A somewhat belated Open Thread for Personal Stuff. No trolls, no MRAs, no mean stuff. Email me if anything gets weird.
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Categories
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
@Alan, ?
@Jesalin – I haven’t used Welbutrin, so I will leave that for someone else. I do want to put in an additional plug for Citalopram, which someone mentioned upthread – I’ve taken it for many years and it’s what works for me.
Anti-depressants definintely take some trial and error. I hope it goes well for you.
@Imaginary Petal – you’re noticed, and I respect your point of view. I feel for your struggle, for whatever it’s worth. I hope you get some relief.
@LindsayIrene – it’s interesting you bring up a manic episode. I have only had one, about 20 years ago now, but my son just happened to ask me the other night about the opposite of depression and so we were discussing it. For me it spiraled way out of the realm of reality and was very frightening toward the end of it, exacerbating my underlying anxiety issues and finally landing with a deep plop into a very long and awful depressive episode. I’m grateful that was the only one I clearly remember. I hope you do all right with it.
@PeeVee hugs right back to ya!
@Pavlovs House
I’m doing research for a book on local history, specifically of the neighborhood that the writer and I both live in. The lady actually doing the writing is well into her eighties, and considers microfiche readers to be too high-tech, so I’m doing a lot of the leg work and typing.
The library in my city has a local history and archives section, which has been very helpful. Unfortunately, some of the places and buildings that I’m trying to research may not exist any more, and I’ve been running into some issues where her notes of things she and folks she’s interviewed’s memories seem to conflict with other information I’ve found?
My next step is probably going to be diving into the newspaper archives, but they really intimidate me. It’s literally a wall of drawers with like a hundred years worth of daily newspapers all on microfilm.
I am finding I really enjoy research, which is something I thought I hated in university. I think maybe I really just didn’t like researching things I found boring. 🙂
@dreemr, Oooglyboggles: Great news!
@everyone else who wants/needs: *huuuuuuuuuuugs*
Having some breakthroughs with my own issues through discovering (oddly enough) the movie Harold and Maude. Still haven’t seen the entire thing yet (hurry up, DVD delivery!) but am finally feeling like I’m making progress with the ‘refusing to feel feelings cuz they r SCARY!!!’ thing.
Having light boppy Cat Stevens tunes in my head has been helping, too. 🙂
@Jesali
Wellbrutin is my current subscription, I’d can certainly say it helped me quite a bit. The worst side effect I’ve experienced was an irregularity appetite but that was only when I first took it.
@Fishy Goat – Thanks!
“Harold & Maude” is in my top 25 favorite movies.
My (much beloved) drama teacher waaay back in the early 80s screened it for us in his class, but I own it and have watched it several times since then. I hope you thoroughly enjoy it.
@WWTH
Toxic work environments are a plague upon the world. I’m sorry you’re having trouble leaving that situation.
@IP
http://comicsalliance.com/files/2012/06/tumblrm0ch91uyys1qk4alxo1500-1339013997.jpg
@mrex
Dreadful.
The only thing I’ve got going on is I’m steeling myself up to confront my roommate about being a transphobic asshole last night when we and a couple of other people went out for dinner. I haaaaaate rocking the boat. There were actually a few things said last night by everyone that I found really upsetting, but most of them were sexist bullshit that I’m too conflict-averse to make a big deal out of. As a cis person, though, I feel like I have a responsibility to use the power that comes with that to confront my fellow cis people.
Long story short, his friend came out as agender a few months ago and has since cut ties with him. He is angry with them for doing that, so he chose to talk about them using their old name and pronouns. “If I’m not [their] friend anymore, I don’t have to call them [name].” Awful.
@dreemr I have thoroughly spoiled myself watching clips and the trailers and hanging out on the TV Tropes page. LOL! I even found the novel on-line in pdf format (but I refuse to read the b-day party part – that’s one I want to save for when I get my DVD).
Note: Colin Higgin’s novel reads like fanfic, but it has a lot of detail that didn’t make it into the movie. 🙂
Mine too.
FFS. I’m having such a hard time not storming out the door right now.
I got called into the office again today. I was told I had to bring up my dial rate. I do market research where I’m calling executives and trying to get them to do half hour long unpaid studies. I don’t think I brought that up before. So I asked what the dial rate is supposed to be and he said he didn’t know, he’ll have to ask the client and get back to me. How the fuck am I supposed to meet an expectation if I don’t even know what that expectation is?
What’s even better? One of the other managers always tells us to keep good notes and make sure we’re doing everything we can to reach these people who are very difficult to reach.
Do they want quantity or do they want quality? Don’t give us contradictory orders and then get mad at us for doing it wrong. Fucking pricks.
Sorry for the rant.
@WWTH
Ah, hell, I hadn’t caught that it’s a call center. Call centers are built around gaslighting workers and mutually incompatible metrics. They frankly ought to be abolished.
@WWTH
” How the fuck am I supposed to meet an expectation if I don’t even know what that expectation is?”
And how does HE not know that you haven’t met that expectation if HE doesn’t even know what it is?
I would say he’s obviously an abuser.
@Dali
“Dreadful”
So I’ve gathered.
I know that they want to see that you’ve tried multiple drugs for a period of time to prove that there is really no other way. Most people advise me to start my own business, but finding a market that fits my (lack of) skills and pays enough to eat so far has been the problem. I used to babysit some, but the kids have aged enough to not need a babysitter, and caretaking isn’t necessarily the best thing for my crazy ass either.
@wwth – how many pieces of “flair” are you required to wear?
(Apologies if you haven’t seen “Office Space”; I’m old)
@Viscaria – that sounds pretty shitty, good luck in speaking out.
I know I don’t exactly say very much around here, but the existence of WHTM is one of the Good Things when times are bad (well, all the time, obviously, but all the more keenly felt when times are bad), so … fwiw, for any of youall who might sometimes feel nogood and useless and jerkdepressionbrain-bad, you are helping me get by – and I’m certainly far from the only one who has youall to thank for this oasis.
I GRADUATED FROM A TOP ART SCHOOL.
I HAVE A BFA IN ILLUSTRATION!
I’M GONNA MAKE A WEBCOMIC OR SOMETHING NOW.
Dali,
I’ve read somewhere that Comcast workers get in trouble if too many customers they speak with end their service. As a result, they’re pretty much forced to harass and bully customers into keeping a service they no longer want. And the industry wonders why more and more people no longer want cable.
The sad thing is, my place didn’t use to be run like a typical call center. That’s what made it bearable and successful for them. Now they’re changing what was working. Very silly.
Dreemr,
I’ve seen Office Space many times. Luckily we’re not expected to wear flair! I won’t be surprised if we start having to do TPS reports though
@weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee
“Hey I’m going to run you into the ground and make you feel bad for not being able to read my mind to know what I want.” That guy’s an asshole.
@authorialAlchemy
Congratulations on graduating!
Yeah, the way to cancel Comcast is to go into one of their stores with your box. Very painfree.
Huzzah for authorialAlchemy!
Hugs. This sort of behaviour from managers fucking sucks. I’ve heard friends say that it’s done deliberately, to foster an atmosphere of paranoia and abuse, as Dali says.
It sounds like your plan of leaving is a good one. If this is what management are like, then they’re assholes and you’d be better off elsewhere. You’re a great person and they don’t deserve you.
@authorialAlchemy
Many congratulations! Giant shower of congratulations!
Roommate conversation: Had. Result: Unsatisfactory. Roommate offered flimsy justification for actions. Researcher said “okay.” Roommate was possibly embarrassed enough to be having the conversation to think twice next time, but probably not.
@Alchemy
I’d love to read it!
http://25.media.tumblr.com/857b30022420846685a957c77cf9a03c/tumblr_ms9z9hrsBw1rc7ciao1_1280.gif
Did you have a conversation with a control group as well, Viscaria? Rigour is important.
Hilarity aside, you totally did the right thing. Now the roommate knows that it’s A Thing.