Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13253323 times)

Squirrel away

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11000 on: October 28, 2015, 10:30:47 AM »
You know, if money really were no object I could easily spend over £1 million on housing. I'd buy a medium sized house with a bit of land (large garden and a bit of woodland) in the country somewhere like Suffolk with a decent train service into Victoria/Waterloo and then a teeny pied-a-terre right in the middle of London. Seriously, that's my £2 million gone right there.

So I reckon £3 million would totally set me up - £2 million to buy my house and flat, and then £1 million to cover all the expenses I could ever want.

I was saying that the other day. I would like a place by the sea as well as a small flat in central London if we wanted to have a night out and not travel home.:P

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11001 on: October 28, 2015, 10:53:50 AM »
People shouldn't talk on their phones near me... "all I have is my Army retirement, which is fine as long unless the government goes tits-up, which there's a good chance of that happening...."
So his greatest worry when the government with the mightiest army in the world, not even counting thousands of nuclear weapons, is going "tits up" is his pension?
He hasn't got fantasy, does he?

Or I might just not understand tits up, me little foreigner me.

Nope, you nailed it.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11002 on: October 28, 2015, 10:55:43 AM »
The call center at my workplace is staffed with kids, who of course spend every second of off-time on their phones.  Within the week I've witnessed the following:

Girl at the cafeteria cash register talking to her "bae" while juggling a huge Coach bag and three cups of ice, phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder.  The phone slipped out.  Of course she dropped everything to rescue the Precious.  Ice got all over the floor and the contents of her purse went everywhere.  She actually carried on the conversation amidst the mess until someone shamed her into cleaning it up (and shot a very dirty look at the shamer, which was not me BTW).

Another girl busily texting walked headlong into the exit doors.  She literally bounced off the door onto her back, somehow not cracking her head.  She took a breath, got up, and continued texting.

A guy busily texting tripped over a maintenance man's vacuum wire and fell flat on this face.  Since he was more concerned about protecting his phone than his face, he had quite the nosebleed.

Girl Genius Number 3, busily texting while tottering on very high heels on uneven ground, took a wrong step, resulting in a header into the street.  If a car had been coming she would have been a red slick on the pavement. 

This is a higher-than-usual spate of incidents, but I see something like this at least once a week.




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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11003 on: October 28, 2015, 11:19:42 AM »
The call center at my workplace is staffed with kids, who of course spend every second of off-time on their phones.  Within the week I've witnessed the following:

Girl at the cafeteria cash register talking to her "bae" while juggling a huge Coach bag and three cups of ice, phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder.  The phone slipped out.  Of course she dropped everything to rescue the Precious.  Ice got all over the floor and the contents of her purse went everywhere.  She actually carried on the conversation amidst the mess until someone shamed her into cleaning it up (and shot a very dirty look at the shamer, which was not me BTW).

Another girl busily texting walked headlong into the exit doors.  She literally bounced off the door onto her back, somehow not cracking her head.  She took a breath, got up, and continued texting.

A guy busily texting tripped over a maintenance man's vacuum wire and fell flat on this face.  Since he was more concerned about protecting his phone than his face, he had quite the nosebleed.

Girl Genius Number 3, busily texting while tottering on very high heels on uneven ground, took a wrong step, resulting in a header into the street.  If a car had been coming she would have been a red slick on the pavement. 

This is a higher-than-usual spate of incidents, but I see something like this at least once a week.

Darwin's theory at work, but not quite successful?

http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/

MrMoogle

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11004 on: October 28, 2015, 11:22:24 AM »
People shouldn't talk on their phones near me... "all I have is my Army retirement, which is fine as long unless the government goes tits-up, which there's a good chance of that happening...."
So his greatest worry when the government with the mightiest army in the world, not even counting thousands of nuclear weapons, is going "tits up" is his pension?
He hasn't got fantasy, does he?

Or I might just not understand tits up, me little foreigner me.

If I said that, it would mean I'm not worried at all.

MandalayVA

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11005 on: October 28, 2015, 11:29:55 AM »

Darwin's theory at work, but not quite successful?

http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/

Why no one here's won a Darwin Award is beyond me, and what blows my mind is how often the dropper/tripper goes right back to texting.  Then there are the ones who walk into people and don't even apologize, often glaring at whoever they walked into.  One girl made the mistake of doing that to me and I tore her a new one.  After that if I saw her all I had to do was clear my throat--since obviously she wasn't looking up--and she'd scurry away.  I'm so mean.  :D

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11006 on: October 28, 2015, 11:40:27 AM »
A fellow grad student and I live about 3 miles away from a class that's three times a week.  I usually bike to class, but occasionally I am lazy and take the bus.  In my town, a one-way bus-ride costs about $2.50, or if you're a regular user you can get a monthly bus pass for $35 (which would work out to about $1.50 each way to/from class, assuming you never take public transportation for anything else ever).

Anyway I found out yesterday that this other grad student takes Uber every day to/from class.  Horrified, I asked him if that wasn't a bit expensive?  His reply - well, it's only a few dollars more than the bus per ride..
Holy fuck! Has he ever studied math?

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11007 on: October 28, 2015, 11:56:30 AM »
A fellow grad student and I live about 3 miles away from a class that's three times a week.  I usually bike to class, but occasionally I am lazy and take the bus.  In my town, a one-way bus-ride costs about $2.50, or if you're a regular user you can get a monthly bus pass for $35 (which would work out to about $1.50 each way to/from class, assuming you never take public transportation for anything else ever).

Anyway I found out yesterday that this other grad student takes Uber every day to/from class.  Horrified, I asked him if that wasn't a bit expensive?  His reply - well, it's only a few dollars more than the bus per ride..
Holy fuck! Has he ever studied math?

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11008 on: October 28, 2015, 12:12:39 PM »
So his greatest worry when the government with the mightiest army in the world, not even counting thousands of nuclear weapons, is going "tits up" is his pension?
He hasn't got fantasy, does he?

Or I might just not understand tits up, me little foreigner me.
I live in the part of the country where the idea of being forced to hole up in a country house with a few people you love, armed to the teeth and defending your stockpile of canned goods and ammunition against a populace gone mad, is not merely acceptable but actually gives people giant, throbbing erections.

So yes, losing the government check would be pretty much the only downside.

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.
Fine Arts.

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11009 on: October 28, 2015, 12:21:30 PM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.
Fine Arts.

English.

MandalayVA

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11010 on: October 28, 2015, 12:23:20 PM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Sociology.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11011 on: October 28, 2015, 12:31:22 PM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Sociology.

I read that as Scientology. Made me laugh. Dunno why.

My guess: "General Arts and Sciences; Major Undefined."

Can you do that in grad school? I thought that was a uniquely undergraduate way to waste time and money.

mtn

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11012 on: October 28, 2015, 12:48:49 PM »
One of the following:
A: Polynesian Underwater Basket Weaving
B: Alternate Methods of Public Transportation

Pooperman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11013 on: October 28, 2015, 01:00:12 PM »
How about something somewhat techy but made for a business student (because let's be honest, this person is a business student of some kind, Business Admin or otherwise). I'll guess BIS (Business Information Systems).

mm1970

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11014 on: October 28, 2015, 01:28:06 PM »
The call center at my workplace is staffed with kids, who of course spend every second of off-time on their phones.  Within the week I've witnessed the following:

Girl at the cafeteria cash register talking to her "bae" while juggling a huge Coach bag and three cups of ice, phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder.  The phone slipped out.  Of course she dropped everything to rescue the Precious.  Ice got all over the floor and the contents of her purse went everywhere.  She actually carried on the conversation amidst the mess until someone shamed her into cleaning it up (and shot a very dirty look at the shamer, which was not me BTW).

Another girl busily texting walked headlong into the exit doors.  She literally bounced off the door onto her back, somehow not cracking her head.  She took a breath, got up, and continued texting.

A guy busily texting tripped over a maintenance man's vacuum wire and fell flat on this face.  Since he was more concerned about protecting his phone than his face, he had quite the nosebleed.

Girl Genius Number 3, busily texting while tottering on very high heels on uneven ground, took a wrong step, resulting in a header into the street.  If a car had been coming she would have been a red slick on the pavement. 

This is a higher-than-usual spate of incidents, but I see something like this at least once a week.
God, a little off topic - but I was walking the kids to school today with the neighbor.  Between the two of us, she and I were walking 5 kids to school.  One mine, two hers, two the other neighbors.

Anyway, she was talking about how she's trying to line up babysitters for the PTA meeting (we are required to provide babysitting).  Our best sitter went out of state to college.  My friend says "I don't know about these young kids.  They never answer the phone.  They don't e-mail you back.  Most of them won't even text me back."  Now, I sort of understand the whole texting thing now - even me, at age 45, will text before phone at this point.  But my friend had a point - she seriously wonders about this generation's ability to interact with people face to face or on the phone.  How will they function at work?  IM only?

It was an interesting conversation.  (My friend is 57.  She doesn't really like to text but will do it if necessary to line up a sitter!)

Goldielocks

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11015 on: October 28, 2015, 04:15:21 PM »
The call center at my workplace is staffed with kids, who of course spend every second of off-time on their phones.  Within the week I've witnessed the following:

Girl at the cafeteria cash register talking to her "bae" while juggling a huge Coach bag and three cups of ice, phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder.  The phone slipped out.  Of course she dropped everything to rescue the Precious.

..... 

This is a higher-than-usual spate of incidents, but I see something like this at least once a week.
God, a little off topic - but I was walking the kids to school today with the neighbor.  Between the two of us, she and I were walking 5 kids to school.  One mine, two hers, two the other neighbors.

Anyway, she was talking about how she's trying to line up babysitters for the PTA meeting (we are required to provide babysitting).  Our best sitter went out of state to college.  My friend says "I don't know about these young kids.  They never answer the phone.  They don't e-mail you back.  Most of them won't even text me back."  Now, I sort of understand the whole texting thing now - even me, at age 45, will text before phone at this point.  But my friend had a point - she seriously wonders about this generation's ability to interact with people face to face or on the phone.  How will they function at work?  IM only?

It was an interesting conversation.  (My friend is 57.  She doesn't really like to text but will do it if necessary to line up a sitter!)

At work, many "untrained" persons will:

1) Answer the work phone with a sullen or bored voiced "hullo..."   Not state their name when they pick up.  How would you even know you connected with a business, let alone the right person when you just get a "..hullo.."?   External client or subconsultant calls are about 30% of all calls they answer directly.

2) Not answer the phone.  This one is a funny story.  We went to an air diving training center as part of a birthday present on a Saturday.  The outer yard gate was locked on weekends (as they share with other industrial tenants), so you had to call the reception to send someone to let you in. Turns out, the receptionist only answers texts, though.   I gather our waiting out there for 25 minutes, while calling about 4 times, per the posted sign, and causing their "flight schedules" to be late while the tour leader waited for us to arrive, was not the first time that the receptionist had to be reminded to "answer the phone, as it is your job...! "  Even funnier was that the entire office area was only 8 ft x 20 ft in size with a tiny storage closet at the rear.  There was no way to miss the (softly) ringing phone.

Threshkin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11016 on: October 28, 2015, 04:17:30 PM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.
Fine Arts.

English.

Economics  (or Gender Studies)

solon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11017 on: October 28, 2015, 05:58:47 PM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.
Fine Arts.

English.

Economics  (or Gender Studies)

No. The guy has problems with math. Got to be an MBA student.

Astatine

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11018 on: October 28, 2015, 06:35:07 PM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.
Fine Arts.

I'm going with Liberal Arts (well, we call it an arts degree in my country, but I try to speak the main forum dialect outside of the journals).

intirb

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11019 on: October 28, 2015, 10:18:50 PM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..

englyn

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11020 on: October 28, 2015, 10:30:05 PM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Statistics. He understands the maths, really, he can just twist it to justify whatever he wants it to.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11021 on: October 29, 2015, 04:29:20 AM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..

Physics? He understands mathematics but not the real world.

Eric222

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11022 on: October 29, 2015, 05:50:10 AM »
Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Statistics. He understands the maths, really, he can just twist it to justify whatever he wants it to.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics...

YoungGranny

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11023 on: October 29, 2015, 07:42:03 AM »
"I'm buying a new car so I'm going to make sure to get exactly what I want...it's only $5k to get the extra features I want so that's definitely worth it."

runningthroughFIRE

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11024 on: October 29, 2015, 07:47:09 AM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..
Actuarial science?  He understands the math, but he's going to die from something anyways, so why not?

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11025 on: October 29, 2015, 08:07:15 AM »

I live in the part of the country where the idea of being forced to hole up in a country house with a few people you love, armed to the teeth and defending your stockpile of canned goods and ammunition against a populace gone mad, is not merely acceptable but actually gives people giant, throbbing erections.
[/quote]

Yeah we have those characters here too. Not many of them but they are very real. A coworker subscribed to all the reigious and political conspiracy theories about the gov't buying up all the ammo, Barack Obama coming for his guns, signs of the end of times, etc. He bought a thousand+ dollars worth of ammo and gun(s) at the height of prices.

Now a few years later I wonder if the coworker ignores the reality that he and his were badly wrong or if he just puts it out of his mind? I think a second CW shamed him into silence. CW2 is good friends with CW1 and has same cultural and political background as CW1 but CW2 let be known during idle chat at work one day that he thought all those conspiracy theories was a bunch of **** without knowing CW1 believed in them. CW1 never said another thing about them to me.

We've lost friends to these rampant conservative conspiracy theories. Just had to give up on these friends and move on. These are educated people....

On another note: found out why CW1 won't bring food from home for lunch. He rejects any and all leftovers. His wife stopped by work and said my leftovers smelled GOOD and lamented that CW1 wouldn't eat leftovers. Daily fastfood however is appealing to him. Am not a food snob but fastfood is just terrible more than once in a blue moon. We have a dozen or more FF establishments in this town and they all serve versions of the same things.

jinga nation

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11026 on: October 29, 2015, 08:12:34 AM »
I live in the part of the country where the idea of being forced to hole up in a country house with a few people you love, armed to the teeth and defending your stockpile of canned goods and ammunition against a populace gone mad, is not merely acceptable but actually gives people giant, throbbing erections.

So yes, losing the government check would be pretty much the only downside.

It's the same where I work too, a West Central Florida AF Base. I had one co-worker who would constantly buy guns and knives and he was happy that his stay-at-home wife would complain that the bank balance is zero. I told him you have only 2 hands to fight with, so why do you need so many weapons? He asked me to stop using logic, he gets enough of "that shit" at home.
Guys go crazy when ammo is on sale, because Obama is going to ban it. Never mind that the 2nd Amendment is to the guys' advantage.
Able-bodied men getting physical disability checks, folks trying to game the system. "Don't hate the player, hate the game" is the common refrain. If you heard the conversations, you'd lose it.
No wonder we're fucked as a nation. Hey Trump, the financial rapists are already part of the system.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11027 on: October 29, 2015, 08:55:55 AM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..

Operations Research?  (my master's is in engineering management, so I had to take probability)

Or Biology?

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11028 on: October 29, 2015, 12:06:53 PM »
"I'm $65k USD underwater on the house (3 mortgages).  Can't believe I was shopping for $1,000 suits and now I'm filing bankruptcy."
He was let go from a low six figure job, obviously no savings of any kind...

Pooplips

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11029 on: October 29, 2015, 01:06:24 PM »

Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..

Operations Research?  (my master's is in engineering management, so I had to take probability)

Or Biology?

Womens Studies.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11030 on: October 29, 2015, 01:36:03 PM »

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..
Dammit!

Umm... history?

Pooperman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11031 on: October 29, 2015, 02:20:39 PM »
So we had a benefits discussion at work in preparation for open enrollment and transition to our new overlords' medical plan. We have a HDHP that turns out to be a sweet deal ($1800 for the year for me and DW, they put in $3k towards the HSA, payroll deductible HSA contributions, etc). So one of the guys joked that his wife was gonna go to Khols and buy stuff with the HSA. The representative didn't mention how you can withdraw at 65 like an IRA, typical stuff. Anyways, just people not understanding how it works and freaking out. The representative did a decent job considering.

$6000 oop maximum for in network stuff ( everything else covered). 50% of out of network stuff covered after maximum and all preventative things are covered 100%. Not bad I think.

intirb

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11032 on: October 29, 2015, 02:27:48 PM »


Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..


Or Biology?

We have a winner, folks.

jorjor

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11033 on: October 29, 2015, 02:36:51 PM »
So we had a benefits discussion at work in preparation for open enrollment and transition to our new overlords' medical plan. We have a HDHP that turns out to be a sweet deal ($1800 for the year for me and DW, they put in $3k towards the HSA, payroll deductible HSA contributions, etc). So one of the guys joked that his wife was gonna go to Khols and buy stuff with the HSA. The representative didn't mention how you can withdraw at 65 like an IRA, typical stuff. Anyways, just people not understanding how it works and freaking out. The representative did a decent job considering.

$6000 oop maximum for in network stuff ( everything else covered). 50% of out of network stuff covered after maximum and all preventative things are covered 100%. Not bad I think.

One positive to my job: Working as a health insurance actuary with a bunch of other health insurance actuaries as co-workers means that everyone knows this stuff really well. If they don't know it really well, there are literally 25 people you can ask along the hallway that will know it better than most HR benefits reps.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11034 on: October 29, 2015, 05:06:28 PM »
Coworker told me today that his commute was two hours each way.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2015, 11:43:09 AM by crispy »

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11035 on: October 29, 2015, 05:08:19 PM »
Seriously?  Biology?  What kind of Biology?  I'm a biologist.  And certain areas of Biology really need math - stats, life tables, population modeling, all sorts of things.  Of course the really strong math biologists often do a math major and biology minor.

 


Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..


Or Biology?

We have a winner, folks.

Goldielocks

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11036 on: October 29, 2015, 05:08:57 PM »

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..
Dammit!

Umm... history?

It's so obvious.

Political science.
Who else crusades for the little guy while taking Uber 5 blocks, doesn't calculate the obvious, and takes a lot of grad studies?


Asdfg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11037 on: October 30, 2015, 02:40:55 AM »
Coworker told me today that his commute is two hours each way.  Coworker makes less than 30K a year and drives an SUV.  I just didn't even know what to say.

I just learned exactly the same yesterday. Just replace the SUV with a BMW worth 50k. Meaning she has taken debt for the car, too. She is a reasonable person but her husband works in the car business, so I guess it has been his idea that she will need this kind of car. I'm not sure if I should try to talk some sense to her because I'm pretty sure she would understand and possibly even change the car, but then again, it's none of my business...

Seppia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11038 on: October 30, 2015, 03:56:48 AM »
Trying to do good to people has never been a bad idea in my opinion.

pancakes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11039 on: October 30, 2015, 04:03:29 AM »
Someone I work with just did 2 years worth of tax returns at once for themselves and their significant other and is bragging about the huge return.

It is a lot of money and I know they need it for their family so am genuinely happy they have found it.

But...

The main reason their tax returns are so large is that they both had opted out of claiming the "tax free threshold" on their primary jobs. It works out at around $580/month combined that they opted to have paid as a lump sum at the end of 2 years (due to not filing in the previous year) rather than getting it in their pay each month. I know they had been redrawing from their home loan during the year because they were short on cash which makes it all the more ludicrous to me.

I questioned it and was told that they had decided to do it this way so they would have 'forced savings'. The advantage of being able to pay that money towards their mortgage or put it into other investments starting from two years ago doesn't seem to be a consideration at all.

nanu

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11040 on: October 30, 2015, 04:41:34 AM »
I questioned it and was told that they had decided to do it this way so they would have 'forced savings'
What I want to know is what are they going to do with these "forced savings". Call me a cynic, but something tells me they aren't going to put all of that money into their mortgage/IRA/stocks...

And to be fair, "forced savings" isn't a bad thing as it forces you to live on less than you make (assuming you don't carry CC debt or pull money from your HELOC).
However, doing it by setting up regularly scheduled transfers out of your account on the same day you get paid to a savings/investment account is much better than giving your dear old Uncle Sam an interest free loan.

pancakes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11041 on: October 30, 2015, 04:56:57 AM »
I questioned it and was told that they had decided to do it this way so they would have 'forced savings'
What I want to know is what are they going to do with these "forced savings". Call me a cynic, but something tells me they aren't going to put all of that money into their mortgage/IRA/stocks...
I asked and the answer was back into the loan but though out the day there were lots of "I can afford x now", x typically being a luxury good or upgrade of something that doesn't need replacing.

I am happy for them as I said as they were going through a rough financial patch and this money would mean a lot to them. I do wonder if they would have had the rough patch if the extra money had been coming in the whole time.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11042 on: October 30, 2015, 09:45:52 AM »
Someone I work with just did 2 years worth of tax returns at once for themselves and their significant other and is bragging about the huge return.

The main reason their tax returns are so large...

If I may be a pedant for just a minute: please avoid conflating "tax return" (the document you file) and "tax refund" (the repayment of any surplus withholding). Thanks. :)

mm1970

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11043 on: October 30, 2015, 12:08:45 PM »


Let's try to guess his major. Winner gets bragging rights. My guess: MBA student.

Haha, you guys crack me up.  No one's got the major yet.

To add some fuel to the fire though, we were going to a graduate-level class in probability.  So yeah, this guy has taken math classes before..


Or Biology?

We have a winner, folks.
Yay, I win!  I admit I googled "what majors include classes in probability", and biology seemed to be a good fit on the list.

notquitefrugal

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11044 on: October 31, 2015, 05:44:13 PM »
I helped a new coworker enroll in the 401k. He freaked out when he saw the list of about 20 funds and had to take a mental health break. "I was a humanities major so I would never have to deal with this crap." Sensing the severity of the situation, I steered him towards a target date fund even though the expense ratio is a lot higher than the index funds offered in our plan. (A discussion about expense ratios would have likely triggered another freakout.) Finally got him signed up, contributing more than the minimum to get the full match, and he breathes a sigh of relief and says something about how socialism is greatly underappreciated.

Squirrel away

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11045 on: November 01, 2015, 04:11:29 AM »
I helped a new coworker enroll in the 401k. He freaked out when he saw the list of about 20 funds and had to take a mental health break. "I was a humanities major so I would never have to deal with this crap." Sensing the severity of the situation, I steered him towards a target date fund even though the expense ratio is a lot higher than the index funds offered in our plan. (A discussion about expense ratios would have likely triggered another freakout.) Finally got him signed up, contributing more than the minimum to get the full match, and he breathes a sigh of relief and says something about how socialism is greatly underappreciated.

That is good that you helped him, I think a lot of people are intimidated by financial information so they just bury their heads in the sand.

Pinch of salt

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11046 on: November 01, 2015, 04:14:42 AM »

You know, if money really were no object I could easily spend over £1 million on housing. I'd buy a medium sized house with a bit of land (large garden and a bit of woodland) in the country somewhere like Suffolk with a decent train service into Victoria/Waterloo and then a teeny pied-a-terre right in the middle of London. Seriously, that's my £2 million gone right there.

So I reckon £3 million would totally set me up - £2 million to buy my house and flat, and then £1 million to cover all the expenses I could ever want.

I was saying that the other day. I would like a place by the sea as well as a small flat in central London if we wanted to have a night out and not travel home.:P

If only the starting price of a flat at 1 Hyde Park was a trillion pounds, that would be my choice, overlooking the park. And a little villa in Italy. I am so anti-mustachian :-)

Squirrel away

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11047 on: November 01, 2015, 05:08:46 AM »

You know, if money really were no object I could easily spend over £1 million on housing. I'd buy a medium sized house with a bit of land (large garden and a bit of woodland) in the country somewhere like Suffolk with a decent train service into Victoria/Waterloo and then a teeny pied-a-terre right in the middle of London. Seriously, that's my £2 million gone right there.

So I reckon £3 million would totally set me up - £2 million to buy my house and flat, and then £1 million to cover all the expenses I could ever want.

I was saying that the other day. I would like a place by the sea as well as a small flat in central London if we wanted to have a night out and not travel home.:P

If only the starting price of a flat at 1 Hyde Park was a trillion pounds, that would be my choice, overlooking the park. And a little villa in Italy. I am so anti-mustachian :-)

I've never been to Italy but that sounds gorgeous.:)

Seppia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11048 on: November 01, 2015, 06:09:39 AM »
I'm from Italy and trust me, instead of one Villa you would want to own three apartments: one in Rome, one in the alps, and one on the beach (I would probably pick Sicily or Sardinia).
Italy is so freaking diverse you would love a piece of everything.

BarbeRiche

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11049 on: November 01, 2015, 11:17:51 AM »
A colleague of my gf refused a full time teacher's job in University which would be a lot less stressful and a lot more free time throughout the year.

She said 100k/year wasn't enough.  She has no children but she drives a luxury car and has a nice condo and nice cottage around an expensive lake area.  Nice clothes to go with that.

And it's not like she was making 500k, the set back wouldn't be all that big.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!