I know this has been getting a lot of press in the news and a lot of posting on this sub, most of it being about the conservation angle, but bear with me here. If you're sick of hearing about threatened swallows and bats and salamanders and rare wetlands and native grasslands, let's talk finances, and a plan to shift funding that the developer had already committed to onto Alberta taxpayers. (Credit to my dad here, who like a good rural Albertan always reads the county council minutes in the local papers. I've generally read the stories on this that go through the major news outlets but I haven't seen this angle covered.)
This is from Kneehill County Meeting Minutes, May 02:
https://www.threehillscapital.com/news/11453

The background for the request is stated: “James Zelazo has been working very hard to move this project forward. The proposed project is within an approved Area Structure Plan. As per his subdivision application and his Development Agreement, he is required to build and pave 5.88 miles of the access road from Highway 9 to the site. He has found it challenging to raise investor funds for the construction of the road as well as the security required since it is an asset that they won’t own, so he has been in contact with different ministers to see what funding may be available to help facilitate this portion of the project.” The County has heard that the STIP – LMI (Local Municipal Initiatives) stream would be the best program for funding; a grant that is 75% province and 25% municipality “and suggested the Developer (Badlands Motorsport) could make an arrangement with the Municipality to pay the Municipality’s 25% share.” The cost could be $15M total. This information was shared with Council by the Developer.
Council moved to send a letter to confirm the above information with Minister Dresheen, and to ensure that this funding would not decrease the County’s normal STIP funding which is used for bridges and roads. Council, with all in favour, approved the writing of a letter. Reeve King noted that this is a made in Kneehill County project, with all revenue staying in the County.

So just to summarize:

• One of the only requirements that Kneehill County* gave the developer is that the developer had to develop and pave the road to connect the site with the #9 highway, which the developer agreed to. The estimated cost for this is $15m.
• Now, the developer has been unable to raise those funds through its investors.
• The developer has been in touch with ministries regarding funding.
• The county has heard that a local municipal initiatives fund would be most appropriate for this grant, which stipulates 75% paid by the province, 25% paid by the municipality.
• The muncipality is further suggesting that the developer pay the municipality's share, and is sending a letter to Minister Dresheen to inquire further, making sure doing so wouldn't impact other funding the county receives through this grant.

Now, there are a lot of things to unpack here. I think the biggest is that the developer is already reneging on financial commitments made. This should be absolutely a red flag that the project is not on solid financial footing, and devoting provincial money to it, especially with the lack of review that this has received, is absolutely irresponsible. And if the investors are looking to shirk responsibility for the road because it's an asset they don't own, how can we expect them to uphold the bare minimum of the environmental protections they've given vague lip-service about honouring?
Additionally: who are the ministries that the developer inquired with? Presumably Minister Dresheen's department of Transportation. Then someone with the county heard that the MLI grant would be appropriate? Who advised them of that? The Department of Transportation, perhaps? Then a plan is hatched for the developer to pay the county's share of that, removing any county obligation? Is it just me or does it sound like this is all a plan for the government to back the project specifically with taxpayer money, without having the province have to go through the usual optics of supporting a controversial project, and without having the county pony up their end of the cash normally required for this grant?
Regardless of who's idea this end-around is, it's an abuse of the concept of shared-infrastructure spending. The point of having shared infrastructure spending between multiple levels of government is so that both levels of government have skin in the game, so to speak; that a municipality identifies priorities that it is willing to put its own budget behind. If the municipality is not standing behind this grant as something that they are willing to invest in, then it is no longer a shared infrastructure expense but a direct government handout to support a controversial development that lacks its own solid investors. If his own investors don't want to pay for this road, and the county doesn't want to pay for this road, why should provincial taxpayers be paying for this road, when it serves nobody except the developer and the track's private users? The purpose of infrastructure investment should be to support things that are to the benefit of people who live in the area, not prop up a high-risk development that primarily provides benefit to people outside the district, in the hopes of future tax revenue. Are people in other small towns okay with the government taking money out of this infrastructure investment fund to save private developments?
* For some additional background on the county politics here, the development is on the very corner of Kneehill County, and bordered on three sides by Wheatland County; this includes the nearby community of Rosebud. As such most of the locals who object to this are in Wheatland County, and have no standing or connections to challenge this in Kneehill County. This would absolutely be quashed if the development had to go through Wheatland County instead. Kneehill County is highly financially motivated at the moment because another one of their big-development-for-tax-revenue schemes, a plan to build a massive landfill near the village of Carbon to handle waste material from Calgary, fell through this month after a huge local outcry. But with the racetrack, the outcry isn't from their own constituents so they'll do whatever they can to push that through, and the more of the bill the province foots, the better.
TL;DR: After having already talked to the government, a racetrack developer tells county to get $15m grant for the road development that he had previously agreed to pay; he'll pay them back the required municipal portion of the grant to get around the grant's requirements.

So I'm on a work trip across the country (Canada) and while I am given a certain amount of money for hotels, I am trying to save this by sleeping in the truck. Sleeping part is fine, and I have a membership at PF so workouts and hygiene is covered too.
The diet I am finding to be honestly kinda tough. I have an electric egg cooker which has been amazing for making hard boiled eggs (plugs directly into the outlet in the truck console), but otherwise I need other protein sources. Can't live off of bananas, nuts and eggs.
Now I do have a cooler, but it's pretty small. Been trying to avoid having to use it but I guess I might have to huh?
Any little hacks or tricks other gym bros would be willing to share?

I think I've had this dream twice now. One time just now, I woke up fresh at 2am lol We are 3 girls in Germany who played a kind of game in which we start a round. At first we didn't get along well, or rather, I was the odd one out. But even though we were strangers to each other, we had to unite in the first round. Unfortunately, I can't remember what the beginning was like, so I'll talk about the round we just had now :')
We're approaching the start in a somewhat relaxed manner; we've already completed several laps in ththis, always the same map. There is a fashion store in front of us that we run through. I don't even remember who the enemy was, we just ran through it as if our lives depended on it. I think it was one of those dolls or an employee. There is something like a safe point behind the fashion store. We shovel ice cream and Jell-O in there, which really helps with my nerves.
"I don't want this, I can't go through this a fifth time!" I whine like a baby.
"Ah yes, last round you said, 'Now I don't have to be afraid of anything!' " cried the one I was clinging to, laughing.
I don't know if you're real, but I think we're really good friends now. And I know that for sure when I cling to arms that don't belong to me xD The other one treated herself to a fat ladle of jelly and vanilla sauce✨️✨️
And then it started. We are further and have seen our opponent. My perception always said that it was a mannequin, but it still somehow looked like an old man, about 50 years old. The next hunt takes place again in a fashion store and then goes outside. Into a city that I have no idea about and where I can hardly see anything while running. My heart was really racing and I was sure that I wouldn't be able to do it this time because I can never really get around the corners. Then it started, we ran like crazy, a doll came from behind and pushed away cupboards that I had put in her way. From then on the others were gone. So not gone in the sense of 'poof, just disappeared', but rather we were spread out and couldn't see each other. From then on I don't know what to do next. I forced myself to wake up because of the fear of these dolls because the doll came way too close to me and I fell on the floor and then lay on my back. The doll (or rather the old man in black leather clothes) then stood in front of me, pulled away the cupboards on the sides and stared down at me.
I hope you two managed it without me. I would have loved to tell you directly that I was going to Reddit, but that wasn't possible. If I were out of the “game” now, it would be a real shame. We are a really good team and I really have a feeling of friendship around you. After I woke up, my heart was really racing. After a few minutes, tears welled up in my eyes for no reason, even though I wasn't sad. To be honest, I really deeply regret waking up in the middle of it. Maybe you would have saved me after all. I hope that if you are truly genuine, your path will lead you here. I would really like to become friends with you in real life, you don't seem like you're just fictional people. I hope we find each other outside of dreams too.

AITA for suggesting queuing up at the grocery store would be a good idea?
To give some clarification, I (37M) was out at the grocery and queued up in the under 25 items line.
The line was starting to go into the walking aisle, so naturally I queue at an angle to the right, away from the walk way.
After I queued up, a man maybe in his 50s rolled his cart up in the middle of the walk way.
I advised him the line started behind me. He acknowledged and said “I know” and just smiled and stood there.
A few moments pass and an elderly man rolls up, with a confused look, he looks to the man for direction, and the man waiting in the middle of the walk way looks at the elderly man and shrugs.
At this point, all I’m thinking is “doesn’t this man have any sense of awareness or social etiquette”.
A few more moments pass, an elderly lady rolls up, now there’s the man in his 50s, an elderly man maybe 70s on the left of him, and and elderly lady maybe in her 70s to the right of him.
At this moment I say to the man in the middle of the walk way “it would probably be easier and less confusing for everyone if you queue that way in one direction” as I point to the right behind me out of the walkway.
It’s at this moment a man in his 40s who’s in front of me turns around and says to me “leave him alone, if you talked to me like that I wouldn’t be so nice”, which I replied “the suggestion wasn’t about either of you, but about the two confused elderly people and any other patrons that try to queue up” and proceeded to point to the particularly confused elderly lady.
At this point the man in his 40s in front of me begins to argue that it doesn’t matter what those elderly people do and that I should mind my own business.
At this point I just pointed to the confused old lady and said “I would if the other patrons weren’t being confused by the lack of proper queueing, do you not have any consideration for her?”
At this point the man looks at me and growls “just mind your business and don’t talk to me like that” and I responded “and I’d appreciate if you don’t talk to me like that” which he replied by getting in my face acting tough and saying “what are you going to do about it”
I didn’t feel like dealing with assault charges today. So I looked him over, and thought about it for a second.
After a moment of observation, I deduced based off of the way he was acting like he was in a bar while in line at the grocery and his unkempt appearance, that this man, is probably under the influence of narcotics or alcohol, and likely has warrants, so I said to him “I think I’ll just call the cops”, he scoffed and quickly turned around and placed his items on the register and scuttled away after check out murmuring “stupid democrats”
I’m not a “partisan” but am I the asshole?

I live in Oklahoma City and am being charged with Embezzlement by my former employer. The amount in question is more than $300 but less than $500.
Instead of issuing a citation, I was allowed to leave the store on my own on 3/23 of this year. I heard nothing for over a month then I got a letter in the mail from the OKC municipal court stating I had an active warrant. The letter was issued 5/13 and I received it 5/16.
I called the court and they said to come in to schedule an arraignment hearing and pleaded that I will not go to jail if I do so. Is this true?
They also said the warrant will be dropped if I schedule a hearing.
I intend on pleading Not Guilty at arraignment, but I’m afraid if I do so they’ll put me in jail. Should I fear this?
I can’t afford legal counsel, I was quoted $7500. Is court provided counsel biased in any way?
I’m hoping to be able to just pay a fine and have the charges dropped, how likely is this scenario and what are the next steps I should take?
Note: I have not gone to the court yet so I still have an active warrant
Thanks for any and all help.

Post to Media Research/Study Website
URL: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2377-social-media-hiring.html
Title: Keep It Clean: Social Media Screenings Gain in Popularity
Author: David Cotriss
Date: November 20, 2023
Personal profile or professional profile? Social media is a fun way to express yourself and interact with family, friends, and new faces all over the world. It can be used as a way to keep people you can not see as often updated on your life, as well as give you a chance to step into the personal moments of your friends lives. However, while social media may seem like a very personal media that you are only sharing with specific people, it can still serve as a public link to your entire social media history of posts, likes and comments for the entire world to see. As it turns out many companies in the modern day hiring process go through what is known as a media screening for both their new and existing employees. This calls for people to start keeping their social media profiles more professional rather than personal. These screenings can range across all social media sites along with any online presences across the internet.
First Media Key: Balance
The first media key is Balance which is known as the foundation for all of the other media keys and is vital to understanding how to use the remaining six of the media keys correctly. When job recruiters or interviewers look at social media platforms there is a chance they can be looking to see if the profile has good balance. This means they will be looking at the media provided on the profile from all angles to try and see who the user truly is as a person and what their personality and work ethic could be like. This means that when posting, you too need to understand your use of social media and how what you are doing may look from an outside perspective. The level of understanding you have on your personal profile’s outside image will be determined by your combined understanding of all seven of the media keys.
Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
Every media creator has an attitude and it is up to the creature to project the attitude they want to portray. This continues to apply to social media profiles so people should be aware of the attitude they portray on social media and if it is a professional one or one that could possibly hurt their experience as an employee. Employers when looking at a candidate's social media page will be keeping a close eye out for if they express any values or project any messages. Values can be seen in both a positive and negative light in the hiring process depending on what the value is and the situation it is brought up in. Whether it is blown up and in your face or more subtle, every media maker also has an agenda. Job recruiters will of course be looking to see if the candidate’s agenda and values align or contradict with the agendas and values of the company.
Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person
Another quality job recruiters may be looking out for is how you show dignity to the human person. They will often be looking to see if the candidate exemplifies dignity through how they interact with people online and how they talk about other human beings through both posts and comment sections. All media put onto a social media profile should always reflect, uphold and enhance human dignity. The profile should also promote that you both understand and are trying to help other people understand communities and the human person. Recruiters will be looking to see how you positively shed light on what makes humans unique and interesting all in their own special, God given ways. The main way to show understanding of human dignity is to treat people as humans and not as objects. A good way to show this is by portraying anti-suicide and anti-abortion values because it will show a true understanding of the value of human life and why it is so precious and needs to be protected.
Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled
Something that job recruiters will always be looking to see is if your social media presence is truth filled or if you are spreading false truths and misinformation. Media can be a great outlet in helping to spread truths from humanity to God and everything in between. However, the media being an open outlet for free speech also leads to a plethora of misinformation, rumors, and lies that get spread across the internet. Job interviewers in this case will be heavily checking profiles for if the user can be seen spreading false information and trying to mislead or confuse others. It is also important to note that users should not tell lies about the human condition through their media and that it is possible for their media to be truthful without being one hundred percent accurate.
Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
Another way to look at a social media profile is to see if it inspires others positively or negatively. If a profile only talks about or shows what’s wrong with the world with a negative outlook on mankind, then there is a good chance that what you are putting out on social media is inspiring people negatively and causing them to see the world in a more negative and down sided way. A better way to direct your profile is by showing more of the positive outlooks on life with more happy tones that will inspire people in a positive way. Good goals to have when creating a positively inspiring profile is asking can this be used to help point the way toward Heaven and can this be used to help someone pursue virtue in a relationship with God. Media at its worst will point people in the wrong direction and towards a bad life, but media at its best can enlighten people, raise questions, help people grow in virtue, and inspire them to live better, more holy lifestyles.
Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
One key that can really help set a profile apart from the crowd is if it is skillfully developed. Social media profiles are something people do for fun so the aesthetic, level of detail, and depth of the profile is not a requirement and completely up to the user. With that being said, making your profile professional and quality is a great way of showing companies that you are a person who applies effort and achieves quality in everything that you do. Media should always be produced well so our personal profiles are no different. Producing quality is essential if you want job recruiters to see your profile positively and especially if you want them to pay attention to what you post and create.
Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience
When trying to keep a profile professional it can be important to keep in mind what is relevant to the human experience. What you post on social media should be rooted in the realities of the world and through our own human experiences. Ways to keep your profile likable while still keeping it professional is by presenting messages which are relevant to your audience or following. If viewers are able to relate positively to what you post then they are more likely to have a positive perspective of you which gives you a better chance of being hired. However, it is important to remember to appeal to positive senses and emotions rather than one’s that can be seen more negatively. With all of this in mind, however, it is still important to express yourself and who you are, but also very important to make sure that who you are showing yourself as is a good, motivated person.

So, I ordered food from one store. The store canceled my order for some reason. DoorDash then says they’ve refunded me and that if I order right now from a different store, they’ll send it directly to me (meaning it won’t be a batch order with someone else’s food being delivered before mine.) So I did. And it ended up being a batch order anyway, and the extra stop on my dasher’s way to me took FOREVER. The only reason why I ended up ordering something new was because of this rare opportunity to actually receive warm food in a reasonable time frame. Should I contact support about this, or am I being a Karen? Had this ever happened to anyone else?
Disclaimer: I know this is not my dasher’s fault whatsoever and will be giving her 5 stars regardless and I already tipped 20%; please don’t hate me

Hi, David here!
Many guys wrongly believe that attraction works like a video game, and that the time they spend investing in another person is the equivalent of building up experience points. They believe that these accumulated points will later make it more likely that the other person will say "yes" when they finally make a direct move.
But this is not how attraction works. You cannot barter for attention, affection, love or approval.
In most situations, time is not on your side. The longer you wait to make your honest intentions known, the less likely the other person will find you attractive. A woman can tell when a guy likes her, and if you spend weeks pretending that you are just only being "nice" and just want to be friends, she may lose respect for you as a man. (Side note: In an initial interaction it can be beneficial to take it a bit slow and leave space for comfort and attraction to develop. This post is aimed at the guys who spend months trying to win a person over.)
Being hesitant can communicate that a person lacks self confidence. If you don’t believe that you are good enough, then why should the other person think anything different? Doubting yourself is the quickest way to instill doubt in another person.
This form of unattractive hesitance should not to be confused with traits such as being calm, composed, cautious and not over eager or reckless. You can be both forward and direct as well as polite, patient and respectful of another person.
Everything you propose should be interpreted as an offer with no strings attached. That is, you don’t need a specific result or outcome in response to what you propose. If the person is down then cool, if not no problem. This creates a low pressure situation where the other person will feel more comfortable saying yes.
​
Adding to that, I just finished putting together my dating eBook "How to Date Any Girl" version 4.0 and would LOVE to get some honest feedback from you!
I decided to give it away for free for the time being.
​
The eBook is 27 pages long and gives you a practical step-by-step solution to meeting women (15+ years of knowledge put into it).
You can get the eBook by clicking here!
​
This book is the result of going out and socializing with girls for over a decade. I have put in there all the fundamentals I have learned over that time so I would really appreciate all the feedback I could get!!
​
What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips to add?
Let's discuss in the comments :)
Thanks for reading and have a GREAT day!
Coach David

Hello all, I completed level 1 and 2 for track 1 caring4cal. Has any IHSS provider figured out how to complete level 3? I am trying to find the correct program to get the title I want. I want the “Substance Abuse Peer Counselor” title after registering for the certificate program. I cannot find the program. It must be possible to complete level 3. I am just having a hard time finding the resources. Been searching for 2 days and I have made no progress. I have an appointment with a coach from caring4cal in 2 days. I want to write a list of questions to ask, and I wanted to have my research in depth before the appointment. I wanted some direction. Some possible solutions. I thoroughly read the caring4cal info. Looked into the courses. Other academic institutions. I even decided a “CHW” title would be fine. I looked and looked and looked. I cannot find the program or academic institution. I sent an email to another organization and they couldn’t help either. So here I am. Any IHSS providers who completed level 3? Any suggestions? Any websites that offers the certificates for the correct CHW titles on the list?

Hey there,
I've done a lot of research on this sub as well as spoken to many different people (sales staff, family, friends etc.) and am honestly very lost on what TV, if any, would be ideal for my new living space.
My wife and I moved into a condo where there is a lot of light in the living room (see pictures below) and the light is coming from the north and east directions. I am just renting this place so installing blinds is not an option for us at this point.
A few details about the setup:

• Distance between couch and tv: Approx 5ft
  
• Preferred screen size: 55in
  
• Viewing angle: Living room is slanted (lol) but the idea is to align the tv so that we are viewing it straight on
  
• Usage: Mostly watching streaming content (Netflix, Prime, etc.)
  
• Example Pictures of living space
  

Based on the research I have done, OLED is probably not the way to go for this room. I've gone in person to check out a few of the QLED models and in store, it was really hard for me to judge based on the placement of tvs as well as the lighting etc. so I got even more confused. My feeling right now is that I should either look at the X90L or the Samsung Q90D (but again, I'm confused about the reviews on the 55" panel). I know questions like these to compare tvs have been asked so many times, but would really appreciate any advice for what would make a good tv for this space

I'm pretty new to using larger drive arrays and this seemed like the kind of place where people have things figured out. My apologies if this is basic knowledge, but my internet searching didn't seem to reveal a consensus. I have a Mac Studio that I use as my main machine with 14+ Tb (out of 36Tb total) of mostly RAW photos stored on a 4-Bay OWC Thunderbay enclosure (Raid 5 via SoftRaid). This enclosure is directly connected to the mac via a Thunderbolt 3 (type-C connector) to the Mac. What drives me crazy is that, for reasons unknown to me, all day everyday, the drives seem to be spinning up, spinning down, spinning up, spinning down. Rest for 2 minutes, then spin up again and down again. I had been sleeping the Mac and allowing it to sleep my disks, but no matter what settings I tried it always woke from sleep about every 5 minutes, and would spin up the drive array, only to immediately go back to sleep and deactivate them. After about 2 years of this, My Hitachi drives eventually had catastrophic failures, and corrupted HFS+ volumes. I was able to recover most of the data from various backup schemes. I decided to replace the 4 drives with Segate Datacenter Exos Enterprise drives, thinking that I would change my approach and never allow the mac to sleep (just the displays). I hoped this would mean that the drives would stay powered up and always spinning, so hopefully avoiding the massive wear and tear I was getting before through constant power cycling and mechanical acceleration. My plan seems to be failing. I never sleep the Mac, and I've tried every setting I can find in the UI menus. Even if I haven't touched the machine in days, it is still spinning up, spinning down, spinning up, spinning down every minute or so. And to make matters worse, these Enterprise drives are LOUD. My poor daughter, who tries to sleep in the room next to my computer can hear the drives all night "Growling" at her, crunching, and spasming and spinning loudly, even when I haven't asked to access the volumes in days. I know modern OS'es run things in the background, like indexing, Time Machine, search optimization, caching stuff, etc. But is it really so constant? And why can't I seem to prevent the drives from ever turning off, which I assume (power waste aside) would be better for the health of the drives? I just want to have a large Raid 5 drive directly connected to my desktop machine, with a fast connection for things like 8k video editing, and not feel like the drives are constantly power cycling themselves into an early grave. I've got to be missing something obvious here...

The stress of the last six months has nearly killed me. Besides the general cratering of the outside world—political strife, climate change, inflated rents, corporate greed, and the baffling resurgence of crew socks—my internal life was falling apart, too. I'm at the point where I can't see a way out of the darkness, and that feeling has only grown in the last few days.
My struggles ramped up exponentially in the last two weeks. It started when my long-term girlfriend and I called it quits after five years. There was no definitive relationship-altering fight or infidelity. It was simply the boring banality of the "roommate-ification" of our lives together. We both felt the shift but never talked about it. Turns out communication is important.
Truthfully, we'd stayed together for so long because we couldn't afford to live apart. Our rent had nearly doubled the last time we re-upped our lease but even that was a bargain compared to what was out there currently. We were trapped by our need to have a roof over our heads.
My job had stagnated, and I couldn't find anything better. I was stuck. Like me, she'd been job hunting as well. Unlike me, she had a master's, and her prospects should've been higher. They weren't. For five months, she applied to hundreds of jobs and couldn't break through. If she got a rejection email, it was a win. Most of the time, the companies never responded.
Finally, she found a great opportunity at a Fortune 500 company. It was an involved process. She nailed the five interviews, and her "test project" was well received. She was offered the position, and it came with a massive pay increase—double her current salary. I was proud of her—she needed a win. We celebrated with pizza and beer that night.
Two days later, she dropped the bomb that she was breaking things off. The relationship ending wasn't a surprise. The timing was. The discussion was brief, and there was zero chance of reconciliation. She declined when I asked if she could stay until the lease ended. Mentally, it would've been too much for her. Two days after that, she moved out, taking half the rent with her. I was stuck in a lease I couldn't afford on my salary for the next six months.
My free time evaporated as I took on two extra gigs to help make ends meet. In addition to my office nine to five, I drove for a delivery app on the weekends and took a part-time night job stocking shelves at a local grocery store. When I wasn't hustling for housing, I slept or ate. I did nothing beyond that. Nothing brings me joy. There is no spark.
This drudgery has become my daily routine, and it's killing me.
To help cover some cost gaps, I've started selling off some of my stuff online. It was just me here, and I decided that the Spartan lifestyle would have to work for now. Anything I could fetch a decent amount for went up for sale. My apartment is so empty now every noise causes an echo.
Before my shift at the grocery store, I agreed to meet someone who wanted to take a look at my kitchen table. It was a lovely table – my ex had obsessed over it – but I didn't see a need at the moment. Now that I was a bachelor, my TV trays became my default kitchen tables anyway. I wasn't planning on any dinner parties in the future anyway.
A couple showed up later than they said they would. It was a bored-looking guy and a fastidious young woman. She made friendly small talk as she looked over the table. Her boyfriend (I think) stayed quiet and played bodyguard. I gave him a friendly nod at one point, and he just looked away. She said they'd take it without trying to talk me down. I took the small win.
She asked if I could help carry it down to their truck. I was running late, but feeling helpful, even for a fleeting few seconds, was worth it. Her silent boyfriend and I hauled the table through the hallway and even managed to avoid hitting the walls the entire way down.
I placed it in their truck, got my money, and turned to leave. The girl said thanks, and the boyfriend finally returned the nod. I gave a weird half-wave to them both and started to walk away when I heard the passenger window being rolled down.
"Hey man," the boyfriend said, his voice higher pitched than I thought it would. "What was up with your brother giving us the evil eye in the lobby when we got here?"
I turned around, "Huh? I don't have a brother."
"A cousin then?"
"My family lives about a thousand miles away. What happened in the lobby?"
"A dude that looked just like you was hiding in a dark hallway in the lobby and staring at my girl's ass."
"Jacob, really," she said.
"I'm sorry that happened, but I had nothing to do with it. We do have the occasional homeless guy meander in. Maybe you saw one of them," I said. "Did he say or do anything bad?"
"Jacob, I asked you to not say something," the girl said, burying her head in her hands.
Jacob's frosty attitude to me made sense now. "He said something about running up that ass. I dunno, he was mumbling. I told him I'd beat his ass if he didn't stop staring. Seemed to shut him up."
"Oh. Well, congrats," I said. "I'll tell the manager. Thanks for letting me know."
"You should do a better job keeping jokers like that out of the building."
"Jacob, he's not a security guard."
"He should still be a man and protect his home."
"Have a good night," I said, ending the conversation and heading back up to my apartment. I had about five minutes to change and head out before I'd be late. Last thing my ego needed was to be fired from my backup job.
Thankfully, I was able to slip into work and not get spotted by my boss. That was the last of the good news, though. We had a massive weekly order come in, which meant I'd be there late, plus someone had called out. Worse, our hand truck had a flat tire, and I spent the next few hours torturing my muscles, schlepping heavy boxes around the store. I soldiered on, counting down the minutes until I left and fantasizing about going to bed for the night.
If wishing for sleep wasn't a sad statement to my mental well-being, nothing was.
I came home after my shift at the grocery store and plopped down on the couch. I had contemplated selling it, but it was an older Ikea number, and I didn't think the value would replace my desire to sit. I could feel my body sink into the cushions, and the day's tension seep out. I was beat and tired to the point that turning on the TV was a chore.
I picked up my phone and thought I'd doomscroll until sleep overtook me. I didn't expect it to be a long scroll, as even the methadone that is my phone has failed me lately. As I lowered myself from a slumped position to a supine one, I heard footsteps outside my apartment door. This was not unusual, but the noise I heard sounded like kid footsteps. That was unusual, as nobody on our floor had kids, and it was almost midnight.
Despite my body screaming at me to not move, my brain suggested I check it out. I rolled myself off the couch and eventually stood up. I listened again and heard the kid running down the hallway. I walked over to my door and looked out the peephole. I didn't see anyone.
"Maybe I'm dreaming," I said to myself. "Maybe I'm not staring out a peephole, expecting to see a kid running down the hall at midnight, but instead, I'm cuddled up in my bed, snoozing." I pinched my arm and felt the pain. I was definitely in the waking world.
I turned to head back to the couch when I heard the running again, this time louder. I opened my door and peeked out into the hallway. Nobody was there. The door from the apartment across me opened up, too. Gloria, a young at heart grandma who was friendly/constantly buzzed in a wine mom kind of way, gave me a once over.
"You heard that, too?" she asked.
"Kids?"
"No rugrats around. I assumed it was some drunk assholes stumbling home from the bar."
I laughed. Gloria was, as always, blunt. "I didn't see any assholes," I said.
"Then you're not watching the right kind of internet videos," she said with a wink and a hoarse cackle.
I blushed. How do you respond to that? I just kind of nodded in agreement and shrugged.
"Gotta get your jollies while you can," she said before adding, "You need some rest, dear. You look like hammered shit." She shut her door and went back inside.
She was right. I felt like hammered shit. Since I wasn't going to solve the case of the mysterious runner and was sure it wasn't some lost kid, I decided to call it a night. I went back inside, shut down the apartment, and crawled into bed.
I thought about watching one of the "right kind of internet videos" but fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
***
"Your problem is you think the world owes you something."
John, my elderly coworker at the grocery store, was standing by while I unloaded a pallet of cereal. I liked John, and when I first started, we instantly clicked. He's quick with a joke and fun to talk to. He's also about thirty years older than me and speaks with the Boomer combination of accumulated wisdom, backhanded compliments, and fringe conspiracy nonsense. Still, regardless of how couched the kindness is in gobbledygook, he's usually coming from a good place.
"What?" I said, putting a box of Captain Crunch on the shelf.
"You're complaining about your situation, right? Saying it ain't fair. The world took a paddle to your hind quarters? Hey brother, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Gotta just pick yourself up and start over. You're smart enough – figured this job out right quick – you can do it."
The job was wheeling pallets around the store and stocking shelves. It wasn't much to figure out, but I understood his meaning. The other stuff wasn't necessary, though. "I'm just in a funk. I don't see a way forward."
"Hey, so you've bottomed out. No shame in that. Happens to us all. Silver lining, you can only go up," he said before adding, "Unless some other bad shit happens to you like your car dies or your apartment building burns down. But after that, it's only up."
"The apartment building burning down would be a blessing," I said, hoisting another little Captain on the shelf. "The rent is killing me."
"Have you tried negotiating a lower rent? They used to do that when I was your age."
"I think they'd evict me if I even asked."
"Hell, then you'd have at least thirty days, maybe forty, before they'd kick you out. Plenty of time to turn things around."
"Uh-huh," I said, "Any chance you could give me a hand here?"
"My back is screaming like a pretty young thing after prom," he said, holding his back for emphasis.
I didn't push. "Hey, I meant to tell you about some weird shit that happened the other night."
"Lay it on me. I love the strange."
"So, after my shift the other day, I got home around midnight and was flopped on the couch. I heard someone running down the hallway outside my apartment. I wasn't the only one. A few other neighbors heard it, too. When we checked, though, nobody was there."
"That ain't strange," John said, waving his hand, "that's a man who's plowing another man's wife running for his life."
I laughed. "That's not the weird part. So, for the next two nights, it's the same thing. Around midnight, someone runs down the hallway. Only this time, they're trying the door handles as they pass. So, I asked the front desk to check the security cameras, and they do."
"They see a man running away holding his clothes?"
"There wasn't anyone running down the hall," I said, "But the weird thing was, you could see the door handles turning on the video."
"Damn, that's a good one," John said, "You sure it wasn't just a camera glitch. These new ones from overseas aren't as reliable as they want you to think. Chinese probably using them to spy on you, too."
He continued as my brain tried to reconcile John's two opposing comments. "Weird shit happens at night, man. Before working here, I only worked the day shift. Even when they offered me more money to work nights, I turned it down. Even when they promised me a promotion, I turned them down."
In a previous life, John had worked as a paramedic. He came by it after serving in a medical unit in the army. He'd told me he loved the rush of the job, but after a while, the death and hurt in people's eyes got to be too much to handle. But he worked there for almost twenty years. So, the man had a tolerance for shenanigans and odd occurrences.
"Why'd you agree to work nights here?"
"Shit, we're home before the witching hour. This is like late afternoons, at best. But if it was overnights, hell no. Captain Crunch can anchor his own ship to the shelves. I'd take my ass to 7-11 for a day shift before agreeing to work an overnight."
"Something happen to you during the army?”
“I got the clap,” he offered.
I sighed. “What turned you off nights?"
"Oh. I heard enough stories from coworkers to know I didn't want to experience any of that hoo-doo shit," he said, "trying to save someone's life is hard enough without adding in demon kids and ghosts."
"Did your coworkers see demon kids?" I asked, moving on from the good Captain to the Trix rabbit.
He nodded, "They saw too much. I find it odd, even with all the surveillance we have now and all the science we know about these days, that the night still scares us. You ever know someone who worked a night shift?"
I had. My ex. During college, she worked the overnight desk at a hotel for a while. She quit because the job gave her bad vibes. I told John as much.
He pointed and laughed, "See! Don't you find it odd that every person who works at night always has a story of something eerie happening to them? Every person, buster. That's what they call an irrefutable fact."
"Maybe the ghost running down the hallway is an old employee still doing his rounds."
"In that case, keep that door double locked. I'd even wedge a towel under the door just in case."
"Maybe they're friendly? Casper-like in that way."
"You ever heard someone tell you about a friendly ghost outside the funny papers?"
"I'm sure it happens," I said, "The scary ghosts are more popular though."
“We think we know everything there is to know but we are just babes in the woods when it comes to night things.” John shook his head. "Imma tell you one or three things that happened to a guy I worked with back when I first got hired on to chase after corpses in the ambo. Guy's name was Gil. Quiet man, kept to himself. Didn't rock the boat or demand a bigger paddle. Just rowed with us. Good cat to learn under," John said, finally handing me a cereal box.
I took it, and he kept going, "Now, Gil, ya see, he had a little wifey that would pester him about working days. She was a cop and worked evenings at that time, so they never saw each other. When married people can't align their genitals every now and then, it spells doom."
"A little too much information but sure," I said, shelving another box of Trix.
"Probably part of what happened with you and yours," he said. He wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean I wanted to hear it.
John kept on, "Gil finally got approved to move to nights. Little pay boost and a happy, 'fulfilled' wife should've made that man happy. But it didn't. I saw him a few months later, and he had changed. He might've been quiet when he was working with me, but he'd talk to you if you engaged. When I saw him that time, though, oh boy. He looked sick."
"Wasn't a fan of working nights?"
"Wasn't a fan of living anymore is the feeling I got," John said, "After some prodding, he got to talking with me some. Told me he missed days because the nights were messing with him. I thought it had to do with the schedule change, but that wasn't the case. He said he saw things in the dark he couldn't explain. Things that would turn James Brown into James White, ya dig?"
"I...dig," I said.
"Told me they got a call to an abandoned apartment building one night, around three in the morning. Wasn't unusual. Old buildings in the city are where hop-heads congregate and share drugs. Sometimes, the drugs are too much. Sometimes, they find a person passed out or, worse, dead. When you work in the ambo, you aren't scared of death like a civilian. You've been around it. Probably seen a few folks take their last breaths. It doesn't bother you the way Mother Nature intended it should."
He handed me another box, continuing his assist streak, and kept going, "Ambo pulled up, Gil stepped out and looked for someone to talk to. Nobody there, though. Not uncommon. Some people want to help but not be involved. There's not a soul around. He calls out, but nothing comes back. Tells me he turns to get back in the ambulance when he hears a scream from inside the run-down building. They're calling for help. He's gotta go in the abandoned building in the dark."
"No thanks," I said.
"But it don't bother a medic like that. Gil's done a million of these calls. No big deal. He runs into that building but doesn't come back out until twenty minutes later. Just goes missing. After five, the crew heads in to back him up but can't find him. Gil tells me his crew called the cops. It was like he had vanished."
"What happened?"
"I asked him and he got real quiet. Said he fell into some place that looked like here but wasn't here. Said he felt their eyes on him. Judging him. Told me they followed him home and wouldn't leave him be."
"Who?"
John shrugged, "He didn't say. Shut down after that and left. Just walked past me like I was shit on the sidewalk. He quit about a week later. Heard he had a stroke a year later and was a tombstone owner three months after that. Good guy, though."
"Your aversion to overnights makes a little more sense."
"Never in a million years. You don't want something like that coming after you."
"In my case, could it get much worse?" I said with a half-smile.
"Man, I wouldn't even joke about that," he said, making the sign of the cross, "You don't want that shit attachin' itself to you. With your luck, you'd bring him in here, and it'd hop over to me. I can't have a ghost crimping my style."
After a bit, he got called away to sign off on a delivery. I finished out my shift and headed out to the parking lot. When I exited the building and spotted my car, I froze. My doors were all open, and the interior lights were on. Someone had broken in.
I glanced around the lot to see if the thief was still around, but there wasn't another person near me. I walked over to the car and peered inside. My glovebox had been ripped open, and my registration was pulled out, but nothing else was missing.
I found little hand prints in the dirt all along the body and the windows. I held mine up for comparison, and they were about half the size. It must've been some tweens or teens who did this. Maybe they were going to steal some things and got cold feet. I contemplated calling the cops, but since nothing had happened and they wouldn't do anything anyway, there was no reason to delay sleep any longer than I had to. I closed all the doors and climbed inside.
I started the car and heard something rattling in the AC vents. I pulled out my phone and shined the light at the vent. There was a small piece of paper inside. I looked around my car for some tool to pull it out and only found an ink pen and a bent-up paperclip. After McGuyvering the vent for a bit, the paper finally came out.
I held it up and unfolded it. There was a handwritten note. It simply read, "I know you're here. I know you're hiding him. I will find you both, and then it'll be your turn to run the race. We all have to run at some point."
I had no idea what that meant, but my body still provided goosebumps. Who was trying to find me? Who was the second person? Why leave a note in my AC vent? What the hell did run the race mean? I hadn't run a race since elementary school and wasn't planning to do so any time soon. Did they mean the rat race? Because I was basically marathoning that motherfucker already.
"Jesus Christ," I said, shaking my head. "What else, universe?"
As if it were a well-practiced comedy routine, the universe responded. My back passenger door swung open, and I heard footsteps running away from my car. I sprung up and scrambled to get out. There wasn't anyone else in the lot that I could see, but very clearly, someone had been hiding in my backseat.
My nerves were shot already, and this was not something I wanted to deal with at the moment. My brain decided that to avoid a breakdown, I needed to shift into automatic mode and just get back to the safety of my apartment. I'd be more prepared to deal with this – whatever it was – in the morning.
Either that or I'd jump in front of a bus. Both sounded satisfying, albeit in different ways.
***
"There he is," Gloria said as soon as I turned down the hallway. I looked up and noticed a small cabal of my neighbors standing in a semi-circle, waiting for me. They all look displeased.
"Hey guys," I said, confused. "I miss an invite for a block party?"
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
"About?"
"Don't play dumb," another neighbor said, jabbing their finger in my direction.
"I'm not playing," I said, realizing the self-burn only after the words escaped my lips.
Gloria showed me the screen on her phone. It was a static shot of her door from across the hall. She pressed play, and nothing happened for a beat until something darted across the screen. That was the whole thing. I looked up at her, my face twisted up in confusion.
"Well," she said, "What do you have to say?"
"What was that?" I asked.
"That was you!" the pointing neighbor said, pointing harder than I thought possible.
"What?" I said, laughing. "Are you all serious?" They didn't laugh, and I realized they weren't joking. "How can you even tell it's me? It's a blur. Never mind the fact I've been at work for the last five hours. Plus, this blur is half my size. I get we're all weirded out about the Phantom Runner, but it's not me. I swear to God. I don't even have the energy to think about running, let alone the physical desire to."
"Then explain this," Gloria said, slightly swaying from the half bottle of Pinot Noir coursing through her blood. She rewound the video and froze it on a specific frame. I couldn't believe my eyes, but I was looking at...me. Or, rather, something pretending to be me.
"What the fuck?" I said, my jaw dropping.
"Still think we're lying?" the pointer said smugly.
"No, but, guys, this isn't me. I... I've been at work. Wanna see my schedule?"
I reached into my phone and pulled it out. There was an email with my work schedule that confirmed what I was saying. They relaxed, and, for the first time, anger gave way to fear. Their very plausible explanation was suddenly invalid. It left two implausible answers floating in the ether: either I had a pint-sized doppelganger terrorizing the hallways of my apartment, or a ghost was haunting the building.
"I'm...gonna go inside," the pointer said, walking back to their home. Everyone else drifted away until it was just Gloria and I standing alone in the hallway.
She looked at me and sighed, "I feel like an asshole," she said. "Sorry I accused you of causing the racket."
"If I had seen the video, I would've thought the same thing," I said. "We're good."
"What do you think it is?" she asked.
I shrugged and let out an exhausted sigh. "Honestly, Gloria, I've had a screwed-up night already, and this is the cherry on top of the shit sundae; forgive my language. I don't have the mental bandwidth to even comprehend what's on the video at the moment."
"Think it's after you?" she asked, though I suspected the wine had forced her to put that idea out into the universe. As I had already seen, the universe seemed to take requests on my behalf.
"Maybe it's after you?" I said, coming off a little meaner than I intended, but I didn't care. I left her there to contemplate that scenario and went into my apartment.
As soon as the door shut behind me, I felt on edge. Just because I didn't have the mental bandwidth to discuss the doppelganger didn't mean it wasn't dominating my thoughts. I saw the frame of the video. The damn ghost looked exactly like me. What could that possibly mean? I know I had wished for death, but I was very still alive. I had rent due to prove that.
Did I happen to live in a place haunted by a ghost that looked strikingly like me? Was it some kid with a passing resemblance just causing chaos? Was it something else I couldn't even comprehend – an alien? A clone? A secret government project?
There was a thumping coming from the hallway. The mini Usain Bolt was at it again. I knew the neighbors would ignore it. Since they had all thought it was me, which was proven to be untrue, they would avoid the running man from now on. While curious and confused by the creature, they'd never put themselves in harm's way to discover what it was. They were not a brave lot.
Neither was I, but maybe my life crumbling around me had forced my hand. I walked over to my door and swung it open. I hit record on my phone, stuck it out like a periscope, and glanced around the hallway. Nobody was there. No neighbors were looking. No person was running.
"You gotta stop, man. I need to go to sleep," I said to the empty space. No response, not that I was expecting one.
I turned to walk back in, and I caught something out of the corner of my eye. A face at the end of the hallway peeked around the corner. For a quick second, we locked eyes, and it was like I was looking into a mirror. This thing was me. But...how?
I tried to get it on video, but it ducked back into the shadows. I took that as a cue to shut and lock my door. My heart was racing, and I didn't want to think about this anymore, but I couldn't help it. There was a me in the hallway who enjoyed pestering my neighbors. Worse, they liked to run for some ungodly reason.
I put my phone on the counter, the video still rolling, when there was a knock at my door. It echoed in my near-empty apartment. I tried to ignore it and convince myself it was something else, but it wasn't. The ghost was knocking on my door. Even with my brain paralyzed, I couldn't help but think that it was awfully polite to knock.
Another knock, this one more forceful. I wondered if the neighbors thought I was making this up?
"I know you're in there," a voice said. It sounded just like me. "This is about the race. We all have to run the race. It's your turn now."
I froze. My legs went wobbly like a boxer on the brink of a blackout, but I stayed tall. I opened my mouth to speak and found the words dying in my throat. I grabbed a nearby bottle of water and took a chug.
"We all have to run the race."
"What race?" I choked out, "What are you talking about?"
"Open up. They're in there already, and I need to get them."
I glanced all around my empty apartment. I didn't see anyone else in here. I didn't hear anything. Whatever this thing was, it was lying. I grabbed my phone and held it in my hand. I wanted to document this to prove that I wasn't crazy.
“Did you leave the note?”
“I know they’re in there with you,” it repeated.
"There's no one in here," I said.
"They're hiding. I think I know where. I can hear them."
"You've gotta get out of here," I said. "There's nothing here, and you're scaring people."
"I'm scared, and you should be! You have to run the race, man! Open up, and I can show you."
The handle started to shake. I peered through the keyhole and only saw the top of the other me's head. They began to shoulder the door, and it crunched against my nose. I screamed out in pain and stumbled back. I tripped over my feet and landed hard on my ass.
The thing slammed into the door two more times, shaking the walls. The strength seemed unnatural. On the third hit, the door burst open. I finally got a view of the thing. It was me. Scaled down by half, but it was me. We both seemed shocked.
"You're so much taller up close," the other me said.
"Who the fuck are you?"
I felt a buzzing in my feet that seemed to climb up my body until it reached my brain. There was an intense pain that rippled through the folds of my mind. Through the pain, I could hear a disembodied voice whisper, "We all must run the race. We all have to run. Chase it. Chase yourself." It felt like my skull was going to split in two. I clutched the sides of my head and let out a primal scream that hurt my own ears.
Then it was gone. But I could still feel the echoes in my mind. "We all have to run the race. We all have to run." The thought would waver between making no sense and making complete sense. One second, I was questioning what was happening to my mind, and the next, all I felt was the desire to continue the race.
"There he is!" the other me yelled, pointing at the hallway.
I glanced over and saw another version of me standing in the hallway. It was half the size of the other me that had broken into my place. When tiny me locked eyes with my intruder, he ran for the open hallway closet.
The other me followed, screaming that it would catch the little bastard if it was the last thing he'd do. I pushed myself up to my feet and felt queasy. I watched as the other me ran head-first into the closet without slowing. I expected to hear a loud thump as it hit the back wall but none came.
"We all have to run the race," the voice in my head said, soothing my nerves. "It's your time to run the race."
I moved down the hallway, each footfall echoing loudly in the empty apartment, each step bringing me closer to the closet door. Something was drawing me there. The voice's words echoed in my mind as well: "We all have to run the race. It's your turn now."
I grabbed the door and stopped. Something was compelling me to move forward. To go into the closet. To chase myself. To run the race.
"No," I whispered and yanked my hand from the door. I pulled out my still recording phone, and stared into the camera. My face was devoid of color, and you could see the fear etched into me. "I'm freaking out because...because…"
I stopped. I felt an invisible hand grab my body and tug. "Because...because if I don't run the race, something bad will happen. I have to chase it. I...I have to."
My phone dropped from my hand, and I didn’t care. The force pulling me forward stopped but my body kept going. I could feel the last strands of my rational mind splintering. My thoughts became focused on one thing: I had to catch myself, find out what was happening, and run the race. If I ran, maybe I'd win.
I needed a win.
I walked into the back of the closet and felt a door handle sticking out of the wall. I'd been in that closet a million times before and never had seen this. But a sense of calm washed over me. This….this was supposed to be here. This was perfectly fine.
I turned the handle and pulled open the invisible door. In front of me was a hallway that looked strikingly like the one outside my apartment. At the end of the hallway, I saw Gloria step out of their home to leave for the night. She was huge. Twice my size, easy.
Another door opened, and I saw...me—a giant version of me. The Hulk version of me was getting ready to go to the grocery store for work. I watched as the giant Gloria and giant me joked and laughed. I was stunned.
I stared, and a new thought came to me. I have to find the smaller me and talk to it. I needed to find out if there's a way out of this...this….
"It's your turn to run," the voice said.
Calm embraced me. "It's my turn to run," I repeated. As the giant me took off and the giant Gloria re-entered her apartment, the hallway beckoned.
"We all have to run the race," I said softly, "It's my turn now."
I started running.

I'm 39(F) and my partner is a 50(M). We've been together for 3 years, lived together for 2. I suffered severe childhood trauma and I began therapy 9 years ago to address my issues, etc. It has helped tremendously, but I still live with a lot of anxiety and PTSD episodes. I was up front about all of this when he and I began dating.
After we moved in together, I stopped drinking completely. I found that alcohol has more of a negative effect on me than a positive one. I never asked my partner to stop drinking. I told him it wasn't necessary and he was free to make his own choices. He rarely drinks now, but will go out to the bar every once in a while.
We have separate bank accounts, but I pretty much manage our financials so I have access to his online account. I also keep track and organize all of our receipts. A few weeks ago, I was sorting through his receipts and found one for the bar and I didn't know that he had gone out. When I found, I asked "Oh, when did you stop at the bar?" and he said "a couple of nights ago to see pictures of so & so's new baby, talked with the owners." and we had a simple, normal conversation about it.
Two nights ago, I scheduled a pickup order from the grocery store and he was going to stop on the way home from work to get it. They were behind and had to delay our order. He called to let me know that, but I missed the call. I called him back a few minutes later, no answer. I texted him and told him that I had just called , but he didn't answer and to let the store know that we would just pick the order up in the morning. His next text read "I didn't get a call. I'm heading out now. Be home soon. All of the pickup lines are complete full."
Which makes it sound like he's sitting in the store parking lot, no?
He gets home, I ask him how his day was, the usual.
Yesterday, I am balancing our accounts and I notice a charge from the bar on the night he was supposed to pickup the order. I texted him and asked "Where were you when you sent the last text?" He replied, "having a drink the bar, waiting for you to call me back."
We share a vehicle and I had to pick him up from work last night. On our way home, I asked him, "Why do I always find out about you going to the bar after it happens and never directly from you?" Which led us into a huge fight where he accused me of being controlling, he didn't know that he needed to ask permission to go have a drink after work, and that I was insecure for getting upset by it.
I tell him pretty much everything about my day. I ask him trivial questions about his all of the time, like "What did you have for lunch?" because I like to know stupid details like that. I just like having a conversation with my partner about anything and everything. Am I wrong to get upset about him not telling me about him going to the bar? If it's not a big deal that he goes, why keep it from me? Is this me trying to control the relationship?

Hi montreal, I'm at a loss regarding my moving situation and I need some advice.
I signed a lease directly with the landlord that starts on June 1st, with a move-in date a few days before. The apartment I'm moving into was/is occupied by a friend who recently bought a condo. He was supposed to have moved out in early May. Because he has reported to have moved out earlier in the month, I booked my movers, time off and all that jazz like that. I also paid half of the rent for May.
However, due to a series of events, he’s ghosted all his friends, travelled to another city, and landed in some legal troubles.
I was supposed to get access to the apartment mid-may, and only just now got access to the key via a mutual friend. The place is a mess, and he hasn’t moved out his belongings. I don’t know what to do, as he has no plans on coming back anytime soon and is not cooperating.
What can I do or not do (legally speaking) with his things? I don’t want them, and I can't afford to store them. Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

I live in the East Bay and seldom drive through San Francisco... I'm also not a Bay Area native so I'm still learning the ropes.. I dropped my parents off at SFO this afternoon just around rush hour of course via San Mateo bridge, and Apple Maps (lord help me) took me back home (now driving solo) through the city eastbound via the Bay Bridge. Maps was directing me toward a Bryant Street on -ramp that I'd never taken before, and of course once I'm turning the corner onto the ramp behind a huge Genentec Coach Bus, I see the carpool $490 fine sign and shortly after, some CalTrans folks sitting in a white vehicle to the left of the ramp. No one pulled me over or anything but I'm pretty terrified I'll be slapped with a fine in the mail in a few days time. I have previously taken the Bryant St. to 2nd St. on-ramp to the left and have no idea why I followed the stupid map. Do most mapping apps warn you of this kind of thing? Do you guys recommend a specific one for navigating this area? I've seen the other archived post on here about this but I think it's about the city-bound HOV lane. I'm a neurodivergent female who hates driving and just wanted to do my parents a favor.. please be honest but kind. :-(

So this manager (M) started working at our store a couple months ago, and she's pretty incompetent. She regularly needs assistance doing tasks that she does every day, the one weekly task she is in charge of she cannot remember to do or finish, she regularly screws up nightly data reports and messes up the formatting in spreadsheets that we then have to fix for her. She has been taught many times and doesn't retain the information, despite having her own notes and corporate guides to help her. But thats beside my main concern.
We work with this disabled guy (G) who comes in 2 days a week for a total of maybe 10 hours. He's kinda annoying and nosy and doesn't know when to butt out but its not his fault. He can be a little insufferable to be around and no one really likes him but we do tolerate him for the short amount of time we have to be around him. We all try to treat him with respect and patience like we would for anyone else. M has a tendency to try to pawn him off on other people so she doesn't have to deal with him; for example, we had a new hire and on his first day she had G training him, and he is definitely not qualified to train anyone. The new hire told another manager, who said that if he saw anything like that again to tell her no and have her assign someone else.
There's another incident that she actually did this twice with two different people, New hire comes in, and M is giving them a tour. They run into G, who starts to introduce himself and is asking the new hire their name. M interrupts G midsentence to say: "This is G, he has Tourette's." and then completely write off anything else G says, if he can manage to get a word in edgewise.
One of the new hires that this happened to I am in a romantic relationship with, and I referred him to the job. We have been keeping our relationship outside of work, and really the only hints that we are together is we carpool to work and the level of comfort with each other when we talk to each other, but we try to avoid that while we are at work. However, if we are directly asked if we know each other we don't hide it. It only becomes a problem when there's an imbalance of power, and there isn't. So after hearing us talk to each other with familiarity, she asks if we know each other and I told her that we lived together and figured that would be the end of that. I was not working today, but my boyfriend was and he was making casual conversation with G about the trip out of state that we are taking this summer. G asked why he was going out of state, and my boyfriend answered that he was "going with his girlfriend to visit her family." M was standing nearby and said to G "you actually know her" and trying to have him guess who it was, until she eventually just told him it was me. Like that wasn't your information to share, and we didn't want that broadcasted because its work. I'm a little hesitant to report that one because I'm not sure if corporate would have a problem with our relationship at work (management at the store has no problem).
What, if anything should I do? Should I make an official HR report? Should I just bring it to the attention of store management? Should I just drop it?

i work in auto as a service tech and the team lead inside over the service writers (also technically over us) is a very hostile person and has been slithering around this company for years. she often abuses her power (as a TL) to get anybody to do just about anything she’s been assigned to do. that’s not even the problem though, i get paid by the hour so it’s whatever if they pull me inside to stock or zone or bring trash to the back.
what is the problem is how she talks to people like they’re actual children, shit sometimes talks to people like they’re not even a human being. she talks to customers like they’re stupid and hawks people down whenever they’re nearby asking if they need any help with anything (which is common practice for retail but i can’t emphasize how she talks to people through text)
just about every single person at this store knows how she is and hates her but she’s still here and has been for years. other employees have called ethics, customers have complained about her, but nothing ever happens.
now that’s just how she is which i guess being an asshole isn’t against the rules but she does go against policy quite often.
the number 1 rule on all of our posters in auto is you can not leave a vehicle unattended while you are working on it nor can you allow yourself to be distracted (which that part of it seems to be more customer-orientated, because as a TL in auto she should know the rules we have to follow). today she comes into the shop screaming my name which i ignored her the first time, 2 minutes later she comes screaming again while i’m draining the oil out of a car (direct middle of the job). so i walk up the stairs to see what she needs and all she says is a customer outside needs to be written up, which can wait because we have at least an hour wait anyways. i then go back to working on my car and no shit a minute later she comes out and asks what’s going on with the lady and why i didn’t write her up, i tell her i’m in the middle of working on a car so she scoffs, rolls her eyes, and walks back inside.
she does this at least everyday she’s here. another tech just quit because he was having a pretty rough day and she comes out screaming telling him to come inside and zone, while he was working on a car. so he finishes his car, clocks out and walks out.
what has to happen before anybody does anything about this insufferable snake? should i also call ethics? and i’m worried that she’ll be even more on my ass if she finds out i called on her. she’s gotten several people coached and even fired for not doing things she has demanded them to do

Out of pure curiosity because we have three stores in my area and I have guest claim the other two stores give them cash back for debit when the system doesn’t directly allow it and policy states behind us at the service desk that debit is back to the issuing card with the pin that was entered at purchase.
Had a guest scream at me, my FEM and GM because we wouldn’t give him $500 cash for his debit today. He was so irate my GM called the police!

I'm running the latest Nocturnal Phoenix build and all of my OS updates are up to date. Whenever i try loading in new assets (Forgotten Adventures, who would've guessed?) the program seizes almost instantly. It's not just the UI freezing as the resource allocation in the system monitor stops changing as well. That memory leak i keep hearing about doesn't happen as the memory usage never goes up. The advice I usually hear is to load assets 3 or 4 at a time but i can't even load one at a time. I assume this is the program having it's usual issues with thumbnail generation, and i would love to manually insert some thumbnails but i have no idea where those are stored on Linux. On the off chance it matters here's the system info:
System:
Kernel: 5.15.0-107-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 6.0.4
tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP EliteBook 850 G6 v: N/A serial:
Chassis: type: 10 serial:
Mobo: HP model: 8549 v: KBC Version 52.5C.00 serial: UEFI: HP
v: R70 Ver. 01.04.06 date: 03/23/2020
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 28.5 Wh (63.3%) condition: 45.0/45.0 Wh (100.0%) volts: 12.9 min: 11.6
model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: status: Charging
CPU:
Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8665U bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check rev: C cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1316 high: 3189 min/max: 400/4800 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800
6: 1296 7: 3189 8: 2048 bogomips: 33599
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel WhiskeyLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915
v: kernel ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3ea0 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Quanta HP HD Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:3 chip-ID: 0408:5343
class-ID: 0e02 serial:
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142
size: 344x194mm (13.5x7.6") diag: 395mm (15.5") modes: 1920x1080
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.2
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9dc8 class-ID: 0401
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-107-generic running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e v: kernel port: N/A
bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bd class-ID: 0200
IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac:
Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 3a:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp58s0 state: up mac:
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0029
class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
sub-v: 237e hci-v: 5.2 rev: 237e
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 86.42 GiB (18.1%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: KIOXIA model: N/A size: 476.94 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
type: SSD serial: rev: AGHA5101 temp: 38.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 467.89 GiB used: 86.41 GiB (18.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-8:2 info: Synaptics type: driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 06cb:00b7 class-ID: ff00 serial:
Device-2: 1-9:3 info: Quanta HP HD Camera type: Video driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 0408:5343 class-ID: 0e02 serial:
Device-3: 1-10:4 info: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2
rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C pch: 37.0 C mobo: 30.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
Packages: 2327 apt: 2303 flatpak: 24
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/insync.list
1: deb http: //apt.insync.io/mint virginia non-free contrib
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com virginia main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
Processes: 305 Uptime: 18m wakeups: 1 Memory: 31.15 GiB used: 4.05 GiB (13.0%) Init: systemd
v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Cinnamon v: 6.0.4 inxi: 3.3.13
I don't know if there's some obscure driver or supplement i need to grab but any help would be appreciate as I'd like to be able to avoid taking my power sucking and too hot gaming laptop with me just to make a few maps over the weekend.