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you're shrinking?Me (walks up to the homeowner holding a clipboard): Hello, I'll be working on your patio today!
Old Lady: Is it just you? I thought they were sending someone taller
Me: Nope, it's just me
Old Lady: Well, if you think you can handle it! Last year they sent someone taller that was more in charge.
Me: Yes, that was me.
No, every time I work here (this is my third time back) I have one of the high schoolers with me. She assumes they are in charge.
Old people don't think too highly of hippies.
I'm coming with you next time! What could go wrong?
Awwwwwwwww yeah
Signs that the Apocalypse May Be Averted:
I was able to order toilet paper from Amazon today.
Not my preferred brand, but still, it keeps me from having to go to Target.
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Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!
Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!
LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
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Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
Right after they finished restoring the gold leaf dome on San Francisco city hall, I had a meeting in the building for work (back when I still worked with the nursing home company). They spent $300 million on restoring the building. In the bathrooms? The worst industrial-grade single-ply. And all I could think was, "Wow, what a metaphor."
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My old roommate from college posted about Ian Holm on FB, and I commented that I was dreading telling Hermione and Val that Frodo had died, and couldn't I just tell them that he went to live on a farm in the country somewhere? Because they know Holm primarily as Frodo in the BBC Radio adaptation of LOTR.
So one of our old crowd immediately corrects me with "Bilbo, not Frodo".
And I'm like, "B****, don't you dare correct me because I AM ALWAYS RIGHT."
Except I didn't, because I want people to like me.
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Signs that the Apocalypse May Be Averted:
I was able to order toilet paper from Amazon today.
Not my preferred brand, but still, it keeps me from having to go to Target.
We ordered from Amazon. It arrived in a WalMart box. With an Amazon shipping label.
We ordered from Amazon. It arrived in a WalMart box. With an Amazon shipping label.Signs that the Apocalypse May Be Averted:
I was able to order toilet paper from Amazon today.
Not my preferred brand, but still, it keeps me from having to go to Target.
Yeah, a *LOT* of people are making ends meet by buying stuff at Wal*Mart and then selling it through Amazon.
When Impus Minor's peanut butter ran out the same thing happened to us: We got a 12-pack of peanut butter from Wal*Mart, except one jar was Safeway Select, and was (of course) inedible.
So on the one hand, if someone's putting on a 15% markup to make ends meet, I'll go ahead and pay it, but the Charmin (our favorite brand) was at a 100% markup through third-party sellers and at that point my feeling is, "Nope. I'll support a convenience fee, but not price gouging."
And the difference is somewhere between 15% and 100%.
OK. Honestly closer to 15% and 30%.
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Right after they finished restoring the gold leaf dome on San Francisco city hall, I had a meeting in the building for work (back when I still worked with the nursing home company). They spent $300 million on restoring the building. In the bathrooms? The worst industrial-grade single-ply. And all I could think was, "Wow, what a metaphor."Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
Yeah. We charged students $1000 a day for our technical training courses. Free coffee and Danishes in the morning, catered lunch. But the custodians put the industrial-grade 1-ply in the bathrooms, and when we complained that we couldn't be treating our students that way, the response was, "Then buy it yourself, because we're not changing."
I think custodians get a kick out of putting that stuff in high-end buildings...
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My old roommate from college posted about Ian Holm on FB, and I commented that I was dreading telling Hermione and Val that Frodo had died, and couldn't I just tell them that he went to live on a farm in the country somewhere? Because they know Holm primarily as Frodo in the BBC Radio adaptation of LOTR.
So one of our old crowd immediately corrects me with "Bilbo, not Frodo".
And I'm like, "B****, don't you dare correct me because I AM ALWAYS RIGHT."
Except I didn't, because I want people to like me.
please correct me if I am wrong, it will not cause me to dislike you.
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We ordered from Amazon. It arrived in a WalMart box. With an Amazon shipping label.Signs that the Apocalypse May Be Averted:
I was able to order toilet paper from Amazon today.
Not my preferred brand, but still, it keeps me from having to go to Target.
Yeah, a *LOT* of people are making ends meet by buying stuff at Wal*Mart and then selling it through Amazon.
When Impus Minor's peanut butter ran out the same thing happened to us: We got a 12-pack of peanut butter from Wal*Mart, except one jar was Safeway Select, and was (of course) inedible.
So on the one hand, if someone's putting on a 15% markup to make ends meet, I'll go ahead and pay it, but the Charmin (our favorite brand) was at a 100% markup through third-party sellers and at that point my feeling is, "Nope. I'll support a convenience fee, but not price gouging."
And the difference is somewhere between 15% and 100%.
OK. Honestly closer to 15% and 30%.
When we saw this we double-checked the order on Amazon. It was not through a reseller or a "fulfilled by" situation. It was Amazon. Amazon Prime. According to the order, no third party should have been involved at all. But I have a WalMart box with an official Amazon shipping label now collecting our other cardboard recycling.
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In other news, Arawn knows this place is bad enough, but (no offence) I'm really, really glad I don't have to cope directly with the US government at this point in time...Yeah, we have the luxury of being able to leave, but the discussion is Scotland (love it, but still under British rule, and why flee political persecution to another place with serious issues?) or a Nordic country. I can work anywhere in the world, but GothBard's restricted to countries with major gaming industry companies, so probably Sweden.
And we've never even been to Sweden!
(And yes, Woran, after our visit I added the Netherlands to my list of places I'd be willing to emigrate, but GothBard still isn't sold.)
We have Guerrilla Games...
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Woohoo! I've recruited child slave labor a semi-paid "intern" in the form of a friend's 16-yr-old daughter to help Aiymi for a week.
Helps the friend, because she's buried in work and taking a kid off her hands for a week is a huge help to her. Gives the siblings a break from each other. Gives the daughter some cash in her pocket. Gives Aiymi help with some stuff I don't have the time to help with.
All around should be a good set up for all involved.
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As an example of "Industrial-grade TP," I once worked in a place where the paper was the same type as the light brown paper towels. With the same thickness.Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
Ugh, industrial grade. The BANE of every state-owned bathroom. (Except probably the legislatures, cuz THEY won't put up with that stuff!) ;P
I honestly think that I would get better results if I used waxed cooking paper rather than the Tier 3 we get around here. Pretty certain,... ;P
I have gotten WalMart boxes for my last three or four orders on Amazon, starting around March 2020.
Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
Here they are graded by number of layers: 4, 3, 2, 1 (I think, I don't recall seeing single-ply except for the grey one), and grey one made out of recycled materials grade which can also substitute for mild sandpaper, and is becoming less and less common (and I stopped using it years ago, once I crawled out of debts).
Well, the joke was mainly that I simply don't look at the brand, only on quality, so I am completely unable to recall name of any brand.
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Right after they finished restoring the gold leaf dome on San Francisco city hall, I had a meeting in the building for work (back when I still worked with the nursing home company). They spent $300 million on restoring the building. In the bathrooms? The worst industrial-grade single-ply. And all I could think was, "Wow, what a metaphor."Brand? Toilet paper comes in brands?!LOLOL. There are three "tiers" of TP in the U.S.
Tier 1: The Charmin, Cottonelle, and other "high-end" TP that makes up for the fact that bidets are unknown in this country
Tier 2: The Scott's and other "mid-tier" TP that's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and good enough for most people
Tier 3: The industrial TP, which is pretty much useless for any purpose, but dirt cheap so every office, ball park, concert hall, etc., uses it.
Yeah. We charged students $1000 a day for our technical training courses. Free coffee and Danishes in the morning, catered lunch. But the custodians put the industrial-grade 1-ply in the bathrooms, and when we complained that we couldn't be treating our students that way, the response was, "Then buy it yourself, because we're not changing."
I think custodians get a kick out of putting that stuff in high-end buildings...
Well, there is something to it... That kind of power over the a**holes of rich and powerful.
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Ohhh... Wait... Freehold... Free holds (i.e. hugs)? That makes sense!
So... here's something I never hear Europeans talking about, so I'm curious.
In the U.S. of A. they take 6.2% of your paycheck for Social Security (which your employer matches to 12.4%) and 1.45% of your paycheck for Medicare (which your employer matches to 2.9%). Once you hit 65* you can receive a pittance income in return (for me it's a bit under 1/3 my working income) and some pretty crappy health insurance (seniors that can supplement Medicare, do supplement Medicare), but at least it lasts you for the rest of your life. (Assuming certain parties don't gut it even worse like they SO want to.)
How do places like Great Britain and the Netherlands manage retirement? Is there a statewide pension plan, or are you very much at the whim of your employer, as you are in the U.S.? (For reference, employers used to offer "pensions". For example, my mother worked for U.C. Berkeley and she's receiving 100% of her salary at the time she retired for the rest of her life, with adjustments for inflation. Now they offer 401(k) matching, which means that if you save money for yourself, they'll match some tiny portion of it. Global Megacorporation has 6% matching. GothBard's company has 3%. So it's pretty low. But it's 100% on the employee to manage their own savings and retirement fund.)
(I grew up in the 1980s being told, "Social Security will be gone by the time you retire, so don't plan on it," so every year around this time I work out how close I am to being able to retire at 65. The answer is, "It's going to be awfully close.")
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*: I think at the moment you have to wait until 70 to start collecting to receive your "full" benefits.
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So... here's something I never hear Europeans talking about, so I'm curious.
There are a few things taken out of your paycheck. The general social security deposit, which part of goes to the general pension of everyone. (AOW)
And employers also take a little bit extra to put towards your pension.
So when you get to your pension age, the state pays you a bit, and you get a bit extra from what your employer put aside. They generally use one of the few big firms that do pensions like that. Depending on your employment history, you might have a little bit of pension with a lot of different pension firms. Depending on what you build up, you either get a monthly payment, or a single big payment.
Pensions are a bit slim at the moment, since the costs for pension are currently high as we have more people in retirement then working.
look its a nifty graph showing we have to work trough the baby boomers
You can always supplement this by either saving up money, putting it with a pension firm (who will invest it, hopefully increasing your money), or trust that what the state and your employer put aside for you covers your pension.
So long story short: there is a state wide plan AND an employer plan.
EDIT: due to the boomers, retirement age has been pushed back from 65 to 67. A lot of boomers complain and say we should work harder so more money goes into the pension funds. Of course they conveniently forget that back in their day, they started paying for pension at age 25, while we started contributing at age 21. So while they claim *I started work when I was 16!*, they did not pay a single cent over those years.
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So... here's something I never hear Europeans talking about, so I'm curious.
In the U.S. of A. they take 6.2% of your paycheck for Social Security (which your employer matches to 12.4%) and 1.45% of your paycheck for Medicare (which your employer matches to 2.9%). Once you hit 65* you can receive a pittance income in return (for me it's a bit under 1/3 my working income) and some pretty crappy health insurance (seniors that can supplement Medicare, do supplement Medicare), but at least it lasts you for the rest of your life. (Assuming certain parties don't gut it even worse like they SO want to.)
How do places like Great Britain and the Netherlands manage retirement? Is there a statewide pension plan, or are you very much at the whim of your employer, as you are in the U.S.? (For reference, employers used to offer "pensions". For example, my mother worked for U.C. Berkeley and she's receiving 100% of her salary at the time she retired for the rest of her life, with adjustments for inflation. Now they offer 401(k) matching, which means that if you save money for yourself, they'll match some tiny portion of it. Global Megacorporation has 6% matching. GothBard's company has 3%. So it's pretty low. But it's 100% on the employee to manage their own savings and retirement fund.)
(I grew up in the 1980s being told, "Social Security will be gone by the time you retire, so don't plan on it," so every year around this time I work out how close I am to being able to retire at 65. The answer is, "It's going to be awfully close.")
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*: I think at the moment you have to wait until 70 to start collecting to receive your "full" benefits.
To chime in with what I know (I earn my living as a corporate pension consultant):
The UK mostly offers "pension schemes" that are not that dissimilar from US plans, but they are traditionally more generous. Defined benefit pensions were more common but are gradually being replaced by defined contributions, much like in the US. Healthcare/Medicare is not an issue because they have the NHS at all stages of life.
I've observed Canada and Australia moving in a similar direction (probably even moreso than the UK). Most of these systems have more structures in place to ensure that contributions are sufficient to fund retirement and people cannot access their funds early. Many of the multinationals that I consult for are shocked by the level of "leakage" in the US retirement system - the sheer number of ways our system makes it easy for people to pillage their retirement accounts with no real justification required.
A lot of Southern European countries still have state pension systems - think Social Security but with a livable check coming when you retire.
That said, I'm always interested to hear from those "on the ground" what their system actually looks like from their perspective.
Quick amendment to your post - "Full retirement" under Social Security is 67 except for those born in 1960 or later, but benefits keep increasing if you hold off to age 70. Semantics, I know.
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Freehold, I need hugs.
takes hidden passage to abscondi-cave
Thank you <3
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At Toys R Us we'd get boxes of diapers and board games from Target.
They had exclusively at Target stickers on the boxes.
So... here's something I never hear Europeans talking about, so I'm curious.
In the U.S. of A. they take 6.2% of your paycheck for Social Security (which your employer matches to 12.4%) and 1.45% of your paycheck for Medicare (which your employer matches to 2.9%). Once you hit 65* you can receive a pittance income in return (for me it's a bit under 1/3 my working income) and some pretty crappy health insurance (seniors that can supplement Medicare, do supplement Medicare), but at least it lasts you for the rest of your life. (Assuming certain parties don't gut it even worse like they SO want to.)
That work similarly here (with different percentages of earning - you pay a fraction of your earnings, employer pays some more) and you get pension that is calculated using some arcane math, based on the twenty best years of payments you made, and the current minimum (or maybe mean, not sure) wages, plus any bonuses voted by the Parliament.
Only actual employment contracts include pension and public medical service payments. If you are doing a freelance work and earning above certain threshold you should register your own business and pay business-owner rates (which have unreasonably high minimum payment), if you don't meet that threshold you pay nothing, but get no benefits either.
My current pension prospects are around a few złoty per month (I have only a half a year of employment counting for the pension), and I am unlikely to get much better.
Anyone can decide to pay more than the calculated rate and many corporations offer extra payments as benefits. There was a big push for private pension funds in the past... But the growing holes in the pension system made the government legislate draining the money from private pension funds to public pension system.
Current pension system is going deeper and deeper into debts, as the population gets older and older, the population growth goes flat, and...
... that's enough without going too deep into local populist politics.
(all numbers are monthly)
Supposedly an average pension is a bit less than a minimum wage now (around 2300, while the later is 260, before taxes). Median however is around 1600-1700.
To put the number is the context - I live easily for 1200, though it leaves me little wiggle room and no saving. I don't have multiple drugs to buy like a lot of pensioners, though, and save a lot by owning the flat I live in, instead of leasing it
Drugs: 12 years ago my 88 yo granddad was spending around 250-400 out of pension of 1850 złoty - one and half of minimum wage).
Living place: I pay 550 of administration costs, water, heating, trash removal, and repairs. Note this doesn't include electricity and/or gas, as those are separate bills paid to corresponding providers, which makes about 150 per month. It would costs around 1500 2000 (bastards write down 1500, and then in the text hide info note additional 500 for the costs I listed, again not including power) to lease comparable place in my city district according to a quick search.
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State pension, which everybody gets, which you can't live on. You pay for that via National Insurance, same as many other forms of welfare.
Also, second state pension contributions taken from your pay (2%?, as standard?), which your employer matches, but which would also be inadequate - you can top these up to whatever level you please.
Pensions paid out as a % of your final salary used to be fairly common, but are now anything but. Defined contribution is the norm.
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Height is the greatest indicator of leadership quality.
Everyone says so.
Clearly, the old woman and Vany are both Irken invaders.
Freehold, I need hugs.
{also offers hugs, slaad larvae not included}
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After I was done for the day I went over the project with the old lady and she said "That was a lot of work for one person, especially someone so small! I really thought they'd send someone taller!"
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After I was done for the day I went over the project with the old lady and she said "That was a lot of work for one person, especially someone so small! I really thought they'd send someone taller!"
You're not small! You're just far away. Really, that lady at her age should already know how forced perspective works.
On being taller
Height Matters
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"I'll probably die before I'm old enough to collect a retirement" - how Americans view retirement
(all numbers are monthly)
Supposedly an average pension is a bit less than a minimum wage now (around 2300, while the later is 260, before taxes). Median however is around 1600-1700.
To put the number is the context - I live easily for 1200, though it leaves me little wiggle room and no saving. I don't have multiple drugs to buy like a lot of pensioners, though, and save a lot by owning the flat I live in, instead of leasing it
Drugs: 12 years ago my 88 yo granddad was spending around 250-400 out of pension of 1850 złoty - one and half of minimum wage).
Living place: I pay 550 of administration costs, water, heating, trash removal, and repairs. Note this doesn't include electricity and/or gas, as those are separate bills paid to corresponding providers, which makes about 150 per month. It would costs around
15002000 (bastards write down 1500, and then in the text hide info note additional 500 for the costs I listed, again not including power) to lease comparable place in my city district according to a quick search.
So, admittedly this is a "Bay Area" thing, but for me it's:
Mortgage on the house (40% of value): $2700/monthProperty tax on the house: $1000/month
Social Security when I hit 70: $3800/month
So, if I want to keep living where I am on Social Security, I'd have to turn off the power, the gas, and the phone, and live on $100 in groceries a month.
Hmm...
EDIT: I'm also a corner case because I didn't buy a house until I was 35, then refinanced it at 50, which means my mortgage won't be paid off 'til I'm 80. I suspect I'm pretty atypical in that regard.
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On being taller
Height Matters
The most-incompetent CEO I ever worked for was 6'6" and quite handsome. I'm convinced those were his only qualifications, as he drove our company under within 2 years of taking over...
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I would offer people hugs but I'm not a hugger so it wouldn't feel authentic.
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My description of Hobgoblins to the General: They're taller goblins that like to think they have their s$@& together.
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Annnd, the microwave oven at work stopped working.Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
That sucks man. Really really sucks.
Little-known fact about Celestial Healer: I haven’t had a microwave in my house for about 5 years.
I’ve used the one at work occasionally to heat up chili, stew, etc. if I bring leftovers for lunch (rare occasion). That’s about it. They are handy in a workplace because there is usually no other heating option.
When I tell people I don’t own a microwave, they look at me like I’m some sort of Luddite alien. But I honestly don’t miss having one.
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(all numbers are monthly)
Supposedly an average pension is a bit less than a minimum wage now (around 2300, while the later is 260, before taxes). Median however is around 1600-1700.
To put the number is the context - I live easily for 1200, though it leaves me little wiggle room and no saving. I don't have multiple drugs to buy like a lot of pensioners, though, and save a lot by owning the flat I live in, instead of leasing it
Drugs: 12 years ago my 88 yo granddad was spending around 250-400 out of pension of 1850 złoty - one and half of minimum wage).
Living place: I pay 550 of administration costs, water, heating, trash removal, and repairs. Note this doesn't include electricity and/or gas, as those are separate bills paid to corresponding providers, which makes about 150 per month. It would costs around
15002000 (bastards write down 1500, and then in the text hide info note additional 500 for the costs I listed, again not including power) to lease comparable place in my city district according to a quick search.So, admittedly this is a "Bay Area" thing, but for me it's:
Mortgage on the house (40% of value): $2700/month
Property tax on the house: $1000/month
Social Security when I hit 70: $3800/monthSo, if I want to keep living where I am on Social Security, I'd have to turn off the power, the gas, and the phone, and live on $100 in groceries a month.
Hmm...
EDIT: I'm also a corner case because I didn't buy a house until I was 35, then refinanced it at 50, which means my mortgage won't be paid off 'til I'm 80. I suspect I'm pretty atypical in that regard.
Most folks in the Bay Area can't afford to buy until at least their mid-thirties, and the way the student loan system is set up, my sense is that the idea that "You're going to be in debt until you die" is so heavily ingrained in my generation, that I wouldn't think your case is all that unusual.
This is entirely conjecture on my part with no data to back it up.
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Annnd, the microwave oven at work stopped working.Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
That sucks man. Really really sucks.
Little-known fact about Celestial Healer: I haven’t had a microwave in my house for about 5 years.
I’ve used the one at work occasionally to heat up chili, stew, etc. if I bring leftovers for lunch (rare occasion). That’s about it. They are handy in a workplace because there is usually no other heating option.
When I tell people I don’t own a microwave, they look at me like I’m some sort of Luddite alien. But I honestly don’t miss having one.
We didn't have a microwave until Crookshanks bought one at a garage sale, I still hardly ever use it.
People would always try to give us one or buy one for us and I'd tell them "I can afford a microwave I just don't want one" people never understood it.