The Smithsonian Store sells a desk cube with a clock, barometer,
thermometer and hygrometer. It costs $140.

M

Dear M,

Thanks!More clocks appear below; if I heard about it more than once, it’s asterisked.

Amazon.com: Chass Desk Accents Cube Weather Station Clock 81061*
Brookstone: Color Changing Rotation Clock
The Clock Collection: Cube Weather Station*
Clock Superstore: Howard Miller Reuben Rosewood Hall Desk Clock*
e-corporategifts.com: Weather Station
Expressions of Time: Swivel Clock*
Expressions of Time: The Twirler [hee…that sounds kind of dirty]*
Expressions of Time: Weather Block with Clock
Furniture for Sale: Howard Miller Compass Time Tabletop Clock*
Giftclocks.com: Columbus Compass Weather Station Clock
Mediatrix.de: Analog-clock Triple Cube
Myrtlewood Gallery: Weather Cube*
Photo Frames Plus: Desk Clock with Weather Station
Shopping.com: Movado Desk Collection Rotating aluminum desk cube
Signals.com: Weather Man Weather Station
Speranza Online: Cubissimo Clock
SUNY Cortland College Store: Rotating Cube Clock
UNCP Bookstore: Gold Medallion “Cube” Desk Clock

Search ebay for “weather clock + cube” or something similar
Clockstyle.com
City Grotto.com
The Discovery Channel online store
Oregon Scientific
ambientweather.com
thinkgeek.com
Sky Mall
www.iwantoneofthose.com
Call Brookstone and see if there’s any place to get the original clock now

Dear Sars,

My roommate and I both came up with writing to you about this issue simultaneously, so I guess it’s officially a Vine question.We’ve got this friend (but of course) who we’ll call Kvetchy.We’ve been friends for several years, and Kvetchy has been a great friend to both of us — supportive in times of need, fun to have at social events, yadda yadda yadda.She’s a generous, nurturing soul who cooks the most fabulous meals and plays a mean game of cards.

Here’s the rub — Kvetchy has always had a tendency towards complaining.A lot.Hence the name.Most conversations with her consist of her vehemently bitching about whatever topic we inadvertently opened up — her husband, her job (or lack thereof), her volunteer work, et cetera.The complaints usually boil down to, “I’m surrounded by idiots,” but it takes about 45 minutes for her to get all of that out.

Now we understand that, on paper, this woman sounds quite unpleasant to be around, and it has been one of the great mysteries to us for a while that she’s actually one of our favorite people despite this habit of hers.But recently, it seems to have gotten worse.She’s working at a new job in a field that she’s been trying to enter for a while, which you would think would be great news.But no.In the last week, we’ve each had separate conversations with her that were entirely about the disgusting workplace, the stupid coworkers, the disorganized management, and how she’s the only good thing in that place.

Now this habit is starting to grate on us and other friends, and we’re wondering what to do about it.Well, actually, we’re pretty sure we know what we should do, which is talk to her about this, but we’re wondering how to go about that without endangering this friendship.For all of her complaining, Kvetchy is still a good friend who we enjoy having around about 60% of the time (which is down from the previous high of 90%).Any thoughts on how to get back that 30%?

Sincerely,
On top of it all, the Cubs stink.Again.

Dear Nothing New Under The Sun Dept.,

Before you have a big sitdown with her about it, try a more subtle tactic — changing the subject.It might segue into a more pointed discussion of the complaining, and the fact that it’s ramped up lately, but before that happens, see if you can’t gently guide her in a different conversational direction.

When she starts complaining, start the mental shot clock; give her ten or fifteen minutes to vent; change the subject.”I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time; let’s talk about something else, get your mind off it.””Yeah, you’ve mentioned that [insert X idiocy of others here], that sucks — hey, speaking of things that suck, has anyone seen [insert X shitty-looking movie here]?”If she tries to lurch back to the topic of complaint, pull her off it again.

It might work.Then again, it might not — she might not get it, or she might object to your efforts to distract her from the subject, and if so, yes, you’ll probably have to broach it directly.Emphasize that she seems really unhappy, and you don’t know how to help her; you’re happy to let her vent, up to a point, but that doesn’t seem to have much positive effect.Ask if there’s anything you can do, if she wants you to offer solutions — but mention again that, in the past, that hasn’t done much.The point is to make it clear to her that you support her and value her friendship, and if you can help her, you’d like to — but as things stand now, the kvetching is starting to take over.

It’s a fine line, of course, and she may get self-conscious or defensive, but there does come a point in the whinge-and-moan process when it’s time to realize that it’s not a solution per se, and sometimes the understanding that you’re bugging your friends is what it takes to get from “bitching” to “making some changes.”

Hey Sarah — hope the holidays are treating you nicely enough.

I was confronted with the following crappy situation, and I figured I’d send the dilemma in your direction in order to get an opinion.

I have worked at a very small company for the last year and a half (it’s me, the boss, and a not-on-site business manager who handles financial affairs for the company).My boss and I get along swimmingly — like chums at times, even –though we are definitely employer/employee.In this small office, we are very casual and joke around, but (by way of example) I will end up going out to buy lunch for him or wash his car, in addition to my many other critical and non-sucky duties.

Last year, Boss came into my room around Christmas and, to my surprise, told me that he was giving me a phenomenal Christmas bonus.”I’ve never had anyone fill this position as well as you.You make my life easier.”And other nice things.He made a point of giving me an exceedingly generous dollar figure — let’s say it’s $5000 — and drove home the idea that he wanted me to have $5000 AFTER TAXES.”I want you to have that money in your pocket right away.Spend it on something fun.”

Cut to the middle of this year.Boss’s regular business manager goes on maternity leave.Someone new fills in.After some time, New Biz tells me she thinks it’d be a good idea to up my tax withholding on each paycheck.”Just so you don’t get slammed at the end of the year.”I shrug my shoulders and say, “Sure, what the hell.”

Last act: two days ago.Boss walks in and says to me, “I just want you to know –I’m giving you the same [exceedingly generous] bonus as last year.Happy Holidays, and great work this year.”Except when I got home and saw my check, the New Biz gave me a check for the $5000 bonus — pretax.With the increased withholding.Which means I got $3400 instead of $5000.

I know, waaah waaaah, you only got $3400.But that’s $1600 I was probably supposed to get for a bonus, that I didn’t get.Which is a lot of money.To me, at least.

So the dilemma.Do I bring this up to someone?My boss and I had a great year; I can’t imagine he would have intentionally cut my bonus.Should I bring this up to the business manager in private?

If Boss hadn’t said to me, “I’m giving you the same bonus as last year,” I wouldn’t have blinked an eye (well, I would have been sad that the amount was lower, but such is life).But he said it should have been the same.

I don’t want things to be weird between my boss and me.Nor do I want to lose this money, which would come in mighty handy right now.My boss is the sort of easygoing, forgetful type who usually has his assistant (me) handle these types of things for him.I don’t want to seem ungrateful, so I would honestly lean towards dropping this if I thought it might cause a major stir.

A

Dear A,

If you think it’s an oversight, ask your boss exactly that — if the withholding issue was an oversight on his part.You say in your letter that he’s the type of guy who might forget that something like this was in play, so if that’s the case, I don’t think he’d get offended or weirded out that you brought it up.I myself am a boss who often displays symptoms of premature senility and has to be figuratively flicked in the head by my lieutenant, and when that happens (…daily), I’m usually grateful.

I can’t really tell you the relative likelihood of his having just forgotten that this might be an issue, but if it seems like the reason to you, and you don’t think he’ll mind having it pointed out, go ahead and bring it up.Begin by thanking him for the bonus, and then mention that you wondered if he’d intended to withhold the taxes from it, because he’d specifically said he wanted you to have the same amount, and this…is not that.Either he spaced the effect of the withholding, in which case he’ll fix the error, or he didn’t, in which case you’ll have to decide whether you want to put on a happy “okay, no problem, just wondering” face and pretend that you were just curious.

But if you think it might be intentional, and you also think that to mention it might cause you problems in the future that $1600 wouldn’t assuage, maybe it’s best left alone.Still, based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like a vapor lock to me, so you might as well ask.

[12/20/06]

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