nothing like stepping outside while the seasons are changing and suddenly feeling a change in the weather that knocks you back in time by several years
sorry professor I'm going to have to miss class today bc when I walked outside in the morning it was cold and sunny in a very specific way and suddenly I was struck with a nostalgia for years past so vivid and potent that I had to sit down
something they have control over!!! yes!!!!!!!
My number one tip for straight men (I mean, it could conceivably work for other genders and sexualities, but you’d have to adjust it quite a bit) is: inagine they’re a man.
Imagine that you just randomly told some bloke in a pub that he has beautiful eyes.
That you walked up behind your coworker Jim and started caressing his neck and shoulders while talking to him about the budget.
That you just sent a large and unexplained bouquet of flowers to Darren in Accounting.
That instead of complimenting a coworker on her breasts, you complimented him on his dick.
Does the action now seem weird? Uncomfortable? Do you no longer want to do it now that it isn’t directed at somebody you are sexually attracted to?
That strongly suggests that your action has a sexual aspect to it and therefore probably counts as sexual harassment!
I have a large, colorful tattoo on one arm. I’ve had multiple strange men cross a room to tell me how awesome it is, frequently while I’m at work, and it has never made me uncomfortable.
A couple of weeks ago, someone yelled out a car at me ‘I FUCKING LOVE YOUR BOOTS’, which was awesome.
It’s just… it’s really not hard to compliment people in a way that isn’t creepy, if your goal is actually to compliment them and not to slide a ‘btw I’m thinking about fucking you’ under the radar.
Good advice! Applicable in many ways…..
This is actually pretty good!
Their cult teaches them that the world is full of scary monster people who hate them for being so good and loved by god. If you swear at them and call them names or get in their face you’re just doing the cults work for it.
I’m not saying you have to listen to their presentation or try to debate them (and really getting into a debate without thoroughly understanding what they’re being taught will just make things worse)… I am just saying to be polite and say no thank you like if they were trying to hand you a flyer for something you don’t care about.
It’s easier for them to see the world outside their bubble as less scary if they see everyday people just going about their business and being as nice to them as you are to everyone else. This goes doubly for anyone who happens to dress modestly, not swear, and not drink or smoke because whatever you believe, they’ll see you as a “good” person who happens to strangely have no interest in their “message”, and that might be enough to get some curious about the possibility of themselves living in the real world.
It’s sometimes hard to be nice to people who seem to represent something you dislike. Just remember these “elders” are sheltered young men, some of which are getting their first real contact with people of other/no faiths.
They aren't being sent out to actually convert people, they are being sent out hoping that they will be harassed and treated poorly so they view those outside the cult as dangerous and evil and stick to the safety of the familiar group.
You being mean to some teenager isn't sticking it to anyone, you're doing exactly what their church elders want to happen.
PLEASE READ THIS.
Please read this.
Don't do the church's work for them.
If you're kind to enough of them, they put you on a block list.
They were such sweet kids, they'd turn up at my door with the thatch of raspberries out front and try to share their word with me, and I'm me, so, I fed them.
Then it was one of the wee 'elder's' birthday, so I made him a cake, and all the little lads came, and they asked about my books and board games and CCGs, I was just a nice frumpy middle aged Jewish lady, I was no threat, so I fed them and made them cakes and took them to the local gaming store and listened when they talked.
One loved yu-gi-oh cards, and it turns out, one of the other wee lads, we'll he loved him back, so I got them in touch with some resources so they had support and a different way to pay for college, they're still together 15 years later, they have dogs, they send me ecards on their birthday. No-one figured out I'd.helped them, I was just the nice lady who made them tea and listened when people were slamming doors.
The next one really wanted to be an artist, so I left out art books and resources, my eldest shared their coptic markers, they draw comic books now, no idea why his folks were insisting he needed to be a dentist, but, he's not a Mormon anymore, (not a Jew either before anyone makes any counter conversion claims).
The first 2 lads were the only dramatic ones, the rest went back into the network but, like Hugh of Borg, they spread the word, sometimes I'd get Mormons from other cities come and make the journey to break bread at my Sabbath table and be seen.
I still think very fondly of that time.
Many of those boys still email me now and then.
Most of them aren't Mormons anymore.
Someone higher up spotted the pattern and suddenly no more Mormons at my door.
I was blacklisted, for kindness.
So there you go, if you don't want Mormons at your door, just love those kids for a couple of years, feed them, help them, and eventually, no more will be allowed to visit
As an ex-Mormon myself, I agree with everything posted above. At church every week, I would hear story after story about people being persecuted for being Mormon, about how it’s such a trial and burden to be a member of the “one true church”. I would hear over and over how the original Mormons were forced to move across the US to Utah (so they could practice polygamy in peace, but they don’t tell you that part).
They form martyr complexes about being special but constantly persecuted by anyone not-Mormon. If your family is all Mormon, leaving is a HUGE deal and they will talk about it constantly and how they “hope you will return one day”.
Showing these kids kindness, ESPECIALLY if you are not Mormon yourself, will open their eyes to the fact that the world is not a terrible place outside the church. Many have doubts, but are scared that they will never be happy if they leave. By showing them that they can, it makes staying seem less like their only chance at happiness.
No Context Crow #258: Lesbian Crows
lesbian crows
Something to crow about :D
And here I was thinking crows couldn't get more based
"she would not give her mate a break".
Beastmode lmao (source)
This is Ford's largest factory & one of the largest auto factories in the world btw.
"Every time you refuse to negotiate, we shut down another factory. We want you to see the line go down."
get a load of this! (cool fresh autumn air)
being a manager sucks balls half the time but the cashier kids im in charge of trust me enough to dick around in front of me so ive been keeping a running list of the shit they say that makes me laugh randomly: -"guys, is it cheating if you play fortnite with your ex" [4 seperate others, immediately]: "YES" -"there must be like… infinite sentences" -"bro what bro what the fuck bro what's that mean bro why'd you say that bro what" <distraught response to a girl randomly greeting him with 'hey there big boy' in an old timey transatlantic news reporter accent
[a ticket reads that a customer wants their burger cut in half]
-"What the hell why are they so picky??? That's like for kids. That's like something my DAD would-- wait i don't have a dad-- that's like something my MOM would do"
-"BRO WHY ARE YOU CUSSING ME OUT IN SPANISH???" for some reason shouted so loudly that customers still in line all start laughing
-i open the restaurant and notice the kitchen is still kind of dirty and try to glean who closed last night, and i overhear two of the boys talking about yesterdaay
me: "so, you helped in the kitchen last night?"
IMMEDIATELY: "IT WASNT ME I JUST DID THE FRYERS LAST NIGHT"
me: "I DIDNT EVEN SAY ANYTHING YET"
i accidentally tripped over a gas line while trying to clean behind the stove and made a loud fear noise and the kid helping me clean the kitchen goes "dude your screams scare me. They remind me of when i accidentally step on my dog's tail"
the Real Adult in charge went to go give someone a break in another store and I'm chilling in ours for a bit and 5 mins one of the girls rushes up to me like "DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE AN ATTIC?"
I did. I have never seen the attic so I go check it out and there's already like three of them up there
me: the fuck are you guys doing???
clerk: they wanna do the grimace challenge up there
one of them has never heard of vampires
update about this one because another coworker wouldnt let it go: he insists he's Heard of them but thought they were, quote, "like, really big bats"
Clerk 1: dude don't mix that isn't it like toxic? What are the chemicals you're not supposed to mix--
me: WHAT'S IN THE SINK.
Clerk 2: We're trying to clean the sink
me: Which cleaners did you MIX
Clerk 3: All of it
me: DRAIN IT.
[one brief emergency explanation about never mixing cleaners and what mustard gas is]
Clerk 1: oh yeah didn't they use that during like world war two
Me: yeah man it's like, a war crime now. It's just such a horrible way to die that we can't use it anymore
Clerk 2: wait fr???
Clerk 3: ohh. What about opium?
Me: ...what?
Clerk 3: like the opium war.
Me:
[one brief emergency explanation about what the opium war was later]
Explained to the two boys helping me in the kitchen why we submerge our lettuce at night to help it keep. They proceed to have a conversation where one is absolutely messing with the other by trying to convince him that both lettuce and reptiles are living things that need to be soaked to survive, and are therefore related. he speaks with so much conviction and just keeps doubling down and the other one just gets increasingly angrier and I'm just trying not to crack up over the fryers
and then the exasperated kid whirls around at me and goes "IS LETTUCE REPTILES???" and I lose my fucking mind
I run this place with one other person who i Do Not Like and the kids are well aware of our stupid restaurant manager beef and love to gossip
They keep moving shit to inconvenient locations and I hate it and keep having to move shit back, then once on my day off they decided to call in help and move my Entire Fucking Kitchen around and I was real fucking pressed about it for like the rest of the week (put off opening the next morning to move all the big ass machines and fryers back my damned self to establish territory or whatever)
A week later one of the really sweet girls who helps me in the kitchen goes "hey I have a confession. me and (other kid) were there while they were moving your kitchen and we knew you'd hate it. I was going to say something"
"Oh no worries, it's not really your responsibility to go between us like that"
"no no, I was going to tell her to at least ask you about it first but then I was like 'hmmm....let's see how this plays out'. for the drama."
"...ok I guess I should probably be mad but that's actually really fucking funny"
today i turned around and saw this
i gave the cashier at bath & body works my phone number yesterday for the reward program and she did this, exactly:
Just curious about everyone’s thoughts on this as I’ve been thinking about urban wildlife a lot lately
society experiencing anxiety en masse Sunday nights because they have a work week ahead of them must be the signal of a robust and healthy system, right
snoopy image of the day
when i was a kid i didn't really have an understanding of like, how well known places where so if ppl asked where I was from when I was visiting other parts of the country I'd just say the name of my hometown even tho no-one ever knew what i was talking about.
however one time this started an extended argument bcos the other children i was talking to responded 'oh yes, we've been to the castle' and well i will summarise the ensuing conversation.
me & my sister: what are you talking about, there's no castle
other children: yes there is, we've been there
me & my sister: we're literally from there and there's literally not a castle
other children: are you calling us LIARS??
me & my sister: are you calling US liars?????
repeat on an increasingly heated loop. we never actually settled it eventually we just stormed off in a huff. went home & told our mum what had happened and well that's how i learned about this common confusion:
try saying them outloud and imagine u have an english accent with soft Rs lmao. fucking nightmare.
young me especially would have hated hearing this but networking is literally the most important thing you can do to improve your situation like forget economic barriers to education etc just keep making friends with different people and eventually someone will offer you a hand up just because they dig your vibe and that is exactly all that's happening when undeserving people surpass you anyway
When I look at how I survived my 20s, it was always helpful friends putting work my way. And often the helpful friends were people I had only known for weeks.
schools love to go on and on about networking but they do a shit job of teaching you how to do it.
networking isnt going to job fairs and accumulating a collection of business cards and having a good linkedin profile
networking is meeting someone on a dating app and even though you never get the chance to meet up irl you talk a bit on discord and they offer to help you job hunt because they have good technical writing skills and they really think youre cool
networking is meeting someone at a sports event and becoming friends and when you need a new place to live they already have a friend of theirs who just so happens to be looking for a new roommate
networking is joining a club and making really good friends with older members who just also happen to be good professional connections
"networking" is a term so poisoned and sanitized by capitalism that what it actually really is has been obscured in the minds of most people
HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY 18 AND OVER PENGUIN!!
