What's kind of irking you, but might work out OK in the end?
 

One of our sales managers is laid up with pretty serious poop chute problems. I like the guy a lot, and I hope he comes through it ok.....he's got 2 kids, and his wife recently lost her gig with no warning. fucking brutal.

He might have to be out for some time. In his absence, I'll be filling in for him while also trying to stay on top of my job. It's more work....which I don't mind if I'm here anyway....but it might mean I could lose my mornings/ Friday afternoon off while this goes on.

the upshot is that I will get some time on the desk (the guy that gives the numbers to the salesmen) so I can demonstrate my skills, and impress the boss. i want to do a good job because I want my stock to increase in value, but I don't want to do such a good job that the guy I'm filling in for loses his gig over it.

I gotta get back to work now.

I don't know what it is like there, but I know out here working the desk is the most fun job in the store. Have fun.

My dissertation.

Overfullness. My hubsand made the most amazing potato chips tonight and...I am feeling the results of my over-zealously hungry state.

I had to start my own business because no one hired me. So now I have been doing free work and getting referrals, and am being paid by a few clients. I have been called back in to the cafe, but I really just hope I can make rent. I have been doing a couple of jobs a day and can't seem to make enough scratch. I hope I make rent. lol!

Please cross your fingers for me!! :)

I really hope I don't have to work during my best friends visit but I might have to. Irksome. It also might all turn out ok.

my entire life?

i lolled

Trying to Get Information re a Tax Refund
 

About 2 months ago I started looking into the possibility that I might be due a tax refund this year. After all, I paid tax for the 7 months I was employed, and would have been paying at a rate which assumed I would be employed for the next 5 months.

I poked about on the internet, and it confirmed (in a vague way) that I might be entitled.
I called the tax office, who advised that as I was currently on benefits I should call the job centre.

I called the job centre and spoke to a woman who first advised me to call the tax office. When I explained that they had told me to call her, she went away from the phone and spoke to a colleague. When she came back she advised that if I was due it, I would receive it. This was not reassuring, but I was already emotionally exhausted from speaking to strangers about my finances, so I left it there.

At the beginning of April I went to the advocacy service who are helping me with a number of paperwork/ bureaucratic issues. I asked if they would be able to follow it up for me. I explained that what I really wanted to know was firstly if I was even due anything? And secondly, was everything correct on their system, so that I could be confident I would simply receive it when it was due?

They (the advocates) called back and left a message with Mum.
Basically, it took 4-5 weeks.

I followed it up with them again at my meeting today. Hmmmm, yes it had been over four weeks now. Perhaps it was worth chasing up. I agreed that I was willing to do it - I'm feeling fragile today, but quite determined.

So I called the job centre. Turns out they were not the right people to speak to all, it's handled by my regional processing centre in Southampton. Aha. Called and waited on hold for 20 minutes. Yes, they could check their screen for me - now we're getting somewhere! No, the assessment hadn't get been processed, but it could be any time up until the end of May. Could they check the details and see if I was even due a refund? That's odd. There's no record of me having submitted any tax details in 2008-09. This means that I can't get any refund because I can't be included in any assessments. The most likely reason is that I haven't submitted the P45 I received when I left my last employment.

Off to the internet to find out if there is any way around not having a P45 as I definitely do not have one, and don't think I ever received one (quick email to them anyway, to see if they can help - but I know how slowly the wages dept processes queries). Call your tax office says the internet, and gives me a number in Edinburgh.

Hold and wait for 7 minutes. Nice Scottish lady confirms that there is no tax information entered for my employment with EEA in 2008-09, only for the previous year. The employer's copy of the P45 hasn't been filed with them, and the P60 has not yet been issued. BUT... we agree that the information I have on my final payslip - which I did receive and kept safe - is the same as on a Statement of Earnings, which they will accept in lieu of a P45.

Can I send this to Cardiff with a covering letter?

So I have gone out to post a letter to Wales, hoping that this can be dealt with asap, so that if I am entitled to a refund, they can send my details to Southampton who will issue one.

Argh.
Why oh why oh why oh why can you never get the right information first time?
Had I been told to call the processing centre to start with I would have known from the beginning that it was not going to happen automatically. I would almost definitely know by now whether I am even due a refund. I might even have received it by now. As it is, I have weeks more to wait to find out whether I'll get it, and weeks more to wait even if it's due.

Bloody red tape.

But it might work out OK in the end. Because after all, I have had a busy afternoon talking to strangers all over the country about my finances. And of course I might get some money. At the very least I can be proud of myself for finally getting it sorted out.

Well done SG for sticking with it. Hope you get your refund!

Typing it all out helped get it out of my system anyway.
I was on the verge of heading off to the off licence for tramp juice.

Instead I stayed on t'internet and found a lovely B&B for my break in Cardiff next January :)

At this moment, I'm very aware of my deodorant. Same brand, different flavor. I usually get this:

http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/152954/200.jpg
and it works ok..... but i figured I'd try the new orange kind:
http://promomagazine.com/entertainme.../RG_Xtreme.jpg

I don't have any better vertical, but I can smell it. so far, my pits are dry, though.....so I've got that going for me

the word "smell" in a post about underarms is not appealing.

the post isn't about underarms. it's about smells.

I can smell my very fragrant pits. they smell fresh and in no way remind me of basketball.

And you didn't get me any because....?

i got both kinds. If you want, you can take the green one....it's upstairs...unopened.

love you hunny!

you want armpits?

I am extreeeemely aware of deoderant smell in my significant others. Mr. Clod's deoderant must be one particular fragrance--Old Spice High Endurance Original--and no other. It especially can't be one of several deoderants worn by ex-boyfriends, but really, it just has to be that one, I can accept no substitutes. I am sort of terrified that someday they will discontinue it.

Yuppers. It's the best I've found. And not super expensive either. I've been using it for years.
Somebody say thread drift?
Bullshit.
Thread drift may irk you, but usually works out in the end.

There's scent in my:

• shampoo
• conditioner
• body wash
• antiperspirant
• lotion
• hair gel
• mouthwash

Pretty soon, I'm smelling like a freakin' arboretum.

Well... you've got your seven scents worth on.

You forgot the detergent that warshes your clothes.

I love Gain. I wash stuff that isn't dirty just to get the Gain smell going.

I use unscented products whenever I can. I think my shampoo is the only thing that stinks, but it's not too bad. Oh, and toothpaste. But the toothpaste is actually nice.

[Carl Childers]

I ate way too much Mexican food tonight!

oh..good one.

I try ;)

Just to update on the tax refund situation - in case anyone was hanging on...

Turns out ALL the advice I had was incorrect in some way, and most of it way off.
After waiting over two weeks, my P45 was returned to me with a note to say that the DWP does not issue tax refunds, and I had to contact my local tax office. Funnily enough, they were the people I called back at the beginning of April.

So I still don't know what the correct thing to do is officially - over 8 weeks later.

But I've sent what I have to the postal address in Cardiff, which I have been advised has a 7 week backlog of post. And I've now put it out of my head, because it will happen or it won't, and I've done all I can, following advice in good faith to end up where I started.

Anyway, the real thing that irked me, but will work out just fine is that my bank applied a 64p interest charge to my account last week. Which put me 54p over my agreed overdraft limit of £120. And that 120 was already there solely to pay back fines imposed by said bank for previous minor infractions. It was reducing at £20 a month, for which pleasure I was being charged, having had no pleasure from the money in the first place.

This means I have £59 for the next two weeks. Oh except bills come out at the beginning of the month, so in fact I have £24. £9 after I go to London on Wednesday - something I will not cancel, frivolous as it now seems.

I could have argued the toss. But that will be the third time I've had to, and I just thought - enough is enough. I'll now have two lean weeks, then this stupid reducing overdraft, which I was having real trouble keeping track of, is out of my hair. As is the £20 every month. As is petty little interest charges making big differences to my known finances.

I have Diz food and litter, and I have a cupboard full of food I can't keep stockpiling. So it's all for the best in the long run.

Sundae, do you have a decent local MP? A lot of people have managed to get charges put back if it's deemed they've overcharged. It sounds like they have. Worth checking out. You'd be amazed how amenable some banks are when an MP's letter lands in their in-tray. I know my MP has helped a bunch of people.

Our zoning application to put the addition on our house was last night. Based on the questions asked and reactions to the answers, I expect everything will be approved.

However, the actual decision will not be handed down till June 18.

We knew we were taking a chance raising teh lil goat without her mamas colostrum. She started to limp a little yesterday so we lickety split ran her up to Cornell Vet School. They'll drain the fluid out of her knees and determine which antibiotic will work. It'll prolly work out OK in the end. Pete got a very good vibe from all these wicked smaaat animal lovin future and current Vets.

I live in Bucks remember - we're a true blue Tory safe seat. None other than Mr Clean hinself, David Liddington.

No, I've reached the zen-like state of writing it off. I was doing so anyway, it's just it's come a bit sooner than I expected. I don't have the mental strength to try to get any more money back after my tax fiasco. But you can bet if the banks ever agree their charges were illegal (as if - they'll still be fighting it when I am dead) then I would definitely pursue it. I've wasted 100s if not 1000s that way. And all for piddling amounts. I just don't seem to be able to micro-manage money.

*Nods* fair enough m'dear. I was offered the help to sort out my old bank charges....just couldn't be arsed with all that negative energy :P I was broke at the time as well.

Big family reunion this weekend. First group of cousins was supposed to arrive this afternoon, the rest tomorrow. But their plane flights got completely cancelled for the day due to horrible weather at DFW airport, so they can't get here until tomorrow. Now I'm stuck with a huge piece of marinating brisket that I was going to serve them for dinner. Can't serve it tomorrow night, because it was only enough to feed Wave One, not everyone. Tomorrow night has its own huge meal in the works.

But there are upsides. First off, more brisket for me! And, now I'll probably get to take the little fobs to a sprinklerpark playdate tomorrow morning that I was going to miss otherwise. Plus, now I'm off the hook for picking anyone up at the airport, since my brother's on relative-chauffer duty tomorrow.

sounds like a win win to me.

win

buying a lottery ticket every bloody week!!

I never buy them on weeks that are bloody. I have better luck that way. :rolleyes:

I have too much invested to stop buying them now, though.

that's what i've been doing wrong.:rolleyes:thanks for the heads up:D

I killed my third goddamn waffle iron last night. Why are all these brands such complete pieces of CRAP? So I figured that was it, I had to go hardcore. After a good amount of research, I purchased this truly professional grade one.

If this thing is as good as it's supposed to be, it will be worth every cent and I will be in heaven. But there's still a cynical voice in my head warning me that in another month or two I'm going to be $180 worth of pissed.

When I managed a Denny's, we had a guy that came around every two or three months and serviced our waffle irons. apparently, they just break. did you make any attempt at fixing either of the previous models? If this one breaks. you should look into it.

I mean...$180 is a lot. I understand that it is essential equipment at your house....so...maybe mr fobble needs to do some research on waffle iron repair just to be ready when this one does break.

Yeah, for the one that just stopped heating at all, I probably should have looked into repairing it. But for the other two, I opened them up to find my waffles coated in teflon, and bare metal exposed where the teflon used to be. It just peeled right off in sheets. At the very least this one's got a one-year warranty.

How are you going to keep maple syrup on teflon coated waffles? Unacceptable.
Good luck with the new one, did it come with replacement parts info?

Obviously, they just put the teflon on inside out. It is non-stick, after all.

Today was my 1 year Un-iversary.

wow, that time has passed by really quickly.

I hope you're holding up ok. Must be a bit tough.

Well, yeah... it is, a bit. But I picked this thread for a reason. I mean, there are definitely positive aspect to what seemed like the end of my whole world at the time.

I have some very big regrets, but hope is beginning to glimmer around the edges of things, too. I wouldn't wish the experience on anyone, but I think this will be one of those things that didn't kill me.

My relationship with my kids has tightened up if anything. Although I hate that it took that kind of a shock to our lives for it to happen.... I'm really glad to have my two best friends all to myself twice a week.

Life's a fucking trip, huh?

The fact you are a survivor and a great parent says, great things about you. I wish you continued....growth and happiness, in increasing measures as time goes on.

It sure is. Glad to hear that you're doing great with your kids. :)

Yeah, when my first (common law) marriage broke up I thought it was the end of the world. But after a while I realized it was the best thing that could have happened. In hindsight I realized the relationship was toxic from the begining. I'm sure yours wasn't, but they're all different, and turn out differently.

It's a testament to you that you're healing so quickly. Some people certainly prefer to dwell on things for a long time and wallow in the sorrow.

I can see how your relationship with the kids could have improved. I'm glad you've made it happen, it is unbelievable how many Dads turn into sperm donors when things get tough. Good on you bro.

Yeah, life can be a mess. I'm glad things are smoothing out for you.

Continue to be a good dad to your kids. But don't forget to take care of yourself too.

The current House Program Manager at the boys' hockey club has fucked it up so much that players and coaches are leaving in droves. Notably Hector's coaches and all his buddies. The house manager is a selfish, vindictive and mostly incapable bitch. And i'm not even on her shitlist (I know you're surprised.... this is one board I decided I needed to stay the hell away from....)

The house manager hates Hector's coach, assistant coach (House Director two years ago, did a good job) and team manager from last year (who was last year's house director and did a great job) so much that she has already told them they cannot coach next year "because we already have enough coaches at that level" -our boys all age up to Bantam next year and there are only 2 bantam teams vs 4 peewee because many are lost to high school teams. But it's bullshit. Each year the positions are all open to the most qualified applicants no matter who did it previously. But you know they are toast.

So they asked to form a second tier travel team. Which would bring in more $$. Refused. point blank. So they went to another organization and were welcomed with open arms. Last night Hector went to try out for the travel team at that organization -the idea was that all the kids show up to try out to show that there are numbers to support a second tier travel team.
There were. But tonight Hector got a call back for the main team. For the second tryout tomorrow night

He only started playing two years ago and he's good but the plan was to stay house. And if he gets on this team, he will surely be second goalie, so hardly get to play. But what if the second tier team fails to materialize? It's only spring hockey (8 weeks, scrimmages and practice only) but we've started down a path that wasn't on the map because of a stupid bitch who hasn't a fucking clue and non-profit board politics, and it will affect Thor too because we will want them both at the same rink.... and there is a registration deadline looming for this new rink. But it might be OK.....

We have the same sort of bullshit issues with the boys footy club. It's irritating, but in the end we usually leave the kids the choice of what they want to do and then make decisions from there.

So far it's worked out, but I did get told off at registration for being rude to club volunteers.

In the end, the club manager back pedalled and apologised to me for messing stuff up, but it's still annoying.

Things are good now. I'm managing the boys team, so I get to run it the way I think is best anyway. So far so good.

Thats typical of travel teams around here also.
Sucks, but it is what it is.

It's the house program that's the problem not the travel team. We just didn't want to be travel, don't know travel, are feeling a little adrift......

...and didn't expect a call back

Terminology is confusing me then. House team to me is where 100 kids sign up and are divided onto teams - all kids play, Kinda like a YMCA or a recreational league.
What is it there?

yup. that's it. But it's been badly managed so we've been forced to travel. as it were. And that's scary and irking us. but could be OK

Travel can (and should) be a HUGE step up. He probably will sit for awhile until he gets accustomed to the better competition and the "play to win" versus "play for fun" attitude. The coaching is usually far better at the travel level and he should learn a great deal more.
One caution with travel hockey is the distances and the times that the games are held. (I think you are used to that though. Best friends are/were travel players and they have game start times of 9:00PM!!! Eff that.
My kids all started rec league and had to sit at the beginning when we moved up to travel. It was good for them. They didn't get on the soccer field until their understanding of the team concept matched their individual skills (which also improved with the better coaching).

ETA - The cost for all the latest hockey gear will make your investment in your daughter's swimsuit look like pocket change. :neutral: