Dear all,

This is just a very general rant. It has nothing to do with Switzerland, swiss people or anything particularly swiss renouned, so I just wanted to have a good old moan.

Firstly. My mother. My mother is driving me up the wall. I currently RUE the day that internet was made avaliable world wide, and frankly I feel extremely pi**ed off that telephones can connect people in two different countries. I feel that unless it is for business use, all telephone networks should be restricted to one country. I also believe that snail mail is highly underrated and should again become the method of communication of choice.

Do you know why? That way, my mother cannot contact me and expect a response IMMEDIATELY. That, frankly would make my life so much easier. I don't think she has realised as yet, that actualLY, I took a job in another country TO AVOID HER!!!!!!!!

Please don't get me wrong, I love my mother dearly, and she is great, but she would try the patience of a saint, and at the moment, is completely doing my head in.

Rant number two (this one has been building for a while), this one is for all molecular biologists. Why is it that half way through a very important experiment, and you have finally managed to create the recombinant plasmid you have so dearly wanted for such a long time, and you have spent two days waiting for your lovely maxi-prep culture to grow, everything is looking good, and mid way through your maxi prep, YOU FIND SOMEONE HAS USED ALL THE SPIN COLUMNS AND NOT REPLACED ANY :m snmad:. Now, this annoys me to some extent, but the main thing that annoys me is that the lovely people who make my nice maxi-prep kit, have very kindly included a stock of solutions which could have me maxi-prepping to kingdom come, yet only give me 50 maxi-prep columns. Why? Where exactly is the sense in that.

Finally. Could someone please suggest to me how I can best tell my extremely short, squeaky and annoying French 'office-mate' that indeed, she cannot sing. So could she please stop making that noise that she would refer to as singing, whereas I would refer to it as warbling (and not in a good way, you know really old people vibrator? Well, she has that, with a french accent, and shes only 24), before my frustration over the maxi prep dilema overwhelms me, and I kill her????

Many thanks for listening. I feel remarkably better now. Feel free to contribute any form of rant of your own to this thread, I don't think anything is off topic.

C

Tut tut.. she's your mother. The woman who endured months of discomfort and years of sacrifice to nurture and bring you into this world

not forgetting the varicose veins that the OP gifted her in return

Nope, the rant was a good way to let off steam. Now the office girly will get away with her life (and her singing) and you'll now be pleasant to your mother next time you speak to her.

Crisis over, eh?

No offense but you made my day! Here I am thinking how extreemly ****e and horrid life can be and I read your eloquent post... ah I feel so much better now...

Totally agree on the internet front... I think, only intelligent individuals should be allowed on it. Also, I hate the fact that mobile phones seem to mean you're at everyone's beck and call... I have my mobile so I can call if I NEED to... not so that people can ring me any time of the day or night for whatever pointless rambling they feel they need to impart such as

"my computer doesn't work"
"is it switched on"
"yes"
"sure"
"oh wait... screen wasn't switched on!"

Sheesh as if I don't have anything better to do with my time

Ah boy, if you want to rant over a drink, tap me on the shoulder at the party on the second or at some other event... sounds like you could do with a good drink!

I feel for you, really I do! the worst of it is that it's probably your fault that your mom keeps on bugging you because you can't bring yourself to put her off so that she'll hear (you can't help being nice...if only she'll be nice back!?!??!!?) they should start offering assertiveness classes for children with difficult parents, i'll be 1st to sign up.
can't help you with the biology things but i suggest you vent your steam on the office mate and at least get her to treat your space with total silence...
go home early, put your feet up and have a stiff drink and then sleep it off.
glad the rant helped...
SD

Those who respond by saying something to the effect that `you need to appreciate your dear mother and the fact that she gave birth to you` are not really listening to your situation or maybe just have not been in your shoes. You do not sound unappreciative to me, however, it does sound like your mother has unreasonable expectations.

It sounds like it is time to lay down some boundaries!! From my own experience in managing expectations with my mother, I had to say something to the effect of, `Mom, I care about/love you BUT I need more space and I think we should only speak on the phone one time per week`.... And definitely let her know that you will NOT always be available to return her calls (no excuses needed IMO), so next time if she freaks out about it, you can tell her that as you said before, you will not always be available to return her phone calls and thank her for understanding. She should know that you can catch-up on the day that you agree works for both of you.

My mom had a really hard time letting go when I lived in the country and not surprisingly it did not automatically change when I moved to Switzerland. It took a LONG time for me to get to the point where my mom did not call so often. I finally told her I thought it was unhealthy to talk so often and it was like a light turned on and she got it.

Good luck with your little French singer. Maybe you can learn to say `I canNOT concentrate when you are singing!`in French! LOL.

__________________
The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. Ralph Sockman

I know what you mean. After living at my parent's for while just after the birth of Mk. 1, I was ready to accept a post doc position in Afghanistan with regular trips to Mogadishu. With no subsidy for flak jackets.
I also know what you mean about kit not being replaced. If you use up the last of the phenylenediamine BLOODY WELL BUY SOME MORE.
And also, I hear you exactly regarding lab mates. I share an office with three Chinese researchers, two of who think that still having music playing on their ipods while having a conversation, thus raising the volume to levels akin to jet turbine testing, is a great and fine thing. Then, the noise then attracts the other Chinese researchers from other groups and I find myself trying to plug equations into an antiquated version of Origin (6.0 if anyone knows it) while a veritable howl of Mandarin goes on. I now have to do most of my reading and reviewing in the library.
But at least the German girl has left. She was from Stuttgart. Everything happened bigger and better there.
me: "Oh, I was just reading about the test of the Russian 50 megaton device yesterday."
her "Oh, vell, ve had a much bigger test in Stuttgart and it was much better, too."
It was like Alyson Hannigan's character from American Pie, but with 'Band Camp' substituted for 'Stuttgart', but without the amusing ending.

[/rant]

__________________
New book out now: European Bird Names: A Translation Guide.
www.tonykeenebirds,co,uk - photos, paintings and drawings of Swiss, Australian, NZ and British birds

And thanks for opening this up to anyone who needs a good rant!!! I was just thinking I need to get this off my chest...

I recently returned home from foot surgery here in CH and it was truly a horrid experience. I cannot completely compare the experience that I would have had `back home` but had I known it was going to be this miserable, I would have certainly reconsidered. So, here is my list of complaints peppered with some advice. If any of you can relay this information to the local hospitals in central Switzerland or to anyone else who has some influence, that would be marvelous!

1. Please do not offer me tea when I tell you I have pain. This only annoys the **** out of me and I am likely to become more irritable than I already am from the said pain.
2. If the doctor is not going to keep his appointment with me (which happened on three separate occasions), please let me know. I am already feeling a little nervous about the outcome of the surgery and since you cannot offer me any information on how I am doing, the least you can do is update me about when I will know.
3. Do not make me beg you for pain medication, argue with me about it, finally concede (in theory, though not actually) and then not return for 1.5 hours when the pain is so great that I wish I had brought something from my private stash.
4. If I tell you I am going to be sick to my stomach, which we all knows can happen after surgery, please do not tell me to wait and that you have to get the other nurse. Waiting is not an option. Just grab me the basket-now!
5. If I ask for an English-German interpreter, please do not respond by tell me that we are in central Switzerland and that I should speak German. I do speak German, however, when I continue to ask for something that is reasonable and you do not comply, it leads me to believe that I need an interpreter to better help me express myself.
6. Please make a note (on your hand?) that I do not speak Swiss-German or understand it very well. If you have been in my room 10 different times, and every single time I have said to you that I do not understand you when you speak in Swiss-German, rest assured that the 11th time I will not understand any better.
7. Do not insist that I stay in the hospital for 7 days for a surgery that many countries do on out-patient basis. Yes, I know. You think I will benefit from all of the medication you are making available to me. Please refer to numbers one and three.
8. When you are explaining the walking technique that I will have to use, please try to come up with a comparison that does not insult the ethnicity or culture of a land that you have never visited.
9. Please do not tell me that the amount of pain I have is the same as everyone else, it just affects me more. It makes me want to throw my tea at you.

__________________
The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. Ralph Sockman

How did I know you weren't from England, because you wouldn't be complaining so vociferously? Anyway I'm sorry to hear of your bad experiences of the Swiss healthcare system, I would have thought it would be a lot better.

LOL. Yeah, everything is relative...and to be fair, I should say that I am repairing quite nicely. So the end result is good!

i am just glad that my parents are too cheap to call. we use skype to communicate so it is often times at my convenience...

Over the weekend my mother just learned how to chat.

My condolences with your laboratory labours .

Is that a general German thing with the arrogant "vee make evrysing better zan you" attitude? I've heard it's all just 'humour', but it still piffs me off. Anyone else with experience?

Can I rant about a girl in my daughter's class? She didn't invite her to her birthday party; I understand that it isn't a rule that you invite every single person, but to waltz around the classroom flamboyantly bestowing invites on every other girl and leave mine out. I've had tears and snot for days but my girl will be the bigger person and invite ****legs to her party. The mother of party girl has been avoiding me too, it causes me great joy to try to catch her eye when she clearly doesn't want to talk to me. The pettyness of girls is legendary but I get so sad for my daughter. At least we have made some good plans for the day the party is being held.
Rant over. For the OP, couldn't you tape your co worker singing and play it back when she isn't expecting it. Once it's gone on for a bit suggest that a cat is being killed in the vicinity

__________________
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
Educate a woman, educate a nation

Make sure you invite ****legs to your daughter's party, if she agrees; it's a nice lesson for your daughter that you don't have to be a petty as the others and the mother will be mortified. Oh, I'd pay money to see her squirm!

1. Sorry to hear of your troubles with your mum. As someone said, you just need to set the boundaries. A friend of mine has a mother (in a neighbouring country) who often asks "when are you coming to visit me?" but when the senior woman was in hospital, she forbid her daughter to visit - go figure!?!
My own mum never said "do come and see me more often" until a few months before she passed away.

2. You had me at "maxi-prep" (whatever that is). Yes, don't we hate folk who never replace the whatever they finished.

3. Put on headphones to listen to baroque music or bird song (or whatever rocks your world) if you're too nice to tell your warbling French colleague, "I'm sorry to ask you to stop singing but it's distracting me from my work." (If she apologises and stops singing for a few days, buy her chocs/wine and flowers.)

At our school, it's forbidden to hand out invites unless you invited everyone in your class.

cheers,
(Mr)Wibble

i am thankful both my parents are really bad at touch typing...hehehe

my grandmother drives my mother crazy...has done so for years. to my grandmother my mom is still 20 something. i remember when i was a kid and my mom was getting ready to go to church as we all were, and my mom came out of her bedroom looking very chic and nice. my grandmother told her to go change because her dress did not go past her knees...in fact it just grazed the top of her knee.

i felt bad for my mom...i mean she has nice legs for someone her age. maybe gramma was jealous?

Your daughter does not need or want a 'friend' like that one, but she can big-heartedly invite her to her own party to set an example, like you said.

Life is too short to be (or want to be) where you're not wanted.