Ketchup's Bottled Rants (New series name? I think so!)

[Ketchup345]

Another collection of rants I have from the past few months.

First:
Back in September, my mother died. She was quite young, and the only one of us in the house with a full-time job. She never got to see either myself or my brother get full time jobs or get married, never saw my brother turn 21, never saw him graduate college, and probably many things I'm forgetting.

Second:
My car died last week. I was making what was expected to be a 6 hour trip (3 to, 3 from) my brother to get him to sign something to make everything in court (from the first part of the rant) get started sooner. Less than a 1/4 mile before the rest stop I was going to use anyway (roughly the midpoint), I tap the brake to disable cruise control, and hear a bad sound, followed by a different but continuous bad sound. Pull into the rest stop, notice the brakes aren't working 100% like they should; they could slow the car down (but not as much as they should), but couldn't get it to stop completely. Pull into a parking spot away from the building (weekday + 6ish at night = mostly empty rest stop) and use the handbrake to stop it fully. Pop the hood and a spark plug is resting on top of the engine, with even the wire disconnected. Call dad, he comes up, screws the spark plug back in, drives my car home, I meet my brother at the parallel rest stop and he signs the papers, and the person that came with me drove dad's suv home (not because I didn't want to drive, but because she wanted to try out driving one). The car apparently ran fine at high speeds, but wasn't good at low/idle. This was the first (and now only) big issue the car has had.

Third:
Because of #2, we don't trust my car anymore. I'm now driving what used to be mom's. I don't like it for a few reasons (I'll only list the things that make it worse than the car from #2). First the sun visor on the driver's side doesn't stay all the way up, it falls down about an inch or two, causing me to hit my head on it occasionally. Second, the driver's seat doesn't go far enough back for my liking. Third, the rear view mirror is "too loose," a tap will easily send it away from where it was placed, and the tab to make it into night mode doesn't work because it moves the whole mirror no matter how hard you try to keep it in place. Fourth, it is a two door, I prefer four doors. Fifth, no light when the trunk is open. Sixth, no cruise control. Seventh, I don't like how it handles- either too much under-steer, or just a bad ratio of turning the steering wheel to the effect on the front wheels.

Fourth:
I was scheduled to work this morning. Work right now for me is a part time job, and this time of year we only need 1 person a day doing the job. I set my alarm for 7:42AM and roll out of bed at 9:12AM (I like laying in bed awake thinking). Get to work just before 10AM (it doesn't matter when we do the job, as long as it gets done), go up to the office, find the keys, radio, and phone I'm supposed to bring with me missing. Tried calling my boss using a number listed on the contact sheet for everyone in the Dept, got an automated thing saying the number is incorrect. Stayed in the office an hour or so trying to reach him/see if he would show, then came home.

[Kion]

I don't think I'd call this "ketchup's bottled up rants" as much as I would call it "Ketchup's mild bitching". Aside from number 1, these seem to be only mild inconveniences.

[Ketchup345]

I don't think I'd call this "ketchup's bottled up rants" as much as I would call it "Ketchup's mild bitching". Aside from number 1, these seem to be only mild inconveniences.

Bottled since I only make topics for a group of things that have just been bothering me for a while ("bottled up").

Even though 2 and 4 here may seem minor, when added to the fact we're still dealing heavily with #1 (emotionally and monetarily), they're bigger deals than if they had occurred at a different time.
3, yeah I'd have put it with the Bull Shxt thread if it didn't tie in with #2 so much.

[Kion]

As for little things adding up when dealing with something else I can kid of relate. I go to school full time and I work full time, so getting three hours of sleep is a blessing. On monday I went to school, got off the train at seven and my manager asks if I can work. It turns my manager had an infected tooth an the whole right side of his mouth was swollen and he looked in terrible pain, so I took his shift, which was until 5 am. I got off work at 5:30, got home took a shower and was back out the door for another day of school at 7:30.
Losing sleep I'm finding speech, motor functions, reading, planning are all out of whack as well as a loss in ability to control my emotions. For your small things, you still have a car, and waiting around at work isn't too bad. I hope my shitty life provided some contrast in that respect.

[Ketchup345]

Waiting around at work isn't the main point about that. Part of why that annoys me is because at this time, our family needs to be working as much time as we can get, as right now none of the 3 of us have a proper full time job (I guess I forgot this part). I have student loans to pay, my brother is still in college, and my dad isn't that great with money. This is a part time job, I only get 10 hours a week on a good week. It is sometimes hard enough covering bills with 10 hours a week, never mind when that gets cut in half because of a stupid coworker.

I do have a car to use, but this goes back to money as well. If my car had stayed usable for a few years (like we were expecting), as a family we'd be in much better shape.


For your situation, I'd have said no and to find someone else if it would have been the 2nd night in a row (probably would have taken it though if it would have been the 1st 3 hour or less night though). One day of 3 hours or less of sleep isn't too bad (done it many times in college), 2 in a row is manageable, multiple in a row isn't.

[Kion]

I my case it boils down to money as well. I need to work at least 25 hours a week to afford to live. So it's more a matter of circumstance, I don't have the luxury of turning down any extra time I can earn an extra dime.

As for your car, those are definitely huge cash dumps. Just be careful with what you have and it should last.