Who Me?

There are several rats in my house. I started using the snap traps. I caught a few like this but can't stand dealing with the bloody mess. ...so now I use an electronic zapper trap.

The baits I've tried are: dry roasted peanuts, Jif peanut butter, store brand peanut butter, dog kibble, dog biscuit, organic fresh mini sweet peppers, dried tart cherries, raisins, graham cracker, honey wheat bread, baby carrots, Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines.

The bait I started with on the snap traps was peanut butter. No rats caught after several days. The next bait I tried was dried cherries. They didn't go near the trap until I took out the sack of flour they had been feeding on and set it right beside the trap in such a way that the rat had to step on the trigger to get to the flour. 24 hours later, dead rat. Next time I did the same thing but no rat until I switched to the red sweet peppers. Less than 24 hours, dead rat. This was when I switched to the zapper trap. The dog kibble didn't work. The dog biscuit only worked for 3 very small rats, no adult would go in. The mini sweet peppers did work as long as they were the red ones, will NOT go near any other color. 2 days ago I set the trap up with dried cherries, so far no dead rats.

I'm very tempted to put a bit of flour inside this trap but haven't for fear of the flour getting under the floor plate which will stop the trap from working. Remember, this is a zapper trap...not supposed to use goopy bait (PB) or powdery bait (flour).

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I'm the caretaker for my elderly father and mentally handicapped sister. My dad took a bad fall last year and still recovering from it. He's able to get around on his own in the house but requires use of a walker if he goes outside. He has trouble balancing when walking and gets confused easily. If anything happens to my dad my sister goes into panic overdrive...screaming, yelling, and generally freaking out (she's loud enough to wake the dead). She's 42 but when in panic mode she's mentally about 5 or 6 years old. In that state, she won't think to call 911. Which means if something happens to dad he won't get any help unless I'm around to make the call. Neither of them are truly invalids since they can get along without me for 3-4 hours as long as nothing happens. Any longer than that dad gets extremely upset thinking that something bad happened to me. ...and my sister also starts getting panicky. My dad has heart problems and is diabetic so my sister's panicking certainly isn't helping.

I'm physically disabled myself and can't walk the 2 blocks between jury parking and the jury building. I don't have a wheelchair capable of accommodating my size. I can't claim a health exemption since I'm not on disability and can't get a doctor's note without paying $250 for an office visit. My dad thinks I should take the "primary caretaker" exemption but I'm worried about getting fined for taking a false exemption.

I'm in Harris County, TX if that matters.

I'm in Texas, not too far west of Houston. I moved into this neighborhood w/ my parents in 1980. Back then there was no HOA and no deed restrictions other than city ordinances. A few years ago a builder came in and built out the rest of the neighborhood & also brought in an HOA at the same time. The existing homeowners had the option of being grandfathered out of the HOA. My parents opted out. The documents have been signed and notarized and are on file with the HOA as well as anyone else requiring them. This Tuesday I received a letter from the HOA dated 7/27 (Mon).

Their letter...

On Monday, 7/27/15 at 9:30am, our representative noted the following violations:

1) Trim and mow grass.

2) Remove junk vehicle from driveway.

You have one week to comply with violation #1 or be assessed a $50 fine. You have 14 days to comply with violation #2 otherwise your vehicle will be removed. You'll be billed for all expenses and assessed a $500 fine.

I have a lawn service come out to mow/trim the grass each week during the growing season. The lawn service mowed/trimmed on Saturday (7/25) as scheduled.

My car: A small car with current insurance, license plates, and state inspection. The car is white and rust-free. However it is missing one hubcap and has a single dent in the left front fender. The HOA said my car is a junk vehicle b/c of the dent. Yet they do nothing about the illegally parked (in the street @ fire hydrant) and slightly rusted SUV that is painted 5 different colors.

I (car B) was sitting at a red light behind car A. When the light changed we all started moving. On the corner of the intersection there is a busy gas station. Someone stupidly raced across to make a left turn causing car A to slam on the brakes. ...and then car B followed suit to keep from rear ending car A and managed to come to a complete stop. A split second later car C (behind me) shoves car B (me) into car A. After my initial fright and panic subsided (my 1st time in a wreck) I forced my way out of the car and noticed a fourth car...car D that was also involved. The driver of car D admitted that he was talking on the phone when he rear ended car C. The police and ambulance showed up. The driver of car A and myself both told the medics we weren't injured. The elderly passenger in car C had to go to the hospital. The police wouldn't take my statement until they had taken statements from the drivers of the other cars. I was the only one cited at the scene of the accident. The next day I was getting calls from the lawyers of the other drivers claiming that I'm responsible for all their medical bills and damage to their cars.

I wasn't driving uninsured. At the time of the accident my car was only 3 months old. The insurance was current and paid. ...so I wasn't driving without insurance. ...and yes, I had my seat belt on. I never drive without buckling up first.

Our central A/C is broken thanx to a power glitch. We can't afford to fix it. ...so we are opting to buy one single window A/C ~6400 BTU which is about all we can afford. In the house are 3 adults...me, my older sister, and my dad. My dad and I want the A/C in his room. My sister thinks it should go in hers.

I think the A/C should go in my dad's room because....

1) His age (77) and medical conditions....diabetes and heart meds.

2) I sleep in there when he's using the computer since dad's bed is more comfortable.

My sister (42 yrs old) thinks it should go in hers because:

1) Trying to recover from extreme iron deficiency anemia. The anemia causes her to be constantly short of breath so she spends the humid days and night suffering from multiple "I can't breathe" panic attacks. ...attacks she does not have when she's out in her air conditioned car.

2) Very strongly feels she's entitled to it since she's using her computer to work from home doing some kind of design work. I don't know what it is.

Question is...who should get the A/C...dad or sister?

I applied for a CAD design job at a local architectural stone company. Today I was in a group interview with the owner, his secretary, and two other candidates. He told us that we were the final choices after reviewing over 100 resumes. He also said we would have been interviewed individually except that his time and workload would not permit it. After the interview he had the secretary test (timed....given 10 minutes to complete a drawing) us in their CAD system then he would review and let us know if we passed/failed before we left.

What follows is a pro/con for each candidate. By selecting who you would hire if you owned the company, hopefully I can determine what my chances are. I REALLY want this job and have already sent a thank you note. btw...I'm not going to say which candidate is me.

Candidate A

Pro: Very organized portfolio of excellent school work, intelligent w/ a sense of humor, recent tech school grad, very professional appearance and demeanor, young, and slim.

Con: No professional CAD design experience, might not be the best choice for job-site visits. Failed the CAD test (time ran out).

Candidate B

Pro: Organized portfolio of recent completed impressive professional projects, intelligent, tech school grad, professional appearance, appears to be slightly older than "A", some professional experience, seems to be athletically fit (good for job-site visits where climbing might be required). Passed the CAD test.

Con: Professional experience limited to piping and electrical for refineries.

Candidate C

Pro: Very organized portfolio of past projects in the stone industry as well as hand drawings from school. Tech school grad. Years of experience in architecture and architectural stone. Professional demeanor. Highest score on the CAD test.

Con: Morbidly obese. Sloppy appearance (casual outfit at an interview). Not good for job-site visits due to physical limitations. Lack of professional attire means not good for executive/client meetings.

If you were the owner, which candidate would you hire?

My boss and her husnand (he owns the company) live next door to the office. Everyday she comes over around 9am and runs around the office like a crazy person writing down how much was completed. She does the same thing at lunchtime and everytime she leaves the office for more than 5 min. Some days she soil check our stuff as often as 6 tines in a single day. This is driving all of us crazy. My coworkers and I tend to think she's psycho. What do the rest of you think?

I'm female, 39yrs old, extremely fat, & ugly. I'm not calling myself a BBW b/c there is nothing beautiful about fat. Well, even if I were slim I would still be ugly. I also have a mentally retarded sister (mentally 12 yrs old w/ 5yr old mentality when upset) who I am expected to care for if dad passes.

My best friend's brother told me no man would ever want to be with me unless I weighed 105 lbs, put sister in a special needs home, and got a facelift. I've heard similar in the past from both men & women.

Are they right...alone for the rest of my life?

My coworker just took a photo of our boss without her knowledge & posted it on facebook. She did this only to make fun of the boss's inappropriate office attire. Then she had the nerve to text all of us a link to the post.

This is a very small company run by our boss and her husband. And the office was recently relocated to a small house located on the boss's property right next.door to their main house.

Should I forward that link to my boss?

My coworkers and I work for a VERY small company. On April Fool's day we played a joke on our boss...fake timesheet showing us arriving 1 1/2-2 hours late. At first she was confused...then her face turned RED like she had been sunburned, then she started laughing once she realized what we did.

A few hours after our joke she posted a job ad on Craigslist looking for people to fill the 3 different roles performed within the company. Starting pay listed is higher than our pay of min wage. I know it was her who posted it and not a different company b/c this is a small town and her company is the only one in town doing this type of work.

In your opinion...is our boss joking back? Or is she about to fire us b/c she didn't take the joke as well as we thought?

I work for a VERY small company owned by a married couple. There are 5 of us workers. Our team leader wants to make a "fake" time sheet to fool our boss as an April Fool's joke. Her plan is to make our boss think we all arrived long after our shift start time of 8am....she (team leader) arriving at 10am and the rest of us arriving between 9:30-9:45 which she thinks will confuse the boss since the team leader is the only other one with keys to the office. I think her idea is a bit mean since she's not doing it in fun as a joke but to make our boss look stupid and ignorant. I'm torn between texting my boss in the morning to warn her (she typically doesn't answer her phone) or keeping my mouth shut. The 5 of us coworkers work well together and I don't want to spoil it but at the same time I can't afford to lose my job should my boss take the joke the wrong way and fire me as an example. Should I tell or keep quiet?

I work in a facility with a heavily monitored production requirement. Not meeting the min for 2 weeks in a row will earn a call into the boss' office for a meeting/warning.

There is this woman in the office who nods off at her desk for a few seconds at a time several times a day (at least 3-4 times). Couple times she actually fell asleep and was snoring. My desk is right next to hers so its hard not to notice this happening + the boss has "jokingly" called her out several times out in the open. ...and b/c of this sleeping at the desk her productions levels are about 1/2 of the min requirement. Even on the days she doesn't nod off her production levels are still below the min requirement. She was hired this past July and has been this way since day 1. All the boss has done so far is call her in for a single warning meeting. I know this supposedly is none of my biz BUT I'm working on the same project along with one other person. The ONLY reason we were assigned to this project is take up her slack.

If you were the boss what would you have done about this unproductive employee?

The admin asst where I work didn't do her job properly so now our client is extremely pissed....so pissed they are ready to cancel their contract. She took too damn long doing her job (permits/inspections) and now the client is hitting us with $3000 in backcharges...$1500 for each failed inspection on 3 houses. So $1500 for house #1, $1500 for house #2 which passed but we're getting backcharged anyway b/c she faxed over the wrong manual the 1st time. btw...I work for a residential contractor.

If you were the boss what would you have done about her?

I called this business the other day to make a purchase. The person who answered the phone was extremely rude. I asked her if they stock a particular item. After she said they do I told her I would be over there between 5:45 & 6pm. She told me it was after 5pm and the office is closed (I called @ 4:55). I reminded her of their policy that if a customer calls before 5 that they will keep the office open until the purchase was made. Then was very rude when telling me that the foreman told her that he will be locking up at 5pm. After that nasty response I told her to give me her first and last name and will call the main office. I did call the main office and spoke to her boss. He told me she knows the policy and will wait for me. When I got there at 6:15 (thanx to the wreck on the road) she was just getting in her car. I told her to open the office so I could purchase my item. She refused by telling me the office was closed then got in her car and left!!! Ok, so I call the office again and left a complaint message. Noone returned my call. I called later to have my item reserved and this same b i tch answers the phone. I had my doubts but I gave her a chance to redeem herself. She said they carried my item but not in the size I required. I told her you're in the business and you DON'T carry this size?? She rudely told me that she was never aware of this item in that size (HVAC filter, 42x32). I told her she obviously does not know what she's doing and requested to speak with someone else who does. Then she was extremely rude when she told me that she does know what she's doing but would see if there was someone else who could help. I told her that I was sick and tired of her sorry excuses and would give my business to another company. Then I hung up. How do I go about getting this company to fire this horrible person?

Where I work (residential contractor) there is a bit of job shuffling going on with the duties of a few positions. The employees involved (not their real names) are Jane (admin asst also responsible for permits and programming), Chris (scheduling), Daniel (designer), John (designer), and Ralph (boss).

Recently Jane made a $1200 mistake while covering for Chris while he was out on leave. The following week a meeting was held to review issues with pulling jobs and errors on the pick sheets. During this meeting Daniel and John both were explaining that the pick list software has problems with data loss and printing the wrong data as a result of the data loss. Ralph was not up to date on Jane's duties so he asked Daniel, Chris, and John because Jane was not present at the meeting (Ralph decided beforehand that her presence was not required). As a result Ralph decided that Jane needs to teach Chris everything about the city permits so she can focus on programming issues. Considering that Chris is handling the permitting issues, after the software upgrade is complete will Ralph fire Jane? Or will Jane go back to her original duties?

I have a new boss who came from Europe. This morning he sent out an office wide memo stating that he will be reviewing each employee to make sure that the vehicle owned matches the position. If anyone owns a vehicle that is better than their position then they will have to trade it in for the proper vehicle or be fired. He said he requires this because that's the way it is where he came from and the way it needs to be in this country (USA). He says it is offensive and obscene to see low level workers driving around in classy cars that should only be driven by managers, doctors, or lawyers.

Example he used..."(my name) is the receptionist and should only be permitted to own a basic bare bones econo car, NOT the fancy Mercedes out there in the parking lot." To him a bare bones econo car is an old used clunker car with NO luxury items...no A/C, power windows/locks, power brakes/steering, cruise, radio, CD player, or automatic tranny.

Well, I have a slight problem with that because I'm the receptionist he's referring to. The Mercedes is a 2 year old 200 series purchased new. The loan will be paid in full this September. I love the car and really do not want to trade it in for anything else. Several other co-workers have similar concerns. I considered looking for employment elsewhere because of this, but the job market is too scarce right now. Can the boss legally force us to replace our own personal vehicles?

btw...I didn't do anything illegal or immoral to purchase the Mercedes. My parents offered to pay 1/2 if I worked at their dealership at min wage for the spring and summer months until I found permanent employment. Now I work for a large engineering firm making more than enough money to afford the car + everything else.

Company policy dictates lunch period for all office employees is a 1hr unpaid lunch starting at 11:30 and a return no later than 1pm. You have one employee who takes lunch from 1pm - 2pm. This person claims they can't go earlier because there is noone else in the office and the office can't ever be left unattended for any reason.

This person has been told repeatedly that lunch must end by 1pm and that there is always someone present onsite even if they are not office personnel. I'm in Texas. Would it be illegal for me to fire this person for violating company policy?

This person must have the following qualifications:

Type 60wpm, excellent communication skills, customer service oriented, team player, detail oriented/highly organized, multi-task in a fast paced environment, proficient in MS Office, bachelors degree or 5 years min related experience.

Candidate A:

Assoc. degree in drafting, 3 yrs exp admin asst, 5 yrs drafter, intermed MS Office skills, 50wpm, highly organized, excellent communication skills, very computer savvy.

Candidate B:

Bachelors degree, no prior admin exp, 2yrs exp in sales, intermed MS Office skills, 70wpm, organized, excellent communication skills, "go getter" attitude, somewhat computer savvy.

Candidate C:

GED, 7 yrs admin exp, 100 wpm, adv MS Office skills, very computer savvy, "go getter" attitude, sales/retail exp in fast paced environment, detail oriented

My boss & I like "C", but others who impact the decision (but don't make it) don't want to hire someone who has zero college education.

Who should get hired & why?

The head accountant hired a computer tech to repair the computers on an as-needed basis. He was hired based on current experience with the school district in their IT dept. The tech came to install a computer which formerly belonged to someone at the corporate office. The secretary was asked by HR to help him out because he was having problems. The secretary helped him and got the computer up and running. The next day the secretary made a point of calling the accountant to tell her all about the tech and also said he didn't know what he was doing. She also made it clear that she spent half of the following day "cleaning up" what the tech had done. On top of that she also told other employees about the tech if they asked who he was.

IMO, I think the secretary's general behavior (including the phone call) was waaay out of line and very unprofessional.

Do you think she...

...was out of line?

...unprofessional?

...should have been reprimanded or fired?

The company I work for is a small residential contractor firm.

My boss just hired a new admin assistant to answer the phone which doesn't ring very much and handling city permits. Rumor has it that the new admin will also be IT and programmer instead of my boss (also the office manager and head of the design dept in addition to IT/programming). There is no formal IT/programming department.

My co-workers and I REALLY don't like this because this new "secretary" has NO formal IT/programming college level education or related work experience. In fact the boss chose this person based on document scanning work exp, a high school programming class, and PC repair for computer at home.

My coworkers and I can't help but feel that the boss is making a HUGE mistake if he has the new admin do IT/programming.

Do you guys/gals.. ...agree? ...disagree? ...and why?

Also...why would the boss would give the admin IT/programming duties?