I meant to post this yesterday...

[smeddley]

To all the parents on my f-list:

For the love of all that is shiny and good, when your child asks you a question and isn't happy with the answer, don't give in if they just keep asking over and over and over. Because 20, 30, 40 + years from now, someone like me will have to deal with them. And valuable time of my life will be sucked away as they ask the same question over and over and over believing that if they just keep at it, they'll eventually get the answer they want.

I spent over 20 minutes on the phone yesterday answering (over and over and over) the same, simple question that had a two-word answer. That's time I could have spend, oh, I don't know, shoving splinters of wood up under my fingernails.

Thank you, and here ends this PSA/rant.

Comments

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

Do I have to?

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Unless you want me to track you down, rip off your arms and beat you with them, then yes, yes you do.

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

But...but...

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

But what?

(And really, you have no need to fear, as I haven't been able to track you down - yet. The question is, what would it take to get one of your other friends to sell you out?)

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

Actually, I don't have any friends. I just make a bunch of accounts and friend myself.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Nice try, but I know at least cdpeck is a different person. I'm willing to bet at least a few of the other ones are, too! (though I did notice after your big whine about being de-friended you did get an influx of 'new' friends... those I'll believe are shills!)

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

Big whine? I believe you exaggerate. Also, I can only think of one person to friend me after that and I have no idea how they found me.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Me, exaggerate? Never in a million, billion years!

I don't have it on hand, but there's a website that allows you to see who friended/unfriended you, and you had something like a +7 that day.

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

Unpossible. I bet I had a +7 about a month or so before that date though. I believe I got pimped on some uberpopular friend's journal and I had a rush of people sign on. One of them was the person to unfriend me later. Maybe their trial period was over.

[revoked-soul.livejournal.com]

Bah! I hate repetitive questions!

Luckily for me, Fianna has such an abundance of questions I rarely have to answer the same one twice.

I wish more of them had simple two-word answers, though, but they're growing increasingly harder to answer. The other day, while I was very busy in the middle of something, I got "Where does water come from?"

And my groan was probably audible for miles...

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

"Well, sweetie, when two hydrogen atoms meet an oxygen atom and they find they're all into menage-a-trois and bondage, they hook up (after a few drinks) and form a water molecule!"

See, that parenting thing's not so hard! ;)

[revoked-soul.livejournal.com]

I had this flashback to grade school science and those diagrams of evaporation and condensation and blah blah blah...

And I thought...I don't know if I can handle this...she's only three...

[cdpeck.livejournal.com]

If my kid asks me the same question twice, I backhand him. Even if he asks it years later.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Good man. The public servants of tomorrow thank you.

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

I DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR SARCASM

[cdpeck.livejournal.com]

*backhand*

[icecat.livejournal.com]

UGH. That's the problem with being a public servant - you can't just hang up on those idiots.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

It was funny, though, I was quietly banging my head against my desk as I talked to him. He was actually very nice, just... persistant. And maybe a little dim.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

Hey, don't just blame the parents... I've seen books and seminars specifically focussed on "Don't Take No For An Answer" in business & sales (and life- "make it happen!") maybe this guy just wasn't suave enough and only used the same tactic over and over ;)