There has been a lot of incidents where staff have gone back to the office and been told by a manager to remove their mask immediately. I can understand they may want to reduce risk of bringing infection from the wards to the office, but surely changing mask would be better than demanding someone to take theirs off?
I had an incident where I was told to remove my mask, I challenged my manager and said “No, why have you asked me to do that” the reply was “you’re not allowed to wear masks around the Hospital” which is a clear lie. I replied and gave reassurance it was a clean mask and only put on before entering the office. We went back and forth and I explained HR had written to me upon previous queries that there is no mask policy, and staff can wear them as they please around the Hospital It’s personal preference.
My manager lied about policy and was quite confrontational in this discussion. Should I report this to HR to avoid other staff having to endure this

Diplomacy!

The purpose of the addon is to provide real Faction Motivations and Relationships, treating Faction Leader Pawns as the trend setter for trade and behavior, engaging in territorial disputes and waging war, signing treaties, and engaging in negotiations with each other and the player.
Guiding philosophies:

• Simpler Is Better. Tynan's philosophy from the book in a nutshell. Small efforts, big impacts.
  
• Enhance the storytelling potential!
  
• Use existing features to their max potential.
  
• Only rescope existing features minimally. (there's only 1 big break here. More on that*)
  
• No dependencies on mods or the other DLCs.
  
• Lots of open hooks for mods to add their own reasons for War & Peace, and balance their items & traits.
  

Why do we want this?

• Factions as of now are irrational, turning our cool colony sim into a Tower Defense. Even if you have god pawns and nukes, they still send 10000 points of their best men to die against your killbox. Silly.
  
• You can't call a leader and negotiate hostage release or sign a peace treaty. They have no rationale and no demands, really. It's all RNG.
  
• You can't see how many points of threat this colony has to hurl at you, and distance to you, and geography is irrelevant. Apparently that one peaceful tribe had a million points to die heedlessly against your cannons, and you can spend 30 years exterminating them town by town and they are just a strong as on day one.
  
• You can't signal to raiders that you wish to surrender and keep your colony, simply paying tribute or taxes and stop the thing they are attacking you over, because currently there is no reason. Which makes it a live or die proposition, with very little story potential. Rimworld is technically a tower defense game, lol.
  
• We want to tell the story of how we were raided, some of us enslaved, the raider set up a war camp on the edge of the map to watch us like a hawk, and forced us to labor for them for 3 years, giving 30-60% of all goods made/mined to them... before some of us escaped, set up a new town, and then returned with allies to liberate our old home!
  
• You can't tell Raiders to surrender! Hey you, 50 of your buddies are corpses. You want to be 51? Prison, now.
  
• You can't order towns on the map to surrender either! We've raided 6 of your 10 towns, your forces went from 10,000 to just 300, and you're starving this winter. You give up and we'll feed you. Resist and you're full of nice organs that are a shame to waste. Give us your leader who started this crap and it's all over. Yes or no?
  

So here are the core Leadership concepts:

• Every Faction has a Global Leader.

Leader Traits and Skills define that faction's trade policy, behavior, etc. Leadership Traits are now a synthesis of existing traits, such as Sanguine or Bloodlust, and skills. Sanguine results in a peaceful faction, Bloodlust results in a hostile faction. Intellect gives the faction better tech skills and items to trade, Shooting and Melee gives them more soldiers and weapons of these types, and Social gives them a higher chance of rolling high during negotiations, etc.

• Every town has a Local Leader.

There is a Global Leader, and Local Leader. The Local Leaders, just like the above, give that town its own political tone, and smaller variations in the overall trade items and skills available. So if the Global Leader has low Shooting, high Medicine, high Intellect, all the towns in the faction have a lot of advanced medicine, medical beds, body parts, and antibiotics, but very few if no guns to trade. But if a Local Leader has high shooting, suddenly there are a lot more guns. Vice Versa. The economy of trade follows this rule too. Especially around food and joy/luxuries.

• Philosophical Differences.

Bloodlust pawns dislike Sanguine pawns. Lazy pawns dislike Industrious pawns. This web sets up a paradigm of conflicts, where Factions with leaders who are a lot alike will band together against those they have less in common. Not always -- Proximity, Time At Peace, Time At War, and Threat vs Defense, would play a role too -- but at its core, the Aggressive Psychopaths run a more totalitarian show with slaves and war-hawk policies, vs the doves who tend to find slavery abhorrent and only attack if provoked or offended.
Greedy pawns, no matter if they are hawk or dove, will tend to try to hoard wealth and capture points of interest regardless of policies, even against the interests otherwise stated.
Since we can't be aware of DLC features like Ideology, we have to ignore those differences. Maybe a content aware patch at the end could be implemented, but it has to be optional.

• Internal Affairs.

So the scenario above, where a Sanguine Global Leader has high intellect and medicine, but low shooting, and the Local Leader is Greedy, has Bloodlust, high shooting, etc -- this is a conflict. Internally, this causes a rebellion to occur, where the Global Leader will want to quell this rebellion, deposing the bloodlust pawn and installing a preferred leader. That spawns a "rebellion" mark on that town, and their army is sent to put it down. The Rebellion may grow if the rebels are able to win. the player may be asked via quest to help put down the rebellion.
Here are the features that would need to exist to support this, based on the Leaders above:

• *Territorial Needs

The biggest break in our philosophy to do no re-scope of existing vanilla features is to redistribute the Resources of the RimWorld across the globe. I know, that's a big break! RimWorld is ultimately a 1 Map Game. Everything you need to start, survive, and build the ship to end the game, is all on your 1 map. But if every map you visit is \packed to the gills\** with components and silver and gold and steel... why move? Why have a globe?
So we'd be taking away 95% of all resources from the one map. Instead, like Marble, Granite, Limestone -- we segregate that into the Mountains and Hills as Rich Steel Deposits, or Impacted Components. Fertile soil in flat valleys in temperate zones.
You'll have to form caravans and camping parties to extract he goods, yes. Your one starting location will be King of at least One Exploitable Resource, which you must defend from outside interests, but can also leverage as trade and treaty agreements early on.

• *Biome Needs

Same as above but it's plants and animals. Suddenly, all you need to survive isn't grown on one map. Deserts have all the psychoid (psychoid must flow) and forests have all the heal root. They only grow in their desired regions, and die elsewhere outside of advance hydroponics. The factions who trade for these resources do so now at a premium, and are a reason to go to war to capture their own outposts.

• Global Territories

There's now a "global claims" layer on the world map around every town belonging to a Faction. They are claiming that territory as theirs economically, politically, and militarily. If your military crosses those lines they get anxious and call you to ask why. If you don't withdraw they assume hostility. If you have a big military near their borders they may get upset too.
Same is true if you set up camp in their economic claims zones and start mining or harvesting. They will demand you pay tribute / taxes, or abandon the claim to them, or face consequences in lowering relationships. You, as a player, may also gain a border drawing utility, and try to expand your borders by building outposts and amassing guns and armor to pawns you send to serve in your armies. If your borders touch, the owners will call you to negotiate a withdrawal, or sign an alliance, or go to war over border disputes.

• Visible Faction Caravans on the Globe

Every town gets a pool of military and civilian caravan budgets. They spawn little ions that, just like the player, roam the globe, trading and attacking targets. This is a tough memory issue, and always on, ticking CPU. Lots of caching needed here and good clean code. Big risk there.

• Player Camps and Satellite Colonies

Currently, the biggest issue RimWorld has with more than one colony, is that it loads *everything* into memory. We can't change that. But what we can do is get clever. We still close those maps forever, and sending them to an icon on the world map, cached at the state it was saved.
The map's available pawns still live there and can be called to return to the player's main home map at any time, or send new pawns to speed up production. Any facility built there, is still there, and on a timer will produce the items made by the pawns assigned to it at the time they were saved into that now permanently closed map.
That new world map site is still allied to the player, and unless attacked, or suffering toxic fallout, will supply the same crafted items, crops harvested, resources mined (until exhausted,) and still need food and clothing, etc. You may need to defend it. If they are starving the map site is lost for good, loaded only as random ruins and pawn corpses if you visit that tile.

• Elect Local Leaders!

Set one pawn as the leader of your town. I won't get into the styles of government, Ideology already kinda did that. So here we hand waive and sacrifice a Grid of Political Alignments the player may subscribe to. Simpler is better, we just base it on the pawn leader's traits. Players role playing a Raider get Bloodlust raider pawns. Those more chill elect Industrious and Sanguine pawns. That pawn informs your new satellite colony's abilities.

• Local Defense Forces

Everyone's favorite. Every town has a local defense pool, of how many soldiers they have vs how many civilians. Soldiers get a minimum amount of shooting and melee, set by their Local leader plus Global Leader policies. Higher Leader Intellect, higher tech guns. Higher shooting & melee -- you get the picture. The size of the town sets the size of their local defenses. LDFs patrol the area around their towns visible on the world map, and go to nearby camps to rest and resupply, before patrolling again. A ring of camps are set up for this purpose.
Players need armies too -- but lets NEVER see them as fully realized pawns. They are just recruits from local areas, nameless, faceless, and roaming the countryside in the armies on the globe as a number. No micromanagement. Just casualties vs recruits and veterans.
The less shown of the invisible hand of this market the better.

• Global Military Forces

Every town gets summed up and donates some fraction of their available soldiers to the main army. This results in a bunch of military parties, which roam the global map of their territory and launch raids against enemies. The big cities have big armies in and out of them. These are your 1000 point raids, very visible on the map. At low tech they clear forests of trees and animals as they march. High tech and they may just drop pod onto your map. GMFs are scary, and also set up a zone of interest around themselves. Their leader pawn also gives them special traits, just as towns enjoy.

• Armies meet Armies

When you have your army meet another army, it isn't on your home map anymore. Instead it's on a tile where your army world caravan meets theirs. You clash, and winner takes all. You spawn these armies on opposite sides of this map. If you are defending, you have a limited time to build defenses. Then the other army spawns in. If you're attacking, they have procgen defenses set up when you get there. If you are both running with no time to defend, you spawn in simultaneously and meet in the middle.
Those who retreat spawn into a retreating army that disappears into the nearest town or camp to fill its soldier count. Same for yours if defeated.
Basically a Caravan Raid of epic proportions, with a timer to set up for the defending player.

• Join battle in Progress

Allied armies may clash with enemies, and you may offer to join them. These battles are just clashes on the world map between two circles rolling dice in a formula of tech levels and number of soldiers of what skills and health/morale conditions. Once your army reaches to hot stop, you may offer to join, name a price (if your ally is losing, big money, eh?) or join for a positive relationship boost. These in progress battles will have some percent of progress to kill pawns and litter the battlefield with dead. But you get one side of the map from your approach angle on the world map (yay, normal positions!) and you spawn in some of your forces to command.

• Surrender!

You may now, when you see the tide has tipped, right click a hostile pawn with one of yours selected and order them to surrender. Social skill and Weapon+Armor+Skills play a role vs their own. If you've killed some percent of their forces, a non-bloodlust, non-psychopath, will probably surrender if more than 50% of their forces are gone, but not fleeing, and/or they are outgunned and outnumbered. Whole towns may surrender this way, and begin paying tribute/taxes to you.

• World Resource UI

To manage all this, you'll need a UI that tells you what your towns are locally producing and globally have in stock. You may send pawns in these "forever caravans" that manage their own food and needs, increasing their Defense potential. Clicking on a town tells you the Defense rating and number of Soldiers vs Civilians it has there. Also what it imports (needs, higher trade value) and what it has (surplus is better prices.) Trading between towns send caravans which you can raid, disrupting the economy, and starting international incidents.

• Refugees, Traders, and Bandits

These groups also roam the world map marauding or fleeing conflicts. You may take in refugees, repel bandits, and assist traders.

• A place to spend all that wealth and retire all those pawns you've collected!

Lets face it, RimWorld is Hording Simulator 9000. You gather all these pawns, but the game only planned for like 12 at most. It loves stacks of 2,000,000 alpaca meat, but it chugs memory and CPU. No more! Send all that junk to your outposts!
You can call it back any time, but it is out of sight and out of mind (and out of RAM) where you don't have to think if Sally is going to mood break or Tom and Dick need a new bed together as lovers who both have malaria. Send them to the camps to toil, take a mood hit if it had bad conditions when you saved it to its forever state, and come home if they get home sick and want a short vacation before going back.
You can have 300 pawn colonies -- I've seen it -- at 3fps. Now instead of micromanaging those 300, send them all to outposts in the hundreds. Your main maps is back to the respectable ~23fps as usual with 12 pawns. :p

• Build a town, save it to the world map, and then do it again!

Some people really love building megacities. But RimWorld is played on 1 map to end that game and build a ship -- game over, you flew way forever. But there are a lot of players who like the come up, and want build a town over and over again, roughing it. The setup is fun! It's when you have a super killbox that's invulnerable and infinite silver production, that it gets boring and we restart.
Now, you can enjoy the start of the game again, building your outposts and towns & cities, while just saving them to this world map to continue on as part of your faction. No, you can't load it again, the game doesn't support that. But it was saved as a picture at the time you left it, and you can still use it to fill your main Faction's resources in the abstract.

• Caravan Overhaul

Caravans are borderline broken in RimWorld. To fix this, we need to introduce Shipping Crates.
These are portable containers that go into a pack animal (or other thing a mod adds, I won't say it) and you pawns just put all the supplies into that crate. The animals don't stop eating, the pawns go about sleeping and eating, until that crate is full. Then once they are rested and relaxed and fed, off they go all at once, no idling, no going insane, no bullshit.
We'd also need to give this Crate the ability to open a UI that says how many days of food, meds, etc it has for the caravan. But Caravans can now scavenge and find supplies as they go, no play micromanagement needed.

• Alliance Building Missions

Alliances need food, meds, and manpower. An attack on one is an attack on all. Defense Quests call the player for aid, and you may send forces to aid them, or risk your alliance. This is a quest like any other, but with much bigger timelines to get ready, and we need a smart proximity to adjust those times to call for aid to be sure the player can reach it in time. They may also call targets for the player to attack, which you are obliged to do as part of the alliance. Saying no may jeopardize your alliance too.
Core essential features, boiled down:

• Leadership Relationship Web
  
• Politics Sim
  
• Electing Your Own Leaders UI
  
• Territories projected onto World Map
  
• Resource Distribution Map
  
• Remove resources from local maps and put them on World Map in hot spots
  
• Alliance Agreement UI (Promise defense of only towns near me, key towns, all towns, everything)
  
• Treaty Agreements UI (Promise to deliver X resources X times annually, or else, consequence.)
  
• Town Manager UI
  
• Town Saver Cache System
  
• Town Saver Cache Interface (pulling resources out of towns, pawns called home, sent to labor camp, vacations, etc.)
  
• Battlefield Event (procgen map, same as a caravan raid, but with biiiig raids
  
• Player Army UI (set policies, set equipment, number of pawns to recruit, set leaders, training, total cost per quadrum to operate.)
  
• Occupation AI for Player Maps (Raiders live on your home map, getting regular food and building a camp. If you rebel, or fail to meet demanded goods over X time, they attack your town, sack it, game over.)
  
• Surrender! UI (Right click feature on leaders. Leaders get a star over their heads/names. UI of terms of surrender. Chance to fail based on negotiator.)
  
• Request Caravan of Supplies UI (ask allies to trade with you, ask tribute be sent to your capital.)
  
• Shipping Crate Caravan Overhaul
  
• Caravan, Army Patrol, and Trade Caravan UI
  

Closing:
I think it's probably one of the most requested features as a DLC, and I know there is no chance we ever see it since Ludeon isn't in the business of accepting requests off the internet. They do in fact have lots of great ideas that are HUGE, but they tend, like anomaly and biotech, to be focused on the existing core loop of that 1 Map Policy, instead of daring to go off map for long and really exercise that multi-map & giant planet feature.
BUT -- I have time to kill between post op on a minor head surgery and getting back to work.
SOS2 is nearing its return to the Workshop, too, after 2 years offline being worked on by the community of maintainers and contributors, so I'm thinking about this stuff again. And while I know Kent and I don't have anther big RimWorld mod in us -- there's someone out there who would appreciate these thoughts, I'm sure.
It's also just good practice, designing documents for ideas that will never happen, and getting feedack on them.
While you work on a big project for 5+ years, your idealization and distillation skills, let alone pitch skills, can degrade. The grind of sacrificing your BIG IDEAS to the gods of "okay we have to actually do this now" can deteriorate one's optimism. You cut cut cut until the design document is nice and lean. Like a good cut of mutton. Doable, but still delicious.
So this helps me keep those skills sharp when I need them next.

Anybody else feel sad they can’t travel because of financial reasons before medical school starts?

Anybody else feel sad they can’t travel because of financial reasons before medical school starts?

What’s so sad is that these two are 2 of many who just clog up resources and are who make it so hard for people with true mental health issues, true medical issues, true financial hardships, to get help and assistance. Both of them are just truly bad people. They are so inherently rotten to the core. Shame on anyone who enables/enabled them. They are 32 years old. It’s enough. I feel so bad for D’s animals, but poor C doesn’t have a chance in hell. It’s so heartbreaking and disgusting.

Had ALIF/PLIF of L5/S1 at the beginning of February. Recovery has been excellent. You wouldn't even know I ever had surgery. [Unless you have X-ray vision]
Anywho, last week my piniformus muscle started feeling strange then it hurt to lie down. My lower back, butt hip and the back of my thighs was in screaming pain. Called the doctor office and he ended up prescribing me Methylprednisolone. [Whew that name is a doozy]
I'm Googling it but not finding much apart from the medication slowing lumbar fusion healing time. Soooo has anyone used this after spinal fusion? If so how did your body react to it? I know everyone's different but I'm curious.

I met my boyfriend through Hinge in September 2022. I had just gotten out of a relationship a couple months prior so I wasn't really looking for anything serious, but we quickly fell in love within the first week. I'm the type of person that typically needs a lot of alone time to recharge, but I found that we could easily spend hours and days together without noticing the time pass.
We're goofy and act like kids around each other. Our interests are quite similar, and we're both creative and physically active. He's a graphic designer and I'm a small business owner, and we have complimentary working styles that allow us to work on projects together. He's funny, hard working, disciplined, wise, and very emotionally intelligent. He's supportive of me in my creative and professional pursuits, a great communicator, and has the capacity for my "emotional break-downs". We genuinely enjoy spending time with each other and all our other friends. One of my friends whose marriage I admire, told me that it's so rare to find couples like us that "have the magic". I haven't ever had a relationship with someone that felt like my best friend.
My boyfriend is South African on a visa that's expiring in 2026. Recently, we discovered that his company changed policies and will not be sponsoring him. Prior to this happening, we had already talked about spending our lives together. He grew up in a Christian household, and although he doesn't hold himself to all the traditions, he does value commitment and marriage. I thought that if we were going to get married anyway, we might as well do it before his visa is up. He respects my decisions and doesn't want to pressure me if I'm not ready.
Unfortunately, there have been some challenges that have caused me to doubt my decisions. My family, particularly my mom, has reservations about our relationship. My mom will be nice to anyone I bring home, but she doesn't think my boyfriend is good enough for me. She thinks that I need someone who's strong, manly, and highly confident. I acknowledge that my boyfriend can be shy and timid in unfamiliar settings, and that he hasn't been the most comfortable or confident around my mom. He has, however, been very sweet and thoughtful, doing things like writing birthday cards and bringing home flowers. Her #1 concern for me is that his timidness will limit me in social settings.
For additional context, I'm Korean-American, and there are other values that my Korean mom has (i.e. going to a good college, having a high-paying respectable job, being tall and attractive). My boyfriend doesn't come from money, so I teach him things like investing and maxing out his 401k. As for myself, my business is fairly new and growing, so I'm highly focused on building my career and creating a life of financial freedom.
My mom keeps comparing us with my sister and her husband, who both work at big tech companies and are already millionaires at 30. She's already drawing conclusions that I'll be the bread-winner (whenever my business is "successful"), that I'll have a difficult life providing for the two of us, and that we won't be able to afford family trips/keep up with the rest of my family. While I do want financial freedom and am slightly insecure about my current success, money isn't everything. My mom is even encouraging me to take a break in our relationship, and go out with one of my sister's friends who's interested in me.
My sister has met my boyfriend twice. She's usually very critical and blunt about the guys I would date, but the first time she met him, she immediately told me I should marry him. She liked how funny he was. Her husband, however, saw the same lack of confidence that my mom did, and wasn't sure why I was dating him. My sister has now also come around to agree.
I'd either have to get married next year, or do long distance with my boyfriend if he gets deported. My mom says she will ultimately support my decision, but I need to listen to the opinions around me - because "family is important and that love isn't everything".
I'm having doubts now because 1) I do want to focus on growing my business more before getting married, but I also feel that not much will change. My boyfriend adds more to my life than he takes away. 2) I'm letting insecurities and what my mom is saying about our different financial upbringings get to me - I do tend to act more humble/feel less deserving when I'm around his family and am now worried that'll somehow impact my beliefs in myself. And 3) I'm questioning if there's actually someone else out there who is better or more well-suited for me. That maybe it'll be easier if I'm dating a charismatic guy that my family won't question. But does any of this matter if I'm happy right now?
I do value my family's opinions, but I find it hard to cut through the noise unless I distance myself. How much do you take into consideration the opinions of people you love around you?

I bought a razor+ 2023 off of Amazon Refurb and it's been a great phone! Looks brand new with not a scratch on it, great battery, and very fast. Used it daily for a week. Motorola popped up a suggestion that I not remove the factory screen protector but my phone didn't have one. I talked to a Motorola tech and she's like, "No prob! We can put that on for free. Just go to our approved fix-it place." I did as she said and the place had my protector on in less than an hour but when I went to pick it up the foldable screen had lifted off from the phone and there was a big black blob in the middle. The inside screen was completely ruined and crack lines were creeping all over the protector. The contract I had signed with the store said that if the store breaks my phone they will either fix it or replace it so I thought they'd take responsibility. The associate went to his manager who then calls another manager who makes the decision that they are not at fault and they won't fix my phone. He said they did everything right and it must have been a manufacturer defect. They said that it being a refurb played into their decision. I was not aware a refurb would affect a fix-it stores policies. He gave me the phone numbers for Motorola and their own fix-it district office. He told me to call Motorola or return it to Amazon.
Motorola won't cover it under warranty because they say it was tampered with by the store. Amazon said the same thing when they saw the pictures of my phone with the peeling screen protector. I called the fix-it store's corporate office to escalate the case. I'll save you the details of the mudslinging that happens after this between me and the store (unless someone wants to know the drama!). In the end they are in the process of fixing my phone as a good faith gesture.
So what's your opinion on who should take responsibility? Was it a defect by Motorola/Amazon? Should the store take responsibility as it broke in their care? I feel so stupid for bringing in a working phone to a fix-it store and leaving with it broke. Don't fix something that's not broke I guess.

I’m looking to separate my living area from my office space in a small apartment and love the idea of a sheer, flowy curtain on a rod mounted to the ceiling. I need something that’s about 102” in length, which isn’t difficult to find, but I’m running into trouble with something that doesn’t have a clearly defined front and back. Since I’ll be looking at it from both sides I was hoping to find something “double sided” or at least without obvious stitching. Does anyone have examples of this or suggestions? Pls share links if you have them! Have also thought about a piece of sheer linen fabric that isn’t technically a curtain but finding the right dimensions might be trickier. Thanks so much for any help!!

Just got $136 worth of game integrity reimbursement on ACR. Says I played with a player that was breaking their security and game integrity policies.
We hope this email finds you well.
You recently played in games with a player (or players) who broke our security and game integrity policies. The player (or players) has been banned from our network and in accordance with our policies, we are distributing compensation to affected players, including you, which should now be available in your account.
Please feel free to confirm the amount by accessing your financial history.
Rest assured, WPN is committed to providing you with a safe and secure game environment, and we are continually updating and improving our security measures to stay ahead of those players who attempt to cheat. Thank you for your continued play on our network.
To learn more about our refund policy, visit here
Best regards,
Anyone else? I wonder who the player(or players) was/were, I'm kind of curious. Anyway to find out?

New CPO pool operator here. Curious to get everyone’s thoughts on pool tags or wrist bands for residents.
Have you found this effective being able to identify residents and their guests and regulating the amount of people in your pool at once?
For example-if the rule is, a resident may bring 2 guests to the pool with them and there is an apartment with 2 leaseholders and no occupants-we would alot them 4 “pool tags/pool wristbands” that way during office hours, we can see if someone enters the pool area without a wristband.
Any advice on pool management and getting residents to respect pool rules would be helpful as well. Thank you!

Just bought a home about two months ago, and we had a pipe bust from behind the kitchen sink. Caused damage to the kitchen cabinets, mold under cabinets, and half of the walls in the adjacent bathroom are soaking wet. I immediately called a plumber, he looked around and gave me a quote to fix the pipe. He also said I should hire a public adjuster for the water damage and mold. He recommended me a guy who came out the same day.
My policy has a $10k limit on mold, but the damages are definitely more than $10k. So I could just get the check for $10k, but the PA suggested that I go through the MRP program for citizens to repair the damage because there is no limit if the claim is handled through that program. According to him, the insurance company would settle on an amount for the damages, and the work would be done by contractors through the insurance company. All sounds good for now.
This is where it gets tricky. According to the adjuster, when the check gets cut to the contractor for the damages, if final repair cost comes in lower, I get the keep the rest. He set an example for the kitchen cabinets. The lower cabinets were damaged, but the upper cabinets were not, but they are matching and continuous, so ALL of the cabinets would be considered a loss, even if half of them weren't affected at all. So if the insurance settles on $20k to replace the cabinets, on the assumption that that ALL the cabinets are to be replaced, but the contractor only replaces the ones that were actually damaged, and only charges $10K for the work, then I would basically pocket the extra $10K.
He used this as a justification for hiring him, because his fee is 20%. So he said that I could theoretically get all the repairs done, pay him his 20%, AND walk away with an extra $6k.
This all just seems so fishy to me, but according to him, it happens every day. What if the contractor tells the insurance company that all of the repairs were not done? What if the cost ends up higher, and I end up having to pay extra for the repairs AND pay the adjuster his 20%? In that scenario, I would probably come out worse than just taking the $10k check. If this whole thing ends up costing $50k, I will owe the adjuster $10k, when instead I could have just paid my $2500 deductible and be done with it.
This is my first home and I am just overwhelmed by this whole process and have no idea what to do.

Just bought a home about two months ago, and we had a pipe bust from behind the kitchen sink. Caused damage to the kitchen cabinets, mold under cabinets, and half of the walls in the adjacent bathroom are soaking wet. I immediately called a plumber, he looked around and gave me a quote to fix the pipe. He also said I should hire a public adjuster for the water damage and mold. He recommended me a guy who came out the same day.
My policy has a $10k limit on mold, but the damages are definitely more than $10k. So I could just get the check for $10k, but the PA suggested that I go through the MRP program for citizens to repair the damage because there is no limit if the claim is handled through that program. According to him, the insurance company would settle on an amount for the damages, and the work would be done by contractors through the insurance company. All sounds good for now.
This is where it gets tricky. According to the adjuster, when the check gets cut to the contractor for the damages, if final repair cost comes in lower, I get the keep the rest. He set an example for the kitchen cabinets. The lower cabinets were damaged, but the upper cabinets were not, but they are matching and continuous, so ALL of the cabinets would be considered a loss, even if half of them weren't affected at all. So if the insurance settles on $20k to replace the cabinets, on the assumption that that ALL the cabinets are to be replaced, but the contractor only replaces the ones that were actually damaged, and only charges $10K for the work, then I would basically pocket the extra $10K.
He used this as a justification for hiring him, because his fee is 20%. So he said that I could theoretically get all the repairs done, pay him his 20%, AND walk away with an extra $6k.
This all just seems so fishy to me, but according to him, it happens every day. What if the contractor tells the insurance company that all of the repairs were not done? What if the cost ends up higher, and I end up having to pay extra for the repairs AND pay the adjuster his 20%? In that scenario, I would probably come out worse than just taking the $10k check. If this whole thing ends up costing $50k, I will owe the adjuster $10k, when instead I could have just paid my $2500 deductible and be done with it.
This is my first home and I am just overwhelmed by this whole process and have no idea what to do.

Just bought a home about two months ago, and we had a pipe bust from behind the kitchen sink. Caused damage to the kitchen cabinets, mold under cabinets, and half of the walls in the adjacent bathroom are soaking wet. I immediately called a plumber, he looked around and gave me a quote to fix the pipe. He also said I should hire a public adjuster for the water damage and mold. He recommended me a guy who came out the same day.
My policy has a $10k limit on mold, but the damages are definitely more than $10k. So I could just get the check for $10k, but the PA suggested that I go through the MRP program for citizens to repair the damage because there is no limit if the claim is handled through that program. According to him, the insurance company would settle on an amount for the damages, and the work would be done by contractors through the insurance company. All sounds good for now.
This is where it gets tricky. According to the adjuster, when the check gets cut to the contractor for the damages, if final repair cost comes in lower, I get the keep the rest. He set an example for the kitchen cabinets. The lower cabinets were damaged, but the upper cabinets were not, but they are matching and continuous, so ALL of the cabinets would be considered a loss, even if half of them weren't affected at all. So if the insurance settles on $20k to replace the cabinets, on the assumption that that ALL the cabinets are to be replaced, but the contractor only replaces the ones that were actually damaged, and only charges $10K for the work, then I would basically pocket the extra $10K.
He used this as a justification for hiring him, because his fee is 20%. So he said that I could theoretically get all the repairs done, pay him his 20%, AND walk away with an extra $6k.
This all just seems so fishy to me, but according to him, it happens every day. What if the contractor tells the insurance company that all of the repairs were not done? What if the cost ends up higher, and I end up having to pay extra for the repairs AND pay the adjuster his 20%? In that scenario, I would probably come out worse than just taking the $10k check. If this whole thing ends up costing $50k, I will owe the adjuster $10k, when instead I could have just paid my $2500 deductible and be done with it.
This is my first home and I am just overwhelmed by this whole process and have no idea what to do.

Hi friends! Long post ahead!
I (23F) got a brain MRI Monday and received the results within the hour. However, the radiologist’s report seems to lack any specificity that I am seeing others describe their MRIs with. The report states: “Mild periventricular white matter changes are identified.. These may be from migraine headaches.” Does this mean lesions? I just feel so lost and got these results through MyChart and haven’t been contacted by provider.
For background, I do have a history of migraines that only affect my left side (behind the eye pain, muscle weakness during episodes) that last for days a time. No migraine medication has helped OTC or prescribed.
My dad was diagnosed with MS in 2020 after YEARS of being misdiagnosed. Since it has been left untreated for 10+ years, his symptoms are very severe and I have learned a lot about MS while being a main caregiver for him.
About 2 months ago, I noticed my left arm/hand were a lot weaker than they used to be, but chalked it up to having broken that wrist twice. However, I started to notice that at work when typing (receptionist), my hand would go numb or feel weak and not be able to move or grasp things like normal. My fingers will also spasm and shake randomly at rest. I work at an orthopaedic doctor’s office and took advantage of the free services and saw our hand specialist. He ordered an MRI to check for cysts and nothing came up. He then ordered some rheumatology labs to rule out rheumatoid arthritis. Those came back with elevated CRP and sed rate, showing lots of inflammation. I brought this to my PCP, who is an amazing diagnostician (literally like House, MD) and he ordered more labs to test for lupus. Those all came back negative.
Since then, I’ve started to pay more attention to certain symptoms. EXTREME fatigue (sleeping for 14 hours at a time, which I have never done/wanted to do in my life), serious brain fog and trouble speaking (tripping over words, not being able to find the right word or losing my thought mid-sentence), losing balance and vertigo, along with the migraines, and nerve pain, numbness, and weakness on the left side extremities.
PCP ordered a brain MRI to look for MS due to my family’s history (he is also my dad’s PCP).
I guess I’m just asking for some advice or insight in this long diagnosis process. Still waiting to hear back from PCP on a follow-up. Considering my family history and symptoms, I think MS is very likely, but am confused by the lack of specificity in the radiology report. Any insight, advice, or encouragement would be very much appreciated. :)

I work in an adin type office setting and there's someone on my floor that sleeps in the office..I mean..they spend the night there. Not all the time but fairly often. It's been happening for years. Is there a policy or directive that applies to them doing that? If so where do I find it...I don't want to raise it as an issue if it's actually not against the rules. Also they are in a position of power over me so there's that.

I’m having a hard time figuring out what I’m going through. I’m diagnosed with DDNOS, and I stopped therapy for financial reasons, reddit is my only way to figure this out rn. Recently I’ve been dissociating a lot, and noticed some things and I can’t figure out if it is because of dissociation or if it is a hallucination.

• I’ve been seeing the floor as watery or flowing in a sense?
  
• Parked cars moving towards me when I’m walking in the street.
  
• the flooworld ig feels tilted when I’m laying down
  
• everything spinning when I’m trying to fall asleep (even when I close my eyes)
  

All of these things happen withh the symptoms I had before.
So my question is: is this regular dissociation or a hallucination? I can’t tell
Mind you I don’t use anyy substances, I’m not on any medications, I’ve been diagnosed with DDNOS, Social anxiety, ADHD. But not anything that would make me hallucinate. i have a family history of psychosis and bipolar tho.
So should I be worried and get it checked or is it okay?
TLDR: Things moving like floors, cars and everything around me spinning. Dissociation or hallucination?

My bf is an alcoholic & cocaine addict & has finally agreed to go to inpatient rehab. I dropped him off on sunday & calls me monday night telling me to pick him up which is a 6 hr drive roundtrip.
The rehab facility called me & said they are not medically signing off & feel its necessary he at least finishes 28 days. He said he wants to do out-patient when he comes back.
He's tried that a year ago & the out-patient program kicked him out because he wasnt dedicated. I told him, if his parents dont want me to pick him up, I wont & not getting in the middle of this drama. So he threatened me by taking a car service home & hung up on me.
He's been living off me for the past 2 yrs & Im just tired of being used & abused mentally, financially etc. Ive changed my locks and put all his belongings in his car. I feel very guilty for turning my back on him.
I just need the reassurance if this is the right thing to do? Ill feel horrible if something terrible happens to him.
Thank you xoxo

I signed a lease that began on 4/22. I was informed that I would need $100,000 worth of renter's insurance. I purchased a policy for this amount.
On 5/1, there was a very sudden management change that we were not informed of. I was unable to pay my rent so I went to the office and found out there was new management. Managed to pay rent, but they added on a fee and told me that it was because all leases starting after April 1 require 300,000 worth of renter's insurance.
This is the first I had heard of this. Are they allowed to do this?
Edit: relevant part of lease that actually says $50,000 because of course it does https://imgur.com/a/9sae0WT

April 1st I go to the dentist to put a bridge on my teeth, after getting same day I decide to go to McDonald’s at 11h30 pm but as I’m going there I see its closed already, so I decide to go to a Walgreens and I see a homeless man, since I have been homeless before I decided to help him, we both go in the store and the police officer there tells him to leave, and then the manager of the Walgreens tells me to leave as well, I proceed to ask why should I leave and she tells me “because I said so” , I proceed to keep asking why since I was a loyal customer there, and there must be a reason, and she keeps repeating the same thing saying “because I said so, and because I want to, leave immediately” as she is screaming in my face, there I was furious and I told them I was just going to go in and buy my usual candy and also omega3 since my doctor April 1st I go to the dentist to put a bridge on my teeth, after getting same day I decide to go to McDonald’s at 11h30 pm but as I’m going there I see its closed already, so I decide to go to a Walgreens and I see a homeless man, since I have been homeless before I decided to help him, we both go in the store and the police officer there tells him to leave, and then the manager of the Walgreens tells me to leave as well, I proceed to ask why should I leave and she tells me “because I said so” , I proceed to keep asking why since I was a loyal customer there, and there must be a reason, and she keeps repeating the same thing saying “because I said so, and because I want to, leave immediately” as she is screaming in my face, there I was furious and I told them I was just going to go in and buy my usual candy and also omega3 since my doctor Jerry Jurado at 253 Lafayette St, Newark, NJ 07105, had recommended me due to my high cholesterol, she tells me the pharmacy is closed even thought I told her I wanted a supplement not a medication and it was available on the aisles…

But she doesn’t give a shit and demands me to leave the establishment. There was a security guard and he proceeds to push me and I fell to the ground, I get up and I’m so pissed off that they think I’m going to rob the place that I even throw my debit cards to the floor asking them to buy it for me the stuff I needed so I could go back home and play my usual videogames , the manager of the Walgreens then comes to me and says she wants to hit me ,outside the wallgreens by the doorway, and then I say “why” and she proceeds to punch me, a black obese lady joins in and starts beating the shit out of me, other black people join in and start beating me up as the only white guy there…. and they start beating me up, at one point in on my knees surrounded by them and she brings a baseball bat of some sort, the fat lady tells her not to do anything and tries to stop her from doing it, but the manager of the wallgreens or so she claimed, doesn’t care and she hits me with the baseball bat in her hands, in my right arm , and then she hits my head on the left side, I am now on the floor crying and begging for anyone to help me… by trying to help someone of their community I now get beat up for it…. As im groaning in pain and to somebody call an ambulance but they were all just cursing me and telling me that I deserved it… even though I did nothing wrong but try to help a black person who was homeless! but nobody helped me me….

I knew I had to do something so I gather my last strength and I stand up and I run for my life, I lost my Samsung galaxy s23 fe that I had bought at metropcs, my wallet and my debit cards from td bank, as im fleeing the scene, in despair asking help to every person I meet on the street ,but nobody cares….,I even lost my bridge tooth that I had made that same day at Salinas & Ventura The Family Dentist Newark Dentist in Newark, New Jersey I was incredibly dizzy but nobody helped me… I knew I could find police in the Newark train station which was close by so I go there and the homeless man gave me my wallet back but it was emptied out and he helped carry me to the train station where I ask for the help of the police officers, they check me out and call an ambulance ,ln the hospital I told them what happened to me in Walgreens being violently attacked and they did not believe me again, they thought I was having delusions… so they did an xray of my arm and saw nothing even thought I was in incredible pain and having difficulty doing anything, they then decided I was having hallucinations about getting hit by a wallgreens manager and they put me in the psychiatric ward even thought I was just brutally attacked.

Best part, is now because of my “delusions” of getting hit by a bat, my arm suddenly dislocated as I was going to my bed on the 18^th of April… just 3 days after leaving the hospital, apparently I researched the internet and it shows (Research indicates that traumatic impacts can predispose individuals to delayed shoulder dislocations, often due to overlooked soft tissue injuries or minor fractures initially., and now best part is because of my “Delusions” also, I have to be in a mandatory outpatient treatment for 1 months from 9am to 3pm and if I don’t I will be put in the psychiatric ward again.

In the psych ward they also made me sign papers under duress ( I mean the manager Immanuel I couldn’t even speak to him properly, he came to me and said I would have to do a mandatory 6 month outpatient treatment at community psychiatric institute, I of course said hell no, and they came back with a paper and it said 1 month only… but I spoke to the program about this, and she told me its always 1 month… so now I understand that they give a 6month and obviously the patient always gets mad at it, and then they come back and say “hey look its now 1 month this is a great deal take it!” so people take it…. Again deception by the psychiatric ward manager Immanuel.


I do an online police report but then I go in person to go file a police report at 649 Market St, Newark, NJ 07105 , and I tell my story of what happened to me about the wallgreens incident to the inspector, at first he tells me to bring papers showing documentation, the next day I show him the papers but he is doubting my case of how this could possibly happen, I spend some time after 5 days or so I come back monday April 29th but hes not around so I leave my phone number in hopes I would get a call.

Tuesday April 30th I go to the psychiatric institute, where I left at about 12h30 , I went and in an spoke to the city hall of Newark , room 304 outside of it where I told the story about the wallgreens, first I got a call about my online police report and they tell me there’s no CC or a case number, they tell me to go to the police station on 22 franklin st where I tell what’s happening me to a police officer and he again also doubts of me, when I suddenly get a call from the detective and he tells me he saw the video footage and as he tells me that I was lying on speaker phone that no bat hit me as the police officer that is listening to this tells me to shoo away from the station…. but the problem is the officer only saw part of the video where I enter the store and then I try to enter and then I get pushed back, he did not see the part where she goes to hit me and then when other people join in and the baseball bat incident, this investigator essentially only saw what the wallgreens manager showed! … So this is my life… nobody believes a word I say all because I suffer from severe depression and am consequently mentally ill and everyone belives mentally ill people just lie..…

Thursday may 2^nd at about 12 am I go to the police station to show my further proof… they tell me the inspector saw the full video even thought he clearly did not due to making his job easier since im mentally ill, they don’t even want to show me the full video even thought I KNOW they didn’t watch it, and my councilman told me to go to internal affairs for the police where they conduct supervision of police wrongdoing, but he told me he is going to call them and if I appear there and im gonna be arrested for “False reporting”

So now I cant get a lawyer because I don’t have a criminal case from the police, the police do their job poorly (they screw up all the time Newark is filled with crime after crime) I cant file a report against the police.. I contacted 7 lawyers and they all tell me not without a report…. What do I do?Jerry Jurado at 253 Lafayette St, Newark, NJ 07105, had recommended me due to my high cholesterol, she tells me the pharmacy is closed even thought I told her I wanted a supplement not a medication and it was available on the aisles…

But she doesn’t give a shit and demands me to leave the establishment. There was a security guard and he proceeds to push me and I fell to the ground, I get up and I’m so pissed off that they think I’m going to rob the place that I even throw my debit cards to the floor asking them to buy it for me the stuff I needed so I could go back home and play my usual videogames , the manager of the Walgreens then comes to me and says she wants to hit me ,outside the wallgreens by the doorway, and then I say “why” and she proceeds to punch me, a black obese lady joins in and starts beating the shit out of me, other black people join in and start beating me up as the only white guy there…. and they start beating me up, at one point in on my knees surrounded by them and she brings a baseball bat of some sort, the fat lady tells her not to do anything and tries to stop her from doing it, but the manager of the wallgreens or so she claimed, doesn’t care and she hits me with the baseball bat in her hands, in my right arm , and then she hits my head on the left side, I am now on the floor crying and begging for anyone to help me… by trying to help someone of their community I now get beat up for it…. As im groaning in pain and to somebody call an ambulance but they were all just cursing me and telling me that I deserved it… even though I did nothing wrong but try to help a black person who was homeless! but nobody helped me me….

I knew I had to do something so I gather my last strength and I stand up and I run for my life, I lost my Samsung galaxy s23 fe that I had bought at metropcs, my wallet and my debit cards from td bank, as im fleeing the scene, in despair asking help to every person I meet on the street ,but nobody cares….,I even lost my bridge tooth that I had made that same day at Salinas & Ventura The Family Dentist Newark Dentist in Newark, New Jersey I was incredibly dizzy but nobody helped me… I knew I could find police in the Newark train station which was close by so I go there and the homeless man gave me my wallet back but it was emptied out and he helped carry me to the train station where I ask for the help of the police officers, they check me out and call an ambulance ,ln the hospital I told them what happened to me in Walgreens being violently attacked and they did not believe me again, they thought I was having delusions… so they did an xray of my arm and saw nothing even thought I was in incredible pain and having difficulty doing anything, they then decided I was having hallucinations about getting hit by a wallgreens manager and they put me in the psychiatric ward even thought I was just brutally attacked.

Best part, is now because of my “delusions” of getting hit by a bat, my arm suddenly dislocated as I was going to my bed on the 18^th of April… just 3 days after leaving the hospital, apparently I researched the internet and it shows (Research indicates that traumatic impacts can predispose individuals to delayed shoulder dislocations, often due to overlooked soft tissue injuries or minor fractures initially., and now best part is because of my “Delusions” also, I have to be in a mandatory outpatient treatment for 1 months from 9am to 3pm and if I don’t I will be put in the psychiatric ward again.

In the psych ward they also made me sign papers under duress ( I mean the manager Immanuel I couldn’t even speak to him properly, he came to me and said I would have to do a mandatory 6 month outpatient treatment at community psychiatric institute, I of course said hell no, and they came back with a paper and it said 1 month only… but I spoke to the program about this, and she told me its always 1 month… so now I understand that they give a 6month and obviously the patient always gets mad at it, and then they come back and say “hey look its now 1 month this is a great deal take it!” so people take it…. Again deception by the psychiatric ward manager Immanuel.


I do an online police report but then I go in person to go file a police report at 649 Market St, Newark, NJ 07105 , and I tell my story of what happened to me about the wallgreens incident to the inspector, at first he tells me to bring papers showing documentation, the next day I show him the papers but he is doubting my case of how this could possibly happen, I spend some time after 5 days or so I come back monday April 29th but hes not around so I leave my phone number in hopes I would get a call.

Tuesday April 30th I go to the psychiatric institute, where I left at about 12h30 , I went and in an spoke to the city hall of Newark , room 304 outside of it where I told the story about the wallgreens, first I got a call about my online police report and they tell me there’s no CC or a case number, they tell me to go to the police station on 22 franklin st where I tell what’s happening me to a police officer and he again also doubts of me, when I suddenly get a call from the detective and he tells me he saw the video footage and as he tells me that I was lying on speaker phone that no bat hit me as the police officer that is listening to this tells me to shoo away from the station…. but the problem is the officer only saw part of the video where I enter the store and then I try to enter and then I get pushed back, he did not see the part where she goes to hit me and then when other people join in and the baseball bat incident, this investigator essentially only saw what the wallgreens manager showed! … So this is my life… nobody believes a word I say all because I suffer from severe depression and am consequently mentally ill and everyone belives mentally ill people just lie..…

Thursday may 2^nd at about 12 am I go to the police station to show my further proof… they tell me the inspector saw the full video even thought he clearly did not due to making his job easier since im mentally ill, they don’t even want to show me the full video even thought I KNOW they didn’t watch it, and my councilman told me to go to internal affairs for the police where they conduct supervision of police wrongdoing, but he told me he is going to call them and if I appear there and im gonna be arrested for “False reporting”

32 years old. 9 year old kid.
As title says got a Backpay from taxes of about 20k. Between me and my wife. From my disability.
We have a mortgage of about 150k left of 185k total. Monthly payment of about 950.
We owe currently 34,000 on our credit cards and LOC. Combined.
22k for her. 17 credit. 6 LoC 12k for me. 9 credit 2 LoC.
Both credit cards are standard 19.99% interest rates. LoC is prime + which I believe is currently 13%.
I was unsure if we should just be snowballing/avalanching the debt down. With the money. Or what to do with it.
Overall we are a single family income am the stay at home parent. Looking to potentially further myself with education. And get back working. Eventually.
Hopefully computers? Where I can work remotely?
Became disabled so in the process of applying but will take time. For federal disability.
Also will get help from the metis federation which helps education provincially.
Autistic/ADHD
So I have no income. EI is not an option nor is EIA wife makes too much. Federal disability takes up to a year. So I'm just floating till then right now.
Was a Painter previously fire/flood restoration, before disability.
Wife works she makes about 45k a year before tax. So we are mostly living pay cheque to pay cheque.
We had a major sit down last night to discuss the root of the problem a lack of recovery since almost covid. Living on credit cards. Now interest is the problem.
We are going to budget/cut the cards/remove spending except minimum as that is truly what got us into the problem.
But curious if anything else I'm not thinking about. Few ideas I had were not sure if possible for the wife to take a consolidated loan for lower interest?, or we both have high credit 750+ could we safely do a balance transfer with a 0% APR card?
It feels like a no brainer but really don't want to make mistakes on this chance.
Long post but here is some info about us. Such as a rough current budget.
I had a surgery that costed us about 5k we put on the credit card *worst decision ever.. * . It was basically an emergency. And before that were living on our credit cards for awhile just buying groceries and things back around Covid
financially we are in a better place and now she got a much better job.
it's majorly the interest from before more holding us back from putting back into savings
We already do planning of meals and cook from home I never made a direct budget yet this would be the next step as well in this process.
But in general my wife makes about 2400 a month. Take home. Our bills look like this. Or roughly this.
950 for mortgage
500 for groceries
200 gas
150 car insurance
100 cell phone.
100 utilities
350 interest/minimum payment on card (which id love to snowball down into paying other stuff off not go oh I have 300 more to spend but that now this 300 would be spent into other direct snowball bills.)
Total= about 2350 a month.
And I know I potentially missed something. But she's near her max on her take home.
I have a small income now but not much. . But I was paying the entertainment stuff Netflix outings etc.
Now my bills
50 medical prescription
60 health plan insurance.
100 phone.
100 Internet. (About to run out and shopping around for a cheaper package/deal already) (We're already jointed and want to drop our contract lower but are locked in for a bit. So that's also.. something we're looking at. As in a different cheaper provider. We use Netflix as tv source to avoid cable packages.
25 Netflix
200 credit card minimum. (Same exact ideal or problem as my wife. I'd like to attempt to snowball down and directly funnel into the same snowball. System with her card..)
All in all I owe about 550 a month and make my payments but barely make it..
So the goal or hope.. was to snowball all my debt down like credit card. And then any money I get funnel into her debt.
Sorry about the long response hope this maybe gives enough insight or help. To give advice.
Sorry for jumble and formating. Any and all advice appreciated.