monkeys and ponies

I don't usually discuss much about my personal/business life in unlocked entries, but I think this incident is worth mentioning.

For those of you who don't know, I'm the co-owner of a small design firm. I am also female, which is not unusual for people in my industry. Today I received the following call from a (male) tech recruiter.

Me (answering the phone): Hello, this is [my name].

Recruiter: Hello, I'd like to speak to the head of your software development team.

Me (pausing, noting that the man on the other end of the phone hasn't even bothered to give me his name, but willing to give him one chance before I write him off as "he thinks I'm the receptionist"): We don't have a software development team.

Recruiter: Okay, then I'd like to speak to whoever's in charge of your technical hiring.

Me (frostily): You are speaking to the principal of the firm.

Pause.

Recruiter (obviously surprised and a bit deflated): Oh.

That was a very satisfying little "oh," let me tell you.

He then gave me an endless spiel about his .NET rockstar I was never going to hire, which he'd have known if he'd made even the slightest effort to read up on my company, because we are a tiny firm that doesn't offer in-house development. And then I got off the phone and fumed for a little while.

The morals of the story:

1) WOMEN. WE EXIST. WE RUN THINGS OTHER THAN TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARDS.

2) DO YOUR FUCKING HOMEWORK BEFORE COLD-CALLING.

That is all.

ETA: No, wait, that's not all -- because I just got off the phone with an entirely different recruiter. This one was female and confirmed I was the co-founder of the company before saying a damned word about another developer I'm not going to hire. At the end of her spiel, after I told her we're not hiring, I told her I appreciated that she'd taken the time to learn who I was and not assume I was the receptionist, like the last guy. You see, recruiters? Take even half a second to learn something and you won't insult the person on the other end of the phone! You might even get a compliment!

Every year, I gripe about doing my taxes -- not because I object to paying them, but because the process can be so confusing. And every year, Intuit finds some new way to fuck me over, but usually I complain behind f'lock, because almost everything personal I post is locked.

This year, though, I'm posting about this publicly, because they have managed to fuck me over BEFORE I EVEN DOWNLOADED THEIR SOFTWARE. Because it turns out I can't download their software, because the butt-clenchingly expensive TurboTax version I need as the co-owner of an LLC IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR THE MAC, despite having been available for the past couple of years, and despite the Mac's increasing market share.

GO FUCK YOURSELVES SIDEWAYS, INTUIT.

(And while I'm at it: QUICKBOOKS IS A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT, TOO.)

ETA: Taxes now complete, but of course, there's more to the story. ( After the cut. )

Have been awake for three hours already. Am supposed to be getting up at a reasonable hour to drive out to the 'burbs to meet a friend for brunch.

Please kill me.

The tree pruners finally left, so I went out to the backyard to check on the damage and discovered that not only is our yard now full of impact craters, my beloved giant rudbeckia is GONE. One hundred percent, totally, completely gone, cut down to a few inches of stalk. It was in full bloom and one of my favorite plants to look at.

I have to think that something large fell on it, and the guys had no choice to cut it back. But I am very, very, very angry that no one checked with me first.

If this plant doesn't come back next year, the neighbor is buying me a new one.