All Episodes Talk: All Rise

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Worsher.

And then JJ kicked her out because she wouldn't shut the fuck up. Bonus.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Cobalt Stargazer

[Brattinella]

40 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Worsher.

And then JJ kicked her out because she wouldn't shut the fuck up. Bonus.

Awesome, right?

[Guest]

I got a charge out of the woman who's going to take the Case of the Prom Dress Fiasco to the Supreme Court.

Judge Judy's ruling was in her words "not acceptable" nor "fair". 

She stormed out of there leaving her daughter and apparently refused to talk to anyone. 

I do have a question to pose though about the dress...is it in the same category as the tuna fish sandwich?  I mean, if daughter left the dress there and walked away, wouldn't Judge Judy have bristled that the seamstress no matter how poorly made the dress, did in fact, make the dress and that the mother/daughter plaintiffs must pay something.  

I wear clothes from JJill to work - a lot like the adult version of Garanimals.  Everything mixes and matches so you can conceivably have two, maybe three hundred outfits with five pieces so what I'm saying is that I'm no fashionista.  But, with that in mind, all three of the dresses (two in the picture, and one in person) could not be any uglier in my non-professional opinion. 

Whatever happened to brocade gowns for proms ala Audrey Hepburn?  Now we have dresses with no front, no back, slit to the hip and sheer material where nipples are used as an accessory.   Couple that with tats and piercings and seven inch stilettos and the high school senior can go from prom to street all within a twelve hour period.

Not to mention the yearbook caption of said senior "Hotter than four-hundred hells she was on prom night".

The good ol' days.

Edited March 20, 2018 by PsychoKlown

[Brattinella]

22 minutes ago, PsychoKlown said:

I got a charge out of the woman who's going to take the Case of the Prom Dress Fiasco to the Supreme Court.

Judge Judy's ruling was in her words "not acceptable" nor "fair". 

She stormed out of there leaving her daughter and apparently refused to talk to anyone. 

I do have a question to pose though about the dress...is it in the same category as the tuna fish sandwich?  I mean, if daughter left the dress there and walked away, wouldn't Judge Judy have bristled that the seamstress no matter how poorly made the dress, did in fact, make the dress and that the mother/daughter plaintiffs must pay something.  

I wear clothes from JJill to work - a lot like the adult version of Garanimals.  Everything mixes and matches so you can conceivably have two, maybe three hundred outfits with five pieces so what I'm saying is that I'm no fashionista.  But, with that in mind, all three of the dresses (two in the picture, and one in person) could not be any uglier in my non-professional opinion. 

Whatever happened to brocade gowns for proms ala Audrey Hepburn?  Now we have dresses with no front, no back, slit to the hip and sheer material where nipples are used as an accessory.   Couple that with tats and piercings and seven inch stilettos and the high school senior can go from prom to street all within a twelve hour period.

Not to mention the yearbook caption of said senior "Hotter than four-hundred hells she was on prom night".

The good ol' days.

 

Seriously, those all looked like stripper dresses.  I did, however, love how Mom kept trying to poke her daughter and or whisper what she was supposed to say.  I LOL.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Brattinella

[AngelaHunter]

3 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

Seriously, those all looked like stripper dresses. 

Definitely, and the dress that was made was not nearly revealing enough. Well, after all, the Grad Girl is 19 years old and just graduating high school. Cause for celebration, I guess and no way would anything off the rack be good enough or scanty enough for this grand event. I wonder if mom took this to the Supreme Court. I bet daughter got a major tearing-down when they got home.

 

1 hour ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

And then JJ kicked her out because she wouldn't shut the fuck up. Bonus.

She was a vicious, vile, evil hag, but dopey Jr. "loved her." He's a no-hoper for sure and he's royally screwed. You want equitable distribution, get married you fool.

[Brattinella]

3 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

the Grad Girl is 19 years old

I forgot this part!  LMFAO!!!!!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

9 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

She was a vicious, vile, evil hag, but dopey Jr. "loved her." He's a no-hoper for sure and he's royally screwed. You want equitable distribution, get married you fool.

Oh, honey, they all 'love' each other. She said he threatened to kill her? Right. He must have had a tank for backup. I'd be scared to ask her to pass the salt, much less say I wanted to kill her. Not if she knew where I sleep.

Re dressmaker Nichole: her episode was a rerun, I remembered her purple outfit. Why did the daughter say the dress was fine and take it home, but then  her mom was the one who had a fit because it was not the dress they wanted?

[Quof]

Quote

the slovenly 'contractor' who was supposed to be putting in a sprinkler system for the plaintiff:

Don't know how I missed this the first time it aired, but "contractor" Kevin Gervasio is closing in on 25 convictions.  Yeah, he's the type of guy you should trust with your car keys. 

[WhoaWhoKnew]

5 minutes ago, Quof said:

Don't know how I missed this the first time it aired, but "contractor" Kevin Gervasio is closing in on 25 convictions.  Yeah, he's the type of guy you should trust with your car keys. 

Oh please, honey! He was being a good samaritan! He didn't want to leave the owner's car parked outside the owner's house!

[AngelaHunter]

4 minutes ago, Quof said:

"contractor" Kevin Gervasio is closing in on 25 convictions.

Wow. Interesting. And here I thought he was just a run-of-the-mill lazy goof taking advantage of a dimwit. Really, who is dumb enough to give someone thousands of dollars and the car keys, and and then leave town? Couldn't he tell by looking at Kevin, morbidly obese and white as a fish belly that he's never so much as pulled up a dandelion, let alone do all that hard outdoor work? Yes, there truly is one born every minute.

[Brattinella]

6 minutes ago, Quof said:

Don't know how I missed this the first time it aired, but "contractor" Kevin Gervasio is closing in on 25 convictions.  Yeah, he's the type of guy you should trust with your car keys. 

Kevin Gervasio, a man who once won the primary for Rensselaer County Legislature in the City of Troy, was arrested for the 52nd time earlier this week.  He was caught in a sting, charged with felony promoting prostitution.

 

Wow!

[AngelaHunter]

How can someone be arrested 30 - 50 times and still be walking around free? Some family. Check out his brother.

[WhoaWhoKnew]

4 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

Kevin Gervasio, a man who once won the primary for Rensselaer County Legislature in the City of Troy, was arrested for the 52nd time earlier this week.  He was caught in a sting, charged with felony promoting prostitution.

 

Wow!

Pure class.

[Schnickelfritz]

13 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

Kevin Gervasio, a man who once won the primary for Rensselaer County Legislature in the City of Troy, was arrested for the 52nd time earlier this week.  He was caught in a sting, charged with felony promoting prostitution.

And then there is this....

https://www.gofundme.com/wsh7t-please-help-me

Anyone who wants to be truly horrified, should google the schlub and see what all he has been up to. I must say, he is an equal opportunity exploiter. He's just not good at it. And his family is no better.

[AngelaHunter]

27 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

She said he threatened to kill her?

He threatened to kill her, hang her up in the basement (which is all cement so perfect murder spot) and set her on fire.

1 minute ago, Schnickelfritz said:

should google the schlub and see what all he has been up to.

Can we take up a collection for him here?

Doesn't this "jist" tug the heartstrings?

Quote

i have medical issues that dont allow me to jist lose the weight . 

[Schnickelfritz]

18 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

Can we take up a collection for him here?

Doesn't this "jist" tug the heartstrings?

Quote

i have medical issues that dont allow me to jist lose the weight . 

I say we take up a collection for some triple cheeseburgers delivered every hour until he explodes. Why is he still walking around scamming people? The justice system is broken

And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

http://www.albanycountyda.com/bureaus/appealsunit/news/13-06-13/Conviction_Upheld_for_Scam_Against_Senior_Citizen-3026471102.aspx

[AngelaHunter]

37 minutes ago, Schnickelfritz said:

I say we take up a collection for some triple cheeseburgers delivered every hour until he explodes.

Try and query or report a suspicious begger on that site. It would be easier to hack the FBI headquarters. Yet another venue for scammers to thrive. I guess he and Mommy Dearest thought an 89-year old was the perfect victim. The whole family of hawgs should be thrown in the slammer and forced to work. Good way to lose weight, Kevin!

[shksabelle]

It was close to her birthday so she wants to be compensated. Some people are just shameless. 

That said, of course the slumlord was liable. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Kevin Gervasio, a man who once won the primary for Rensselaer County Legislature in the City of Troy, was arrested for the 52nd time earlier this week.  He was caught in a sting, charged with felony promoting prostitution.

OMG! Who was voting for him?! And who was his opponent?! A guy with 100 convictions? "Oh, let me check the ballot here for Kevin Gervasio -- because I can't in good conscience vote for a man with 100 convictions so I'll vote for the guy with 40." It really is the only thing that makes any sense. And what is the "worker's party?" The only thing Kevin Gervasio seems to work at is scamming people. Remind me to never, ever visit Troy, New York.

What also makes no sense is the JJ never revealed that guy's past criminal history which there is absolutely no way her producers and her law assistants knew nothing about. She's always asking litigants if they've ever been arrested before and, nine times out of 10, she gets an affirmative response. This would have been a prime lecture for her about "her America" where some vile cretin can walk around free with 40 convictions and continue to scam more people. But no. The hill she picks to die on is mocking a guy about tire tracks on his lawn—tracks it it turns out he didn't even make. 

9 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Worsher.

And then JJ kicked her out because she wouldn't shut the fuck up. Bonus.

What a vile hag that one was. And what a dumbass the boyfriend was getting scammed by putting her name on the deed. Sorry, pal -- but that house is now 50% hers. Too bad she and Kevin Gervasio didn't film on the same day and decide to hook up with one another. That coupling would have become a murder/suicide and saved the planet a whole lot of problems. 

[AngelaHunter]

13 hours ago, PsychoKlown said:

Now we have dresses with no front, no back, slit to the hip and sheer material where nipples are used as an accessory. 

I guess they're taking their cue from the newer crop of actresses who, for all intents and purposes, appear naked on the red carpet. It's the "Who Can Look Like the Biggest Slut in Town?" era. Why should anything be left to the imagination?

A comedian (Maybe Chris Rock, not sure) joked about it and about how the real hookers are getting pissed off  ("Hey! This is my business! I'm selling this!")seeing high school girls apparently in competition with them, wardrobe-wise.

5 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

What also makes no sense is the JJ never revealed that guy's past criminal history which there is absolutely no way her producers and her law assistants knew nothing about.

I'm sure he's always in the middle of court cases, so perhaps she was forbidden to question him on that line. We've seen before when someone has a pending criminal case against them, JJ can't question them about it.

[SandyToes]

15 hours ago, PsychoKlown said:

Whatever happened to brocade gowns for proms ala Audrey Hepburn?  Now we have dresses with no front, no back, slit to the hip and sheer material where nipples are used as an accessory.   Couple that with tats and piercings and seven inch stilettos and the high school senior can go from prom to street all within a twelve hour period.

Oh, honey, we saw this for the EIGHTH grade dances. Held in the cafeteria with ketchup packets on the floor.  Several local schools have tried to curtail some of it - no spaghetti straps, no bare shoulders, etc, but usually those can't be enforced ("But she bought this dress months ago before we knew about the rules! It's not faaaaaair!).  Some have been able to reign it in, which is nice.  But I thought this gal's dream dress was really not appropriate for any school function.  Why do teens feel the need to be a Kardashian?  (Insert "woe for our poor society" monologue here, please.) Admittedly, values/culture/social norms vary.   And I agree, mom probably did rake her over the coals for not pulling her weight during testimony. As for why she took the dress, I can see this. No experience in explaining to a vendor that you aren't happy with the product. I did that, as an adult once. Commissioned a work, and obviously wasn't as clear in what I wanted, because what I got was no where near what I was expecting. Didn't say anything at the time, and tried to explain later, and the gal admonished me, "You should have said something at the time. " And I should have. I learned.

I turned off the poor guy who put that witch on the deed to his house. I remember it from last time and it was just too, um, too.  My daughter's best friend did the same type of thing- got the mortgage in her name only, and put bum of hubby on the title.  Hope it works for her...

The gardner/contractor guy?  Criminy. Y'all's comments are so spot on.  "Never pulled up a dandelion!"  Hee!  Indeed! 

[Zahdii]

Regarding the prom dress:  Sending a teen to finalize a business transaction is a bad idea.  The girl just wanted a dress, and the mother wanted the perfect dress, therefore the mother should have taken point on the interactions with the dressmaker.

I kind of remember a court TV show from years ago where a woman hired a teen to go with her and her family to Disney World.  The girl was supposed to be paid a fee (I think it was $600) on top of having her plane ticket and room fees paid.  After boarding the plane for the trip home the woman told the girl that paying her way was more expensive than anticipated, and even though she spent the majority of the time accompanying the children on rides and such, her meals cost more than expected and she had plenty of time off in the motel room watching the children during nap times and in the evening when the woman and her husband were out experiencing the night life.  So the woman felt that she should only pay a portion ($200) of the agreed upon fee. 

The teen didn't know what to do.  She thought that if she didn't agree, she would be put off the plane and then have to find her own way home.  When her parents found out they sued the woman for the rest of the contract, and although the woman tried to whine her way out of it the judge let her have it.  "You used this girl so you didn't have to watch your own children on vacation.  You begrudged every meal she ate.  Who took all the pictures of your entire family posing at the attractions?  She did!  You decided that your 'gift' of a novelty T-shirt to commemorate the trip should be taken off the final fee.  You counted her off hours as time when she was watching your kids sleep so you could go out and have a good time.  Then you got her on a plane and demanded to renegotiate the terms of the contract?  For shame, Madam!  For shame!  You put her in an untenable position, knowing that she didn't have an adult to advocate for her.  You had to get permission from her parents to take her on the trip, so you knew she wasn't in a position to make a legally binding contract by herself, yet you strong armed her on a plane to reduce the amount you agreed to pay her?  Verdict for the plaintiff!"

[jilliannatalia]

22 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

Definitely, and the dress that was made was not nearly revealing enough. Well, after all, the Grad Girl is 19 years old and just graduating high school. Cause for celebration, I guess and no way would anything off the rack be good enough or scanty enough for this grand event. 

 

While I will be thoroughly shamed if -- barring, God forbid,  a catastrophe in the league of traumatic brain injury --  either of my two children waits until the ripe old age of nineteen to make it through high school,  I'm knocking on the piano with one hand while typing with the other. ( My niece and nephew graduated medical school at the  age of twenty-three. The entire extended family on both sides will be disgraced if my kids are still in high school at nineteen.)  Grade level retention is far from uncommon these days. Depending upon the kindergarten entrance birth date cutoff  in the state in which the girl resides, her birthday could be in the spring, winter, or even early fall. If she had been retained for one grade with such a birthday (few districts retain children for more than one grade in modern times) she would be nineteen at graduation time.  Grade level retention possibility notwithstanding, I still found the mother-daughter combo to be a couple of morons.

 

 

22 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Oh, honey, they all 'love' each other. She said he threatened to kill her? Right. He must have had a tank for backup. I'd be scared to ask her to pass the salt, much less say I wanted to kill her. Not if she knew where I sleep.

Re dressmaker Nichole: her episode was a rerun, I remembered her purple outfit. Why did the daughter say the dress was fine and take it home, but then  her mom was the one who had a fit because it was not the dress they wanted?

The girl, despite being a legal adult, probably hasn't handled many of her own business transactions.  She's likely not the sharpest Crayola in the eight-pack.

[jilliannatalia]

6 hours ago, Zahdii said:

Regarding the prom dress:  Sending a teen to finalize a business transaction is a bad idea.  The girl just wanted a dress, and the mother wanted the perfect dress, therefore the mother should have taken point on the interactions with the dressmaker.

 

There's a bit of a conflict when someone is nineteen and claims the rights of a legal adult in some settings yet wants to be considered a child or minor in others.  I totally get the situation of the traveling babysitter and why Judge Judy shamed the woman who hired her, then paid her less than she was contracted to receive. My mom would have done the same thing the girl's mother did had it happened to me. 

 

I probably will not knowingly have my children handling expensive business transactions by themselves when they are nineteen, but that mother chose to do so.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

"He made an advancement towards me."

Lady, you look way too smart and put together to be saying 'advancement'.

[AngelaHunter]

29 minutes ago, jilliannatalia said:

There's a bit of a conflict when someone is nineteen and claims the rights of a legal adult in some settings yet wants to be considered a child or minor in others.

Yes, there is. On this show, they want to be considered adults when they want to drink at clubs, drive cars and have babies. They call themselves "kids" when they want avoid taking responsibility for smashing cars, paying rent, trashing someone's house or getting into drunken fights.

[Brattinella]

2 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

"He made an advancement towards me."

Lady, you look way too smart and put together to be saying 'advancement'.

Gah!  This word, used this way, just sets my teeth on edge!  And she said it more than once!

[AngelaHunter]

29 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

This word, used this way, just sets my teeth on edge!  And she said it more than once!

It was particularly sad that plaintiff, for whom English is a second language, said 'advances'.

 

3 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Lady, you look way too smart and put together to be saying 'advancement'.

She really did look that way, but appearances are deceiving.  "Oh, here's a receipt for 26$. That will do, right?"

Scammer & dumb = Fail. Just ask Kevin Gervasio, the King of Fail.

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

She really did look that way, but appearances are deceiving.  "Oh, here's a receipt for 26$. That will do, right?"

"Yes, Your Honor.  Our software prints out a detailed receipt with prices for our customers, but does not provide details for those of us who own the store and have to (1) provide details for those who place items with us on consignment, and (2) file taxes on our sales."

Apparently, not only is this woman stupid, she thinks Judge Judy and everyone watching the show are, too.

Edited March 22, 2018 by AZChristian

[Brattinella]

2 hours ago, AZChristian said:

"Yes, Your Honor.  Our software prints out a detailed receipt with prices for our customers, but does not provide details for those of us who own the store and have to (1) provide details for those who place items with us on consignment, and (2) file taxes on our sales."

Apparently, not only is this woman stupid, she thinks Judge Judy and everyone watching the show are, too.

Perfectly said, thanks!

[bad things are bad]

Quote

On this show, they want to be considered adults when they want to drink at clubs, drive cars and have babies. They call themselves "kids" when they want avoid taking responsibility for smashing cars, paying rent, trashing someone's house or getting into drunken fights.

TBF our society is just as confused.

Die in a war, 18 year old? Sure.

Drive a car, or a even a semi truck? Yup.

Vote? OK.

Buy an assault rifle? No problemo.

DRINK A BEER? No, you're not mature enough

[SRTouch]

Hmmm, just watched yesterday's rerun (originally aired Sept 6). I must have been so taken with the beauty of the consignment store lady that I completely failed to remember custom furniture maker John Breslin. Really, the hubris of the woman, claims reason dude put the kibosh on a 8 thousand dollar sale was because she didn't want to go dancing with him. Anyway, this post isn't about her, but about case # two. Wow, military pay must have really gone up if this young couple has 3 grand to spend on a custom table. As a newly minted buck sergeant/E5 back in my day, I took home around $300 - a month. (Actually - I was never a buck sergeant - my MOS had Specialist ranks - then the Army converted all E5 and above specialists to Sergeants.) I wonder how realistic it is to expect a custom table to go from a raw slab to a finished table in that time frame. Sooooo, not really anything to say, I actually agreed with JJ this time. Furniture maker John may be a great furniture maker, but needs someone to run the business. And little girly college student military spouse working on her bachelor's in business... as JJ told her, first thing she needs to learn is GET A FRICKIN' CONTRACT when you commission a $3,000 work of art/dining room table. (Yeah, I'm sure every military couple NEEDS a 8-9 foot, $3,000 table... must not be planning on living in military housing cuz that sucker ain't gonna to fit.)

OTOH, I googled and found John and his Fallen Tree, LLC site.... looks like he does makes beautiful stuff - not my taste, but gorgeous. http://fallentreellc.com

Edited March 22, 2018 by SRTouch

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, SRTouch said:

Wow, military pay must have really gone up if this young couple has 3 grand to spend on a custom table.

I was thinking the same thing, but like you I'm probably living in olden times when people old enough and mature enough to get married were just expected to pay for their own stuff, especially non-essential "I want and I want NOW" items. In this case, no doubt parents are footing the bills for whatever entitled baby snowflakes want. Yes, I know - I may very well be dead wrong, confused and obsolete, but I have a hard time imagining these kids working long and hard enough to spend 3,000$  for such a luxury like a custom-made table, no doubt a necessity to accomodate their large dinner parties.

[SandyToes]

21 hours ago, SRTouch said:

OTOH, I googled and found John and his Fallen Tree, LLC site.... looks like he does makes beautiful stuff - not my taste, but gorgeous.

Oh, that's gorgeous stuff!  I've looked at a couple of tables like that, but couldn't justify buying it when I have a perfectly good (but awkward and hand-me-down) dining room table.  And I'm old, financially secure, and I guess, far too sensible. But man, that's pretty stuff.  Stupid whippersnappers.... Grrrr.....

Today's Section 8 case. Le Sigh.  Could not believe lady with far too many kids and Bozo the Clown hair sued for punitive damages!  And moving expenses! Gah. Her smirky, smiley mug when the plaintiff couldn't collect really had me ready to throw my shoes.  How the house got to that state I have no idea.  Inspectors hit us every 3 months when we had Section 8-ers, and we got zapped with all sorts of stupid crap to repair:  Rust ring on stainless sink. Gee, it wasn't there 3 months ago when they moved in, but it's my responsibility to remove it? So the house is liveable? I was kind of thinking Judy  might sent them home to retry, but then when Plaintiff said she'd sold the house, then, nah, boom. Glad it all got tossed.    

ETA:  Mr. Toes advised me we weren't inspected every three months. It just felt like it. But the rust ring was a real thing - Grrrr....

Edited March 23, 2018 by SandyToes

[ButYourHonor]

3 hours ago, SRTouch said:

Hmmm, just watched yesterday's rerun (originally aired Sept 6). I must have been so taken with the beauty of the consignment store lady that I completely failed to remember custom furniture maker John Breslin. Really, the hubris of the woman, claims reason dude put the kibosh on a 8 thousand dollar sale was because she didn't want to go dancing with him. Anyway, this post isn't about her, but about case # two. Wow, military pay must have really gone up if this young couple has 3 grand to spend on a custom table. As a newly minted buck sergeant/E5 back in my day, I took home around $300 - a month. (Actually - I was never a buck sergeant - my MOS had Specialist ranks - then the Army converted all E5 and above specialists to Sergeants.) I wonder how realistic it is to expect a custom table to go from a raw slab to a finished table in that time frame. Sooooo, not really anything to say, I actually agreed with JJ this time. Furniture maker John may be a great furniture maker, but needs someone to run the business. And little girly college student military spouse working on her bachelor's in business... as JJ told her, first thing she needs to learn is GET A FRICKIN' CONTRACT when you commission a $3,000 work of art/dining room table. (Yeah, I'm sure every military couple NEEDS a 8-9 foot, $3,000 table... must not be planning on living in military housing cuz that sucker ain't gonna to fit.)

OTOH, I googled and found John and his Fallen Tree, LLC site.... looks like he does makes beautiful stuff - not my taste, but gorgeous. http://fallentreellc.com

 

Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.  The only problem with him was that he didn’t have a proper contract.  One month is not enough time to make something like that if he had other orders (possibly taken earlier) as well.  The wife was a dimwit with no sense of how much time and effort fine art woodworking takes.  My father does fine woodworking as a hobby and it’s not a slapdash process.  Her loss because 3k for a table like that is amazing.  Would probably go for upwards of 10k in the art/craft circles in my area.

[AngelaHunter]

2 hours ago, SandyToes said:

Today's Section 8 case. Le Sigh.  Could not believe lady with far too many kids and Bozo the Clown hair sued for punitive damages! 

Eight kids. Why not? Byrd doesn't mind another whole slew of dependants that are shot out with shocking regularity from this person's clown-car uterus. Thinking about the future? Why? Birth control? We don't need no stinkin' birth control. I couldn't get any further than that. Ugh.

[Schnickelfritz]

4 hours ago, SRTouch said:

Wow, military pay must have really gone up if this young couple has 3 grand to spend on a custom table. As a newly minted buck sergeant/E5 back in my day, I took home around $300 - a month. (Actually - I was never a buck sergeant - my MOS had Specialist ranks - then the Army converted all E5 and above specialists to Sergeants.)

If anyone is curious about military base pay thru the years... Keeping in mind this does not include BAH or anything else. It wouldn't surprise me at all they thought they had the money to spend on this table. Ah, the things we saw before retiring...

https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/military-pay-charts.html

[AngelaHunter]

4 hours ago, SandyToes said:

Inspectors hit us every 3 months when we had Section 8-ers, and we got zapped with all sorts of stupid crap to repair:  Rust ring on stainless sink. Gee, it wasn't there 3 months ago when they moved in, but it's my responsibility to remove it?

Really? When I was renting in my youth, my first place (and my second) had worse things than rust on the sink but I was paying my own rent so couldn't get the gov. to order the landlord to fix it. Nothing but the best for the parasites of society.

[jilliannatalia]

3 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

Really? When I was renting in my youth, my first place (and my second) had worse things than rust on the sink but I was paying my own rent so couldn't get the gov. to order the landlord to fix it. Nothing but the best for the parasites of society.

My first apartment experience was in college. I was at BYU, and the university somewhat strictly regulated the experience.  Landlords inspected our apartments four times per year, I believe. The university inspected annually to ensure that they weren't approving slums for their students to inhabit, though they didn't inspect every single apartment. They chose a few units at random. We did have a number to call an official at the university to complain if landlords didn't provide adequate maintenance. I was told by a roommate that it was wise to be cautious in making complaints, because at a place like BYU, a lot of the landlords knew each other and maintained blacklists of students who were chronic complainers. It would be tough to find a place to stay that was approved by the university (and if we were single and attending the university, we could only live in the dorms (ugh!) or in university-sponsored housing or with relatives who lived in the area if we had any; if it sounds like a bit of a police state, it was) for anyone whose name ended up on the black list.

 

That all changed when I married my husband immediately after graduation when I was teaching and in law school and he was in medical school.  Utah doesn't compensate teachers particularly generously. We first  lived in a dive apartment in the older neighborhood about which I occasionally still have nightmares.  Our second apartment wasn't a whole lot better. We had no one to advocate for us and no one checking up on our landlords then, as we shouldn't have had, though I wonder about laws that allow people to rent out such places to vulnerable people with not much money.  We couldn't afford to move often because right in the middle of our living room we had a seven-foot grand piano that someone had very generously gifted my husband.  (In retrospect, I'm surprised that the floors were strong enough to support the piano.) We couldn't move the piano without risking damage either  to the piano or to whomever helped us move it, and we had to pay two-hundred-seventy-five dollars to have it moved.  The walls of both of our first two apartments were so thin that the entire complex heard it whenever my husband played his piano . (He's big and strong and partial to composers like Chopin and Rachmaninoff; it was probably audible a block away.) I know that northern Utah isn't a hotbed of seismic activity, but if an uncharted fault had ever come to life and created an earthquake with even a 6.0 magnitude, the entire complexes of our first two apartments would probably crumble and fall as though  Tinker Toys held up the structures. We could have used a bit of help from the feds in regulating what was considered to be rent-able back then.

 

We were rescued from squalor when my mother-in-law came for a visit and visibly paled at the sight of the apartment in which her baby boy was living, and it was the better -- or the less bad, anyway -- of the two apartments..  She took a portion of her inheritance and bought a condo, and graciously allowed my husband and me to live in it for the same rent that we were paying to live in the slum apartment.

[AngelaHunter]

7 hours ago, jilliannatalia said:

Utah doesn't compensate teachers particularly generously.

Are teachers compensated with anything approaching generosity anywhere? It's always been a disgrace and I bet you never even said anything like "Preponderance of a doubt" even in your first year.

 

7 hours ago, jilliannatalia said:

The walls of both of our first two apartments were so thin that the entire complex heard it whenever my husband played his piano

One of my apartments had walls so thin I could hear the next door neighbours' utensils clicking as they ate! Downstairs was an grumpy alcoholic and it's a miracle he never burned the place down. Then there was a totally batshit woman and her crazy middle-aged daughter who would tell me, all giddy, how she took baths with her dog. They lived in shambles.

My next place had people who liked to "party." One morning leaving for work, I had to step over a passed-out partygoer lying on the floor in front of the door. I had two plain-clothes cops come pounding on my door one night, insisting I was hiding my father there and they wanted to see him NOW. My father had died 8 years earlier, but they scared the hell out of me. I had a crazy neighbour who stalked me, I had my bike and other stuff stolen, etc etc. Luckily, I hadn't popped out a kid or 8 by then(yeah, I know. I"m one of those stick-in-the-muds who thought a single young women who lived in a crappy apartment shouldn't immediately start breeding with random losers and go on welfare)so I could ah-move! Which I did.

7 hours ago, jilliannatalia said:

She took a portion of her inheritance and bought a condo, and graciously allowed my husband and me to live in it for the same rent that we were paying to live in the slum apartment.

Nice! If someone had offered me a condo, I would have passed out with happiness(or maybe shock) on the spot. For my first apartment, my mother got me a contact-paper/particle board coffee table and I was beyond thrilled. It was new! You can put up with a lot when you're young.

[SRTouch]

49 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

. For my first apartment, my mother got me a contact-paper/particle board coffee table and I was beyond thrilled. It was new! You can put up with a lot when you're young.

Wow, contact paper!?! I should have thought of that for my cinder block/particle board table.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, AngelaHunter said:

Then there was a totally batshit woman and her crazy middle-aged daughter who would tell me, all giddy, how she took baths with her dog. They lived in shambles.

"Hello, neighbor."

 

Has every episode been a rerun this week? I get that sweeps is over, but is the rerun-a-palooza necessary? 

[AngelaHunter]

2 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

"Hello, neighbor."

OMG, that's pretty close but more like "Grey Gardens".  And if they caught you in the hall, they would surround you and start talking a mile a minute about 3" from your face. It was horrifying but I resisted the urge to throw a rock through their windows.

EDIT: EEK! That pic IS Grey Gardens!  I watched that so long ago I forgot. You nailed it perfectly!

3 hours ago, SRTouch said:

Wow, contact paper!?!

Pretty snazzy, right?

2 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Has every episode been a rerun this week?

Was the one with the non-working woman who lost no wages but wanted extra money for being hurt on the giggling slumlord's property because it was her birthday a repeat?

Edited March 23, 2018 by AngelaHunter

[jilliannatalia]

4 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

Are teachers compensated with anything approaching generosity anywhere? It's always been a disgrace and I bet you never even said anything like "Preponderance of a doubt" even in your first year.

 

I probably wouldn't call the compensation "generous" in any part of the U.S., but there are  places in California where the cost of living is relatively low yet the top teacher pay is close to $100,000. Those teachers live much higher on the hog than do teachers in Utah. It's still not what society should be paying teachers to assume such a large role in educating our most valuable commodity, but it's much better than in Utah. 

 

And you're correct. I didn't say "preponderance"  [of anything] in my first year. 

Edited March 23, 2018 by jilliannatalia

[AngelaHunter]

2 minutes ago, jilliannatalia said:

I probably wouldn't call the compensation "generous" in any part of the U.S., but there are  places in California where the cost of living is relatively low yet the top teacher pay is close to $100,000.

Well, these days it seems teachers risk their lives going to school every day moreso than do cops on the job. I guess wages had to be upped or no one would want the job.

[jilliannatalia]

35 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

Well, these days it seems teachers risk their lives going to school every day moreso than do cops on the job. I guess wages had to be upped or no one would want the job.

You're right, but they have yet to acknowledge it in Utah, Idaho, and several other states.  Nevada supposedly has relatively decent pay as well due to all the income the state receives from taxing the casinos.

[jilliannatalia]

4 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

 Then there was a totally batshit woman and her crazy middle-aged daughter who would tell me, all giddy, how she took baths with her dog. They lived in shambles.

 

I've lived for over thirty years, and this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone who bathed with a pet even once, much less on a regular basis.  I love my dog, but I don't even let her in our swimming pool, which has lots of chlorine as well as a filtration system. It doesn't surprise me that the woman and her daughter lived in shambles.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, AngelaHunter said:

Was the one with the non-working woman who lost no wages but wanted extra money for being hurt on the giggling slumlord's property because it was her birthday a repeat?

That was new -- at least my DVR thought it was new.  

I wonder how many of the giggly landlord's 156 properties were Section 8.  

I hope the plaintiff used some of the $5K judgment to help pay for a place for her mom. 

[jilliannatalia]

5 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

 

Nice! If someone had offered me a condo, I would have passed out with happiness(or maybe shock) on the spot. For my first apartment, my mother got me a contact-paper/particle board coffee table and I was beyond thrilled. It was new! You can put up with a lot when you're young.

My husband's mother has always spoiled and indulged him to some degree. Maternal guilt is a great thing as long as it benefits me as well.

[ButYourHonor]

Supposedly a repeat, but I hadn’t seen it... boy bitten by chihuaweenie dog.

Not about the case, but the mother of the boy had a half-sleeve tattoo which was completely blurred out.  Now I’m not normally judgey about tattoos (despite thinking they aren’t a great idea if you want to work in an office) but if you might want to reconsider a tattoo that is bad enough to need blurring on national television especially if you have, or plan to have, kids.  Eesh.