Our company did a roof for this lady 22 years ago. She never had a leak, never had a problem, but the shingles have hit their life expectancy after 22 years when it was supposed to be 30 years.
We sent our guys out there to take a shingle and send it back to the manufacture who prorated her at basically nothing for the 30 year warranty. She’s upset about that but again, nothing we can do about that.
After that we offered to give her a discounted price at on a new roof at a hugely discounted price to which she said “i have someone who can do it cheaper you need to match their price because this is your fault.
We have tried every last option to help this lady but she is going to leave a bad google review and yelp review now. She just sent a long email saying how bad we are and the end she said “You know flat out you sold me inferior material. I hope the world will know how you are too! “.
We aren’t sure what to do because we sold her a shingle which we genuinely believed at the time was 30 years (why would we argue with the manufacture?). She never had a leak, never had a problem with the roof, the shingles just flat out didn’t make it the entire 30 years.
She wants a new roof for basically the price of free, and she is blaming it all on us and going to leave us horrible review on every site possible regardless of how much we have tried to cooperate and help her out.

Hey everyone,
I'm reaching out because I need your help. It seems like no matter where I go or what I do, I can't shake this habit of worrying and catastrophizing every time there's a change in my life.
For example, when I travel, I find myself obsessively checking airline reviews, and any negative feedback sends my anxiety through the roof. Similarly, if I notice I've made a mistake at work, I immediately spiral into thoughts about how it will affect my reputation and job. Or it can be for food ? If there's a recent problem on food, and I ate it, then I will think I am dying...
It can be over anything and everything.
Recently, I encountered a situation that's been particularly challenging for me. I typically travel with a specific airline, but when I checked my flight, I discovered it would be operated by another airline I've never used before. Now, I can't help but imagine all the possible catastrophe scenarios, and I'm hesitant to travel anymore.
It's exhausting, and I'm tired of letting worry control my life.
Just last week, I found myself consumed by similar thoughts. I began doubting myself, believing I had ruined my life and would never find a good partner because of my past mistakes. The fear of being alone forever consumed me, and I couldn't seem to shake it off.
This pattern seems to repeat itself in various aspects of my life, and I'm struggling to break free from it. Any advice or insights you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
I have moments where I feel very good and those are only when no change are planned or coming.
Thank you for the help.

We have an almost 100 year old bungalow with almost 1800sqft. 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. We’ve lived here for 6 years, and have updated quite a bit (biggest update was a complete gut/remodel of the main bathroom). Recently repainted almost every room in a neutral color. Removed wallpaper and painted, replaced carpet upstairs. Newer flooring everywhere except main floor where there are original hardwoods. Has original pocket doors with a bonus room off the living room (currently used as a playroom). Has two AC, one for upstairs and one for main floor (upstairs stays nice and cool in the summer!) Full unfinished basement great for storage . Biggest update needed is probably the kitchen (everything works fine, just small and dated) and probably needs a new roof soonish. We are a family of 5 and have lived comfortably in this house, we are just moving closer to my work.
We listed it 50 days ago at $189k. Small town in the Midwest, but we are the only listing around us under $200k. After about two weeks of only two showings (realtors gave a positive review on house and price but no offers), we dropped the price to $179k. Then we waited a month and completely fixed up the front porch (replaced old steps, sanded and repainted everywhere to update it). We also repainted the worn back decks to make those look nicer. We took new pictures and posted them last week and got 1 showing, but it was for a VA loan, and we aren’t offering that or FHA because I don’t think the house will qualify. It’s an old house with cracked concrete on the concrete steps up to the house, cracked window in one room, no GFIC outlets in kitchen. Older roof. Basement leaks occasionally during really heavy rainfall, but sump pump works great. Other than fixing up the porch, we really planned on selling as is, or at least fixing any little stuff that might come up on inspection. So we dropped the house another $5k (to $174k) a few nights ago, hoping that anyone who saved the house on Zillow/MLS would see the new pictures and be more interested.
We are also already in the process of buying the new house so we can’t spend a whole lot of money to fix any more issues. We’ve already got the clear to close and don’t have to rely on selling the house to buy the new one, but we still can’t be spending extra money because we still have 3 weeks until closing on the new house (this sub has taught me not to spend any extra money before closing is official). The thought of having two mortgages is really starting to stress me out.
I’ve posted to all local buy, sell, trade facebook groups every time we drop the price. Our realtor has been a realtor in this community for decades, and reaches out to everyone she knows often. We don’t do open houses because our realtor says it’s not really a common/useful tactic around here. I don’t know what else to do. I thought having the only house under $200k would make selling it easy. Boy was I wrong.
Our realtor said May is a weird month for real estate, because people are so busy with graduations, kids getting out of school, going on end of school summer vacations, etc. But now it’s June and still not much interest. How can we market/advertise it better? There are only two other houses in this town that are on the market, one is a little smaller (not as old, but still dated) listed at $240k (on market for 24 days), and the other one is bigger, nicely updated and $380k (been on the market for 78 days). So it’s probably the location? We are a small town, but have one of the best schools in the county. We are within 25 minutes to the big cities around here.. Lots of people live in this town and commute to the bigger cities for work.
I know everyone here says that if the house isn’t selling, then it’s the price. Everyone tells us to not drop the price again, because they think our house is worth the price we have it listed at. I’m willing to drop another $10-15k eventually. My realtor says she doesn’t want to drop the price again, but we could offer to cover some closing costs to sweeten the deal. We put that we are motivated sellers in the house description and to “bring your best offer”.. We just want to be done with this. Any advice?? Or success stories from a similar situation? This has been a much bigger stress than I thought it would it be.
We buried Saint Joseph in the front yard when we dropped the price a few days ago. We’ve been saying the prayer everyday. I’m literally trying anything.

My band has a habit of always recording our shows for later review, the problem is the camera is always shaking. It is standing on a tripod near the mixing desk, but volume and low end rumble makes everything wobble. Is the solution a better tripod? Suspending it from the roof? How do you set up?

Last year, when my ten year prison "stint" was finally up, and I re-entered society, I encountered some... obstacles.
Obstacles like.. Lack of upward mobility. Prejudices and stigmas. Wages and earnings lower than the general population. Undesirable and oftentimes dangerous jobs. And lack of protection from wrongful termination.
Not to mention, an already tough job market, and the fact that my parole required that I maintain steady employment, or face re-incarceration.
Which is why, when I finally got a job offer, after six months of aggressive job hunting, I jumped at the opportunity, giving absolutely no fucks as to how I was actually making ends meet.
"Ever operate a freight elevator before?" Mr. Winfred, the manager of "The Cornelius" and my new boss, asked me my first day on the job.
"No, sir." I replied honestly, as I ran my fingers along the doors of the antiquated contraption, the only remaining evidence of the recently renovated luxury building's ancient past.
"Normally these old things aren't used for passengers, but the building's pretentious designers thought it might add a certain charm to its otherwise sterile decor. Which is where you come in." He continued, as I heard him slide open the freight elevator's outside doors...
SLAM!
...Followed by its scissored metal inside doors.
SCREEEECH!
I heard Mr. Winfred step inside and, using my cane, scanned the interior of the rather large elevator, which must have been eight feet by eight feet, and followed him in.
Instantly, my nose was hit with an overpowering, musty scent, like the kind you'd smell in a basement, combined with your grandmother's attic.
He then closed both doors behind us.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
"Now this here." Mr Winfred added, taking my hand and placing it on the handle of a lever, "Is how you move the elevator from floor to floor. Up for up. Down for down. You'll hear a click when you reach each floor, which will be helpful for someone like yourself." He said, clearly calling attention to the fact that I'm blind.
Someone like myself? I scoffed internally. You ignorant, entitled piece of shit.
Truth is, I've always had a bit of a short fuse. Which I guess, looking back on it, is what got me into prison in the first place.
But in my ten years of incarceration, I was given tools to combat my anger issues. Tools like reminding myself that it was nothing new. Assholes like him were always dropping unintentional microaggressions. It had been something I'd grown used to, and given my probation, wasn't a battle worth fighting.
"Yes sir." I replied through my teeth, as I begrudgingly swallowed my pride.
"Now, why don't you spend today practicing. Our first residents don't move in until tomorrow."
—
In just a matter of a week or so, as the doors of "The Cornelius" opened to its new tenants, I learned pretty much everything I needed to know about the job.
Said tenants were rich. Very rich. And most of them acted as such. Entitled. Obnoxious. Holier than thou. Especially given my own social class. But a few of them weren't so bad, and tipped well.
Mr. Winfred's assistant, Jane, was a lovely human being. Patient, kind, thoughtful, understanding. Especially when compared to both the building's uptight residents, and Mr. Winfred himself. It had been years since I had dated, and the very thought of meeting a partner stressed me out to no end, but if I was to find someone, I hoped she'd be like Jane.
The elevator didn't open on the basement level. As I'd learned countless times, it was possible to go there, but the doors simply wouldn't open.
The old freight itself was finicky as fuck. Stop the lever one second too early, or one second too late, and when the doors open, you're halfway between a floor. But eventually, I got used to it, to the point where most of the building's tenants assumed the role of freight operator had always been my job. And when you're good at your service job, and do it with a smile on your face, the tips start flowing.
And so, all was well for the first couple weeks on the job...
...A seemingly refreshing return to normalcy, after ten long years...
...Until...
...The disappearances started happening.
—
I was just arriving to work one day, when I heard about the first disappearance.
"Have you seen - I mean, have you been in contact with Elizabeth Davis? From room 401?" Mr. Winfred asked, after correcting himself. Something he did often, which continued to annoy me.
"Um." I replied, unsure of where he was going with the question. "Not since yesterday. She got back from work, and I brought her up to the fourth floor. But come to think of it, I don't think she rode the elevator down this morning. Like she usually does."
"Interesting." My boss replied, before continuing. "She disappeared yesterday."
"Disappeared?" I asked.
"Yeah, husband said she never came home last night."
"Hmm. Well I know for certain that I brought her to the fourth floor. Did you check the hallway surveillance footage?"
"Not yet. Unfortunately the building inspector's in today, and I won't have time until tomorrow. Let's hope she just went somewhere, or got lost. In the meantime, keep an eye out - I mean - just, let me know if you hear of anything suspicious."
"Yes sir," I replied, once again resisting the urge to snap on him, before heading for the elevator, where I started the day's shift.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
That day, I did my best to do as Mr. Winfred had asked, and listened carefully for any signs of mischief.
But the day went on, business as usual and by the end of the day, I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary...
...Except... The only thing of note was a difference in Mr. Lawrence's demeanor. The tenant of room 805, he was a salesman, and acted like one. When I say the man could talk, the man could talk. To a point where whenever he was a passenger in the old freight elevator, despite the long ride from floor one to floor eight, I'd rarely have a chance to get a word in.
But this time... was different. This time, Mr. Lawrence entered the elevator chatting away, just as he always did. But about halfway up, he just... stopped talking. And the thing about my job is, if someone chooses to talk or not talk, it's their decision, and none of my business. So I left him alone, and when we reached the eighth floor, I simply said goodnight. To which, he didn't reply.
Must be going through something. I thought to myself, having been unable to truly get a sense of his composure, without being able to see him, before closing the double doors and heading off to help the next passenger.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
—
Later that night, Mr. Winfred called me into his office, and asked me to take a seat beside his assistant, Jane.
"Mr. Owens. Are you aware of the situation that's going on in the building?" He asked, in an interrogating tone.
"Um... yes, you told me about it yesterday. The disappearance, sir." I replied.
"Disappearances now. Plural." He said sternly.
"But... who else?" I asked.
"Mr. Lawrence."
"What happened to him?"
"Well, to be honest, I was hoping you could tell me. Cause much like Ms.Davis, the last place he was seen was going into your elevator."
"What about the cameras in the hallways?"
"I'm afraid that after reviewing the tapes, after stepping into your elevator, neither Ms. Davis, or Mr Lawrence, ever stepped out."
"But that's... not... possible."
"Mr. Owens. I'm going to give you an opportunity. Is there anything you want to tell me? I know you have a sordid past."
"Mr. Winfred!" Jane interjected, clearly offended by his words, and implications.
"Quiet, Jane." He scolded, before continuing. "Answer the question, Mr. Owens."
I didn't know what to say. I was so shocked, so flustered, by what he was implying, that I simply froze.
"Mr. Owens!" He screamed.
"I... I... don't know!" I cried out, as I heard Jane squirm in her seat. "I'm telling you, the last time I heard from either of them, I took them up to their floors. But I'm-"
"You're what! Blind?"
"Well, yes sir. I don't see what goes on inside the elevator. I just let them on and off."
"Mr. Owens. If they got on your elevator, and never got off, where could they possibly have gone?"
"I... don't... know." I replied, at this point, wanting to grab him by force, demand that he never speak to me that way again, and scream out my innocence. But my next parole appointment was the following week, so once again, all I could do was just bite my tongue.
Mr. Winfred paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and regained his composure.
"Mr. Owens, I could go to the police now. And that would be very bad for someone like you."
Fuck. He's right. I thought to myself, realizing, that if he went to the police, and I was even remotely suspected of what was going on in the building, it was back to prison for me.
"But lucky for you," He continued, "There are things going on in the building that I wouldn't want to bring unwanted attention to. And for that reason, I have decided not to go to the police... yet. But consider this a warning. And know, that I have a repairman coming first thing tomorrow morning to install a security camera inside the freight elevator, so I can see what exactly it is that you're doing in there."
I had know idea how to react to Mr. Winfred's continued accusations. So I simply remained silent.
"Now get out of here and go home! We'll reconvene on this tomorrow." He said dismissively, before Jane walked me out of the room, down the hall, and outside the building, where I planned to return home for the night.
—
Fifteen minutes later, we were at a bar down the street, where Jane apparently frequented.
"But where could they possibly have gone?" I asked her, my hands trembling at both the thought of people disappearing in the elevator, and that it was happening under my watch.
"Thing is," Jane said, as she finished her beer. "There's something you should know about the building."
""The Cornelius"?"
"No, from before it was called that. It used to be a factory of some kind."
"Is that what Mr. Winfred was talking about when he said that there were things going on in the building? That he didn't want to bring unwanted attention to?"
"Well, yes and no. Yes, in a sense, that Mr. Winfred cut some corners, and rather than fully renovate the entire warehouse, he simply walled off entire sections of the old structure. Like the basement."
"And no?"
"No, in a sense, that even Mr. Winfred doesn't know what's really going on in the elevator. Sure, it'd be easy to pin it on you, especially with your criminal record - no offense... but even he knows that it's probably something... else."
"Something else?"
"See, that's where things get hazy. Because no one knows what exactly went on at the factory, before it became "The Cornelius." But rumors have it... it was laboratory of some kind, and some fucked up shit went on inside there."
"Like what?"
"That, my friend. I don't know. But what I do know is... I better be getting to bed."
"Fair enough. Well, thanks for the drink, and the support." I said with a smile, as we made our way out of the bar.
"Yeah, don't let Mr. Winfred get to you. And try not to worry too much."
—
Contrary to Jane's suggestion, that night I worried... a lot. About the disappearances, what might be causing them, whatever may have gone on in the factory, and most importantly, about everything getting pinned on me.
I couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning in bed as my mind raced. And each time I finally passed out, I'd wake up in a panic attack, my heart pounding, short of breath and in a cold sweat.
But it didn't stop there. The uncomfortable feeling of terror and fear, accompanied by the vibrating sensation of adrenaline pumping through my body, remained well into the next morning, when I stepped back into the elevator, terrified by what might be going on inside there.
Please don't leave me alone in this fucking thing. I thought to myself.
And within a matter of minutes, my prayers were answered.
"How goes it?" The surveillance installation worker called out, his cheery disposition contrary to mine.
"Um... not too bad." I replied, lying through my teeth, as he stepped inside.
But after a minute or two of sharing the elevator with him, my fears lessened and my body relaxed, comforted by the positive conversation, and the metallic, clinking sounds of the installation.
Everything's okay. The doors are open. And he's talking. I thought to myself.
But eventually, the man finished installing the camera, and began wrapping up the job.
"Well, that's it! Camera's all installed and running now." He called out. "Let's just take the elevator for a spin and make sure we don't lose the signal."
"Yes, of course." I replied, before reaching for the double doors...
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
..And moving the lever up.
We started moving.
"Fascinating job, I must say, elevator operator. But I suppose you could say the same for mine."
"Pays the bills." I replied, feigning a chuckle.
If he's here, and he's talking, then I'm safe. I continued to reassure myself.
But a few minutes into our ascent, just like Mr. Lawrence... the man... suddenly stopped talking.
"Alright, looks like it's working fine. We can head back down and-"
SILENCE.
"Hello?" I asked.
But he didn't respond.
Fuck. I thought to myself, realizing that whatever caused Ms. Davis, and Mr. Lawrence, and seemingly now the repairman to disappear, could still be in the elevator with me.
Standing there, shaking, sweat rolling down my brow, I backed myself into the corner of the elevator, as I reached for the lever, pressed it down, and the elevator began to make its descent back to the ground floor.
When I finally reached the lobby...
DING!
I scrambled to open the doors...
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
...And darted out, gasping for air, expecting to find a safe haven.
But instead, all I heard was the sound of Mr. Winfred's voice. "Where is the repairman?"
—
A few minutes later, I was once again sitting in Mr. Winfred's office, next to Jane, this time attempting to explain what had happened.
"...And then he stopped talking! Just like Mr. Lawrence."
"You know what, Mr. Owens. I'm tired of your excuses. And now that we have a working camera in the elevator, it's time to find out what's really going on inside there." He threatened, as I heard him clicking away on his computer, clearly reviewing the footage.
"Please do!" I cried out, "I'm telling you, it's not me."
That's when... Mr. Winfred, and Jane, both went silent.
"Hello?" I called out, unable to see what was really going on. Given the fact that my passengers had recently been going silent, the thought crossed my mind that they too had disappeared, but I could still hear their breathing in the room. Breathing, that sounded like it was increasing rapidly...
...Until they broke the silence.
"Oh... my..." Jane said, struggling to catch her breath.
"That can't be. Let me rewind the tape." Mr. Winfred mumbled, the most scared I had ever heard him.
"What is it?" I asked, as they seemingly played back the video.
I would later find out from Jane that the footage would show myself and the repairman in the elevator, as a slithering, grotesque, humanoid figure, suddenly climbed down from the roof of the elevator, wrapped it's slimy arms around the repairman, then somehow hopped back out of the elevator, and pulled the man up with it. Leaving me standing there, completely unaware of what had just happened.
But in that moment, Mr. Winfred must have realized the... complications associated with reporting such a bizarre phenomenon, and instead decided to finally pin it on me.
"Mr. Owens, you shouldn't have done that!" He cried out.
"Mr. Winfred, what are you talking about?" Jane asked, "You and I just watched the same footage."
That's when I heard him drag a file to his computer's trash and delete it.
CRUNCH.
"Stay out of this, Jane. This man has killed three people in the elevator. I knew I shouldn't have hired an ex con!"
"But sir, I didn't-" I tried to reply, before he interrupted.
"Mr. Owens, I'm picking up the phone, and calling the police. I'd suggest you just stay put."
"But Mr. Winfred, I'm telling you, I didn't do anything!"
"Yes, is this 911? I'm the manager of "The Cornelius" and I'd like to report three murders in my building."
"We'd better go." I heard Jane say, as I felt her place her hand on my shoulder.
"And yes, I have reason to believe the killer is our elevator operator, an ex convict, who is sitting right in front of me."
"Come on, let's go!" Jane screamed, as she tugged at my shirt, I hopped up from my seat, and she led me out of the office, down the hall, and into... of all places... the old freight elevator, as she explained to me what she had seen on the surveillance tape.
—
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
"Take us to the basement!" Jane called out.
"But the basement is walled off." I replied.
"Just do it!" She insisted, before I moved the lever down and the elevator began to move.
I spent the ride catching my breath, until we finally reached the basement level.
DING!
"Now what?" I asked.
But Jane didn't reply.
"Jane?"
Oh fuck. I thought to myself. The monster.
That's when I turned to the center of the freight elevator, where Jane had been standing, reached out into the unknown...
...And sure enough, felt the cold, slimy, skin of the creature, wrapped around Jane's face, preventing her from making a sound.
Not knowing what else to do, I gripped its disgusting appendages with both hands, and slowly pried it off Jane, as she let out a...
...SCREAM..
...And the monster's arm quickly slithered away, back up through the roof of the freight.
Jane dropped to the ground, coughing violently.
"You okay?" I asked her.
But rather than responding, she simply handed me something...
....I opened my fist, to find a pair of keys.
"The lock above the lever. Unlock it." She instructed, still coughing, as I felt around the lever, found the lock, inserted the key, and unlocked it.
CLICK.
"The doors. They should open now." Jane said, as she stood up, having finally caught her breath.
SCREEEECH!
SLAM!
—
We arrived in the dark basement to smell the same, musty odor from the freight elevator.
After her eyes adjusted and she scanned our surroundings, Jane informed me that this floor looked nothing like the other eight, newly renovated floors, with their modern feel and minimalistic designs.
Instead, the basement was a window into the building's former self, when it had been a factory. Its walls brick and crumbling, its floors concrete and cracked.
And scattered everywhere, were the dusty remnants of laboratory equipment. Devices, machines, tanks, most of which were destroyed, or disconnected, or both.
"What went on down here?" I asked.
"From the looks of it, something inhumane," Jane said, after she picked up a few tattered pieces of paper from one of the lab stations, and told me what was on it.
"The first page looks like some sort of a diagram, of a man being pumped with chemicals from tanks. And the second, a drawing... of the creature from the elevator. In pencil beside it, someone appears to have labeled it "The Silencer.""
Silencer. I thought to myself, before remembering that the creature seemed to always silence the sounds of its victims, and to have been repulsed by Jane's scream. At the same time, it had never bothered me in the elevator, as I tended to stand there in silence.
But before I could dwell too much on the thought, Jane interrupted.
"If you don't mind my asking. What did you go to prison for in the first place?" She asked.
"It's okay," I said, surprised she had waited this long to ask, before contemplating the best way to explain what had happened. "’Cause of my temper. Some guy was being a dick on the train platform. We got into a scuffle, and he accidentally fell into the tracks."
"Over what? Did he insult you? Your blindness?"
"No, I'm afraid not." I replied, "We were drunk... and arguing over... a basketball game, of all things. He was... my friend."
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay."
Jane put her hand on my shoulder, and we stood there in silence for a moment...
...Until suddenly, we heard the sound of Mr. Winfred, and the police approaching, as they ran down what must have been a hidden set of stairs from the ground level to the basement.
"Come on, follow me!" Jane called out, as she took me by the hand and led me into what I'd soon discover was a labyrinthian network of old passages, while the police and Mr. Winfred both called out to us.
"This is the police! Put your hands on your head, and turn yourself in!"
"You're trapped, Mr. Owens! Just confess your crimes, and you'll simply go back to jail!"
We continued to run deeper and deeper into the passages, as our pursuers began to close in on us, their footsteps getting closer... and closer... and closer...
...Until suddenly, the sound of their footsteps was replaced by that of...
...SCREAMING...
...And they suddenly went...
...SILENT.
"What the?" Jane whispered.
"The creature." I whispered. "It must be down here."
That's when we hatched a plan.
—
Having found our way out of the labyrinth and back to the entrance of the laboratory, where we had arrived in the old freight elevator, I found myself standing alone, waiting, as I nervously tapped my cane on the basement floor, Jane having gone off on her own.
That's when I heard Mr. Winfred emerge from the passages, alone, and call out to me.
"Mr. Owens! There's nowhere to run! Even your beloved elevator is gone. You're cornered." He taunted, as I backed towards the elevator and tapped at it with my cane, its doors open, its shaft empty.
"What did you say?" I asked, encouraging him to talk louder.
"What are you, deaf now too?" The ignorant old man snapped back. "I said, you have nowhere to run!"
"I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me," I said sarcastically, pointing to my ears. "Can you repeat that again?"
That's when Mr. Winfred began approaching and screamed, "You worthless, ex con! I knew I shouldn't have hired you in the first place! And now, you'll go back to where you belong!"
But suddenly...
...Mr. Winfred went SILENT...
...As the creature must have wrapped its slimy tentacles around his face.
That's when I seized the opportunity, ran over to Mr. Winfred, gripped the cold body of the creature, which was indeed wrapped around him, turned, and flung them both behind me, into the hollow elevator shaft...
SLAM!
...Before hitting the "Up" button on the wall, and calling the freight elevator down.
Suddenly, the gears of the elevator above could be heard turning away, and the machine began its quick descent down.
"Mr. Owens, no!" Mr. Winfred cried out, clearly now separated from the creature.
I froze for a moment, as my mind raced back to the night of the tragic accident, when my friend called out to me from the train tracks, and I was unable to save him in time...
....Until I eventually snapped myself out of it, and willed myself to save Mr. Winfred, no matter how evil the asshole's intentions may have been, reaching out my hand out, and pulling him up and out of the elevator, just as the freight car came crash down to the basement level.
SLAM!
CRUNCH!
"RAAAAAAAARRRRR!" The slimy beast cried out, as it was crushed under the old elevator's weight.
DING!
The basement fell SILENT for a moment, until...
SCREEEECH!
SLAM!
...Jane stepped out and said, "Going up?"
But the joke was met was silence. I simply stood there, shaking, as Mr. Winfred did the same, clearly shocked by the events that had just occurred.
—
A few weeks later, after the authorities had done a full sweep of the basement, and cleared out all traces of the building' old laboratory, I found myself once again back in the manager's office.
"Mr. Owens. This is the last time I'm gonna tell you this!" Jane joked, as I heard her recline back in what was once Mr. Winfred's chair, having been named interim manager since her boss's recent and... ironic... prison sentencing.
"Who's the convict now?" I said with a smile, before making my way out of the office.
"Wait." Jane said, stopping me at the door. "You sure you want to go back to operating the elevator? After all that's happened? Like I said, the doorman job is yours if you want it."
"What's the worst that could happen?" I replied with a smile. "There's another one of those creatures in the building somewhere?"

We bought a house with a 20 year old roof understanding that it would need to be replaced soon. Our inspection said we could probably get another 2 or 3 years out of it, which was one of the selling points for us so we made an offer. Between making the offer and closing, the previous owner’s had all the gutters replaced and splash pads installed around the house to help with basement flooding.
When the company replaced the gutters, they caused some damage to a portion of our roof where two flat roofs of differing levels meet each other. This caused the ceiling in our back room to start leaking. When I first contacted the company, they said they wouldn’t even be able to come look at the damage they caused for almost two weeks. I called a different company who offered to come out immediately.
Before the other company came out, I decided to write a negative review of the original company on Google. Within 24hrs of posting the review, the owner of the company called me and was very apologetic. He came out immediately and tried patching the roof up. It didn’t work. He sent more people out to patch it up and it seemed to hold through a few light rains but a few weeks later we had a torrential downpour which caused it to start leaking again.
The night of the downpour, I texted the owner of the company and he responded right away. He said he’d come out to take a look at it the next day. That day came and went and he never showed up or responded to my text asking when I should expect him. A full week and a half went by with no contact and no response to any of my texts. I finally got fed up and left another negative review on Google. Within 3 hours of posting that review, the owner decided to text me back and apologized for not getting back to me sooner.
He sent two more people out to do more patching and then, after they left, he called me and said he’ll completely replace the roof FOR FREE this week using a “rubber roof” with a “25 year membrane” which sounds great but also too good to be true. He said replacing the roof is a $12k job that he cannot in good conscience charge us for since it was his company that caused it to leak.
My wife is skeptical of the company due to their bad track record of communication with us. My father-in-law also thinks we should go with a different company and pay for the roof replacement ourselves. I personally feel like free is free and we should let them replace the roof since it was going to need replacing soon anyways.
Can anybody give me some insight on this situation and give some advice on what we should do? Does this seem like a realistic offer?
I can’t find any company to come give an assessment before the day this company plans on replacing the roof and asking them to delay so we can get a second opinion feels like a move that might cause them to take back their offer to replace it for free.

Hey everyone,
I'm reaching out because I need your help. It seems like no matter where I go or what I do, I can't shake this habit of worrying and catastrophizing every time there's a change in my life.
For example, when I travel, I find myself obsessively checking airline reviews, and any negative feedback sends my anxiety through the roof. Similarly, if I notice I've made a mistake at work, I immediately spiral into thoughts about how it will affect my reputation and job. Or it can be for food ? If there's a recent problem on food, and I ate it, then I will think I am dying...
It can be over anything and everything.
Recently, I encountered a situation that's been particularly challenging for me. I typically travel with a specific airline, but when I checked my flight, I discovered it would be operated by another airline I've never used before. Now, I can't help but imagine all the possible catastrophe scenarios, and I'm hesitant to travel anymore.
It's exhausting, and I'm tired of letting worry control my life.
Just last week, I found myself consumed by similar thoughts. I began doubting myself, believing I had ruined my life and would never find a good partner because of my past mistakes. The fear of being alone forever consumed me, and I couldn't seem to shake it off.
This pattern seems to repeat itself in various aspects of my life, and I'm struggling to break free from it. Any advice or insights you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the help.

I'm gonna be real: I hated this. There were interesting concepts, and had they been utilized differently and written by literally anyone else, it could've been an actual good book.
writing. The writing in The Deer and the Dragon is miles better than in The Night and its Moon. It's still not good, but it's better if that tells you anything. The first-person POV mixed with modern-day speak works so much better for Piper's capabilities. It was much easier to get through, but it was still a huge slog for me. Honestly, what are the editors at Bloom even doing? There were still way too many typos and sentences with missing words. Piper still misuses the word dredges after using it in THREE(+?) BOOKS. HOW DO YOU STILL NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DREDGES AND DREGS? Dregs are the sediment of a liquid, so what's at the bottom of your coffee cup. Dredge is when they scoop up mud from the bottom of a river. TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. The word broach is also misused in this book TWELVE times, and it's PART OF THE CENTRAL PLOT OF THE BOOK. You mean to use BROOCH, PIPER. They're pronounced the same, but they mean two different things. Again, what the hell are the editors at Bloom doing?
characters Really, the only character I can talk about is Marlow because this book is just about Marlow and how amazing, special, perfect, and genius Marlow is. I fucking hate Marlow. If I ever met Marlow in real life, I would beat her up. Marlow is the most unlikable person ever. The story opens up with her on a date with a guy she's not interested in and can't remember his name; when she gets it wrong, and he corrects her, she continues to call him the wrong name all the way to the end of the book. She mentally berates him for mixing wasabi and soy sauce and cannot let it go. She’s also an AWFUL friend. It seems like her friend's only real purpose is to support her and tell her how amazing she is. She never bothers to make plans with them or inform them about anything that’s happening in her life. When she goes missing for a good chunk of the book, and they're blowing up her phone worried about her, she doesn't even bother to call them to calm them down. She doesn't think about them at all. She's far more concerned with herself and finding her imaginary boyfriend, who she only just decided was real. Her editor tells her she's at risk of losing her job if Marlow doesn't deliver her work or update her on what's happening, and Marlow just...doesn't care. She's like, 'No excuse I can give will be enough, so I'm just not going to say anything at all because I'm afraid of confrontation'. Grow the fuck up?? Her friend Nia only became her friend because she obsessively messaged her on social media until Marlow 'gave in', and now they're family? Somehow? Yet Marlow doesn't think about Nia once or bothers to comfort her when Nia has to call Marlow's abusive mom to ensure Marlow isn't dead. Kirby has allegedly been Marlow's friend since childhood, but does Kirby know anything about Caliban at all? Does Nia? Does Marlow tell her friends anything? If they know about the abuse her mom put her through, do they know how that abuse started? When Fauna shows up and freaks out over liking Kirby’s name so much, Marlow takes it upon herself to tell Fauna the story of Kirby’s name, scornfully informing Fauna that Kirby isn’t their real name the second Fauna expresses interest in it. (Like what, are you jealous that Fauna likes Kirby’s name, you fucking insecure freak??) The story revolves solely around something traumatic that happened to Marlow and how she and Kirby sat and played Super Smash Bros. Kirby liked their character so much that they adopted the name. Which…okay, choosing the name because you liked a video game character, okay, fine. But the whole story preceding this was so unnecessary and just made Marlow come off as suuuuch a whiny baby. “Oh, you want to know about my friend’s name? Well, first, let me preface it with this long woe-is-me story all about ME before I tell you how they chose their name because basically everything revolves around me.”
The way Marlow talks about rejection is so juvenile. You're in your thirties girls, get over it. Life is full of rejections. Someone telling you they didn't to play with you when you were eight years old isn't something you should form your whole life around. Like Marlow doesn't want kids because she doesn't want them to face rejection. Oh my god, Marlow. I also can't empathize with her trauma with her mom at all because I feel like I didn't really see much of it. I'm sure some of the things she says might hit with other people, but I wanted an actual flashback of a super intense fight or conversation instead of an overview of what happened.
plot. It took a while to get to the actual plot. About 100 pages in before things start really happening. I would’ve liked a little more exposition on Marlow’s relationship with Caliban at the beginning of the book. I get that some of the reveals needed to come more towards the end, but I kind of wish that maybe the fox had spoken to Marlow, too, which would’ve helped with why she’s so sure she’s insane. Foxes don’t talk! In all honesty, I wish this story had been restructured entirely. I think it would've been substantially better if we'd started out in Marlow's childhood. We can see how her day to day life was before Caliban ever appeared, how things were with her mom, who can also see through the veil. Maybe she notices some strange things about her mom that she just brushes off, which she later sees in herself and understands why her mom responded that way. Then something actually traumatic happens instead of some little kids not letting Marlow play with them, instigating her starting to see Caliban. I also would've liked to see flashbacks to Marlow's previous lives. While she's busy trying to convince herself Caliban isn't real, those flashbacks would add to her thinking she's losing her grip on reality. Maybe she'll be doing something innocent, like washing the dishes, and then suddenly, she sees herself standing in the middle of a raging battle, wearing long, elaborate robes. Do you see what I'm saying? This could've been cool! Instead, I had to read about Marlow jerking off about herself for 600 pages.
At some point, Caliban shows up to Marlow looking like a human. She's a teenager at this point, but they eventually start sleeping together, and like...idk something about that feels icky to me. It feels like grooming. Because he's clearly thousands of years old, he probably stays the same age while she's a teenager. What age did he wait for her to turn before their relationship turned sexual? Also, she doesn't even think he's real, and he does nothing to convince her that he is. Yeah....just no thanks. I'm good. Marlow tells Caliban when she's 21, she doesn’t want to see him anymore, so she literally physically cannot see him, but she can hear and feel him, and he still shows up, and like they keep having sex. So she’s just having sex with her imaginary demon friend for like five years before she’s finally like, all right, this is weird; maybe we should stop. And then she immediately regrets that when he stops showing up and then the rest of the book finally happens.
We also get flashbacks to when Marlow first starts escorting, and tbh, I hated this depiction of sex work. I keep hoping since Piper claims to be an advocate for sex work and is a former SWer that, we might get some actual depth to this plot. Maybe learn how Marlow was able to mold herself into the person she needed to be for each client, how she’s able to play people, etc. But no. She meets some random girl in a foreign country where she’s teaching English to children, and the girl is like, OMG, you’re too pretty to BE A TEACHER. COME HANG OUT ON MY YACHT. Now, I’m going to be so real. I feel like any woman with a speck of intelligence in their brain would have red flags going off right about now. If a random woman I met in a foreign country invited me to her yacht five minutes after meeting me, I’d immediately assume this woman was about to try and murder me or kidnap me or traffick me or something. But not Marlow. She is like fuck it, why not. She flies on over to wherever this yacht is(literally, she has to get on a plane and fly there) and makes some new besties who introduce her to the wonderfully glamorous non-dangerous life of escorting, where they hand her clients and set up the appointments for her and blah blah blah(also, wanna point out that Marlow even tries to say that she built this sex work empire herself. bitch no you didn't. it was all handed to you). I don’t feel like I really need to go further about why this is a really poor, dangerous rose-colored glasses-type depiction of sex work. It’s just not the reality.
Flash forward five years later, and Marlow is now a top-selling author writing about South African folklore as a white woman, trying to date other men, still having sex with her imaginary friend, calling her nonbinary friend a horse girl, the usual. Her escort pals are nowhere to be seen, and we have no clue what happened to them. We never hear from them again; they just vanish once Marlow gets what she wants from them, just like Nia and Kirby vanish once Marlow finds Fauna and Azrames. One day, Marlow’s at a book signing and sees the ONE bad client she had(because in all the years/months fucking strange men you meet in a foreign country, only one time does it go bad. okay, sure) He somehow finds where she lives, breaks into her home, and tries to murder her. An angel shows up and murders him instead, and then Caliban finally reveals his face and explains to Marlow that he has marked everyone who’s ever wronged her. (Wronged her in what way, tho. Like if someone accidentally shoulder-checked her on the street, are they now marked for death?) I thought it was kind of weird that she’s not like…focused on the fact that her hallucinations have extended to two people and another person dying. She’s still convinced Caliban is a figment of her imagination even after she sees this happen, and Caliban explains to her that he couldn’t save her because there’s some type of contract with her that forbids him from doing anything under her roof without her permission. But she still gets mad and banishes him, and now he can’t come back, and now she’s like, but wait, no, I didn’t mean it. Thus begins the search for Caliban.
Now, I could sit here and outline the rest of the book, but I won't because it's so boring, and nothing of substance really happens. So, to summarize. Marlow searches for Caliban fruitlessly for months and finally makes some progress when she decides to go to the house of the guy who tried to kill her and finds a parasitic entity that she continuously calls a Cheshire Cat. then Silas, the angel, shows up to save her again. Silas maybe wants to fuck Marlow, I can't tell. He waffles between abandoning Marlow to die and stalking her and her mom to force Marlow to bond with him for no seeming reason at all. Everyone and their mom wants Marlow to join their religion, and I don't know what the fuck makes her so special. Marlow is such a popular author that everyone recognizes her name, reveres her, fawns over her, and has multiple copies of her two books in their offices. She's so good that she inspired millions to switch religions. This book was so exhausting to read because it was just about how amazing Marlow is LMFAO. I'm pretty sure they even try to say she's the reincarnation of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. Like....wow.
Marlow goes to Hell with Fauna to escape bonding with Silas, where they meet a literal stolen character design. this guy
(my original review has these images but I am an idiot and don't know how to post them so instead I'll share the links)
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1717860981i/35597445._SY540_.jpg
Don't believe me? here's the commissioned character art.
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1717860929i/35597423._SY540_.jpg
Anyway, his name is Azrames and he and Fauna are long time lovers and they go and bone while Marlow is in the next room and Marlow fucking masturbates to the sounds of them boning. So...I was forced to read about that, and I hated it. And then, at the end of the book, five chapters before it's over, we learn the bad guy who's been holding Caliban captive the entire time is a fertility goddess. Just out of nowhere. No mention of it previously. So, no one tells Marlow the actual plan, and instead, they send her into this fertility clinic the goddess is working out of and have her pretend to want to get pregnant. So the goddess drugs her without her consent and puts her in a room full of half-naked men, hot stereotypes from every ethnicity, while she's SUPER horny. One of the doctors tells her that 'mixed babies are all the rage right now'. The men all tell her how hot and amazing she is and how lucky they are for the chance to get to fuck her. Then after she chooses one of them, she grinds all over him while he just stands there, then they take him out and bring Caliban in and decide he'll fuck her instead. I just wanna point out that this, all of this, would be rape. Marlow didn't consent to being drugged, and if she didn't know who Caliban was, they basically just took the guy she "agreed" to have sex with away and brought in one she didn't agree to for no reason whatsoever. It doesn't matter that she's saying yes to it; she is drugged. She can't consent. Anyway, Caliban sticks his dick in Marlow and just leaves it there, unmoving, and then makes out with the fertility goddess before stabbing her in the heart and cutting off her head, even though five chapters earlier, they said it's super hard to kill a god. I'm just...wow.
Marlow gets taken back to Fauna's apartment by Silas while Caliban and Azrames are stuck fighting more Cheshire Cat demon children that I imagine look like the spider baby from Toy Story. Marlow is still high, so she's putting the moves on Fauna. She's kissing her throat, rubbing her thigh, trying to suck on her fingers. Let me tell you rn, if one of my friends showed up at my place high af doing this shit to me, I'd be livid. Because I guarantee you, Marlow will not apologize for doing any of this to Fauna.
Fauna tells Marlow that they can be sunflowers. The book ends.
I will read the next one because I like to suffer, but...I hated this. I give it 2 stars because the writing is better than TNAIM, but it was not a hit for me at all.

Hello, I'm planning to get a 992 cab. As I've got 2 young kids, it'll be very helpful to get them seated while the roof is open.
I just saw a YouTube review and they mentioned in passing that the roof can only be opened once the engine is turned on? Is this true?
I can't lift up the roof with the car remote?

Hey y’all!
Please can y’all help review this lease deal for a Volvo XC40 Core Dark trim in southern California.
Base MSRP: 40500
Actual MSRP: 44725 (including panoramic roof, protection package, leather upholstery, destination fees, power operated tailgate)
Dealer discount: 2228.5
Rebate: 5000
MF: 6.5% (0.00271)
Residual: 62% (which comes out to be 27729.5)
Miles: 7500
Down payment: 3000
Base lease payment: $435 per month
With tax lease payment: $470 per month
Inception fees: 1585.58
Is this a good deal?
Update: clarifying some terms.
Additional info:
Tax: 497.12 (per dealer, this tax on the rebates, acquisition and dmv fees) Non tax fees: 1613.75 Doc fee: 85 Balance (dealer price): 39692

Anybody know why it says 'Bugger' on the roof? Considering it's a closed pub, I can find a heap of reviews on how good it used to be, but nothing at all on what seems to be a prominent feature...

Hello! I’m reading mixed reviews on the toxicity of roof shingles. I put some under my beds to prevent weeds. They’re 1.5’ tall. Should I take out the beds and restart the whole thing? Or are they only toxic from fumes? Thank you!

This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.
Historical information found on Shannon O'Sullivan's Doctor Who website (relevant page here and the TARDIS Wiki (relevant page here). Primary/secondary source material can be found in the source sections of O'Sullivan's website, and rarely as inline citations on the TARDIS Wiki.

Serial Information

• Episodes: Season 19, Episodes 17-18
• Airdates: 1st - 2nd March 1982
• Doctor: 5th
• Companions: Adric, Nyssa, Tegan
• Writer: Terence Dudley
• Director: Ron Jones
• Producer: John Nathan-Turner
• Script Editor: Eric Saward

Review

What's the matter, old girl, why this compulsion for planet Earth? – The Doctor
I started out my last review talking about how long it had been since we last saw a historical. And how the last time we had a historical, there were two in a row. And I'd love to start out this review in the same way, pointing out that we once again have two in a row, and I suppose I kind of have. But that feels dishonest.
Black Orchid leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's perfectly well acted and directed, none of the dialogue is especially bad, there's some good jokes and a fun double act for Sarah Sutton to perform, but the whole thing feels just kind of cruel. The story has a kind of mean-spirited edge to it, in a way that just doesn't sit well with me. In episode 1 we meet a bunch of characters at a garden party. In episode 2 I learned to hate most of them.
Okay, now hang on a second. Why is this a problem? Not for the first time, I find myself wanting to reference the most recent Doctor Who episode to come out, at least at time of writing (the original draft of this was written about a week before posting). I praised "Dot and Bubble" for revealing that all but one of its secondary characters were awful people, I thought it saved the episode. But that episode could also be described as mean spirited. That episode could also be described as kind of cruel. What's the difference?
The difference is, of course, that "Dot and Bubble" has a point, and one beyond a facile "humans are the real monsters" commentary. Black Orchid feels like it's making me hate its characters by accident. I don't think writer Terence Dudley wanted his group of rich idiots to actually be rich idiots. I think it just sort of happened. I don't think he intended to be quite so nihilistic about human nature. I just think that, with only two episodes to work with some things got rushed – although for a two-parter this story is weirdly padded in places.
Oh and there's a hint of, maybe not racism exactly, but certainly uncriticized colonialist attitudes. Specifically in the story of George Cranleigh, British explorer of the Americas, who was mutilated for taking a sacred flower from an Brazilian tribe. Now this is a minor point, but it still stuck with me as the story being very reductionist in its own way – although also worth noting that George was rescued by a member of another tribe, Latoni, who befriended him and in spite of his unusual looking lip, is one of the few characters of this story to kind of get out without feeling like a bad person at some point. Even then though, due to George's trauma from the events and his tongue being cut out, he's extremely disturbed and his kept by Latoni and George's mother tied up to his bed.
And he escapes and murders a servant, who's basically just there as a victim to frame the Doctor for murder. Because why not?
Okay, let's take a step back. What's going on here?
This review isn't written like one of my typical posts, in large part because I'm not entirely sure I can review this story properly. A review is a collection of opinions on a given thing – in this case a television serial – and, more importantly, the reasons behind those opinions. I can tell you that I don't like Black Orchid. But I can't really tell you why I don't like Black Orchid. Looking at the above paragraphs, they're all accurate, but I don't think they fully explain my distaste for this story. And that's because the story just feels ugly in a way I can't fully put my finger on.
Like, when I start talking about its secondary cast being pretty awful people…are they really? I compared them to the secondary cast of "Dot and Bubble" up above, an entire town of vapid future racists. That feels excessive. And yet…it feels honest. They're not quite that bad of course, but I get the same genuinely unpleasant feeling from them in a way that I can't quite explain. It's emotional, and it's honest, but I don't think I can justify it. I'd love to tell you that the colonialist stuff is the reason but, come on, that's a tiny portion of the story. I'd like to say that how George's mother treats him, how Lord Cranleigh honestly creeped me out a bit, or how Ann turned on the Doctor and company so quickly, that these are the reasons but…no that doesn't feel right either. It's a feeling of genuine repulsion that I can't say is warranted, but it's there nonetheless.
Which is a shame because this story brings back a lot of old ideas that were worth bringing back. Black Orchid is the first "true" historical story since The Highlanders way back in Season 4. There's a fun little parallel with The Time Meddler, the show's first "pseudo-historical" as well. In that story, the idea of having science fiction elements in a story set in the past was the twist. Here, it's the reverse – the twist is that everything that happens is completely time-appropriate. And that's a twist that, under other circumstances, I could absolutely see myself enjoying.
Or how about a return of the doppleganger concept. Originally it used twice with the Doctor – once in a true historical and once in a story that was futuristic, but without aliens, it was more recently used with Romana. Here Sarah Sutton gets a chance to both play Nyssa and soon-to-be Cranleigh daughter in law Ann. Ann is honestly a bit insipid, and as mentioned above turns on the Doctor and his friends real quickly in part two, but Sutton seems to be having fun. The shame is, aside from a really fun sequence where Nyssa and Ann use their doppleganger status to confuse their friends, Nyssa doesn't really get any meaningful characterization out of this.
I will say that that dance sequence is the one part of this story I genuinely enjoyed. Nyssa and Ann playing off each other was fun. Tegan and Lord Cranleigh dancing felt off at times, but Tegan was fun during it. Adric ignoring the dancing for the food – a request from Matthew Waterhouse since he had, quoting the production team here "two left feet" – was a funny bit, one of the more likable moments from the character. And through it all, the Doctor is off investigating, even asking himself "Why do I always let my curiosity get the better of me?"
There's also a cricket sequence that felt a bit self-indulgent to me, to be honest. The whole thing of "The Doctor shows up and dominates a friendly game of cricket" just felt goofy. Although I liked it when the same thing was done with the 11th Doctor and soccer (sorry, football) in "The Lodger" so maybe this is another example of me not quite being able to put my finger on why something bugs me. Though I did like this as a moment where Tegan understood more than Adric and Nyssa for a change. The two younger companions are so much more academically intelligent than her, that it's fun seeing Tegan getting invested in this game that the two aliens are thuroughly baffled by.
Look, I'm aware that this review is lacking. I do not enjoy Black Orchid. It just feels like a very cruel story. It just leaves me with kind of a queasy feeling, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's definitely not one of the worst Doctor Who stories. It's absolutely got moments in it that I like. But the whole thing just feels off. So, I don't know, have a score out of ten, that should tie this all up in a bow or something.
Score: 3/10

Stray Observations

• Originally the plan was for Season 19 to have 28 episodes, like Season 18. However, John Nathan-Turner decided to repurpose the budget for two season 19 episodes towards the production of the pilot episode for K-9 and Company. The spinoff, of course, never went ahead, but the end result was the shortening of Season 19 back down to 26 episodes. Since John Nathan-Turner didn't want a return of the six part story, this mean that there would have to be a two part story in Season 19.
• This was the first two-parter since The Sontaran Experiment, all the way back in Season 12.
• According to Peter Davison, writer Terence Dudley told him that he found the script for this story in a bottom drawer, and that it was originally intended for a murder mystery series. Obviously, assuming this is true, it was substantially altered to include the Doctor Who cast.
• This story was originally submitted for Season 18, but Christopher H. Bidmead didn't think it fit the science-based approach he was aiming for. However, with Bidmead no longer Script Editor, John Nathan-Turner decided to revisit it for Season 19.
• The main cast, aside from Sarah Sutton, all disliked this story.
• On the other hand, Eric Saward claims this was John Nathan-Turner's favorite story. Sarah Sutton also named it as one of her favorites, perhaps unsurprisingly, though she did tire herself out playing two different roles and having to go through constant costume changes
• It was apparently unusually hard to find someone to double for Sarah Sutton in scenes where both Nyssa and Ann were in the same shot. Vanessa Pain was eventually chosen but she wasn't a perfect fit – she was the wrong height.
• This shoot was slightly troubled due to an impending industrial action by the electricians. John Nathan-Turner was so impressed by how director Ron Jones handled the situation that he decided to hire him on to direct Time-Flight, after that story had lost its intended director. Whether or not you think this was a blessing or a curse for Jones is up to interpretation.
• At the beginning of the story, we learn that Tegan has apparently decided to stay with the TARDIS for a bit. This wasn't revealed at the end of The Visitation.
• Apparently the Doctor always wanted to drive a train "as a boy".
• That actually is Peter Davison playing cricket in episode 1, as his interest in the sport was genuine. Apparently he performed quite well.
• At one point Adric is genuinely puzzled as to what one might do with a cocktail in a bath. I think he thinks that a cocktail is literally a bird's tail.
• George Cranleigh is a fictional character but one that, in the Doctor Who universe, became famous enough for Tegan to know the name.
• Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding were quite pleased that they got to dance for a story.
• In episode 2, Tegan gets very mad at the suggestion that the Doctor is an imposter. Which is weird because…well he is. He absolutely is. He's been pretending to be a schoolmate of a friend of one of the Cranleighs.
• The Doctor decides to take the policemen who've arrested him back to the manor in the TARDIS. Tegan, presumably in earshot, offers no biting remarks about their odds of arrival in the correct time and place, which seems out of character.
• When George Cranleigh falls off the roof, you can hear an audible thud. That is the sound of stuntman Gareth Milne missing his crashpad and landing on his legs. Fortunately, he was not hurt in the fall.

Next Time: We learn what killed the dinosaurs, and who else died in the conflagration.

I've been searching on Amazon and keep getting into an endless cycle of looking at 90$ to 200$ crossbars and getting lost in a few bad reviews and never pulling the trigger...
Any recommendations for a Jeep Patriot 2017 2.4 High Altitude?
Would like to leave them on year round, use it to put (2) bikes on roof for road trips and maybe (2) kayaks when I get around to buying them. Wouldn't be loading all of this at the same time...

As most of you probably know, Rue 21 has filed for bankruptcy and has closed all their stores by now. A lot of ex-empployees were shocked to hear this sudden news, I personally believe the signs were already there that the company was bleeding for a couple of a years prior to the announcement. Here I will share my experience working for Rue21, the things I believe were signs of the impending, and things I believe led to the company's failure.
Let's start with the first red flag, the sign of the impending:
The payroll hours: sometime in 2022 after the holiday season was over our store was allocated 125 store hours and we were not to go over under any circumstances. This continued into our busier summer, back to school, and even our holiday seasons of that year. My store manager was actually worried, saying she hoped the company wasn't in any financial trouble. The company of course was silent on that end. Now for those who do not work in retail may not know that 125 hours is less than bare bones minimum needed to run our store. We were short staffed during hour peak business hours and closing managers had to take lunches literally 1 hour after clocking into their shift. The sales plan forecasts were growing bigger and yet the payroll hours stayed the same. Before, the company would always increase hours as sales plans grew, but no. It did not happen. This was not just our store, I believe all the stores in our district were affected as my SM talked with another SM at another store who had a much bussier store and she was stressed with all the boxes she had in the back due to the 125 hours she was operating on. Not enough hours for staff to process shipment in a timely manner. Concerns about these hours were brought up to our DM, but the only thing the company gave us was an instruction sheet on how to 'flex' these 125 hours and schedule effectively to clean the store and process shipment. We did recieve a temporary increase an hours when visuals came in, but then went back to 125.
Higher and higher sales plans: right before I left in 2022 we were getting all these insane store goals that had no reflection of business the previous year. we obviously did not make those plans. I feel like this was so the company would not need to pay bonuses for managers since we would get a bonus if we made the month's sales plan and over. Not sure if this happened in other stores.
No Merit Increase: the year I left, merit increases were promised to come around April or August. I had a great review and the DM said merit increases would happen, but they never came around. Prices were going super high at the time, food was going up, the cost of fuel was up, so a merit increase made sense to help ease the burden and then it never happened. Our store never got them and the DM told my SM who broke the news to us. Again I am not sure if it was just our store or the other stores as well, but we did not get them that year. Appearently, they used the excuse of getting a low finanical score store rating to deny us these plans. My SM said why would we get more money when we weren't doing our jobs. The company had increased our work once fitting rooms opened up again and ship from store was a go. We were definietly doing our jobs and doing more.
Ship from Store adjustments: in 2022 we recieved a memo that if we cannot find a product in an order, cancel it so another store gets the order in hopes they have all the items and the customer would not recieve multiple packages. This was a change from the previous directive where we were to partially reject the order and send what we were able to fulfill to the customer. I definitely see the pros to that, mutiple packages sounds like a haggle. The company added in its memo that it costs them 10 dollars to ship every package, i found it odd they say that since customers generally pay for shipping themselves when checking out. Unless it hit the free shipping threshold. Again, this might have been an oversite on the company's part.
The loss of online shipping: a while after I left the company, I noticed on the website that shipping to home was no longer available at all for any product. The website advertised, buy online and pick up in store during this time. So any rue 21 customer without a store nearby is basically cut off from buying from them ever again. Bye bye to the online customers. This continued up until the company announced bankruptcy, although it was partially restored as the company brought back online exclusive products but a very, very small selection. If this was not a signal the company was doing bad I don't know what is. I went back to the store to visit one if my old managers and she said it was costing the company too much money to ship items.
The reports of restructuring and financial woes: this was after leaving the company. I read a handful of articles saying Rue21 was hiring consulting firms to help bolster sales and financing as the company kept earning negative ebitda and store sales were declining. I beleive they partnenred with at least 2 or 3 different firms to help reorganize themselves, but to no avail. The conpany still went under. I even heard from my old co workers that the company put our DM in another district and all districts doubeled in size, I also heard most of the RDs were let go.
Here are the tings I believe contributed to the conpany's fall:
More stores open: This may come as a surprise, but during the pandemic era, the company had actually expanded their stores. I believe 15 stores were opened during this time. An article I found online confirm's their decision to open more stores as they say this was backed by customer data and trend forecasts. I am not sure what figures they were looking at but this was definetly a bad idea as stores started underpeforming once inflation rose sky high, price gouging, and food costs all up. Everything went up.
Tunnel vision with certain KPIs: During the same pandemic area our store and I think the whole district got traffic counters installed so they can add conversion to their KPIs, basically its a percentage you get by dividing transaction counts by store walk ins, we initially started off with a 27-28% goal in our store than I belive right before i left it was lowered to 22%. Our DM was really on us saying no stores are to hit below 20% conversion and that any stores that do will have a conversation with the executive team about why their store is that low. A vague threat that never came to fruition because that never happened to us nor did i hear from other stores about this. We had missed this goal several times. The company became way too focused on this saying that numbers tells a stroy in the store and that we are leaving X amount of money on the table every time we miss our conversion goals. They got this figure assuming the difference in percentage of the goal and ADS, but that was all theoretical. I could have made my sales plan with a 49 dollar ADS and conversion rate of 15% at closing. I would rather have that than a 32% conversion rate, missing sales plan for the day, and an ADS of 10 dollars. The culture the DM spread around was toxic, to her it doesn't matter if you miss your other KPIs just dont miss your conversion. I feel we did pretty well with this conversion thing, but it was ridiculous what corporate was trying to tell us with conversion. Also the DM mentioned that when stores would go under 20% conversion she would get a call from her RD at 5am in the morning asking why the store went that low, if true this was super toxic, the DM is not gonna know that answer at 5am while they are still sleeping and the business day has yet to start. This move to conversion focus with less empahsis on other KPIs was crazy. Also we would have the same customers that would walk in and out of the stores several times going to meet families and their friends and then walk back in, artifically inflating the true amount of cusotmers we actually had, now we had to get them to buy things again but realistically that didn't happen. Also this thing counted strollers and other such things so again this conversion rate was not an accurate reading of our performance here. An amazing coversion rate was not gonna make my sales plan, but is only one factor to how business was that day!!!
Loyalty program: just like most other retailers, you sign up with your basic info and you get points for your purchases which lead to discounts or 'rewards' is what they called it. Our store did fairly well most of the time, but there were times on weekends our sign up rate would go down since our store was in a tourist hot spot and several tourists would refuse the loyalty program because there was no Rue 21 near them nor would they shop online. Our DM heavily micromanaged this aspect. I heard several conference calls were she would call out the underperfoming stores in the district and give everyone overall a lecture about it. Due to this what seemed like company wide culture, corporate sent us a memo for managers to sign saying we were not to falisfy rewards accounts because appearently this was happening in the company. Probably managers desperately trying to make the goals. There was even a store in my district that claimed customers were not allowed to make a purchase without signing up for loyalty/needing to give a phone number. Not sure how true this was, but it could have happened. My DM even went as far to say if employees were not getting their loyalty sign ups up then replace them with new hires who will. The thing is were where these new quality employees gonna come from? Compared to Rue 21 in my state, their starting pay was very low compared to the other retailers in my outlet center. You want quality employees, but you gotta up your ante to stay competitive and Rue 21 was not being competitive in this area for Associates and Managers.
Credit cards: this one was a big one. Just like how every retailer has credit cards now, so did Rue21. They wanted us to have at least 1 approved card application a day. It was tough getting people to try and sign up, especially with the high interest rates at the time. Again, corporate was toxic with the credit card thing as my DM said she would get fired if she doesn't get enough credit cards. The RD was visting our store with her at the time and she said that around her and she didn't even say anything to refute this. Her silence meant everything! What do they want? To have a Wells Fargo situation to happen to them. This was at a time when inflation was up and less people were trying to spend money so credit cards made no sense. We would get nasty emails when we missed our credit card goals from our DM. The conference calls weren't any fun because of that either. Also, Rue21's motto was always fast and friendly at the cash wrap, but with all these extra things poppinh up, the BOGO deals, fragrances, loyalty, and now credit cards! The fast part kinda went away and is now a maze of information bombardments to the customer. All these things tacked on much more time than neccessary and some customers even felt overwhelmed by it too. We were all nonstop talking to the customers at the wrap about these things I was out of breath with every single transaction! It was exhausting!
Lastly, the reason I believe Rue 21 failed, pure greed! It is outrageous to think that the customer base for in-store shopping was there during the panedmic era. I can still remember the time the company annouced more stores, the year during the pandemic with tax returns, unemployment money, and stimulus checks coming in, I think that was in 2020 or 2021. We had so much business company wide, they came out with a memo saying that the sales volume/foot traffic mirrored Christmas shopping season. Our store specifically made 200-400% over our daily sales goals during this time. The rush would not stop and during this time the company increased our converision goal 1% saying that the extra percent is equal to 1 million dollars more in revenue for the company. Rue 21 also changed all of its merchandise to normal price to make more money, then the memo that the new stores were coming. The sales seemed boundless, until it all came to a gridning halt with gas, food, rent, utilities, and just about everything else went through the roof and then the company slashed payroll hours outrageously low. This was pure greed, instead of focusing on the stores they already had and paying down debts, investing in their employees and customers, the company expanded and tried to cash in even more on this ride of money, but it all came crashing down under them in the end and this was probably their undoing. Greed.
Well that's a wrap!
Any ex-Rue 21 employees out there who want to talk about the company? I would love to know your experience and whether you observed the same findings I did. Did we all go down to 125 hours company wide in the past years leading to the bankruptcy? Were merit increases denied? Did coprorate contribute to any toxic/negative attitudes to making conversion, loyalty, and credit cards?? I would love to know! Thanks!

Hey folks, apologies for the newbie question here!
Looking at past posts and other online forums, seems visible impact damage, leaking roofs, slide out problems, and water damage are by far the largest things to watch for outside of the obvious like tire rot.
I'm currently weighing between a 2018 Forest River work & play 21SE for $22k from a private seller who's upsizing for a larger 4-seater SXS, or a new 2025 Genesis Supreme 220LTE for ~$33k + tax from a dealer. Trying to keep under 26' with at least 12.5' garage space for those who are curious, and based in WY so looking in the Rockies rather than paying to have it towed here across the country. Happy to hear other suggestions, since RV reviews by brand are few and far between.
I'm not sure if the extra $12k or so for a new one is that big of a deal since a towed trailer doesn't exactly have a powertrain to worry about. However, I'm also aware that campers are hardly built to last 50 years. Stuff breaks down, corrodes, warps, leaks, etc. given a few years stored outdoors.
I guess my question is two fold: anything else beyond obvious damage (especially water) and doing a functions check of appliances/plumbing when buying used? There aren't any certified RV inspectors showing where it's located, unfortunately. Secondly, is buying new worth the significant premium in a case like this, or are you really just buying "shiny" since stuff can still fail a month after you tow it off the lot? I typically buy used for motorcycles, trucks, ATVs, etc. but campers are unfortunately a new one for me.

I'll be moving out of my pest-free parents' home and moving into an apartment that was built in 1971, ~100 units in the apartment complex. My unit will be on top of the carport (so no one below me) & has 2 shared walls. They'll be upgrading & cleaning my unit before I move in (new flooring, sinks & faucet, doors, blinds) & the manager also mentioned they always do a preventive spray of the unit for pest control before someone moves in. The apartment also does pest control twice a month. They actually have pretty good reviews online and none mention pests. My friend also lives there and she's only ever dealt with ants. She also says the property manager & maintenance guy are great (a lot of the online reviews mention this as well). I even messaged another person who lives there about the unit and they recommend it (although they did mention that a mouse got into their place from the hood vent tube on the roof - but it got dealt with by maintenance).
As someone who's just EXTREMELY paranoid and anxious when it comes to pests, are there any preventive things that you guys recommend I do to the unit before I bring in any furniture/appliances? The unit has no refrigerator so I'll have to bring my own - should I sprinkle some boric acid on the floor that my fridge will be on top of? I think I read about making sure to plug all drains at night?
I'm super nervous since this will be the first time I'm living alone, and I can't stop being paranoid that I'll deal with infestations after moving in 😭

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