni...]

Ugh, my chemistry teacher, guys who kinda 'stalk' u, and when my sister says she needs the latest art materials to improve...

There're people with 99-98% percent averages in all their other classes, but they can only get 70-80%s in my chemistry teacher's class. D:

As for guys who stalk u... i mean guys that come off on you strong but you're not interested... i think a lot of girls know what i'm talking about.
Like those guys who will randomly talk to you constantly, always show up at the wrong places/ act just plain creepy... : (
..Or guys that just stare at u/ completely turn around and check u out.
i mean, i remember getting hit on a plane. A plane! And i was sitting with my sister. A guy was trying to buy me a drink and kept asking me questions, or telling me about his life/college/blahbityboo. Thankfully, he ended up drinking too much so he moved closer to the aisle... but he wanted me to move beside him so we could talk more.. : /
..And i really don't know what to say to this guy who keeps trying to talk to me for hours on skype... it feels kinda creepy. =-=

My sister is the other thing that annoys me. She says stuff like how she need 2-3 monitors, a better scanner, another new laptop because hers is slow, blah. Or how i should sit on a wooden chair because she's been using the new chair the longest. (!)
It especially pisses me off because... : / well, she always asks me for help on her pieces; then tells me that she needs the latest stuff to improve, and that my stuff isn't good enough. Heck, i've been using a 18.3GB laptop with a broken memory and image display for 4 years and never complained. >_> i was using a 3.5" x 5" tablet. And i've never used two monitors, or macs, or new Photoshops. The laptop would freeze if 3 windows were open, the mouse would disappear when the RAM was full, and the screen would turn white w/ red-purple bars when the graphic card broke down...

[Rast]

Warning: The following contains massive swearing and years of pent up anger from a fed up retail employee.


I often have to take care of the bottle return at the store I work for, and I only have one thing to say: What the FUCK is wrong with all these customers? I mean, really. What makes them think they do whatever the hell they want? We have a few VERY CLEAR RULES, and that's it! Clean your goddamn bottles before returning them, and don't return more than 144(AKA one gross) containers per day. Why can't these people fucking follow those two little rules?

Every fucking day someone puts hundreds of tobacco-filled bottles through the machines, which pretty much explode and cover every inch of the inside with beer and tobacco> Do they even know who has to clean that shit up? And the goddamn limit, they don't even care. It's a STATE LAW. Let me quote some of the things they say when I inform them of that law(and our store policy):

"Well, I can return as many as I want."
"They let me return as many as I want" <--Pardon, but who the fuck is "they"? I WORK for the goddamn place!"
"That doesn't apply to me."
"They've never stopped me before!"
"Since when?"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do"

And that's on top of the ones who just say "Ok" and proceed to fucking do it anyways. I even had one guy THREATEN me for stopping him when he returned 300+ cans! We should hire a goddamn police officer to stand out there so they can tell those things to his fucking face. He'd meet his quota for the MONTH in a single day. Do they not know what STATE LAW means? The only good thing is that they changed our customer service policy so we can refuse to hand count anything we don't think is acceptable.

And on top of that, the customers seem to have this sick, twisted god-complex. They think they're Our Rightful Ruler and we should cater to their every need. Hey, I'm more than happy to do that. Inside the store. But outside? We have people who think like this:

It takes forever, and you have to touch each one of those nasty slimy cans that someone else had their lips to. It’s disgusting, that’s what the people who work in grocery stores are for.

That's what one person who I will leave unnamed fucking thinks of us. Should I even bother mentioning that those "nasty slimy cans" are entirely their fault? They certainly aren't our cans. Every single slimy, nasty tobacco filled can was brought there by a customer.

[Sparrowsmith]

Let's summarize my past month:

Got a job (good) as a tele-canvasser (BAD)
Laptop broke (BAD) fixed it (good) whole host of problems (BAD)
Lost my headphones (BAD) new ones are too short (BAD)
Had three exams (BAD) they all went well (good) I came out of the last one and someone has stolen my phone (BAD)

So to summarize... FUCKING... LIFE.... GOD DAMNIT.
Actually I'm okay. I don't get mad except on rare occasions, but it has been a pretty fucked up month. I get that worse things can happen, but damn, it just sucks.