Why is everything so much harder and stupid here? (Sumner: rent, unemployed)

[jenniferwa]

don't let the door hit you in the a&% when you leave.

[Redline]

I think it's because you are in Sumner. Operative word is "Sumner".

No salt here (unless it's at least 4" now apparently) but no salt in Alaska, Oregon or Vancouver, BC either.

[allforcats]

"Hard", "stupid" and "crappy" are never facts but are always choices: you create the life you live, so you're the only one who generates the tone, and you're the only one who can change the tone.
Good luck leaving.

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by Redline

I think it's because you are in Sumner. Operative word is "Sumner".

No salt here (unless it's at least 4" now apparently) but no salt in Alaska, Oregon or Vancouver, BC either.

I lived in Colorado from 92-98. They used unfiltered dirt also.(full of rocks) I replaced more then one windshield while I lived there. Tords the end of my stint there they switched over to liquid salt. (Denver metro area)

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

It sounds like you had a rough time in Seattle. I'm sorry to hear that ... I've had a fantastic time since moving three years ago and will settle here if I have anything to say about it.

The clerks and people in general have a different attitude towards things. And don't be too bothered, they have to ring up 1000s of items a day. Even with 1% error rate, that is still 10 items they mis ring or do something that most likely isn't their fault. Their job isn't a barrell of laughs either, so give them a break.

The thing with the apartment was avoidable. All you had to do was prove to the utilities that you were a new resident. You didn't have to pay, and if you did pay, that's your own fault. Don't kvetch about it.

I sympathize wth the gravel. BUT Seattle has recently gone back on that and will now use salt. And last I checked, plenty of country areas still use gravel.

Do you live near Seattle or somewhere else? Street names only change on a whim and twist and stuff in the suburbs. In the city it is pretty block grid. But also remember that Seattle is basically on a spit of land surrounded by water, and the surrounding areas also have to contend with the geography. So some twisting and turning and whatnot is unavoidable. Don't like it? Move to the midwest or the great plains.

From that sounds of it if you move there, you'll fit right in.

Sorry, I can't give retail folks a break - I worked all kinds of crap jobs and never sunk to the depths that the retail folks here have. Literally almost every single day we purchase something, we have to check the receipt and keep a close eye on them. Yeah, the job sucks, but do it right - that's what you're getting paid to do.

Apartment thing was not our deal, the apt complex should've taken care of it and we should never have known about it, but the apt complex can't do their job (not to mention we had to have them fix 2 faulty washers and one dryer and they didn't even know we had a furnace filter that had to be changed, so they suck). We didn't pay anything, but we should never have even had to deal with it.

We do plan on moving back to the Midwest, where things seem to be a little more straight-forward and not as circus-like. I'm nowhere close to a normal midwesterner and thought things out here would fit me well, but there's strange in a good/cool way and there's strange in a bizarro-world, crazy-person-walking-down-the-street way. Guess which one Puget Sound is...

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by Heiwos

Sumner is a lot different than Seattle proper. Opposite ends of the political spectrum, for one thing. I agree with the water company; you should have just punted the bill to the landlord, who should have withheld the deposit from the former tenant until all bills are paid.

Yeah, I know - the whole south end is way more redneck than I suspected it would be (I know redneck, I lived in OK for decades). Only area we could afford to live, though. Landlord did that...

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by Ambassador

Sounds like a lot of (understandable) frustration over unemployment being taken out on an entire city. I would hate to drive on the same highway as you.....

Nothing you mentioned is unique to any city, including Seattle. I have seen variations of everything you mentioned all over this nation and even abroad.

Oh please, I've been frustrated with this area since we came here and had 2 Army idiots yelling at each other in the parking lot of our apt complex (on the first day we arrived) and the cops had to be called. It went downhill fast. I worked in Seattle for over a year and Seattle has its share of idiocy too, not just the south end.

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by deuterdu

Wow, what does one say to that? I love Seattle! I think everyone else pretty much does too. As far as gravel is concerned, many states use gravel and sand mix and it works fine. Maybe you need a really good margarita

Ha - "everyone else"??? Please.....

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by blondandfun

when you're unemployed and a retail clerk is rude to you for shopping at his store and giving him a job, I can understand your venting.

Just remember one golden rule: People get what they deserve. That retail clerk may have been just like you? Maybe that retail clerk had dreams that didn't come true, like the rest of us?

I shout out a well wishing to you and I recommend you pick up the book "Four Hour workweek" by Timothy Ferris, "The power of intention" by Wayne Dyer, and "the Secret".

Instead of looking at people/places to blame, use this experience as a tipping point. Maybe this is a time for you to change your life?

People, you need to stop assuming - my unemployment has nothing to do with how stupid a clerk is (and that was just one simple example - I have tons more anecdotal evidence, but it would be really depressing to list everything that takes longer/is harder to do that happens almost every single day we live here). The clerk wasn't rude, he just couldn't read 2 huge sale stickers on 2 CDs and ring them in right (and I didn't get nasty or anything, I just made him fix it). And this area is to blame - as I said, I could go on and on and on about things that don't work right here and are so very much harder to do than they should be (and harder to do than the experiences I've had in lots of states and cities across the country - I have literally never seen people/processes so screwed up as I have here).

Thanks for the well-wishing...

[TheTravellers]

Originally Posted by allforcats

"Hard", "stupid" and "crappy" are never facts but are always choices: you create the life you live, so you're the only one who generates the tone, and you're the only one who can change the tone.
Good luck leaving.

Um, no, hard/stupid/crappy are not always choices.

If you call a doctor's office, they say they're going to tell the nurse your symptoms, the nurse will call you back after talking to the doctor, but *none* of that happens, how do I create that?

If a doctor's office (different one since we stopped going to the first one) is supposed to fax in 3 prescriptions and only faxes 2, how do I create that?

If I try to buy a couple of bottles of wine and neither ring up because they're not in the system (used to happen every single f-ing time we bought wine, no matter the brand/type/whatever), how do I create that?

Ad nauseam.....

And yes, this stuff happens all the time, all over the place, but the sheer quantity of it here is just overwhelming.