926: Rules and Regulations

[EllaMacFarlane]

did patrice mean Tameeka Time?

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by HumbleNarrator

and if it's a cold that is causing trouble, gargling with hot salt water (not scalding!) about once an hour before (not during) a performance will help keep the infection out of the back of the throat.

Hot salt water is a good remedy for the throat anyawys, especially if you add lemon (don't do it if you have to sing, i'm talking about common throat sores).

Dumb factoid: the guy who played Gollum in LOTR says he used a mixture of water, lemon and honey to loosen his throat and be change his own voice more easily. (Slurp)

[mkl]

Just started listening, so maybe this is cleared up...

I work with a lot of people who have government jobs, not just front counter people, but people all over the hierarchy. The reason these people don't care is because they don't need to. If you have a normal job, there is usually at least some sort of threat that you might get fired for not helping the customers. With government jobs there are 2 things that cause you to not need to help the customer. One is that it is very hard to fire a government worker. The government has a ton of rules about what has to be followed to fire someone.

The bigger problem however is about incentives. The government itself has no incentive to do things correctly, because you have no choice but to work with them. If a regular business had bad service, people would stop going there. With a government job however, there is no choice for the customer, you can't stop participating with the DMV (or the 911 dispatchers, or the TSA, or the social security office)

So not only does the rude government worker know they won't get fired easily, they know you have no choice but to come back next time. And also going a step up the hierarchy, the boss of that person also knows that unless one of their employees shows up on national news, they don't have to make their employees be nicer. And that attitude keeps going up the chain.
At a regular store you eventually hit a store manager who might be fired if the store does badly, but this position doesn't exist in the government. They know you have no choice and they will get your money if they help you, or not.
You might get some good government workers in some positions that actually care about helping people and they are good at their job. That seems to wear off when they realize that they aren't actually helping people and are just another layer in a useless process of the government.

[ryanknapper]

RE: My Name is Bruce
.....This was a fucking awesome movie. It's meant for the fans who have seen and enjoyed things like The Man with the Screaming Brain or Alien Apocalypse. Really, you have to enjoy the spectical of a hillariously bad film. I think its the same as how Keith enjoys seeing comedians bomb. My Name is Bruce is a bad movie because Bruce Campbell makes B movies.

RE: Xbox Vs. Downloaded Movies
.....Yes, this works and works well. Other people here use Windows a lot more than I do, so they could fill in specific information for Vista, but I use my Xbox with my Mac all the time.
.....I wrote about in here last August. This works with downloaded files or files you've made yourself.

[lattaland]

Well, I may be the only one who thinks this, but Cartoon Network's switch to live-action is ultra depressing.
It's pretty detrimental to all the cartoonist in Atlanta. I have friends that lost their jobs and now I have to compete with them for freelance work.Worst yet, where can I watch Top Cat now? DVD? That's no fun.

All niche programming networks keeps getting more and more broad. When you try to appeal to everyone you appeal to no one.


I mean, TOP CAT-
think about it.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by ryanknapper

RE: My Name is Bruce
.....This was a fucking awesome movie. It's meant for the fans who have seen and enjoyed things like The Man with the Screaming Brain or Alien Apocalypse. Really, you have to enjoy the spectical of a hillariously bad film. I think its the same as how Keith enjoys seeing comedians bomb. My Name is Bruce is a bad movie because Bruce Campbell makes B movies.

That means that you have to be a hardcore Campbell fan. "Man with two brains" and it was silly and quite funny but it got quite boring after half an hour. I don't know if the whole "so bad it's good" works the whole time. Troma movies are supposed to be that way and i think a good 90% of them are really awful.

Outside of the Evil Dead trilogy, i loved Campbell in Bubba-ho Tep, but that was a really fun movie. B-movie but good. This one (My name is bruce) sounds like a "made exclusively for Campbell-obsessed fans" product.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by mkl

JI work with a lot of people who have government jobs, not just front counter people, but people all over the hierarchy. The reason these people don't care is because they don't need to.

I can't agree with this at all because I'm not just saying theses people don't care. I'm saying, without exaggeration, these people are at minimum half retarded.

Originally Posted by ryanknapper

RE: My Name is Bruce
.....This was a fucking awesome movie. It's meant for the fans who have seen and enjoyed things like The Man with the Screaming Brain or Alien Apocalypse. Really, you have to enjoy the spectical of a hillariously bad film.

I say nerd Bruce Campbell fans overall hated this movie. Where's the ultimate Bruce site you go to? What did they rate it?

[Blitzgal]

Originally Posted by mkl

So not only does the rude government worker know they won't get fired easily, they know you have no choice but to come back next time.

They might not get fired easily but they also wait years before getting any sort of raises. It's a double-edged sword. My mom works for the state but she's an office worker who doesn't deal with the public. Her boss (the department head) is a big time douche who can't even wipe his own ass without her help. She has enough time in to retire with full benefits but with the economy she doesn't want to pull the trigger yet. Right now they are three years behind on their wage contracts, so she hasn't had a raise in three years.

I think asshole customer service government workers might be different depending on where you live. Here in flyover country we not only stand face to face with people (no glass shields) but they're usually pretty nice. The most "attitude" I ever got at the DMV was from this aging hippie stoner guy who was manning a satellite branch on his own. And his problem was that he was laid back to the point of almost being catatonic. So the line moved very slowly. But he wasn't nasty. In fact, when I tried to explain that the reason I was renewing my license over a year late was because I don't have a car and don't drive, he just shrugged and said, "Whatever." I was so worried I'd get busted or something.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by mkl

So not only does the rude government worker know they won't get fired easily, they know you have no choice but to come back next time. And also going a step up the hierarchy, the boss of that person also knows that unless one of their employees shows up on national news, they don't have to make their employees be nicer. And that attitude keeps going up the chain.
At a regular store you eventually hit a store manager who might be fired if the store does badly, but this position doesn't exist in the government. They know you have no choice and they will get your money if they help you, or not.

I agree, that's how it works here in Italy too. Government workers keep their job usually, no matter how rude they are, and they have to deal with a lot of different people everyday, so they usually turn bitter and arrogant. I'm not defending their attitude, but that's an answer i often get when i talk to somebody who works in a government job: "Hey, i'm here everyday dealing with stupid people, and i dont get paid enough!". I'd say "Fuck you, quit and go suck dicks" under bridges, but i have a nice job and have been unemployed and broke (and desperate to find and keep any kind of job), so i'm always careful on those issues....

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by Keith

I say nerd Bruce Campbell fans overall hated this movie. Where's the ultimate Bruce site you go to? What did they rate it?

The Aint-it-cool wackos loved it, but they're freaks. They love any kind of Campbell stuff just because he's in it. And the chief Harry Knowles loved Indiana Jones 4 and hated Transformers. Go fuckin' figure.