Overheard at Work

[HairyUpperLip]

So my workmates are making plans on where to go out for lunch tomorrow and have decided on a place called Toastface Grillah which just makes toasted sandwiches that you pay between $5 and $9 for a sandwich

I googled them and they dont seem that amazing

http://www.toastfacegrillah.com/

There is a place here called Tom and Chee that serves grilled cheese sandwiches. It was featured on Shark Tank I believe. Anyways, the wife and I decided to check it out but I thought the prices were ridiculous considering it was just bread, cheese, and a lot of butter. But whatever - they must have some great profit margins.

http://production-current.outofagency.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/TomandChee-Menu-2015.pdf

[dycker1978]

So my workmates are making plans on where to go out for lunch tomorrow and have decided on a place called Toastface Grillah which just makes toasted sandwiches that you pay between $5 and $9 for a sandwich

I googled them and they dont seem that amazing

http://www.toastfacegrillah.com/

There is a place here called Tom and Chee that serves grilled cheese sandwiches. It was featured on Shark Tank I believe. Anyways, the wife and I decided to check it out but I thought the prices were ridiculous considering it was just bread, cheese, and a lot of butter. But whatever - they must have some great profit margins.

http://production-current.outofagency.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/TomandChee-Menu-2015.pdf

HA that is "cheap" Most restaurants here have the grilled cheese on the kids menu.  The usually start at about 7.95.  Of course that is CAD, so the may only be 3.30 USD...

[RWD]

The usually start at about 7.95.  Of course that is CAD, so the may only be 3.30 USD...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5l0PD80u9k&t=1m38s

[arebelspy]

I don't read anything by homosexual atheist Muslims who spend 25 hours a day trying to destroy America and putting their grubby socialist hands all over my Medicare. (only a slight exaggeration of typical parlance here)

He probably wrote it in French, anyway. Or Muslim.

He definitely wrote it in Mexican.

The world would be a better place if everyone would just speak American.

What do you call someone that speaks three languages?
Trilingual.
What do you call someone that speaks three languages?
Bilingual.
What do you call someone that speaks one language?
American.

I heard this in Quebec as (Forgive my bad french):

Si tu est  trilangue - tu est European.
Si tu est bilangue, tu est Canadien.
Si tu as un langue, tu est American.

Yeah, it's a super old joke (decades old, at least).

My favorite version was from a Star Wars book from the 90s (I think Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina?), where (IIRC) someone asks Wuher, the bartender:
What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? (He answers Trilingual)
What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? (He answers Bilingual)
What do you call someone who speaks 1 language? (He thinks for a minute and answers "...monolingual?" and they respond: "Human.")

(Edit: Typos)

[Dollar Slice]

Either two of those three versions of the joke were ruined by lazy copy-pasting, or there's some part of the joke I'm not getting...

[lithy]

Either two of those three versions of the joke were ruined by lazy copy-pasting, or there's some part of the joke I'm not getting...

It is cracking me up too.

For the record, I think it is just some bad copy pasta and not some deeper element of a joke that you're not getting.

Although I'd like to find a way to make it work. 

There are 10 types of people in this world, trilinguists and bilinguists whose 3rd language is binary.

[dragoncar]

According to my Spanish speaking wife, I speak minion

[ohyonghao]

I know a couple bilingual jokes, but you have to know Chinese (Mandarin) and Taiwanese to get them.

It essentially goes like:
Me: "What's the world's coldest animal?"
Them: (most people guess penguin, or polar bear, or something of that nature)
Me: "No, it's a duck"
Them: "Why is it a duck?"
Me: "Because, quack quack quack"

The Chinese word for the sound a duck makes happens to be the Taiwanese word for cold.

Though my favorite one is to ask a group of English students how to say "serve" in Taiwanese :-D.  Chinese is Fa Qiu, and Taiwanese it is Feh Cue.  Had another teacher come up and ask me why all the kids were saying "Fuck you".

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

I'll admit I am somewhat picky about which hotels I stay at when I travel for work.  When I'm traveling for meetings most meals with co-workers are kind of a dietary disaster, so I really prefer to get a hotel that has a mini-fridge so I can pack some things like carrot sticks, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, etc.

Wait, you're able to get yogurt through airport security?  How have you managed this feat?  Or are you buying once you get there or driving?

Protip: the TSA is entirely incompetent and does not improve security. I bring yogurt on planes half the time I fly. I never put my liquids in plastic bags. The only trouble I've had with food is when I made burritos wrapped in aluminum foil.

More tips for dealing with the TSA:
1. Be white.
2. Don't look Arab.
3. Have a comically white name.
4. Don't have any Muslim-sounding words in your name.

(Not the way it should be, but it's the way it is.)

[jda1984]

I know a couple bilingual jokes, but you have to know Chinese (Mandarin) and Taiwanese to get them.

It essentially goes like:
Me: "What's the world's coldest animal?"
Them: (most people guess penguin, or polar bear, or something of that nature)
Me: "No, it's a duck"
Them: "Why is it a duck?"
Me: "Because, quack quack quack"

The Chinese word for the sound a duck makes happens to be the Taiwanese word for cold.

Though my favorite one is to ask a group of English students how to say "serve" in Taiwanese :-D.  Chinese is Fa Qiu, and Taiwanese it is Feh Cue.  Had another teacher come up and ask me why all the kids were saying "Fuck you".

My wife's family spent a significant amount of time in Germany so she and her family speak decent German (her parents and brother were there ~13 years, she was there about 8, both she and her brother learned languages, English and German, there).  I like to make German-English bilingual jokes, but they end up being lame when you have to explain them to others.

[LennStar]

My wife's family spent a significant amount of time in Germany so she and her family speak decent German (her parents and brother were there ~13 years, she was there about 8, both she and her brother learned languages, English and German, there).  I like to make German-English bilingual jokes, but they end up being lame when you have to explain them to others.

Feel free to share them anyway, if someone does not understand them, kann er mal deinen Buckel runterrutschen ;)

[maco]

I have a story that works best when I tell it to someone who speaks both English and American Sign Language, because then I can caption the Italian portions with my hands.

We were visiting our ancestral town in Italy, and as we're sitting at the nurse's station in the hospital while they call our cousin to tell him "hey, come in on your day off and pick up your American cousins," one of the psych patients wanders in. He starts trying to hit on my sister. My brother and I both speak enough Spanish to muddle through Italian, but my sister is hopeless with languages. So we're translating for her. He tells her she's "bella" (beautiful). She grins and very confidently says "prego!" at which point me, my brother, and the nurses, all lose it. She has no idea why we're laughing.

Prego = you're welcome

She meant "grazie"

[jordanread]

More tips for dealing with the TSA:
1. Be white.  <----- CHECK
2. Don't look Arab.<------CHECK
3. Have a comically white name. <-------- CHECK
4. Don't have any Muslim-sounding words in your name. <------- CHECK

(Not the way it should be, but it's the way it is.)

Added to that list - do not be reading "Understanding the Quran" on your way through the airport.

I'm so going to be that guy. Granted, every time I've tried to get screened, my poor GF always winds up being 'Random White Female'. And then I laugh at her in front of the rest of the line of people, and make comments degrading the concept of TSA doing anything. Still haven't been screened personally though.

[Mermaid3011]

My wife's family spent a significant amount of time in Germany so she and her family speak decent German (her parents and brother were there ~13 years, she was there about 8, both she and her brother learned languages, English and German, there).  I like to make German-English bilingual jokes, but they end up being lame when you have to explain them to others.

Feel free to share them anyway, if someone does not understand them, kann er mal deinen Buckel runterrutschen ;)

GENAU!!!

[onlykelsey]

I was an exchange student deep in the former DDR and had a T-shirt that said, in the Cyrllic alphabet:

Wenn du das lesen kannst, biste kein doofer Wessi.  (If you can read this, you're no idiot West German.)

In order to understand the letters, you had to speak Russian.  Once you got that far, though, the sounds the letters made were nonsensical unless you spoke German (and were familiar with the Berlin dialect, to boot). 

I should have it remade.

[ohyonghao]

I was an exchange student deep in the former DDR and had a T-shirt that said, in the Cyrllic alphabet:

Wenn du das lesen kannst, biste kein doofer Wessi.  (If you can read this, you're no idiot West German.)

In order to understand the letters, you had to speak Russian.  Once you got that far, though, the sounds the letters made were nonsensical unless you spoke German (and were familiar with the Berlin dialect, to boot). 

I should have it remade.

Reminds me of a T-shirt a Canadian friend of mine got a lot of hate over:
"There are no Kangaroos in Austria"
With a yellow triangle and a black silhouette of a kangaroo.

Also, along sort of the same line, a funny way to reply to people in Taiwan who say, "Thank you", a response is, "No Q".  It's a play on how they pronounce the th more like an s, so it sounds like they are saying San Q, which would be 3 Q's.

Similarly to your Cyrllic alphabet shirt with transliterated German, a common practice in Taiwan is also to transliterate Taiwanese phrases into Chinese.  I'll be reading a Facebook post and suddenly have no idea what they are saying because they started transliterating.  My wife will say, "oh, that's Taiwanese, blah blah blah, and means this in Chinese".  Still working on learning Taiwanese.

[Jakejake]

The only trouble I've had with food is when I made burritos wrapped in aluminum foil.

I have the worst luck with food and the TSA. I learned if you go to England, do not bring back an entire suitcase of proper English flavored potato chips for your Irish buddy, even if they beg you for them. I got my stuff searched by customs three times on that trip - I guess an entire suitcase filled with small foil lined bags looks suspicious on an xray.

And then there was the time my florida parents sent me home with the world's largest avocado, which I put in my carryon so it wouldn't get squished - in the same compartment as an external harddrive and a bunch of cables. Between all the wires and the giant pit, apparently that looked exactly like a bomb.

[LeRainDrop]

Granted, every time I've tried to get screened, my poor GF always winds up being 'Random White Female'. And then I laugh at her in front of the rest of the line of people, and make comments degrading the concept of TSA doing anything. Still haven't been screened personally though.

Oh, hey, I'm also Random White Female!  I just loved when a disgruntled TSA agent decided to make a spectacle of me -- she took all of my possessions out of my roller-bag, made me wait at the far table while she went back to the x-ray machine and put all of my things through it again but this time my things were scattered outside the bag, and then abandoned my things on the conveyor belt, all while I still hadn't been released to leave the table.  To top it off, I got to miss my flight!

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

My mom, in her 60s, also manages to be Random White Female. I'm don't quite get that one.

So I guess I should add "be a man" to the list.

[pancakes]

For a few years I would get the explosives swab every time I went through an airport as the random white female without fail. As of last year it just stopped. I've been through 11 airports since and not been searched once.

The only thing that I can think has changed is my hair from its natural gingery light brown to red.

[WerKater]

My wife's family spent a significant amount of time in Germany so she and her family speak decent German (her parents and brother were there ~13 years, she was there about 8, both she and her brother learned languages, English and German, there).  I like to make German-English bilingual jokes, but they end up being lame when you have to explain them to others.

Feel free to share them anyway, if someone does not understand them, kann er mal deinen Buckel runterrutschen ;)

GENAU!!!

This happens to be the favorite German word of many of my German-learning friends.

I was an exchange student deep in the former DDR and had a T-shirt that said, in the Cyrllic alphabet:

Wenn du das lesen kannst, biste kein doofer Wessi.  (If you can read this, you're no idiot West German.)

In order to understand the letters, you had to speak Russian.  Once you got that far, though, the sounds the letters made were nonsensical unless you spoke German (and were familiar with the Berlin dialect, to boot). 

I should have it remade.

Oh my god, I must have this for my girlfriend. She would kill for that!

[shelivesthedream]

A Spanish man is on holiday in England and he needs to buy a pair of socks. He goes to a clothes shop but he doesn't speak any English so the shop assistant starts uplifting up various items. He holds up a pair of trousers, but the Spanish man shakes his head. He holds up a shirt, but again the Spanish man shakes his head. Finally he holds up a pair of socks and the Spanish man says "Eso si que es!" So the Englishman says, "It you could spell it, why didn't you just say so?!"

[arebelspy]

A Spanish man is on holiday in England and he needs to buy a pair of socks. He goes to a clothes shop but he doesn't speak any English so the shop assistant starts uplifting up various items. He holds up a pair of trousers, but the Spanish man shakes his head. He holds up a shirt, but again the Spanish man shakes his head. Finally he holds up a pair of socks and the Spanish man says "Eso si que es!" So the Englishman says, "It you could spell it, why didn't you just say so?!"

That's clever!

[shelivesthedream]

A Spanish man is on holiday in England and he needs to buy a pair of socks. He goes to a clothes shop but he doesn't speak any English so the shop assistant starts uplifting up various items. He holds up a pair of trousers, but the Spanish man shakes his head. He holds up a shirt, but again the Spanish man shakes his head. Finally he holds up a pair of socks and the Spanish man says "Eso si que es!" So the Englishman says, "It you could spell it, why didn't you just say so?!"

That's clever!

My Spanish teacher told us that joke in our first year of learning Spanish (I was about twelve) and it was a massive "click" moment for me about modern languages and other cultures. I just found it amazing that not only could you make jokes in Spanish, but you could make jokes that only work if you knew BOTH languages!!! It was the start of a proper interest in learning languages. I just love learning little linguistic titbits and colloquialisms, although I am always way too embarrassed to use them in real life in case they are old-fashioned or wrong.

[87tweetybirds]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

[Threshkin]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

I remember those days.  Making good money, living with my dad, no car, no girlfriend.  I was living two months on a single week of pay.  Life was sweet!

Then I bought a car, got a girlfriend, my own place..........

After all I had to do SOMETHING with all that money!

[JLee]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

That's unfortunate - not wanting anything is an awesome feeling, and is a perfect time to save/invest everything!

[Mermaid3011]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

You did your best! But hey.... a bit of a show off isnt he?! I mean... who talks like that at work?!?

[randymarsh]

Coworker who is always complaining about money: "A few years ago EVIL_BANK charged me $3,000 in overdraft fees! Then a few weeks ago my NEW_EVIL_BANK charged me $70 for overdrafting because they pay largest transactions first!!! So unfair!".

[Merrie]

For a few years I would get the explosives swab every time I went through an airport as the random white female without fail. As of last year it just stopped. I've been through 11 airports since and not been searched once.

The only thing that I can think has changed is my hair from its natural gingery light brown to red.

I used to deliberately wear my kids through security when they were little. I'd get my palms swabbed, but avoid the pervo-scanner.

[johnny847]

Coworker who is always complaining about money: "A few years ago EVIL_BANK charged me $3,000 in overdraft fees! Then a few weeks ago my NEW_EVIL_BANK charged me $70 for overdrafting because they pay largest transactions first!!! So unfair!".

I'm actually kind of impressed this coworker managed to even get charged $3000 in overdraft fees. Of course, I understand there's a high chance he or she was exaggerating.

[randymarsh]

Coworker who is always complaining about money: "A few years ago EVIL_BANK charged me $3,000 in overdraft fees! Then a few weeks ago my NEW_EVIL_BANK charged me $70 for overdrafting because they pay largest transactions first!!! So unfair!".

I'm actually kind of impressed this coworker managed to even get charged $3000 in overdraft fees. Of course, I understand there's a high chance he or she was exaggerating.

I'm hoping they're exaggerating, but it's conceivable they spent an entire year overdrafting 10 times the week leading up to payday, then their account would be in the black for a few weeks. Repeat.

[87tweetybirds]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

You did your best! But hey.... a bit of a show off isnt he?! I mean... who talks like that at work?!?

Well to be fair it was like 4 am and by that time of the shift you do get a little sleep drunk and have conversations you'd never have if you were well rested and working days. And he was partly joking and comparing himself with another coworker who is a self admitted shopaholic.

[Mermaid3011]

Today at work a coworker said "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." He went on to say he already bought everything he wanted and now doesn't know how to spend his money. He's in his early 20s, single, working a full time job at probably about a base wage of $22/hr with recently having as much overtime as he wants. Every extra shift (12 hour shift)pays $6 more above base pay and then the overtime pay on top of that. He probably works 60 hours a week. Shares an apartment with his brother, also same employer, different department. I suggested he contribute to a retirement account which was met with skepticism and disbelief of course. Oh well. I tried.

You did your best! But hey.... a bit of a show off isnt he?! I mean... who talks like that at work?!?

Well to be fair it was like 4 am and by that time of the shift you do get a little sleep drunk and have conversations you'd never have if you were well rested and working days. And he was partly joking and comparing himself with another coworker who is a self admitted shopaholic.

Ahh yes that explains it! :)

[RetiredAt63]

I am also that random white female with a very UK name in her 60's getting scanned (better than the patdown, by about .5%).  OK, before the next trip I am colouring my hair (I have been letting the grey show a bit, no more).  I'll let you know how that goes.
FWIW, I used to be fine, and suddenly it is every time!  It gets lame when I get checked both flights when I have a connection.  Plus renewing my passport was super easy and fast, so Canadian Citizenship and Immigration has no issues with me.

(And as the human half of a therapy dog team, I value my law-abiding status).

For a few years I would get the explosives swab every time I went through an airport as the random white female without fail. As of last year it just stopped. I've been through 11 airports since and not been searched once.

The only thing that I can think has changed is my hair from its natural gingery light brown to red.

[nobodyspecial]

I am also that random white female with a very UK name in her 60's getting scanned (better than the patdown, by about .5%).  OK, before the next trip I am colouring my hair (I have been letting the grey show a bit, no more).  I'll let you know how that goes.

There were stories of little old ladies being stopped and searched in London .
The UK police can stop and search people essentially at random, and to counter the impression that used this to harass young black men they had to publish the statistics of the stops.
So  a picture of having to stop and search 100 little old white ladies at the end of the month to make the numbers look good.


   

[RetiredAt63]

Hmm.  These were Canada/Canada and Canada/US.  I even had my car pulled over the last time I drove south.  Just checked my small bag and looked in the back, nothing major, but the first time ever.

Some "random" searches clearly are not.  The winter of 2002 the 3 of us were in Hawai'i, flying from Honolulu to Maui - a commuter flight, really.  They pulled everyone with a non-US passport out of line for a "random" check, and no-one with a US passport.  We hadn't seen our daughter for several weeks, she had just joined us, and the delay meant we didn't get to sit together.  Not a good start to her vacation.  (This was when there were rumours that the terrorists had come across the border from Canada, instead of having been in the US for several months already and never having been near Canada. Twits).

I am also that random white female with a very UK name in her 60's getting scanned (better than the patdown, by about .5%).  OK, before the next trip I am colouring my hair (I have been letting the grey show a bit, no more).  I'll let you know how that goes.

There were stories of little old ladies being stopped and searched in London .
The UK police can stop and search people essentially at random, and to counter the impression that used this to harass young black men they had to publish the statistics of the stops.
So  a picture of having to stop and search 100 little old white ladies at the end of the month to make the numbers look good.


   

[Mermaid3011]

(This was when there were rumours that the terrorists had come across the border from Canada, instead of having been in the US for several months already and never having been near Canada. Twits).

LOL yes... same here! German passport issued in Hamburg was not a good thing in 2002 when they had found out that the terrorists had studied in Hamburg... My purse was checked TWICE between security and boarding a flight to NYC...

And I am also the human part of a service dog team - I wonder when they start scanning my dogs paws for remnants of explosives...

[nobodyspecial]

(This was when there were rumours that the terrorists had come across the border from Canada, instead of having been in the US for several months already and never having been near Canada. Twits).

I loved their attempt to wriggle out of this when they said that they had meant the terrorists had flown over Canada on their way to the USA !
 

[Papa Mustache]

Granted, every time I've tried to get screened, my poor GF always winds up being 'Random White Female'. And then I laugh at her in front of the rest of the line of people, and make comments degrading the concept of TSA doing anything. Still haven't been screened personally though.

Oh, hey, I'm also Random White Female!  I just loved when a disgruntled TSA agent decided to make a spectacle of me -- she took all of my possessions out of my roller-bag, made me wait at the far table while she went back to the x-ray machine and put all of my things through it again but this time my things were scattered outside the bag, and then abandoned my things on the conveyor belt, all while I still hadn't been released to leave the table.  To top it off, I got to miss my flight!

Was returning to southern Europe where I was living at the time back in the 90s. I had a duffle bag of car parts b/c I could get them here in the USA cheaper and easier with no linguistic hurdles. This wasn't too many years (2-3) after the Lockerbee, Scotland crash so Heathrow airport was still taking security seriously.

You should have seen the X-ray scanner operator's eyes bug out as my bag went through security. Shock absorbers might look like alot of unfriendly stuff on the scanner.

Missed my flight, etc. The airline got me on another flight, different airline at no extra cost to me. Everyone was very nice.

[Playing with Fire UK]

There were stories of little old ladies being stopped and searched in London .
The UK police can stop and search people essentially at random, and to counter the impression that used this to harass young black men they had to publish the statistics of the stops.
So  a picture of having to stop and search 100 little old white ladies at the end of the month to make the numbers look good.

To clarify this:
There are pretty strict rules about when the UK Police are permitted to use stop and search. The issue came about because Police were searching both when the criteria were met and when they felt suspicious about someone but the legal requirements weren't met. These illegal searches were disproportionately aimed at young black men, so they initially tried to cover this up by illegally searching the old white women so that the stats were less skewed. There is now more effort put into identifying and stopping illegal searches but it's still a problem.

[HairyUpperLip]

For a few years I would get the explosives swab every time I went through an airport as the random white female without fail. As of last year it just stopped. I've been through 11 airports since and not been searched once.

The only thing that I can think has changed is my hair from its natural gingery light brown to red.

Oh, so you meant from red head to red head? lol

[TheGrimSqueaker]

For a few years I would get the explosives swab every time I went through an airport as the random white female without fail. As of last year it just stopped. I've been through 11 airports since and not been searched once.

The only thing that I can think has changed is my hair from its natural gingery light brown to red.

It's because they've got too much common sense to risk angering a true ginger, lest their souls be stolen. But they're willing to take their chances by fucking with a daywalker.

[Kitsune]

My colleague was complaining about the cost of oatmeal. Turns out her kids eat oatmeal every morning (sounds great so far), but she doesn't know how to make oatmeal, so she buys the uber-sugary 16Xthe cost packets of instant oatmeal. One per kid. Every day. And when I told her that she could just buy instant oatmeal in a large bag and microwave THAT (it'd be about 1/8th of the cost even if NOT buying in bulk... and less sugar), she said that was 'too complicated'.

Measuring your instant oatmeal before microwaving it = too complicated = worth an 8x mark-up. Ok then.

[smalllife]

My colleague was complaining about the cost of oatmeal. Turns out her kids eat oatmeal every morning (sounds great so far), but she doesn't know how to make oatmeal, so she buys the uber-sugary 16Xthe cost packets of instant oatmeal. One per kid. Every day. And when I told her that she could just buy instant oatmeal in a large bag and microwave THAT (it'd be about 1/8th of the cost even if NOT buying in bulk... and less sugar), she said that was 'too complicated'.

Measuring your instant oatmeal before microwaving it = too complicated = worth an 8x mark-up. Ok then.

Haha - I grew up on the packets, but as I took over groceries I went from name brand > store brand > make your own.  Still eat it every morning, but for a fraction of the cost.  Five minutes every  few weeks, same effort each morning as before.

[sw1tch]

My colleague was complaining about the cost of oatmeal. Turns out her kids eat oatmeal every morning (sounds great so far), but she doesn't know how to make oatmeal, so she buys the uber-sugary 16Xthe cost packets of instant oatmeal. One per kid. Every day. And when I told her that she could just buy instant oatmeal in a large bag and microwave THAT (it'd be about 1/8th of the cost even if NOT buying in bulk... and less sugar), she said that was 'too complicated'.

Measuring your instant oatmeal before microwaving it = too complicated = worth an 8x mark-up. Ok then.

This reminds me of the time my wife was telling me that her mom refused to buy the bulk oatmeal tub and called her cheap for not wanting to buy the individually packaged oatmeal.

As if mixing oatmeal, brown sugar and cinnamon is soooo complicated or even time consuming for that matter...

[Kitsune]

My colleague was complaining about the cost of oatmeal. Turns out her kids eat oatmeal every morning (sounds great so far), but she doesn't know how to make oatmeal, so she buys the uber-sugary 16Xthe cost packets of instant oatmeal. One per kid. Every day. And when I told her that she could just buy instant oatmeal in a large bag and microwave THAT (it'd be about 1/8th of the cost even if NOT buying in bulk... and less sugar), she said that was 'too complicated'.

Measuring your instant oatmeal before microwaving it = too complicated = worth an 8x mark-up. Ok then.

This reminds me of the time my wife was telling me that her mom refused to buy the bulk oatmeal tub and called her cheap for not wanting to buy the individually packaged oatmeal.

As if mixing oatmeal, brown sugar and cinnamon is soooo complicated or even time consuming for that matter...

If cheap = not spending $ on things that do not add anything positive to my life, sign me up.

I'd rather buy the bulk oatmeal (with less sugar) and have the extra money to have grilled salmon for dinner, y'know?

[Mermaid3011]

My colleague was complaining about the cost of oatmeal. Turns out her kids eat oatmeal every morning (sounds great so far), but she doesn't know how to make oatmeal, so she buys the uber-sugary 16Xthe cost packets of instant oatmeal. One per kid. Every day. And when I told her that she could just buy instant oatmeal in a large bag and microwave THAT (it'd be about 1/8th of the cost even if NOT buying in bulk... and less sugar), she said that was 'too complicated'.

Measuring your instant oatmeal before microwaving it = too complicated = worth an 8x mark-up. Ok then.

Wow. Just wow. I mean... I grew up only knowing the 1-2 lb bags of oatmeal. There was nothing like prepackaged and flavoured oatmeal. A spoon of chocolate milk powder would make the chocolate variety and otherwise a spoon form the cinnamon sugar jar (of course also self prepared).

Shakes head... wanders off to heat her lunch. Butter chicken with rice. Cooked at home and portioned for lunches at work... ts ts ts...

[onlykelsey]

I was an exchange student deep in the former DDR and had a T-shirt that said, in the Cyrllic alphabet:

Wenn du das lesen kannst, biste kein doofer Wessi.  (If you can read this, you're no idiot West German.)

In order to understand the letters, you had to speak Russian.  Once you got that far, though, the sounds the letters made were nonsensical unless you spoke German (and were familiar with the Berlin dialect, to boot). 

I should have it remade.

Oh my god, I must have this for my girlfriend. She would kill for that!

Do it.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

I was an exchange student deep in the former DDR and had a T-shirt that said, in the Cyrllic alphabet:

Wenn du das lesen kannst, biste kein doofer Wessi.  (If you can read this, you're no idiot West German.)

In order to understand the letters, you had to speak Russian.  Once you got that far, though, the sounds the letters made were nonsensical unless you spoke German (and were familiar with the Berlin dialect, to boot). 

I should have it remade.

Oh my god, I must have this for my girlfriend. She would kill for that!

Do it.

Using your exact phonetics for the Berlin dialect, and making a few adjustments for the way Russian handles diphthongs but preserving the double letters of the original German which makes the words obviously non-Russian, that works out to:

Вєнн ду дас лєсєн каннст, бистє кайн дууфєр Вєссий.