What's bugging you? ~ 2022 ~

[LouisEly]

Websites/apps that are asking for a date, particularly birthdate, but the only way you can enter is by changing the month 1 at a time. Thanks for making me press a button over 400 times.

I've seen this before, and if you click on the year it will give you a prompt to change the year. It's just not obvious that you can do that.

[owbc]

Websites/apps that are asking for a date, particularly birthdate, but the only way you can enter is by changing the month 1 at a time. Thanks for making me press a button over 400 times.

I've seen this before, and if you click on the year it will give you a prompt to change the year. It's just not obvious that you can do that.

 

I usually give websites/apps fake birthdays and other fake personal information, unless it is needed for payment or something official.

[TURBO]

Websites/apps that are asking for a date, particularly birthdate, but the only way you can enter is by changing the month 1 at a time. Thanks for making me press a button over 400 times.

I've seen this before, and if you click on the year it will give you a prompt to change the year. It's just not obvious that you can do that.

 

I usually give websites/apps fake birthdays and other fake personal information, unless it is needed for payment or something official.

 

same, no need to give out the correct information on the nonsense websites.

[GAME05]

I've definitely had a lot of 1/1/2021 birthdays. I'm very advanced for my age.

[hawing]

Many of us already know that Wisconsin is a big time political battleground state (for better or worse). A political ad that already started airing in Madison recently had some blurry jerky scenes that looked very much like my workplace.

 

I found the ad online and IT IS MY WORKPLACE - right outside my office. I remember now that a film crew came in at my library's closing time to shoot some footage. That's not unusual because our building is a historic landmark. I left for home as they were setting up props for the footage. But now that I know it was for a political ad, I'm just all ew ew EWWW.

 

(I will not disclose anything more about the ad, because forum rules, plus just the idea of our nice space being used for that grosses me out, regardless of affiliation.)

[zurch1818]

Mortgage payoff interest.

 

I sold some investments and wrote a fairly large check for the remaining principal balance.

 

Given the size of the check, I just went into the physical bank as the mortgage company is not where my checking account is and I didn't want to send it through the mail. I also wanted to pay it off before the 1st to save the interest as every other principal payment has done.

 

However, this apparently is not how it works on the payoff...and it was the last check in the book as who uses checks anymore? I would have been better off making another principal payment and keeping the remaining balance $1. That way the official payoff interest would be calculated off $1.

 

Anyway, I had enough cash on me to cover the difference. This was surprising as I only use cash in the summertime at farmer's markets and on the golf course to buy beer (to give the cart girl a chance to keep tips under-the-table).

[wallus]

People that take ESA animals out in public/stores and expect everyone else to deal with it. These people are the biggest jerks out there.

 

Actual service animals are a completely different issue obviously.

[nodakfan17]

My wife and I just bought a used Honda CRV to replace her 2007 car and I’m embarrassed to say how much we paid for it. We would have been better off buying this same car brand new off the line 4 years ago. Instead, we did the prudent thing and extracted maximum value from the car we already owned. Now we get punished for being financially responsible. This market is ridiculous.

[CheezWizHed]

yes, it is one of the rare times that being financially responsible didn't work. I just bought a 2017 GMC Acadia with 100k miles for $25k. A big upgrade from my 2006 Durango, but still... ouch. I was going to wait another year or two, but after totaling the Durango (and the other person's fault to boot...), I didn't have much choice.

[TURBO]

People that take ESA animals out in public/stores and expect everyone else to deal with it. These people are the biggest jerks out there.

 

Actual service animals are a completely different issue obviously.

 

ESA?

 

EDIT:

 

My bad, emotional support animal.

 

It is hard for me to understand how or why such a thing even exists.

 

I frequently have to laugh at what our society has become over the last decade....or two.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

People that take ESA animals out in public/stores and expect everyone else to deal with it. These people are the biggest jerks out there.

 

Actual service animals are a completely different issue obviously.

 

...and on planes... when other people have animal allergies which is quite common.

[LouisEly]

My wife and I just bought a used Honda CRV to replace her 2007 car and I’m embarrassed to say how much we paid for it. We would have been better off buying this same car brand new off the line 4 years ago. Instead, we did the prudent thing and extracted maximum value from the car we already owned. Now we get punished for being financially responsible. This market is ridiculous.

I was just thinking about this earlier today, now it is no longer bugging me at all that I was faced with either a major repair (>$2000) or trading in my 2009 Lincoln MKX three years ago next month. I wanted to get another year out of it, but decided that repair wasn't worth the erratic working/not working of my cooled driver's seat and never working heated driver's seat functions (I know, first world problems). I replaced it with a 2016 MKX bought off of Carvana; initially I was displeased because I had a number of issues with it (almost all covered by the factory or Carvana's warranty) and there was a little more cosmetic damage than they led me to believe, but now I am not regretting that decision at all even though I've only put on ~20k miles in three years because I'm no longer driving to work.

[nodakfan17]

My oldest is starting Kindergarten next year. Our local elementary school runs 8:00 am - 2:45 pm. I can’t be the only parent thinking ‘why the heck doesn’t elementary school run until at least 4:00 pm?’ We’re looking into wrap-around care options. There is no after school program. I’d pay a tidy sum each week to not have to worry about picking my kid up until 5:00 pm.

[igor67]

I'm surprised there isn't an after school program. They are pretty much universal in the Twin Cities for a variety of reasons.

[CheezWizHed]

People that take ESA animals out in public/stores and expect everyone else to deal with it. These people are the biggest jerks out there.

 

Actual service animals are a completely different issue obviously.

 

ESA?

 

EDIT:

 

My bad, emotional support animal.

 

It is hard for me to understand how or why such a thing even exists.

 

I frequently have to laugh at what our society has become over the last decade....or two.

 

There are plenty of legit reasons ESAs exist. Many soldiers suffering from PTSD have been greatly helped by having an animal nearby.

 

Of course, there are plenty of idiots that claim their pet is an ESA just so they feel right in dragging it everywhere.

 

But that doesn't detract from the real reasons they exist.

[stoutdude04]

My oldest is starting Kindergarten next year. Our local elementary school runs 8:00 am - 2:45 pm. I can’t be the only parent thinking ‘why the heck doesn’t elementary school run until at least 4:00 pm?’ We’re looking into wrap-around care options. There is no after school program. I’d pay a tidy sum each week to not have to worry about picking my kid up until 5:00 pm.

 

As an elementary school teacher I can tell you why...kids are burned out by 3.

 

We used to go 820 to 307. Was good for staff, kids, and parents. Now we go 830 to 340 and the kids have minimal effort by 3. The last 40 minutes is tough to keep them engaged.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

My oldest is starting Kindergarten next year. Our local elementary school runs 8:00 am - 2:45 pm. I can’t be the only parent thinking ‘why the heck doesn’t elementary school run until at least 4:00 pm?’ We’re looking into wrap-around care options. There is no after school program. I’d pay a tidy sum each week to not have to worry about picking my kid up until 5:00 pm.

 

As an elementary school teacher I can tell you why...kids are burned out by 3.

 

We used to go 820 to 307. Was good for staff, kids, and parents. Now we go 830 to 340 and the kids have minimal effort by 3. The last 40 minutes is tough to keep them engaged.

 

It's a fight, as working parents argue for longer school days and other things like full-day 4K and even 3K because of the cost of child care. School used to believe that it is beneficial for parents to actually spend some time with their children throughout the day. A half hour in the morning and an hour or so at night doesn't cut it. But they have relented to that working parental pressure.

[nodakfan17]

Respectfully, there are not a ton of working parents who can cut out at 2:30 pm every day. Most people are expected to work 8.5 hours and it’s tough to go without wrap-around care when elementary schools are only in session for 7 hours. I work all of my extra hours in the early morning before my son wakes up, but I still need to be available from 8:00 - 5:00 on most business days. That’s not me being a workaholic. That’s just me meeting professional expectations.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Respectfully, there are not a ton of working parents who can cut out at 2:30 pm every day. Most people are expected to work 8.5 hours and it’s tough to go without wrap-around care when elementary schools are only in session for 7 hours. I work all of my extra hours in the early morning before my son wakes up, but I still need to be available from 8:00 - 5:00 on most business days. That’s not me being a workaholic. That’s just me meeting professional expectations.

 

I get that. I'd love to not have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to start my work day at 6 a.m. in order to be able to get out at 3:15. Fortunately my workplace has been very accommodating to me having to shift my schedule around to make things work for my family. I certainly realize that is not always the case with all workplaces.

 

It is difficult for find wrap-around care I believe because professional child care providers simply don't see enough of a benefit to offering it. That payment for watching a child for an hour or so after school or before school is miniscule compared to having a different, younger child for a full day. Because childcare facilities are regulated in the number of children they can have per adult supervisor, they are always after those children who will consistently be there for the full day 5 days per week. That often leaves those only needing shorts periods of care, or periodic drop-in care, out in the cold.

 

Your oldest is too young to consider any after-school sports for a little while yet, but have you looked into if there is any sort of Boys and Girls Club? That has started to take hold in many communities around where ! live in northern Wisconsin for the same concerns that you have.

[MrTPlush]

This will only get way worse as childcare becomes even more scarce/hard to find. It is to the point in some places planning a family involves wait listing for over a year and then trying to time out having the kid when your spot comes up. I knew someone who was so desperate they paid childcare a little over a month before the child was born so they didn't have to sacrifice their spot.

[owbc]

Oh yeah, we burned hundreds of dollars on daycare deposits that we never enrolled at. We were paying over $3000/month for infant care while we were waiting for a less expensive option to open up.

 

I think almost everyone I know has decided to have fewer or no children because of the constraints associated with raising kids in the current world.

[tmwiese55]

No kids here. But as friends have talked about this and I hear those numbers and the costs, one thing that has popped in my head is where is all that money going? Because on the other hand you hear how underpaid the workers/teachers/etc are at those daycare type places. You do the math on number of kids X cost per months and it's a heck of a number Are building costs, insurance just huge for them? Is some conglomerate owner hoarding the money like in most businesses?

[GAME05]

Back went out again but since we're so short-staffed I'm at work now. Good reminder that my break from lifting needs to end. Got a hex bar to do light-weight deadlifts and amazingly my back doesn't protest against that. Hex bar helps center the weight another 4" or so more than a straight bar would.

 

Looks like I'll be interim boss in a couple months for who knows how long, a job I don't know how to do. It'll also mean permanent night shift all summer with no support.

[owbc]

No kids here. But as friends have talked about this and I hear those numbers and the costs, one thing that has popped in my head is where is all that money going? Because on the other hand you hear how underpaid the workers/teachers/etc are at those daycare type places. You do the math on number of kids X cost per months and it's a heck of a number Are building costs, insurance just huge for them? Is some conglomerate owner hoarding the money like in most businesses?

 

We concluded that the $3,000/month number that we were paying was the correct cost for running a high quality infant/toddler daycare center with properly paid employees, a reasonable teacher:student ratio, great curriculum, etc.

 

We're now paying in the low-$2000s but the new daycare constantly has "help wanted" signs outside, there are more kids per teacher, and the place is just generally more chaotic than the more expensive daycare. I am appreciative that the industry is highly-regulated because it keeps me from worrying too much.

 

We got a little taste of the numbers ourselves when we initially considered a nanny share and had to draft a contract and advertise the position. Basically, watching kids is labor intensive and labor is expensive. Hence why you don't see daycares popping up all over the place right now.

[tmwiese55]

Gotcha. Yea my question was more to say I think the workers/labor should be being paid more if it costs that much. I wasn't saying they were overpaid, I was going at it from a whether some corp/owner is making a fortune while they underpay the caregivers type view. Maybe they're making a bit more than I realize, especially if they get legit benefits. But having friends who work in this space constantly saying how little they make combined with the other end complaining how much they're paying made me wondering there's some kind of disconnect/crook/cost I'm not aware of, etc.