A Friday Rant

Sorry to be an angry downer today, but this is the birthday of one of my dearest friend's mother, and she is gone because she was a victim of Covid-19.  My friend is hurting today, even more than usual, because she never properly got to say goodbye, like so many others.

I posted this on Facebook, and I'm copying it here, because I want to make sure that even if I am preaching to the choir, people know and remember.

I hope that all of you will have a good weekend, and that on Monday we will all be able to laugh at the goofy answers I have for the questions you have all been lovely enough to post.  Take care.  xoxo

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You know those posts you have been seeing occasionally that say, "Do you actually know anyone who has died from Covid?" Well first of all, they infuriate me, because it implies one of two things: 1) it's not really that bad, so how many people could really be dying from this "bad flu," or 2) let's keep track and declare a winner when someone knows more people than anyone else who are no longer here!

Well I'm here to tell you that I know four people who have died from it. Guess what? It kills. And if it doesn't kill you, it leaves you with chronic, serious issues, even if you are a young person.

Every single one of the 200,000+ people who have died from Covid-19 died from Covid-19 - not from an underlying condition if they had one. You can live for years with an "underlying condition." Every single one of those people had at least one person who couldn't see, touch, hug, or properly mourn their loss. Every single one of those people had to die without their family and friends. Yes, in the end we all die alone, but if we are lucky, our last conscious moments are those where we realize we are surrounded by love.

We have been robbed of so much more than just the chance to go to a restaurant, or have a kids' birthday party, go to the mall for new shoes, or go to a football game. We have been robbed of our chance to show love and choose what we want to do and where we want to go on any given day. Many have been robbed of what little mental stability they had left; others of what income kept them from being homeless.

We can and should try to keep going, to let those who are important know that they are, to speak up and tell others that it's more important for all of us to be safe than it is for them to have "constitutional rights." It's going to be an even longer haul, and everyone needs to adapt and do the best we can, even at its crappiest.

And everyone should remember that in the U.S., there is one person who could have actually DONE SOMETHING to deal with this, and to make all of us safer, and he chose not to. And spineless followers who could have forced action decided they didn't care.

Remember those lost. Offer support and love to their loved ones. Take care of those you can. Take care of yourself. Stop whining and take a walk around the block if that is how you gain perspective.

And VOTE. If you don't vote, or you vote for some random person because you find neither choice to be perfectly and exactly what you want, well then, you deserve what you get. But the rest of us do not.

Love you, Mrs. J. And Happy Birthday even if you aren't getting to enjoy it here in person. I'll do my best to love them all here for you. ❤

In Which I Finally Lose All Patience

I try, really I do.  I try to accept that not everyone is as annoying and picky as I am.  I try because I know I am far from perfect and there is likely a litany of things that others could talk about that I do that drives them crazy.

But still, sometimes I just lose it and want people to pay attention just one more second before they proceed.

Case in point: I have a friend who, whenever she makes a mistake in an e-mail, comment, etc. will write "Opps!"  She means "Oops!" and it makes me crazy.  Once I asked her if anyone other than me commented on it, and she said everyone does, but she can't take the time to make sure she types the correct thing, and besides we all know she does it.  Ugh.

I might add that this individual is only too happy to point out mistakes that others make, and not in a kind way.  "Opps," indeed.

Then there is the co-worker whose messages look like she took grammar and composition lessons from the Tweets of Donald Trump.  You know, she spells things incorrectly, or uses poor/no punctuation, or randomly capitalizes words for no reason.  Last week she sent an all-staff e-mail that said, "Helo everyone there are some jounals we get in the library that are extras or duplicates..... so you ARE welcoume to have THem."  It's hard enough to get our colleagues to take us seriously as fellow professionals, this cannot possibly help our cause.

She is also regularly complaining that "foreigners" don't even try to understand English. 

Look - if you are someone with little/no education, or if English is your second language, or if you are making an effort at all, I'm completely on board with you doing as well as you can.  I admire those who may not really understand the language, or who realize they are dyslexic, etc., and who struggle to get it right, and make it work however they can.  I admire those who are always trying to do a better job. 

But I am just really weary of lazy and careless people, or those who claim they are just being casual, so there is no reason to check spelling, punctuation, etc.  Do I speak to the pets or The Tim at home the same way I do to my colleagues at work?  Not necessarily, but I am at home, and not trying to communicate with the wider world in a logical and professional way.  Heck, I even make an effort here to make things make sense and write in a way that if one of my old teachers happened upon the blog, they would be pleased with my writing, even if not by my topics!

I'm sure part of this is a result of my upbringing.  My parents always expected us to speak well and write well, believing that "just because we are poor, we don't need to sound poor."  And I love words and language, so admittedly I can be obsessive.  But I am also a firm believer in presenting yourself to the world in the best way possible.  I don't want everyone to like me, but I do hope they can appreciate that I make an effort with my writing.

And so, on this President's/Presidents' Day (a holiday that no expert can agree should be written one way or another), when we have someone who is the leader of our country who can barely put a sentence together as well as a first grader, I have to admit that my patience is gone. 

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If you have a day off today, I hope you enjoy it.  I am hoping to knit, read, and even take some time to plan dinner, rather than making it to 4 pm or so and then saying to myself, "Oh yeah, I should think about dinner."  Whatever your day holds, I hope it's a good one to start this week.

Mini-Rant

Please indulge me for this mini-rant. 

A few years back, a friend gave me an unopened set of Addi Interchangeable Needles, still wrapped up.  She had received them as a gift, and already had a set, and did not want to try and return/exchange them.  So she gave them to me. 

I have approximately one bazillion circular needles of various sizes, in various states of condition.  Most of the time, I grab one of those to work on a project, but recently I did start working on something that used a needle size that was not in the bazillion, so I broke open the Addi set.  When I pulled out the size cable I needed to attach for the project I was using, there was a huge bump/bubble on it that would definitely catch yarn.  I remembered that Addi was usually really good about making good on broken needles, faulty products, etc., so I went on to the website and explained my problem.  I received an e-mail saying that if I didn't have the paperwork to return them to the merchant, I could send them to the company in Washington State.  So I sent them there with a note as to the issue.

Yesterday the replacement cable arrived, along with a letter.  The letter stated that they were "happy" to send me the replacement cable this time, but that "this is not considered a manufacturing problem, and in the future, we will not be willing to replace the product."  This really annoys me.

Yes, they did replace the cable for me.  And that is lovely customer service.  But if a bump/bubble in the plastic of the cable is not considered a problem in the manufacture of said cable, what would be?  The "non-problem" would be a big-time problem when you were trying to knit.  And it came that way, in a sealed package, so it's not like I had been using it and set it down next to radiator causing it to melt or something like that. 

I have to tell you, I was disappointed in their response.  I understand that there may be people who do/have tried to take advantage of their returns/exchange policies, and they are a business with a bottom line, etc.  But I still would like to know why the problem wasn't considered a problem on their end.  And the snippy tone of the letter surprised me too.

So although I know have a working cable, which is nice, I'm a bit put off by them.  I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to purchase one of their products in the future.

White People Problems, am I right?