Starving to death this morning because ive been to the new local cafe twice this week already and if i go a third time ill look desperate.

Me: I like the goods and/or services you offer in exchange for my money

The cafe, in my head: lmao cringe, kill yrself buddy

The endlessly wailing siren of my social anxiety issues is probably not going to be silenced by the people in the comments pointing out that being a regular at a restaurant is a normal thing for people to be, but I do zero-sarcasm appreciate the attempt, is very kind!

I used to walk into [redacted nonpizza store] in my area and the guy behind the counter would immediately ask me if I wanted a pizza. truly I experienced the mortifying ordeal of being known as the pizza guy

compared to that being a regular at a normal cafe ordering normal breakfast items would be a real relief

Literally dread this scenario, to have your identity *reduced down* to a single item order, to be known as such a plebian with such a restricted palette that your order can be charted in advance, oh widdle ash wants his chicken tendies uwu.

I agree having a set breakfast order is more socially acceptable than a set pizza order. But its not enough; its never enough.

Though life update: i did just go to the cafe in the end. I compromised with my anxiety by ordering a sandwich instead of my typical bagel. It was fine but not as good.

on the flipside, we went to the same place for brunch a couple years, one time my buddy orders something new, and while he’s eating five different members of the wait staff stopped by to be like “did they bring you the wrong thing?”

This thread needs a trigger warning keep the horror stories coming

There was a bakeshop near my house that made soft ginger cookies and and macarons but only 2-3 good flavors. I walked in once and the cashier (who I definitely didn’t recognize) said “let me guess - ginger cookies and cookies-n-cream macarons, right?”

Needless to say, I never returned.

I once went to a McDonald’s, the cashier said “big mac combo meal and a chicken burger, right?” and I said “yeah” and then didn’t come back for two years

This entire genre of concern so fascinatingly foreign to me! the cafeteria pizza guy knows I want 3 slices of whatever veggie pizza he has, and he will have them ready for me without me having to say anything besides a quick murmured thanks, and he smiles when he sees me and starts to grab them, and it feels so good! to be known, even a little bit, to be a small constant in someone else’s life… there’s just something so beautiful and precious and good in that, for me.

When I lived in [the city where I lived for undergrad] there was this place very close to my house with cheap and delicious lamb curry and the people at the counter knew my face and would start scooping the lamb curry into a bowl when they saw me come through the door. I thought this was lovely of them and always made sure to tip generously. Restaurant and regular is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Yeah there’s a bakery/cafe a few doors down from me and reaching the point where they a) remember my face/name and b) know my regular order meant that I can no longer get breakfast anywhere else ever.

Had the guy at the taco truck I routinely went to for lunch who asked me after a few years if I only ate burritos or something, no man I’m just don’t see the need to mix up my lunches.

As someone who’s been both front and back of house in various large and small food services: regulars account for roughly 40% of sales and thier consistency makes it easier to order supplies and keep stock levels stable.

As front of house my regulars were always a welcome sight, an easy serve and clear, a guaranteed a happy customer and pleasant interaction. Especially in diners or lunch spots where reliable turnover = tips and most people never come in more than once, having a familiar face who’s rhythms and tastes you recall makes the rest of your service work easier.

If you have any anxiety about being a regular somewhere just be sure to tip well, and you will magically transform from ‘pizza guy’ or ‘lamb curry dude’ to Beloved Favorite Regular and the servers will squabble to get you seated in thier section.

When I worked for Domino’s Pizza, there was a guy who ordered a pizza, without fail, on Thursday at 6pm. Until the day he didn’t.

One of our drivers was delivering nearby and decided to check on the guy. Turns out the guy got home, got most of the way through the door, and lost consciousness. (If memory serves, it was a diabetic episode.) Driver couldn’t revive him and called 911. Saved the guy’s life.

when i worked in a remote office when i started my job, i went to denny’s for lunch enough that i’d just walk in and a server would go “take a seat over there, I’ll be over with your iced tea to take your order in a moment”

Food service workers love their regulars, especially if you’re a good tipper and are polite, we literally look forward to seeing you every day. Also service workers don’t care if you order the same thing, and us remembering your order means we like you.

^^^^

Also no we aren’t “boiling your personality down to an item/order”, you are. We are offering you preference recall and welcoming you and your *presence* does in fact correspond to our need to give you a certain order. It’s okay for that to happen.

For all my fellow social anxiety sufferers out there. Because my local coffee shop knows I always get iced coffee or a mocha and a biscotti and it stresses me the fuck out because I’m like “What if they think my order is dumb?? What if they’re like there she goes again stuffing her face with biscottis all the time” but nothing matters and a biscotti with your coffee in the morning really makes all the difference in what kinda day you’re gonna have.

I have pretty severe social anxiety, but there was a Chinese restaurant in [town I lived in for a few years] that made some of the very best egg drop soup, vegetable lo mein, and spring rolls. I ordered that every time I went there. They would seat me by a window in a quiet spot because they saw me put earplugs on when things got noisy.

Then I moved to a different but nearby town. I’m unable to drive (due to medical reasons) and public transportation didn’t go near the town. It was a year later, when I had a study group, that I was able to go there again. We had been taking turns for what restaurant we would eat and study at. We’d be there for hours, ordering several meals, and tip heavy, around 50%. Anyone one of us who couldn’t afford to eat or tip would be covered by the rest because several of my classmates were from wealthy families. They covered me more than once in exchange for drawings.

When it was my turn, we went to the Chinese restaurant. I walked in and they immediately knew who I was and what I favored. It was pretty dead in there, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. It ended up being a six course meal and five hours of studying and discussing the project. They brought me my favs as soon as they saw my plate or bowl was empty. The bill ended up at a little over $1k.

A couple months later, a friend took me there where we had a nice lunch after I finished my last exam. The owner approached our table and told me each of the students I had brought last time were now regulars. Some brought more people, and business was booming. They gave me a little card that said I would receive free meals for the next two years, as thanks for being a regular bringing in so many new people.

Before I moved across the country, I wanted to visit the place for a final meal before leaving. The place was closed with a sign that said “moved to new location.” The new location was near the university. So we went there, and the owner informed me that because so many of their new regulars were uni students, they moved. The place was easily 3x the size of their original. They told me it was always packed during meal times, and they now opened for breakfast with tradition Chinese breakfast foods. Business was booming, and all because of their regulars.

Being a regular is one of the very best compliments you can offer a restaurant, diner, meal trucks, etc. They love seeing you, especially if you tip well. I will likely never eat there again due to living more than 2500 miles away, but it feels good that my love for egg drop soup, vegetable lo mein, and spring rolls helped out a wonderful restaurant.

Be a regular. They love you.

Why am I crying from a post about Chinese food?!

When I got my first job - church secretary - I usually worked through my nominal lunch break and then got lunch after work because I was only part-time. There was a Taco Bell two blocks from the church, so I’d lock up, walk in, and order, then eat, then catch the bus home. The same man - I later found out he was the shift manager - was always on duty when I got there. He would greet me with a warm smile and say, “Number nine and a caramel apple empanada?” I would always laugh and say yes, and he would hand me my cup, because he had already punched it in before I’d made it all the way to the register.

One day he asked, and I apologetically said that, no, actually, I was just getting three soft tacos, not even the combo; I wouldn’t even get paid until the next day at the earliest and I had less than five dollars in my bank account. He rang me up for the tacos…and then handed me a cup and told me to get a drink anyway. And when I got my tray, there was a caramel apple empanada on it. He wouldn’t let me argue with him.

The waitresses at our favorite diner get the coffee ready for us as soon as they see my mom’s car pull in. There are three different restaurants that know to have a Dr Pepper with no ice for me before I even ask, and one of them also knows my order. The waitress at the bowling alley not only knows my order, she always wants to know how my crochet projects are going, even when I don’t bring them.

The taco cart at the ballpark closed down three seasons ago and got replaced with one from a local restaurant, but the woman who used to run it - who’s now the overall food manager for all the carts - still stops to say hello (and commiserate with me over the fact that the new cart doesn’t sell nachos OR burritos). She even recognized me when we ran into each other on the train to a local festival a couple weekends ago - and I’ve cut my hair, grown a beard, and transed my gender since the last time I bought a burrito from her. She still knows me.

The chefs at the cafeteria at work will see me walk in and, especially if there’s a big crowd, mouth “Grilled cheese?” at me over the heads of the line, then go grab the wheat bread and start grilling it for me, even if there are people technically ahead of me to order pizzas or sandwiches (which usually take longer to prep). One day I was hanging back waiting for my order and the head chef came out of the back up to the prep area, glanced at the grill, and said in a very delighted-sounding voice, “I see a grilled cheese, so Ollie must be here!”

I have anxiety, too, and maybe at first it was a little embarrassing. But after a while, I realized what a blessing it is. In the first place, if I’m having a high anxiety day but, like, still need to eat, I don’t have to speak before I’m ready - they’ll bring me what I want, something comforting I know I can eat that will make me feel better, and check up on me to make sure I’m okay. And in the second place…it’s a pretty big boost to my self-esteem, knowing that I’m memorable enough, and important enough, that I can be recognized on sight and greeted with a smile.

I’m here reading this post after a shift at a family-owned seafood restaurant. Regulars are the light of my life.

The little old lady who comes in every Friday night for two large fried shrimp dinners, requested in her thick Eastern European accent is a pleasure. The mother with a garlic allergy who we need to clean the grill before we make her cod? She was a chef before she had kids, she talks about how she used to make fish.

I delight in new customers, in walking them through our menu (specials on the counter. Then on the wall, fried-grilled-tacos-sandwiches-sides and soups), but when we get phone calls for pickup orders from the regulars, it puts a smile on our face.

“Tara! I know you liked the crab alfredo special last month. We have a New Orleans shrimp pasta this month, but it’s spicy. You good by that?”

“Mary! How’s Bill? I know he needs grilled fish nowadays instead of fried, but we can slip him just a quarter pound of perch if you want.”

(I’ll note that we do remember the awful regulars, too. The guy who always comes in 15 minutes before close and insists the restaurant manager be the one to take his order every time…well. And the woman who is never satisfied and will tell you her food’s getting cold if it takes the busy kitchen a moment to get her sliced red onion for her sandwich. Don’t be an ass, please.)

long distance mutuals <- used to be in the same fandom together and have both moved on to other fandoms but stay mutuals and wave at each other when passing by (scrolling on dash) and catch up when we can (liking each others posts)

Video caption: Good guy who talks like a bad guy 

“Perhaps you’d like to see my pets. They were ALL … rescues.” 

“And as always, gentlemen, our profits will be … donated.” 

“Oh, I wish I could stay and chat, but I’m afraid I have to take my friend to the airport.” 

Redeemed villain who can’t let the speech pattern go

Megamind

it always comes back to megamind

This feels like the start to a horror movie and I love it

Me rn:

finally a descriptor for whatever the fuck american animation studios have been doing for years

"This is my weird son. He can't climb for shit, but he is handsome and strong."

#cats be like#is anybody adopt that#and don't wait for an answer

Also this is not true. You do in fact have the copyright to the specific writing you did in a fic, because that's not how copyright law works. Like this is not a grey area.

People who write IP content for corporations give up their copyright on a contractual basis--the company wants writing they can sell about characters/settings they own without getting entangled in royalty obligations etc, so they hire people. Who sign contracts saying they don't own what they write as part of that job.

That's why you don't own Star Wars stuff you wrote for Disney; you specifically agreed not to own it.

Writing for IP you don't own leaves you in a position where you can't legally monetize it (without taking out the Owned parts ad rebranding), but it absolutely does not automatically cede or void copyright. That is super not a thing.

SUPER not a thing, I cannot say this enough.

I can't sell my Batman fic, but neither can DC Comics without my duly authorized consent. Because they own Batman, but not the prose I composed about him.

Do not perform that kind of massive corporate overreach for them. Holy shit. Do they not own enough.

It’s fascinating that this misconception of copyright still exists. Haven’t we all seen the posts on here where authors beg fans to please not send them fanfic of their works? They’re not doing that because they feel like it, they do that because fans legally own their words and ideas, and an author who takes them even unintentionally can in fact end up in real legal trouble for taking something that’s not theirs. It doesn’t matter whether they own the canon.

This.

Copyright is the most basic of protections for all writers. If there’s anything professional/career writers want spread around, it’s the knowledge that all writers have the same protections that copyright confers on us.

Astonishing indeed that anon would attempt to upbraid somebody on copyright issues when, themselves, they understand them so poorly.

The idea that because you don’t own Batman, your Batman fanfic is public domain is one the DC-Warner Bros’ lawyers would take exception to as well. They know they don’t own the fanfic, but they own the hell out of Batman. Public domain? Not hardly!

Elon Musk: the most dangerous Antisemite

Hey non-Jewish leftists and progressives who consider yourselves allies to Jews or, at a minimum, not antisemitic: now is an exceptionally great time to step up

This is shockingly similar to Henry Ford — i.e. an automotive mogul seen as an innovator in the general public uses his fortune and outsized influence to establish a large media presence and spread antisemitism.

There are some important distinctions, but nothing that makes me feel better about the situation.

1. At its height, Henry Ford’s publication, “The Dearborn Independent,” had a circulation of 900,000. The largest circulation in America at the time was 950,000.

2. Ford marketed explicit antisemitism, which eventually led to the downfall of his publication — you’ve probably heard of “The international Jew” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

3. Ford was eventually forced to publicly apologize after he made the mistake of attacking Jewish attorney Aaron Sapiro for more than a year, until Sapiro eventually sued Ford for libel (i.e. he fucked around and found out lol). Ford eventually lost the case and was forced to publicly apologize (his apology was written by associates and his signature on it was reportedly forged). The magazine was shut down soon afterwards.

Despite everything, Ford was able to secure his position in history, albeit with some, um, unfortunate footnotes and the occasional caveat being mentioned.*

All in all, this feels very similar to Trump copying David Duke’s run for the Louisiana legislature, but that’s a story for a different day.

* some additional footnotes and caveats:

- Hitler quoted Ford in his infamous book

- Ford was a notorious union buster

- Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938, the highest honor a foreigner could receive from Nazi Germany, with personal congratulations from Hitler

- After issuing the aforementioned “public apology” in 1927, Ford said that he would like restart the publication of “The International Jew.” In 1940. 13 years later.

- It’s just my personal opinion, but we probably shouldn’t honor literal nazis, but whatever

- To this day, no one at my synagogue will buy a ford car. I don’t know if this is the norm in other places, but I imagine that it’s not uncommon.

- Yes, I’m aware that nobody explicitly praises Henry Ford anymore, and everybody knows what a shithole he was. While “Henry Ford hated the Jews” is a common refrain, specific knowledge of his hatred is lacking, and I think it’s important to point to explicit hatred in the past, because hatred is normally hidden nowadays and needs to be identified outside of the group receiving the hatred.

This is an incredibly important addition

Housekeepers and Janitors Need Praise As Unsung but Very Much Important

Remember when the NRA told doctors to “stay in their lane” RE gun violence and #thisismylane trended as a result?

One of the tweets I saw was a surgeon who’d taken a picture of her OR, having just finished surgery on a young man who’d been shot. Blood. Everywhere.

This bloke retweeted her, mentioning that he worked as a cleaner in a hospital and had had to clean up stuff like this and worse.

Surgeon replied to him (and went up *greatly* in my estimation) and, despite living in different countries, thanked him for his hard work.

I can’t find the tweets sadly, but hers went something like;

“Without a clean and sterile operating room to work in, my team, our skills and the best medicines in the world are next to useless. You are doing invaluable work, without which my work would be impossible.”

WITHOUT PEOPLE DOING THE CLEANING, SOCIETY WOULD GRIND TO A HALT WITHIN DAYS

Every garbage workers’ strike shows it.

Give them the respect they damn well deserve.

i looked at queeringthemap today and had a good cry but these especially touched me

yeah.

No matter where you are in the world you aren't alone

hold on. I need a moment. I need a moment please hold. on please wait I need a. moment hold on

reiterating because maybe we weren't clear the first time

reddit refugees, reblog art, don't repost it

if you really like someone's art, reblog it. you can do that by clicking the little looping arrows at the bottom of the post. this will make it so the art appears on your blog and shows up to your followers, but the op is still credited and given notes.

reposting does not give credit. and no, saying "artist is ___" as the caption doesn't count, unless you have permission given directly by the artist.

if you have a funny or pretty image on your phone that you saved from reddit, don't post it here on tumblr, because 99% of the time it came from tumblr. use a reverse image search to try and find the original tumblr post, and reblog that.

taking that extra five minutes to find the original post of an artist you love will absolutely brighten their day and make the entire world a better place.

please, I'm begging you. reblog art. don't repost it.

“ The odds of guessing a four-digit passcode are 1 in 10,000, and tools have been used to crack iPhone codes in the past. Apple says the chances of someone having a similar enough fingerprint to unlock a person’s phone is 1 in 50,000, and a similar enough random face tricking Face ID is 1 in 1,000,000 “

that’s a really funny way of framing it, to make it look like passcodes are weak. you know what’s twice as good as the odds given for fingerprints? a 5 digit passcode! what’s equal to the odds given for Face ID? a 6 digit passcode! every time you add a digit, you multply those odds by 10.

and that’s assuming simple numeric passcodes. the odds of guessing a 4 digit, case-sensitive, alphanumeric passcode would be a 1 in 14.7 million. 5 digits is over 1 in 916 million, 6 digit is 1 in 56.8 billion. if you throw in 32 common symbols, we get 1 in 78 million, 1 in 7.3 billion, and 1 in 689 billion. those numbers climb pretty quickly the more digits you add.

i know these aren’t the only issues with passcodes (like 24% of americans using a variation of just 8 common passcodes), but if you’re trying to push people to biometrics i guess you wouldn’t really care for that nuance anyway

Also my preference for passcodes over biometrics has nothing to do with criminals accessing my phone and everything to do with the laws in the United States where police cannot compel me to enter a code but they can compel me to unlock my phone with a fingerprint

feel like pure shit just want her (good drill bits reddit) back 😔

literally literally

r/askhistorians 🫡🫡🫡

anticapitalist special interest dump incoming

capitalism corrupts everything it touches, even weather forecasting

US private media companies like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel take publicly available forecasting information provided by the National Weather Service, a publicly funded government service, and repackages it into their own forecast and disseminates the info.

In 2005, AccuWeather lobbied to attempt to ban The National Weather Service from sharing predictions with anyone besides commercial entities. In 2012 they successfully blocked the NWS from producing a free app for the public.

This allows there to be an inaccessible filter on free, timely, and accurate weather information and forces it to be distributed through for profit apps. Even free apps are bogged with ads and delayed alerts.

The G Word with Adam Conover covers this extensively and I highly recommend watching that episode or reading the transcript here [x] but I will sum it up, starting with an episode quote:

"Imagine a future where extreme weather warnings live behind a pay wall." In 2015, AccuWeather received warnings from the NWS that a tornado was heading towards Moore, OK, a city that has been decimated by F5/EF5 tornadoes twice. They only notified users that were paying for the app.

So what can you do about it?

The true scourge of Reddit users coming to tumblr is that these bitches think reposting art is ok if you add a funny caption

It’s something that isn’t exclusive to Reddit (I see people do it occasionally and it makes me see red every time) but since the Reddit migration I’ve been seeing it WAY more. Killing and exploding everyone who doesn’t source their fucking art with my mind

actually i'm adding this directly instead of in tags: please get permission before you repost even with a source!!! don't just assume it's okay!!! many artists DO NOT ALLOW REPOSTS AT ALL, even with credit, and i've regularly seen art reposted on reddit from artists who have it right in their twitter bios (often in english even if they don't speak the language themselves) that they don't allow reposting

if the artist is on tumblr themselves, reblog their original post. if not, please check their own social media (pixiv/twitter/etc) to see if they say anything about reposting, and if they don't outright forbid it, ask for permission before reposting! (and if they say no, don't do it!)

The beautiful tribute to Nichelle at the end of this first episode of the second season of strange new world. I'm crying

actually though I think we need to talk about the way that people will just believe shit.

you can say whatever the hell you want, and people will just take that at face value, and it doesn't actually matter how much that thing is disproven later; people will still believe it. once they hear it, that information- no matter how far from the truth- taints their view forever.

some stranger publishes an anon that says "[X] is a literal known child predator and it's unbelievable that so many people still reblog from them." the blogger has responded, "oh my god what the fuck?? i can't believe nobody told me sooner I feel so gross".

there is no proof, no link, no indication of where this information came from. you can't even verify that the blogger in question didn't send this to themselves.

but there are still a bunch of notes on it, it's linked in a callout somewhere, people are referencing the same exact claim in their own posts, and [X] is now getting a bunch of anon hate and comments/reblogs/whatever from people who genuinely believe this lie about them.

someone comes forward with irrevocable proof that not only is [X] not a child predator, but they were in fact a victim of it, and the original anon was sent by the blogger themselves, and that blogger made it up from nothing. maybe they're also a pathological liar. hell, they could even be doing the shit they accused [X] of themselves.

it doesn't matter.

everyone heard this lie about [X], and now they believe it. there are enough iterations of this original lie that it doesn't matter if it was disproven; what about all these other people who are saying it? you can't prove all of them wrong!

and internet discourse isn't the only place we see this: Trump fabricates shit all the time, and it doesn't matter if he has proof, or if anyone else has even said this before him. his followers accept it, and everyone who hears from them- directly or indirectly- accepts it as fact, too. maybe they say it's distorted, but they believe some other version of it, thinking they're being Reasonable and Neutral or whatever.

it's not just silly little tumblr fun facts and blue watermelon and purple-eyes-no-periods disease and shit. it's not even just feeding hate and violence toward the Bad Tranny of the Week.

we NEED to start seeing the connections here, and the ways people use this to manipulate us and harm others. and we need to start making sure that our actions aren't going to be regrettable if we end up being wrong.