This Happened

[Phoebe]

Invariably I set my phone somewhere in the house, call to find it, and then am surprised to find I have a missed call on my phone! Often I try to call back.

[akiva]

Very much feeling like the fuck up that I am this morning.

[Tahlvin]

* Hugs * Wish I could do something to help, other than sending virtual positive thoughts over the interwebs!

[akiva]

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

Hang in there, if nothing else you are almost to a break from work? May I instead present Facebook as a better object of scorn? I can't express to you how much I dislike their stupid algorithms, which must be fought tooth and nail if one wants to keep in touch with friends who remain devoted to FB, and in doing so we help perpetuate the stuckness in this bad environment! But worse is when FB shows you things you didn't ask to see and that are un-see-able. Like I might not be so filled with angry contempt for my racist cousin if I did not have to learn how heartless that person really is! I might be a lot less stressed about the upcoming holiday gatherings if I had been spared certain info. Blocking people also doesn't block enough stuff, let's put it that way. Like if you block someone, that should somehow flag the algorithm that there is just so much you do not want to see and don't want to have to un-see, because it takes decades to lose enough brain cells.

[Kyle]

[Mike]

Take a look at Discord. The trick to Discord is convincing everyone to sign up, but it works amazingly well. It's designed for collaborative efforts in a way Facebook is not. I know Discord is known as a place for video gamers to talk while gaming, but I only use it for text, and I like it.

Slack can do the same stuff (I believe), but I chose Discord largely because my kids were all already on it.

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

[Tahlvin]

And the wait is on...

I work as an independent contractor, and I subcontract through a friend of mine who sets up the jobs for me. I send my time and expenses to my friend, he compiles mine with his other subcontractors, and submits it to the customers for payment. The customer then pays my friend, and he turns around and pays me. We have one customer in CA that used to pay the invoices electronically. A few years ago, they switched to paying by hard-copy check, so that it would take longer for him to receive the money and they would earn more interest on it. Sucks, but it's their right to pay how they want, as long as they pay in a timely manner. Around the same time, they paid their invoices that were due in January in the preceding December. That gave them 13 months of expenses in one calendar year, causing a one-time increase in expenses without a real increase in income, making it seem like they made less profit for accounting purposes. But now, if they do not continue to pay their January invoice in December, they'll only end up with 11 months of expenses for the calendar year. But they wait until the last possible moment to pay the expenses. Last year, they electronically transferred the money into my friend's account on December 30th, without giving him any indication they were going to do so. He had to scramble to track down who made the payment, and then had to hurry and pay all of his subcontractors so that he wasn't stuck with the income for the calendar year but not the expenses of paying his subcontractors. So now we're to December 30th again this year, and they still have not paid their January invoice. If they pay it electronically today, then last year's dance will repeat. If they pay it electronically tomorrow, then my friend gets shafted from a tax perspective, since he cannot get the payments to his subcontractors turned around quick enough, so he'll have the income but not the expenses, and he'll end up owing more on taxes for this year. And I'm left wondering if I'll have that income for this year or not, which will have a significant impact on what my tax bill will be for the year. From my perspective, I've already assumed I'll get the payment, so if they fail to submit the payment in time, that means I'll probably end up getting a refund. But then they will probably end up paying 13 months of invoices in 2020, resulting in my incoming seeming to be inflated for 2020, resulting in an inflated tax bill for that year. Heck, if I were my friend, and I had the funds available, I would go ahead and pay the subcontractors regardless of whether the customer actually submits the payment. That way, he's got 12 months of expenses regardless of how many months of income he'll end up getting from that customer. If they pay today or tomorrow, then he's even; if they don't pay, then his tax burden for this year will actually be lower, and it will be shifted to next year instead, but at least he'll have time to plan for it.

He's tried to talk to the finance people at this customer to find out what their plans are, when they'll pay, are they going to pay, etc., but they stonewall him. Like I said, it's their right to do so, but I still consider it a bit of a poor way to treat your contractors.

[Phoebe]

Very annoying. I suppose if they have other choices and he doesn't want to lose the contract, they have him over the proverbial barrel. But it's still a crap way to treat people, since they would only have to give a brief heads up on the plan. Boo.

[Tahlvin]

FYI, my friend received the payment (electronically, again, so they could send it last-minute), so he should be able to do the direct deposit overnight and get it back out of his account and into mine and not get dinged on his taxes.

[Phoebe]

The people in this house got a new video game and I have not seen more than twenty minutes of my husband for approximately a week. I have heard of golf widows but what is this???

[akiva]

It snowed a bit here today.

I have a student from Jamaica. Until today, she'd never seen snow.

[akiva]

Helped to prevent a fight by getting between the 2 would-be fighters. One of the students shoved me repeatedly to try to get past me.

[Phoebe]

That's terrible! I understand it is a widespread phenomenon, the violence to which teachers are being subjected. I don't know what to think of the proposed legislative remedies that would allow teachers to restrain students in a situation like this. One fears the potential for abuse, but who's protecting the teachers from abuse?

[akiva]

I wasn't hurt, but I suppose it was possible. I don't know how common such things are in other schools--I've only worked in one district--and it's not frequent thing, but it happens. I think I probably break up fights 2-3 times a year.

There are also fights that I don't get involved in--if the students are already locked in combat, I get other students away, stay away myself, and call security. That happens maybe 1-2 times a year.

[akiva]

I hate social media tonight. Just got a gut punch reminding me of how I’m a fuck up. And posted by the person i wish I’d never met.

[Phoebe]

How nice for you - I had a similar tiny spark of joy just now, which is why I clicked the little X and decided this website here was a far more pleasant accompaniment to the coffee. I have found the way out of that was straight through, honestly. This sounds so trite, but whatever problem seems to be connected to a person outside you is probably just a problem in your own life you haven't yet given yourself permission to solve. I recommend pure, unadulterated anger and contempt for its cleansing powers! Like bleach for the soul, really. Also, lifting heavy weights.