Koboldnomicon cover sneak preview

With the print and PDF release of the Koboldnomicon only a few weeks away, Bards & Sages have released a sneak peek at the cover (PDF format).

Bad boss stories

Never mind that the dentist I worked for was the cheapest bastard in the world (trying to get out of paying me for a mandatory meeting by arguing that he paid for lunch), and that he was unethical (prescribing painkillers to addicted patients in exchange for pricy dental procedures they didn’t need).
 
Never mind all that.  Dr. X proved himself to be the worst kind of person imaginable during the week of 9/11.
 
That day, the patients all canceled their appointments.  Perfectly understandable, if you ask me: There’s a national tragedy, and the last thing on anyone’s mind is their oral health.  But this meant no income for Dr. X.  His response?  Taking $100 out of every employee’s paycheck.
 
Mind you, we were paid hourly, not based on production.  In the wake of a travesty that should bring out the best in people, he had the audacity to steal money from his own employees.  Not that it was even necessary.  Dr. X earned over a million dollars a year.  He owned a mansion.  Did he really need my $13/hour that badly?
 
Apparently so.  I promptly quit.  Lucky for me, a better job was around the corner.  As for Dr. X–his karma will catch up with him.

“He paints by the number,” was the excuse I was given when I wanted to okay a psychiatric hospital stay for a patient who was out of state.

My patient was a veteran suffering from trauma triggered by watching news coverage of the war in Iraq. He had been taken to emergency and when they called for authorization, my boss said they cost too much. I tried to get the hopsital to bring the price down. So, they discharged my patient after making him put $5000 on his credit card. I tried to get the money back for him and get my boss to okay paying the hospital. It went back and forth for too long.

The patient committed suicide. He shot himself in the head.

I couldn’t quit crying when I heard and took the rest of the day off. I used my personal time to do it.

My boss complained to my supervisor. He said, “I don’t know why she had to take the day off. People commit suicide everyday.”

I no longer work there. I’m in therapy now.

Makes one feel a bit better about the bad bosses of the past …

Read more bad boss stories here.

Peter Day: The Daily Press’ July Associate of the Month

Congratulations to Peter, who received a very snazzy award for his desk last night at the monthly staff meeting for the Daily Press family of papers!

• And happy birthday to Kasey Kay, my neice, on her first birthday yesterday.

Rock Star: Supernova, Week Two

Guys, if you’re chosen to audition for a band, go ahead and buy the CDs of the band members, just to get a feel for them. The fact that you’re young and stupid is no excuse for not knowing what Motley Crue, Guns N Roses and Metallica sound like.

Otherwise, not a lot of changes this week on Rock Star: Supernova. Storm Large and Dilana are still the two stand-outs, if Tommy Lee and company want a woman. (I think it’d be great publicity for them, but it’s arguably not what Gilby and Tommy are interested in.) Otherwise, I think Toby Rand had the best male performance of the night, although Lukas Rossi was likely hindered by choosing (or maybe being forced) to sing Coldplay.

And it’s official: I could be the biggest rock singer in Iceland.

• In other news, good free single from iTunes this week from DecembeRadio. Despite the band’s dumb name, “Love Found Me” is a fun rock and roll love song and well worth the download.

If you played for Brazil, what would your name be?

Meu nome é Beaisco.

If you played for Brazil, What would your name be?

(Thanks to Todd, or maybe I should say “Behrisco,” for the link.)