Who’s up for some complaining?

OK I'm actually not here to complain about ME but to complain about Kristen's instructor. I am a college prof and the people who do these kinds of shenanigans (one thing on the rubric, another in the instructions) give us all a bad rep. My projects are transparent and they all involve useful real-world skills (yes, even though I teach a lot of classes about medieval literature, haha) ... I'm sorry you are dealing with that, ugh.

I needed a good vent post! As a college professor myself, I have to say I would NEVER do this to my students. My philosophy is that the material is hard enough, why make people have to work overtime just to understand basic instructions.

Here's my complaint this week:

I got a random Labcorps bill. At first I thought it was spam because we paid our full out of pocket max in early February, so I have been blissfully not paying for health services we've received since then.

But this seems to be a bill for a Labcorps thing that was not covered and was submitted super late (so after I stopped regularly checking the insurance claim site so I could anticipate bills). I don't remember agreeing to a $4,000 test for our daughter that was not covered. And after paying our full out of pocket max a couple years in a row, I am really tired of paying medical bills. So I've got a call in with the doctor's office that I am assuming ordered the labs. Of course they are busy and I was in a meeting when I finally did have someone call me. I'll have to keep working on it.

I have a 'friend' who I take long breaks from speaking to... she seems to have a lot of issues, and often tells people different versions of her reality based on the crowd for sympathy. I dont even know how to describe her, except not hearing from her has been so peaceful.

Example she wanted to have a party but not rent the neighborhood building, she buddied up to me for a few months and then asked for the big give of would I host at my house? She is a legitimate hoarder and hasn't entertained ever in the ten years I've known her. I stopped going to her house because it stresses me out. My SO went in her house in the last year and described it as walking paths. Back to the party, I said yes, as she told me she had financial constraints that made renting the neighborhood center unfeasible for her. I never expected anything in return, and low and behold she purchased a sound system, a lot of food and alcohol, decorations, etc probably to the tune of $1k. She then returned food which was partially used to stores with generous return policies like Costco, and claimed disposable party items like balloons were somehow defunct asking for returns... along with this she regularly goes to food pantries. It seems like her ability to get things for free often allows for a lack of moderation with say the alcohol or the new sound system that could have ben forgone. I felt used, she also didn't come back until late the next day and my family and I had already cleaned and staged the mess that was left. It just felt, inconsiderate. She later asked if I would consider letting her host cooking classes at my home, I said no.

The same friend, who does not work, can do substitute teaching but just doesn't, her husband is an engineer. They are constantly in debt and late on payments. She then goes out and buys excessively priced new items for herself think $40 leggings and a $100 study bible. Her daughter needed new sneakers and she refused to buy her 13yro sneakers, having her daughter wear a pair of women's dress shoes which were clearly too narrow for her feet and not appropriate for things like gym class that the daughter needed to participate in. For the daughter's birthday my SO and I took her out shopping and let her pick a pair of sneakers and that was our gift to her. The daughter often wears the same clothes on repeat and they are often dirty, this is in part because her mother wont buy her clothes, and because of the hoarding....yes, I feel bad for her kid.

I run a backpack giveaway for a few years now. The 'friend' the first year said her daughter doesn't need the book bag so she will take twice as many supplies, we had to politely tell her no, one bag and one set of supplies per kid. This year she came to my house with her daughter the day before the bookbag giveaway to do a social media video, my SO and I were not home, my son let her and her daughter in, where they did do a video, the 'friend' then proceeded to take two bookbags home despite her daughter and my son, older teens, telling her dont take two. I confronted her and she became hysterical saying I was taking out my personal problems on her, that she would give them to her neighbor who is also a SAHM with a husband who is an engineer, and that her daughter just wouldn't get a bag because of me... she did return both bags, and I put one aside for her daughter which she instructed the daughter not to take, but when the mom cooled down the daughter took on a month or so later. She then came to the bookbag giveaway to 'help' and looked disheveled and seemed drunk, but wasn't? She proceeded to talk about politics most of the time, which I didn't care for, and brought her two untrained large dogs which routinely get kicked out of restaurants and other places for behavioral issues.

At a Bible study we went to she also complained saying I shouldn't give away 'cheap' book bags but instead just do the school supplies since they have more value and the book bags I give out just fall apart anyway and no one uses them. A friend was sitting there and his mouth just about hit the floor. She went on to explain that her daughter didn't like our book bags and needed to pick her own. Sorry, some people that go to book bag drives legitimately can't afford to buy their children book bags and that is the purpose, to help people who actually can't afford to provide basics for themselves or their children.

Ok I could go on but will stop

I called my BSN my bullshit degree. Just lots of busy work . I did not really learn anything.

In the summer I run high on energy, have fun and try to do and fix everything. Now that it is cold, dark and rainy - not so much. No solution for this, no sunlite lamps, Vit D, and moving for a sunnier place is not on the table. It is quite stable here, and my super pale skin would not appreciate. My next dermatologist appointment is in february, requested about 3 months ago. At least it is free!? (unless they try to sell you random procedures the health insurance does not pay for...) So I have to go to a person I do not know and undress fully (No, not this time. As a chronic sick person I have been treated like a puppet too many times, that`s an other anger point- do not touch/treat me without asking) to let them check my body for unruly moles. Why I left the last dermatologist? I saw people walking by on the street and waved to them, they waved back. She thought nothing of it, I left. Ok. She has super bad patient reviews, I did not even bother to write one, but still. I do need an appointment, because one of my moles is indeed running havoc. I just want it removed. And you know what? If there is anything wrong about it, or even not, I bet everything that I hear the sentence: "You should have come sooner!" After spending time making phonecalls, online portals, explaining I am high risk with skin cancer from both parents - everything. I`ll close with a loose translation from a quote of Hanns Kneifel (very old fiction) If you are alone and in trouble, nobody will come. It will start to rain, your fire burns out and you can hear the wolves howling.

Reclaimer: I am not much online lately, but overall everyone (Cat/DH/Me) is good, no need to worry if I don`t respond.