Everyday Chatting & Waffling {2026} Let's get to know each other!

breoni said:
I need to rant... so please feel free to keep scrolling. LOL.

One of my coworkers asked if he and his wife could chaperone our youth leadership camp. I was thrilled they were interested, and I made sure that they were given two of the seats on our very full bus. I gave them the dates last summer, and they confirmed in early fall. Since that time, I've done a ton of planning... we have a private Facebook group for the parents of the kids and their sponsoring co-ops, we have a GroupMe for everyone going on the trip, we've had TWO virtual overviews... one for the families, and one for just the chaperones, and I have a daily count-down email for the past two weeks leading up to camp. In addition, everyone was sent the digital program for review that includes the full schedule. AND I mailed a laminated, glossy, large mailer to every household with our abbreviated itinerary and the bus schedule of where everyone told me that they were getting on the bus. Finally, I give all of the camp leadership matching shirts, with a schedule of which shirt should be worn on which date. They've had their shirts for the past month.

So... at our staff meeting on Monday, our CEO announced that this coworker was attending a fun "Bourbon" trip (fundraiser for our local PAC) with him to Kentucky. I immediately pointed out that he was already committed to be on the bus with me on Friday (tomorrow). So I called him and he confirmed that he was flying separately from the group and would, indeed, be on the bus.

YESTERDAY... less than 48 hours before we leave... his wife emails me that they had "a slight mix up" and now will not be able to meet the bus on Friday. So now they are planning on driving their own vehicle and will meet us at the camp on Saturday. That leaves me short TWO chaperones. My coworker was the only male, so now I will have to do bed checks at the Denver hotel with only myself and two other female chaperones for 50 kids. We've already pre-paid for their hotel room, meals, and iFLY activity. So now, even if they do drive to meet us, that means that they'll have to drive back. So again, I will not have the chaperone support on the bus for the ride home. They will also miss getting to know the kids and learning about their roles (a discussion planned for when we were on the bus). I. AM. LIVID.

I've already looped in my CEO and he's offered to send another one of our male employees to drive all the way to Denver to help with bed checks, and then drive all the way back home the following day. I could hardly sleep last night I was so upset at yet another coworker who could not be counted on. The thing is, we will still need him and his wife AT camp and during the week. I need to communicate with my CEO that any additional expenses incurred for their vehicle, fuel, and food is out their own pocket and will not be charged to camp. I think that he should also pay for our other co-workers' expense for covering for him.

Seriously. What would you all do in this situation? I think it's absolutely inexcusable. His wife's email said that they had it in their heads that the trip started on Saturday instead of Friday, and that all their childcare is also scheduled to start over the weekend. I claim BS!! AAARRRGGGHH!!!!

Thank you. Rant over.
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ABSOLUTELY NOT OKAY!!!
Here's what I "heard".... "Bourbon" trip, so much more fun than chaperoning a buncha kids at camp, so let's go there with the CEO and make sure that "we're seen". OH, they're being seen now, as a couple of kiss-a** little sh*ts who don't follow through with their commitments. And now CEO has to cough up, not just another male employee, but the cost of that employee expenses. I agree, original employee should pay out of his pocket and if it were in my power, it should somehow "slip out" that this guy shirked his duty to the chartable work your company does. (but that's my opinion)

I'm really sorry that you had to deal with this jerk and his wife.
 
Carla minicooper452 said:
ABSOLUTELY NOT OKAY!!!
Here's what I "heard".... "Bourbon" trip, so much more fun than chaperoning a buncha kids at camp, so let's go there with the CEO and make sure that "we're seen". OH, they're being seen now, as a couple of kiss-a** little sh*ts who don't follow through with their commitments. And now CEO has to cough up, not just another male employee, but the cost of that employee expenses. I agree, original employee should pay out of his pocket and if it were in my power, it should somehow "slip out" that this guy shirked his duty to the chartable work your company does. (but that's my opinion)

I'm really sorry that you had to deal with this jerk and his wife.
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Carla!!! Thank you so much for your support and for making me laugh!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! I needed that soooo much! :)
 
Shana, I am so sorry that happened to you--it must be so frustrating! Those people has a lot of reminders; they definitely should have noticed the dates, ugh. If I could offer my husband, I would. He loves camping, and of course I would tag along!

I've had an interesting couple of weeks. Besides being loaded down with homework last week, I went with Eren and hubby to look at new apartments for Eren. They wanted to be away from campus and closer to their new adult job. They picked the first place we looked at, which has a lot of dings but also the charm of a 100-year-old building. They were supposed to start their new job Tuesday, but confused the day of their orientation with the day of their training, Wednesday. Fortunately they were able to reschedule their orientation for a later date. I'm just bumbling along, trying to meet my prof's expectations and not quite getting there. Talk about a tough grader! Anyway, that's all from me for now. Life goes on and soon this tough class will be a distant memory!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! <3
 
Pulling into the thread aboard the “struggle bus”, wow has it been wild and crazy here in my neck of the woods. I have been up to my eyeballs in paperwork for all kinds of things that are going on. I’ve been pretty quiet really struggling with the job search still. Getting pretty aggravated with the process and my patience is running thin … very thin.

We finally cut the cord with Xfinity/Comcast … it was SO expensive and we had just internet and a streaming box. We ended up going with a Satellite for internet and we are straight streaming from our TV and of course we still have app’s we watch as well. So, I think it is going to work out better. I was worried that the speed was going to be an issue … but we are currently sitting in severe thunderstorms and nasty weather, and this satellite isn’t skipping a beat. It is actually much faster than Xfinity was. I think Xfinity exaggerated their internet speeds a little … because yesterday morning we still had their service and I downloaded something and it took a few minutes. Later that afternoon when the satellite got hooked up, I redownloaded the file just to see; and that little download circle went “ZIP” all the way around in a few seconds and it was done. No complaints here for sure now.

For right now I need some digital scrapbooking time to give myself some peace. Hopefully the power stays on – it looks like a rough one stirring up out there. I’ve got my YouTube on streaming on my office TV and photoshop is ready to roll. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and week ahead !!!
 
@breoni LIVID for you!! I think they should be univited to the Bourbon trip!

@honeybee Big hug

The thread seem unusually quiet. I have been sort of out of the loop and overwhelmed by life. I do to much, I know I do. I am exhausted, but still find time to think of more things to do. I feel as though I have neglected my GS world so much. It is sad because it is MY happy place.

The thing is, I love the volunteer stuff too.

Well, I just heard from my cousins in England that the oldest of us, Ken, was busy chopping branches off a tree with a chainsaw and it bounced, slicing his arm five or six times all the way down to the bone. It is a very serious injury, he has 50% tendon damage, but still has his arm. He had an operation today to sew as much as they could manage back together. SO, I am going to make him a t-shirt - what should it say :)
  1. Ladders and chainsaws: because gravity isn't already dangerous enough on its own
  2. I can count the number of chainsaw accidents I've had on 1 hand
  3. My wife has now hidden the chain saw
  4. I had a fight with a chainsaw - guess who won
any good suggestions?
 
Hi all.. I'm back home and laundry is ALMOST done. It's been a good week of camp. Stay tuned for a scrapbook page about a hawk landing on my head! LOL! My coworkers did eventually show up for camp, but were absolutely worthless. As they live in another part of the state, I didn't realize that they were both chain smokers. So they would show up for a bit, but then take off to sneak a cigarette and then just not come back. So yeah. Glad that week is over and I wont' have to put up with their nonsence any more. I think the thing that took the cake was when my coworkers wife asked the camp director to change the rules to allow for "just one" alcoholic beverage after bed checks each night. If you think that they will NEVER be asked to help with one of my youth programs again, you would be correct.

The kids were great. The weather was great. We did have to change one of our activities due to the proximity of a wild fire. But it was a really good camp. I returned around 11 pm.. and got to the Kansas City hotel at 12:30 a.m., slept for about 90 minutes, and then got up to catch the 3:20 a.m. shuttle to the airport and we were at rope drop in Disneyland by 9 a.m. for Randy's 60th birthday. We ran hard for the past four days and got everythign done that we wanted, and a whole bunch of fun little surprises along the way. Randy was tickeled (and very emotional) about his birthday celebration. We took a late flight home and it got delayed. So we finally pulled into our driveway at 3 a.m. this morning. We immediately crashed into our own bed and I didn't move until 1 p.m. this afternoon. I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off as well, as my body is telling me LOUD AND CLEAR that it's not cut out of this much "fun." LOL!!!

Lots of pages of my adventures to come! :)
 
I have been scary busy too, trying to finish up this class and not fail it. So far, so good, I just have to write a research paper by Sunday. It's not going well. Things keep getting in the way and I'm not sure how to start it anyway.

Lynnie, is your cousin the type that would appreciate a T-shirt with a humorous statement about a non-humorous topic? If so, I like 3 or 4. :)

Shana, that's awful about the chain-smoking volunteers! I am 100% on your side. And happy birthday to your hubby!
 
Good morning, all! Do any of you use Adobe Bridge (part of the Creative Suite)? I've noticed that with the latest update, I can no longer use Bridge as my laptop is not updated to Windows 11. Anyone else having this issue or have found a work around?
 
Personally Lynnie, I have an issue with gravity myself so I'd go with the first one! LOL........ OMG!

Thank God that week is over, huh Shana! Thank God for Disney! Happy Birthday, Randy!

Good luck Ane! I keep sayin'.... YOU GOT THIS! It'll happen.
 
breoni said:
Good morning, all! Do any of you use Adobe Bridge (part of the Creative Suite)? I've noticed that with the latest update, I can no longer use Bridge as my laptop is not updated to Windows 11. Anyone else having this issue or have found a work around?
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I can't use Adobe Bridge either .... it is definately a Windows 11 update issue. I'm afraid trying to update this old laptop of mine to Windows 11 might finally force it to blow up for good.
 
Glad to see the rest of you chimed in ... seems like we all are pretty busy. Life happens .... right?

I had a super busy day yesterday (but a good one). Today is going to be just about as busy too, which is why I just told my hubby on the phone; it's pizza night --- I don't have the brain power OR the energy to cook today. ;)

I reached out to a career counselor from the University I just graduated from and she and I are going to work on my resume together to get things on the right track. AI has been a nasty little bugger for the job search industry; so we need to use things to our advantage to get our resume's seen. I'm excited about what opportunities could come my way ... it's been a loooooooong wait.

I hope to get in some good scrapbooking time tomorrow morning. I deseprately need that creative time for some rest and enjoyment. I deserve it after being so busy lately. But I still have a ton of other paperwork sitting here staring at me that I just need to tackle and get out of my sight at this point.

This "adulting" thing is WAY overrated ... right ?! :rolleyes:
 
That video is really funny, Shana. You took it all in stride. What a great experience.

I don't know if any of you have been following the story of the bald eagle (Jackie) who is making the news these days. She is part of a pair that is nesting in Big Bear, not that far from me. I have been following the eagle nest cam for some time. The female, Jackie, has been raising a pair of eaglets (Luna and Sandie) with her partner, Shadow. A week ago, she was filmed in a fight with two subadult eagles and was taken to a rehab facility close by where my brother lives. They determined she had no injuries from the fight, but was severely anemic and had some kidney damage. We are watching Shadow caring for the fledglings in her absence and hoping all is well with Jackie. It is interesting to see it make national news. On a side note, there was land close by that was up for sale for development. The Friends of Big Valley, and others, have been fundraising to buy the land so the eagles would not be affected by the development. During the crisis with Jackie, a big donor couple stepped up and donated the balance so the land can now be purchased and preserve the eagle environment.

It is an interesting story. What is even more interesting, though, is reading the comments on Facebook of all the people who think they know better than the experts on what is wrong with Jackie, not to mention the people who talk about the eagles as though they are people with people feelings. They are magnificent creatures, and do mate for life, but my goodness - the human feelings folks attribute to every action of the eagles and eaglets.

There was a funny meme about responses to a post... something about x number of people will tell you why you are wrong, x people will explain your post to you, x will tell you to look online, x will tell you this has been answered in a previous post, etc. I wish I could find it, but it totally applies to the eagle folks.
 
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