The ANGST thread: Complain here!

[ShadowBrain]

Relevant-ish

Wait... what?

[Markio]

Safe Spaces are like voluntary sensitivity trainings where college students can learn how to be more inclusive and respectful of LGBT people.  It can be difficult to determine which pronouns to use (he,she,xe; him,her,hir) to refer to a transgender person, as they may not be out as transgender in public or they may not look transgender.  It's typically considered polite to try and learn which pronouns a transgender person prefers, although it can be difficult to bring up if you're uncertain about a person's gender identity.  I guess it relates to the earlier angst about TheMightyThor's transgender friend because it has to do with transgender issues.

I recently blocked this transgender girl on facebook because I was getting sick of her insufferable comments.  She wasn't a very good listener/reader: she would post sympathetic responses to people who weren't asking for sympathy in the first place.  It was like she was failing to properly demonstrate that she genuinely cared about people.

Also bothering me recently, it was my second day at work and this coworker got mad at me because I accidentally clicked the wrong thing on the register and wasn't able to undo the action, and he didn't like how I asked him for help after messing it up.  Why would I ask him for help before accidentally doing something incorrectly??  He later admitted he was having a long week and apologized for his harsh tone earlier, but I still don't feel comfortable asking him questions.  I'm still new and feeling vulnerable in this new environment, and I don't want to face his impatience or frustration, which seems to arise whenever I need help learning something new.

[TheMightyThor]

He got slightly ****ed (Could've been joking) when my friend accidentally used "she" in reference to him. He doesn't mind us using "xe", though.

Relevant-ish

I...huh?

[ShadowBrain]

How on earth do you pronounce that, anyway? "Zee"?

[Weegee]

"It".

[Markio]

Yes, "zee."  And the objective "hir" is pronounced "here."

[ShadowBrain]

Alright, folks, you're officially witnessing the exact point in history where I start on the Anakin Skywalker-esque dark road to becoming the future equivalent of your old grandpa who uses the word "Japs" in casual conversation, because I'll be [darn]ed if I'm going to change my pronouns.

[PaperLuigi]

Then don't. Just refer to them by their name. Not that hard.

[Markio]

If it's any consolation, most transgender people use "he" and "she" like the rest of us.

[BP]

My dog is sick. She's been scratching and biting at herself for months, losing her hair, dry flaky skin, horrible. Nothing we try works for more than a few days. She still acts the same and all and I love her to death but [darn] she's ugly

[Sapphira]

Aww, I'm sorry about your dog, BP.

NOTE: I split the conversation regarding TheColonelKR's closed thread into its own spin-off topic.

Sorry, Markio, that part of your post moved and lost some coherency in the split. For posterity, here's what it said:

I saw Wreck-It Ralph and I loved it.  Yet it gave me angst and I've been feeling really sad today.

[The Chef]

I've mentioned on the chatroom that I love Wreck-It Ralph to pieces and have seen it three times already. It is indeed a very sad movie in many parts.

[Red Lewd Uganda]

Also bothering me recently, it was my second day at work and this coworker got mad at me because I accidentally clicked the wrong thing on the register and wasn't able to undo the action, and he didn't like how I asked him for help after messing it up.  Why would I ask him for help before accidentally doing something incorrectly??  He later admitted he was having a long week and apologized for his harsh tone earlier, but I still don't feel comfortable asking him questions.  I'm still new and feeling vulnerable in this new environment, and I don't want to face his impatience or frustration, which seems to arise whenever I need help learning something new.

This reminds me of something WarpRattler led me to back in July. Excerpted from the site:

"The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, including Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant might only have done a little web design.

Something had changed the way kids were interacting with computers. A number of problems were identified: the colonisation of the ICT curriculum with lessons on using Word and Excel, or writing webpages; the end of the dot-com boom; and the rise of the home PC and games console to replace the Amigas, BBC Micros, Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64 machines that people of an earlier generation learned to program on.

There isn’t much any small group of people can do to address problems like an inadequate school curriculum or the end of a financial bubble. But we felt that we could try to do something about the situation where computers had become so expensive and arcane that programming experimentation on them had to be forbidden by parents; and to find a platform that, like those old home computers, could boot into a programming environment."

This describes my childhood experience with computers (and their programming) to a tittle. I've known people who grew up with Commodore 64s in the 1970s and 1980s that ended up being great computer programmers and engineers. Though I'm usually able to learn enough to get by, I do still envy them at times and feel as though not having the right skill sets has cost (and will probably continue to cost) me job opportunities.

Cheers to all the teachers who encourage making mistakes, so long as students learn from them.

[Markio]

I've really had it with this job.  It's very stressful to start a new job in a new environment with no real prior experience, and without much emotional support from friends (who are far away) or family (who are either far away, died, or lack adequate listening skills).  The same guy I had mentioned before is sometimes OK, but then in busy, crowded situations where I make a mistake he reacts like I'm a total idiot.  It's certainly not an encouraging response to get from a coworker.  It makes me feel like quitting, which I don't want to do because I need the money and because I don't want to let one guy control my whole outlook toward this job.

During my last shift I spent my break crying behind the building.  Toward the end of the day this one female coworker said to me suddenly, "I like you, I don't want you to leave."  That made me sad, because part of me feels like I'm just nervous for being new and I'm letting this one jerk outweigh all the nice people I work with.  I know that if his criticism persists, I'm going to have to say something to him.  Confronting people about hurting my feelings is the hardest thing for me to do, because I'm Catholic and was taught that my feelings aren't as important as making everyone else happy, which I understand cognitively to be a totally stupid idea.  If I don't say anything, he'll continue to be rude.

And for the record, I was expecting at least one other gay guy to be working at a coffee shop.  Nope, I'm the token gay barista!  All the other guys just talk about fantasy football!  I really miss my friends...

[Weegee]

Straight guys get jobs as baristas because the girls are usually hot. Trufax.