Let me start by saying that my cat, Mr. Whiskers, is not your average feline. He's a Maine Coon with a personality larger than life and a penchant for getting into the most unexpected situations. But nothing could have prepared me for what happened last Thursday.
It all began on a perfectly ordinary morning. I was getting ready for work, sipping my coffee, when I noticed Mr. Whiskers was missing. Now, he’s usually either lounging on the windowsill or pestering me for breakfast by this time, so his absence was unusual. I called out for him, shaking his food bowl, but there was no sign of him.
Mildly concerned but not panicked, I decided to leave the back door slightly ajar, thinking he might have wandered outside. I went to work, expecting to find him back home by the time I returned. Boy, was I wrong.
Around noon, my phone started buzzing like crazy. I glanced at it to see a flood of notifications from the neighborhood Facebook group. Curiosity piqued, I opened the app and was greeted by a flurry of posts, all featuring pictures of Mr. Whiskers.
Apparently, he had made his way to the local elementary school. But he didn’t just wander onto the playground or into the parking lot. No, Mr. Whiskers had decided to saunter straight into a classroom during a math test.
One of the parents posted a video that had already amassed thousands of views. In it, Mr. Whiskers was calmly walking across the desks, sniffing pencils, and batting at erasers. The kids were losing their minds, half of them laughing and the other half trying to pet him. The teacher, bless her heart, was trying to maintain order but eventually gave in, laughing along with her students.
As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Whiskers then proceeded to curl up right in the middle of the teacher's desk, completely unfazed by the chaos around him. The teacher, who was clearly a cat person, allowed the test to be postponed and let the kids have an impromptu "Meet Mr. Whiskers" session. Pictures were taken, more videos were uploaded, and by the end of the day, my cat had become a local celebrity.
When I got home, there he was, sitting on the porch with the most innocent look on his face. I couldn't help but laugh as I read through the comments and watched the videos again. The kids had even made him an honorary student, complete with a little paper hat and a certificate.
The school principal called me the next day, half in jest, to offer Mr. Whiskers a permanent position as the school mascot. I had to decline, but we agreed that he could come visit once in a while for “therapy sessions” with the kids.
So now, Mr. Whiskers has a regular gig at the school, and the kids adore him. He’s become a bit of a legend around here, and every time I see those videos pop up online, I can't help but smile. Who knew that one little cat could bring so much joy and laughter to an entire community?
And that, my friends, is the story of how my cat went from a lazy house pet to a local hero in less than 24 hours.

Oh, boy, Charlotte, do I have a doozy for you. It’s such a doozy that it comes in 2 parts. I guess it would qualify as petty revenge, since that’s the only flair that fit, but it’s more of an entitled Karen story.
For the sake of telling the story a little smoother, I'm going to explain some things up front. I (female, early 30s; let's call me Molly) am the manager in the accounting office of a very small loan company. Like, really small. We have less than 30 offices with only 2 employees at each office. For this reason, we are kind of low-tech, old-fashioned. I'm talking paper timesheets that get faxed to our office (we're also the corporate office that handles the payroll). Our office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a half-hour lunch. Me & my employee (who we'll call Sally) work this shift. Our boss (who we'll call Greg) is the owner & CEO. He works in the office starting at 9:00 a.m. till whenever he leaves for the day. Most of the time, that's around the time we leave, sometimes it's earlier due to errands he needs to run.
So, in Oct 2022, Sally (female, early 30s) gave us a note that her doctor wants to have daily appointments with her indefinitely. She let us know she would need to leave at 3:30 every day. Greg granted that request & even gave her the opportunity to come in early so she didn't miss any of her 8 hours each day. So, she began coming to work between 6:45 & 7:00 & would take however long of a lunch she needed to so she would have an 8-hour day.
Due to a combination of our fiscal year-end work in Oct & Nov 2022, playing catch-up from Dec 2022 to Feb 2023, & the other coworker (who we'll call Irene) leaving the company in Feb 2023 so we had to play catch-up again for several months before we got used to the bigger workload, I hadn't been able to pay too close attention to Sally's work. But in the middle of Aug 2023, I began to suspect her. I realized that the tasks Sally had in the morning would usually take me an hour & a half to do, which meant I would be relatively finished by the time I would arrive at 8:30. Sally, on the other hand, would only have stuff halfway done. Now, I knew Sally worked slower than me since I knew the job better than she did, but this still seemed very slow. I began to suspect Sally was either not arriving as early as she said she was (she was the only one in the office before 8:30) or she was arriving on time but wasn't working.
On Aug 21 (Monday), I decided to come in early to the office since I had to make up time due to a doctor appointment later in the week. So, I arrived at work at 6:40. 6:45 rolled around...no Sally. 6:50...no Sally. 7:00...same thing. Sally arrived at 7:20. Now, ok, maybe she ran into traffic. However, that's a bit of a coincidence that the one day I show up early unannounced is also the day she happens to be late. But I waited to see what time Sally would write down on the timesheet. However, she didn't write down her time until Tuesday right before she left. She had written down that she had arrived at 7:05. I asked her about it, and her response was "I must have copied it down wrong from my spreadsheet." That's strange, 'cause you hadn't arrived at 7:05 any other day that week. Just where did you copy it down from?
Now, I am curious as to what time Sally puts down when she believes no one has seen what time she arrives. So, for Sept 4-15, I would arrive in the parking lot across the street & read a book & eat breakfast while I wait to see what time Sally would arrive. Every single day, she would arrive around 7:15 or 7:20, but would write down 6:45 or 6:50, a half hour discrepancy every single day. & we have no way of knowing how long she's been stealing a half hour every day. She could have been doing this for the past year since her schedule changed.
On Sept 18, I write down Sally's actual times from these 2 weeks on a paper & tell her to correct all the times I indicated. Sally says that she will use the office clock to write down her times from now on. Wait a minute, you're saying that your phone is a half hour earlier than the rest of the world? But only when you arrive at work. When you go to lunch & leave work, it matches the rest of the clocks. & then switches during the night so your arrival time can be wrong again the next day? Wow, that's a pretty glitchy phone you got there.
On Sept 20 after Sally left, I installed a camera that connects to an app in my phone. I put the camera in a place where it wouldn't be able to see any computers/paperwork & turned off the microphone (I didn't want to risk any company info being seen/heard). I only needed to see when Sally arrived. Where I ended up placing it, I was able to see Sally where she sat at her desk.
On three of the following days, Sally would arrive 10 to 15 minutes after the time she would write down. I speak with Greg about this, & we decide to write her up. By the way, usually when an employee is caught forging the timesheet like this, it's an immediate termination. At any other office, she would have gotten fired in the beginning of Sept after I first discovered the half hour forgery. I am deciding to give her a chance to make this whole thing right.
On Sept 26 (Tuesday), I give Sally the write up when she arrives.
Sally: I'll sign it, but I don't know why. I mean, I get here at 7:00. (Ok, there's a sign right there. Who signs an official write up when their employer is lying or setting them up?)
Me: I've observed you arriving between 7:10 & 7:15.
Sally reads the write up & then keeps it at her desk for a bit after signing it. After plenty of time, I ask for it back. She grabs it, so I lean forward & hold my hand out (our desks are right next to each other), but Sally flings it at my desk. The whole thing is made better by the fact that Greg is out of town Tuesday thru Thursday. So, Sally proceeds to be angry & have an attitude all the way through Thursday. She refuses to talk or answer the phones. She does that tossing/flicking-papers-around, aggressive-typing, heavily-setting-things-down thing people do when they're frustrated or angry (which she did all...day...long). She sped out of the parking lot & down the street so fast that I could hear her engine rev & tires squeal from inside the building.
On Sept 27 (Wednesday), Sally is still doing that slamming things thing. I enjoy not responding to her whatsoever. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she would slam something down & look at me. I wouldn't give any kind of reaction, wouldn't look at her, & it would piss her off. Sally would then start slamming things around again. I admit, that was fun.
On Sept 28 (Thursday), I see on the camera that Sally arrives at 7:00, but then I watch her sit on her phone for 45 minutes! She is still having attitude issues, &—unbelievably—is still slamming things. After she leaves for the day, I then see the calendar that Sally keeps on her desk as I was passing by. On the box for Sept 26 (the day she was written up), she had written the words "F***ING JOKE!". The audacity of her to write that in plain view of everyone in the office & think she wouldn't get in trouble for it.
On Sept 29 (Friday), Sally arrives at 7:00 but sits on her phone for 30 minutes WHILE VAPING! (Not sure about other cities or states, but it's illegal to smoke or vape inside a building in the city where our office is.) But Greg is back this day, & I had been texting him what's been going on. He had texted back he wanted to do a meeting on Friday. So, the 3 of us go into the breakroom for a meeting.
Greg: So, Sally, what's been going on with this timesheet thing?
Sally: I just, I forget to write down the time when I arrive.
Greg: Ok, well, whether it's done on purpose or through negligence, we can't have wrong times on the timesheet. So, from now on, you won't be able to come to work before Molly gets here at 8:30. Now, are there any other problems you'd like to discuss with us?
Sally: (begins getting worked up) I just, I feel like I can't talk to her. She creates such a hostile work environment.
Now, I am blown away. Me? Hostile? I'm autistic, so I'm naturally shy & hate socializing, so I usually don't talk to anyone very much. Everyone I tell this story to, their eyes widen when I mention this, 'cause there's no way anyone would ever describe me as hostile.
Luckily, Greg interrupts her to defend me: This isn't a hostile work environment.
Sally: (backpedaling) Well, I mean, she gets mad at her printer & bangs on it, & that just flashes me back to stuff. I mean, I'm trying to work on myself & the anxiety, & she just sends me back.
Oh, so now, we're claiming we have PTSD & that my "violent" actions are giving her flashbacks? Um, who is it laughing right along with me every time my printer jams? (By the way, I know she's lying about the PTSD, 'cause I have a couple friends with PTSD & recognize the signs. Sally doesn't show any sign of fear or panic or shrinking away from things, nothing like that. There are no signs whatsoever of her being alarmed by anything I do.) Oh, not to mention the double standards. You're allowed to slam things around (for 3 straight days, by the way), but I'm not?
Anyway, we wrap up the meeting after Greg underlines (for Sally's benefit) that everyone in the office needs to get along.
On Oct 2 (the next Monday), I had a good drive & happened to get there at 8:20. Sally arrives at 8:25 & comes in, stopping at my desk.
Sally: (annoyed) Are you gonna be early all week?
Me: (frowning & caught off-guard) Um, I don't know. It just depends how long my drive takes.
Sally: (with a snarky attitude) 'Cause I had to keep driving around waiting for you, so if you're gonna be early, I'd like to know.
Ok, first of all, no one is forcing you to drive around. You can park your car in the parking lot. Do you really think we're gonna fire you for sitting in the parking lot while you wait for me? We only said you couldn't come in & work before I do. & second, it's none of your business when I get to work. My shift starts at 8:30, therefore, you should aim for 8:30, just like Greg told you to do. How am I supposed to predict the exact minute I get to work? & you're gonna get angry at me 'cause I didn't show up before my shift starts? Since when is it a requirement of mine to come into work before I start working?
Well, a bit of malicious compliance in this entitled story: if I can see I'm going to arrive at work more than 5 minutes early, I stop at the store just down the road & shop until 8:30. 'Cause guess what? Sally gets there who knows how early & sits in the gas station across the street, waiting for me. Fine, you wanna be that way? I can be petty, too.
By the way, Sally has a radio talk show she listens to from before I get to work until it ends at 10:00. I'm not into talk shows, but it wasn't too annoying (most of the time), so I didn't say anything about it. The reason why I started having a problem listening to it was that they would get into inappropriate things (s** toy review, for example). It made me super uncomfortable when they did segments like this. From the moment Sally was written up, she started only listening to the show on her headphones, thinking she was punishing me by me not getting to hear the show. Joke's on her. Sally did me a favor by not having to listen to that thing.
Sally was also told that she is no longer allowed to take smoke breaks on the clock. As no one else in the office takes breaks but chooses to work through them, this change would be made so all employees were equal now. But here’s the interesting thing: Sally suddenly stopped taking smoke breaks at all, but her bathroom breaks grew more numerous & longer. When she had been taking smoke breaks, the alarm on her phone would go off at specific times, such as 2:00. She would then go outside to take her smoke break. After the on-the-clock-smoke-break privilege was taken away, the same alarms would go off, such as 2:00. She would then disappear to the bathroom for 15 minutes. & I even smelled smoke in there when I went in there right after one of these long bathroom breaks.
Ever since the write up, there’s been attitude every once in a while. Most of the time, I have no idea what it is I did that could possibly have set her off that day. All I know is that Sally’s suddenly slamming things around again (hmm, PTSD cured now, is it?). & she’s still constantly making mistakes (like she’s always done).
On Nov 27, Sally is working on the Funding (loan proceeds funded onto a customer’s debit card). What we do is get the list of customers, determine how much the office funded that customer, transfer the money from the office’s bank account to the holding account, & then transfer the total from the holding account to the account that directly funds the debit cards to replenish the money. We had two customers with similar names (say, John Smith & Jack Smith). Sally hadn’t paid attention to the whole name & had applied John’s $0 funding to Jack. However, Jack had been funded $250. So, that money was missed, & I had to make a separate transfer for it.
On Dec 4, Sally is working on the Funding & writes down $0 for a customer. But the report from the office says he actually got $96.
On Dec 8 & 9, we discovered 2 checks that were supposed to be sent to our office (one from Oct, one from Sept). Neither had been cashed, & neither had ever reached us, even though we had the rest of the paperwork that would have come with those checks. Due to the dots I had connected, I had a pretty strong hunch that Sally wasn’t thoroughly checking the mail envelopes to make sure they’d been completely emptied before they got thrown away. I believed these checks were still in some envelopes that were then thrown away by Sally.
On Dec 11, on the bank reconciliation sheets we work at the end of the month (like balancing a checkbook), one of Sally’s offices was out of balance by $68, & she couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find it, either. I pulled out the one done for the month before. I couldn’t find it there, either. But I did notice one thing. The checks that hadn’t cleared the bank yet didn’t add up to the total amount of outstanding checks Sally had written down. By $68. I go back to the month before that one. There were a total of $68 in old checks that never got cashed & therefore should have gotten written off on the fiscal year-end at the end of Oct. But she hadn’t transferred them to the new month’s sheet. So, now, we have to hold onto them for a whole year to write off next Oct.
The same day, I went through all the offices to double check the GL codes that we post the expense checks to (GL codes determine where an expense gets coded, e.g., post an electricity payment to the GL code for utilities). The day previously, Sally had gotten several GL codes incorrect in the Miller office. She had forgotten to change the codes from the one for the Checkbook to the ones for the expense account. She had caught those ones since it affected the balance of the Checkbook, so I had helped her fix those properly. However, there were expense checks sent to a GL code that wasn’t the right one that Sally hadn’t caught.
I talk with Greg, as I feel that every time I turn around, I am either retraining Sally on stuff I’ve trained her on multiple times, I’m correcting mistakes on stuff Sally should know how to do by now (‘cause again, I’ve trained her multiple times), or I’m disciplining Sally about stuff she’s doing wrong. Greg asks how many mistakes due to carelessness she’s made in the last 2 weeks. I check my notes & tell him 4. He says that’s too excessive for an accounting office. We need to write her up.
So, I made the write up, but I just know I’m going to be dealing with the same attitude as the last time I had to write her up. & guess what? Greg’s out of town till Thursday again. I used my phone this time to record the audio of the interaction. That way, if Sally has attitude towards me again, I’m able to play the recording to Greg so he can hear what Sally’s like when he’s not here (which is why the following conversation is pretty much word for word).
On Dec 12 (Tuesday), I sat her down first thing.
Me: So, in the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed some errors happening due to carelessness, & they’ve become a bit excessive for an accounting office. The most important thing in an accounting office is accuracy. That’s why we focus so much on thoroughness & attention to detail. So, whatever needs to happen to lessen those errors, whether it’s slowing the pace of the work itself or double & triple-checking the work before it’s finished, it needs to happen. For example, when I work the payroll, after I get the total for all the offices, I then subtract each person’s individual hours to double check my entries. That way, if there is an error, at least I know it wasn’t ‘cause I was going too fast or not paying attention or something. So, whatever you need to do to decrease the mistakes, please—
Sally: What errors are we talking about?
Me: I have a page here with the items from the last couple weeks. (hand her the write up)
Sally: (reads the pages for a minute) Ok…
Me: So, whatever you need to do to—
Sally: (talking quickly ‘cause she’s pissed now) I’m gonna need more time & focus strictly on Funding. I don’t wanna touch mail, I don’t wanna touch anything else. I wanna focus strictly on that. ‘Cause I’m getting 80 plus a day (which was a lie, we never get nearly that much), & now, I’m gonna start getting in trouble if it’s not 110%. I am human. I will make mistakes. So, if that’s not allowed, then…(shrugs) let me know, I guess. I’ll talk to Greg & I guess figure something out. I am human, & I am gonna make mistakes, A. B, I feel like crap. He (Greg) has been in here sick the last week. I caught whatever he has. I’ve been hacking. I’ve been sicker than sh** the last week. I am trying. You guys usually have until the 12th to close the month. Since I’ve worked here, I’ve closed before the 8th. Yeah, I made mistakes. I told you I made a mistake on the Miller office. I knew what happened. So, to throw it in my face again that I already made that mistake is kinda rude, but…(shrugs) I’m actually kinda shocked to see that on there.
Me: Well, you did catch the errors involving the Checkbook, but there were other mistakes on that office that you didn’t catch, & that’s the reason that was listed on there.
Sally goes back to her work, & I decide to not ask her to sign the write up I had given her right away since she was diving right into the Funding. She had expressed she wanted to focus solely on it to minimize mistakes. I wanted to use positive reinforcement to convey that this was good behavior & good thinking, so I decided to wait for her to finish before asking her to sign & return the write up.
Now, here’s the issues with her little outburst above.

1. Sally is complaining that she’s human & makes mistakes & we’re not allowing mistakes. We’re not saying that she can’t make mistakes, ‘cause she’s right. Everyone makes mistakes; I make mistakes. What we’re saying is that she’s making mistakes much too often.
   
2. Sally says the reason for these mistakes the last 2 weeks is ‘cause she’s been sick the last week or so ‘cause she caught what Greg had (do you see the timing problem there?). Also, these kinds of mistakes have been happening for months & months. I only brought these examples up ‘cause they were recent.
   
3. Sally pointed out the fact that she closes each month really quick. We don’t care how fast things get done. Our goal isn’t to get things done quickly but to get things done accurately. If we happen to get it done quickly, that’s just a bonus. We would rather things go slow than to have errors causing problems or costing us money ‘cause we didn’t take the time to make sure it was correct.
   
4. Sally states it’s rude that I’m throwing her error back in her face (you already know my reaction to that). She obviously doesn’t know how a job works. Just ‘cause we discussed this error already doesn’t mean it can’t go on the write up. This is just one of the examples that required us to do a write up. We’re not doing this ‘cause we want to write you up or that we’re looking for excuses to get you in trouble. We’re doing our job. If a situation needs correcting, we have to correct it. We can’t just ignore it. & obviously, me talking about your errors all these months hasn’t helped. You’re still making the same mistakes. So, now, we’ve had to escalate to a write up on paper.
   

Sally doesn’t say another word. She, as expected, starts doing her tossing-things-‘cause-I’m-pissed-off thing. I just go back to my work. I’ve said my piece, now we can put it behind us & move on.
Now, we have until 10:30 to make the transfers for this Funding program in order to get the money back to the account the same day. We are still missing the paperwork for 2 customers from an office. (FYI, when we’re missing paperwork, we call the office & ask them to fax it. If we still don’t get it when it gets close to the transfer deadline, we call again & just ask for the amount to get it done.) So, at 10:20, Sally turns to me.
Sally: What do I do for these 2 customers? Do I just skip them?
Me: (frowning) Do what you usually do when you don’t have the paperwork in time. Call the office—
Sally: (in a sharp tone) I did. (she’s assuming I mean call the office to tell them to fax it)
Me: (ignoring her attitude outburst) Call up the office & ask for the dollar amounts.
Sally: But I don’t want to write down the amount without seeing the actual paperwork. If I’m gonna get in trouble for errors now, I don’t want to take down what could be the wrong dollar amount over the phone. I mean, I think that’s only fair to me.
Me: In the instances that were mentioned, they weren’t cases of taking down an amount over the phone. They were instances where we had paperwork or a report to see the amount. We would never write you up if there was a possibility that the office gave you the wrong amount over the phone.
Sally stares at me for a second & turns back to her desk. I turn back to my own work as Sally then calls up the office. I had to deal with her attitude the rest of the day: throwing mail into the mailbox, throwing open the letter folding machine so it made a big bang on the table. I was trying to still be the usual friendly, professional person I am at work; I told her “See you tomorrow” & everything. Sally wouldn’t talk to me unless she had to.
This is when I discovered that Sally has a habit of lashing out at me when she gets in trouble. The first write up involved her trying to drag me under the bus by claiming I’m hostile. This time, it was more personal. See, we do a Christmas gift exchange at the office; we each buy each other a gift. I had searched over & over trying to find something Sally would like. I finally found this desk calendar with gnomes on it (she likes both of these things), so I got it & a couple small items. I open my gift from Sally, & among a few cheap little things, I found…Sally’s own nearly empty bottle of nail polish remover. Wow, this is the thanks I get for not firing you back in Sept with the whole timesheet forgery thing?
& this is where I leave you until Part 2, the conclusion.

I’m desperate for answers 😭 I’m generally tweaking because I feel like I’m doing something wrong like I am the problem…
My boyfriend is really sweet and started our relationship with crazy princess treatment. We hang out almost every day and text constantly; he needs constant updates about what I'm doing. He tells me when he’s in his car, about to shower, etc., and expects me to do the same. For me, that's a bit too much.
He's very protective, always holding onto me in public to show I'm his girl because sometimes men will look at me. I think he knows I could do better on physical attraction, not gonna lie.
It’s only been a month, but he acts like we’re married. He gets annoyed if I hang up the phone without saying goodbye and telling him who’s calling. I can’t have or talk to my guy friends when he’s around, which feels restrictive.
Whenever I express my needs, he says "we both need" instead of addressing my feelings individually. For example, yesterday I was busy washing my hair, blow drying it, and on FaceTime with friends, so I didn’t text him for 3-4 hours. He knew I was busy, but when I called him later, he was upset and said, "If you didn’t call me in five minutes, I would've gone to sleep." I felt guilty but realized I needed space.
This morning, he apologized for making me feel bad, and I said I needed some space to think. He responded with, "I feel we both need space to recollect ourselves." This is the second time he’s done this when I address an issue about how he made me feel.
What does he need space for? How should I handle a situation where my boyfriend says we both need what I need instead of addressing my feelings individually?
TL;DR: My boyfriend is sweet but extremely attentive and protective, expecting constant updates and restricting interactions with male friends. He often says "we both need" when I express my individual needs. It's been only a month, but I feel overwhelmed by his level of commitment. How should I handle this?

When I first got to this assignment, I was upfront with my ratesenior rater about where I was at. I wanted to continue serving, but I was a promotion risk, and I was willing to do what it took to overcome it so I could VTIP into a functional area branch. My team and I had a great. We innovated and implemented new systems, policies, and changes. Our team was recognized multiple times by higher headquarters for doing great things. Somewhere in there, I was a victim of my success when a higher headquarters unit tried to recruit me to work for them. I only learned about the event after my SR blew up about organizations attempting to steal his people again and that I worked for him at a meeting one day.
Around January, I asked my rater if I could get a close-out evaluation for the board. I don't hear anything back until after my board file closes. Then, "Hey, MC. Boss' profile is tight. Keep doing great things, and we'll take care of you". We stay on course, another big event happens and I get a false sense of security that I'm going to be okay. S1 shows up to my office one day and tells me that a [undesirable, high optempo] unit down the street needs help and asks if I want to go there to get the evals I need. I've seen this story too many times before and know that ain't happening, so I decline the offer. I elected to talk to the SR directly because I was unhappy that they sent the S1 to deliver the news on their behalf.
During the discussion, the boss gave me the evaluation—MQ write-up with exclusive enumerations and potential, but an HQ block check. Despite being the most senior officer by 2-3 years in his organization, he needs to take care of his junior captains in K/D because "Non K/D doesn't weigh as much" despite me filling an O4 slot as an O3 while simultaneously acting as an OIC for two subordinate battalions. My rater talks to me afterward; he appeals to my ego, citing injustices of the Army promotion system and how he wishes we could promote everyone. I already know he's trying to manipulate me. I play the fool and focus on getting out of his office ASAP. Before I left, he let it slip that the boss had to take care of two other officers, who were fresh from CCC and needed the evals more than me.
I decided to use some leave and left work. During the drive home, it has hit me how shitty this situation was. Especially when the rater name-dropped the two people who beat me out. I never thought highly of those people. I perceived them as unit "party planners," as they only planned social events, gossiped too much, and undermined our core mission. I know corporate Army culture over values this behavior, but I always tried to negate it by being active, productive member of the team instead. To make matters worse, I reached out to that contact who tried to pull me up to their headquarters. I told them what happened. That officer then said to me that if I had gone up to his headquarters, their Chief of Staff had a dummy thick profile for Captains and offered to try to move me up there again after my SR leaves in a few weeks.
As I sit here on leave, this whole situation sucks. I feel so invalidated. It just feels like my chain of command doesn't respect my team's contributions and everything we've done. Here we are doing great things, but none of it matters because "its not a K/D assignment". Having the knowledge that they blocked a transfer that could've helped me ascend twisted the proverbial knife in my chest. So, not only did they negatively impact my career, but they used my accomplishments to better their chances for promotion. Especially given that at the end of the rating period before they PCS, they say, "Why not go to the shittiest, most toxic unit on post instead?"
I decided to go on leave for a week, but like, jfc. Why bother to try so hard if none of this matters?

Need some friends for challenges and easy rank up. Add me and I’ll accept quick

Hello po!
Here for insights on how to survive as a new lawyer. Please feel free to share your own experiences and how you dealt with the pressure of being a new JA in a firm. Would also like to hear stories of those who left their law firms early. <3 Thank you so much!
In a nutshell, please help me weigh if:
(a) Nag-iinarte lang ako. Everyone goes through this and I should just suck it up, or; (b) Firm life is just not for me. And that’s okay. (Is it really okay? haha)
I graduated from the top law school in the Philippines. I passed the Hernando bar last year, and got into a reputable firm that pays fairly (55-60k monthly for new lawyers, not bad).
On one hand, there’s a part of me who wants to stay for the factors listed below. These factors make me wonder if nag-iinarte lang ba ako, and I am actually lucky to land this job.

• Everyone in the firm is so nice - my superiors, batchmates, non-legal staff. Even when I did something wrong, they did not scold me. Saktong gentle reminder lang so I can do better next time. I heard horror stories from my friends working at other law firms, which I am lucky enough not to experience here.
• Good pay for a new lawyer with zero experience prior to entering the firm.
• Work from home for x days per week.

On the other hand, there are factors that are draining me both physically and mentally:

• For the past 5-6 weeks, I always have weekend work. I have reached the point where I am no longer looking forward to the weekend cos I just know I will still be working. I can’t go out with peace of mind.
• I can’t sleep early either because: (a) I still have to work, or (b) I am afraid someone will give urgent work while I’m asleep. And when I get to sleep, I occasionally have bad dreams about work HAHA I once dreamed about receiving an urgent email from the partner. So I rushed to check my laptop at 3am only to find out there is no email. Took me about 10 mins bago mahimasmasan na it’s just a bad dream. I was staring blankly at my laptop in disbelief HAHAHA. Totoo ba to? Wala ba talagang email? T___T
• I am handling so many matters all at the same time. I am struggling to find a way to meet all my deadlines. Sometimes, I am left with no choice but to submit subpar outputs just for the sake of submitting. And this makes me so sad. My colleagues are so nice to me and I feed bad that they have so much to revise. I am now fearing that I will have a bad reputation in the firm and people will not want to work with me. (Or maybe that’s a good thing. Para kumonti workload ko HAHAHA jk). Right now, I can thing of at least five things that I should work on (and yet here I am ranting on Reddit HAHAHA)

I am trying my best to look at the bright side and stay positive. Counting my blessings, ika nga. But ngl, I am starting to hate work and it’s negatively affecting the quality of work I am submitting recently. Naiisip ko rin na ngayon pa lang, I am already struggling with the workload, pano pa pag mas tumagal ako sa firm at mas dumami pa responsibilities ko. I also don’t want to socialize with people in the firm anymore because: (i) I am sad, walang energy makipag-socialize; (ii) I fear that people are judging me na for the outputs I submitted, and (iii) ayoko ma-attach cos what if mag resign agad ako HAHAHA.
I am already thinking of quitting after less than 5 months in the firm. I think I am willing to apply for a lower position (e.g. legal assistant, admin, researcher) and suffer a pay cut just so I don’t have to work on weekends and stay up late at night. Am I giving up on firm life too easily? Tiisin ko na lang ba given that I am learning a lot in the firm naman? Or should I let my intrusive thoughts win and quit na HAHAHA. Are there people here who left their law firm agad? How did you survive afterwards?
Sorry for ranting past midnight. Will appreciate any tips po. Thank you so much! :) <3

Hello,
I have recently built a new and also my first PC with my friend, who knows his way around this stuff and has built quite a few PCs. The problem is that I cannot get it to work. When I start it up, everything seems to work, stuff is spinning and there are lights all over the place, but there is nothing on the monitor (meaning that I cannot get into BIOS). Also, there are LED indicators on the motherboard and the orange one is permanently on, which according to the Asus webpage and the instruction manual means, that something is wrong with the RAM.
I have bought a set of 2x16gb g.skill flare x5, which is listed as AMD expo, though it should not matter afaik. I have since then returned the set and bought another one, G.skill 6000MHz CL36 Trident Z5, which is XMP and is also listed on the QVL as compatible with the motherboard (=officially supported). However, no change. Orange light still on, display still off.
Any help would be immensely appreciated as the PC cost me quite an amount of money and it is from my scholarship, meaning that I have to prove what I have done with the money and non-working PC is not the best image.
I would also like to note that I am a computer science student, and therefore, while I know how this stuff works in theory (but more so assembly, a bit of processor architecture and OS architecture), I am very much a stranger to the technical details and more generally the technologies and implementation in place as I haven't been into PC hardware for quite some time. So please be patient with me.
Below is listed my full build:
Motherboard:
Asus TUF Gaming Z690 Wifi Plus
Processor:
Intel 14th gen core i5-14600KF
Graphics card:
Asus Dual GeForce RTX4070 12GB OC
RAM:
G.SKILL 2x16gb 6000MHz CL36 Trident Z5 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK)
SSD:
Crucial P5 Plus 2TB Heatsink
Power:
Seasonic Focus GX 850 Gold
And then a box to put it into and a CPU cooler.
Also, don't hesitate to call me stupid if I (or my friend) have overlooked something obvious, but please provide a reasoning as to why :).

Okay I'm trying to convince my friend this movie wasn't a fever dream of mine. There were these two kids who created an algorithm names Mr. (Something) I think, like this uncanny valley looking, purple face. This was the face that their clients and coworkers only saw. They were using older model desktops so probably late 90s or early 2000s. I feel like there was a specific scene showing the stock of the company going up really fast. Also a scene jumping up and down with the money (though I might be thinking of Blank Check with that one). They also had a sister that was the standoffish type at first but later found out about their company and helped them. Her room was like a computer whiz room. I might be able to remember more if needed but somebody please tell me I didn't have an insane recurring dream growing up

• Looks won’t get you far without confidence and a good vibe. I thought that glowing up would change everything right away, but it just got me a few more matches on apps and nothing else
  
• Inversely, if you have confidence and a good vibe, you don’t need to look perfect. I’ve let myself go a bit, and I’m doing way better in dating now that I’m comfortable enough with myself to not fixate on my looks
  
• Good mental health is hot
  
• Don’t overly focus on avoiding embarrassment or rejection. Having bad experiences is the price of having good ones
  
• You will never be considered attractive to every woman, even if you’re the best version of yourself. And that’s fine, because you don’t need to be
  
• The typical male ideal of the male body isn’t actually what many women like or want
  
• Dating is a collection of social skills that must be learned by doing
  
• Make close plutonic female friends. Watching how they date shattered so many of my misconceptions about what women want
  
• Being open and fun is extremely attractive. And you can only really be open and fun if you’re enjoying yourself
  
• Apps aren’t totally representative of the real world because women get so many likes and messages. Looks matter more, and being a good texter matters a lot. If you use apps, be fun and interesting in your profile and conversations
  
• Be sincere in trying to connect with people, rather than focused on outcomes you want
  

This isnt something Im super comfortable talking about so might delete this later but whatever
I was born with several birthmarks on my face, neck and chest with the most obvious one being my face of course. Its a port wine stain on my left cheek under my eye the size of my hand, and basically looks like a giant light-purple bruise. I got laser surgery when I was 11, but its still very noticeable, and I have to deal with people giving me strange looks/ the double take.
I'm not trying to garner sympathy - I'm 20, I've accepted this, and its just not very productive to mope around about it. I just want some actionable advice regarding dating.
I like to think I'm decently attractive, ignoring the birthmark- I'm fit, I try to be friendly and social. But no guy (my standards) has ever approached me (and I have fairly low standards).
How do I get men attracted to me? Are dating apps the only realistic way?
Any advice is really appreciated, thank you

As the title says, I got a rhinoplasty, lip lift, and upper and lower blepharoplasty. I had surgery on April 15, so it has been a month and a few days after surgery. Most of the after photos were at 3.5 weeks after, or 3 weeks after.
I am happy with the blepharoplasty. It's hard to tell in my before photos because I used to be really good about hiding it with makeup, but I had really puffy under-eyes.
I am worried that my nose looks really big. I love the profile, but my nose looks super wide to me straight on and the tip of my nose seems like a huge bulb to me. I feel like I look like Yoshi. I know that they say that healing takes time, but will my nose start to look smaller?
I am also a little worried about my lip lift. My upper lip looks uneven to me. The side where I have the mole on my chin (my left side) seems lower on the top lip. Or is it just me who can see that? A few of my friends were able to see what I was talking about when I shared photos. I do think it has gotten a little better with time.
I am just a little worried and hope that this is all a part of the natural healing process and that everything will look good in the end. If you think I should be concerned, please let me know. I have a follow-up appointment with my surgeon later in May. Thank you <3
https://preview.redd.it/q9hsdm2wpe1d1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=138ce0aa9a47a6965da3732e6f71b96af8b0c0d1
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https://preview.redd.it/hhaphpgzpe1d1.png?width=278&format=png&auto=webp&s=19d94cfbee696660cd3944633af07ef892e9d10c
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https://preview.redd.it/2dr9ghm7qe1d1.jpg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86a39b0caa10f39a7a2cc76ab3369c19edf79950

Enhancing Email Interactivity: Navigating Gmail's CSS Restrictions

Designing email templates that maintain their intended functionality and aesthetics across various email clients is a nuanced art, particularly with Gmail's known limitations regarding certain CSS properties. Among these, the -webkit-user-select property plays a crucial role in user experience, enabling or disabling text selection within the email. Gmail's decision to strip this property can disrupt the intended interactive experience of an email, forcing designers and developers to seek creative workarounds. This challenge underscores the importance of understanding the nuances of email client behavior to ensure that emails not only reach their audience but also deliver the intended experience.
The quest for a solution highlights the broader challenges of email marketing in the digital age, where uniformity across platforms remains elusive. Designers must navigate these limitations, employing innovative strategies to circumvent restrictions without compromising on design or functionality. This introduces an interesting dynamic to email template creation, pushing the boundaries of what's possible within the constraints of email client standards. The ability to adapt and innovate within these confines is crucial for maintaining engagement and ensuring that your message is both seen and interacted with as intended.

Command/Software	Description
CSS Inliner Tool	A tool to inline CSS styles for better email client compatibility.
HTML Conditional Comments	Conditional statements that target specific email clients for customized styling.

Crafting Resilient Email Templates Amidst Gmail Constraints

Email marketing remains a critical channel for engaging customers, with the design and functionality of email templates playing a pivotal role in the success of these campaigns. However, email designers and marketers often face challenges when their carefully crafted emails are rendered in Gmail. Gmail, being one of the most popular email clients, has its own set of rules for handling HTML and CSS, which can lead to the stripping of certain CSS properties, such as -webkit-user-select. This property is particularly useful for controlling user interaction with text content, such as disabling text selection or copy-pasting. The absence of this control can lead to unintended user experiences, potentially diminishing the effectiveness of the email content.
To navigate Gmail's limitations, it is essential for developers to understand the nuances of email client compatibility and employ creative solutions. One effective strategy is the use of inline CSS, as Gmail tends to respect styles applied directly within HTML tags over those in blocks or external stylesheets. Additionally, leveraging HTML conditional comments allows for targeting specific email clients with custom styles, offering a workaround to apply desired effects selectively. These practices, coupled with testing across various email clients, ensure that email templates remain robust and deliver the intended experience to every recipient, regardless of the email client they use. Such adaptability not only enhances the user experience but also safeguards the brand's message and design integrity in the face of diverse email client behaviors.

Embedding CSS Styles Directly for Gmail Compatibility

HTML & Inline CSS

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