MBF - Sept 17

leighbrek

Because we can't possibly go two weeks in a row without!!

Starting with a total WTF grrrr that gifs are back to not working!

saltedcaramel518

DS sucks his thumb. It’s a habit he randomly started 2 or 3 months ago. I don’t love that he does it, but DH and I have decided there’s not much we can do at this point. We hope he just grows out of it sooner rather than later. 

My rant is people (mostly strangers) commenting on it. 
“Looks like he likes that thumb, huh? Well, that’s okay.. for now.”
”Get that thumb out of your mouth! You’re not a baby.”
This was my FIL: “You can’t go outside with me unless you stop sucking your thumb.”
”Does that thumb taste good? Aren’t you too big for that?”

What the heck, people. He’s 2. It’s comforting to him. Also, he’s not going to stop sucking his thumb because someone he’s never met calls him a baby. 

 

kns1988

I'm battling a mouse in my kitchen. I've seen it two nights in a row, so now it's just taunting me. My Amazon traps will be arriving tomorrow so that I can kill the sucker. 

rooonilwaazlib

CURSE all the people who stroll through the supermarket at 6pm with their overflowing cart like they rented the place out for the evening. Going -43254 miles per hour. Down the CENTER of the aisle. While talking on their cell phone.  And reading their grocery lists. There needs to be a leisure time for grocery shopping that coincides with whatever time I'm not there! 

oaklandava

WTF to the fact that my 4 year old goes through cycles where he wets the bed like clockwork. Like 3-4 nights in a row. Just enough in a row for me to go get pull-ups (because changing sheets at 3am is not my fave) just in case and then he stays dry. Well played minion. Oh, and gifs have never worked for me. Just chalk it up to the bare functionality of the bump I have. I mean seriously, I can't do anything fun.

leighbrek

@saltedcaramel518 Agreed, that's dumb. And social shaming doesn't work on miniature people who have no sense of society, haha.

@kns1988 Sounds like you need a golden retriever! That's how I handled a mouse my husband brought in with his duffel bag.

@rooonilwaazlib Is there ever such a time? If it's not a herd of zombie shoppers, it's the checkout person who handles lettuce like it'll explode if they move it too quickly.

@oaklandava It's like he knows! 
I had gifs from tenor.com working for a while, but... No longer. What a crappy app.

I know I waffle on this a lot, but today I'm waffling to the side of annoyance. I'm finally doing the work project I was supposed to get done before I got sick. I have to drive two hours each way to the work location and back, a fact that no one ever said anything about before I was pregnant...
Today, everyone and their dog was such a hindrance to my work! If it wasn't lectures about how I should be staying the night in a hotel, it was taking stuff out of my hands because it was "heavy". They were constantly telling me not to connect equipment, to not carry stuff, to not eat my lunch while doing programming at the same time.. I mean, seriously, eff off. This is what I do. I'm not delicate, and if I need help, I'll say so!

mtengl

@leighbrek ugh I hate that stuff... I have been told so many times by people I work with that I really should take a break and grab lunch when I am working during the traditional lunch hour... if I feel like I need to eat and work at the same time when I want than leave me alone... 

leighbrek

@cait32 I hear you - seems like all that aggravation for nothing.

@mtengl Exactly! Gooooo away, lol.

galactickates

We got up at 5 am to get the shuttle passes for the Going to the Sun Road.  Got said passes and drove the 45 minutes back to our hotel.  When we came back they had opened the road!! We had gotten up early for nothing on our last full day at Glacier.  The ranger the day before was so rude tomy husband when H had asked what the chances were that they might open the road...

sfgiantsgamerbabe

My soon to be new OB called to confirm last Friday that they received my medical records from my former OB and they would contact me to schedule an appointment. Fast forward to this last Friday...I never got a call so I called and they said they can’t find my medical records. They never called me back that day so I called again today. I was supposed to get a call before the end of the day but I didn’t get a call.

Edit: grammar

Ghostie625

DH has STILL not called to schedule someone to get our oven fixed. He also has about three weeks of travel coming up. If he can't get someone in before he leaves then I'll have to call myself and likely take a day off work to sit and wait for a repair guy.
DH can work from home, I can't. That's why I wanted him to call and schedule the appointment in the first place, because he knows his schedule and which days he can be home. I even found a few places online for him to call and sent him the info. That was last week.
It's been 3 weeks we haven't had a working oven. (Stove works, at least.) He promised he would call today, so fingers crossed!

ersh1010

I know it Tuesday but my gripe is im finally having a productive work from home day and all the power went out.  I'm not supposed to be home today,  it was supposed to be Thursday but I had to switch it due to my fetal echocardiogram.  Ugh now I'm trying to think of things I can do without power and hope no one notices I'm mia at work.  

kianarain

WBF? Whatever. Just had a maternity leave discussion w/my bosses, and their offer was ONE WEEK fully paid and they'll "allow me to take the other 11 weeks unpaid". We're a small company, so technically it's more than the law requires - but the amount that they were smugly patting themselves on the back for it makes me wish they offered me nothing at all. Seriously? It's 2018 and we're an ad agency - there's one in town that offers SIXTEEN WEEKS fully paid. Good luck retaining young female talent w/your shitty one week offer folks. 

I told them it's better than nothing and they need to consider a short term disability policy for other women moving forward. 

ladystout08

Wow @kianarain , that's not a good way to retain employees, especially when their competitors have better benefits. 

kaf1788

@kianarain ugh that makes me so angry for you.  I don't know how these people can look themselves in the eye. Do you at least have sick time or anything you can use?

kianarain

@cait32 we have great insurance that they actually don't charge us for. But I checked out how much it would be to add baby to my insurance and it's $600 A MONTH. Hahahahahahaha yeah, we'll put her on her daddy's insurance plan (for $50 a month).

@kaf1788 oh, they have all of our PTO (sick, vacation, personal, etc.) lumped into one - 10 days a year. I had the audacity to take a full week of vacation (that I ended up having to cancel and use to recover from my miscarriage) so I'll likely have a max of 5 days to use. 

Currently urging the crocodile tears so I can sit in my office and my boss can feel guilty. The worst part is that I truly think that they're proud to offer what can be technically considered above what they're legally required to do. SO will end up getting more paid paternity leave than I do maternity leave. 

CEBB11

@kianarain That's just gross - I know it's more than what they HAVE to offer, but do they genuinely not understand why that's not super supportive to a new mother? Are they parents themselves? The lack of empathy for mothers in this country continues to amaze me.

ersh1010

@kianarain im sorry for you.  That certainly wouldn't make me feel valued as am employee. I'm impressed you sound like you kept your composure and gave them some feedback better and more productive than I think I would have done. 

CoastieGirl79

@kianarain I had my first child while I was active duty. At the time, I got eight weeks of paid maternity leave and I accrued leave while I was on maternity leave. So from that perspective and realizing how good I once had it, the current U.S. maternity leave is an atrocity. I now work for the federal government where I get zero paid maternity leave, and I was just told the that I will not accrue regular or sick leave while I'm out on maternity leave. The way your bosses dangled the one week at you like it was a bone is unprofessional. On the other hand, I wish Uncle Sam would pay me for any amount of time I will be out. My husband is still active duty. He gets 21 days of paternity leave, paid, of course. Employers are so concerned about female retention. If that's the case, why don't they do more to keep women? I want to show my children that a woman can have it all: a career, a healthy marriage and a family.

Certainly the way your bosses handled the "benefit" they were throwing at you was more to make themselves feel better. 

Rant over.

mtengl

@kianarain I also only get 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave... we also only get 10 days a year and I had 4.5 left over from last year. But whatever I don’t use for DR appointments will be automatically used when I am out along with FMLA. The hardest part is when I come back I have no leave and if I use all my FMLA and have a medical emergency I won’t even have that leave. I was informed if I come back and have to take 5 days off at any point before July (when I get 10 days of vaca again), on the 6th day I will be auto let go. So pretty much I can’t get sick and if the baby gets sick or has issues I will be working and have to hope DH can take off...

kianarain

Ugh @mtengl @CoastieGirl79 the US is so incredibly behind in maternity leave, it’s disgusting. Just wait, my story gets better....

So I accept their “generous” 1 week pay w/no pushback, knowing that I’d have a big work from home ask. I recommended a 6 week reintegration where I would slowly ramp up to being back in the office full time. Their counter? No ramp up time - but they understand the need and recommended I USE THE 11 UNPAID WEEKS to begin tapering more and more time AWAY from my INFANT DAUGHTER. Guys, I’m fucking fuming. Because that 12 weeks isn’t for bonding, right? It’s to get used to leaving her alone so I can go to work... Could you imagine being that much of an asshole to actually say that to someone? 

I get it, they have every right not to accept additional WFH negotiations. But to have the audacity to suggest that the precious time they so “graciously granted” me could be used for basically distance training instead of bonding? Seriously fuck off. 

kaf1788

@kianarain whatttttt? I would be using those 11 weeks to be looking for a new job. That is so ridiculous.

jgil85

@kianarain I'm on fire on your behalf! Like a pp said, I'd use those 11 weeks to look for a new job. 

kianarain

@cait32 I'm guessing the tag was meant for me so I'm going to answer like it was lol. Oh, the owner works full time from home and we even have employees who work out of state and WFH full time. They are pretty flexible when you have appointments, emergencies, etc. because we can all, for the most part, do our jobs from home. They just rolled out a WFH policy for the entire team (3 days a month, 48 hours notice, no Mondays/Fridays, alert team when you take lunch - micromanagey much?) so I'll have...three days a month like the rest of the team upon return.

It might sound like I'm being super ungrateful, but being a part of a small, creative ad agency team is generally a LOT more flexible than what they're offering. We have the "work hard/play hard" thing down, so I was thinking ok - if they let people drink midday beers, they're cool with me busting my ass from home a couple times a week with a new baby.

@kaf1788 @jgil85 lol you guys read my mind. I will likely call a meeting 10 weeks into mat. leave to see if they've changed their mind at all about a ramp up period. If not, I'll probably just find somewhere new.

tosh24

Ugh, I'm sorry @kianarain. That is super shitty of them. I'd be super upset not just on the principle of them (and the culture in general) not being supportive of mothers in the workplace, but it would make me feel super undervalued and underappreciated as an employee and like I was being held under their thumbs. I hope they come to their senses.