Our church software, which we're done with at the end of this year (thank God!). It just had a weird glitch. I was entering an invoice, and for some reason, it duplicated that invoice to every. vendor. we've. ever. ever. paid. And there's no way to bulk delete them. So I have to click on every invoice, click "delete," then click YES I DO WANT TO DELETE THIS! over 1200 times. Then get back to entering invoices.
Please bear with me. - So I go to the Carol Service at this small Anglican church I often go to on Christmas Eve. I am sometimes asked to usher and help, but that wasn't needed this time. The church was full to the rafters, about 200 people or more, as always for this service. The readers had been chosen beforehand by the vicar and the church warden, and a few new ones appointed for the occasion.
The first reader - whom I didn't know -, was in his early to mid 60s, clearly VERY well-to-do, rather elegantly dressed, and of the type who normally gives orders, rather then humbly receiving them, and he obviously wasn't in the mood, not even for a Christmas service. The first lesson being the Garden of Eden apple-munching and getting-kicked-out-of-Paradise story, the guy started, turning to the vicar: 'I feel I would like to say something to this before I begin. When I was asked to read tonight I was filled with joy and anticipation of what passage it was going to be. And now I have ended up with his horrible, ghastly text. But well, here goes, this is for [vicar's name] and [warden's name].'
So he, clearly reluctantly, read his part... but finished off not with 'Thanks be to God' but 'Thanks be to [vicar's name] and [warden's name]'!
FFS!! Aaaargh!! Jesus, Joseph and Mary!! Baby Jesus wept!!
In this year of huge turmoil worldwide, with the resurgence of spoilt brats like the current POTUS, BoJo, Rees-Mogg, the Aussie PM, and all the others, we now have that ilk even in one of the most beautiful, memorable and uplifting annual church services, on Christmas Eve, who - in front of more than 200 churchgoers, regulars and many many visitors - basically throws a tantrum and not once, but twice blames others for something which basically is an honour and joy to do. And they don't give thanks to God, but cynically to people they blame for the narcissistic discomfort.
Thus, TICTH this insufferable personnage, and while I'm at it, TICTH the organist too, who showed up 2 minutes before the start of the service, and for the second hymn... was nowhere to be found, and so on the vicar's suggestion we started accapella. The organist only got back in (no idea where he had gone!) towards the end of that hymn, and we got some organ accompaniment to finish it off.
(And when I finally got home, I noticed that our big local church was on fire, see Prayer Thread and Cool Britannia. - I mean, honestly! You couldn't make it up! - Grrrr.)
That is appalling, @Wesley J and why I only ask people to read if I know them to be regulars: because you never know (and especially you never know on Christmas Eve, when per-service drink may well have been taken).
He sounds like a right w****r, Wesley - he was probably pissed off that he was asked to do the first lesson (usually reserved for a junior chorister) and not the one from the Gospel of John.
As for the organist, if he was anything like an acquaintance of mine*, he may have been caught short ...
Yes, it's a standard text. I read it about 10 years ago. A small child in the congregation turned to their parents and asked, in a shocked and carrying voice "they were naked????
Unfortunately the carrying voice didn't carry all the way to the lectern, and so I had the unnerving experience of the congregation suddenly laughing mid-text. I assumed I'd made some dreadful mispronunciation or spoonerism or something.
The small child is now taller than I am. I heard her being teased about it again this year.
TICTH people who don’t realise that the 12 days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and finish on 12th night Instead, people in our street have had decorations up for the whole of December and have already taken them down 😠
FYI: lots of people don't celebrate the 12 Days or know about them, other than the song or from Shakespeare. Same with Advent. ETA: They may be from a non-liturgical church or not Christians.
OTOH, some people leave their outdoor Christmas lights up all year long, though they don't necessarily light them out of season. I think it's mostly because it's such a pain--and dangerous--to put them up on the eaves of the house.
First up, the Vicar should have got the agreement of the appointed readers, including if they were happy with the reading they had been allocated. But for the reader to behave in such a way is outrageous and IMHO should result in him being barred from doing a reading, or anything else for that matte, ever again. You describe him as "well-to-do-" to which I'd say maybe but certainly neither well-bred nor well-mannered.
The organist: if he appeared late and then absented himself I'd suggest he was held up in traffic and then was "taken short". Yes, maybe he should have allowed more time to get to church on the night but things can sometimes go awry. I was once late for a service because on the only stretch of lane with no turning space or gateway a car towing a trailer had skidded and got itself wedged between two hedgerows on raised banks - and naturally there was no mobile reception either.
FYI: lots of people don't celebrate the 12 Days or know about them, other than the song or from Shakespeare. Same with Advent. ETA: They may be from a non-liturgical church or not Christians.
OTOH, some people leave their outdoor Christmas lights up all year long, though they don't necessarily light them out of season. I think it's mostly because it's such a pain--and dangerous--to put them up on the eaves of the house.
One house in the parish next to Our Place leaves the lights in situ all year, along with the inflatable Santa, reindeer, etc.
By about half-past Easter, Santa, reindeer, etc. are completely deflated, and hanging limply over the porch, on whose flat roof they live.
I was picking up tickets at our local station this afternoon and asked how the trains were faring with Edinburgh Haymarket undergoing track works. The ticket man grinned and said that he had been following it on some private Scotrail site, and it is chaos. Apparently many trains are being re-routed, obviously, but when the drivers were given their routes this morning some of them said they hadn’t driven these routes before and refused on the grounds of safety. And this for works that have been a year in the planning....
The nice new modern trains have been Good Trains, and have earned a holiday.
You wouldn't say that if you lived in East Anglia, where the lovely new trains and the signals won't talk to each other: https://tinyurl.com/recpcyr. The old trains have been sent to Wales.
My dear, @Baptist Trainfan, I live on an island without any trains. I know nothing of either elderly nor baby trains. I believe you meant to quote that well known fan, @Bishops Finger
The nice new modern trains have been Good Trains, and have earned a holiday.
You wouldn't say that if you lived in East Anglia, where the lovely new trains and the signals won't talk to each other: https://tinyurl.com/recpcyr. The old trains have been sent to Wales.
I was not unhappy to read that Abellio's tenure of the Scotrail franchise will not be renewed, though we still have another two years of them. https://www.railwaygazette.com/55403.article
However, we should not be too hopeful, as each one seems to be worse than the last.
My dear, @Baptist Trainfan, I live on an island without any trains. I know nothing of either elderly nor baby trains. I believe you meant to quote that well known fan, @Bishops Finger
The nice new modern trains have been Good Trains, and have earned a holiday.
You wouldn't say that if you lived in East Anglia, where the lovely new trains and the signals won't talk to each other: https://tinyurl.com/recpcyr. The old trains have been sent to Wales.
The nice new modern trains have been Good Trains, and have earned a holiday.
You wouldn't say that if you lived in East Anglia, where the lovely new trains and the signals won't talk to each other: https://tinyurl.com/recpcyr. The old trains have been sent to Wales.
The Fat Controller would NEVER have stood for that kind of nonsense!
I was not unhappy to read that Abellio's tenure of the Scotrail franchise will not be renewed, though we still have another two years of them. https://www.railwaygazette.com/55403.article
However, we should not be too hopeful, as each one seems to be worse than the last.
Roll on Independence, when Scotland can nationalise its railways again...
TICTH a major mail pharmacy company, who woke me up out of a post-surgical recovery nap to demand my birthdate as proof of my identity before telling me whatever urgent thing they supposedly called me for. They do this every fucking time, as if they'd never heard all those lectures about giving out sensitive data to strangers who call you on the phone and claim to be your bank, doctor, etc. etc. etc.
When I refused, they said they'd put a note in the account and wait for me to call back.
I gave up the nap, hauled my ass to the computer and contacted them at the proper phone number. To be met with a ten minute wait while they tried to figure out why they had called me, and ultimately handed me over to a man with a mouth full of marbles, who spoke at roughly half-normal speed. What did they want? Why, to interrogate me about just why I had discontinued refills on two medications. Uh, because my doctor told me to? That should have ended the call, but did not. He then proceeded to lecture me on the dangers of not taking my medication (this was delivered in a tone of voice that would insult a three-year-old who had failed to wash his hands) and told me all about the tiny blood vessels and how they depend on me to take my medications. At this point, I fear, I was rude. I asked him whether it was indeed the case that they had called me just to second-guess my doctor and were of the opinion that I was not receiving proper care. "Uh, I guess?"
Well, if you mean Rev Awdry's stories, yes, but not quite as rendered in recent times!
I met Rev Awdry once, many years ago, and have a signed copy of Toby the Tram Engine , who, as enny fule kno, lived in East Anglia, before he moved to Sodor.
I recall visiting the Cadeby railway many years ago but never met Rev Boston. Awdry's tramway was based on the Wisbech & Upwell tramway. One of its coaches used to be at the Cambridge Museum of Technology on Riverside and, I think, went to one of the heritage railway sites for preservation.
O indeed - Rev Awdry was a tall, thin man. Rev Boston was inclined to embonpoint...and I had forgotten his parish was in Leicestershire (hence your otherwise cryptic reference to that Fair County).
But - referring back to New Trains That Don't Work, I can't help feeling that we could do with a couple of Fat (or Thin) Controllers to bang a few heads together.
O indeed - Rev Awdry was a tall, thin man. Rev Boston was inclined to embonpoint...and I had forgotten his parish was in Leicestershire (hence your otherwise cryptic reference to that Fair County).
But - referring back to New Trains That Don't Work, I can't help feeling that we could do with a couple of Fat (or Thin) Controllers to bang a few heads together.
I think percussion is being applied now. Unfortunately, really solving the problem would involve turning back time to ensure that the train builders understood the network on which the trains would be used.
If I may suggest, let your doctor know, in detail? If their office has one of those encrypted message portals, might be the easiest way. I've used those many times.
Well, if you mean Rev Awdry's stories, yes, but not quite as rendered in recent times!
I met Rev Awdry once, many years ago, and have a signed copy of Toby the Tram Engine , who, as enny fule kno, lived in East Anglia, before he moved to Sodor.
Ah, what they've done is set the short Britt Alcroft "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" episodes into the longer "Shining Time Station" format. AFAIR those first episodes followed the books (and real-life railway practice) pretty closer; later on new and less believable stories had to be created. However the first film went out in 1984 while the first book (originally written for Awdry's own children) was published in 1945!
If I may suggest, let your doctor know, in detail? If their office has one of those encrypted message portals, might be the easiest way. I've used those many times.
I'm afraid it's a marketing offensive (in both senses of the word) designed to guilt those who have chosen to discontinue a drug into resuming it, despite their adult status, and similarly to create social embarrassment in those (like me) who have amassed an oversupply of one drug and prefer to use it up before resuming orders. He attempted to really dig into my reasons for possessing an oversupply (not your business, mister, this is not an abusable or resellable drug) and made nasty insinuations about noncompliance. At which point I was supposed to break down in shame and order another three bottles just to prove I was compliant and not a Bad Person™. Which is when I went for him with both barrels. He doesn't really think my medical care is substandard; he merely ignores the implications of his pushy behavior (which, as I pointed out to him, are that both I and my doctor are idiots).
My doctor will be interested but has no leverage whatsoever to stop such abusive practices.
This is outrageous to me (in Australia), because it absolutely couldn’t happen here at the moment - no current prescription? No drugs. The idea that someone who isn’t medically qualified could attempt to pressurise you into continuing to buy prescription medicine that you don’t need (in your doctor’s opinion) blows my mind.
This is outrageous to me (in Australia), because it absolutely couldn’t happen here at the moment - no current prescription? No drugs. The idea that someone who isn’t medically qualified could attempt to pressurise you into continuing to buy prescription medicine that you don’t need (in your doctor’s opinion) blows my mind.
Slight clarification: This is a mail order pharmacy, intended for long-term unchanging prescriptions, therefore there are (usually) several refills attached to the original prescription, altogether comprising perhaps a six-month supply--which is sent to me on a regular schedule, say every two months. This man is demanding to know why I have chosen to refrain from receiving the refills that remain in his computer system, AND sending him lots and lots of lovely money therefor. He is not pressuring me to buy prescription drugs without a prescription--rather he is attempting to get me to order extra quantities of things I either already have more than enough of on hand, or else that my doctor has told me to stop using altogether. (The legal prescription is still in force for the moment.)
If a doctor decides I should stop taking a particular drug, the extra refills on the original legal prescription languish in the pharmacy computer system, taking up 0s and 1s in memory, but doing no harm, until their date of expiration approaches and they vanish. It is not necessary for the doctor to call the pharmacy explicitly to rescind a prescription--everyone trusts to the good sense of the patient to do as he or she is told. Except, apparently, this individual. And others in the Lowerarchy beneath him.
I appreciate the work you're doing with your patient during her difficulties with Pharmaceuticals; you're accomplishing much to foil the work of the Enemy. Frustration with bureaucrats of all stripes is one of the best tools we have for bringing our patients to the anger that leads to outbursts of irritation, rudeness to others, and the use of bad language without thought of the consequences.
Be careful, though, that you don't take her too far in that direction; this patient's sense of the absurd is too well developed, and she might sense where you are leading her. Better to cut off the conversation when she starts to make headway, so that she has to wait in the hold queue before starting in again. That frustration is the ideal path to wrath and contempt for others. Don't waste it.
Comments
Yikes!
The first reader - whom I didn't know -, was in his early to mid 60s, clearly VERY well-to-do, rather elegantly dressed, and of the type who normally gives orders, rather then humbly receiving them, and he obviously wasn't in the mood, not even for a Christmas service. The first lesson being the Garden of Eden apple-munching and getting-kicked-out-of-Paradise story, the guy started, turning to the vicar: 'I feel I would like to say something to this before I begin. When I was asked to read tonight I was filled with joy and anticipation of what passage it was going to be. And now I have ended up with his horrible, ghastly text. But well, here goes, this is for [vicar's name] and [warden's name].'
So he, clearly reluctantly, read his part... but finished off not with 'Thanks be to God' but 'Thanks be to [vicar's name] and [warden's name]'!
FFS!! Aaaargh!! Jesus, Joseph and Mary!! Baby Jesus wept!!
In this year of huge turmoil worldwide, with the resurgence of spoilt brats like the current POTUS, BoJo, Rees-Mogg, the Aussie PM, and all the others, we now have that ilk even in one of the most beautiful, memorable and uplifting annual church services, on Christmas Eve, who - in front of more than 200 churchgoers, regulars and many many visitors - basically throws a tantrum and not once, but twice blames others for something which basically is an honour and joy to do. And they don't give thanks to God, but cynically to people they blame for the narcissistic discomfort.
Thus, TICTH this insufferable personnage, and while I'm at it, TICTH the organist too, who showed up 2 minutes before the start of the service, and for the second hymn... was nowhere to be found, and so on the vicar's suggestion we started accapella. The organist only got back in (no idea where he had gone!) towards the end of that hymn, and we got some organ accompaniment to finish it off.
(And when I finally got home, I noticed that our big local church was on fire, see Prayer Thread and Cool Britannia. - I mean, honestly! You couldn't make it up! - Grrrr.)
Merry Christmas, everyone!
As for the organist, if he was anything like an acquaintance of mine*, he may have been caught short ...
* not D., since you ask
((( @churchgeek )))
Oh, @Wesley J, that is horrible. What a schmuck!
I don't know much about lectionaries. Is that Genesis text purposely paired with Christmas, to show Jesus as the remedy for what happened?
Thx.
Unfortunately the carrying voice didn't carry all the way to the lectern, and so I had the unnerving experience of the congregation suddenly laughing mid-text. I assumed I'd made some dreadful mispronunciation or spoonerism or something.
The small child is now taller than I am. I heard her being teased about it again this year.
OTOH, some people leave their outdoor Christmas lights up all year long, though they don't necessarily light them out of season. I think it's mostly because it's such a pain--and dangerous--to put them up on the eaves of the house.
First up, the Vicar should have got the agreement of the appointed readers, including if they were happy with the reading they had been allocated. But for the reader to behave in such a way is outrageous and IMHO should result in him being barred from doing a reading, or anything else for that matte, ever again. You describe him as "well-to-do-" to which I'd say maybe but certainly neither well-bred nor well-mannered.
The organist: if he appeared late and then absented himself I'd suggest he was held up in traffic and then was "taken short". Yes, maybe he should have allowed more time to get to church on the night but things can sometimes go awry. I was once late for a service because on the only stretch of lane with no turning space or gateway a car towing a trailer had skidded and got itself wedged between two hedgerows on raised banks - and naturally there was no mobile reception either.
One house in the parish next to Our Place leaves the lights in situ all year, along with the inflatable Santa, reindeer, etc.
By about half-past Easter, Santa, reindeer, etc. are completely deflated, and hanging limply over the porch, on whose flat roof they live.
Actually I think the company has run out of staff willing to work this week. I wonder why
The nice new modern trains have been Good Trains, and have earned a holiday.
This gives the old trains (shrunken and feeble though they be) a chance to stretch their wheels - which may be why they've broken down...
https://www.railwaygazette.com/55403.article
However, we should not be too hopeful, as each one seems to be worse than the last.
Indeed so.
The Fat Controller would NEVER have stood for that kind of nonsense!
Roll on Independence, when Scotland can nationalise its railways again...
When I refused, they said they'd put a note in the account and wait for me to call back.
I gave up the nap, hauled my ass to the computer and contacted them at the proper phone number. To be met with a ten minute wait while they tried to figure out why they had called me, and ultimately handed me over to a man with a mouth full of marbles, who spoke at roughly half-normal speed. What did they want? Why, to interrogate me about just why I had discontinued refills on two medications. Uh, because my doctor told me to? That should have ended the call, but did not. He then proceeded to lecture me on the dangers of not taking my medication (this was delivered in a tone of voice that would insult a three-year-old who had failed to wash his hands) and told me all about the tiny blood vessels and how they depend on me to take my medications. At this point, I fear, I was rude. I asked him whether it was indeed the case that they had called me just to second-guess my doctor and were of the opinion that I was not receiving proper care. "Uh, I guess?"
end of call. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
{Waves at Sir Topemhat.}
I met Rev Awdry once, many years ago, and have a signed copy of Toby the Tram Engine , who, as enny fule kno, lived in East Anglia, before he moved to Sodor.
But - referring back to New Trains That Don't Work, I can't help feeling that we could do with a couple of Fat (or Thin) Controllers to bang a few heads together.
I think percussion is being applied now. Unfortunately, really solving the problem would involve turning back time to ensure that the train builders understood the network on which the trains would be used.
Grrrrrrr ! How utterly maddening!!! Commiserations from here
If I may suggest, let your doctor know, in detail? If their office has one of those encrypted message portals, might be the easiest way. I've used those many times.
Here's the very first episode of Shining Time Station: "A Place Unlike Any Other" (YouTube). Ringo Starr played Mr. Conductor! And did a great job. The series went on for several years, featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.
Would any of the trainophiles like to start a thread on the subject, possibly upstairs in Heaven?
We wouldn't want this one to get, um, derailed ...
Thank you.
Piglet, AS host
But Trainophiles - really! The correct term is Ferroequinologists.
I'm afraid it's a marketing offensive (in both senses of the word) designed to guilt those who have chosen to discontinue a drug into resuming it, despite their adult status, and similarly to create social embarrassment in those (like me) who have amassed an oversupply of one drug and prefer to use it up before resuming orders. He attempted to really dig into my reasons for possessing an oversupply (not your business, mister, this is not an abusable or resellable drug) and made nasty insinuations about noncompliance. At which point I was supposed to break down in shame and order another three bottles just to prove I was compliant and not a Bad Person™. Which is when I went for him with both barrels. He doesn't really think my medical care is substandard; he merely ignores the implications of his pushy behavior (which, as I pointed out to him, are that both I and my doctor are idiots).
My doctor will be interested but has no leverage whatsoever to stop such abusive practices.
Heaven help us.
Slight clarification: This is a mail order pharmacy, intended for long-term unchanging prescriptions, therefore there are (usually) several refills attached to the original prescription, altogether comprising perhaps a six-month supply--which is sent to me on a regular schedule, say every two months. This man is demanding to know why I have chosen to refrain from receiving the refills that remain in his computer system, AND sending him lots and lots of lovely money therefor. He is not pressuring me to buy prescription drugs without a prescription--rather he is attempting to get me to order extra quantities of things I either already have more than enough of on hand, or else that my doctor has told me to stop using altogether. (The legal prescription is still in force for the moment.)
If a doctor decides I should stop taking a particular drug, the extra refills on the original legal prescription languish in the pharmacy computer system, taking up 0s and 1s in memory, but doing no harm, until their date of expiration approaches and they vanish. It is not necessary for the doctor to call the pharmacy explicitly to rescind a prescription--everyone trusts to the good sense of the patient to do as he or she is told. Except, apparently, this individual. And others in the Lowerarchy beneath him.
I appreciate the work you're doing with your patient during her difficulties with Pharmaceuticals; you're accomplishing much to foil the work of the Enemy. Frustration with bureaucrats of all stripes is one of the best tools we have for bringing our patients to the anger that leads to outbursts of irritation, rudeness to others, and the use of bad language without thought of the consequences.
Be careful, though, that you don't take her too far in that direction; this patient's sense of the absurd is too well developed, and she might sense where you are leading her. Better to cut off the conversation when she starts to make headway, so that she has to wait in the hold queue before starting in again. That frustration is the ideal path to wrath and contempt for others. Don't waste it.
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWTAPE