Let's Babble Our Way to Post #4,000,000 And Win Prizes Too!

[mservant]

I think I am genetically programmed never to go in to pet supply stores without buying something...     

   There are just too many tempting things in there to try and get your kitty to play / have yummy snacks / relax and be comfy.  It's not fair, everything in the stores other than basic food, litter and health supplies should be behind screens and only staff be able to get them out on request.    I avoid going in to pet stores at all costs but when I get caught out I always end up with a large bag full of 'stuff' for Mouse.  

   It's not like he doesn't have enough toys: he has at least 2 toy cuboards full and that's on top of the little pile that gets scattered around the floor every day.  

 

[kittens mom]

I have no will power when I go into a pet store. Between neat looking new foods that they won't eat and the toys and other cat sundries its almost as bad as wandering into a book store.

 

[segelkatt]

 
I also hate it when people take a kitchen error out on the server. They assume that you put the order in wrong or grabbed the wrong thing or whatever. Mistakes happen- especially in a really busy kitchen. 

I always tip extra when I have a coupon. I figure that if I didn't have a coupon I would have spent X dollars with tip. If I add the difference to the tip, I still spend X dollars and the server will feel appreciated thus making someone else's dining experience better and hopefully the trend will continue...  hopefully.  

I also REALLY hate it when people from other countries come here and look down their nose and sniff about the whole tipping thing and then not do it because it is not done where THEY are from. I don't give a rat's bum how they do things where THEY are from. They expect their customs to be respected when we are in their world. So do we when they are in ours. 

  One of the problems is that Americans in general DO NOT respect the customs of other countries, expecting everybody to speak English. Tipping in most European countries is for exceptional service and pay is mostly a living wage  unlike in the US. The European is appalled when told about how little the minimum wage is and that there is no requirement for paid vacation and sick leave. So give the foreigner a break. 

 

[foxxycat]

Back home. Honeybee is doing good. They didnt find anything wrong with eye. Jon of course says that when he came back home to get her-she wasnt squinting but we went anyways. I went to my apt and number than heck. they did the cavities and its 2 hours later and still cant feel anything but hard to drink liquids. Staying inside as I dont want to get dehydrated. its 85 out now. Honeybee got her yearly exam and her distemper shot and her leukemia shot. They said to use the ointment for 7 days just incase it acts up. They didnt find any scratching of eye and the redness I saw is gone. so sitting here drooling on myself. How embarrassing!

 

[tallyollyopia]

 
Dreading work today as we fall further and further behind and the boss refuses to hire anyone else. Is it friday yet?

I hope it gets better for you soon. 

 
I think it is horrible that people treat others with disrespect. I used to work in the service industry and some of the customers were really over the top rude. A family member sometimes gets rude in public when out to dinner. Sometimes I wish every rude person had someone rude to them to see how stupid they look. I get impatient as well and sometimes no filter on my mouth but I know most folks are just trying to do their job.

We have some folks here who keep coming up with projects and get mad at me because I stall them. I have explained that it involves other people and I will ask to relocate said items in here but they told me no. I am sure I will hear for days how its stupid that he can't get me to move said objects back into another department. I spoke to one of the department head folks this morning explaining the dilemma and they said sorry no room to move them in the other room.

my other coworker gets overzealous to say the least. I said at least this way if there are lots of boxes of stuff in here then we can make our case stronger that we can't store fixturing in here. Not to mention things tend to walk out of here on the days we don't have coverage. They restricted access but it doesn't matter. There are other people who don't record what is taken and drives me insane trying to keep correct number of inventory quantities but I can only work so many hours. Seems every business keeps chopping their staff and making the rest carry the load. Why do they do this? Don't they realize they would be able to make more money if there was enough staff to keep up with production? Or they can be like us-they refuse to raise the wages to the new hires and they have not been able to attract the best talent. I keep telling them you have to pay better than the other people and they insist that the rates they have it at are more than sufficient. Well in the past 3 years we have lost 14 welders/machine/qc to better paying jobs. May not sound like much but they took much tribal knowledge. and the local shipyard pays better. I told them they have to compete with the other places in order to get the best talent. but instead they hire joe smo who most of the time have no layout or actual fabrication experience. Some turned out ok but most have struggled. We are supposed to have a way to train everyone who comes on board but I haven't seen evidence of this yet. Frustrating.

Amazing how people like that don't take into account the "long-term" effect of "short-term" cost cutting.

 
I don't go to any store looking for a fight but I sure have encountered a few customer service people that left me fuming. I'm inclined to let it bounce off me who wants a confrontation in a check out lane or at the customer service desk.

I have an ex SIL who was horrible in public. Out to eat once the waiter put her plate down and she yelled at him to stay put. Took her finger and jammed it into her mashed potatoes and then told him she was making sure they were hot. Once she made the waiter go to the restaurant next door and get her a menu. He did it. She then left him a horrible tip which we compensated for. Worse the place she wanted to eat from after we were seated was the more formal better menu place we wanted in the first place. We went to the one she choose. The best day ever was when her husband kicked her under the table.

Once, at the store I work at, I had an old woman fling a bunch of change down on the counter and try to grab the item she was purchasing and run off with it. (There was a huge line behind her.) She got upset with me and started calling me names as I counted each and every single cent (half of it was pennies) to make sure that it was correct. (It wasn't, by the way. It was forty cents short.) She got angry and the customers behind her got angry, but I had to do my job. Kudos to your brother!

 
I'm glad he did too. I have worked for tips before waiting tables, bartending and cocktail waitressing. they are for the most part thankless jobs. I think everyone should have to wait tables in some way at least once in their life because it will teach you how HARD it is. Not only dealing with difficult customers but cooks and management too. Not only have I NEVER stiffed a waitperson or a bartender and never will regardless of service, more often than not, I over tip. I know what it's like. They say that people who have worked for tips always tip the most. I rarely tip less than 40% unless it's really bad and then it's still at least 20% because you don't know what else this person is dealing with. I have gone to diners or  similar places and if I see that the server was frazzled and had too many tables, I have gotten up and refilled coffee cups. Yes- really.  People who were irritated calmed down. the server always thanked me. I worked at a restaurant once many years ago for a friend of mine. He was the breakfast cook as well. The place was just getting started so it wasn't too busy. He'd go back in his office and wait for me to put orders up. Sometimes he'd forget to come back out. I ended up taking the order, getting mad for having to wait, cooking it myself and then serving it. 

There was one time, one, when I left after I got the food. I was waiting patiently, putting no  demands on the waitress (I didn't even need a refill), and when she brought my food out she slammed the plate on the table so hard the pasta flew onto the table and it knocked my drink over to spill over everything (pasta, table, my lap). Then she placed both hands on the table, leaned forward, and snarled, "I suppose this means you want more?" I just left. You probably would have too.

 
I think I am genetically programmed never to go in to pet supply stores without buying something...     

   There are just too many tempting things in there to try and get your kitty to play / have yummy snacks / relax and be comfy.  It's not fair, everything in the stores other than basic food, litter and health supplies should be behind screens and only staff be able to get them out on request.    I avoid going in to pet stores at all costs but when I get caught out I always end up with a large bag full of 'stuff' for Mouse.  

   It's not like he doesn't have enough toys: he has at least 2 toy cuboards full and that's on top of the little pile that gets scattered around the floor every day.  

Personally, I'm still boycotting Petsmart. What they did last Black Friday really  ticked me off.

 

[foxxycat]

what did they do last black friday? Did they open on thanksgiving? I almost walked into petsmart this afternoon but it was too hot to walk the three stores over from dentist. it was 93 then. I don't care for any of those box stores. I go to a small store called pets life and its a smaller chain store that has Fromm, Natures balance and more exotic brands you don't see in the big box stores. 

God I can't stand this drooling and not being able to drink my water without spilling it all over me! When does this crap wear off? They said 2 hours. Its been 3 now.

pumpkin face in 2011?

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this was at my house when we first moved in around 2005. before we adopted a 3rd kitty. Notice Flo is not heavy here. once we adopted more cats she ate all the food!

this is the only time I ever seen Floey groom another kitty. Honeybee always grooms her but Flo growls and hisses. Honeybee also grooms pumps but because pumpy wont play with her it makes Honeybee chase her more. Outside they hang out together. In the house not so much. Its so different outside. I can't figure it out. Floey chases the Bee outside but inside its reversed!

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[tallyollyopia]

 
what did they do last black friday? Did they open on thanksgiving? I almost walked into petsmart this afternoon but it was too hot to walk the three stores over from dentist. it was 93 then. I don't care for any of those box stores. I go to a small store called pets life and its a smaller chain store that has Fromm, Natures balance and more exotic brands you don't see in the big box stores. 

God I can't stand this drooling and not being able to drink my water without spilling it all over me! When does this crap wear off? They said 2 hours. Its been 3 now.

All right, first of all Petsmart said they were giving away free pawprint ornaments to the first one hundred people in line. (And when Petsmart says a sale starts at eight o'clock Friday morning, it starts  eight o'clock Friday morning--one of the things I used to love about the store.) Our Petsmart didn't have the pawprint ornaments, instead they had gift certificates. Since I was there (and had a five-dollar gift certificate) I decided to get some toys for the kitties for Christmas. Well, this store employee steered me towards a mechanical mouse that's supposed to move just like a real one. (In the toys defense, it did as advertised. It moved just  like a real mouse.) However, the mechanical mouse made a high-pitched whirring sound that I was worried would frighten the cats, since it sounded like a higher-pitched version of the vacuum cleaner. (I was right, by the way.) The employee told me it was no problem; I could just bring it in and exchange it for the toy stocking I was originally looking at (RB was the one who had wanted me to get the mechanical mouse in the first place). Well, I got home, unwrapped the mechanical mouse (I had a two week window for an exchange) and put it down for the cats--with disastrous results. Pretty much everything I was worried about came true until just the sight of the toy began causing stress (RB, the mechanically and technologically minded, kept trying to get them to play with it), so I took it back to exchange it for the toy-filled stocking (the two items were identical in price). However, there was a problem; since I had paid for the toy mouse with the gift certificate (plus a little extra) all I was able to do was get the little extra paid for mouse towards the stocking. 

 I was furious! (To be fair, I probably wouldn't have been as upset if I hadn't bought  the mouse on recommendation from a Petsmart employee.) I was still polite, of course (it wasn't the fault of the people in  the store; I don't think they knew what management had decreed for the gift certificates), but I haven't shopped there since. If the higher ups in a store chain can't be bothered to think of the customer, the store doesn't deserve my business. 

 

[Kat0121]

 
I hope it gets better for you soon. 

Amazing how people like that don't take into account the "long-term" effect of "short-term" cost cutting.

Once, at the store I work at, I had an old woman fling a bunch of change down on the counter and try to grab the item she was purchasing and run off with it. (There was a huge line behind her.) She got upset with me and started calling me names as I counted each and every single cent (half of it was pennies) to make sure that it was correct. (It wasn't, by the way. It was forty cents short.) She got angry and the customers behind her got angry, but I had to do my job. Kudos to your brother!

There was one time, one, when I left after I got the food. I was waiting patiently, putting no  demands on the waitress (I didn't even need a refill), and when she brought my food out she slammed the plate on the table so hard the pasta flew onto the table and it knocked my drink over to spill over everything (pasta, table, my lap). Then she placed both hands on the table, leaned forward, and snarled, "I suppose this means you want more?" I just left. You probably would have too.

Personally, I'm still boycotting Petsmart. What they did last Black Friday really  ticked me off.

I probably would have left too. In my instance I was the waitress and the owner/cook was too busy being an owner to actually COOK. After ringing the bell a couple of times and him not showing up, I cooked the order myself and then served it. He finally showed up as they were eating.

What did Petsmart do? At my location, I made out like a bandit on the 35 pound pails of Tidy Cats litter

 

[mservant]

I'd missed out on all that drama with PetSmart and Black Friday.  Wow.  

I avoid all pet stores, they are all equally dangerous to my purse.  

  @Kittens Mom, I'm with you on book stores too.  

   I am a lost cause basically.

Very happy to read that Honeybee's eye is OK @foxxycat   She is so cute.  

 

[donutte]

It is, indeed. 

The very best way of contributing is doing what you do now, just being part of the community that helps cat owners help their cats :rub: It may not seem like much to you but once you see the stats you realize that 90% of people never post anything. They just read. Those that post regularly are like the engine that keeps an online community moving forward and by doing that (even in the babble thread!), they're making the best contribution ever.

Also, social media sharing and generally getting the word out. We have social media sharing icons on every page here. If you scroll up or down an article or a thread you should be seeing these - 

Capture.JPG

• Anne
• Jul 12, 2016

Don't be shy and just click any of them. Nothing will happen automatically. It will just bring up a pop-up of the relating service where the title and link to the article will be ready for you to post/pin/tweet etc, if you're logged in to that network. Just a handy little shortcut, really. Here's one to try -
 [article="0"]​[/article] 

It's a new funny photo list and you can share that with your cat loving friends. If each member were to share it on one social media site and urge others to do that, it could potentially become viral and bring in a lot of fresh traffic. Which would end up bringing long-term revenue for the site.

Just a thought. I'm trying to figure out how to improve on our very lacking social media presence these days and building awareness to the social share icons is a way to do that.

I'll have to remember to do this! Especially when I start posting more on my business's page. I'm not a "twit" lol so don't use that much, although I do have a Twitter to post shows (that I've not really used in ages) and created a business twitter page tomorrow. So will definitely be sharing articles from here! I actually never thought of that as "helping" before


So, after the traumatizing event that was giving Maple her compounded meds yesterday, I decided to try a trick with the pill I read somewhere else. I'll post the details in the pilling thread I have, but let me say, it actually worked! No trauma for either of us! A bit of patience definitely needed on my part, but that is ok. And Temptations treats.

Going out to a hard core punk rock show. On a Wednesday. I need a re-boot. Was contemplating going out tomorrow to a birthday dinner, but it's a pretty late dinner, so not sure it will work for me. Especially with going out tonight. And of course someone scheduled a 9am meeting (conference call) tomorrow.

 

[raina21]

Came home from work and Tesla ran up to me with to toy begging me to play fetch. So I sat down and threw his toy for him for a while. Then I decided to give him a little photoshoot because he is just so cute (and he is the only one of my kitties that will let me take pictures of him)

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[donutte]

Came home from work and Tesla ran up to me with to toy begging me to play fetch. So I sat down and threw his toy for him for a while. Then I decided to give him a little phitoshoit because he is just so cute (and he is the only one of my kitties that will let me take pictures of him)

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What a beautiful kitty! My Maple is not fond of having her picture taken at all. On the other end of the spectrum is my Oscar, who stops what he's doing and poses when he sees the camera :lol3: Even if I'm trying to take a video of him chasing his tail!

 

[foxxycat]

I agree with the pictures!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! 

 Ok I am running out of patience. I want to eat supper as I am hungry but my lip and jaw won't cooperate! I dont remember novocaine bothering me this much before then again only had to do it three times before=all because the dentist didnt install the filling correct so then I had to get a root canal. twice. Come to find out they screwed up and the new dentist said I didnt need a root canal. $3000 later even with insurance. What a rip off! that was 2 roots then 2 crowns but not at the same time. this was a dentist highly recommended. I should have stayed with the one closer to the border of ma. They were really good. oh well.

 

[handsome kitty]

I like to think I'm a very honest person.  I spent 30 minutes chatting with an amazon rep when they gave me a credit for a returned for replacement item.  Well, I just found out that the outpatient facility where the first attempt to remove that IVC filter took place hasn't been charging me the monthly $375 to pay off my $3,000 co-pay.  I am not even tempted to call them and let them know it fell through the cracks.  I will wait to see if they catch it. Especially since they just sent me a bill for another $500+ bill for charges not covered by my insurance.   I'm sure the hospital will also be sending another bill after they are done haggling with the insurance company. 

 

[donutte]

I agree with the pictures!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! :heart3:  Ok I am running out of patience. I want to eat supper as I am hungry but my lip and jaw won't cooperate! I dont remember novocaine bothering me this much before then again only had to do it three times before=all because the dentist didnt install the filling correct so then I had to get a root canal. twice. Come to find out they screwed up and the new dentist said I didnt need a root canal. $3000 later even with insurance. What a rip off! that was 2 roots then 2 crowns but not at the same time. this was a dentist highly recommended. I should have stayed with the one closer to the border of ma. They were really good. oh well.

Oh man, I hate when dentists mess up! And I've had the same issue with novocaine lately, that and it makes my heart race like crazy! Never did that before. I've heard you need to eat beforehand for novocaine to really take effect. I've done that and it still didn't. And having a dentist mess up on a filling is the worst! With my last dentist, the filling fell out a week later, and she had the gall to ask if it was hers (and then had to double-check). I ended up ditching her after a few more appointments, I swear I felt like she was trying to get me to buy all sorts of unnecessary stuff. Found a new one that I really like. And that same tooth with the same filling that fell out had a cavity INSIDE the tooth, so he started taking the filling out and it just popped out. He was shocked! He said that wasn't supposed to happen.

 

[Kat0121]

 
I'm pretty sure mine go though the bags looking for their treats. What you went away and I got nothing ????

When  go grocery shopping, I always put the bags on the floor after I bring them in. Sophie goes through them in search of anything she may want. I bought 2 catnip toys back in December to go into the box of goodies for the cats at the shelter I got Henry from. Well, in her explorations, she found one, yanked it out of the bag and was rolling around the kitchen floor with it between her front legs. The toy was still attached to the cardboard backing. That toy became her of course and I had to get the shelter kitties a new one the following week. That bag did NOT go on the floor!

 

[tallyollyopia]

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Aw, she's so adorable! (Ra will let us take pictures of him, but only if there's another cat in that we might  take pictures of instead.)

 

[foxxycat]

Honeybee did this once when I got catnip toys for Taming Gracie's Feral Cat Care- I got something like 15 toys-the bag on the couch-Bee Kitty hopped up and yanked one out and took off with it!! View media item 361184

 

[LTS3]

 
Dreading work today as we fall further and further behind and the boss refuses to hire anyone else. Is it friday yet?

I totally understand

See my previous whines / rants about my work situation.

I am totally looking forward to the 6 week de-stress / meditation workshop that starts next week at work

I met with one of the people who is running it. I was talking to my mentor about how to get involved with planning and organizing company events and she put me in touch with some people. So I met with the person for half an hour to get more info about the workshop and how to get inovled with other parts of the employee resource groups. Apparently the company has a meditation room in the new building. I had no idea that it existed. Our meeting ended up going there. It has mood lighting and comfy very modern abstract furniture to sit on. Normally my anxiety is pretty bad when I meet new people but I was so at ease with this person. We bounced around ideas about the workshop and she was totally into my suggestion of having a coloring session during our upcoming meeting free week

 

[donutte]

Honeybee did this once when I got catnip toys for Taming Gracie's Feral Cat Care- I got something like 15 toys-the bag on the couch-Bee Kitty hopped up and yanked one out and took off with it!! :lol3:  Cardboard still attached!! I sent her a photo of Honeybee quality control testing the toy! :lol3:
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I miss the banana catnip toy, it was so fun watching the cats play with it (they REALLY loved it). One of them dropped it in the toilet though :/ So it was bye-bye, banana. I really should get a new one. Fond memories of waking up with it next to my face.