The Official DisDads Rant Thread

[AirGoofy]

I guess this qualifies as a rant....we're going in April. Woo hoo! Staying at Bay Lake Towers double woo-hoo! Planning a whole week. Sounds great, right? So why the rant, you say??? Sigh...the in-laws are joining us...or at least the MIL and the Aunt-in-law (??). This of course means I need to be the tour guide, as they've never been there before. It also means I am the trip-booker, airline booker, ADR setter-upper, ticket buyer, etc. And it's already starting. Airline tickets are booked (great deal from ABE to MCO on Airtran, btw)...and already have heard the "can you just deduct it from what you're going to spend on us for christmas?" I should say, "no, give me the cash." But I don't want to stir things up just yet. At least the Stepdad has begged off.
The good part about the whole trip is that it's my daughters first visit. Although she'll be too young to remember it (she'll be 1 1/2), we think she'll still love it!

I have no memories of my life prior to the 4th grade. Still, my dds have made 10 trips to WDW and I'd do it again. I think the experience impacts who they are. At my dreaded school experience today, my child created her own family crest that said "have fun". They did not bring them home. Other kids had work hard, be the best, be perfect, and other stuff. I'll take the 4th grader that wants to have fun.

Norm, sorry to see your DD get treated this way.

Time to take a stand...

I vote OCCUPY GRADE SCHOOL!

I've calmed a bit, but still really ticked when I think about it. We picked this neighborhood because this school had the best reviews or the county and all the high test scores. Well, I now see the cost. I've talked to her more today and unfortunately, she realizes her "place" in school is not one of the top popular group. But, she has a lot of friends and even more at her dance studio among the other dancers and teachers. I pity the adults who live their life by their elementary and high school status and turn around and do it to their kids.

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

I've calmed a bit, but still really ticked when I think about it. We picked this neighborhood because this school had the best reviews or the county and all the high test scores. Well, I now see the cost. I've talked to her more today and unfortunately, she realizes her "place" in school is not one of the top popular group. But, she has a lot of friends and even more at her dance studio among the other dancers and teachers. I pity the adults who live their life by their elementary and high school status and turn around and do it to their kids.

One of the reasons I'm glad Amelia is out of her old school is because there is a very divided system there too. People to the north lived in the "money" homes, and to the south, closer to the train tracks were the "have nots" (This would technically include us, we had a small house, but were far from broke). Glad to be away from all that nonsense. Kids have enough pressures without this. Sorry she has to deal with it though...

 

[theduck619]

Ok, super rant. At 4th grader renaissance faire at public school. Of the 15 performances, my child gets to be in 2. You think, that's great except that some kids have been in every performance. She gets to be in 1 dance number and 1 playing guitar. She doesn't know how to play guitar. Playing untuned guitars against music. Apparently, 6 years of dance, 3 years of Nutcracker, and student teaching aren't good enough to get her a spot in the 4 other dance routines.

Only 4 kids were given speaking parts. 20 kids were allowed to be in most acts. The rest sat on the benches.

I guess it's a good life lesson. The 1% are on top and in control, another 20% get to have all the fun, and the rest of you can sit and get the leftovers. More observations. Boys had the speaking parts and the girls had to serve food to the adults. I guess we need to reinforce that in future life.

I guess I need to write a check to the PUBLIC school to move up in caste society. At least they sang Christmas songs about Jesus. Good thing to know public education is where it is at.

That's a bunch of PB for all the work your DD puts in. I'm sorry to hear that.

I guess this qualifies as a rant....we're going in April. Woo hoo! Staying at Bay Lake Towers double woo-hoo! Planning a whole week. Sounds great, right? So why the rant, you say??? Sigh...the in-laws are joining us...or at least the MIL and the Aunt-in-law (??). This of course means I need to be the tour guide, as they've never been there before. It also means I am the trip-booker, airline booker, ADR setter-upper, ticket buyer, etc. And it's already starting. Airline tickets are booked (great deal from ABE to MCO on Airtran, btw)...and already have heard the "can you just deduct it from what you're going to spend on us for christmas?" I should say, "no, give me the cash." But I don't want to stir things up just yet. At least the Stepdad has begged off.
The good part about the whole trip is that it's my daughters first visit. Although she'll be too young to remember it (she'll be 1 1/2), we think she'll still love it!

Our last trip was kind of like that. We had last minute add ons and we were expected to plan and cover it all. It was fun, I guess it's all part of being a dad

One of the reasons I'm glad Amelia is out of her old school is because there is a very divided system there too. People to the north lived in the "money" homes, and to the south, closer to the train tracks were the "have nots" (This would technically include us, we had a small house, but were far from broke). Glad to be away from all that nonsense. Kids have enough pressures without this. Sorry she has to deal with it though...

What I dislike about what "class" someone belongs to is that they often forget that they were in a lower one before. I am not directing this at you, but at the whole we live on this side of town, so we're special. We have a suburb of Indy that is known for its uber houses. I have colleagues who can barely feed their families, but who live in this zip code for the prestige of it

 

[AirGoofy]

One of the reasons I'm glad Amelia is out of her old school is because there is a very divided system there too. People to the north lived in the "money" homes, and to the south, closer to the train tracks were the "have nots" (This would technically include us, we had a small house, but were far from broke). Glad to be away from all that nonsense. Kids have enough pressures without this. Sorry she has to deal with it though...

That's a bunch of PB for all the work your DD puts in. I'm sorry to hear that.

What I dislike about what "class" someone belongs to is that they often forget that they were in a lower one before. I am not directing this at you, but at the whole we live on this side of town, so we're special. We have a suburb of Indy that is known for its uber houses. I have colleagues who can barely feed their families, but who live in this zip code for the prestige of it

Well, I can't figure it all out.

Obviously, the teachers and administrators start the class segregation. I thought it was a neighborhood issue. One of my dds friends is a doctor's child and practice Hindu religion as they are from India. Then, as you all mentionned, there is a child whose parents are a teacher and a police office and live in the same neighborhood as the doctor's family, but in a bigger house. How do they afford it? But, another child is hispanic by name, Muslim by religion, lives in the "bad" neigbhorhood the school tried to re-district out of school lines, has poverty and domestic violence issues, but all three were in the same, multiple performances.

I'm fat, opinionated, and live in a "lower" neigborhood (not the worst). So, I guess that is the 3rd strike against us. My 3 BR, 2 BA, + Bonus room STARTER home will be paid off before the children finish high school. I have talked to other parents who said their children did so much better at the middle school, once they left the oppressive confines of the elementary school.

Then, there is my dd's hot 22 year old teacher, who was quoted in the city paper this AM about the renaissance faire project, that she still has the artwork she did for it when she was a student there. Teacher class segregation confirmed, but my opinion of her just dropped a whole lot lower.

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

That's a bunch of PB for all the work your DD puts in. I'm sorry to hear that.



Our last trip was kind of like that. We had last minute add ons and we were expected to plan and cover it all. It was fun, I guess it's all part of being a dad



What I dislike about what "class" someone belongs to is that they often forget that they were in a lower one before. I am not directing this at you, but at the whole we live on this side of town, so we're special. We have a suburb of Indy that is known for its uber houses. I have colleagues who can barely feed their families, but who live in this zip code for the prestige of it

Well, I can't figure it all out.

Obviously, the teachers and administrators start the class segregation. I thought it was a neighborhood issue. One of my dds friends is a doctor's child and practice Hindu religion as they are from India. Then, as you all mentionned, there is a child whose parents are a teacher and a police office and live in the same neighborhood as the doctor's family, but in a bigger house. How do they afford it? But, another child is hispanic by name, Muslim by religion, lives in the "bad" neigbhorhood the school tried to re-district out of school lines, has poverty and domestic violence issues, but all three were in the same, multiple performances.

I'm fat, opinionated, and live in a "lower" neigborhood (not the worst). So, I guess that is the 3rd strike against us. My 3 BR, 2 BA, + Bonus room STARTER home will be paid off before the children finish high school. I have talked to other parents who said their children did so much better at the middle school, once they left the oppressive confines of the elementary school.

Then, there is my dd's hot 22 year old teacher, who was quoted in the city paper this AM about the renaissance faire project, that she still has the artwork she did for it when she was a student there. Teacher class segregation confirmed, but my opinion of her just dropped a whole lot lower.

What is even a bit stranger, is that by all means Amelia's new school should be like this too, the houses in the North of the district are the multi-million dollar Mississauga Road homes (this is part of the $$$$$ area of the CITY), yet we've seen no evidence of the class seperation.

We will see what happens next, we live in the complex of apartments, which I guess is the low-class area. And alas, the teacher isn;t hot and 22 either

 

[AJRitz]

And now is the time on Sprockets when we RANT.

Where do I start? How about with finding out that major Peanut Butter was hitting the fan at work while I was on vacation at Walt Disney World. Mandatory meeting on Friday (except for me and one other employee who were already out on pre-approved leave). Then, we can move on to the actual content of the Peanut Butter.

With no forewarning or opportunity to participate in the process, our National Office decided last week that my office would be "demoted" from being an independent Regional Office to being a satellite of the Chicago Regional Office. It seems that some beancounters at OMB issued a (in my opinion, completely arbitrary and short-sighted) directive that ALL Federal Agencies are to maintain no more than six Regional Offices by the end of 2013. My Office is one of eight Regional Offices in our agency, so two had to go.

What was the basis for deciding that our office should become a satellite office? Was it caseload? Nope. Our office is right in the middle of the pack, with the 4th or 5th highest caseload in the country. Was it geography? Not really. We cover 8-10 states, and we are 7-10 hours by car from the next nearest Regional Office. Was it productivity? Nope. Our office has won several productivity awards. Could it be salary expsense? No. People at the same level actually make slightly less here in KC than their counterparts in Chicago, because of locality pay adjustments. No, our office is becoming a satellite office almostly solely because of laziness.

We have three management-level attorneys and one senior trial attorney who are retiring at the end of this year. With only 20 attorneys in the office, that's a pretty big hit. But by making us a satellite office, they won't have to bother to fill the management positions, and they can put filling the senior trial attorney slot on hold as well. (Never mind that we still have to get the same work done, even though there will be four fewer bodies here to do it). So far, we're being told that we'll be given authority to hire two replacements, but they will be entry-level replacements. And there will not be promotion opportunities for those of us already here.

On the one hand, I know I should just be happy to have a job, especially one that pays pretty well and allows me better work-life balance than many in my profession. On the other hand, those of us who have been working here for more than a decade, patiently awaiting our opportunities for advancement, have just been served a tall glass of Beverly. Not only are we going to have to adjust to a substantially different work atmosphere (our office is filled with veteran attorneys who are good at what they do, as a result, we're a very laid back office without a lot of management interference), but we're going to have to do it long-distance.

Now, we'll be directly competing for resources and attention with the folks working in the Chicago Office. Case assignments are supposed to all come through Chicago (though how they're going to handle review and distribution of another 250 OSHA cases alone is anyone's guess), and I'm highly suspicious that they will cherry pick the best cases for themselves. It's only natural. The management attorneys doing the assignments will want to have the work done by the people they know and trust. Not to mention that they'll want the credit to flow directly to their office, instead of through the stepchild to the South (no offense intended to either stepchildren or stepparents here, but you get the point).

At this point, I'm 11 years in. My prospects of a promotion to the next grade level just dropped precipitously (and prospects of a managment opportunity dropper farther). I have too much experience for private sector firms to be much interested in me - they want their first years more malleable and "hungry," and without the family demands that a 40+ year old has. And because I'm a government attorney and therefore don't have clients to bring with me, I'm not of much value to them as a lateral hire/partner track attorney.

So I'm stuck. In an office that it appears my agency has every intention of basically letting shrivel over time. We're under no illusion - we're an aging office, and as people retire, they're just not going to give us hiring authority to fill those positions. Within five years or so, they'll probably have us down to 10-12 attorneys, one secretary, and MAYBE we'll get to keep our docket clerk.

For the moment, we're the dance band on the Titanic, playing while the ship goes down. Everyone is nervous and jumpy, unsure of how things around here are going to work after the first of the year and dreading the management change (since we're now virtually assured that we'll be taking orders from an "outsider"). But we're planning a retirement party for four long-time and beloved colleagues, and trying to keep up with our own caseloads. And it's a big, sticky, mess of peanut butter, served with a tall glass of Beverly.

 

[scott2997]

And now is the time on Sprockets when we RANT.

Where do I start? How about with finding out that major Peanut Butter was hitting the fan at work while I was on vacation at Walt Disney World.......And it's a big, sticky, mess of peanut butter, served with a tall glass of Beverly.

Aaron,

So sorry to hear all this happened while you were on vacation! I'm only glad that the news didn't reach you while you were at WDW to ruin the fun you had!

Here's to hoping things work out in the end.

 

[theduck619]

Aaron, I am sorry to hear you were submarined while on vacation.

 

[AirGoofy]

And now is the time on Sprockets when we RANT.
At this point, I'm 11 years in. My prospects of a promotion to the next grade level just dropped precipitously (and prospects of a managment opportunity dropper farther). I have too much experience for private sector firms to be much interested in me - they want their first years more malleable and "hungry," and without the family demands that a 40+ year old has. And because I'm a government attorney and therefore don't have clients to bring with me, I'm not of much value to them as a lateral hire/partner track attorney.

So I'm stuck. .
.

Sorry man. I can't relate to the first part, but I get the 2nd. I'm 16.5 years in my job with no chance of promotion. .

 

[trennr]

Sorry to hear this Aaron.

 

[DisDadDoc]

Sorry to hear this as well Aaron. Is it possible to think about moving to another office? A lateral move to another office that might have more opportunity for advancement? Also, I would think your experience would be an asset to some.

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

Really sorry to hear about it Aaron, what rotten timing for it too, right at the holidays. Hopefully something positive can come out of this....

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

And now is the time on Sprockets when we RANT.

Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that, Aaron. I know what it's like being a govt. employee and having to deal with one-size-fits-all policy decisions that don't really seem to fit anyone. And also with pay freezes and limited opportunities for advancement.

I guess the one thing I can say is that people change. Decisions change. Especially in government--in a couple of years, a new administration could reverse course. You never know. Keep fighting.

 

[that's nice]

Sorry to hear this Aaron. I guess you can wait it out and see what happens and in the mean time start seeing what other opportunities there are for you out there. Maybe something will come along that will be x100 better than where you are now.

 

[afwdwfan]

Sorry to hear about that, Aaron. That's a tough situation to be in. Hopefully the Chicago office will be sympathetic to the situation and make sure you get what you need to do your jobs in KC... but then again, I used to be a federal employee and I've seen how stuff like this works.

 

[wasnotafan]

Aaron, sorry for the bad news. I know that type of situation all too well.

 

[wasnotafan]

I must be the grumpy old man because I find lots to rant about! Stopped at the local Save-A-Lot for some snacks for the kids lunch and someone must have got their food stamps today. Checked out next to two teens who had two carts full of Mountain Dew and Pepsi. They use it like currency around these parts. Stock up and then take sell it for cash at 50-65 cents on the dollar. People with cash get cheap flavored high-fructose corn syrup and people using my tax dollars for food get cash to spend on "not food".

 

[AirGoofy]

I must be the grumpy old man because I find lots to rant about! Stopped at the local Save-A-Lot for some snacks for the kids lunch and someone must have got their food stamps today. Checked out next to two teens who had two carts full of Mountain Dew and Pepsi. They use it like currency around these parts. Stock up and then take sell it for cash at 50-65 cents on the dollar. People with cash get cheap flavored high-fructose corn syrup and people using my tax dollars for food get cash to spend on "not food".

Food stamps come out first of the month. They must have been budgeting. Maybe they were selling it for money to buy diapers.

 

[wasnotafan]

Food stamps come out first of the month. They must have been budgeting. Maybe they were selling it for money to buy diapers.

Noble thought and I will naively go with it to maintain my hope and optimism in our society. Unfortunately, living in a small town you know most people, and it would be naive to believe they are buying diapers. Happens every month. The underground economy is still doing well over here.

 

[AirGoofy]

Noble thought and I will naively go with it to maintain my hope and optimism in our society. Unfortunately, living in a small town you know most people, and it would be naive to believe they are buying diapers. Happens every month. The underground economy is still doing well over here.

I tried. I saw someone use their EBT to buy a hot dog and soda from Huck's. I'm thinking the EBT card could have bought you a couple packages of hot dogs from the grocery store to feed your hungry family in need, instead of my tax dollars just bought you lazy a-- lunch. I have to remind myself that there are people in need and just have to put up with the fraud of a few in the meantime. But, the church should never have relinquished the responsibility to care for the poor, in which government would not be involved at all to have this rant.