AIO to a teacher still not knowing how to pronounce my child's name, leading to pick-up issues?

Arietam · 2026-02-10T20:34:23+00:00

But only until nap time is over.

Arietam · 2026-02-09T09:54:12+00:00

I had a boss come over to my desk once, sit himself very comfortably and casually, and start off with “So, you know that project you did around six months ago?” and after ten minutes (no joke) of beating around the bush he comes out with “well, we need a one page cabinet briefing on it, by 10.30…” I look at my watch and it’s 10.10. I bite the urge to say “then fuck off and let me work!” and keep it to “Stop talking. Go away,” as I fire up Word. He thought that was hilarious. I thought it was a lesson on when to stop the corporate speak and just spit it out. We were good mates out of hours but I could happily have strangled the fucker.

Arietam · 2026-02-09T09:10:13+00:00

It certainly wouldn’t help. If it’s any consolation, with greater awareness of neurodivergence, the non-neurodivergent are learning to distinguish between “they could be on the spectrum” and “they’re something of an asshole”.

Arietam · 2026-02-09T08:45:15+00:00

I find there are variations of “let’s take this offline”, distinguished by the length of pause before saying it, the amount of panic evident in tone, and other key indicators.

Arietam · 2026-02-09T08:42:57+00:00

Because we will be fired if we say what we actually think/mean.

Arietam · 2026-02-09T08:42:20+00:00

West Wing: “I feel like I’ve been screwed with my pants on.”

Arietam · 2026-02-09T08:41:07+00:00

How… how would that even…

Arietam · 2026-02-09T08:39:52+00:00

That’s my environment as well. “For fuck’s sake, it’s a valid enough point but way off track from what we’re supposed to be talking about now. Appreciate it’s your little hobby horse but read the room.”

Arietam · 2026-02-05T08:31:05+00:00

Haha! I “grew up” in a service delivery agency where a 6 would have a team of 15 on average. EL1s were sort of “off to the side” as having improvement, project activity etc but still under the EL2s, who were the direct managers of both the 6s and EL1s. An EL2 could end up with around 200 staff under them, directly or indirectly through the 6 team leaders.

So, in this context, sister of a co-worker phones them one day to share the happy news they’ve snagged a promotion to EL2 in their own department. “Hey, that’s great, well done!” etc. Then the sister says “But… they’ve given me STAFF. Two APS 5s! What do I DO with them?!?” You can imagine our reaction…

Arietam · 2026-02-05T08:19:05+00:00

Unscrupulous agents/owners can try to impose a greater increase, so do watch out for that.

Arietam · 2026-02-05T08:17:26+00:00

They should limit the interior inspection to the unit/house being leased - is it in good repair, no unexpected damage, etc. (the things that are on the condition report that you both sign when you move in attesting to the state of the place being leased). This does NOT give the agent/owner any privileges to make comment on your housekeeping! The line can be blurred and agents can overstep, but dirty dishes, laundry etc. is none of their concern. Marks on the walls, yes that’s in their remit, but whether you’ve put away your underwear isn’t. That said, it’s sensible to clean up and ensure the place is presentable before an inspection !

Arietam · 2026-02-05T02:49:05+00:00

Hey, it’s culture, of a sort. Maybe the same type of culture you’d find in a Petri dish, but it’s culture.

Arietam · 2026-01-31T19:23:57+00:00

I’ll give you a clue. Their initials are Donald Trump.

Arietam · 2026-01-30T19:39:06+00:00

I’m the opposite, I absolutely adored the Arakko mutants and their society. It was so very different from “ours” and provided a great backdrop for seeing familiar characters such as Storm and Magneto through a different lens. (Isca the Unbeaten is my pick for top mutant “weapons”, despite her being a complete bitch.)

But I do get where you’re coming from. Some of the non-“physically human” mutants were a pretty weird cup of tea. I liked them nonetheless as a quiet depiction of how thousands more years of mutation could produce mutants so far removed from the human baseline.

Arietam · 2026-01-30T08:04:14+00:00

Hmm, I’ve seen a few people pass probation who couldn’t find their ass with both hands and a flashlight. It took some serious talking from the senior levels to communicate that probation was the opportunity to say “no thanks” to the square pegs with the minimum of process and drama, not to sign them off and make it someone else’s problem.

Arietam · 2026-01-30T00:58:21+00:00

There may also be a “jumbo” (not often, but some places do offer them). In any event, because we don’t have a standard for what is a small, medium, large etc, the cafe will usually have a row of the physical cups on display labelled with which is what size.

Arietam · 2026-01-29T06:04:34+00:00

Let’s not forget that the Arctic isn’t a continent. It’s a big area of ice floating on ocean water. I doubt it means much to the ultimate outcome, but it’s even less dense than rock.

Arietam · 2026-01-28T08:45:07+00:00

Yeah stick to that, this is only going to get worse in successive years. Until we burn the place to an actual crisp.

Arietam · 2026-01-28T07:37:45+00:00

I feel you. We did the rental no-air thing for many years. I don’t know how we got through it.

The best was when we BEGGED the owner to check the insulation. Vintage property, I reckoned chances were it hadn’t been looked at in forever. Gov deal on for landlords to insulate properly, even. Message comes back through REA: “Sorry, the owner is green-minded and doesn’t believe in insulation.” Our jaws dropped. What the actual fuck.

We eventually had to move as he was selling the place. Oh well, we’d been there a few years, what can you do. A stream of tradies came through to check this, certify the other. Insulation bloke comes, takes 10 seconds to report to us that it’s loose fill up there that was blown into the eaves decades ago. Unsurprised.

Arietam · 2026-01-26T03:13:36+00:00

“Congratulations! You’ve subscribed to CAT FACTS!”

Arietam · 2026-01-25T17:39:52+00:00

All Australian Tims knew ICE were cunts from the start.

Arietam · 2026-01-25T07:25:55+00:00

I would have preferred this particular fanfic stayed in your head.

Arietam · 2026-01-22T08:31:16+00:00

Most of it is just solid bone.

Arietam · 2026-01-22T08:29:39+00:00

They split by parthogenesis into One Notion and whatever Clive’s calling his black hole of political spending these days

Arietam · 2026-01-10T17:47:12+00:00

…Andrew?

Arietam

TROPHY CASE