Busser jobs near me

Hey Folks.
First time poster here. So sadly, similar to many people that have posted on Reddit, I had a negligent father while I was growing up. After my parents divorced when I was 5, he moved in with his new wife and I saw him twice a month. As a kid, he was always the "fun dad": basically let us do whatever we wanted and give in to our impulses. But when it came time to celebrating birthdays, coming to school events, seeing me graduate... He was always "busy" or had something else going on, even though he was literally a 10 minute drive away.
When I turned 11, he moved away to Florida with his wife for a better job, and my siblings and I stayed with our mother. He would still be "fun dad" and come visit us 4-6 times a year, but the fun times were fleeting and tainted because I knew he'd be leaving in 3 days anyway. He'd buy me gifts, but it was never anything I actually liked or wanted: it was things that he liked or was into, so I felt that he didn't really see me as a person. I'd try to talk to him and tell him that I missed him and wanted him in the same city as me, but he'd say that that wasn't possible and I was being unrealistic for wanting a fairytale family: but we could come visit him in Florida anytime we wanted...
I realized quite young that I just couldn't compete with money, sex, and white women. He left my mom for a white woman who gave him "crazy sex" (his words, not mine) and left the state I lived in for better financial opportunities... without us being there... I felt that he was always going to pick those things over me, and I steeled myself to accept that and move on.
He realized his mistakes as I entered my 20s, and has been working to repair our relationship. But for me, the emotional scars he caused are still so deeply imbedded that I don't know if I can really love him. Not even sure if I want to have him in my life outside of coming to important events.
I know the loving and compassionate thing to do is to work towards establishing a new relationship and reconcile that he made mistakes while I was young, and that he's earnestly trying now, but my heart just can't accept it. I logically know that there will never be a good enough reason to explain his actions, and that I need to move on for me, but my emotional self doesn't care and wants to keep him at a distance so that he'll never get the opportunity to hurt me again.
I recognize that this way of thinking is harmful for my growth as a person and won't let me heal, but it's protecting me at the same time and has helped me become the resilient, independent woman I am today. I love that I am self sufficient and can provide for myself, even though it came from needing to survive.
Why should I let my guard down and build a relationship with a man who consistently put women, sex, and money before his children for 20 years? Whose best excuse for doing everything was because he was "a selfish asshole" in his 20s and didn't have a father figure? Guess what? My mom was suffering from physical and emotional abuse from BOTH of her parents and still managed to get her shit together and take care of us the best way she could. Why should I accept that he couldn't handle it / didn't know how to be a dad and needed to escape, when my mom couldn't handle it either but she didn't get to run away?
TLDR; My father wants to work on building a new relationship, but I can't seem to let go of his past actions and forgive him. Any advice on how to navigate these emotions? How can I move on for the sake of my own health and happiness?

I’ve accepted a residency offer in a very small town. The hospital itself is great, my coworkers are amazing and very supportive as well. But I really don’t feel like living in a small town is for me. I’m thinking about moving back to a bigger city immediately after I finish my residency. I just wanted to know, what are the odds of landing a decent job in Texas if I’m fresh out of residency? Is it possible, or should I stay back a little while longer and gain more experience?

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PAYMENT PROOF

If this isn’t allowed, please let me know. I wanted to update everyone with what has happened since and ask some actual finance questions finally.
The crime he’s been charged is a Class B misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is 6 months in jail and up to $2000 fine. The prosecutor has asked for the max on both. We worked with an attorney who told us from the get go that this case won’t be dropper and best we can hope for is a lower punishment.
I spent countless hours dealing with this. Our attorney was able to negotiate 5 months in county jail and a $1,500 fine. That’s all the prosecution would budge on. The alternative was the full 6 months in jail and $1,000. Attorney advised that we should take it because a judge would throw the max penalty in this county, especially since there’s clear footage and really nothing to dispute or excuse the crime. Other lawyers had the same opinion.
My son is freaking out and scared shitless about jail time and now having a criminal record. He’s been crying and just a mess. That’s besides the finance aspect, so anyway.
Financially, this has put us in a deeper hole than we were before. Now my son won’t be able to work during the summer because he’ll be in jail. He’s missing the college start because of it too. We need to come up with: $1,500 fine + $1,000 lawyer fees + $350 misc court fees. I don’t have any available credit lines, so I’ll have to start borrowing or working an extra job.
The biggest unknown is insurance. They might drop us after this. If not, I need to also factor in the premium increase at the next renewal, which will probably be a lot.

Today I got the Nova T (copper) coil inserted. I was terrified leading up to this procedure, I spent the night before crying reading horror stories about IUD’s (not my brightest idea) so I was fully prepared to be screaming in pain. I am 19 and have never given birth.
My nurse was very friendly and she bought in another nurse to talk to me while I had the procedure done so I would be distracted, she also let me play music on my phone too (Tattoo by Loreen made me feel like a bad bitch. I can’t lie, it helped). I got about 5 mins in and it wasn’t awfully painful but I was wincing a fair bit so she gave me a local anaesthetic injection in my cervix which really helped. From there one it was just intense pressure which made me feel a bit queasy but I settled down after the anaesthetic.
For me it just felt comparable to day 2 of my period where my cramps are the worst they will get. Prior to the appointment I took 2 Anadin Extra’s (that’s paracetamol aspirin and caffeine) and then one ibuprofen/codeine (200mg/12.8mg)
The painful bits were the forceps on the cervix as it made me jump but didn’t hurt a massive amount, then when she measured my uterus, and then whatever she did between measuring and insertion. And it was all manageable. And I was not on my period for insertion, I was on about day 16 of my cycle.
Post-insertion I felt completely fine. Occasionally an ovary will have an intense jab in it but there’s just a dull background ache like a minor continuous cramp and minor spotting. Probably rate it about a 6/10 with 1 being nothing and 10 being hitting yourself in the shin with a scooter full speed.
I know not everyone has good experiences and mine was certainly uncomfortable but it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. I hope this will help someone :) Remember ur a strong independent woman.

“There you go.” I said and smiled a little as I handed the bag to the customer. He gave me a shy little bow and headed for the door. I was actually impressed he could bring himself to do that much. Chiefly because his purchase was one of the dirty magazines from the center aisle. His ‘friend’ clearly lacked the same courage and was standing there just on the other side ‘reading’. If you want to call it that, that is.
I had to admit, Suki knew how to arrange her store, I never thought about it before, but the aisles with ‘that’ material was facing ‘away’ from the register and had another pair of parallel aisles on either side of it, and two running perpendicular thus affording the patron some small degree of ‘privacy’ by letting them feel like they’re boxed in.
Those who visited that aisle as the day went on seemed to buy ‘those’ magazines roughly eight times out of ten, an exceptional ratio. I knew it was exceptional because tragically I have sometimes been forced to run errands for myself. When that does happen, I’ve seen what people do in the stores, I’ve seen those naughty magazines here and there, and I’ve seen young people walk by, eyeing those anxiously, desperately even.
But seldom did they buy even though they wanted to, they didn’t have the courage to look, so they couldn’t take the next step. It’s funny how that works, it really is.
Suki got them to look at it, and therefore usually got them to buy.
My estimation of my friend went up another notch. I smiled when I thought about her, she was always offering me work. Always a kind word. Always encouraging me. ‘You’re a smart girl, you could do anything you want with your life. You don’t have to just lie around and wait for life to happen, come work at my store, that way you can take care of yourself better.’
Of course there were rumors that I was rich, I was after all, a foreigner living in this country with no job, there’s no way I was getting public assistance. It was hard not to like Suki’s motherly attitude toward me, who she saw as a wayward young woman frittering away her days.
But I had no idea Suki was so savvy about her business, right down to where she put the naughty things that Jin probably snuck looks at whenever he could, like most boys his age.
The ding of a new customer caught my ear and I looked over to see a slew of students stroll in, then darted my eyes to the clock. ‘Really? That long?’ I asked myself, somehow the day had just slipped past without my noticing.
Maybe because there was always something to do, check the shelves, wipe up a spill, process a transaction… The time had slipped past with hardly a blip, and now it was later in the afternoon and school was out. I looked past the gaggle of young boys and girls to the clear day outside. Jin wouldn’t be with them, he’d be spending at least a few hours in cram school. I normally wouldn’t see him, if at all, for a few more hours.
You’d think he’d get more help with his math and other subjects there, but? For some reason he liked to ask me.
I waved to the students coming in and listened while they chattered away about whatever school drama had them occupied today. “Welcome to Toriyama’s.” I said, and then my brow furrowed not one minute later when Jin Toriyama walked in with the look of a stunned bunny on his face.
“Wha- why?” He asked, and then his eyes caught me behind the counter.
“Kayobi?!” He exclaimed and strode swiftly over the floor to stand across from me.
I snorted. “Yeah. That’s my name. Can I help you find something?” I couldn’t resist the urge. I wanted to mess with him a little.
“Wh-What are you doing here?” He stumbled over his words as he rushed them out.
“Would you believe I’m counting how many dirty magazines I see young boys buy?” I asked with a smirk, and as he turned red in the face I added, “So, what’s your number? Or do you just sneak peaks at them?”
“Ah, wha- I don’t… you can’t… this isn’t-” He stammered and stuttered and shook as he was flustered, and I did all that I could to restrain myself from laughter.
“Some of those were words. But you need to put them together right, come on, you can do it, you’re a big boy!” I clapped my hands to urge him on.
“I… why are you here?!” He demanded, his voice going up a bit in pitch as his flusteredness overtook him.
“Because here is where I take the money for the stuff people want to buy, dummy.” I said with a smirk, “Surely you’ve worked here long enough to know that.”
“That’s not what I mean, you…” He stopped, he searched for something to call me, “you!” He finally finished.
“Brilliant retort. This is why you shouldn’t be quitting cram school.” I said with a straight face.
“But… but how did you get the key?” He asked and put his hand into the pocket of his dark pants like he was checking to see if his copy was still there.
“I went by to see your mom, she gave it to me, I offered to handle the place until she gets out. She gave me her copy.” I answered, “What, did you think I broke in here?” I smirked a little, losing my deadpan expression and I struck a prowler pose, hunched over with fingers turned down and pantomimed some creeping steps. “Yes, you caught me, my secret identity is Kayobi the catburglar, and I’m so good at breaking and entering that I don’t even need a toolkit. I just teleport.”
“But…” He paused, looked over his shoulder to see that the other students who went in before him were busy elsewhere in the store, then leaned toward me and said, “How is she paying you.”
“Wait… we’re supposed to get paid? Is that why people work?” I asked and covered my open mouth with one hand, “I am shocked. Just… shocked… nay, dumbfounded! I have found the dumb, so stunned am I.”
All he could do was blink at me, so I finally showed the poor boy some mercy, “Relax, I told her I’d do it for free. When she gets out of the hospital she can just do my laundry and make a few meals and we’ll call it square.”
“I-I-I didn’t expect to find my Buddah in hell today…” He stammered, but I just shrugged it off.
“I just don’t want to do chores. So don’t worry about it. Go on and head back to cram school, you’ll be late, but just tell them you’re late because you got bitten by a stray dog or something.” I said, and he blinked at me again as he processed what I said.
“That’s… not how that expression works… not exactly, anyway.” He muttered and I reached up and flipped my orangish hair back with one hand to remind him I’m not from here.
Some of my colleagues asked me once why I don’t disguise myself as somebody who looks like everybody in the neighborhood and whatnot. And the answer is pretty simple. From my colleagues' perspective, if you look like everyone else, you blend in perfectly.
But that’s why I’m better than all of them at my job. It’s not enough to look like people, you have to act like them too, and cultural norms touch everything. On one world, when you’re about to enter a room you’ve never been to, you always tap your foot three times to let the spirits inside know you’re coming. Don’t do that, and people will know you’re a fraud, or at least you’ll stand out in a negative way.
On another world, every first meeting between strangers involves an extensive discussion of ancestry to try to find some common ground and minimize the chance of violence. If I were to go there disguised as one of those, I’d fall flat and get into trouble fast.
But when you’re obviously foreign, people excuse your ignorance as, ‘Well they’re not from here, of course they don’t know better.’
So misusing an expression slightly draws no notice. Thus I blend in by standing out.
Yeah, I’m the best. “Whatever.” I smirked at Jin and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder, “Hurry up and get back, University waits for no one, and neither do the teachers here, I’ll lock up tonight when I’m done.” I promised.
Jin’s entire body shook, his lower lip quivered, “If you’re not going to buy something, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
His eyes were full of tears, and he shouted, “Thank you!” He then bowed at the waist, turned, and ran out of the store as fast as his feet could carry him.
Various heads turned toward me, he’d come in after the others rather than with them, so it didn’t seem like they realized who he was, and his voice had such an emotional crack to it he must have sounded like a stranger.
I snorted, “It’s nothing, I just promised not to tell his mother about the dirty magazine he bought.”
I recognized some of the kids in the story, and I saw relief flood the faces of the young males who promptly flocked to ‘that’ section now that they knew I wouldn’t be telling on them.
And the rest of my first day passed without incident.
The sun was descending and it was getting darker by the minute. I locked the doors when the last customer left, closing myself inside, and went behind the counter to where the two pairs of pants lay crumpled in a heap where I’d kicked them before.
I crouched down and bit my tongue while I searched the pockets for what I sought.
My prize?
A pair of wallets. Wallets stuffed with cash. I pocketed that immediately, shoving it into my purse. “Lucky me.” I thought, “I’ll buy myself a few things here before I go.”
A few dozen bento boxes, sushi platters, and some ready to eat meals and lots of sodas.
I made a list in my head, then pulled out the I.D. cards of the two twits, just like I expected, there were addresses in place, I wonder how they explained themselves to their colleagues later. ‘That must have been hilarious.’ I thought and let out a long, loud laugh as I tried to picture their confused answers.
I stowed their wallets in my purse too, put their pants under one arm, and quickly spent their money on what I’d need for my fridge and the like for the better part of the next week.
I had bags loaded down with stuff, and then with a flash, I was gone and standing in front of my door. From there, I vanished again and reappeared just inside.
I dropped my stuff on the mess of a coffee table, picked up my phone, and began to check the locations on these identification cards. I whistled. ‘Downtown? Wow, pricey.’ I thought, and unfortunately, it was also very busy.
“Great. So it’s going to be a chore.” I muttered and looked longingly at the television. I was going to marathon watch a show about a wolf goddess falling in love with a mortal human as they traveled together.
But no… I have to spend at least an hour or two on these twits. “Getting between me and my NEET time… unforgivable.” I growled and called for a car to come pick me up.
‘Oh well… maybe I can find some way to make this at least a little bit fun.’ I thought, and tried to stay positive about it as I walked back out of my apartment again.

I've worked as a state employee for 12 years, enjoying the job's flexibility but finding the pay unsatisfactory. Currently earning $70,000 per year, which is on the lower end for my city, I decided to explore opportunities in private environmental consulting. To my surprise, I received interview invitations for almost every application, including a job offer from a reputable firm at $83,000 annually. The people I interacted with during the interview process were positive, and they assured me that working over 40 hours was rare and compensated.
Three factors need consideration. Firstly, I plan to negotiate for a higher salary, aiming for $88,000 or $90,000. Secondly, the new job is a hybrid role, requiring 2-3 days in the office or field, unlike my current full-time remote work. Lastly, the position is 1.5 hours away from my home, adding a 3-hour round trip, and I don't plan to move. Currently, I can walk to my job.
What should I do? With pressure to support my family, I desire a wage that can meet their needs while maintaining work/life balance. Having no experience in private consulting, I'd appreciate insights from those who made the transition from a state job.
TL;DR: Stay in low-paying state job or take higher-paying consulting job with potential downsides?
*Please consider the overall switch rather than solely focusing on the commute, although it's an important factor.

Short story: Contracted with a company that has my car and money but no incentive to do the work. I have a lawyer and can win a lawsuit, but they have their assets in shell companies. Isn't this fraud? Isn't it theft if they can keep my car and money indefinitely? The only leverage I seem to have is a lawsuit (with no repercussions for him), report the fraud and cross my fingers, or to spin up a campaign to expose the fraud until he relents.
Longer story: A local classic car company offered to rebuild my car. We provided a modest deposit, and the vehicle, for what was to be a 4-6 month job. After a number of excuses and delays that seemed legitimate, we agreed on a fixed period delivery, giving them an entire year to complete the work, and a larger deposit on the contracted work. We're 6 months past the final date. They didn't touch the car for the first year. They only disassembled it when I finally said I was going to take legal action, but have made no more progress.
I've retained a lawyer who has identified that the company is made up of a series of shell companies with properties and assets distributed to avoid being accessed. He's confident that we'd win a lawsuit, but he is pretty certain that any judgement would likely not get paid (in part or in full) because of how they've isolated their assets.
I have a lawyer. It's a pretty clear win...but it would be a hollow victory. I don't understand the value of contracts if they can be broken with no consequences, and the company can keep your assets. Maybe someday they'll get around to giving you a shoddy result...but then what? Why would they ever consider doing the work?
I'm not a legal expert, and I can't fathom this is legal...but I have people throwing up their hands around me and I'm looking for this to make sense... Any help would be appreciated.

We are on the brink of affordability and hoping there is a dip at some point in the next few weeks to capitalize on.

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$AGBA up a decent amount today! We feeling bearish or bullish?
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• Subject-Bluebird-754

NETRAMARK TO ATTEND AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO $AIAI $AINMF (Making Money in AI = Healthcare/Pharma)
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• GreenStreetEF

ALRTF just announced a $350k PO for their new diabetic pet CGM
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SecurityAnalysis

• Mediocre-Put4253

Sherwin-Williams: Painting the Wonder of Compounding Decade After Decade
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Biotechplays

• EmbarrassedVisit3138

is a $3billion valuation of Compass Pathways CMPS after an FDA approval a realistic market cap?
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algotrading

• SupahSayan

How much math do you need to be successful?
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• shock_and_awful

TIL you can day trade without $25k, and avoid the PDT rule.
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• Side-Flip

Execution backtest discrepancies ninja trader..
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Forex

• TheeChaycer

All blues😊
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• joebally10

Recently started and getting a good grip on the market so far!
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• Strange-Badger-3054

How You guys pass prop firm challanges?
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RobinHood

• TorukMaktoM

Stock Market Recap for Thursday. June 1, 2023
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• sammieb777

Just bought my first ever call option, AMA/Roast me
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• NewChoice1930

I'm looking for some feedback on my investments.
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CryptoMarkets

• Pattmeace

Giddy Partners With Bitrefill to Bring DeFi Yield to Gift Cards
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• predictany007

Elon Musk sued over Dogecoin Twitter logo, alleging insider trading.
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• loweggego

Carbon Beta Release Community Update
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Hey fellow nannies! TL:DR: I gave notice to my disrespectful employers a couple days ago and I wish i had been able to talk to their previous nanny bc I'm sure she would have let me know to stay far away from them from the beginning!
I have 15 years of experience, I was hired for this experience, ive only been with them since mid-april. They have cameras but work outside the home, i thought nbd with cameras (even though it's not ideal) I'll just be glad not to have a wfh situation, again....but from the first day, they have been condescending and disrespectful and treat me like I'm untrustworthy even though ive gone above and beyond to show I'm trustworthy including doing the fingerprint verification with the fbi! They apparently think I'm an idiot; they've given me 'instructions' on things like what fussing is, why a baby would cry (seriously??) when to feed solids, how to feed them, how to peal a carrot--as if I haven't done this for 15 years?? as if I haven't made babyfood before when they specifically asked me about that and hired me because of that! This all comes to me via emails that are so long, rambling and repetitive you would have to see it to believe it. They look like psychosis, honestly.
The constant undermining of my intelligence and experience is something I can shrug off bc whatever, i know my worth and the hours were ideal for me, but this incident was the last straw for me....
They asked me to come in and babysit on my day off which I didn't want to do but graciously agreed to. When I babysit I'm a little more laid back than when I nanny. I'm not necessarily doing all the cleaning and laundry, etc. (oh yeah "baby related" cleaning turned into "spotless kitchen" at the end of the day. I put my foot down on doing their laundry bc I'm not touching their underwear.) That day I unfortunately spilled a cup of chamomile tea, I cleaned it up but it was still damp when I left. It happens so I forgot about it and moved on with my life. I had some trouble getting the LO to sleep as he's experiencing g a little bit of 4 month regression. I finally managed by turning on some soft lullabies and vibrating his mattress a bit till he zoned out and fell asleep.
I got an email the next day giving me 30 days notice to void the contract bc they felt me not holding him and Rocking him to sleep vs. Bouncing the mattress was "neglect" (excuse me??) They said "music is overstimulating for him" (staight up instrumental.lullabies are more stimulating that holding and Rocking his entire body?? What?) They also told me that they believe since I "withhled" spilling tea that I must be withholding bigger things, too. That's fucking bonkers!!
I called her up and we talked it out and she apologized for jumping to horrendous conclusions over nothing but (I had a few days off) after a lot of thought and talking to a lot of friends and family (2 of whom told me to quit right away without giving notcie at all!) I realized this is not a one off event this is going to be a pattern of behavior. This was confirmed when I got yet another novel length email from them ensuring me they don't believe i.would hurt a child. The underlying implication of that statement is appalling and fucking repugnant to me). Claiming they love their nannies (bullshit, they've treated me.like a suspected criminal who is replaceable since day one)...this triggered me so much. I've been doing this for 15 years, i haven't had one child get hurt in my care, not even a scraped knee, I have ZERO complaints from former families. HOW DARE SHE?? For bouncing a baby and spilling tea?? I gave my notice.
Now they are looking for a new nanny and I wish I could warn them all. I'm not even their first nanny, this will their baby's THIRD NANNY! you guys he's not even 5 months! Talk about huge red flags! She told me she had "safety concerns" with their previous and when she brought it up to that nanny, the nanny told her off and walked out (making it out like the nanny was evil and shes the vicitm ofc). But I don't blame her and if i wasn't concerned about my professional reputation, i would have, too, justifiably. The former nanny probably just went to the bathroom or something equally benign!
Regardless, my goal during the notice period is to do an Excellent job (obviously that's what NK desrves) and to prove to them they made a huge mistake and maybe even get a reference out of them anyway... but the immature part of me wants to tell her off SO BAD. When I left yesterday the dad (who is clearly not the driver in this) said "we appreciate you so much, as always!" I couldn't even stop myself from giving him a side eye and just nodding. They have ZERO appreciation for any of my time, skills or experience and quite frankly barely seem to see as a human! They act like I'm some monster who would harm them if they didn't put cameras everywhere to stop me and also that I'm apparently so moronic that i must be told how to peal and steam a gd carrot. Nothing but disrespect from day one!
They are the fakest people I've ever met and I can't wait to be done with them. I just wish I could warn other nannies, too! Like I wish I could have talked to their previous nanny and gotten the low-down before I wasted a month of my time working for these assholes. Now I have to look again and some.other nanny is going to go through what I and the former nanny also went through. Poor thing!
It pisses me off that she could potentially write a review on care.com and cause harm to me, which I would not be able to defend, but I can't do the same and warn other nannies to stay away from her. I'm sick of how rigged the game is. I gave them my social security number so they could run a background check but I got almost no background information on them except what they manicured for me. Nannies should be able to get references about familes from their previous nannies! (I've actually done this for a wonderful family who was moving out of state!)
Ugh anyway....Their shittiness will not make me a lesser nanny!!!
Sending all my love to my fellow nannies! You are all amazing, hard working and so loving that you actually love professionally, you deserve to be loved back! You have all got my respect and I hope you have a great day today!

My husband is from another country. After we got married, he immediately moved back there and we’ve been waiting for my spouse visa. The visa process is supposed to take 6 months. It’s been over a year and my visa is delayed with no proper communication from the embassy.
I was a very hyper independent person and had a high-paying job. I quit that job when my visa timeline got closer. Now I’ve moved back to my parents house and living in complete depression. My husband doesn’t understand and doesn’t offer to come see me because it’s very expensive. He does communicate via calls and texts but I’ve just been feeling worthless.
I feel like I’m not really here and lost all sense of being. I’ve stopped meeting friends cause all I get is pity and they look at me like some washed up loser.
All this has resulted me not picking up my husband’s calls for the last 4 days. It’s really affecting our marriage.

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PAYMENT PROOF

First Previous Next Ko-fi
"Hey Juice. Did you mean what you said about Tweek's wife being with another man at the moment?" Honey asked while they flew past trees. Juice was a little surprised at Honey Badger's ability to keep up with his pace. His large feet touched at the forest floor gently, propelling him forward in an endless torrent of speed and agility, and beside him Honey Badger kept pace.
"She cheated on him, he disappeared, that won't make her go 'My husband is gone, now is the right time to be faithful'." He shook his head from side to side, his arms pumping with every kick forward. "No, she's with the other man."
Honey suddenly stopped forcing Juice to halt his run, "What is it?" Juice whispered. Then he heard it, through the trees, the unmistakable sound of footfalls crunching leaves. A man appeared trailed by six wolves, the duo darted to either side of a the trees, using the bark as cover.
"The wolves have a scent, looks like unknowns at the south side of the wilderness." The man said to a receiver that dangled across his ear to come to rest at his cheek, mouthpiece dangling just above the lips. The wolves sniffed at the forest floor, inching ever closer. Honey darted from behind the tree, he jumped and twisted himself mid air, he fired two shots, one hit the man right at his forehead and the other took him down at the neck. Blood spluttered on the forest floor. The wolves tensed, hackles rising but Juice rushed them. The wolf at the front, the alpha, a large male with a coat of white fur charged Juice, it came in low thinking Juice would follow suit but Juice went high, jumping over the wolf and as he jumped his legs spun and the sword came down in a twirling arch to cut the wolf's head off then its midriff and a part of its hide. Juice landed behind the wolf and behind him the wolf fell to pieces. Seeing this the other wolves let out howls of fright and scattered to either end of the forest leaving Honey Badger and Juice standing alone amidst the trees.
Honey walked over to the wolf and raised its decapitated head. "Metal casing between the ears." He said.
Juice leaned down over the body of the man and stood up with a metallic object in hand. "This one has been set to scouting, I think it is used to control the alpha whom the pack follows."
"It's quite clever, control the leader of the pack to control the pack." Honey Badger said. "It's like communism."
Juice smiled. "We're fighting communist wolves."
They marched on, steady feet tapping the forest floor in swift movements. They ran for what could pass as half an hour until they came to a clearing where two men stood amidst a dozen wolves, eyes peering in either direction. Honey and Juice lay flat on the ground, their weapons held at the ready.
"Do you spot the alphas?" Honey asked.
Juice squinted. "There are two, the one to the North East, brown fur, metal casing on its head. To its right, two clicks, is the second alpha."
Honey stood up, all heads turned to him including those of the wolves. The two men started approaching and tapping at the metal casings at their sides. Honey raised his arm, gun in hand. He fired four shots that hit their targets, two alpha wolves lay headless on the forest floor and those that controlled them lay with ghastly wounds to the necks, bleeding out on the ground. The other wolves scattered. Honey and Juice approached the two figures on the ground.
"Say, have you ever thought about marriage?" Juice asked as he raised his sword and thrust it into the midriff of one man whose mouth gurgled with blood.
Honey aimed his pistol at the second man and fired at point blank rage, the man's head exploded in a flood of gore. "Marriage is a delicate topic, you have to consider the aspect of love, is it necessary for marriage to occur? If not then what's the point."
A man walked into the clearing, trailed by wolves. Honey pointed at him and pulled the trigger, the plasma ray shot forward at blinding speed, tearing through the air to hit the man in the eye, the back of his skull exploded in a mist of blood. The wolves charged, six of them, at the forefront was the alpha. Juice ran to meet them, the wolves split into two groups, flanking Juice's approach. Juice moved head on, aiming for the wolf with a metal casing upon its head. The black furred wolf pounced but Juice slid beneath it and as he slid he swiped at its legs with the light sword, cutting off its limbs. The other wolves approached but half hearted after seeing their leader's whimpering limbless form. Juice drove his sword through one wolf's chest, ejected it and sliced through another's snout. He then dove for the limbless wolf and impaled it through the head, breaking its metal casing. The other wolves scattered.
Honey walked to meet up with Juice and together they matched strides, heading for the Palace in the distance. "If marriage isn't for you then why did you propose it to Asumpta of the Solstice army?" Juice asked.
Honey rested his plasma pistols on his shoulders as he walked. "She had a metal arm."
"And?" Juice asked.
"Do you know what it's like to receive a hand job from a metallic hand?" Honey asked in return. Juice smiled. "I don't but one thing's for sure, as long as that hand has been oiled down well there's no tiring to the jerking motion. That means unlimited hand jobs, fast paced without tiring."
Juice nodded. "You are a wise man Honey Badger, you can read between the lines."
"And Thergo's body is metallic. She's basically capable of tirelessly satisfying me day in and day out."
"You think about the Princesses too?"
"I do."
Three men appeared before them, swords drawn at the ready. No wolves in sight. Juice rushed forward and the three ran to meet him. The first man raised his blade but Juice ducked low and cut inside the man's elbow, tearing tendons and ensuring the limb hang useless. The other two tried to flank him but Juice dove hard to the left, brandishing his blade he struck, thrusting just beneath the man's chin. The blade stuck between jaw bones and Juice let go of it after a failed yank. He turned to meet the man on the right but a plasma ray passed just a hand's breadth from his ear and took the man out through the eye. Juice turned to see Honey Badger shoot the man with the useless limb thrice through the chest. Honey walked on until he stood next to Juice who leaned down and picked up a light sword. They nodded at each other and continued their march towards the palace.
"I thought it was just Thergo's dress that was metallic." Juice said as they passed overhang trees, the canopy sheltering them from the sun's rays.
"Parts of her body are metal or some alloy resembling metal. The way she shapes her dress into weapons is probably because of some magnetic overlay that works with her flesh." Honey said and sighed. "Man I miss her flesh, it's like having sex with a microwave."
"Like fucking the Droid?" Juice said and they both laughed then quickly cut their laughs short as a man appeared before them, between the trees, wielding a plasma riffle with four wolves with metal casings flanking him on all sides.
The man took aim and fired but his plasma shot met with the plasma shot from Honey's pistol. The man gawked at Honey Badger, he raised his riffle and fired once more but Honey's plasma ray met with his shot once more in an eruption of sparks.
"Well I'll be damn—" The man's sentence was cut short as plasma shot from Honey's pistol took him out at the head, chewing a chunk off his skull. The wolves ran forward to meet them and Juice darted to answer their charge. The first two wolves pounced, aiming for his neck but Juice spun with the blade in hand, eviscerating them mid air. The wolves collapsed with whimpering death cries. Juice's feet still running he launched himself at the third wolf, darting to the side so its leap may meet plain air, swiping with his blade to cut through the wolf's snout in a deliberate line that ran from its mouth, through the neck to end at its chest. The fourth wolf tried to charge at his legs but a downward swipe of his blade severed its spine and ended its life.
Honey walked forward and met Juice. They nodded at each other and continued their journey, quickening their pace to a jog they etched on towards the now near palace.
"I see Sirenala within my mind from time to time, what Tweek said about Pepsharh is somewhat similar to what I experience." Juice said, his breath even despite the exertion thus far.
"It's like whatever we shared with them was special."
Juice stopped his ran and Honey Badger brandished his plasma pistols in an arch before him only to meet no foe.
"Special?" Juice asked.
Honey lowered his guns. "That's the word for it." He smiled. "What we shared with the princesses was unique, distinguished with a quality."
"Could it be love?" Juice asked, looking down on Honey Badger.
"Do you know Sirenala's birthday?" Honey asked.
"No"
"Then it's not love."
They continued on their forward march, exiting the cover of trees to emerge at the mouth of a bridge. On this bridge stood seven men with packs of wolves surrounding them. The foremost standing man had something in his hand which he raised high to the eyes of Honey Badger and Juice. In his hand was a tie, it's color yellow with red polka dots adorning its surface.
"We have your man." He shouted at them.
Honey's shoulders slumped. "Just our luck."
Juice's brows furrowed. "They have Tweek."

Hey all. I [34F] been living with my NP [47M] for 3 years, before which we were long-distance poly for a year, and monogamous/living near each other for 1/5 years before that. I suggested poly at first however this is something we've both discussed having an interest in for a while—by all measures, my NP claims to be aligned with poly and is very interested in the idea of being able to pursue multiple relationships at the same time.
However, my partner has always struggled with depression, and it shows up in many ways, but it tends to intensify greatly when things feel "unfair" or "unbalanced" between our experiences—specifically, when I am experiencing joy or "success" (in his words) in outside relationships.
His primary way of trying to find people to date is via dating apps. He also approaches women at the gym, most of whom either reject him or, if they're interested in him, don't want to pursue polyamory. He's struggled a lot with finding connection, whereas I have found 2-3 connections over the past 4 years that, while shorter-term, were fun and genuine and felt like good fits for me.
When things are going well for me, my partner's depression intensifies because he feels it is all very unfair and unequal—which comes with more hyperfocus on how unbalanced things are, how he's feeling like he won't ever get what I have, and that polyamory won't ever be sustainable because I make connections "easily" and he struggles to find people. His depression also comes with emotionally and mentally shutting down/shutting me out, lots of fatigue, irritability, perfectionism toward himself and criticism of others, and interpreting my & others' actions through a negative lens. He stated yesterday that he's been "slowing his roll" on finding a therapist because he is feeling suspicious of pretty much everyone, and that the fact that he felt "pretty good and immediate rapport" with a potential therapist felt like a red flag to him.
I had to bite my tongue pretty hard then and basically told him I'd be there to listen or offer advice if wanted.
My own dating struggles aside (of which there are plenty), this conversation/pattern has been happening on and off for the entirety of our time as a poly couple, and despite all attempts on my part to support, listen, empathize, provide feedback & advice when requested, get us set up with couple's therapy, support him in seeking his own therapy, offering tangible support for dating apps, reading literature and listening to podcasts (and sharing them with him), and suggesting events/things to try together, there's been what feels like a wholsesale rejection of alternative ways to approach polyamory ("it takes too much work" or "going to events will just be the same thing as dating apps—you with a ton of guys around you, and me being left behind") and what seems like his unwillingness or inability to get out of the negative thought spirals.
At this point, I have been asking him to seek outside support & information (friends, community, therapy, reading articles or books, listening to podcasts, whatever) for almost 4 years. He's done almost none of that except joining me in couple's therapy. He takes depression meds and works out, but has so far shown very few proactive approaches to helping himself. I am feeling at a point of despair—he is a wonderful person with so much to offer, and the depression just swallows him, and brings the rest of our household down with him, despite our best efforts to stay afloat.
I have someone that I've started seeing again—a long-distance relationship—and I am excited about this person. I want to be able to enjoy my time with them, and yet it so often feels like my NP's depression hangs like a cloud over me. I feel very stuck.
Request: I am looking for practical ideas for ways to nurture myself & my other relationship while remaining compassionate/supportive toward my NP. I have a difficult time with emotional boundaries and am very much the type of "take on" how my partner feels and seek to fix it to alleviate my own discomfort, which I know isn't usually the best or most helpful way. Any thoughts would be really appreciated.

⭐️ ABOUT ME: M27, living in South America, an ISFJ and Libra! Introverted at first, but talkative once I feel comfortable with you. I have basically the whole nerdy and geek tastes you'd imagine. I love cinema and animation. I'm both a dog and a cat person! I also happen to be a plant person. People say I'm a good listener and advice-giver. Oh, and I'm super LGBTQ+ friendly and supporter!
⭐️ WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: a like-minded female friend around my age (23-35yo), for a wholesome platonic FRIENDSHIP!
⭐️ THINGS I DON'T CARE ABOUT: what your nationality is, what your timezone is, what your language is (as long as you can write and read english), how much you're online throughout the day (we all have either jobs, stuff to attend to or even children to look after), what you look like, what your religion or beliefs are, what your orientation is, or whether you're single or in a relationship (as I'm engaged and genuinely only looking for friends).
⭐️ PREFERRED CONTACT METHOD: reddit's DM is my priority at first. If our trust develops in time, I'll be happy to reach out via other social media or messaging Apps. I love both texting and receiving/sending voice notes in those, if you prefer that over typing. However, I must admit I'm not into voice-chatting (calls) at all ✖️, because English isn't my main language so I suck at both speaking and listening to it at a quickly pace.
⭐️ TOPICS I LOVE TALKING ABOUT: all things geek and nerdy, movies (comedy, sci-fi and fantasy), TV series, collections, Marvel, Star Wars, RPG, all things Nintendo (Pokémon, Mario, Zelda), cosplay, family and relationship challenges, advice giving, science, art, painting, drawing, photography, books, pets, doggos, traveling, animation, all things Disney/Pixar, cooking, baking, recipes, DIYs, home decor, skin care, music, history, biology, introvertness, fashion, astrology, crystals, or even more deep 'n philosophical convos.
Do you think we might click? Then HMU!

The early part of the day was very quiet. Two people rushing in with panicked expressions raced in and snagged travel sewing kits meant for quick repairs. The relief on their faces… well, it felt pretty good to be able to provide what they needed on the spot. I smiled, pointed to the card reader, and wished them luck.
I got some funny looks, as well I should, given that they lived in this complex. The pair, one young man, one young woman, each wearing old suits that didn’t quite fit with the times or fit with their bodies, had clearly borrowed the clothes for job interviews and saw disaster in the form of a sudden and unexpectedly discovered tears in the old cloth.
If the Toriyama store hadn’t been there? Well, I doubt their day would have gone as smoothly. ‘No wonder she likes running it.’ I thought with a little smile on my face while I watched the wall clock continue to move forward one minute at a time.
I stopped clockwatching to go wipe down the counter by the bento. There was a sink and a soft cloth there waiting for use, and given the circumstances I figured… ‘Why not? What else is there to do?’ There were no customers for a fair bit, which wasn’t that surprising given the hour.
Kids were at school, most functional adults were at work, and nonfunctional ones tended not to have much in the way of money. The warm water felt good on my hands and before long the clean counter was cleaner than before.
From there I thought… ”Now what?” And I put my hands on my hips to look around the store. I looked toward the doors. ‘Still nobody.’ I thought, and went to check the inventory of things that were currently on the shelves. Dried seaweed was low… so I went to the back room behind the register to check the stock of goods… and frowned.
‘Alright… that’s not good. No, that’s bad, that’s very, very bad.’ The thought ran through my head as I looked within what was clearly the storage area for restocking… which was instead a sad sort of place, clean, like the rest of the store.
But that is what made it sad. See, I’d never held a real job on Earth, but I did know enough from movies, t.v. and manga that if you wanted to show that a place was dying, whether it be a restaurant or a store or whatever, the best way to do that was to show that it was damn near empty. ‘I’m out of… we ran out of… sorry, we don’t have…’ Whenever you heard that phrase in entertainment media, it was meant to show that a place was not doing well for itself.
There should have been multiple big boxes on pallets stacked way up, with just… all the snacks, not to mention all the cleaning supplies and prepackaged food and…
I had a sinking feeling. This was just the dry goods, the stuff that was plastic wrapped and packaged and so on.
There was a side door in this area, heavy and metal, it opened into the freezer. I cracked that door open and went inside, the icy chill hit my skin all at once and I wrapped my arms around my body and gave an audible shiver. “Brrr!” I said to myself as I ventured within.
This place should have had stacks of meat and drinks meant for the refrigerated section, all the basics that kept people going through that last hour or two.
But instead there were only a handful of boxes along the wall, none were higher than two deep up and two deep out, each aligned according to the product on the shelf.
But most of the produce shelf had just plain nothing.
My mind turned back to the two thugs who’d come into the store, and I spun on my heel, striding out of the deep freeze and venturing back to the register.
Still nobody was coming in, so I opened the register, checked for the paper envelope and cracked it open. There, I started counting.
Human money confuses me to no end. Every country has its own, and every country values every other country’s currency at a different rate from their own. Even the rate at which they valued their own currency didn’t actually match what was written on their damn stupid pieces of paper.
All I could do while I counted was grumble. “Damn stupid confusing inefficient barbaric primitive nonsensical absurd ridiculous daft temple to madness, forget why… how in all the hells of all the gods in all the Universe does anyone do anything this way?!”
I managed to get a count of the money within and tried to work out the relative cost compared to what I spent on things.
“So… let me work this out…” I mumbled and began drumming my fingers on the counter next to the register, “I pay that for a pizza… and this is like a few hundred pizzas so…”
My mouth dropped. “This is like a thousand pizzas?!” I shrieked with shock and horror… “No way?!” I couldn’t believe my own math, so I went to the far office. I’d seen through there sometimes when the door was open, and I knew Suki had a desk in there.
I tried the handle, it turned, it wasn’t locked. The wooden door swung inward when I pushed, and my eyes were greeted by a dizzying array of scattered papers, notebooks open with various numbers that were just… just dizzying to behold.
It was the exact opposite of the neat and orderly existence outside. I hesitated, fingers still curled around the doorhandle, my NEET brain screamed ‘Flee! This is an unholy land filled with math and confusion!’ But I did not flee.
I did not turn away.
I did. Not. Run.
I stepped within, leaving the door open at my back to both hear incoming customers and to ensure I could easily flee if the numbers assaulting my brain began to overwhelm me.
I did feel a little guilty, enough so that I couldn’t bring myself to actually sit in the cracked leather chair. The poor thing had clearly seen much better days, it was tilted slightly where one wheel was broken, once smooth brown back was tilted in such a way that suggested it was probably broken and couldn’t be leaned back in without it falling apart entirely.
There was one thing that perhaps saved my brain from a meltdown.
When you’re late paying a human organization, they really want you to know it. So a lot of the papers I saw were stamped ‘late notice’ or some variation thereof.
‘If she’s paying protection money to some yakuza baddies… no wonder she can’t pay her bills.’ My frown deepened as I began looking at one paper after another, just what was in that one single envelope was enough to pay most of the bottom numbers on the bills I picked up, and based on the dates, these were cumulative months.
“With that? She’d be just fine…” I mumbled and dropped the papers to fall like feathers in the breeze back down to the desk. I narrowed my eyes down at the desk.
Nobody needs to tell me that I can be sort of lazy. That’s the whole point of my vacations. But I really, really, like being a Painter. It’s not just that I’m good at it, I really see value in what I do. I hate dictators, they don’t just take lives, they take happiness. From where I’m sitting… standing, that is, these guys are just small scale dictators, leeches.
They were exactly the sort I do not like.
I heard the ding of the door as a customer walked in and hastened out to meet them. “Welcome to Toriyama’s.” I said with a smile as I stood in front of the register. I kicked the pants of the two petty tin pots out of my way, and started planning what I would do when my day was done.

Advised to repost my resin coating repair of a Northstar canoe. Apologies to those that have already read it…
https://imgur.com/a/KVv3EJ5
I bought a Northstar Northwind 17 from Rockwood at the end of the season last year and just finished with my resin coat.
I needed a fresh coat of resin to seal up the bottom. If you are coating a Northstar Canoe, you need to buy your resin directly from Northstar as they use a proprietary mix for their canoes. Don’t use the West System. It won’t work as well. Northstar will send it out the day you order it and you will get it within 48 hours.
With the canoe upside down on sawhorses, start by taking blue painters tape and creating a “football” shape on the bottom of the canoe. I’m talking maybe 3 inches down from the overturned canoe from the bow and stern and it should come around to just above the water line on the side of the canoe at its widest point. Northstar recommends 150 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander but I advise that you need to work up to at least 220 and I went to 320 grit for a smoother finish. Wipe off with an old towel in between sanding coats to see where you missed and get everything nice and even. When you get done with 320 grit you will wipe down the whole thing and then clean it with acetone so it’s ready for the resin.
You mix the resin and MEKP hardener (which you can buy at Home Depot in a tiny clear tube near the Gorilla glue in that aisle) at a 50:1 ratio. For canoes larger than the Northstar Northwind 17, you should buy the $85 two-pint bottom refinishing kit from Northstar. This ends up being 2 teaspoons per pint of hardener to resin. Here’s where you have to move fast because once you stir the two pints resin and the four teaspoons hardener all together you’ve got about 15 minutes total on a warm day in the shade to get it done. Use gloves, eyewear, and a soluble filtered 3M painters mask if you have it!! I used a regular 3M mask and got high as a kite. No bueno. Use a better mask than me.
Pour the resin directly on the center line of the canoe from your mix container and start rolling and get everything covered because that stuff starts turning into Jell-O in the mix container after 15 minutes. I covered the bottom of my Northwind 17 and I still had over half of a pint left. Don’t try and get cute and pour any extra resin on at the last minute to use it up because it will start to gum up and you will look to the sky and scream, most likely cursing your ancestors for helping you make that poor decision. Be smart.
Make sure you take off the blue painters tape right after you get done coating the bottom so you don’t leave a line. When you remove the tape it tends to blend the line away and it will be almost unnoticeable. If you can, once you’re done you need to move your canoe into the sunlight and that sucker will cure in about six hours. I would do it basically at about 9 AM that way you’ll have all day in the sun to cure. My results were fabulous.
I just purchased a 1999 Bell Magic from a BWCA.com member in the BlackGold layup and it has a bunch of scratches on the bottom from the 24 years it’s been used but because it is carbon fiber on the outside and has a gel coat, I’m not going re-coat that. It’s handled the scratches really well. But the Kevlar (especially if the canoe is showing fabric) needs the extra love and protection.
PS) Burn your rags in an old coffee can when you are done. Do not throw them in the trash. They can catch on fire spontaneously.

I am 24m with about 2 years in public accounting with a bachelors degree doing audit and tax, and I'm going to school on the side to earn a CPA eventually starting in August. Right now I work at a small firm doing audit for 50k with bonuses, which is well under market for my position in a MCOL area (South FL). The pay cut was to earn experience, and my employer doesn't seem to be receptive to a raise. I've been seeing salaries for entry level going for about 60-70k and some of the jobs at smaller public firms I've been interviewing for want to pay me even less. I was offered one for 75k for my two years of experience and ok benefits at a large local industry firm, and the recruiter said its not really negotiable. This still seems kind of low for my experience and credentials, so any advice based on the current market? I've also been looking at remote jobs because they pay more, for my city doesn't have many large companies. If any of you have suggestions for a salary goal this would be greatly appreciated.