The Etch A Sketch thread - Freeze-Frame Radio

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

RE: The Etch A Sketch thread

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

MzHartz wrote:
Starbucks is right next to McDonalds, and she had pulled into the wrong one, and waited in line, before she realized it.

Oh.

Mm.

Gee.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

"That's it, I can't learn anything else today."

I can only imagine what was lost when she learned something new.

I need a vacation. I think I'm going to move the Florida trip from May up to April.

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

I'm not sure what to do with my etch. I know what I'd like to do with her. However, I can't. We received an audit notice today for something she handles. However, she runs to me every year. This year is no exception. I have tried to ween her off me and get her to do the work and then work with the guy in Los Angeles for the past two or three years. This one one of those things that I don't have time for but told the boss we may need to consider bringing it back to us. He agreed but her we are and she still has it. While I need to not be caring, she is too much of a liability. Plus, she'll be over here bothering me about it anyway. I have this information out to the boss right now. I'm not sure what his thoughts will be. I have an idea of them and I don't like it.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

I have an etch I've never said anything about, until today.

This lady used to be married to my cousin, so she's ex-relation.

I've never said anything because she means well, she's just not all that bright, and she really doesn't effect me since she's in another state. My biggest thing with her is that I can pretty much count on her (Cindy) "liking" or saying "something" on nearly every post I make on FaceBook. Oh well.

I got another friend request from her a few days ago. I thought that was weird but accepted it. I then could see two accounts for her in my friends list. I know there has been some hacking where hackers copy your stuff and then set up a 2nd account, but this seemed legit. She was posting and responding in her own manner on both accounts. It's also not like she's trying to hide her identity on one of them either. She's copied all the same info on both accounts.

I finally sent her a message last night asking if she intended to have two accounts and which one I was suppose to use from now on.

She replied saying that they changed ISPs. In that change, her old email address is going to be shut off so she decided she better set up a new FaceBook account with her new email address as she would be losing access to the old one.

UGH. I guess no one told her she could just update the email address in her FaceBook account.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

This isn't the "Cyn" I know, is it?

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

No, it's a different one.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Don't feel too bad. Kev once set himself up a new Yahoo e-mail account because he bought a new computer. I asked him what a new computer had to do with it. He said, "My other e-mail account is on my old computer. It's not like I can get to it now since I have a new computer. I thought you would have learned that in college." It took me five minutes to get the laughter under control.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

Ok, Kev wins.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I could expound for hours on his etchiness. One of my favorites was one night many, many years ago we were sitting around trying to decide what to have for dinner. He wanted to have pizza, but I was none too interested in that as I'd had pizza for lunch. I wanted BBQ, but he wasn't in the mood for that. So, I decided that the only way to make this decision in a fair manor was to write the choices on small slips of paper, fold them up, and have him pick one, so that is what I did. He picked one out of my hand, unfolded it, looked at it, then shielded it from me like it was a state secret when I asked what it said. He asks in a slightly annoyed tone, "Well, what does YOURS say?" . I sighed, and unfolded mine, " It says pizza.". Kev comes back with, "Mine says BBQ. " . Me, "Of course it does." . Him, "So what does that mean? I'm having BBQ and you are having pizza? That just seems dumb.". By that point, I was laughing so hard I literally fell off the sofa. Told my mom about that a few days later. She says, "Oh... so NOW I see what you see in him. Its the comedy relief. Certainly it couldn't be his intellectual equivalence to you.".

Snap forward to later that year at Christmas time. I have something like 5 roughly equally priced options for what to get him. I went up to the auto parts store where he was working at the time. Had five little folded up pieces of paper in my hand. Told him I needed help deciding what to get him. I wanted him to pull one of the pieces of paper out of my hand but don't unfold it, just hand it back to me. He had an utter meltdown right there in front of his boss... going off on a tirade about how he bad he hates "pick one" and how he probably picked the wrong one and screwed himself again. It was hysterical!! Sure, I had to buy the new TV, but it was TOTALLY worth it.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

The Etch is trying to spread drama today. It's working. On me. But I'm not going to succumb to it.

Our pressman wanted two sets of negs for a job that he needed to start first thing in the morning. Sometimes it doesn't matter what I tell the machine, it only gives me one set of negs. He went in to find only one set (I hadn't checked on it yet, he beat me to it), and the Etch was there, so he complained to her.

He called me (I'm not sure if this was before or after he complained to the Etch), and I said I'd run another set. He said that I didn't need to, he would just use the first set twice. Again I said I'd run another set, it wasn't a big deal, and he told me that I didn't need to, it wasn't a big deal.

Then the Etch comes upstairs saying that the pressman was mad at me because he only had one set of negs.

I'm still considering going down there and telling him if he has to complain to someone about me, if he can't say it to my face, at least don't complain to her. But it's probably better if I just drop it. The thing is, she might bring it up again. If she does, perhaps I will say something to him. If I have to deal with it, so should he.

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

Let's kick his butt.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

This isn't really an "Etch", but I thought it was an interesting story.

I think I mentioned a while back about a friend (35) who he and his wife have befriended a gal (22) that began as a baby sitting deal. As their friendship grew, he eventually started calling her "daughter", he and his wife both post pics of themselves with her, hugging, playing games, her with their kids, etc. Rumors are going about them which he says he hates, but yet every time it flares up, he seems to fan the flames rather than trying to put them out. Plus all the flare ups are started by stuff he's posting on FaceBook himself. Personally, I think he enjoys the attention and it makes him feel good that people might think he's with a good looking 22 year old. He posts this stuff on FaceBook, then says "I can't understand why everyone want to know my business." If he wouldn't share it, no one would know it. This guy is always posting things "for a special friend" like songs, those encouraging photos that go around etc. It's all so sappy, it really is annoying. But not my problem.

Anyway . . . that guy is a brother of my friend from high school. The brother drug me into this mess asking me what I think of it all and how it is making their family look from the outside. This guy's family doesn't really like how it's making him look, and how he doesn't care much about his reputation.

About two months ago, this guy took a day off to take his gal friend to what he said was college. The brother told me later that he asked where she was going, and he said it was a secret. All he would say is "out West". He couldn't tell because she doesn't want it getting out where she is (something about family issues on her side). He made a big deal about how secret it is.

Fast forward to last weekend. This guy and his wife, and two little kids took the weekend to go visit their gal friend. They both posted stuff like "Only one more day!", "We are on our way!", "We are almost there!" and finally things like "With [Gal Pal] at [Facebook Link to name of restaurant]". All of their FaceBook posts were mobile location stamped. They made it very clear they were going to see her, and then they announced they were there, with her, and all the while location stamping exactly where they were. Later, they were even posting pics of themselves with her at a very famous Western Nebraska landmark (right next to a town that is home to one of two colleges in that area of the state). If you had ever been to this location, you would know exactly where they were just from the photo alone.

I found it ironic, moronic, and funny. I texted the brother and just said "If it's such a big secret as to her location, why are they broadcasting it all over FaceBook?" I sent that to the brother because he was the one who told me about the "secret" and I thought it was pretty bone-headed of them to do if it really was a secret.

The brother replied that yeah, it was pretty stupid and funny that they were clearly blowing their own "secret".

A couple days later, the brother called me to fill me in. He said he sent a text to his brother saying "So, how is [Gal Pal] doing at college there at [City Name]??"

He really didn't care how she was doing, he just wanted his brother to know that he wasn't keeping the secret very secret.

His brother gave him a good old butt-chewing, and then later, he got a FaceBook message from the Gal Pal calling him a creepy stalker for keeping tabs on her, etc. She thought it was all about her, and not simply the stupidity of them broadcasting a "secret" all over both of their FaceBook pages.

The brother called me Saturday to fill me in on what all happened with them. Then, he went on to everything but come right out and say it was my fault . . . BUT that he took the bullet for me and didn't tell his brother that it was me that started it all.

All I did as ask the brother "If it's such a secret, why are they broadcasting it?". Apparently my asking him forced him to thus bring it up with his brother. I told him that I would not be mentioning, or taking part in any more discussion about it again, and if he has more issues with them to leave me out of it.

It just ticked me off that he suggested it was my fault his brother was mad at him.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

It is a shame when people can't take responsibility for their own actions. Sounds like the brother was looking for a way to stir the pot without getting any of the backlash. You asking a rhetorical question of him in no way obligates him to take any action at all. He did that on his own hook, therefore he needs to put on the big boy panties and take his lumps.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

I had something similar happen in middle school. (Yes, I'm saying they are acting like middle schoolers.)

When me and my mom moved in with the guy who would eventually be my stepdad, we got a house next door to a family with a girl who was a year older than me. Obviously we became good friends, I considered her one of my 2 best friends. Let's call her K.

In middle school, a family with a daughter a year younger than me, named S, moved in. She became friends with me and K.

When the school year started, S started bragging that she was dating this guy that tons of girls had crushes on. She would tell us about gifts he got her, but there was always a reason she couldn't show us the gifts. She was in the grade below me, so I didn't really see her during the school day, but when I did, I never saw her with him. He lived in the next neighborhood over from us, but I never saw him visit her house.

So I asked K if S was really seeing this guy. K assured me that yes, she had seen them together, she had seen the gifts, and everything was on the up-and-up. I said, oh, okay, nevermind, and didn't think anything of it.

Well, the next day, they weren't talking to me. I finally gleaned that it was because they were mad at me for not believing S.

That night, I wrote each of them letters and put them in their mailboxes, saying I was wrong, and that I was sorry. S called me and said all was forgiven.

But a couple days later, they were ignoring me again, and I came home from school to find two letters on my back porch. S simply wrote that she didn't want to be friends with someone who didn't trust her. But K went on for pages and pages (literally) about how terrible of a person I was and how she hated me and never wanted to talk to me again. I was still openly crying when my mom got home from work an hour later.

That basically began a passive-aggressive feud between my family and K's family that's been going on for almost 20 years now. S moved away the next year and I don't know what became of her. K still lives with her mom next door. It's weird, it's like some competition of life that I won because I moved away and became successful.

I still don't think that S was actually dating that dude, but I'm still not sure exactly what I did to warrant that terrible letter.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

He is taking it . . . but suggesting he fell on the sword for me is a bit of a stretch.

I should have stayed out of it and not said anything, but he drug me into it months ago.

Me telling him "hey, your brother is acting stupid" did not mean that he had to go to his brother and say "hey, you're acting stupid" . . . and for him to suggest it was my fault he decided to go tell his brother he was acting stupid is, well . . . stupid.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I agree with you, Web. It is stupid. It is hard to not comment at all when the guy keeps bringing it up. I'm sure that left to your own devices, you wouldn't have even thought much about it.

Mz... teen aged girls are just weird and crazy. It is a shame when some adult women never get past the weird, crazy, teen aged girl stage. Sounds like K is bent on staying that way forever.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

I did have another round with my crazy lady customer/Etch. I probably would have dumped her accounts by now, but since I turned off instant messaging (she doesn't have the only one I use now - Skype), she doesn't bother me via email like she did with I.M. Now it's only to deal with her when she's ready to catch up on her bills again.

She sent me an email over a week ago, Saturday saying she was going to call me this past Saturday to put some money on her account. She promised she would then call every Saturday until she got it paid off again. She went on to apologize all over herself again, tried to ask how the family is, pretending like we are best buds, etc.

I didn't reply as I thought she was just trying to get a response out of me, and that she probably wouldn't call next (this past) weekend anyway.

A few hours later I got another email asking if I got the first email.

So I replied very shortly that I did get it, sorry I didn't realize she needed a reply, and that I'd talk to her on Saturday.

She replied again apologizing for not requesting a reply and another promise to call/pay on Saturday.

Surprise! She didn't call.

I've been expecting an email full of excuses why she didn't call like she said she would, but I haven't heard from her yet.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

Wow, some people just don't go away, do they? Personally, I'd be weary of even talking to her on the phone.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

She keeps pluggin' away.

She's on her third gmail address in two years now because she forgets the password, AND the answers to her own security questions.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

She's a pretty infamous Etch.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

The Etch just told me she was going downstairs to go to the restroom. Um, good for you? We weren't in the middle of something, I wasn't waiting on her, there wouldn't be any reason I would need her in the next few minutes that wouldn't wait, so... why do I care?

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

In case you wish to alert the media?

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

OK, now she's telling me every time she leaves her office. Why? I'm guessing she's leaving early this afternoon but isn't going to tell anyone that she's leaving. She does that all the time. She also worked through lunch, which is another indicator. In fact, I'd even bet she won't be here for half the day tomorrow, since she's "worked so much."

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

Maybe it was your turn to keep an eye on her today and someone forgot to tell you,

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

Well, apparently I'm doing a terrible job, because I passed her leaving when I came back from lunch.

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

Maybe you were playing hide-n-seek and you didn't know it. Maybe she thought she was doing a good job of hiding and you couldn't find her so she started telling you where she was going to be hiding.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

Probably the voices in her head told her to keep you up to date with where they all were going.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

confuzzed wrote:
Maybe you were playing hide-n-seek and you didn't know it. Maybe she thought she was doing a good job of hiding and you couldn't find her so she started telling you where she was going to be hiding.

LOL! I love this theory!

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

Okay, our business license is going to be audited by Los Angeles. As part of the audit they included a return not even filed yet. It is actually due today. I am doing my best to stay out of this. This is the etch's responsibility. We (corp tax) have handled it in the past but she has been doing it (and screwing it up) for a few years now. I told the boss I want no parts of it and he agreed. There were several reasons. One of which was that because of the level of difficulty we tried to take this as well as a few other things away. The etch's boss sort of blew us off. So after multiple attempts we were done.

I received the notice, had some questions, gave it to her since she is repsonsible and told her to get clarification from the auditor. She did that and then the emails started.

So, here is an etch email trail:

Etch (partial excerpt): Some of the documents the city is looking for (but not limited to) as mentioned in the attachment are financial records (i.e. General ledgers, tax returns, work papers to arrive at tax measures) all of which I do not have access to.

Mr. Li asked when he could have the information by and I stated I am unable to provide that information because financial/tax records are handled by a different department (I did not provide a name) and I would pass along the information.

Please let me know if you have any questions or require further information.

TL: I am under constant stream of deadlines through 4/30/13 and then have an audit of my own in May. I will be unable to pass along any of the requested documentation for your LA license audit until late May or early June. In addition, some of the requested financial documentation does not apply or, as of now, has not yet been completed.

Etch: With all due respect, the information requested in the attached as well as evidenced in the screenshot below are all requests for Tax records of which I am not privy to. As stated below While the company license is called a Business Tax Registration Certificate, the company license fee is based solely off of the Revenue Sales Tax Report from SharePoint. Some of the documents the city is looking for (but not limited to) as mentioned in the attachment are financial records (i.e. General ledgers, tax returns, work papers to arrive at tax measures) all of which I am not privy to.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

This is what really confused me. The email doesn't make any sense, it doesn't have a point and you can clearly see she repeats herself. And I didn't think my email warrented a response. I thought it was cleat that I would pass along the information to her when I got a chance and when the rest of it was completed. Our state tax returns are not complete for 2012 yet and won't be until sometime during the summer months. My guess is that she is scared to do the audit. Nevermind she has no idea what to do. Frankly I think it is a big liability to let her deal with him. But the license it is her responsibility. I am tired of babysitting her. She should thank her boss for me not taking this from her. Not that it would be good for the company, but you know part of me wants this to blow up into a huge thing. And really, "With all due respect". What hell is that supposed to mean here?

My final response to her: As the responsible party for calculating, filing and remitting payment for the return, you become the document collector and are tasked with providing the information to the auditor. As I previously mentioned, I will provide the necessary documentation and correspondence when my schedule allows it.

She better not walk over here today. So far she hasn't come near me.