Overheard at Work

[Chris22]

I'm trying to piece together the puzzle of a client's books and prior year tax return and I get this in response:

"I needed to show a lot of income on the tax return so that we could qualify for a bigger house."

I'm dying here... W... T... F.

In fairness, my broker told me that if I claimed things like significant unreimbursed business expenses, that would decrease my available income that would be used in my D:I metrics for affording my house.  The idea being that you'd have to spend that money every year so it wouldn't be available for mortgage payments.  That did keep my from claiming ~$1000 of mileage from my wife driving back and forth between offices unreimbursed, but I don't think it actually made a tangible difference to either my return or my mortgage qual.

That probably cost you anywhere from nothing to a few hundred and probably qualified you for 5k more on your loan. Depends on a lot of things.
I've encountered situations where taking full advantage of deductible expenses did hinder me on the DTI calculation, but to be honest, if you're in a marginal scenario you probably shouldn't be trying to qualify for more anyway. (probably being the key word)

I was marginal only in the sense that I have multiple properties and couldn't use rental income as income because I lacked the required history (it's pretty recent).

[mm1970]

Some tales of commute silliness.

A couple weekends ago, chatting with a friend of a friend at a party, she remarks that she commutes from town A to town B.  The distance is not measured in miles, but *hours*, I think she said 1 1/2 hours commute if she leaves so that she arrives by 7am.  The part that hurts my head is she used to live in town B.  Wha.....?

Then there is my co-worker who is actually getting close to (normal age) retirement, maybe in the next year or so.  She has been commuting 2 hours to & from work for DECADES!  How in the heck does one keep up with that lifestyle?  The lifestyle with no free time???

Is she overweight?  Because seriously, the worst part about no free time is no time to work out.

[mm1970]

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if it's a compliment, I just don't like people commenting on what I'm eating. It feels like an invasion of privacy or something.

I agree. My choice of food shouldn't be a source of entertainment for others.

I've never had a problem with people commenting on my homemade lunch, because I always comment on their lunches too. Seems like harmless lunchtime office conversation to me. I don't know how it can get on some people's nerves. I just smile broadly and say "Yep! Made my own lunch again today. Where'd you buy yours?" and inwardly smile at how expensive their food usually is.

You know how some people comment on your clothing, etc?  Well, I don't.  I like food, it's an interest and a hobby of mine - what can I say?  Always looking for new ideas.

[NoraLenderbee]

And last year, they were hit with an extra tax bill of $13K because "Obamacare", and "somebody has to pay for all those subsidies". I could not for the life of me figure out what this is, because it's not the tax penalty for going uninsured. At first I thought it might be the Cadillac tax, but that doesn't start until 2018?

It's likely an additional Medicare tax that no married couple pays until after they have > $250K in taxable income. So while it sucks to pay an additional $13K, that equates to a very, very large amount of income so don't get out your violin just yet. The tax is either 0.9% of earned taxable income > $250K, or 3.8% of investment income > $250K. Let's assume it's the higher of the two tax rates. This means in order to pay $13K in additional medicare tax from Obamacare: $13,000 / 3.8% = $342,105 investment income in excess of the $250K taxable income threshold.

So either your CW is lying, confused about exactly where the taxes came from, didn't explain it properly, or made a shit ton of money, like $600K + and can afford to subsidize a few people.

Or owed $13K for a completely unrelated reason (capital gains, underwithholding) and finds Obamacare a convenient scapegoat.

[myhotrs]

Or her accountant does...

[11ducks]

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if it's a compliment, I just don't like people commenting on what I'm eating. It feels like an invasion of privacy or something.

I agree. My choice of food shouldn't be a source of entertainment for others.

I've never had a problem with people commenting on my homemade lunch, because I always comment on their lunches too. Seems like harmless lunchtime office conversation to me. I don't know how it can get on some people's nerves. I just smile broadly and say "Yep! Made my own lunch again today. Where'd you buy yours?" and inwardly smile at how expensive their food usually is.

You know how some people comment on your clothing, etc?  Well, I don't.  I like food, it's an interest and a hobby of mine - what can I say?  Always looking for new ideas.

Aargh- I used to sit opposite the most negative, draining woman ever. She was overweight,  loudly claimed it was thyroid (nope, it's the cakes you shove into your gaping maw daily), and would critique every piece of food I brought in, looking for the unhealthy stuff, and then exclaim about the sugary/fatty parts of my lunch, and oh, aren't you lucky, wouldn't it be nice to have a metabolism like yours??? Drove me nuts. I used to put a square of chocolate in my oats each morning in lieu of sweetener, and god, she never failed to tell the whole office about my 'chocolatey' breakfast (never mind the hour I spent in the gym before work, and that it was 10grams of chocolate). She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

[purplish]

At work they're changing the dates we get paid slightly (essentially the same frequency, just different dates). So I opened my email to see they're providing a CLASS to understand it lol. The email starts off "Changing the date or frequency of a payday can be a traumatic event for some". Traumatic??  What in the world....

[arebelspy]

At work they're changing the dates we get paid slightly (essentially the same frequency, just different dates). So I opened my email to see they're providing a CLASS to understand it lol. The email starts off "Changing the date or frequency of a payday can be a traumatic event for some". Traumatic??  What in the world....

Hah.

How big is the shift?  From what days to what days?

[purplish]

At work they're changing the dates we get paid slightly (essentially the same frequency, just different dates). So I opened my email to see they're providing a CLASS to understand it lol. The email starts off "Changing the date or frequency of a payday can be a traumatic event for some". Traumatic??  What in the world....

Hah.

How big is the shift?  From what days to what days?

Literally changing from being paid twice a month on specific dates, to twice a month on a certain day of the week instead. So, instead of the 1st of each month which will fall on a different day each month, it will be the first friday.

[arebelspy]

I mean, I guess that's a big change if they rely on that first payment for rent and now it doesn't come in sometimes until the 6th or 7th.  Many live paycheck to paycheck, unfortunately.

[Torran]

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if it's a compliment, I just don't like people commenting on what I'm eating. It feels like an invasion of privacy or something.

I agree. My choice of food shouldn't be a source of entertainment for others.

I've never had a problem with people commenting on my homemade lunch, because I always comment on their lunches too. Seems like harmless lunchtime office conversation to me. I don't know how it can get on some people's nerves. I just smile broadly and say "Yep! Made my own lunch again today. Where'd you buy yours?" and inwardly smile at how expensive their food usually is.

You know how some people comment on your clothing, etc?  Well, I don't.  I like food, it's an interest and a hobby of mine - what can I say?  Always looking for new ideas.

Aargh- I used to sit opposite the most negative, draining woman ever. She was overweight,  loudly claimed it was thyroid (nope, it's the cakes you shove into your gaping maw daily), and would critique every piece of food I brought in, looking for the unhealthy stuff, and then exclaim about the sugary/fatty parts of my lunch, and oh, aren't you lucky, wouldn't it be nice to have a metabolism like yours??? Drove me nuts. I used to put a square of chocolate in my oats each morning in lieu of sweetener, and god, she never failed to tell the whole office about my 'chocolatey' breakfast (never mind the hour I spent in the gym before work, and that it was 10grams of chocolate). She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.
My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

[Candace]

At work they're changing the dates we get paid slightly (essentially the same frequency, just different dates). So I opened my email to see they're providing a CLASS to understand it lol. The email starts off "Changing the date or frequency of a payday can be a traumatic event for some". Traumatic??  What in the world....

A long time ago the company I worked for changed the pay schedule from getting paid for a two-week pay period on the last day of the pay period (obviously problematic because time hadn't been reported when paychecks were cut) to being paid two weeks in arrears, which is more standard.

To bridge the gap that would have resulted in pay, the company gave every employee an interest-free loan in the amount of their normal paycheck. They never had to pay back the loan until they left the company. So basically, they were trying to make the change transparent. Well, you should have seen the reactions. People didn't understand, and thought they were being taken advantage of. There was a lot of tension.

[Kris]

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if it's a compliment, I just don't like people commenting on what I'm eating. It feels like an invasion of privacy or something.

I agree. My choice of food shouldn't be a source of entertainment for others.

I've never had a problem with people commenting on my homemade lunch, because I always comment on their lunches too. Seems like harmless lunchtime office conversation to me. I don't know how it can get on some people's nerves. I just smile broadly and say "Yep! Made my own lunch again today. Where'd you buy yours?" and inwardly smile at how expensive their food usually is.

You know how some people comment on your clothing, etc?  Well, I don't.  I like food, it's an interest and a hobby of mine - what can I say?  Always looking for new ideas.

Aargh- I used to sit opposite the most negative, draining woman ever. She was overweight,  loudly claimed it was thyroid (nope, it's the cakes you shove into your gaping maw daily), and would critique every piece of food I brought in, looking for the unhealthy stuff, and then exclaim about the sugary/fatty parts of my lunch, and oh, aren't you lucky, wouldn't it be nice to have a metabolism like yours??? Drove me nuts. I used to put a square of chocolate in my oats each morning in lieu of sweetener, and god, she never failed to tell the whole office about my 'chocolatey' breakfast (never mind the hour I spent in the gym before work, and that it was 10grams of chocolate). She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.
My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

Preach, sister. I could have written that myself.

[theadvicist]

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.
My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

I agree. There is no need to comment on people's weight or eating habits, either at work or out of work. That goes in all directions - thin people commenting on fat people, and fat people telling thin people to 'eat a sandwich'.

But, if people are themselves going on about their weight THEY are opening up the converstion, and it is super-annoying to hear people who are clearly eating badly and not exercising complain about being overweight. I don't care how much someone eats / exercises, but please stop complaining about things you can (likely, not in all cases) change. Same goes for whinging about how you have no money (er, stop spending it!), and doing all the chores at home even though you have a partner, kids and a job (well, they won't do them if you do them for them, will they!). And now my rant is over too!

Too long, don't read: I agree. The caveat is when people bring up their weight / eating habits themselves.

[Chris22]

My sister in law and her husband are morbidly obese, like land-monster sized.  I've got a beer belly I can stand to get rid of, but I'm not going to keel over tomorrow like these two.  Whenever she comes around, she's always got to comment on everyone else's meal, like "oh, do you know how many calories are in that slice of birthday cake you're eating?"  "If you didn't drink that beer you probably wouldn't have to walk after dinner to burn it off" etc.  And she's huge into the diet cooking, always into the latest celebrity chef fad, etc that she has to tell us all about.  All I can do not to crack "yeah, really looks like it's working out for you, you fat f$#%@".

[mtn]

  "If you didn't drink that beer you probably wouldn't have to walk after dinner to burn it off" etc. 

"If you didn't make comments like that, I wouldn't have to drink the beer"

I do feel bad for the [few] people out there that legitimately do have a health issue that is making them obese. Someone I knew in a former life was like that, I remember her complainaing about a hormone that the doctors had identified that was being way overproduced in her and making it near impossible for her to loose weight. She did eat too much, but it wasn't an amount that would lead to more than a little chubbiness.

[Redstone5]

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.
My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

I agree. There is no need to comment on people's weight or eating habits, either at work or out of work. That goes in all directions - thin people commenting on fat people, and fat people telling thin people to 'eat a sandwich'.

But, if people are themselves going on about their weight THEY are opening up the converstion, and it is super-annoying to hear people who are clearly eating badly and not exercising complain about being overweight. I don't care how much someone eats / exercises, but please stop complaining about things you can (likely, not in all cases) change. Same goes for whinging about how you have no money (er, stop spending it!), and doing all the chores at home even though you have a partner, kids and a job (well, they won't do them if you do them for them, will they!). And now my rant is over too!

Too long, don't read: I agree. The caveat is when people bring up their weight / eating habits themselves.

I agree! I hate inter-office personal chit chat about things that should be private, unless it's with a CW who is an actual friend. Otherwise, it's just constant complaining that you can't escape because you're paid to be there.

[MgoSam]

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.
My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

I agree. There is no need to comment on people's weight or eating habits, either at work or out of work. That goes in all directions - thin people commenting on fat people, and fat people telling thin people to 'eat a sandwich'.

But, if people are themselves going on about their weight THEY are opening up the converstion, and it is super-annoying to hear people who are clearly eating badly and not exercising complain about being overweight. I don't care how much someone eats / exercises, but please stop complaining about things you can (likely, not in all cases) change. Same goes for whinging about how you have no money (er, stop spending it!), and doing all the chores at home even though you have a partner, kids and a job (well, they won't do them if you do them for them, will they!). And now my rant is over too!

Too long, don't read: I agree. The caveat is when people bring up their weight / eating habits themselves.

I agree! I hate inter-office personal chit chat about things that should be private, unless it's with a CW who is an actual friend. Otherwise, it's just constant complaining that you can't escape because you're paid to be there.

My family feels the need to comment on my body when I was rail thin (high school runner), each time I would politely tell them that they would likely lose weight if they stopped eating like a pig and started to exercise. They stopped bringing up my thinness.

[infogoon]

Aargh- I used to sit opposite the most negative, draining woman ever. She was overweight,  loudly claimed it was thyroid (nope, it's the cakes you shove into your gaping maw daily), and would critique every piece of food I brought in, looking for the unhealthy stuff, and then exclaim about the sugary/fatty parts of my lunch, and oh, aren't you lucky, wouldn't it be nice to have a metabolism like yours??? Drove me nuts. I used to put a square of chocolate in my oats each morning in lieu of sweetener, and god, she never failed to tell the whole office about my 'chocolatey' breakfast (never mind the hour I spent in the gym before work, and that it was 10grams of chocolate). She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

I believe I've posted this here before, but I have _never_ gotten unsolicited advice on my diet or exercise from someone who was actually fit.

[ender]

Aargh- I used to sit opposite the most negative, draining woman ever. She was overweight,  loudly claimed it was thyroid (nope, it's the cakes you shove into your gaping maw daily), and would critique every piece of food I brought in, looking for the unhealthy stuff, and then exclaim about the sugary/fatty parts of my lunch, and oh, aren't you lucky, wouldn't it be nice to have a metabolism like yours??? Drove me nuts. I used to put a square of chocolate in my oats each morning in lieu of sweetener, and god, she never failed to tell the whole office about my 'chocolatey' breakfast (never mind the hour I spent in the gym before work, and that it was 10grams of chocolate). She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

I believe I've posted this here before, but I have _never_ gotten unsolicited advice on my diet or exercise from someone who was actually fit.

This is a really interesting perspective that I think is true for me, too!

Though you tend to get encouragement and support from those folks.

[mm1970]

She would point out my bananas and handful of nuts and smugly tell me they were way too full of sugar/fat for her, but ooh, lucky naturally skinny you, you can eat it. I wanted to smother her. Sorry, a bit OT. Coworkers.

3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Just wanted to point these two out because...it took a long time for me to realize that maybe looking at someone who is trim and fit, and trying to eat like they do - is not a bad idea.  It doesn't always work (I've done a lot of experimentation in the last few years).  But about 10 years ago, when I was having toast for breakfast, I worked with a very fit guy who was eating apples and nuts for breakfast.  Hmm...

[Gen Y Finance Journey]

And last year, they were hit with an extra tax bill of $13K because "Obamacare", and "somebody has to pay for all those subsidies". I could not for the life of me figure out what this is, because it's not the tax penalty for going uninsured. At first I thought it might be the Cadillac tax, but that doesn't start until 2018?

It's likely an additional Medicare tax that no married couple pays until after they have > $250K in taxable income. So while it sucks to pay an additional $13K, that equates to a very, very large amount of income so don't get out your violin just yet. The tax is either 0.9% of earned taxable income > $250K, or 3.8% of investment income > $250K. Let's assume it's the higher of the two tax rates. This means in order to pay $13K in additional medicare tax from Obamacare: $13,000 / 3.8% = $342,105 investment income in excess of the $250K taxable income threshold.

So either your CW is lying, confused about exactly where the taxes came from, didn't explain it properly, or made a shit ton of money, like $600K + and can afford to subsidize a few people.

I have a friend who complained about exactly the same thing. "We owe $3k in taxes this year because of Obamacare." She and her husband are both on employer sponsored plans. I did a ton of research to try and figure out if there was any way her claim could be true, and came to the same conclusion that the only possible way is the medicare tax that only kicks in for high earners, which they are most decidedly not. Potentially there could be a small effect from the higher deduction threshold for medical expenses, but they would have to have spent a crap ton on unreimbursed medical expenses for it to even make sense for them to itemize (no house, no kids), let alone owe $3k because of it. I tried over and over explaining to her that there's no way Obamacare is causing her to owe taxes, but she refused to believe me. Because everything is Obama's fault.

[jordanread]

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.

Welcome to the MMM forums, where your experience is not quite what you may have experienced on other forums. We're pretty awesome around these parts.

My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

Preach, sister. I could have written that myself.

Too long, don't read: I agree. The caveat is when people bring up their weight / eating habits themselves.

My family feels the need to comment on my body when I was rail thin (high school runner), each time I would politely tell them that they would likely lose weight if they stopped eating like a pig and started to exercise. They stopped bringing up my thinness.

Team/People,

I don't want to come across as snarky (even though that's kind of my thing), but in this particular instance, health is a majorly important thing for me. I wasn't initially intending to chime in on this latest foam, but I did. I feel bad for all of you who spend time and energy worrying about what others' think. I actually agree with most of you, but it's not relevant. The people who say things like that, unsolicited, are not worth the time and energy to type the responses. Let's move forward. Here is the link to the Strength and Fitness challenge for this year. If you want feedback, go there. If you don't, welcome to the forums, where we give financial advice and face punches for stupid spending. Don't live your life concerning yourself with the stuff people say, let's just do this, and keep going on.

This is the Overheard at Work thread, so things aren't like the rest of things around here. That being said, even though this is foamy, I'd prefer to keep things like we do on the rest of the forums. Just sayin'. Let's do this!!!!

[...]
...it took a long time for me to realize that maybe looking at someone who is trim and fit, and trying to eat like they do - is not a bad idea.  It doesn't always work (I've done a lot of experimentation in the last few years).  [...] Hmm...

You should visit the post I linked to above.

[Wings5]

This one's actually mustachian:

Today a senior leader, one of the well-respected silverbacks in the office, told a large group of us over lunch that he was selling his current home and moving into one that's about 1/7 the cost of what he lives in now, and banking the proceeds for retirement.

[Torran]

You know what, at the risk of annoying a ton of people (because in my experience any mention of fatness or slimness bring out INTENSE emotions in people) I totally empathise with you on this.

Welcome to the MMM forums, where your experience is not quite what you may have experienced on other forums. We're pretty awesome around these parts.

My feelings on weight:
1. I don't care what size anyone is
2. I don't care what they eat
3. Food is tasty, it's nice to eat it. Sometimes it's nice to talk about it too.
4. BUT my own body weight, and the amount I eat, is not something to judge, loudly, infront of me. Or make jokes about.

I am naturally quite thin, which for some reason seems to be similar to wearing a sign saying 'please comment on my body in any way you wish, be as rude as you like, I'm thin so it doesn't count as rude anyway'. I have lost count of the amount of times that someone (and it has always been a woman, overweight) has commented along the lines of 'I wish I could eat the way you do', 'you don't understand how hard it is to diet', 'it'll catch up with you when you're older', 'where do you put it all', etc etc.

It makes me so angry, and here is another list for why.

1. I'm female. This is women hating on other women about their size. Just doing the work of mysogynists all by ourselves. Way to go ladies.
2. I don't comment on their bodies. And I'm not judging them for what they eat.
3. But... when they say they wish they could 'eat the way I do', sometimes I just wish I could take them up on that idea and take over their eating habits for just one week, so they have to eat everything I do. And then they might believe me that I just eat a normal amount. And do some exercise.

Sorry for derailing the thread. Rant over.

Preach, sister. I could have written that myself.

Too long, don't read: I agree. The caveat is when people bring up their weight / eating habits themselves.

My family feels the need to comment on my body when I was rail thin (high school runner), each time I would politely tell them that they would likely lose weight if they stopped eating like a pig and started to exercise. They stopped bringing up my thinness.

Team/People,

I don't want to come across as snarky (even though that's kind of my thing), but in this particular instance, health is a majorly important thing for me. I wasn't initially intending to chime in on this latest foam, but I did. I feel bad for all of you who spend time and energy worrying about what others' think. I actually agree with most of you, but it's not relevant. The people who say things like that, unsolicited, are not worth the time and energy to type the responses. Let's move forward. Here is the link to the Strength and Fitness challenge for this year. If you want feedback, go there. If you don't, welcome to the forums, where we give financial advice and face punches for stupid spending. Don't live your life concerning yourself with the stuff people say, let's just do this, and keep going on.

This is the Overheard at Work thread, so things aren't like the rest of things around here. That being said, even though this is foamy, I'd prefer to keep things like we do on the rest of the forums. Just sayin'. Let's do this!!!!

[...]
...it took a long time for me to realize that maybe looking at someone who is trim and fit, and trying to eat like they do - is not a bad idea.  It doesn't always work (I've done a lot of experimentation in the last few years).  [...] Hmm...

You should visit the post I linked to above.

Fair point: I was massively derailing the thread with my rage there. Back to the finances. 

Chilling out and not caring what other people think is a very good suggestion. I think however that it's one of those goals that might be a lifetime's work ;)

[shelivesthedream]

+1 to being thin somehow making your body and eating habits an invitation to comment. "Aren't to having any more than that? Come on, you're so tiny, you can afford to!" How about I say "Gosh, are you eating all that? Surely you shouldn't as you're so fat already."

This has reminded of an old CW-of-sorts (same very small course at college). Every day I would bring lunch from home and she would get a free lunch from the canteen (hot main and pudding for low-income students). Every day she would eat hers in five seconds flat and then pause, look over at mine, and say "That looks nice" with this weird hungry look in her eyes. She would then complain about the free meal she had just eaten, saying it wasn't as nice as mine and she wishes she could eat what I was eating (which, believe me, was nothing spectacular - either a sandwich or tinned beans in some form). Then she would pretend to work while actually just watching me eat. In the end, I are my lunch at the top of the stairwell by the fuse box to escape.

And to think Id forgotten all about that! Thankfully have literally not seen or heard of this girl since the day I graduated, but all sorts of crazy anti-Mustachian and just plain creepy stuff is coming flooding back.

[MgoSam]

+1 to being thin somehow making your body and eating habits an invitation to comment. "Aren't to having any more than that? Come on, you're so tiny, you can afford to!" How about I say "Gosh, are you eating all that? Surely you shouldn't as you're so fat already."

I'm sorry and yeah I know the impulse to respond with that. I remember being told to eat sweets when I was in high school, I was rail thin from running a lot and my mom's friends felt like it was their mission to put some fat on me. One of them asked me why I don't eat __ and I responded with, "Because I don't want to end up like" and stopped. My mom was beat red, though partially from wanting to laugh.  I don't think the women understood the reference. I was kinda cheeky in my youth.

[zolotiyeruki]

This one's actually mustachian:

Today a senior leader, one of the well-respected silverbacks in the office, told a large group of us over lunch that he was selling his current home and moving into one that's about 1/7 the cost of what he lives in now, and banking the proceeds for retirement.

There's a different thread for posts such as these.

[Hunny156]

Kinda foamy, but still overheard at work and with some financial reference:

I bring at least two bananas to work daily, and sometimes mandarin oranges when in season.  I also bring a head of romaine lettuce daily and eat it leaf by leaf - I actually like the way these things taste.  I get rabbit comments all the time...

One of my co-workers is in poor physical condition - diabetic and no other male in his family has lived past 55 w/o dying from a coronary.  He's in his early 50's, so he is trying to make the effort, but in all the wrong ways.  We once had a lunch meeting, and after eating our company supplied box lunches from Panera, he pulled out a Ziploc bag w/fried chicken in it!  Most recently, he's decided that natural hormone replacement therapy is the solution, so he's eating 500 calories/day and blowing a ton of money on daily supplements, plus doing this quarterly procedure where they cut open a part of your thigh and insert these hormone beads, for about $1,500 each time!  Insurance does not cover this, and since he's on wife #3, he really can't afford any of this crap, which doesn't seem to be working anyhow.  But he will stop by to inform me that bananas are super high in sugar and therefore not good for you.  Sad...

My former boss on the other hand was pretty amusing.  I work in a very non-pc environment.  I would come back to my desk and find a banana and two oranges placed in a very, um, creative way!  Use your imagination.  :)

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

[MgoSam]

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

Are you in Houston? A friend of mine describes her work in much the same way.

[Hunny156]

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

Are you in Houston? A friend of mine describes her work in much the same way.

Close enough, I'm in the suburbs of Austin.  But our corporate offices are in Houston.  I'd bet we work in the same industry.

[Hunny156]

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

Are you in Houston? A friend of mine describes her work in much the same way.

Close enough, I'm in the suburbs of Austin.  But our corporate offices are in Houston.  I'd bet we work in the same industry.

I wouldn't exactly call a suburb of Austin the "deep South". As a native Texas (DFW-area), I always make it a point to separate Texas from "the South", especially the areas near the big cities. Sounds like the boss is just a conservative nutjob, regardless of location.

I would have to disagree with you there.  Austin is certainly a progressive blueberry, but get one inch outside of the city, and it's regressive all the way.  I'm in Williamson County, and all the southern stereotypes hold true here.  It's a nice place to live, but us progressive types learned a long time ago to smile and change the subject when it comes to politics or religion.

It's very sad, because the suburbs of most of the big cities do a lot to neutralize the Democratic votes that are cast.  I'm not saying it's a waste of a vote, but it is disheartening to see that this trend will make it much harder to turn TX back to blue.  Jon Stewart did a really good segment on it after Wendy Davis lost.

I will agree that the boss is a conservative nutjob.  He fits in very well here.

[Apples]

That's a shame. There are a few people I work with like that, but I think of them as quaint country-folk, not as the norm. I suppose over the years I've taught myself to separate people from their politics, since most people mean well, just haven't looked into the science and facts much.

I live and work in a rural area of a northern state.  I have had actual discussions with coworkers disagreeing that Obama has not, in fact, had the most Executive Orders ever.  This is something that is a fact, and can be found online.  But nope, the Dictator in Chief is definitely just sending out dozens of those babies every week.  Also, carbon dating is a giant worldwide conspiracy theory and they're doing it wrong, because the 6,000 years old earth as stated in the Bible is the way it really is. Oy.

[GrowingAMustache]

I work at the water department collecting bill payments and dealing with people that has been cut off. I can get some wild and stupid stories sometimes.  Here is a sample of a few stories I heard this week.
Cut off customer 1:  I don't think I can afford to pay this bill and reconnection.
Coworker:  I'm sorry but I can't recconect until you pay the entire bill and reconnection.
Cut off customer 1:  Ok, but I don't know if I will be able to feed the kids.
(customer pays)
Coworker:  The June bill is up, and your your bill is really high.  Do you have a leak?
Cut off customer1:  No, we filled up the pool.

I call customer 2 which is a business to tell him that his bill would be cut off the next morning if it wasn't paid, and he said he would be in.  He didn't show so I sent the order for him to be cut off.
Cut off customer 2 comes to my desk:
Cut off customer 2 (angerly says):  the guy that cut off my water would not take my payment.
me:  he isn't allowed to because it is a safety issue with him, he could be robbed.
Cut off customer 2:  He shouldn't cut it off, and give you time to pay
me:  didn't I call you to tell you?
(he stops talking and gives me the payment)

Customer 3 (we have a lot of issues from this guy: he said he would be in first thing Monday morning he knows he was ready to be disconnect.  I said ok, but I knew he wouldn't be in.  We cut him off Tuesday  because he didn't show.  He comes in and pays, about 30 mins later he calls)
Cut off customer 3:  You shouldn't cut me off I told you I would come in on Monday.
me:  I know you said you would come in Monday.  Its Tuesday.
Cut off customer 3:  Man, its just one day.
Me:  I'm sorry but you said you would be in, it should have been cut off last week.
Cust off customer 3:  When will it be cut on? I need to go to work!
Me:  The meter reader is at lunch, It will be least an hour.
Cut off customer 3:  I need to take a shower!  Your causing me to be late for work.
Me:  You caused your own self to be late to work.
(he hangs up)

[ThriftyTechie]

CW recently got into a decent job in the tech industry after years of being broke working shitty jobs. He still has a mountain of student loans, so I was surprised when he started looking for 1 bdrm apartments to rent. We live in San Francisco, where living in a 1 bdrm by yourself can cost you $20k a year more than sharing a multi bdrm house with roommates. He said he was tired of living like a student. At least he didn't buy a fancy car, just a fancy motorcycle.

[wenchsenior]

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

Are you in Houston? A friend of mine describes her work in much the same way.

Close enough, I'm in the suburbs of Austin.  But our corporate offices are in Houston.  I'd bet we work in the same industry.

I wouldn't exactly call a suburb of Austin the "deep South". As a native Texas (DFW-area), I always make it a point to separate Texas from "the South", especially the areas near the big cities. Sounds like the boss is just a conservative nutjob, regardless of location.

I would have to disagree with you there.  Austin is certainly a progressive blueberry, but get one inch outside of the city, and it's regressive all the way.  I'm in Williamson County, and all the southern stereotypes hold true here.  It's a nice place to live, but us progressive types learned a long time ago to smile and change the subject when it comes to politics or religion.

It's very sad, because the suburbs of most of the big cities do a lot to neutralize the Democratic votes that are cast.  I'm not saying it's a waste of a vote, but it is disheartening to see that this trend will make it much harder to turn TX back to blue.  Jon Stewart did a really good segment on it after Wendy Davis lost.

I will agree that the boss is a conservative nutjob.  He fits in very well here.

That's a shame. There are a few people I work with like that, but I think of them as quaint country-folk, not as the norm. I suppose over the years I've taught myself to separate people from their politics, since most people mean well, just haven't looked into the science and facts much.

That is a very kind view of humanity LOL.

The fact that your experience is that this type of view is NOT the norm in Texas (where I also live) makes me think you must be extremely fortunate in the people you work or associate with. Texas is PACKED with this type of nutjob. Most of rural America is. Urban America otoh, seems bursting with people who think taxing the 1% will solve every problem the United States ever had, or ever will have...which is a different brand of fantasy-world.

I've lived and worked in a lot of states, both small towns and big cities that are not the Deep South, and it is :plants tongue in cheek: my totally objective, politically just-left-of-center,  non-biased, data-driven opinion that the average American is 1) irrational; 2) and also bone-ignorant about everything outside their immediate circle. Facts mean little to most people; people form opinions based on emotion, and then try to find reasons to support their opinion...Cherry picking data if available; pulling imaginary stuff out of their butts if not. It's not really their fault, exactly, it's just how the human race is evolutionarily wired (including me, so I try lots of techniques to self-check my emotional responses to things, usually not terribly successfully).

If the Deep South is worse than Texas in this regard, then it must be truly mind-boggling.

[TN_Steve]

...
I've lived and worked in a lot of states, both small towns and big cities that are not the Deep South, and it is :plants tongue in cheek: my totally objective, politically just-left-of-center,  non-biased, data-driven opinion that the average American Human is 1) irrational; 2) and also bone-ignorant about everything outside their immediate circle. Facts mean little to most people; people form opinions based on emotion, and then try to find reasons to support their opinion...Cherry picking data if available; pulling imaginary stuff out of their butts if not. It's not really their fault, exactly, it's just how the human race is evolutionarily wired (including me, so I try lots of techniques to self-check my emotional responses to things, usually not terribly successfully).

...

:-)  (from a libertarianish atheist living and enjoying life on the edge of religious south and a liberal outpost therein;  I just try to keep my mouth/opinions shut and try to enjoy those from either side of the spectrum!)

[civil]

I work at the water department collecting bill payments and dealing with people that has been cut off. I can get some wild and stupid stories sometimes. 

I used to work at a public works department too, and we got lots of these stories! My favorite was when we would call the cable company and find out the customers were still paying $150/month to Comcast while neglecting their gas bill. The city had some sort of restriction on cutting off the gas heat in the winter (people could freeze to death), so we had to wait til spring and cut them off. But the whole time, they were voluntarily stiffing the city because we couldn't cut them off, and Comcast definitely would. One guy even upgraded his cable package in the winter, because he knew he could save money on his gas bill.

I also dealt with city programs giving free stuff (shoes, paint, computers) to 'low income' people, many of whom had tens of thousands of dollars of unnecessary electronics scattered about their houses, or five luxury vehicles, huge pools, etc.... but the aid formulas don't require them to sell their assets to get aid, or maybe they just weren't reporting anything they had. It would have been fine (everyone has bad times, right?) except that these people often treated me like shit and bragged about their 'lawn guy' and 'pool guy.'

Overall, though, the few people who were genuinely grateful for city services made up for the rest.

[TexasStash]

My current boss is an older gentleman, who clearly doesn't understand that politics should not be brought up in the workplace.  He routinely refers to "Obama Bin Laden".  This week, he said it in a meeting with a lot of international co-workers.  They visibly recoiled at that comment.  I resisted the urge to point out that outside of the US, our president is viewed far more favorably than he is here in the deep South!

Are you in Houston? A friend of mine describes her work in much the same way.

Close enough, I'm in the suburbs of Austin.  But our corporate offices are in Houston.  I'd bet we work in the same industry.

I wouldn't exactly call a suburb of Austin the "deep South". As a native Texas (DFW-area), I always make it a point to separate Texas from "the South", especially the areas near the big cities. Sounds like the boss is just a conservative nutjob, regardless of location.

I would have to disagree with you there.  Austin is certainly a progressive blueberry, but get one inch outside of the city, and it's regressive all the way.  I'm in Williamson County, and all the southern stereotypes hold true here.  It's a nice place to live, but us progressive types learned a long time ago to smile and change the subject when it comes to politics or religion.

It's very sad, because the suburbs of most of the big cities do a lot to neutralize the Democratic votes that are cast.  I'm not saying it's a waste of a vote, but it is disheartening to see that this trend will make it much harder to turn TX back to blue.  Jon Stewart did a really good segment on it after Wendy Davis lost.

I will agree that the boss is a conservative nutjob.  He fits in very well here.

You haven't been to the Deep South if you think the suburbs of Austin qualify. There is more to Deep South culture than the things you mentioned.

Even though I would not be a progressive liberal, it bugs me when people say things like Obama Bin Laden just like it did when they called Bush Hitler. Dumb, ignorant and judgmental all in one.

[CupcakeGuru]

I work with an awesome guy who is totally bad with money. He mentioned he had to leave early one day to apply for a loan at the bank to fix his sewer line. He said it would cost about $10,000 and "Who has that kind of cash lying around".

The next week, he left early to go to his kid's school to bring a check to pay for his kid (age 12) to go to Europe on a field trip. Trip cost $8,000.

Guy's job title "Head of Finance" and he makes over $150,000 a year.

[wenchsenior]

...
I've lived and worked in a lot of states, both small towns and big cities that are not the Deep South, and it is :plants tongue in cheek: my totally objective, politically just-left-of-center,  non-biased, data-driven opinion that the average American Human is 1) irrational; 2) and also bone-ignorant about everything outside their immediate circle. Facts mean little to most people; people form opinions based on emotion, and then try to find reasons to support their opinion...Cherry picking data if available; pulling imaginary stuff out of their butts if not. It's not really their fault, exactly, it's just how the human race is evolutionarily wired (including me, so I try lots of techniques to self-check my emotional responses to things, usually not terribly successfully).

...

:-)  (from a libertarianish atheist living and enjoying life on the edge of religious south and a liberal outpost therein;  I just try to keep my mouth/opinions shut and try to enjoy those from either side of the spectrum!)

Thanks for fixing my post! So true!

[EricL]

CW recently got into a decent job in the tech industry after years of being broke working shitty jobs. He still has a mountain of student loans, so I was surprised when he started looking for 1 bdrm apartments to rent. We live in San Francisco, where living in a 1 bdrm by yourself can cost you $20k a year more than sharing a multi bdrm house with roommates. He said he was tired of living like a student. At least he didn't buy a fancy car, just a fancy motorcycle.

You might be a little harsh. It's hard to bust your butt in part time jobs and school for years and not see much come of it.  It hurts the pride and paying hefty amounts to patch it is a natural reaction.  Telling this guy he should go back to living like a starving student will only garner a blank stare. But proposing the potential benefits of such a reversal may gain a convert.

Plus sharing living space isn't always easy. Some people lack the temperment and some just swear it off after too many crappy roommates.

[Sam E]

CW recently got into a decent job in the tech industry after years of being broke working shitty jobs. He still has a mountain of student loans, so I was surprised when he started looking for 1 bdrm apartments to rent. We live in San Francisco, where living in a 1 bdrm by yourself can cost you $20k a year more than sharing a multi bdrm house with roommates. He said he was tired of living like a student. At least he didn't buy a fancy car, just a fancy motorcycle.

You might be a little harsh. It's hard to bust your butt in part time jobs and school for years and not see much come of it.  It hurts the pride and paying hefty amounts to patch it is a natural reaction.  Telling this guy he should go back to living like a starving student will only garner a blank stare. But proposing the potential benefits of such a reversal may gain a convert.

Plus sharing living space isn't always easy. Some people lack the temperment and some just swear it off after too many crappy roommates.

I agree on the roommates bit for sure. I'd rather have an apartment for myself that I can pay a bit more for than to rely on other people to make rent in addition to the inconveniences and difficulties of living with other people, especially when you're talking about renting and sharing an entire house with multiple people.

For me, personally, I want home to be a place to relax and recharge, and being an introvert the best way for me to do that is to be alone and not having to deal with draining social interaction.

Though if I was in that person's shoes with all the student loan debt I'd probably be looking for a studio apartment rather than 1 bedroom to save on rent.

[rockm87]

CO: credit card companies are suckers, they dont realise I'm paying my bill with money I've just withdrawn from my credit card.
Me: you know you get charged interest for cash withdrawals on a credit card, youre just adding to your debt
CO: I dont, because it's just from a normal cash machine
Me:...

nothing...why bother....doesnt read his statements, wont balance transfer as it's 'too difficult'...struggling to pay off the card....*sigh*

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

I also bring a head of romaine lettuce daily and eat it leaf by leaf - I actually like the way these things taste.  I get rabbit comments all the time...

To be fair, that does sound pretty rabbit-y.

But I'm guessing that unlike a rabbit you don't use your jaw to bring more of the leaf into your mouth while chowing down on it.

[dragoncar]

I also bring a head of romaine lettuce daily and eat it leaf by leaf - I actually like the way these things taste.  I get rabbit comments all the time...

To be fair, that does sound pretty rabbit-y.

But I'm guessing that unlike a rabbit you don't use your jaw to bring more of the leaf into your mouth while chowing down on it.

I also love romaine and had an idea for a post-fire business.*  It's modeled after how I sometimes eat my "salad."  Basically I get a bunch of romaine leaves and put them in a tall cup.  Then I dip them in a dressing.  Ends up being like a healthy version of chicken strips, and if you attach the dipping cause to the cup it would be good on the go.  You could put some grilled chicken strips in there too.  Pretty sure there's no market for this, though. 


*my basic goal is to do something where I get to hang out in a nice sunny location and people watch, and get paid for it, like a non busy hot dog stand at a park or something like that.

[fantabulous]

I also love romaine and had an idea for a post-fire business.*  It's modeled after how I sometimes eat my "salad."  Basically I get a bunch of romaine leaves and put them in a tall cup.  Then I dip them in a dressing.  Ends up being like a healthy version of chicken strips, and if you attach the dipping cause to the cup it would be good on the go.  You could put some grilled chicken strips in there too.  Pretty sure there's no market for this, though. 

Offer a deep fried version of it. Yes, I'm suggesting deep fried romaine, not just the chicken.

[jinga nation]

I also bring a head of romaine lettuce daily and eat it leaf by leaf - I actually like the way these things taste.  I get rabbit comments all the time...

To be fair, that does sound pretty rabbit-y.

But I'm guessing that unlike a rabbit you don't use your jaw to bring more of the leaf into your mouth while chowing down on it.

I also love romaine and had an idea for a post-fire business.*  It's modeled after how I sometimes eat my "salad."  Basically I get a bunch of romaine leaves and put them in a tall cup.  Then I dip them in a dressing.  Ends up being like a healthy version of chicken strips, and if you attach the dipping cause to the cup it would be good on the go.  You could put some grilled chicken strips in there too.  Pretty sure there's no market for this, though. 


*my basic goal is to do something where I get to hang out in a nice sunny location and people watch, and get paid for it, like a non busy hot dog stand at a park or something like that.

You would be surprised how much people are willing to pay if you package it up nicely for them. It's all marketing, in the end, that defines the modern consumer.

Just see how much Fresh Kitchen in Tampa charges for their salads. http://www.cicciorestaurantgroup.com/images/MENUS-CICCIO-FRESHKITCHEN/FKWebMenu.pdf   
You can easily make the same at a fraction of the price, using organic if you wish. I've tried it (for free), it's meh!

[music lover]

Oh gawd.

I ref hockey, and have been playing it from age 6 to now. Tell her to go to Play it again sports for the skates. Or Ebay. Or Hockeymonkey.com closeout, or Hockeygiant.com closeout, or... And tell her that the blades that came with the skates are fine. And that he is 13, his slapshot sucks, and he doesn't need the most expensive stick (I can probably guarantee my slapshot is about 4 times as good as his... and my stick cost $30, although those are near impossible to find now).

Also tell her that the kid isn't going to make the NHL, or even a decent college team, so pull him out of AAA and go down to AA or A. Private lessons? They're over paying. Because, again, he isn't making the NHL. Put a hockey net in the basement, tell him to shoot for an hour a day aiming at the corners, and give him a golf ball and tell him to stick handle it througha bucnh of pucks for obstacles.

Signed, a guy who could have played club hockey in college but didn't, and a guy who has reffed everything from Club College to Juniors (pre-pro) to semi-pro, and everything below that.

My friend quit a good paying government job with great benefits to run a hockey school for 6 or 8 two-week sessions per year. The amount of money that people will pay to put their kids in a hockey school is mind boggling.

[infogoon]

*my basic goal is to do something where I get to hang out in a nice sunny location and people watch, and get paid for it, like a non busy hot dog stand at a park or something like that.

Hot dog carts are surprisingly cheap. I actually considered getting one and setting up near my old college; they had an exclusive contract with their food service vendor, so every place on campus was equally terrible. There's a big market there.