Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sitting

Office Ass: myth or terrifying reality?

RingerChopChop — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:18:10 -0800

Is "secretary spread" (aka "office ass") a real phenomenon or just an insult flung at middle-aged women with naturally flat butts? I sit in a chair for 7 hours every day at work. If I keep this up am I in danger of my butt becoming weirdly flat? Or do external factors (such as sitting down for long periods of time 5 days a week) matter little when stacked against biological factors (having the genes for a not-flat butt)?

Will work for money

greta simone — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:05:45 -0800

How much should I charge for pet-, house-, and baby-sitting? I'm a grad student trying to make some extra cash in the evenings and weekends while still being able to maintain a flexible schedule. I have lots of experience baby-sitting/nannying, as well as house- and pet-sitting for neighbors and friends. As a nanny I usually ask between $10-15 an hour, depending, but I have no idea what to charge for pet- and house-sitting, as they have often been done in exchange for goods or favors. What is the going rate, if you use my baby-sitting rate as a baseline (which I am amenable to raising, if it is deemed necessary)?

PS. This doesn't need to factor in a lot of traveling, as I live in a small college town, and will not take clients outside of said town (due to fuel costs and lack of time).

P.P.S. If you have any tips on how to best manage advertising myself (outside of flyers, craigslist, and local papers), or any other tips in managing this kind of work, those would be appreciated too!

What's to be done about dangling feet?

sciapod — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:41:27 -0800

I'm a fairly short woman (5'2"), and my feet dangle from almost every chair (pew, bench, sofa, car seat) I sit in. This is uncomfortable and occasionally painful, and I've taken to sitting cross-legged everywhere, which is also uncomfortable and occasionally painful. What are my options? If I sit back in most chairs, I can't reach the ground. If I slouch forward like a disaffected teenager, my feet will reach the ground but my lower back will ache after a while. At age 22, I have just discovered (with some degree of horror) my first spider vein, which I know is supposedly not caused by sitting in this fashion, but which has prompted the question nonetheless.

I have taken care of this annoyance at home by using a footrest, but I'm wondering what, if anything, can be done about seats outside of the house? Otherwise, does anyone have an inkling about what might be the least hard on my body in the long run: sitting cross-legged, slouching, or dangling?

Thanks very much for your suggestions!

Sitting Like a Pretzel

skyper — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:15:50 -0800

Will my lifelong habit of crossing my legs cause problems, like circulation, down the road? No matter where I'm sitting, on upholstered cushions or in a dining chair at a restaurant or on the ground at a picnic, I *always* feel this urge to cross my legs. Not exactly "indian-style," more like folded arms in a way.
I try to remind myself to sit with legs stretched out/feet on the floor often as possible, then before I know it I look and find I've crossed them again, without even thinking.
Aside from avoiding this in formal gatherings etc., help me decide if it's a habit I need to fix due to possible problems developing eventually with blood circulation in my legs, or is that not even something to worry about?

Urgent Dog Situation: How do I get a dog to trust me, and quick?

mr. remy — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:04:40 -0800

The dog I'm dog/house-sitting for will not leave the bedroom. Or come out from under the bed. He growls when I go down the hall in which he is residing. I cannot even get close enough to turn on the light. He has not peed, pooped, drank, or eaten for at least eight hours. When his owner called (four hours ago) I told her everything was great. I figured the pup would give up his game soon. But that was four hours ago... What do I do? Short of calling the lady who hired me (it is late, and she is many hours away and would probably turn around and come back from the other end of the state?

P.S. I am a life-long dog person, and a pretty experienced dog-sitter. I have never experienced anything like this. What to do?

Help me sit right?

canine epigram — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:36:51 -0800

My behind hurts. Am I sitting wrong? I've looked at this thread, which seems to be the closest thing, but it's not quite right. Somehow my chair at work got adjusted, and I'm starting to feel discomfort after sitting for awhile, as if I'm tilted too far back or something. I don't get this sitting in other situations, so it's not my body.

What might be the causes of this? Sitting too low? too far back? I've fiddled around with my chair, but have not yet hit on the right adjustment to make.

How can I write comfortably?

anadem — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 23:08:09 -0800

Writing in bed - is there a way to do it comfortably? I like to be in bed, but writing always seems so uncomfortable there, whether it's with pen and paper, which I prefer, or on a laptop. Is there a way to make it comfortable? Preferably not propped-up in a sitting position, when all the bedclothes fall off one's bod (our yurt bedroom is not always warm).

And can anyone recommend a comfy chair to sit in with a laptop on my knee? My armchair leaves my old bones feeling cramped when I'm typing, but I don't want to sit at the desk or table after doing that all week at the office.

Am I a total freak or does everyone do this?

wildeepdotorg — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:30:37 -0800

My fiance recently informed me that I often sit up in the middle of the night while fast asleep and he pushes me back into a reclining position and I never awaken. When I mentioned it to my mother, she casually said, "Oh yeah, you've been doing that since you were a baby." Once he told me about this, however, I became aware that I occasionally (probably several times a week, and usually a couple times a night when it happens) sit up in my sleep when I am alone. When I sit up when I'm alone, I slowly become conscious and awaken, although I never reach full consciousness.

Last night, I awakened, sitting up, to a fair amount of mouth smacking, which unnerved me since I have a diagnosis of Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. One of the most significant symptoms of JME is that the brain is most sensitive to seizure activity in the "transitions" between waking and sleeping.

So: do people with "normal brains" do this sitting up in their sleep thing or do I need to confer with my neurologist about it? It's happened often enough recently that I'm a little concerned about it and it's impeding the restfulness of my sleep. Plus, I tend to be hypervigilant about my broken brain. Any medical and non-medical but anecdotal advice would be helpful, because I don't know what to Google!

how much to allow for emergency vet costs?

amtho — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 17:55:22 -0800

How much money should we allow for cat veterinary emergencies? This is for our cat sitter or vet to spend to fix up our cat, without contacting us, if we're incommunicado. We're putting together a letter of consent for the cat sitter and vet. We love our cat very much, and really wouldn't want to have any situation come up where the vet can't treat him. We'd also like to put our cat sitter's mind at ease -- this was her idea, and I can completely see why she would want this kind of letter to protect from any misunderstandings.

After doing some internet research, our letter currently says we'll authorize any treatment "the bearer deems necessary" and that would not "cause suffering and discomfort if there is little hope of his continuing to have a good quality of life", but not more than (and this is where we need a good number) $5000.

Is $5000 enough? My partner thinks that surely we'd be reachable before anyone needed to spend more than that; I'm not so sure -- we could be anywhere, and it would give me peace of mind to know that, whatever happens, he'll be taken care of. On the other hand(s), we don't want there to be any potential for abuse of this document, and I want to be reasonable.

In your experience, what do the most expensive cat emergencies cost?

Petsitting in Chicago

corpse — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:19:12 -0800

Personal recommendations for a pet sitter in Chicago. Looking for a pet sitter to watch our 3 cats for 3 or 4 days in December, looking for recommendations of ones that you've personally used. Cheap is good too. Urban Outsitters looks good, but I'd like to find something a little cheaper

I Need a Better Chair!

benjh — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 12:43:54 -0800

I want to sit better (correctly) when I am at my computer, and will be buying a new chair soon. Was considering a Herman Miller chair, should I get the Aeron, the Mirra, or a different chair altogether?