#like do you yell at coworkers because you didn't hire them. do you yell at classmates because you didn't choose to be in their class.

[trans-xianxian]

just saw someone say that older siblings are allowed to yell at their younger siblings because they had no say in them being in the family and it's "preparing them to be yelled at in the real world" girl what the fuck are you talking about

[foldingfittedsheets]

I’ve been fired exactly once in my life. In my early twenties I was working at a pizza place. The pizzas were artisanal, thin crust and personal. They’re a huge chain now but when I first started the company was in its infancy. It was the wild west of management, and the core investors would frequently stop by to check on things. One of these people was this round little man with rage issues. A knock off Danny Devito with no charisma at all.

His favorite thing to do was to come in on a Friday or Saturday night. We'd be at our stations: taking orders, making pizza, manning the oven, finishing orders off, running the cash register. He'd shove his way onto the line and start rearranging people. "You, get off orders and work the cash register, you come over and make the pizzas!" With a line of customers snaking out the door he'd throw off all our grooves and rattle us.

Then, inevitably, a mistake would happen.

When it did he'd call the person over and say, "Hey c'mere. You're fired." Just like that. No inflection, just a flat "You're fired." It was absolutely a power kink, and because of his involvement the average turn over was three months. You were a veteran at five months.

One night there was only three of us manning the front. I took an order than went to the cash register to ring them out before I made the pizza. This horrible man watched that then called me into the back. I didn't know if I was about to be fired. But I wasn't. In fact, he had one other move besides firing people. He yelled.

In the back he absolutely lost his mind screaming at me for being on the cash register. I'm talking veins popping, spit flying, red with rage, this man just started bellowing nonsensically about where I should be and how I was just such a failure. It was truly like his brain had shut off, nothing he was saying even made sense. I stood there in the face of this tirade for a minute and then set a record for being the first person to ever cut him short by bursting into tears.

He instantly stopped yelling and it was like Jekyll and Hyde. He was remorseful and consoling, deeply embarrassed by my display of emotion. All my male coworkers just took the abuse but faced with my weeping he about faced and instantly backed off. I went outside to cry and when I came back in he pretended it had never happened.

That was the state of things. The investors knew they desperately needed to keep this man out of the stores, but they couldn't just give him the boot. They needed to move him aside and fill his position with someone. The store manager was this lovely woman who had hired me on the spot at my interview. The entire staff adored her. She was the best fit to get this roided out investor out of the stores for good.

Her replacement was this man called Anthony. He was instantly loathed by the entire staff. Condescending, critical, and lazy he started off his reign by letting go a core lead who "back talked." He spent a whole morning berating the opening crew because the closing crew (who had sold 100 more pizzas than we were even supposed to have on hand) had forgotten to windex the doors. He left the entire crew to close without him while he flirted with a girl who wasn't his pregnant girlfriend. He hired his roommate to replace the lead he fired and even that guy hated his guts.

Our antipathy toward him made him paranoid and resentful and one by one he started finding excuses to fire the whole staff, certain that if he could clean house he'd be able to do the job. My time came, and he sat me down with his boss, my former manager. She cried as he announced I wasn't personable enough and used too many pepperonis.

I looked at her, the woman who had trained me on how many pepperoni to use, but she said nothing. What could she say? He was the boss now and had determined I was going to be let go regardless. Too many in this case was seven. Seven pepperonis on a personal pizza. The correct number was five according to him, which is one pepperoni per slice, and one in the middle.

I sat there for a moment, taking it in. I smiled at my old manager, obviously miserable. I looked back at him and said, "You're a terrible manager, you're doing the worst imaginable job." I outlined some of the things he'd done so she could hear them, then I stood up and left. I made it to the back room before I started crying.

I found out later through a bus boy that he replaced the whole staff with college kids who had such limited availability that the store couldn't run, then quit three months later leaving the whole place in shambles. Most of the old staff returned, but I'd moved onto the sex shop already and was enjoying a job with significantly less risk of being fired on a whim.

However I do have to disclose on job applications if I've ever been fired. I always says yes and list the reason as, "Excessive use of pepperoni." It has never failed to get a laugh from my interviewer.

[kpop---scenarios]

Dark Book Series (1) - Masked

Pairing: Lee Felix x Reader

Warning: A lot of mentions of murder, blood, and smut. [18+ ONLY. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT]

Word Count: 5.4k

Taglist: @velvetmoonlght @skittlez-area512 @skzdust @gnabnahcsworld @onlyhyunjin @stephanieeeyang @lostasoulinthedarkness @imperfectlyperfectprincess1 @iam-wh0

@ayyonoona

Felix | Hyunjin | Lee Know | Changbin | Jisung | Chan | Seungmin | Jeongin

“You're not still seeing Felix are you?” Your best friend, Yujin asks, switching her load of laundry from the washer and putting it into the dryer.

You turn your head to look at her and laugh. “Yeah.” You smile. “We've been seeing each other for a few months. Why?” You ask, also switching your load. She was only at the laundromat with you because the machines in your building broke and your landlord is too much of a cheap ass to get them fixed. Though Yunjin has her own home, the both of you prefer the bulky washer and dryer at the shop, so you can do a bigger load.

She bites her lip, glancing down at her phone, typing things in, holding it to her chest as she speaks. “Listen… I'm not saying it's him for sure. But you remember that coworker you were having issues with? June?” She mumbles.

**

“Oh my god! June!” You exclaim. “Look at this.” You say, waving her over. June rolls her eyes as she gets up from her desk, shuffling over to you.

“What?” She snaps.

“We overpaid to the LCC. Look. Like, 8 thousand dollars too much.” You say, pointing to the payment total. “I'll go tell Soobin.” You say, pushing away from your desk.

“No!” She yells. “I'm already up, I'll go tell him.” She finishes, walking away from your desk. You watch her walk over there, faintly hearing every few words she tells him.

“Overpaid…8 thousand… Y/N.” Oh good. She mentioned it was you who found it. You were worried for a second that she would try to take the credit. She had been absolutely fucking awful to you as a mentor the last few months. Nothing you did was ever good enough in her eyes, even the teeniest, tiniest mistake, she pointed out, rather loudly, calling you an idiot. This happened on multiple occasions.

“Y/N.” Soobin calls out. “My office, please.” He says, gesturing June into his office, just as you see your department head walking straight towards Soobin's office. This made your stomach turn. What was going on?

You got up from your chair, making your way down the little corridor hallway down to his office, behind the head of the department. You step inside, closing the door, taking the last seat available as everyone stares at you.

“What happened with the LCC?” Mr. Jung, the head of the department, asks you.

“I was just relooking at the invoice today and noticed that it was overpaid.”

“By 8 thousand dollars?” He asks. “Who paid them?”

“June did.” You say, gesturing to her. She scoffs at you.

“I'm not an idiot like you, Y/N. I would never overpay like that.” She says. “Y/N paid the invoice.” She says, smirking at you.

“W-what?” You gasp. “No I didn't. It has June's name on it.”

“Do you even know how to read?” June laughs. “Who hired this one?” She chuckles, looking between Soobin and Mr. Jung.

“You liar!” You snap. You can feel the tears brimming in your eyes.

“Y/N, enough.” Mr. Jung says. “We will conduct our own investigation. You both enjoy the rest of your day. It's 5 pm, so go home.” He finishes. You stand up first, walking out of the office, while June calls your name, but you ignore her. You didn't want to deal with her, only thinking about the fact that your new boyfriend was down on the sidewalk waiting for you.

As fast as you can, you gather your belongings, unfortunately still meeting June at the elevator. The ride down to the ground floor is quiet. You can feel your ears turning red as you fume. The bell dings, opening the door, and you walk out quickly, not bothering to hold the door for June. The second you see Felix, it's like a sense of relief washed over you. You walk straight to him, his arms wrapping around you, holding you closely.

“June's a bitch.” You mumble into him, just as the door opens, out walking the bitch herself.

“Can you take your PDA elsewhere?” She scoffs. “No one wants to see that.”

“I'm going to guess you're June.” Felix says, pulling away from you.

“I-I am.” She says.

“Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N’s boyfriend, Felix.” He says, extending his hand. She shakes it, but winces. You not noticing how hard Felix was squeezing it. “I hope you're treating my girl well.” He finishes, releasing her hand. She nods her head, wiggling her fingers as she walks away.

“I don't like her.” Felix laughs, opening the car door for you.

“Mhm, me either.” You mumble, getting into the passenger seat. Not noticing the smile that spread across Felix’s lips as he made his way to the driver's seat.

**

“Yeah? What about her?” You ask, feeling nervous. You glance around the laundry shop, it's quiet for a Saturday night.

Yujin turns her phone screen to face you, showing you the latest news article.

“Woman - 57, Found Dead In The Park.” You mutter, scrolling down slightly. “June Erikson, 57 who was an employee at JPH accounting, Found dead this morning from multiple stab wounds…” You trail off.

Yujin looks at you with wide eyes, placing her phone back in her lap. “That's so sad. Oh my god. I feel awful for her family.” You sigh.

“That's it?” Yujin exclaims. “That's how you react to that news?” She asks.

“I'm sorry?” You say. “How am I supposed to react?”

“You're supposed to be scared!” Yujin yells. “Felix did this!”

“What? Why?” You laugh. “Do you know something I don't?”

“I'm telling you, Y/N. It was Felix. You complained about her a lot. Think about it.”

**

“Oh my god. I can't deal with her anymore!” You exclaim to Felix. “Everyday it's something.”

“Baby, it's only Monday.” Felix laughs. “What happened?”

“She told everyone that I fucked up an account, and it wasnt me! I don't even have access to that account!” You whine.

“Just breathe, baby. Tomorrow will be better.” He says, placing a kiss on your lips.

~

“So how was it today?” Felix asks, as you slide into the car.

You sit there with your arms crossed, sniffling. You're trying not to cry but June was horrendous to you and you hated her so much.

“Maybe tomorrow.” Felix sighs, resting his hand on your thigh as he drives away from your work.

The next three days were all the same. June was relentless to you, she never let up, she was never nice and you so desperately wanted to quit even though you absolutely loved your job. She was just the worst part of it the entire thing.

“Oh babe.” He sighs, wrapping you in a hug. “You won't have to worry about her for much longer.” He smiles.

**

“Okay?” You laugh, rolling your eyes. “I complained about her to you as well. Are you sure you didn't kill her?” You ask.

“You know I'd never do that!” She scoffs.

“Just like I know he wouldn't do that either.” You sigh. “You really gotta stop this.”

“I'm sorry, I don't believe it wasn't him. Remember the night you met?” She asks.

It never fails, Anything Felix does or says has her bringing up that night.

*

“Fuck men!” You scream, your friends dragging you down the street, as you all drunkenly laugh, enjoying your night out. You had just broken up with your last boyfriend, a real piece of shit, and you were so happy to be free, and able to have fun and do what you want.

“Fuck you, bitch!” Some man yells, glaring towards you and your friends.

“Aww, did that upset you? Someone's got small dick syndrome.” You laugh, yelling back as they try to drag you away.

“The fuck did you say to me?” He screams, rushing towards you. He stomps towards you, screaming, spit flying from his mouth as he approaches you, waving his finger. You close your eyes, tensing up as you wait for some sort of impact, but it doesn't come. You open one eye, peaking out, seeing a man standing in front of you, the man who was previously screaming at you, stopped in his tracks.

“You better watch what the fuck is gonna come out of your mouth next.” he snaps, no hint of humor in his very deep voice.

“This doesn't involve you.” The man scoffs, trying to move past the man who was helping you. He doesn't get very far, the man helping you, grabs the other by the collar, pulling him in close.

“You take one more fucking step, and I'll kill you and your whole fucking family. Understood?” He asks.

The man looks at you, muttering something about you not being worth it, before pushing the man off of him, turning around to go back to his friends.

The man who helped you turned around, and you felt like you had died and gone to heaven. He was the most attractive man you had ever seen. Blonde hair slicked back, dark eyes and a sinister smile.

Just your type.

“Thank you…” You trail off, unable to take your eyes off him.

“Felix.” He laughs.

“Thank you, Felix.” You smile, slowly shaking his hand. You were so mesmerized by him, you couldn't look away.

“Y/N…” Your friend, Jennie, urges, grabbing your shoulders.

“Come on. Let's go.” Jisoo whispers, pulling on your other hand.

You smile at Felix, walking backwards with your friends, still staring at him as he smiles, watching you walk away. From that moment on, you knew he'd be yours.

“That was fucking weird.” Yujin says, laughing. You can tell it's her uncomfortable laugh, she didn't like him right off the bat.

“It was hot.” You say.

“You're a psychopath.” Yujin shivers.

*

“He was just trying to protect me. And you, Jennie and Jisoo. He's not a bad man. I don't know why you can't just look past that.” You huff, grabbing your clothes from the dryer. “Look, I gotta go. Felix is waiting for me. Just please try to give him a chance?” You half smile, leaning in for a quick side hug, hoping things between her and Felix would get better.

A few weeks later, Jennie, Yujin and Jisoo had finally agreed to go out with you and Felix. You were so excited that all your favorite people were going to be in the same room, getting to know each other and hopefully finally getting along.

“I don't know why she doesn't like me.” Felix sighs, the two of you sit in a quiet pub where the music isn't as loud, people are calmer and the atmosphere is a little more relaxed.

“She will babe, I promise.” You smile at him, grabbing his hand. “Tonight she'll see how great you are.” You finish, leaning in for a quick kiss.you hear the bells on the door ringing, along with loud chatter. You can already tell it was your friends coming in. You turn around smiling and waving them over to the table, you and Felix already were sat at.

“Hi guys.” You smile as they all sit across the table from you two. “What's going on?” You ask.

“Jennie was just telling us about Hyunjin, she thinks he's going to propose.” Jisoo giggles. Your mouth drips as you grab her hands.

“Oh my god! That's so exciting!” You shriek. “Aw, you'd make the most beautiful bride.” You gush. You glance over at Felix, who's smiling, watching you with your friends.

“Sorry babe.” You laugh. “I’d officially like you guys to meet Felix.” You say, pointing to him. “Felix, this is Yujin who you sort of know, Jisoo and Jennie.” You say, pointing out each one. Felix stands up, shaking each one of the other hands, Jennie and Jisoo giggling as they look at him, but Yujin is straight faced, giving him a little smile.

She was going to be tougher than you thought.

“What do you guys want to drink?” You ask. They all give you their drink orders, Felix slides you his card with a wink, as he begins to talk to your friends, Jennie and Jisoo already immersed in the conversation as Yujin sits back with her arms crossed, observing the interactions.

“Hi.” You smile at the bartender. “Can I get 3 vodka crans, one vodka and sprite, a rum and coke and then 5 shots of tequila please?” You ask, setting down Felix’s card.

“Need some help, darling?” You hear a deep voice from behind you. You smile, turning around, expecting to see Felix but instead you're met with the face of a man you don't know.

“No thank you.” You say politely, grabbing a few drinks, taking them to your table and heading back to the bar for the rest.

“You sure? A pretty girl like you can't do everything yourself.” He winks.

“I'm good. Thanks.” You say, grabbing the rest of the drinks. The man grabs your wrist, holding you in your spot. By the time you look up at him, Felix has already gotten up and made it to you, grabbing the man's arm and pulling it off of you.

“She said she was good, man. Take the hint.” Felix says, taking a few drinks from your hand, and moving out of the way for you to go first. You blush as you make your way back to your seat, Jisoo and Jennie giggling at the interaction that just happened.

You didn't notice Felix turning his head to glare at the man, but Yujin sure did. A few hours later, Felix gives you a long kiss, heading to the bathroom, while you girls drunkenly gush about anything and everything.

“Thoughts, feelings, concerns?” You ask, as soon as Felix is out of ear shot.

“I like him!” Jennie exclaims.

“Me too!” Jisoo smiles.

“I don't like him.” Yujin yawns. “He's fake. He's acting and I don't fucking like it.” She snaps.

“You're never going to be happy for me, are you?” you sigh, feeling slightly defeated.

A few minutes of silence later, Felix wanders back from the bathroom, rubbing his hand along your back. “You ready, baby?” He asks, letting out a yawn.

“Absolutely.” You smile. “Thank you girls for coming out tonight. Let's do it again soon!” You smile, but give Yujin a little glare before you slide your fingers in between Felix’s.

“It was really nice to meet you guys. Thanks for a great night.” Felix smiles towards all three of the women. Jisoo and Jennie wave to you both, while Yujin keeps her arms crossed, avoiding eye contact.

“I'd say that went well.” Felix smiles at you, as you both pass the alley on your way home. You don't have the heart to tell him what Yujin said.

“I think so too.”

**

The next morning you woke up to a few missed calls and texts from Yujin. You open one eye trying to focus without closing your eye, until the headline she texted you catches your eye.

“Man Found Dead Outside Local Pub.” You read.

You dial Yujin's number, rubbing the bridge of your nose as you wait for her to answer.

“Did you read the article?” She asks, answering the phone.

“Yeah?” You say. “Who is that?”

“The guy from the bar!” She yells. You crawl out of bed, careful not to wake Felix as you shuffle to the bathroom.

“What guy?” You ask, quietly closing the bathroom door.

“The one that came up to you when you were getting drinks.” She harshly whispers. “He was murdered. Just like June!”

“Okay? So there's a killer out there. Honestly Yujin. I appreciate you looking out for me, but this really is getting tiring. You don't spend time with him like I do. You don't know him.” You sigh.

This shit was giving you a headache.

“I'm just trying to protect you!” She yells.

“Seems like the only person I need protecting from is you. You're trying to ruin what is probably the best relationship that I've ever had. Enough.” You snap, ending the call.

After that day, Yujin had gotten to Jennie and Jisoo, and their once fondness for Felix, turned into hate awfully quickly, and you hated it. You truly did not understand where they were coming from. He didn't hit you, he didn't yell at you and call you names. He treated you like a princess, listened to you, cheered you up, he baked for you. He was everything you ever wanted and more, and there was absolutely no way you were going to let your friends ruin this relationship for you. So you stopped going out with them, you responded to calls and texts but not in the same way you did before. Your responses were dry, responding with the bare minimum answers and you knew they knew that you were disappointed but they were still your friends and you were still going to try to get them to see Felix the way you did.

“I just don't get it.” You whine to Jennie and Jisoo. “You guys loved him when you met him.”

“He was great…he might still be but like… Yujin had some really good points too. It's only been like, what, 5 months of the two of you dating and two people that have come into contact with you have died?” Jennie says.

“It's kinda crazy.” Jisoo adds.

“So is thinking that Felix is the kind of man who goes around murdering people.” You scoff. “That's kind of a stretch, don't you think?”

“Is it?” Jisoo asks.

You let out a long sigh. You were so frustrated with how they were acting but unfortunately you weren't able to control the way other people react.

“Come on.” Jennie smiles. “Yujin is waiting at the bar.” She finishes, pulling your hand. Felix had gone out with some of his friends, which had led you to deciding to go out with yours, but you had a feeling you were going to regret it.

And you did.

“Y/N!” Yujin smiles, standing up to hug you. She was surrounded by four men when the three of you walked into the bar. “I'm so glad you came. I've missed you.”

You smile back at her.

“I missed you too.” You say, wrapping your arms around her, hugging her back.

“Come, sit, meet some people.” She murmurs, pulling you down beside her.

“This is Yunho, San, Hongjoong, and Mingi.” She says, pointing to each handsome man sitting around the table. You give them each a small smile and a wave, feeling uncomfortable, almost like this was set up, for you specifically.

“So, Y/N.” Mingi smiles. “What do you do for work?” He asks.

“I uh, working at an accounting firm.” You respond, taking a sip of your drink. “What about you?”

“How's that? Fun? Boring?” He laughs. “The four of us are in a band.” He smiles, motioning between himself and the other three.

“That's cool.” You respond, trying to catch the attention of Yujin.

“Would you… Maybe wanna get out of here? Go somewhere more private to get to know each other?” Mingi asks. You raise your eyebrow as you stare at him.

“What did Yujin tell you this was?” You ask.

Mingi laughs. “To be honest, she thought we would mesh well. This is like a blind date… Isn't it?”

“I have a boyfriend.” You say, sliding your chair back, standing up and walking towards Yujin who had moved down towards Hongjoong. “Seriously?” You snap, grabbing her arm.

“What?” She asks, trying to play innocent.

“Don't. Don't do that innocent act shit. A blind date, Yujin? Really?” You respond.

She throws her hands up in frustration. “Would you have come if I told you?” She asks.

“Obviously not.” You spit.

“Exactly! There's better out there for you! You just needed to be shown.” She smiles.

“I'm not leaving Felix for Mingi.” You say. “He seems lovely, but I'm happy. Why can't you get that through your head?”

“Because!” She yells. “How can you be in love with a murderer!?”

“I can't. I can't do this with you anymore.” You scoff. “I'm just done.” You finish, walking back to your chair to grab your bag. “I'm sorry Mingi, it was nice to meet you but I have to go.” You smile, grabbing your bag and walking out the door.

Yujin called and texted apologies everyday. For months. And you didn't respond to any of them, you were too mad and frustrated at her to respond calmly.

**

“Another text.” You sigh, looking down at your phone.

“Babe.” Felix pipes up. It had now been 3 months since you had spoken to Yujin. “I think you need to forgive her.” He says.

You look up at him, shocked. “What?”

“It's been months. How many times does she need to apologize for what she's done? She's your best friend.” He says.

“Yeah… but she set me up on a blind date, Felix. How could she think that's okay?” You ask.

“Because she's being protective of you. Like I am. Was I happy about it? Absolutely not. Do I understand where she was coming from? You bet.” He says. “She'll come around.” He smiles.

“What if she doesn't?” You ask.

“Then we'll make her.” He winks.

**

A few days later, you're sitting in Yujins house with her. All the crying, hugging was finally finished.

“Okay.” Yujin, sighs. “I know what your answer is probably going to be. But I'm going to invite you anyway because I love you and I hope you'll come.”

“Okay?” You laugh, raising your eyebrow, curious about what's going to come out of her mouth next.

“I'm having a Halloween party next weekend. Costumes, drinks, games, the works. I really hope you'll think about coming.” She smiles.

“Oh!” You exclaim, laughing. “That sounds fun! Felix loves Halloween and dressing up.” You laugh, pulling out your phone to text him.

Yunjin sits there silently for a second, you can see her face sort of contorting as she thinks about how to put her next sentence as delicately as she can. You already knew what she was going to say. It had been 9 months now, and she still didn't like him or trust him.

“Actually, I just meant I'd like you to come. I'm sorry, but he's not invited.” Yujin whispers, twiddling her thumbs together.

“Yujin. Did we not just have a whole episode of working things out?” You snap.

“Yeah we did and I'm grateful for that because I've missed you. But he's still as fucking weird, intense and controlling as he was that day!” She snaps. “You deserve better! But you keep getting with these fucking losers.”

“Controlling? You've met him like twice, and put in no effort, except to judge him. He's not controlling.” You sigh.

“Then why don't you ever come out anymore? We used to do fun things all the time.” She pouts.

“Because of you! And your lack of consideration for my relationship.” You snap. “If you had a little more respect for me and Felix, then maybe I would.”

“Yeah, sure. It's not him at all.” She scoffs.

“Okay, I'm gonna go. Text me the details for the party. I'll think about it.” You sigh, getting up off the couch and heading for the front door.

You already knew you'd be going to the party. You knew Felix would be joining you, and you were all going to have a great fucking time.

**

The next weekend, you showed up to the Halloween party in a full Harley Quinn costume. You thought you did an amazing job on the costume, and by your friends' reactions, they thought so too.

“I'm so happy you decided to come.” Yujin smiles, pulling you in for a hug.

“Yeah.” You laugh. “Me too.”

“So what's the plan?” You ask, grabbing a drink from the fridge.

“It's just gonna be us four for a few hours. We're gonna pregame until the party starts around nine!” She grins.

“That sounds perfect.” You smile, taking a sip of your drink.

“Jisoo!” Yujin calls out, you, Jennie and her gathered around the island in the kitchen, waiting for Jisoo to come downstairs.

“Should I go look for her?” Jennie asks.

Yujin sighs. “Yeah, I guess. She was done like 30 minutes ago, I don't know why she isn't down here already.”

Jennie leaves the kitchen, heading towards the stairs. You and Yujin are chatting about nothing, when you hear the start of a scream before it's cut off. You both look at eachother, walking forward, very slowly, your arms linked together.

“Jennie?” You call out, in a semi whisper. “Are you okay?”

You hear footsteps making their way down the stairs. Jennie rounds the corner, but she's not alone. Someone in a mask stands behind her, a knife placed to her throat.

“Jisoo? Did you completely change your costume?” Yujin laughs. “Scared the shit out of her, I didn't you?” She says to Jennie, who has tears rolling down her cheeks. She's trying to hold in her sobs as the person behind her cocks their head to the side.

Yujin realizes quickly that it's not Jisoo under the mask. “Who are you?” Yujin asks. “What do you want?”

No answer.

You and Yujin stand there, breathing heavily as Jennie mouths pleas to the two of you, begging you to help her.

“Just step away from h…” You begin, stepping forward. The knife is pulled away from her throat, she breathes a sigh of relief, hunching over as she tries to catch her breath. The person grabs onto her hair, yanking her back up before plunging the knife through her back, the tip poking out of her stomach.

“No!” You and Yujin scream in unison, watching your friend have the life taken from her.

She gasps and gargles as the knife is ripped out of her body and shoved in again, and again, and again, until she can no longer stand. The masked person shoves her lifeless body to the floor, blood pouring from her mouth and each wound, the blood pooling around her body on the floor.

Screams erupt from you and Yujin, tears spilling from your eyes. The two of you go through the double doors to the living room, both of you frantically trying to find your cell phones. Jennie's body is dragged into the living room, streaks of blood left on the floor as she's dropped near the two of you.

“Why are you doing this!?” Yujin screams. “Where's Jisoo!?”

The masked person walks towards you two, turning towards the closet in the hall, pointing there.

“No, No…She's dead.” You gasp, crying a little harder.

“What the fuck did we ever do to you!?” Yujin screams. You let go of her hand, walking towards the faceless person. “Y/N!” Yujin screams. “What are you doing!?” She panics.

As you get closer, the person begins to lift the mask, and you're met with the handsome face of your boyfriend.

“Felix?” She gasps. You turn around, looking horrified that it's your boyfriend. She was right.

Of course she was. He walks up behind you, placing the knife against your neck as he places a small kiss on the side of your neck.

“Please don't kill her.” Yujin cries.

“Oh.” You laugh, wiping away your tears. “He's not going to kill me.” You giggle, taking the drenched knife from his hands.

“Hi baby.” Felix whispers in your ear.

“W-what is happening?” Yujin gasps.

“You know, Yujin. I got really tired of you accusing Felix of being a murderer.” You laugh. “Even though you were spot on.”

“She was.” Felix laughs. “You should have been an investigative journalist or a police officer.”

“So he did kill those people! And you knew?” She asks, her face contorted into a disgusted look.

“Yes, and yes.” You laugh. “Your constant nagging was getting really annoying. So when I approached Felix about an idea I had, I knew he would be totally in.”

“You planned this?” She asks. “We're supposed to be best friends!”

“Yeah, supposed to be. But you just couldn't let me be happy! You really have no one else to blame but yourself.” You sigh. “But I also had a condition. Felix had to leave you…” You pause.

“Thank you… thank you… I'm not ready to die.” She sobs.

“Oh, honey, no.” You laugh. “He had to leave you for me.”

“What?” She whispers. You grip the knife in your hand, walking towards hers.

“If you had just left me alone this whole thing could have been avoided.” You sigh, grabbing her shoulder with one hand, forcing the knife into her stomach. She stares at you with wide eyes as you push the knife in a little harder.

“Oh baby.” You laugh. “You were right, this is fucking exhilarating.” You groan. You pull the knife from her stomach, ramming it in again in a new spot as her body begins to collapse.

You pull the knife out, your hand covered in blood as you drop the knife, watching Yujin slowly dying on the floor. She tries to speak but blood pours from her mouth.

“That was so fucking hot.” Felix groans, pulling you towards him. He plants his lips onto yours, thrusting his tongue into your mouth. Your bloody hand moves down to his crotch, feeling his already hard cock, growing even more.

“Fuck me.” You murmur.

Felix guides you to the couch, pushing you down onto the floor, your stomach laying on the couch. He flips up your skirt before quickly unbuttoning his pants, pulling out his cock. Felix rips your tights open in the back, kicking your knees apart to spread yourself more. He spits into his hand, gliding it up your cunt, shoving two fingers inside of you, making you cry out. Felix pumps his fingers a few times before he pulls them out, lubing up his cock with your juices. He quickly and harshly thrusts himself inside of you, grabbing your neck and squeezing. He pulls you up against him, his hot breath hitting your ear as he rams his cock inside of you.

“Did it feel good?” He groans. “Shoving that knife into her?” He gasps as you clench your cunt around him.

“So fucking good.” You cry out, reaching down between your lips to rub your clit.

“You looked so fucking sexy doing it.” Felix grunts, ramming his cock into you.

His hand tightens around your neck, squeezing harder, making you gasp for breath.

“I fucking love you so much.” He groans, fucking you harder. “Cum, baby. Cum.” He grunts. You move your fingers faster on your clit, your orgasm coming quickly.

He releases your throat, making you cough. “Fuck. I… love… you.” You scream, cumming hard onto his cock.

Felix grips your hips, thrusting into you harder and faster, cumming right after you, filling you all the way up.

He pulls out of you, tucking himself away before he helps you up, grabbing the knife from on the floor and bringing it to the kitchen. He slips it inside the backpack he stored in the closet, setting it by the door.

“Get ready to cry, baby.” Felix grins, grabbing his phone. You make your way to Yujin's body, sprawled out on the floor, forcing your tears to come.

“Help! Please help! Our friends were murdered!” Felix cries into the phone. “We're at 44776 Roadway Lane. Hurry!” He cries, hanging up the phone.

“Ready to put on the performance of a lifetime, baby?” He grins.

“With you, I'm ready for anything.” You smile, leaning over Yujin's body, forcing the tears from your eyes to fall as the sirens get louder and closer.

“Police!” They yell from outside the door.

“In here! Please.” You scream. The police rush in, seeing your distraught face hovering over your friend as Felix cries in the corner of the room.

“What happened?” One of the officers asks, pulling you away from the body.

“W-we… were having a Halloween party.” You sob. “The five of us… we were going to drink a little before it started later. Someone broke in… started stabbing them… we hid in the closet until we heard the person leave.” You cry.

“Do you have a description of the person?” The officer asks.

“No. We didn't see the person. The person was wearing a mask. And then we hid.” Felix cries.

“I'm so sorry.” The officer sighs. “Let's get you two checked out.”

Felix stands up, holding his hand out for you. You grab his hand, whimpering into his arm as the officer guides you out of the house. Felix grabs his backpack, and you both walk down the walk away, hand in hand, leaving the crime you committed behind you.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

So, reader is a huge softy that has many talents in various carework, for bots and kids. They are hired as the new Daycare Assistant/Handler and/or jack-of-all-trades for the Pizzaplex and the first interaction they have with any of the bots is respectful and kind. Reader has no judgement on them for not being human and considers them just as much a person as anyone else.

This includes every Staff bot they meet. They call them by their serial code (Hey there, M-1056!) or a nickname if they know them well enough. They help any Staff bot they see when the bot can't do it by themselves, with prior consent ofc. Getting magnets unstuck to them, helping clean up with them, even helping Map-bot with handing out maps. So, when some parent that isn't listed on the pickup list starts yelling at the reader and getting aggressive towards the increasingly uncomfortable Reader, the Staff bots are...displeased. Their AI isn't as developed as the glamrocks or the daycare attendant, but that is their friend. Their honorary handler. So, imagine the shock when some of the staff bots did their best to push the aggressive parent back from Reader and get Reader to safety. Security flashlight beams into their eyes, mop tripping them over, the works. After everything, the Reader is just so happy because "I didn't expect to gain such good friends!"

You can add whatever other bots that react to it happening in front of them/told to them later, but I'd like Sun's and Moon's reaction if you could. Thank you.

It was late in the evening when the Attendant needed some extra help cleaning up Superstar Daycare. But lucky for him, you were working tonight and provided him with some STAFF bots to assist.

You didn’t exactly program them to do that, but rather asked them politely. Of course it was their duty as janitors, guards, and many other things, though you still treated them as if you would the Glamrocks or any other advanced animatronic.

Your respect towards robots goes beyond the superstars of the Plex--that especially included the STAFF bots.

Because of this, you became the sort of “jack of all trades” handler. From helping a Glamrock get ready for a birthday party to assisting a Map Bot who’s passing out maps by elevator....you could do it all.

Sure, the STAFF bots didn’t have very eccentric personalities or voices, nor were they configured to have complex thoughts or emotional processes. But they all seemed to enjoy your presence--getting tasks done for you faster, saying “thank you” for helping them out of sticky situations, and more.

Some coworkers didn’t know why you cared so much about those “blank slate” bots, considering they replaced a majority of their friends and colleagues. Though nobody ever got on your case about it.

Even management noticed how you’ve kept them in tip-top shape, helping the company cut back on repair and/or replacement costs.

It turns out they needed you more than you needed them.

So you were quite content with your role.

In the daycare tonight, you had a few Mop Bots and a pair of Security Bots to sweep the place while you stayed at the security station, looking over the pickup list on the computer and finding only one child remained on it. She was with Sun, who would keep her entertained with a puppet show while waiting for her parent to arrive.

Soon enough, someone did and approached your desk. 

“Hi, I’m here to pick up my daughter.”

Looking up, you smiled at them. “Good evening. May I just have your name, please?”

They told you exactly that, but much to your confusion..the name they gave didn’t match what was on the list. You checked the date and sure enough, it was today’s, so you were looking at the correct one.

“Ah, unfortunately I have a completely different name listed here.” You told them, seeing their slight frown. 

“Really? I could’ve sworn I gave it to that stupid grinning robot...” Their eyes flickered to Sun. “Unless it glitched and changed it entirely.”

You noticed he was silent now, staring over at you both. While you didn’t take too kindly to this person calling him “stupid”, you stayed calm. “I can assure you that’s not possible. Our Daycare Attendant has the highest level of security and protects the data of all visitors-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I don’t need you to explain it to me. Can I just get my kid over there?” They huffed, suddenly having a thin amount of patience. “It’s a school night and I got here late, so I’m kinda in a rush.”

“Sure thing, could you just confirm her name for me?”

And they did just that, too, but you were still adamant about releasing them to this person. Glitches that completely changed somebody’s name in the daycare’s database simply didn’t happen. 

So you decided to ask them one more question to be sure. “And for safety reasons, may I also ask what school she goes to?”

They immediately looked at you with disgust, caught off-guard. “Why? Do you need to know every little thing about her? Does this place need her blood type, too?” They sneered.

“...no, but every parent is given a form to fill out, and they’re required to include their child’s school.” You pointed out. “I would assume you did that when you dropped her off today.” 

“.....ohh, uh..I-I’m actually just a family friend.” They abruptly changed their entire story, looking a little nervous as they did so. “Her parents asked me to pick her up so I didn’t sign any form.”

You just stared at them like they were the dumbest person on the planet. Did they seriously think you’ll believe that?

As uncomfortable as you were, you tried to stay calm. “I’m sorry but your name isn’t listed anywhere on the child’s emergency contact list, so I can’t release her to-”

“God what is this, Fort Knox?!!” They suddenly snapped. “I didn’t drive all the way to this shitty place just for you to hold her hostage!! Just call her goddamn parents and they’ll be able to tell you!”

You flinched slightly. Even Sun and a few STAFF bots began looking back your way, though you did your best to get this guest out of here asap. You’ve rarely dealt with irate parents, so your nerves were getting worked up. “Hey, there’s no need to use that language in the daycar-”

“Sorry. It’s just....look, I get it,” they huffed. “This company has a history of kidnappings and shit, but you’re making this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“..and it’s for that exact reason that I can’t let you leave with her. You telling me you’re her parent, and then a family friend is just a little suspicious. You can’t be both-”

“Jesus..am I gonna have to snatch her from that robot myself?! I see why they replaced you all with those stupid machines..they wouldn’t give me all this crap!”

At this point, your hands were growing shaky as you reached for the security button. This person was clearly attempting a kidnapping, only getting angry because they got caught in a lie.

Meanwhile, Sun was extremely concerned over the aggressive guest, especially since the little girl didn’t seem to know that person at all. At that point, he was ready to let Moon take over so he could deal with this “parent” himself.

Though before any of that could happen, he noticed all the STAFF bots in the play area suddenly cease their duties, making their way over to you.

Now that they were more in-tune with human emotions, they could sense your discomfort and the guest’s growing hostilities. And seeing you being harassed was..displeasing to witness.

You were their friend. Their handler. You treated them all with the utmost respect.

You didn’t deserve anything less than that.

So they came to the rescue, as a Security Bot tapped the guest on the shoulder and spoke in a rather annoyed monotone voice. “Hello, friend. Profanity and aggression towards staff are against our rules-”

“Don’t touch me you-!!”

But as the stranger turned around to scream at the bot next, they were met with a bright light shining directly in their eyes. They yelled in slight pain, going completely blind for a moment as they backed away from your desk.

Then a Mop Bot positioned themselves behind them and “accidentally” stuck out their broom too far, making them trip and fall onto the mat, sending some party canister crashing down.

“OW! Son of a--what’s wrong with your damn robots?!” They shouted in panic, getting up and rubbing their eyes right as two more Security Bots took them by the arms. “HEY! Let go!! This is j-just a misunderstanding, alright?! I-I didn’t mean to shout at your employee!”

They looked to you, hoping you could give them another chance. But you simply smiled and waved as they were forcefully escorted out of the daycare.

Only when the large doors slammed shut did you breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Thank god that’s over..’

“Are you alright, [y/n]?”

Looking to the Security Bot now standing by you, you smiled and nodded. You couldn’t believe they came to your defense so quickly--without even being ordered to. “I am now. Thank you, S-0032.”

“Head of security has been notified. This guest will be permanently banned. Effective immediately.”

“Amazing..I’ve never seen them be so..protective before.”

You saw Moon jump onto the desk, gazing down at you curiously. But his smile seemed a lot bigger now. “I got a mess to clean up..but I’ll let you slide. Just this once.” He wagged a finger at the bot, before leaping away to attend to other matters.

In the meantime, you just laughed, seeing a Mop Bot approach you as well.  “I didn’t expect to gain such good friends. That was a great one, M0-1056.”

“Always happy to help, [y/n].” They nodded respectfully.

Even though neither of them could smile, you had a feeling they would be if it were possible.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for ruining my shitty boss' reputation and potentially discouraging good teachers from working at a socioeconomically disadvantaged school?

(apologies, this is a long one)

Last year, I (24F - then 23) got a teaching job at the public high school I graduated from. I worked under a vice principal (late 30s/early 40s), who I will call VP. I was hired alongside three other first year teachers, but I was the only one who was an alumni of the school. As a former student at the high school, and as someone who lives in the area the high school services, I know that the area (and school) have a bad reputation that isn't deserved (it's mostly racism and prejudice imo). The teachers are very supportive and have a strong sense of community with the students, and generally work to provide opportunities for underprivileged kids. I wouldn't be where I am today without their support, and they were super happy to have me back as well and work with me in a professional capacity - and I was excited to do the same.

Now, my VP and principal had been working at that school site for the past few years - long after I graduated - so I don't have the same connection with them, nor they with me. VP initially offered me a temp position, then it got switched to a permanent position as the teacher whose position I took decided they're not coming back.

So I always felt that the VP was picking on me for some reason, but never really brought it up because I didn't want to seem like I was complaining at work as the newbie. He would do twice a week walk-in observations of my classroom, while the other first year teachers got walk-in observations twice every three months. He would also have meetings with me during my prep time 4 out of 5 days of the week - meaning I barely got any prep (once again, he would not do this with the other first year teachers). He also frequently forgot my name and would write me up for ridiculous reasons (he once wrote me up because a student farted in my class and I didn't reprimand the student! What the fuck do I say to that?!).

It got to the point where, even though I wasn't complaining to my coworkers, they noticed. Other teachers brought up how oddly and unfairly he was treating me, and even set up a meeting with our union representative on my behalf. At the meeting, I brought up these grievances, and VP downplayed them all and claimed any perceived slight was not intentional, and since most of the issues weren't in writing (except for the numerous write-ups) it was his word against mine. The meeting ended with us both apologizing to each other, and really nothing else happened. His weird treatment of me actually escalated after the union rep meeting; he once came into my classroom and yelled at me in front of my students for letting a student go to the bathroom, and also demanded I work outside of my contracted work hours (which I refused, and he made it clear he didn't like that).

Needless to say, all of the other teachers in my department and myself were all wondering why the fuck does he not like me, and we found out why recently. During one of his tirades late last school year, he told me (verbally - no written proof) that he didn't want to hire me and only did so because the other teachers on the hiring committee insisted upon it. He told me to thank my lucky stars that my position was the one that "happened" to become permanent. I told my coworkers, and one of them (whose wife works at the school district's HR department) informed me that shortly after I was hired VP was in a super long meeting with HR arguing over a new hire - which we now guess was likely me. It also came out that the two other first year teachers frequently go to bars with him and play golf.

Long story short, earlier this week he told me that he's firing me so that he can instead transfer in another teacher from a different site - one that, you guessed it, he goes to bars with and plays golf. This guy has a bad reputation in the district, though, for generally being a shitty guy and an even shittier teacher.

When the news broke to my department, it quickly spread to the rest of the school. A lot of the older, more established teachers at my school became really outraged, apparently complained to the union and the principal about it, union said they can't really do anything because nothing wrong was officially committed, principal stood behind VP's decision, yadda yadda, and a bunch of teachers have since made it clear they are also not returning next year. Resignation notices, sudden retirement declarations, requests to transfer to other schools in the district - you name it. A good 85% of the teachers at the school are leaving suddenly, including influential pillars of the school's community, people who have been there since the school was founded.

Here is the main WIBTA:

Last year, I was also working on getting a Master's degree in education, and I accomplished that. Yahoo, yay, etc. Due to the nature of my thesis and Master's program, I worked closely with a few professors of education, who - in turn - have a bunch of connections with various big-name people in the area. Also, over summer break, my thesis was good enough that they toured me around a bit, and I got to make acquaintances with other notable people with notable connections. Once again, in an effort to seem professional, I didn't complain or really reveal any of my lukewarm feelings about my boss, but now, as my professors continue to want to have me showboat my thesis around, they keep asking how my work is. I'm going to tell them that I'm no longer going to be working at that school (partially to be truthful, partially to ask them to be references) - but moreso, I'm thinking of telling them how shitty my boss was. If I do that, knowing them, they'll likely tell some of the many people they know, who will likely ruin this man's whole career. However, these professors also teach teacher credential classes and trainings, and I'm worried they might discourage future teachers from working at that school. I don't want to doom the students of this school to shitty teachers who don't support them all because of a shitty vice principal.

So, WIBTA for complaining about my shitty boss to some influential people I know and possibly discourage teachers from working at that school?

What are these acronyms?

[paravet]

Taking a hiatus from veterinary medicine. I had a small nervous breakdown during a shift due to bad management, hostile work environment, and unreasonable expectations. They fired almost everyone in the summer, refused to hire new employees for like 2 months, and started overbooking appointments. 15 minute back-to-back appointments starting at 9 am to 6 pm, with a mandatory 2 drop off appointments per doctor per day. We had one technician (me), one receptionist, one CVT who would regularly disappear for hours, and two doctors. I never had the chance to take any breaks. If I got behind I got yelled at. My coworkers were getting written up for unbelievable things that didn't happen during business hours nor on site. They asked me to work an extra day past my two weeks because otherwise it would have been one technician doing regular appointments PLUS surgery. On my last day, they asked me to stay, I refused. Then asked if I could stay part-time. Then told me that regarding work stress that "I do it to myself."

I'm now working for a local kennel, it pays less and is pretty boring, but I'm so much happier. I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to veterinary medicine, if I do, it won't be for the same clinic. The doctors were great, I will miss them. They even defended me when management tried to say I "was not fit for this type of work" even though I've been doing it over 5 years. It's a major veterinary chain, though I won't name it.

I've had two doctors advise me that my job was stressing me out too much. I was on prescription anti-nausea medication and my blood pressure was very high despite being on medication for it. But you know, "I do it to myself."

[fingertipsfingertipsfingertiiips]

Working as a grocery store pick-up shopper during the height of the pandemic was.... I'm still not recovered, I think. I would like to rant a wee bit here. It's my tumblr and I'll do as I wish with it.

I worked for Kroger at the time, and if you know anything about it, at the time Kroger was the last grocery company to add Covid pay and the first to take it away. For (I think) two months, I had an extra dollar added to my $10.50/hr paycheck. Then they started cutting hours so they wouldn't have to pay for our insurance. All the while, I had people aggressively coughing on me because I was wearing a mask. I had a grown man throw a can of yams at my head because we were out of the name brand yams he wanted. A man raised his fist to threaten me over cans of Pepsi, we didn't have any because of an aluminum shortage. Someone's grandmother slapped me because of toilet paper. One of my coworkers got in a fight with a customer because of jalapeños.

When coworkers started dropping from Covid, the rest of us had to pick up the slack. At one point, 14 out of our 18 person department were out for weeks. I worked 16 hour shifts for some of the rudest and most ungrateful customers I've ever seen in 12+ years of retail experience.

In the summer of 2020, they shut off the water fountains. My direct manager got us a big pack of water and put it in the back of the order fridge for us. Some of us were running orders out to cars in 100F+ heat, so we put some of the bottles in the freezers, too. Upper management saw these waters as some kind personal insult and threw them away, threatening us all with writeups and even firings if we were caught with personal water bottles on the sales floor. OSHA was called and they put a stop to that bullshit, but not before one of my elderly coworkers collapsed from heat and dehydration.

At one point, my cool manager got promoted to store manager, and our department got an outside hire to replace her. This woman is easily one of the worst people I have ever worked with. She was rude, she would micromanage, she would bully the differently abled. She would fat shame, was racist and homophobic, and generally aggressive to other women. One time, I was helping a coworker prep an order to go out. We were chatting about death in the Victorian era, a special interest of mine. I got excited and maybe I started rambling when my bitch manager yelled at me to "shut the fuck up, you're being annoying." I told her to fuck off, and we were pulled into a meeting about it, but ultimately nothing happened to her. I refused to sign the writeup that came to me later.

Due to this manager's negligence, I fell and chipped a tailbone in February 2021. She was supposed to salt the walkway that leads from our department to the customer pick-up area. At 5:30 that morning, as she was yelling at her staff (myself included), she didn't notice that I was sprawled out in the parking lot, having slipped on black ice. I would have hit my head as well, had I not been wearing my hair in a low bun. The bun acted as an airbag. I landed pretty hard, and I think it scared the customer. He got out of his truck and shuffled over to me to help me up. He even tipped me $10, which was super nice. I limped back in, and before I could say anything, bitch manager yelled at me for taking to long, shoved an order cart at me and barked at me to do the next one. I told her I fell, probably too quietly because I was hurting. She ignored me so I yelled it. She stopped to look at me, registered what I said, and then it dawned on her to ask if I was OK. I filled out an IR and a worker's comp claim. I did the drug screening, later that day I had an xray. I chipped a tailbone. They gave me 2 weeks off, I think it was paid but it's hard to remember because the doctor gave me codeine. One morning I'm laying on the floor on a yoga mat and bitch manager calls me. She doesn't ask me how I'm doing, she wants to know if I can cover a shift. I tell her no, hang up and then send her a picture of my black and blue ass crack. I should have sued Kroger. Sometimes I wonder if I still could. I still have back pain. I still struggle with some yoga poses or sitting on certain chairs.

The final straw seems so small in retrospect. I had endured so much while working for kroger for 8 years. Bitch manager was causing me such anxiety that I had to change my meds to deal with her. I was getting the produce for an order. The system timed you, the goal was to take less than 20 seconds for each item scanned in to the cart. I had grabbed some tomatoes and was weighing them up, counting the seconds out loud to myself to keep time (a time blindness coping skill I've had since childhood) when she walked past me. I heard her say "retard" under her breath. This wasn't the first time I've been called that in my life, but the first time I've ever heard it from a grown woman. She had been bitching at me about something earlier that day, and my deodorant failed from the stress. She walked past me again and stopped to look at me. She nearly shouted, making sure everyone around would hear, "You stink. Did you shower today?" And then smirked. I didn't reply. I didn't hit her, or yell, or throw tomatoes at her. I thought about doing all of it. I thought about knocking her to the ground and ripping her tacky extensions out of her scalp. I thought about all the nasty mean things I could say to her. Instead, I put down my handheld and told her I would be right back. I went to the back room, hung up my apron, grabbed my purse, and walked out. I didn't clock out, I let them figure out what time I left. I made sure I was paid for my time. She called me an hour later, and I didn't answer. She called 6 more times. My previous manager, the cool one later told me that the store manager was stoked about my leaving. "Out with the old, in with the new."

There was a mass exodus, nine people left after I did. Four of them followed me to my new job. We all got forklift certified in the same week for a company that offered profit sharing and $4 extra per hour for covid pay, plus $3 extra per hour on weekends. It's not the greatest place to work. Sometimes it's terrible, it's still retail after all. But it's better. Kroger is not a great company, and my store was one of the worst places. I know I'm not the only person with horror stories about it. I still hear, "we're all in this together" in my nightmares. I can't spend more than 20 minutes in a grocery store at a time. I have many more from before the pandemic hit, the pandemic was just the worst of it.

That's my rant. If anyone read this, thank you. If you want to add your own stories, please do! "Essential worker" feels more like "disposable worker".

[fuck-customers]

Have any of you guys had a manager/coworker that you were honestly fine with, but everyone else hated and you can't figure out why?

So I've been through 3 store managers in my time working at my current company and the first 2 were HELL CUNTS, just absolutely horrible. And the current manager is fine. Tolerable at worst, nice at best.

A small summary of SM #1:

-screamed at me in front of an entire store of coworkers and customers and physically pushed me out of his way when he wanted to use the store computer, but I was using it first

-would schedule me for recovery/go-backs and would lecture me for not being able to finish them all in my 4 hour shift and blame me personally to the rest of the store. Was later told by a coworker that she would see him go around the store and grab random items off the shelves and throw them in a cart to create another "go-backs cart"

-would assign me one task and then take me off task A to do task B and then take me off task B to do task C, etc etc etc and I was never able to finish anything and then would throw me under the bus to other managers and claimed I didn't do any work

-would ask me to come in for a shift on my day off and when I showed up to the store to clock in, he would ask why I was at the store and either pretend like he didn't call me in or pretend like he "forgot" to tell me that he already got coverage

-just generally would talk down to me and belittle me as if I were a small child or an animal

-there's probably more, but I probably blocked it out so I could continue going to work without going on a rampage

SM #2:

-was only there for a little over a year, but fired/forced all my coworker friends to quit

-would gaslight me about anything and everything; store policies, things she said, things other managers said, etc.

-also would assign multiple tasks at the same time and refuse to let me complete one

-hired new people left and right and then refused to train them so the new employees didn't know how to do anything and made more work for everyone else

-waited until after 5:00 on Saturday, the last day of the work week to post the schedule for the next week and then revised it multiple times throughout the week each week so no one ever knew when they were working

-regularly changed my schedule to cut my hours and then would attempt to call me in throughout the week + would cut a shift and then try to get me to come in for a different shift on the same day after revising the schedule to give me that day off

-scheduled people, but mostly me, 3 hour shifts so she wouldn't legally have to give them a paid break

-most importantly, fabricated a fake story to attempt to get me fired for a fake EEOC complaint, which would've effectively ruined my entire future

The current SM:

-is a little bit ditzy/spacey

-is wound a little tight/is a little bit neurotic

-???

-That's about it?? Almost every employee hates her and I cannot figure out why. I suspect that the previous SM (SM #2) is somehow involved, since every current employee other than me and 2 other people (who also don't mind her) was hired by SM #2. None of them have given me any reasons that make any sense. She was a little bit snippy with them? Ok? She didn't yell at them in front of customers or call them names or swear at them. They claimed that she made the store messy/disorganized, when she had only been here less than a week and the previous SM #2 didn't do any recovery or cleaning of the store for a year. One of the complaints I heard literally imo translated to "she asked me to do my job" Like, I also don't like to do my job, but that's what a manager is supposed to do. Tell you to do your job. One of my leads and a small group of employees have banded together and decided they wanted to report her to HR and get her fired. Because of the above mentioned "incidents" (I don't think they actually submitted the report though. Or if they did, HR looked at it and laughed and threw it away)

Posted by admin Rodney.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

The Dark Secret of Zootopia? (Part 2, "Work twice as hard for half as much!")

Welcome back! We're still talking about how Zootopia swung for the fences with its racism metaphor and probably didn't manage much more than hitting itself in the face! We've already talked about how hard it is to get people to unpack their own biases. Today's subject is the bunny who thought "standing up for the little guy" meant becoming a cop.

(Oh, Judy, hon, no. I know you're a bit sheltered and conservative, and your family seems to be doing some kinda culty Quiverfull thing, but no.)

To understand how this movie - which started out as a dark dystopia where every predator wore systemic oppression around their neck - missed the target so badly with Judy's story, we gotta look at something else that was still going strong in 2016, when Zootopia came out.

If you need to see more on how the myth of Black excellence applies to President Drone Strikes O'Flint Water specifically, F. D. Signifier has an informative series of videos on the subject. Among other things, the idea of "Black excellence" suggests that systemic oppression can (and should) be fought on an individual basis. To do so, one must expect to "work twice as hard to get half as much." This isn't parsed as something unfair that needs to be changed, but just a fact of life that you'll have to deal with to get anywhere.

...And once you've achieved your dreams, you've proven it can be done! If someone wants this badly enough, they can do it. Period. So nobody else has an excuse for not grinding themselves into a paste to tackle the same unfair system you've beaten. (Assuming you wanted it badly enough to beat that system yourself.)

People who are learning a physically and mentally demanding new job don't need to, like, sleep, do they? Sleep is a luxury for those privileged folks we expect to be good cops. Not for a tiny prey species who needs to prove she can make it in the big city and take out animals ten times her size in all terrains, just so they can shunt her into meter maid duty because they never wanted her in the first place.

A troper notes (on the Heartwarming moments page, because people have a real hard time unpacking their biases, especially when they see them as a metaphor with plausible deniability)

Ha-ha, yeah. They knew they were getting a bunny cop and they knew exactly where they wanted to put her. Well, she can't do too much damage as a meter maid!

"All right, we're getting an obvious political 'affirmative action' hire in a few weeks. Will someone requisition me the most ridiculous car on the continent, so we can quietly fire her and get back to doing real work?"

Meanwhile:

"Oh, your coworker slammed your ears in the door of a vehicle that's ten times too big to be safe for you? That sounds like a YOU problem. You're DEAD, Carrot Cake!"

"You're dead, Carrot Cake" is from the actual film. Let's remove the cartoon metaphor and take a look at that. Species = race, broadly. So if Judy were the only Latinx police recruit, how cute and funny would it be to call her, "Pinto Bean"? And there are even worse possible contexts! How does "You're dead, Watermelon" sound to you? Should a Black recruit be required to shake that off and keep training, or should somebody at least complain to HR? (Is that "AR" in this context...?)

"Yes, sir, I did force the bunny recruit to box a rhinoceros and then yell at her for incurring evident head trauma, but, ya see, when she figured out how to scale a wall of solid ice with no accommodations for her size, I smiled approvingly!"

"...So we're good, right?"

This is all played utterly straight. This is a full-on Rocky Balboa training montage, with the polar bear teacher as Burgess Meredith. The transitions are fast, and we don't slow down long enough to consider Judy's feelings until she's starting her new job and she politely asks Clawhauser not to call her "cute."

We don't turn around and examine the fact that her polar bear teacher was hammering the "cute" button pretty hard too, and Judy never spoke up and asked to be respected. One doesn't, as a rule, talk back to an antagonist who can invalidate one out of one's dream job, so that's reasonable behavior from Miss Hopps. But the movie doesn't have time to hammer home that context. No, you see, Judy wasn't very good at policing, and the polar bear was a tough-but-fair mentor who was obviously rooting for her the whole time (that smile!) and motivated her to do better. Now, back to the plot!

The one moment we pause and showcase how broken Judy is by her unfair treatment is in the bathroom...

And it's for a gag. (And foreshadowing a later toilet escape.) Ha-ha, the polar bear teacher is there to remind her that not being able to use a swimming-pool-sized toilet is a YOU problem too. My god, we don't even get one of these white saviour moments!

"Everyone pees the same size!"

Just, "Filthy toilet! You're dead!" If you wanna be a cop, you better learn to piss while crouched on the edge of an above-ground pool, 'cos we're not even gonna offer you a toilet seat in your size. And, no, we will not address how unfair that is!

There are people existing in real-life who get frozen out of certain careers because the equipment doesn't come in their size. (There's a Guardian article in there and they don't always cover gender in good faith, but there are a bunch of in-line citations in it. Just tread carefully.) In most cases, we call them "women." And when their lives are being put at risk and their jobs being made impossible, we also tell them to "girl boss" up and do it anyway. These jobs have certain physical requirements (even if that requirement is something artificial and totally nonsensical like "have hands in glove size medium or larger, 'cos we ain't got any small") and you'll have to meet them somehow!

I gotta tell you folks, police work is mostly clerical work, and when they do get into a physical altercation, they do not fight fair.

Do you need a citation for that? You're living on the same planet I am, and you are on the internet right now. If you don't buy that a police officer in an altercation with a rhino wouldn't be engaging on level ground with Marquis of Queensbury fighting rules, I can't convince you.

In real life, Judy would have a nightstick, a gun, a taser (which she could conveniently get mixed up with the aforementioned gun), a non-comical car, and backup. In fact, her fellow cop yells at her not to continue a pursuit on foot and to wait for backup when she goes after Weaselton and his "moldy onions."

"Also, you're entering what appears to be a sized-based ghetto with its own police force! WTF, Officer Hopps?!"

Nick Angel isn't the standard to which all cops should aspire, he's a bit of an arsehole who needs to learn how to switch off.

(Also, if you see someone shoplifting food... no you fucking well didn't. Bad form, Nick.)

The only point to making Judy jump through all those hoops for the privilege of writing parking tickets is to get her to quit. Assigning her meter maid duty, and then putting her on an investigation when she can't even get license plate information out of the computers (and giving her 48 hours to solve a case that's been ongoing for months!) is also meant to get her to quit. Nick doesn't come from a bunny-majority town...

(Seriously, there is some cult-like activity going on here. There are bunny parents in the city with only one kid, this does not seem normal in-universe.)

...and he's more used to being marginalized, so he sees it right away. He calls out Bogo's bullshit and gets more time for Judy to complete an unreasonable task - and she pulls it off. Even the shitty chief who was trying to get her fired has to sit up and respect her after that!

"Wow, I'm impressed!"

Ultimately, that's the problem. But that's where our collective American brain was when this movie was being made.

We had a solid eight years there where we thought racism was over because we finally had a Black President. We also had a constant, low-grade anxiety about all the indications that this was clearly not the case, but we were able to ignore them. It seemed kinda rude to do anything other than ignore them. Obama worked so hard, and so many people were still trying to hold him to an unfair standard. Couldn't we just let him do a few war crimes like every other American President?

We could and we did, but then we had a racist backlash that made Obama's worst excesses look like a walk in the park. And many (not anywhere near all) of us have been motivated to unpack how broken the system is, and look at the past a little more critically.

But in early 2016? No way! We had a Black guy in the White House, and we were gonna get a WOMAN in the White House (for sure!) and everything was gonna be fine. Oh, thank goodness those rugged individuals were able to smash through the glass ceiling, so it would stay broken forever. That's what glass does! It was a good, simple optimistic story - like Hamilton!

...and something obvious and easy to fall back on when the Nick-centred, darker story didn't seem to be working out. Racism is real (and that's hard enough for the audience to grasp, so let's back off a little), but a few determined individuals can fix it for everyone. All you have to do is keep Trying! You can Try Everything! You might fall down (or be pushed, or have your body parts slammed in a car door) but you can get back up and win!

Even in the dark version, in the end, Nick and Judy get rid of the "tame" collars. I posit that the only reason Disney felt safe making a movie about racism in the first place was that at the time, we honestly thought racism could be solved - and we're solving it right now! Quick! Animate that message with funny animals so we can tell the kids!

We don't need to see Nick training to be a cop! I'm sure it's fine. Judy took out the bias ahead of him. Hilary won't have any trouble getting into the White House. It's fine now. It's FINE.

Months later, we got a big, orange clue-by-four that was impossible to ignore, but Zootopia was already on its way to a video release in time for Christmas. Its hope and optimism stands cluelessly to this day. And if you're not ready to think about racism as a complex, systemic issue (or at ALL) it won't make you.

So! Do you want more on this? "Like" and reblog if you want more, 'cos I can give you way more. Next time, if you want, we can talk about this stuff:

(WTFox?!)

...and the good and bad of how the narrative dealt with it.

[official-kenralie-fanbase]

What do you think the council did before what happened in Exile and after what happened in Exile in Neverseen?

Another Council ask :D :D :D

Seriously, I love analyzing these guys so much. If you ever want headcanons for any of them or anything they do in the series, send them my way.

BEFORE

Oralie enlisted the help of Bronte and Terik to give Sophie Kenric's cache, which mostly just involved Bronte yelling at the others long enough to give her time to slip away.

The others were a bit suspicious of her but decided to give her space after what happened with Kenric

When it was discovered that Sophie and the gang were missing, the distrust among the Council began to grow even more.

Some of them (Alina) wondered if Oralie had something to do with it, but that was unthinkable. How could one Councillor betray the others like this?

They began to wonder what the Black Swan would be up to...

And suddenly it became very, very clear.

They wanted Prentice back.

So they set up a trap- they knew the Black Swan would be desperate to get back the person who'd risked everything for their cause, and they were willing to go to whatever lengths to do it

Oralie, Bronte, and Terik argued that they should be releasing Prentice anyway now that Sophie can heal minds, but the others reminded them of the fact that Sophie's creation had been, in fact, an illegal project

(No one noticed the way Oralie flinched every time that was brought up)

Bronte and Oralie began having more private conversations than ever before- they wanted to trust Terik, but weren't entirely sure whether they could.

They agreed to go to Exile with the others so they could try to protect Sophie and her friends.

They were a team now, now that Kenric was gone, and they had to act like it.

AFTER

The others were absolutely outraged at Oralie's betrayal

Especially when she emphasized that she'd honored Kenric's last request

Alina crossed a bunch of different lines when she criticized Oralie for putting her dead boyfriend over her coworkers and her career

The others kind of went quiet but didn't disagree

Oralie probably would have said something she would have regretted if Bronte hadn't stepped in

He pointed out that their world was much too unstable for another election, so she couldn't be removed from the Council.

Alina and some others argued that this was too big an incident to let go, but eventually, they begrudgingly put the safety of their people over the instability among the Councillors.

They told Oralie that one more strike would get her kicked off of the Council, but for now, she'd be under surveillance

They hired several more guards just to watch her and monitor her activities as she oversaw Lord Cassius's investigation

(The guards were like... seriously? This is the "dangerous person" whom we've been hired to watch?)

They didn't actually ask Terik to monitor her conversation with Sophie. He simply insisted on being there, but they knew they had to come up with an excuse because Sophie was hesitant to trust any Councillor besides Oralie and Bronte.

(On another note, Terik is really suspicious to me... I could elaborate on that if anyone's interested)

When Oralie fixed Exillium and brought all the flaws in the system to their attention, their anger against her began to cool down

But they noticed how she was growing different from before. She was no longer the sweet, passive Empath hiding in the shadows of the other Councillors.

Kenric's death had given her a fire (haha lol get it) that she'd never possessed before, a desire to make things right.

She began to speak out about her beliefs, about the things that were wrong in their world.

But even now, they wonder if she has secrets that she's not sharing.

[lehts]

how to improve ted lasso season 3 (imo)

cut the whole thank-you-and-fuck-you bit with his mom. this came out of left field. if you wanted to have a heart-to-heart with ted and his mom, it should have happened last season, when therapy was a huge subplot.

ted should have had this emotional beat with NATE. they even foreshadow it early in the season when either beard or leslie said something like "you can't pretend he hasn't hurt you, ted." that's ted's whole MO! one of the huge character growth moments that he needed this season was forcing him to confront his own hurt and anger at nate.

okay I'm still not over the thank-you-but-fuck-you thing. there was no build-up for it this season, so it just felt like anger displacement. don't yell at your mom just because you can't let yourself yell at your coworker.

in a similar vein - I actually don't hate ted's decision to return to the US, but they did very little build-up. they clearly wanted to hold that plotpoint until the finale to shock the audience, which would have been fine, except that "I want to get back to my son" is an absolutely shit justification when paired with the lack of character growth ted experienced this season.

ted left the US, knowing that he was leaving his son, because he didn't want to confront the feelings between himself and michelle. then, three years later, when the emotions he feels for michelle are still so tumultuous that he wants to hire a private investigator to follow her and her new bf in paris, NOW he suddenly... what? cares enough about his son that he's willing to confront his own difficult emotions?

ted's character growth this season should have been either: 1) learning to manage his own difficult emotions instead of running or suppressing them (actual character growth, also allows him to tell nate off) or 2) coming to terms with and accepting his difficult emotions with michelle, specifically (enough character growth to justify going back to the US).

watching the finale, you feel like he's going to run back to richmond as soon as life gets tough again, which is not a satisfying ending for his character. (if they do choose to end the series here.)

he did not complete the hero's journey because he's not coming back fundamentally changed!!

[lovinkiri]

Quirkless hero S/O already has enough trouble not being given medical treatment, but she has to endure abuse from her hero co-workers as well. They shove their own paperwork at her, force her to do their reports, ruin her lunches, and more. S/O can’t even complain bc she’ll either be ignored or yelled at not to lie even when she provided proof. As she grows stronger and smarter, her co-workers become desperate, disguising accidents to assassinate her. And when Villain Deku gets wind of this?

Trash

Author's Thoughts: Rip those coworkers, fly high, fly high 🕊️🕊️🕊️ But here we visit the darker side of Villain Deku 😶

Warning: Implied assassination, implied murder, murder, threats, Cursing, etc.

Izuku hates your coworkers. He hates your boss. He hates society.

He hates watching you walk through the door, bloodied and bruised because the hospital won't take you.

He hates hearing you cry about the immature bullying from your coworkers, like how they trash the lunches he makes you.

And he hates hearing you talk about it like it's normal cause the commission and your bosses won't help you.

With that being said, he started to keep a closer eye on you. He knew you were fully capable of hero work and taking care of yourself, but he was also smart enough to realize your coworkers could get very dangerous.

It was just a feeling he had. He didn't trust them. And his feelings had been right.

Izuku had seen you fight countless villains. But they were starting to get a bit more dangerous. And when he really thought about it, they all targeted you.

So he caught one. Right before he could pounce on they.

He'd grabbed them by the collar, slamming them into the wall of the alley he'd found them in. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

They began to struggle, but quickly stopped once they felt the overwhelming power coming from Izuku. "I-I.."

"Why are you trailing her? Answer me or I'll kill you right here."

"Look, I'm just mercenary! I'm just doin' my job, man!" They were practically shaking, Izuku's grip on their throat keeping them from trying anything.

"Who hired you? Speak fast, speak clearly. Don't waste my time." Izuku seethed, barely able to hold back his anger enough to not kill the fucker before him.

They gave him a few names, but one in particular stuck out. All of the names were people who worked with you, but the one was someone who'd been your main tormentor. He remembered you saying she seemed to genuinely hate you for some reason.

"... You're a pathetic mercenary, you sad excuse of a man."

"Actually, my pronounces are t-they/them."

Izuku stared in before shaking his head. "Ah. Then let apologize first. I'm sorry."

With that, he allowed his grip on their throat to fully tighten. It was scary how fast he could singlehandedly snap someone's neck. Ah well..

No witnesses.

Now he knew why all these attacks seemed to be getting more and more deadly.

And he was gonna fix it.

<3 <3 <3 <3

It was that same night that your coworkers were killed.

But that hate filled bitch who paid off the mercenary? He saved her for last.

He crawled through her window in the dead of the night, just like most of the others.

He knew she had a quirk that only worked when she touched her enemy. So he used black whip to tie her hands above her head and dangle her. This woke her up of course.

She began to yell but Izuku gripped her mouth quickly, eyes wide and blown from adrenaline, and suit covered in blood.

"Shhh. If you scream, I'll kill you and everyone in this neighborhood. You're at my mercy, so I suggest you keep quiet."

His voice, as quiet as it was, rang in her ears. There was something so unsettling about it. Something so.. Deadly.

He removed his hand ans noticed her compliance. "Oh, so when it's your life and your neighbors life, you can't afford to take any chances. But Y/n's life means so little."

Black whip dug into her wrists and she clenched her fists. "Y-You.. Villain.. I knew there was something wrong with that quirkless bitch. I-"

She couldn't speak another word, as Izuku was quick to slap her across the face as hard and quickly as he possible.

She teeth scratched and dug into her cheek from the force, and he watched her spit blood from her mouth. As she moved her jaw, the two couldn't help but notice the quiet click sound it made.

"Oh look, you made me lose my composure. I'd sure watch my words if I were you. And I wouldn't throw the word bitch around so casually, considering you are one."

She didn't have much to say to that, and Izuku was almost amused by her sudden change. She'd even started shaking.

"That mercenary you recently hired told me everything, you know. I could sit here and torture you all night, but I've got a lover to get back to."

A whip found its way coiling around her throat.

"W-What? He told you-"

"They."

"... What?"

"They. They died for you. The least you could do is respect their pronouns before you die too."

"I don't care what his-"

Suddenly black whip was throwing her around the room like a ragdoll. She probably broke her neck as soon as she was yanked, but he didn't stop until every wall was painted red.

He watched her slumped over body for a moment before sighing, going to the window. "You really are a cold bitch."

Jumping out, he made his way back to you. Back to his heart.

And when you began to fret over him, asking if he was okay, asking where he'd been?

"Don't worry, rosebud. I was just taking out the trash."

[rainydayathogwarts]

Tony's assistant - Thor

Summary: When Thor meets Tony's new assistant, there's an immediate spark and the flirting begins. Tony goes out of his way to get them together

When Pepper Potts and Tony Stark got married, they decided that having Pepper as his assistant was a little bit of a distraction. That's when you came along. Pepper had hired you to be Tony's new assistant. She new if Tony did the hiring he'd probably accidentally hire the worst person possible.

You were honoured, to say the least. But you didn't expect to have so much work to do. I mean, not only did you have to keep the company in check, but Tony too.

One day, you were running late to work. Unfortunately, your car had broken down so you had to run the nearest bus stop.

Hair tousled.

Cheeks red.

Hands clammy.

The last thing you needed was to be in a meeting with Tony and his coworkers. Or worse. Be late. "I'm so sorry Mr. Stark." You panted, trying to catch your breath. "Car broke down-" "No worries my sweet (Y/N), just take a seat." He happily cut you off, gesturing to an empty seat.

Pepper probably made him a nice breakfast for him to be in such a good mood. You barely noticed the presence of his coworkers as you wiped the sweat off your forehead. Earth's mightiest heroes. That caused the blush on your cheeks to intensify.

You sat down next to a blonde man. Thor, God of Thunder, son of Odin. You flashed him a nervous grin before turning back to your boss.

After that meeting, you and Thor always seemed to bump into each other. First it was in the halls. Then he just so happened to be knocking on your office door asking for directions. Directions. To a facility he lived in.

He'd flirt with you, trying to be somewhat subtle. You'd flirt back. Obviously. Who would pass the chance to flirt with Thor? You still hung out with Tony a lot though. You were his assistant. Of course you did.

However that didn't stop Thor from stopping by to see you. "So. You and Point Break?" Tony teased one morning when Thor passed by to give you a warm coffee. It was perfectly made. Just how you liked your coffee. Not too strong for the taste to ruin your tastebuds but enough not to drown in the amount of water.

From that day, Tony tried to set you guys up. Constantly. He would sometimes call Thor to the lab or his office when you were there so you could talk more. He even called Thor over to ask him to drop papers by your office.

Once, it was a file with three papers in it. On the first one was written You're. The second had Welcome. And the last one had a silly smiley face on it.

He did three major moves to get you both together though. At first it was by locking you both in the conference room. But you just talked until Tony got bored and decided to let you out. Then he got you drunk so you'd flirt with Thor or confess your feelings. But it turns out you're the party animal type of drunk.

The last thing he did was gather the team for a game of Never have I ever. That - well. That kind of worked. "Never have I ever had a crush on someone in this room!" Boomed Tony with a wide smirk on his face.

You sent him a glare as you reached for your drink. He just winked. That bastard. Anyway, you, Steve, Tony, Maria and Dr. Helen Cho took a drink. 'Of course' You thought.

Everyone knew Helen had a crush on Thor. The only reason she'd join parties was because he'd be there. You couldn't blame her though. You were just like her. Another woman who was helplessly in love with the God.

You heard Thor groan and watched as he took a drink. "Ooh." Tony stated. "Tell us, God of Thunder, who is the lucky woman? Or man?" Thor's eyes flickered over to you before returning to his glass of Asgardian mead.

"It is not of your business, Stark." You looked down, playing with your own drink. Don't get your hopes up, stupid.

"Lady (Y/N)." He muttered some moments later. Woah woah woah. What? Heh, no. Wake up (Y/N)! You gulped. What? The nerves. God. Why is everyone looking at me? 'Turn around!' You yelled to your teammates in your head, knowing they couldn't hear you but you hoped the look you gave them was enough.

Thor got up, leaving the room. "Lady (Y/N)." Tony repeated, mockingly. He said it louder, as if he was demanding something. "Mhm?" "What are you waiting for? Go get your God!"

Then it clicked.

He liked you

Right! You stumbled on your feet, nearly tripping. "Too much alcohol." You mumbled, holding onto Clint's bicep for support.

You found Thor walking out of the building. You ran after him, almost falling on your face a few times because of your heels.

Who were you to blame though?

That man had long legs.

And he had a head start.

"Thor!" The blonde turned around. Yay? You thought about backing out for a moment. A long moment. How could he like you? Wow. Aren't you one lucky woman?

Even though you were a good 7 meters apart, you stopped walking. And just stood. "Umm, hi." He smiled, moving near you. "Lady (Y/N)." "Just (Y/N), please." You spoke quietly. He smiled again. It was a soft smile. Almost sad.

"I - um - I - uh - I like you too." You half expected Thor to turn into Loki and yell that he knew it and go ruin your life by telling Thor who actually didn't like you.

Instead of that actually happening, he wrapped an arm around your waist and tugged you impossibly closer. His rough, calloused hand brushed your hair out of your face. He just observed you for a while.

Then, he pulled your lips to his in a magical kiss. You had to stop yourself from moaning out right there. Your cheeks reddened at the thought of you actually kissing him. You wrapped you arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.

"Thank the lord for Tony, right?" He chuckled. "Yes. He has gone out of his way quite a few times to get us together."

Thor rested his chin on the top of your head and you leaned on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. "Be mine (Y/N)?" "Mhmm."

He laughed. Now you thought he'd turn into Loki. But no. He just picked you up and spun you, bringing his lips back to yours.

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

The feeling of being worthless to society.

So....

we began as “high functioning”, high masking low support needs autistic & ADHD (+ depression, anxiety, Tourette’s, etc. that we were good at covering up). We began as a mirror, a chameleon who could survive anything & become, outwardly, exactly who other people wanted.

When we turned 18 & got a job in fast food, they were impressed. We were a fast learner, an over-achiever, a “good” employee with some odd “quirks” (like how neatly we stacked sauces) that they didn't mind.

When we turned 19 we hit a minot wall of burnout that we didn't know was burnout & kept going.

When we turned 21, we hit a harder wave of burnout. We'd dropped out of uni to work full time, & we hit a hard wall of steadily losing our ability to mask.

We're now 22.

We can't mask anymore. We get visibly overwhelmed from “little” things. We slow down & actually look exhausted & dizzy when we need a break. We stumble & run into things & people a lot. We stumble over our words & suck at math (never our strong suit, but now worse). We have to ask people to repeat their order 3+ times before our brain processes it (have to have it repeated because ADHD forgets what they said). We ask why a lot. We express when we were told to do one task already & want to finish the task so we don't forget. We abandon partially completed tasks for hours on accident (forgetful ADHD). We can't hide our tics anymore (at first they thought we were sneezing...now they're getting angry because we keep getting tics). We're becoming more honest, even when that means saying “depression is bad today” aloud.

....We're starting to unmask, not intentionally.

But that means we become worthless.

Not as a person necessarily, but as a tool in the rust cogs of the capitalist machine.

We are now looked at with disgust & an attitude of “ugh, you work today?” because our managers don't want to deal with us.

Our managers threw away a note we left asking politely to learn new tasks (ADHD is getting bored).

We are being treated openly as lesser than.

& today.....

Our top boss admitted aloud he's “monitoring” us for flaws.

Of course he didn't word it that way. But he's nitpicking us to follow rules we don't know exist, while letting coworkers break those rules, & nitpicking how long our breaks are (you supposedly get 10mins but you have to “clock out” for a break to prove it's only been 10, which means roughly a 5min break because you have to walk over to sit down & then walk back because they expect you to be back after 10, not getting up from break; & for meal breaks you supposedly get 30mins but you're expected to break out BEFORE making food (& the break is NOT paid) so you really only get 10mins to eat after you make food because you need 2-5mins to clean up & come back to clock in), & yelling at us a lot for little things that they can technically call rules/policies that again we were never trained on or informed of.

They are starting to nitpick us for every single neurodivergent thing through a “policy” lens.

((like....struggling to break back in on time because their clocks are 4 & a half minutes ahead & we struggle to keep track of time (ADHD time blindness, timers can only do so much) is spun as us “disobeying” break policy as one example))

& they let us put our pronouns on our nametag, but steadily our management is starting to all misgender us on purpose as they lose respect for us....all because we're acting neurodivergent & can't mask. Becoming “low functioning” / high support needs + low masking.

& the frustrating part is, IN THE INTERVIEW we warned them we had sensory processing delays, that we were autistic & that we were ADHD. They still chose to hire us because ✨Diversity✨™. Yet they're turning around trying to fire us now for actually showing signs of....exactly what we warned them about. We didn't withhold this information. They're just so ableist they don't care.

They have other ADHD & autistic employees. But they're all high masking & “pass” as neurotypical enough. We're the “outlier”. & again with tokenistic, performative diversity. “You can have a seat at the table, but if you try to eat with us or talk to us or actually act like you belong we'll ignore you or fire you”, & then they think that's inclusion. ‘We let you work here!’ ....You CHOSE to hire my disabled ass. You knew what you were hiring. You don't get to pretend you don't know & throw a baby fit when you have to actually try to include me. (/frustrated)

We expect to get fired soon for something *supposedly* important policy that's really just disguised ableism & transphobia.

& I'm so so tired already.

I'm tired of being seen as a machine & not a person. I'm tired of abled people’s laziness. I'm tired of their apathy when we genuinely need help. I'm tired of ableism. I'm tired of transphobia.

I deserve to eat. I deserve to breathe & survive & exist. I deserve to have my basic needs met.

I shouldn't have to die inside to make that happen. I shouldn't have to slowly kill myself & lower my life expectancy to “pass” as neurotypical enough to “deserve” basic income. Masking is literally killing me.

I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my physical &/or mental health to “earn” the right to survive. I shouldn’t have to “pass” as an able bodied neurotypical either.

I've been tempted to unalive, but then they'd win. I need to survive & thrive & succeed out of spite.

Disability is pitiful & useless in our society. It’s not enough to live on your own & really just built to ease the “burden” of a caretaker who meets your basic needs. It doesn’t even cover rent, let alone medical costs & other basic necessities, & it isn’t meant to cover pleasure items because they expect disabled people to just barely survive & never spent leisure money.

My only option to leave the abusive household that disabled me now, because I cannot mask enough to stay employed, is to get food stamps, housing aid, & other financial help from the federal &/or state government.

& from there my best hope is to start my own business where I can set the pace & policies, because all the rules & policies in “ordinary” business are built with able bodied neurotypical people in mind & framed in such a way they can easily be weaponized against neurodivergent & disabled people.

& I'm so so tired.

Not the kind of tired that sleep fixes. This is the kind of tired nothing fixes. This is emotional fatigue & chronic fatigue.

I'm tired of fighting. But it's the only thing I know how to do, & there are so many people who want me to lose the fight because they see me & people like me as less than a person, as not human, as worthless garbage. I want to prove them all wrong. But I'm tired.

This is mostly just a vent but, uh....if you wanna help check out our pinned post because we shared ideas to help us fundraise to survive. 💛

(/exhausted, solemn, very srs, stressed)

~Nico

[cinnamonest]

I present you with an idea:

Porn star au.

Imagine the reader is a porn star, a semi-famous one. and the Yan is the camera man. And he's the camera man of her videos 90% of the time, so at first he probably didn't like her too much, because "she's doing it for money and therefore doesn't respect herself/is a whore." While ignoring the fact he's also working there, just as the camera man-

Anyway, one day she invites him for coffee on their break or something and for whatever reason, he goes. And then he learns she's not a bad person, just in it to make some quick money she needed for whatever reason. Maybe she was really behind on her rent, maybe no other place would hire her so she resorted to becoming a porn actress, etc.

And then, after getting to know her for a few weeks, or even months, he catches the dreaded feelings. At first he denies it to himself, there's no way he would like a porn star. She can't be faithful, at least not in the physical aspect.

It's her job to have sex with different people on camera for Christ's sake!

But he still can't get her out of his head and he finds himself wanting to kill the other person she's having sex with. His grip on the camera gets a little too tight, he starts glaring at the other person, he tries to take up the reader's time whenever she's free, tries to stop her from "working" in subtle ways at first, but then it just gets out of hand.

I might actually write a fic for this but probably not.

Anyway, that's the idea of porn star! Au. And ngl, I kept thinking of Xiao when I wrote this even though he's the least likely to even work in the porn industry lmao.

Xiao the recently-graduated film tech/videography student who desperately needs a job and is like "well I'll take it bc I can't find anything else" for a porn job lol

I love the idea of him getting progressively more and more bothered by watching her get fucked by other dudes... and they start talking more and more regularly so he gets more and more attached... and it keeps him up all night. He can't sleep. In any universe, any AU, he's still our hyper-possessive boi, so just the thought of other people touching her makes his skin crawl, he keeps grinding his teeth and punching walls whenever he thinks about it. Starts having detailed fantasies about killing those guys he films her with. Tells himself she clearly doesn't like them at all, she just fucks them and goes. She doesn't have a bond with them... But she does with him, right...?

Eventually he snaps. Finds out where she lives. Shows up at night bordering on unhinged and saying she has to quit.

But what about rent? He says she doesn’t have to worry about that... she can... move in with him. He’ll take care of her. He can afford it, promise!

And of course darling is freaking out a bit because you barely know this guy, he's always been quiet and kinda abrasive, even has some antisocial tendencies, and now he's showing up at your door that you didn't give him the address to, going on about coming to live with him? Clearly he's got some serious issues and you're not safe.... So you back away, even run and lock the door.

He doesn't yell. He just kinda... Sighs. He was in a manic sort of state but once you do that, he realizes why you'd be scared... So he does the only other thing he knows how to do. He's a simple boy with simple solutions, not socially apt, not holding financial power, none of that. It's more straightforward than that - you can't keep your job if all your coworkers are dead <3

[ifwallscouldtalkkkk]

Ashton's Coffee Shop Flirt [Part 1]

Female reader x Ashton Irwin

SFW, but contains some swearing

____________________________________

After being stood up for a date several times at the small coffee shop that your friend-of-a-friend Ashton works at, he sits down with you to keep you company after closing hours

____________________________________

"Still a no-show?"

His words snapped you out of the trance you had been put in by the buzzing of the coffee machines and the gentle clinking of porcelain cups.

"Uh, no. I mean, yeah. Still a no-show." You replied.

Ashton stood leaned over at the counter, scribbling circles on a little notepad by the cash register.

"It's almost closing time, so unless he comes sprinting in in the next 30 seconds, I think his time is up. What is this, the 3rd time?" Ashton asked.

"Well, the first time it was an actual emergency, so I don't think I should count that one", you stated. You had matched with a guy on Tinder who seemed really keen on meeting you, but he had yet to actually show up to any of your coffee dates. The first time, he actually had ended up in the ER for a ligament injury, and he had sent photos from the hospital explaining that he was really sorry and that he would turn up if the ER visit went swiftly. It of course didn't, it's an ER. The other 2 times it seemed to just have been unfortunate coincidences, but your excitement had definitely faltered, especially with his habit of not contacting you explaining that he won't make it until long after the planned meetup time. Still, you weren't really the busy bee of the century, so the long days at the coffee shop hadn't been too torturous. As head barista, Ashton had had the privilege to witness all 3 instances of you spending the majority of your day sitting in his coffee shop, patiently waiting for someone that would never show up.

Ashton made an amused skeptical face at you. "You know what, let's give him one last chance", he said. "I'm not in a rush, let's give him the chance to do the romantic-airport-last-minute-chase-down."

He ripped the cap off of a large marker pen with his teeth and started writing something on a notebook paper. When he finished, he recapped the marker and dramatically unveiled his masterpiece to you.

《CLOSED FOR TODAY, UNLESS YOUR NAME IS MARK SOMETHING AND YOU'RE LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT TINDER DATE (PLEASE YELL VERY LOUDLY AND WE'LL LET YOU IN)》

You rolled your eyes in a smile while Ashton pulled the blinds shut and taped the handmade sign on the outside of the door. After locking the door, he plopped down on the couch next to you, before immediately shooting back up on his feet. "Wait, want anything to drink?" He asked. You looked down at your long-empty latte mug, and sloshed around the tiny bit of foam left at the bottom. "I don't think I should have any more caffeine today", you replied. He raised his hands in an "ok"-sign and disappeared behind the coffee bar counter for a short while.

The reason you were even in this coffee shop in particular was because Ashton and you had a mutual friend who swore by this location being the very best place for first dates. Something about chakras and auras circulating perfectly in the building... To be honest, you hadn't really listened that closely during that part. Now that you had spent some time here, you seriously doubted the chakra part, and you were pretty sure that the real magic was Ashton's way to light up the place with good vibes. During your long hours here, you had never once seen anyone leave without a smile or at least a smirk on their face. Even when the newly hired barista got an order slightly wrong at times, Ashton's way of interacting with customers was just too sincere and charming to leave anyone upset. Even the music was different. Instead of the typical calm playlists you tended to find in other coffee shops, Ashton used his own playlists made up of every genre out there and then some. It wasn't unusual to glance over and see Ash singing along to whatever song was playing, or see him grabbing the occupied hands of his coworkers and forcing them to do a little goofy dance with him.

Ashton came back with a coffee cup for himself and a plate of cookies and sat down. "Leftovers", he said. "Would be a shame to throw them out." You grabbed one gratefully.

"So this Mark guy, what makes him so special?" Ashton asked between sips. You furrowed your brow in thought for a few seconds before replying. "I don't actually know an awful lot about him. He seems very driven, and confident. I guess it sort of flatters me that he would think of me as worthy of his attention", you replied, your words sounding a bit more pathetic that you intended. Ashton chuckled. "You're kidding, right? I've seen like several people staring at you like you're their blushing bride while you've hung out here. You know, Jacob, the coffee bean delivery guy? I've had to start running and catching him out back before he has a chance to come in because the guy ends up drooling like a zombie if he sees you. You're quite the chore to hang out with, you know?" He paused for a split second before adding "no, sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't mean you were a bother, but you for sure don't have a shortage of suiters, little girl."

You looked at your hands holding your cookie and chewed it slowly in thought. Seriously? You knew you weren't a complete lost cause or anything, but you had never really noticed anyone straight up ogling you in public. You guessed that it was technically possible that you were just blind to it, but the thought still felt surreal and uncomfortable.

"Uhh well I know I'm not the best at accepting compliments, but that still sounds like some grossly exaggerated bullshit, Ash." His smile widened and he let out a scoffing chuckle. His lowered his face and tilted his head with searching, focused eyes to coax you to make eye contact again. It worked.

"Hey", he began, with his eyebrows raised in a smug but caring expression. "You're pretty, ok?" Your instant reflex was to scrunch your face up in a cringing reaction. "Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh, none of that. Try again" he objected. You tried your best to hold eye contact and not squirm when he repeated himself. "You're pretty. You're a pretty girl." He dramatically grabbed your face with both his hands and shook you gently for comedic effect. "You're a nice, sweet, person. You're hot, and this Mark guy can fuck right off."

____________________________________

To be continued...

Part 2 out now!

Heyy! Sorry for this chapter being uneventful. I was gonna continue it further, but the next part will basically be pure smut so I thought I could split it into 2 pieces for those who don't like that stuff. Lmk if you'd rather have it be one whole thing or if splitting it is ok.

Again, the next chapter will continue this particular story and will be PURE SMUT

ifwallscouldtalkkkk MASTERLIST