This was just a way for home builders to save money by building fewer walls.

They convinced homebuyers and influencers that is trendy, that living in a house that feels like a Walmart supercenter was the thing to do.

I really don't think many homebuyers asked for a toilet next to their living room.

Rant mode engaged. I'm a state pencil pusher. I administer benefits for elected officials, their staff, with regular administrative employees. I'm 100% convinced that as a whole, Americans are functionally illiterate. I will spend 30 minutes to an hour crafting an organized email with TL;DR bullet points at the end to have people call me to ask me a question that said email already answered. Bro/sis, did you even attempt to read the words on the page? It's not an age thing, or an education thing either. It's old people and young people. It's elected officials, people with PhDs, masters, and JDs, along with highschool and college graduates. It's gotten to the point that I will make people pull up the email I sent out to read along while I point out where in the text their questions were already answered. I'm one person doing the work of 3, and god damn I hate doing the same task over and over because people can't be bothered to fucking read.

We trusted each other with anything. She was always by my side and we had similar interests... only for her to start acting dry and distant. When I asked what was wrong, she blocked me and then on an alternate account, told me to stop talking to her (which she did first, I already stopped) and that we weren't friends anymore. She then told me to kill myself and called me a dumb bitch. She also enjoys seeing negative and painful reactions out of me and knows I'm suicidal but told me that anyway.

A guy carrying a swastika flag's not a Nazi?

No.

A guy throwing a sieg heil isn't a Nazi?

No.

A guy saying "I love Hitler" - not a Nazi?

No. You don't know anything else about them!

I don't need to. So fuck that fuckin' Nazi, along with the rest of 'em.

This might make seem like a douche but so be it. I hate "ur" I hate "hi" basically anything that doesn't seem like it's written by a human being I hate it. I lose interest on Hinge when I receive a "Hiiiii"

It's petty yes but I don't believe I'm on a high horse.

It’s something I’ve heard a lot, and it’s obviously a compliment and meant to be nice. But I’m probably never going to have kids of my own and I just think of the father I could have been.

Started a new job back in July. Currently, the only shifts available to me start at 6:30AM. I'm 39 and for the past 25 years I've worked afternoons or nights. So I'm very used to not going to bed earlier than 2AM and now my days consist of:

Wake up at 4AM to make it to work by 6:30AM(morning constitutional and shower and breakfast)

Work til 2:14-3:30 depending.

Come home and nap til 7-7:30.

Wake up and cook dinner and wait for The Wife to get home.

Eat dinner and spend time with The Wife and engage in hobbies.

Go to sleep at midnight.

Repeat til day off.

Almost feels like I'm a Dreadnought.from WH40K. Being woken up to serve and then consigned to waiting slumber.

Or, you know. Whatever IP you like better. Point is I'm tired, and I'm going to go nap.

That's all there is to it. I started planning my PC build a while back, maybe 5 weeks or so, and budgeted carefully around it. Everything was locked in. I'm on a tight budget so I had to be very careful but I managed. Was quite pleased with myself for putting it all together in my 3rd language. Bookmarked relevant pages.

Forced myself to wait until my birthday, today, to start to order it all, and praised myself for being disciplined and patient.

Today I went to start placing orders and found out ram has gone absolutely off the chain. I guess I shouldn't have waited, but that's what you get for trying to be mature and adult about this kind of thing rather than mad impulse buying.

And I realize this all sounds like a roundabout way of e-begging, so I'm putting the disclaimer right here that that's not what I'm doing. I am literally just getting this off my chest (as the sub name demands) because I have nobody else to complain to this about that would really get it.

Lately I've been trying to put into words a strange pattern that's followed me since I was about eleven. Every five years or so, whenever I'm overwhelmed or deeply stressed, I end up hallucinating a being I've made up in my head. It's based on a mythical creature that's usually portrayed as dangerous or cruel, definitely not something meant to offer comfort especially to someone vulnerable. It appears almost like a normal human, close enough that at a glance, you could mistake it for a person. There are tiny details that give it away every time though.

The most recent time, a pair of them came up to me during a depressive episode. They spoke to me calmly, gently, and somehow pulled me back from that dark place. They told me they spent time in the exact spot where I saw them, and said reassuringly they were there every day if I wanted to talk to them again. But even though I went back daily for weeks afterward, I never actually saw them again. I can still picture their faces and voices as clearly as if I saw them yesterday. It wasn't like a dream where some details are fuzzy. It was like they were really there.

I even asked one for his social media handle after I asked him if he has one, to which he said yeah. When I got home that day and searched it, I could've sworn a real profile showed up. But now, when I look, it doesn't exist, there's not even a "this user deleted their account" message. It's just…... nothing like it was never there at all?

It's happened four times so far. The first time was right after I'd seen something about that creature in the news and a magazine, and I remember feeling incredibly lonely. Each episode happened in a public place, once it was at school and one time, a few years back, the one I mention with the social media question, I lost about thirty minutes of actual time which is the amount of time I was talking to them. Every one looked slightly different, like another individual of the same species rather than the same guy, and once there were two of them talking to me and also chatting with each other as if they were completely separate.

I haven't had hallucinations of anything else in my life, just those four, and part of me feels conflicted and guilty that I miss them. This creature is supposed to be evil, something that harms or even kills innocent people, yet the versions I see are the opposite, they're quiet, kind, and grounding. It's comforting and unsettling at the same time. I catch myself searching for the creature in movies, shows, books anything. It comforts me yet it also leaves me feeling strangely sad and just empty. I spend about an hour a day looking up information or stories about it. It's like some part of my brain is always itching for more, even though most portrayals paint it as monstrous instead of compassionate.

That's also the reason why these people looked so familiar. The school one looked very much like me in the face, except he was a boy, and when I "encountered" the pair a few years ago, one of them eerily resembled my cousin, even down to his build. I have a hostile family, but I remember reading somewhere that your brain cannot create new faces from scratch. It has to base them off of people it knows.

I don't think I'll get over the fact the people who were there for me to comfort me when no one else would never really existed.

All my gay friends have turned out to be bi. All my bi-curious friends have turned out to be straight or have a preference for the opposite gender. I know like one bisexual guy who is with a dude, and that's my ex's friend. And all my bi friends end up dating the opposite gender. I do not criticize this, but I do find it funny, as this happened to myself included.

I may have said I'm trans and a woman, but I really mean "trans" as in non-binary, yet still connected to womanhood, but I am technically cis in my womanhood. I now identify as a cis woman with she/they/it pronouns.

A lot has happened. So my ex I kept talking about was a trans dude. Now "he" is a girl again. She is omnisexual and I am bisexual and we are best friends. I deeply regret my past actions and realize I've been really shitty, so I went to work on myself a bit.

Anyway, we are in happy relationships now!

I used to criticize gay relationships, I'll admit, but ever since I became more accepting of my preference for men, I became more accepting of gay people. I guess I would especially get upset when my crushes or boyfriends were bisexual because there could be a chance that they won't be attracted to me, so I solved this by only dating straight men.

My happy relationship is with Jimmy, a straight ally, and my ex's Renee is with Chris, who is definitely an ally because Renee used to be only attracted to women and Chris didn't mind and now they're dating because Renee is omnisexual.

My attraction to women is very slight, but I am still bisexual. Renee's attraction to men is very slight, but it's still there, and she is still omnisexual. I think it's funny how we're on opposite ends, best friends, and how all this works. I also sincerely, deeply apologize for my actions. I know my mental health was not an excuse.

I'm not here to advertise for them that's not the point. It was for a suicide prevention / awareness clothing brand. The shirts are kinda corny, but well meaning. The thing that got me was the voice over. It was basically validation that things can get tough and that the listener could handle it.

No one in my life does that. The only person who ever did was my mom and she died (too young) a decade ago. I haven't had any substantial emotional support since she passed. My dad is an abusive POS. My wife is stuck in her own head. My kids aren't supposed to do that, it's too much for a child. My friends... Never call first. It's always me starting anything. Literal months have gone by if I don't start anything.

I'm surrounded by people but I feel so alone. I don't actively wanna "check out" most days, but damn that ad made me realize how much I crave validation. I really want someone close to me to tell me on a regular basis that I make their life better.

I don't think anyone gives a shit. I know if I ended it, they'd miss the paycheck I provide, but I feel like that's it. I know my kids would be worse off, by far, and that's probably a large chunk of why I'm still here. I love them so much. They're the best.

I'm struggling to post this because I know y'all internet strangers will be nice about it, but that just feels like I'm fishing for validation which makes me feel guilty. But didn't I just say I wanted validation? What the fuck is wrong with me.

I'm not going to pretend that early 2000s or 2010 Internet was better, but I recently switched to the fediverse because of the harassment I was receiving online.

I had gotten into a small argument because someone essentially stole the background set dressing for a weird thing they tried to do in their creation, when I pointed it out they responded by going through my post history and telling me that I should have committed suicide.

when I responded it was childish to go through my post history because of an argument, someone completely unrelated sent an image of a child's skull split open and they were very obviously dead, just in an attempt to get a rise out of me.

like, I dunno, I feel like when I was younger people would either just call each other names and then leave it at that or complain about it night and day, but it wouldn't ever progress to the point that people would just outright post gore in my messages.

am I alone in feeling that over the past 8 years people have gotten a lot meaner online?

I mentioned liking the wicked movie once to my grandma and now she's always sending me wicked merchandise and she got me the dvd. It makes her happy and I don't want to make her feel bad but I can only eat so many boxes of wicked cereal. It weighs on me.

(Names will be fake, this is not his real name)

"Dear 18-year-old self,

I hope you're reading this, your old journal from third grade. I have the cutest secret crush, and since you're 18 and probably in high school, you know how to deal with secret crushes, even your own! This is the exact and sweetest confession ever! Steve said 'I'm very sorry I let that popular girl manipulate me, and that I thought she was better, prettier, and superior to you. I realize who my real crush is, but I never told you until today, because I thought you'd hate me.' Also, how is it between you and Steve?

(Drawing of me with an arrow saying "as cute, cool, pretty, and popular as me" and Steve in a tuxedo saying "Steve, at 17 years old!"

Sincerely,

Nine-year-old self

P.S. Do not read until 9 years from now"

[Too late for that]

I was a very arrogant 9-year-old who thought she was the main character of a romance book :,)

Original post: https://lemmy.world/post/38350973

I hope update is allowed.

Today I talked to my boss. Surprisingly, she was very accepting. I told her what happened over the weekend the aggressor and I worked. How the aggressor was passively aggressively rude to me. She was laterally commanding me ("Go home!","Go eat!) when she was just my peer, my equal, not my boss.

She was constantly over my shoulder trying to catch my mistakes. When i did, she would sneer. She thrives on the power of superiority. That just made me unable to focus. When I didn't make mistake, she looked like a dear caught in headlights.

She was harassing me to the point I couldn't concentrate.

My boss asked if I noticed any interaction between the aggressor and my co-workers. Luckily, I did remember and I told her!

Yes, I have proofs. I am a popular person. I even told my boss to ask anyone at work and they would back me up. This how confident I was.

Needless to say. The bully is not so brave now.

Lesson learned. Speak up! I wasn't going to tell my boss until I learned that I wasn't the only victim. Silence is not the answer.

I was harassed at work and I am going to file a complaint on Friday. I am scared as hell

Over the weekend, I worked with a well known harasser and she kept giving me passive aggressive comments to the point I couldn't focus. She even texted me, "What is your compacity to work?" What's even supposed to mean? I am not a lazy person. I am very hardworking and i am very likable and popular.

Today I talked to my team leader and she told me to file a complaint to my manager on Friday. I am scared as hell. The bully has been there since day one and I am new. I don't mind getting fired but someone needs to speak up. This will be the first time I will be filling a complaint. I work in a state with no anti bullying protection. People can be fired at will. I am not of any "protection" group. The only thing I have is I am very popular

Episode 1: Pilot (Mayumi Oniyama is a Ball of Rage)

[We see a girl with reddish-pink hair working at a desk]

Girl: [sighs] Another day at the store.

Girl, voiceover: My name is Mayumi Oniyama. I guess you could say I’m a typical young adult. However, I wanna be more than just typical.

[Shows “sprite” of Mayumi leaning on her elbow, daydreaming]

[Shows drawing of Mayumi in a racecar]

Mayumi, voiceover: I want an awesome racecar!

[Shows drawing of luxury home]

Mayumi, voiceover: I want my own house!

[Shows Mayumi sitting on a pile of money]

Mayumi, VO: I want to be wealthy!!!

Mayumi, VO: But of course, I’m stuck at this crappy store job, especially since I decided not to spend my money, which I didn’t have, on college.

[Mayumi quickly checks her phone]

Mayumi: (Of course no one has texted me…)

Mayumi, VO: That’s right, no one even bothers to text me, my life is so depressing.

[A customer approaches and she puts her phone away]

[Mayumi listlessly scans the items, which are canned corn, eggrolls, sushi, and rice crackers]

Mayumi: [Bored and tired-sounding] That’ll be 2,310 Yen. Would you like your receipt?

Customer A: Sure!

Mayumi: [Doodles a smiley face and a flower on Customer A’s receipt] Have a great day, sir.

Customer A: Thanks! You too, ma’am!

Mayumi, voiceover: [Mayumi is scanning more items as people are in a line] I just wish I had a break soon…

[Customer after customer comes by and Mayumi has the same monotone “Have a great day” over and over]

Customer B: [As the old lady walks out the door] Keep smiling, honey! You got this!

Mayumi: [Half-smiles back] Thanks…!

Mayumi: [Thinking again] (That’s right, I do got this! I’ll be the nicest employee ever, with a nice car, a house, filthy rich, and…)

[Suddenly, a buff guy approaches Mayumi, trying to act “cool” but being rude.]

Guy: Yeah, woman, I don’t have time for games. [He sets down the items forcefully]

Mayumi: What?

[Mayumi scans the items and bags them, one by one]

Guy: [Crossing his arms] What’s taking so long? Even a kid could do what you’re doing. All ya have to do is scan and bag. Move those pretty hands, sweetheart.

[The camera zooms into Mayumi’s face, her eye twitching]

Mayumi, VO: But one thing most people don’t know about me unless they’re a certain group of people is, my patience is running thin.

Mayumi: [Screams at the customer, slamming her hands down on the counter, her face red] Oh, come on, dude! Can’t you see I’m trying my best over here!? You look like the type who doesn’t have to work and can’t get up off his lazy ass!!! So people like me, unlike you, actually understand how hard it is to have a freaking job!

[Mayumi starts panting, realizing what she said]

Guy: [Stares in stunned silence with a shocked expression before walking off] Fine. Whatever.

Mayumi: [Stares at the customer as he walks away, surprised at what she just did]

???: Mayumi!!!

[Mayumi jumps]

[We see a guy with dark brown hair, fairly muscular]

Mayumi: Hiro.

Hiro: Is there a problem? [Smirking]

Mayumi: [Gulps, looking worried] N-no, sir!!

Hiro: C’mon, princess. You don’t have to call me “sir”. We’ve worked together for what, a year and a half now? I’m just Hiro Hayashi.

[Hiro leans in to Mayumi]

Hiro: I saw what you did over there. That-That guy’s face! [he starts laughing]

[Mayumi starts nervously laughing, too].

[As Mayumi stops laughing, the screen pans out]

Mayumi, VO: Maybe my life isn’t so dull.

I know it's impossible to judge oneself fairly, but believe me when I say my entire way of thinking revolves around fairness & the actual "right thing to do" after all sides are considered. I always try to look at things from every angle I can think of to "get the big picture," and decide what is the best, most correct answer to any situation. It's pretty much what I'm all about.

As such, I've long proudly considered myself a bit of an SJW. I've got too many issues and responsibilities of my own to be much of an activist, but I feel I've done my reasonable best to figure out the truth of things while still trying to remain open to new information.

But fuck this. I've had enough of how shitty humanity can be. I knew from Israel's actions that even those historically known as victims can be shitty, but I've just had my own personal revelation from an extremely marginalized group I've always supported. And I'm fucking disappointed as hell.

This post in a transgender community was about AOC knocking on Riley Gaines by saying "Maybe if you channeled all this anger into if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth." I adore AOC, but felt this response was a bit below the belt because it came off to me as attacking Gaines' physical performance rather than her shitty take. IOW, attacking the body, not the mind.

I made the mistake of saying this, thinking that a community that one might reasonably expect to be among the most sensitive towards topics like shaming physical aspects of a person that they only have so much control over would at least give it some consideration and thoughtful responses even if they didn't agree.

Wow, was I wrong.

I was pulled upon mercilessly as if I had said Gaines' was absolutely correct, which in no way had I done. I was deliberately misinterpreted so people could attack without any logic, reason, or any semblance of open-minded discussion (from a group I would expect to be among the most open-minded out there).

I tried and tried a dozen different ways to get my point across as respectfully as possible, but nobody seemed to care about any of that - literally calling me a "shitty person" and refusing to provide any justification or examples where I had fit that description.

Ultimately, many comments were deleted - most unjustly, IMHO. Then I was banned for "misinformation." WHAT misinformation?

I feel more alone now than ever on this planet full of incredibly crappy humans on all sides. And I'm just done. Fuck you (almost) all. I'm already only still bothering to live because my disabled spouse is dependent upon me, but I just don't think I can do this all alone anymore. I'm so tired of trying to be reasonable and fair in a world that not only doesn't respect me for it, but actively tramples on, takes advantage of, and otherwise screws me over for it. I'm done.

Good night. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning, maybe I just won't. Anything

Fuck this.

You, a lonely person in their late teens/early twenties, go to the cemetery in the middle of the night with a friend Mike as a dare by him, as he suggests the place is genuinely haunted and you'll be able to speak to dead loved ones/people. You and Mike end up getting yelled at by a worker there who is in charge of many things, specifically burying the dead. They ask what you're doing here and chase you and Mike out of the cemetery.

Despite this and the fact they don't seem to like you much, you can't seem to get them out of your head and have the desire to learn more about them.

You keep going to the cemetery each day in the middle of the night, this time without Mike, just to see them.

They react with hostility at first, and are confused as to why you keep coming back. They just don't want you there. Just as you're about to leave, however, they show a warmer side and seem to want you to come back!

You find out their name is Kanami Yamamoto and that they are agender (main pronouns they/them), which of course, you don't have a problem with.

Kanami starts to show a friendlier side to them and starts to REALLY, I mean, REALLY take a liking to you.

They even tell you that they're a sentient AI created by their "father", famous developer Charlie Yamamoto.

Kanami invites you to their house that Charlie bought them and in it is a secret room in the basement labeled Kanami's Safe Haven.

I’m doing a bathroom remodel for a customer and after being finished with the demolition I posted before and after pictures in a group chat with a couple of friends. But WhatsApp flipped the order, so it looked like I had started with an empty room and “remodeled” it into a disgusting, moldy 1980s bathroom - cracked tiles, yellowed sink, ancient toilet, the works.

And one of my friends actually replied with, “Looks great, good job!”

It annoyed me more than it probably should have, but it really did. The picture obviously looked awful. I can only assume he didn’t even look properly before commenting, just fired off a reflexive “nice work” because that’s what people think they’re supposed to do when someone shares something.

I’ve told these guys before: if you have nothing to say, don’t say anything. I’d rather get silence than meaningless approval. I value honesty and attention to detail in what I do, and I expect my friends to show at least a bit of the same when responding. A true friend should hold you to a higher standard, not just dish out empty praise for the sake of being polite.

If someone can look at something that obviously bad and still say “good job,” then their stamp of approval becomes completely worthless to me.

At this point, I don’t even know why I keep sharing things in that chat. I seem to care about authenticity and effort way more than they do, and I keep ending up feeling stupid for expecting more.

Hi, so I am (F). My boyfriend is obviously (M). So, a few days ago, we exchanged messages, which looked like this:

Hey, So, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but can you not text, call, or hang out much anymore (like only hang out at restaurants)? I just don't like it. Again, I am real sorry to hurt you, I just don't really like communicating via telephone or hanging out. I am very introverted. Thanks <3

He responded with: "Don't worry! You're not hurting my feelings!! I will definitely talk less on the phone if that's what you want and talk more in-person."

I said "That's perfect <3 OK"

And all he sent yesterday was "Hi!" and not much else and I told him I couldn't talk so he stopped messaging altogether except for "hi, have a great day" or even just "Hi".

i don't hate religious people. i fear them. i have studied history. what we're experiencing is indeed an authentic revolt of the religious leadership in the united states.

i fully expect for religious fascism to be normalized in the USA by 2035. people forget quickly. because people are largely influenced by their environment. buckminster fuller was right all along.

trying to resist this flow of time and mind is important, however difficult.

unfortunately, my existence is everything the fundamentalists hate about themselves. i am not a christian. and as people are already beginning to embrace the rise of christianity, many of the fundamentals i depend on are disappearing. facts.

this isn't just true for people like me, but millions of americans.

i know i can't live in their world without being completely removed from it. does that make sense? going outside is dangerous now.

actual troops in the streets.

i hope i'm paranoid and wrong about everything. i hope the world isn't ending. but there are omens, stark omens screaming for me to hide and to STFU.

The only thing that centrists really stand for is decorum. Anything is permissible as long as it is done legally in "norm-respecting" ways within the framework of liberal democracy.

So when a centrist is rude to you, they are telegraphing the fact that they don't see you as human. Humans deserve decorum, in fact it's all they deserve in the establishment centrist view, so you can infer that a rude centrist has decided you are no longer human.

So frankly if I ever blow up at you on Lemmy, this is probably why, because I have less than zero patience for rudeness from people whose literally only virtue is decorum. If you treat me like a person, then we can get along. Posting this so I have something to link to next time if happens 😆

Edit: I tell people politely but explicitly when they're being rude and give them a chance to correct their course...but if they double down on being rude, then I gotta quintuple down on being exponentially more rude because that's the only language they'll listen to.

Furthermore, this also doesn't apply if you have literally any more principles than maintaining decorum.