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Gardenmama's Journal

gardenmama
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09/29/2008 20:03 #45851

Home Depot Weirdness
Category: weirdoes
My niece moved back to Buffalo after 8 years in NYC over the weekend. She's living in a beautiful apartment over on Linwood (near Utica) with 2 of her friends. (I told her she should check out this site.) As a coming home/house-warming gift to her, I took her shopping yesterday to get some essentials and some basic things that she wanted. We went to Home Depot to pick up a few things and while we were there, a guy who worked there actually tried to pick her up. Now, I will be the first one to say my niece is beautiful with a very interesting look. She designs a lot of her own clothing and has a very unique, funky style. She is stunning. So, this brings me back to the HD guy. I've gotta give the guy credit for having big enough ones to actually make the advance, even if it was a little weird since it probably looked like she was there with her mother and little sister (me & my teen daughter), but she is, nonetheless, way out of his league. She, however, was kind and politely tried to tell him that she wasn't interested and had just ended a long-term relationship that didn't go well, at which point she then walked away. Lo, and behold, before we could exit the store he again came up to her, while we were in the check-out, and did the: "hey, I would really like to see you, and here's my number" thing. Now I'm not sure, but besides just being inappropriate, I think he was actually a little closer to my age than hers - which made it even more wierd for her. After we left, she was a little creeped out and I don't think she'll be going into Home Depot again anytime soon - at least not without a male companion. Weird! We did get some nice paint though.
tinypliny - 10/01/08 20:23
I would be creeped out as well. Sometimes, I am really thankful that I look like my avatar. :D
gardenmama - 10/01/08 15:13
I by no means was suggesting a lawsuit, simply pointing out that there are people out there crazy enough to pursue one. This man approached someone and was, at the least, irritatingly persistent, whithout having any idea who she was or how she might react. And no, my niece was not assuming she was better than the guy, for a number of reasons she just wasn’t interested. He should have taken the hint after she POLITELY said no the first time. Woe be those guys who don’t believe that no means no. And even with the persistence, she still was not rude. Later she said even though it was creepy, he at least was polite didn't act like a total douche bag. As for her going off on the Amvets guy, her response was totally appropriate considering the man was snapping his fingers and whisteling at her trying to get her attention (hello, she’s not a dog), and when she chose not to respond, he grabbed her shoulder to get her attention. Under those circumstances, no, I don’t believe telling him off was really “shocking behavior”.
joshua - 10/01/08 09:23
That is creepy, but let's stifle the crazy suggestion about a sexual harassment lawsuit. That is absolutely, positively ridiculous. Woe be to those who approach a girl who thinks she is better than most guys!

Incidentally this is why I don't bother to date ANY girls in Buffalo. I don't have time for that immaturity, and believe me, Buffalo is packed to the rafters with girls with oversized attitude. I'm sure your niece is a fine young lady, but snapping on someone that would approach her is shocking behavior for any human being, full stop.
gardenmama - 09/30/08 19:07
I tried to tell her she should go get some free stuff but she said that wasn't funny. Anyway, it might not have been so bad if he'd just taken the very polite no thanks my niece gave him and left it alone. That he came back and tried again was kind of pushing his luck. He's actually pretty lucky she didn't go off on him at that point as she's been known to do that when men approach her in some stupid way. She totally blasted some guy in Amvets once who laid some really stupid, incredibly obnoxious line on her.
metalpeter - 09/30/08 18:39
Well if she would have touched his shoulder and winked and taken his number and went to the department he works in to check out she could have gotten a mega discount, HA. I don't know the guy so I can't say if it is creepy or or not. But what happened happens in reverse a lot that customers hit on the help so why not a little bit of the other way around, hey some chicks like older guys and some like younger so why not go for it. On a side note if she is hot hook me up with her, ha. I don't see how hitting on someone could be sexual Harrasement if it is kept clean and friendly. But I so get why she could be freaked out by it also.
hodown - 09/30/08 14:13
There have been a ton of studies on this. Dudes always think they can get the hot girl no matter who they are.
gardenmama - 09/29/08 20:25
Yeah, I thought about the work thing too. It could kind of be a law suit waiting to happen - sexual harrassment sort of thing. My niece isn't like that but people sue for less (and win) all the time.
paul - 09/29/08 20:10
Wow that is crazy. You would think it would be so risky for him to do that at work. Hope she starts a journal. It would be fun to have some more Linwoodians ;)

09/28/2008 12:08 #45825

Financial Markets ala Bill Maher
From New Rules by Bill Maher
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/

"New Rule: Stop calling what's happening to the financial markets "an adjustment." An adjustment is something you do in your sweatpants when your penis falls out of your underwear. This is a cluster-f*ck."

I love Bill Maher...
gardenmama - 09/29/08 19:34
Though he does tend to treat “religion” as one thing, I think he actually more groups things like fanatics, religious hypocrisies, and blind faith together â€" something many/most organized religions have in common.

I do find him very witty and his commentary on politics, and other issues as well, though sometimes rude and/or crude, hysterical nonetheless.
metalpeter - 09/29/08 18:23
Bill is great. I just have one problem with him. It isn't that he is anti Reliegon it is that he seems to group all of them together as if they are all the same, but other then that I like a lot of what he says also.

09/27/2008 23:32 #45813

Some days just suck & crazy parent rant
This has been a really bad week. I feel like Eeyore when I’m generally much more like Winnie-the-Pooh (in a happy-go-lucky way - though not quite so, shall we say, dumb). Work has been terrible and, on top of that, I had to put in 8 hrs. of overtime today working on some stupid state report that shouldn’t actually even be my responsibility. Also, we’ve been understaffed since April and I’m already working really hard at fighting the burnout. (whining - sorry)

In addition, took my darling teenage daughter to a friend’s for a 2-night sleepover b-day party last night and realized (when I got home from my glorious day of OT and the phone was almost dead) that MY phone charger was gone and was most likely with her (we have the same type of phone). She, of course, left HER plug at a friend’s house in S. Buffalo last weekend. So, I call her from the house phone - because mine is now completely dead - and yell at her for a while as she tries giving me some crap like “well, I don’t know if I have it; maybe it’s in my bag, I have to check but we’re out and the bag’s back at the house” - blah, blah, blah. Teenagers are so incredibly full of crap sometimes. Of course, she was supposed to call me back and hasn’t, and, she now has her phone set so that it goes right to voice mail. Like that’s somehow going to make things better - duh - can you say ostrich? Well, I have now left her several messages, each a little escalated in its nastiness. When I pick her up tomorrow I’m going to try really hard not to be a screaming maniac and will simply take a deep breath, take back my plug, and take her phone, which, if she manages not to act like a butt, she might get back in a couple of weeks - or not. Arrrrrgggghhhh! (yelling - sorry)

Anyway - some days just suck - that's all.

"No Give and Take. No Exchange of Thought. It gets you nowhere, particularly if the other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation."
Eeyore - The House at Pooh Corner


tinypliny - 10/01/08 20:16
I hope this week turns out really really nice for you -- as a double compensation for all the frustration!!

09/24/2008 23:32 #45787

Somethin tells me it's all happenin...
...at the Zoo. I do believe it; I do believe it's true...

OK - so I went to the Buffalo Zoo Sunday with some friends and family. Of course, it was raining (drizzle) - because it always rains when I try to plan an outdoor activity - but it didn’t even matter. Despite the rain, we all had a great time! The new Rain Forest Exhibit was so cool (well, warm really), I will definitely go back to see it again. The only real drawback for the day was, we didn’t arrive until 2:00 and they were starting to close down around 5:00. We didn’t have time to see the giraffes (which I love), so I guess that gives me the perfect excuse to go back soon.

Following is just a little peek at some stuff we saw, but the pix don’t really do it justice. (note: the really blue pic is a bat cave with a bat)

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gardenmama - 09/25/08 21:26
Oh, I'll take S & G over much of the crap that's out there now - but it's hard when you have one song stuck in your head that seems to keep playing itself there over and over and over.

Yeah, those ducks were pretty funny, each with their heads turned around backward and standing on one foot. It almost looks staged. I thought their feathering was very interesting - I've never seen any like them. They were actually very pretty.
tinypliny - 09/25/08 20:10
I love the three cute ducks standing in a row. :^D
tinypliny - 09/25/08 20:09
Really, with all the trash going about pretending to be songs, I would take Simon and Garfunkel hands down. :)
gardenmama - 09/25/08 16:08
Glad you liked the pix tiny. It's one of my favorite songs of theirs too. I haven't been able to get it out of my head for several days now so I thought maybe if I shared it here I could let it escape me. So far it's not working.
tinypliny - 09/25/08 15:53
Awesome pictures!! Thanks for sharing! That's one of my favourite songs from Simon & Garfunkel!

09/21/2008 21:20 #45752

The Garden
My escape, my haven, my garden...
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tinypliny - 09/21/08 21:45
Very pretty! Love the tall tree of daisies (?) - its like Jack's and the daisy-stalk. :)
gardenmama - 09/21/08 21:23
Thanx for your help, Paul. I had to go the "mobile" route - couldn't even get this old dog of a computer to download the flash player right.
paul - 09/21/08 21:20
Beautiful pictures. I am so glad it worked for you.