This happened 15+ years ago.

I’m a Shift Supervisor for a retail drug store chain. It’s Friday afternoon, two o’clock, and my shift has begun. I take a walk around the store checking for certain issues and talking to employees. I get approached by a customer asking if I was the manager. When I confirm he goes on a rant:

“Your photo employee (Jane) is extremely unhelpful and poor at her job. I’ve spent all day at your kiosk trying to get photos done for my dad’s funeral. She told me I had to go to (print shop 5 miles away) to get certain ones done. I have to be on a plane this time tomorrow night to go out of state for a funeral. I don’t have time for people like her to waste my time.”

In the back of my mind I’m thinking something is not right. Jane usually gets compliments and customers telling me she deserves a raise. I apologize and tell the customer I will have a talk with her. I have a quick chat with Jane to ask her for her side of the story. Jane explains that he was a great customer for a few hours, then dealing with the fact that his dad died got to him and he took it out on her. I leave it at that.

Jane left an hour later. An hour after Jane leaves I get a call. “Drug store this is OP, how may I help you.”

Caller: “this is John. Are you the manager I spoke with earlier? I’m the one who complained about your photo employee. Well I’d like to take my complaint back.”

I confirm I am and John continues.

John: “she was great. She went above and beyond to help me. I had to go to (print shop 5 miles away) because your scanner wasn’t big enough and I needed to print programs. (We only print pictures) That’s not her fault. Just seeing all those photos of my dad finally got the best of me and I took it out on her and you. I know you guys get people who complain for no reason but not me. My dad raised me better than that.”

I tell John I will let Jane know and not to worry, everything is fine. I’ve been in a similar situation before and ended up saying and doing things I regretted. John adds in that if I need him to sign or write something to make his complain go away he will. I told him not to worry everything has been handled.

I text Jane to let her know and go on with my shift.

The next day I’m back at work and chit chatting with Jane. Jane tells me that John came in this morning. He apologized and finished his photos. He had his wife help him so he wouldn’t get too emotional.

One of the few times I’ve had a complaining customer apologize for their behavior.

Sitting upstairs at the very back, about to get onto the motorway. Weather’s good. It's been raining the past week, but the sun’s out right now. Almost 6pm, so it's casting a golden glow on everything as it prepares to set.

Just looking ahead, the bus is fairly full but quiet. I suppose it's just people getting off work and from college. I work nights, and it's my day off, so I don't feel “it.”

I'm fresh out of the shower, with a red pin on my hoodie and a plaid green hat, lol. Nobody’s looking at me, and I'm overly concerned about them. We’re all in our own little worlds.

My parents were first gen immigrants. After recieving some terrible advice that they must not teach me their home language as a baby child because english will set me up for life (which it has, but still) they decided that they'd raise me completely english speaking. I don't actually know how they did it since my mother was new to the language and even though my father went to an english medium school over there... he has a strange way of english haha.

Also, they have the whooolleee rags to riches story going on, so "family" over there is kinda evil. Long story short they nearly convinced him to move back there to take care of his mother - when his sister literally lives across the city from her. Oh well, this meant that they began teaching me the letters for their language to prep going back home at likeeee 5ish. I had a perfect accent of both laguages, and would laugh whenever my father said something in a fun way hahaha.

But thankfully we didn't move back, I got a real citizenship instead and the language kinda just got left to the dust. Except for the fact that our parents (I gained a sibling) would speak thier language tons when they aren't talking to us. It is kind of odd, I think, but I don't really know any other way.

By the way, I hated english in school, hated language learning, and was all maths and science obsessed so its not my forte.

At night, my parents would speak downstairs and as I got older, obviously I wanted to know if they were talking about me. So in bed I'd start listening reaaalll hard for my home-name. By the way, its super funny but with an english accent - saying my homename means spiderwebs instead of sparks of light which is super funny - also the reason its my home-name hahaha.

And then with no effort at all - while I was simultaneously learning chinese (in school, I chose it over french because it was easier trust me) and sign language - I started picking up the language strangely really fast. Because I could guess what they were talking about from general context.

I got the music of the language - as in if I wanted to say something, I'd know the beat and I could hum the words but not actually say them. I could also somehow distinguish fancy version and colloquial quite soon in. I assume this is because technically I've heard it all my life but I usually completely tune it out in the day. Anyway, obviously my knowledge was extremely gappy and it wasn't entirely like I associated words to english meanings. It was... is weird.

Fast forward 2ish years, I could piece larger words together quite well simply from feeling the language - though pattern recognition is a big strength of mine. Then another few months, we were in the home country visiting the piranhas family there and obviously they know I can't understand a word they say. Also my parents don't really understand, I can't really explain how I interpret whole conversations, intricate jokes etc no longer with context but often can't give the english definition of a word when asked. And!! I was staring at them as if I understood what they were talking about with eachother (they don't speak english, my and my brother literally sit on opposite sides of the room with whoever and sign to eachother from sheer boredom usually). And I did mostly understand! It was hard, because I'm only used to my parents flavour of the language but thats why I was staring so intensely and they were like uhhhh she comprehend??

My parents said kinda.

Anywayyyy, we were in the store today, and they had whole complex conversation and I can proudly say I could translate it into english!! And reply back too :DD. I no longer have such a great accent but thats mostly because I overthink it. I also know like half the letters. Except for some reason they join letters and create new ones too so theres way way way more to learn. If I want to. But I'm reaaaaaaaaaaallly happy about that. Yay. Thats all

I'm what's known as a WikiGnome. I just happen to read a ton of articles for fun and my editing is exclusively fixing small mistakes that I find while reading--grammar, typos, broken coding, the like.

This is a random sampling of my recent edits, in no particular order.

+Apollodorus (painter).

+Pulsus paradoxus.

+Orbona.

+Déjà vu.

+Ranunculus asiaticus.

+Jean Marc Gaspard Itard.

+Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato.

+Fève.

+Conditum.

+TeleZapper.

+Mr Creosote.

+Maids of honour tart.

+Brushturkey.

+Teeth blackening.

+Raviole du Dauphiné.

Last weekend I visited Mt. Fløyen in Bergen with my friend and his 5-year-old son. My friend and his son are Norwegian. I'm American. I can read a bit of Norwegian, but I can't understand much at all, and I definitely can't speak it. That goes double for Bergensk, which my friend and his son speak.

We took the funicular to the top and went for a beer at the restaurant there. I sat on the restaurant patio with the kid while my friend went inside to get us the drinks. I felt quite awkward about it. I'm like zero perecent kid person. I just don't know what to do with them. Making matters worse, little man and I have no common language, so we couldn't talk to each other. We sat and looked helplessly at each other for a long moment.

He started fidgeting his fingers on the tabletop. Sensing a possibility, I grinned at him and started copying every move he made. After two or three moves, he giggled and started making more complicated movements. I kept up like a champ. He giggled and wiggled and clearly delighted in trying to stump me. We played until his papa returned with our drinks and we didn't miss him for a second.

At the end of my visit, when they dropped me off at the airport, he asked his papa to ask me if I'd give him a hug. I've seldom felt more like a success.

Now there's a picture of him and his papa in my Favorites gallery on my phone.

Maybe I'm not zero percent kid person after all.

My son (21) seems to be the "dad" type person for his friend group, both male and female.

Knowing this, a few days ago I mentioned if any of his female friends found themselves in a period situation without any products. He knows where everything is and they are welcome to use what I have stored.

Apparently this situation has already occurred, he helped out and that was that. But other "friends" have said it's weird that 1, he knew what was going on and 2, where my products are and how to help. ( He opened a plastic tub in the linen cupboard. He didn't buy out the Cadbury's chocolate factory.... Lol)

Surely it's "weird" that young men in this day and age DONT know about it or what women may need for it????

I'm proud of myself for breaking the cycle of stupidity surrounding male immaturity regarding periods.

I'm proud of him for stepping up, being aware and empythetic with no shits given. In his words "It is what it is".

Ha it's that simple it seems!!!!!☺️☺️☺️☺️

After 3 years living with my avid baker MIL, my husband and I are finally back on our own and I have my own kitchen with my own tools out of storage. So far in the last 24 hours I have made honey oat bread, Japanese milk bread, apple scones, and carrot cake scones (currently baking). I added butterscotch chips to the carrot cake scones and the smell is absolutely divine.

It's a quiet Saturday morning 7 am and the only sounds I hear to disturb the peace is my German Shepherd/Belgian Malnoise mix arguing with the birds that frequently perch in my tree or take a bath in the front gutter on the roof that needs to be cleared.

He barks at them and they chirp in response. I'm pretty sure it's about them having the right to be the tree because it's in his yard. I have tried to call him inside but he is out there stubbornly guarding/patrolling the back yard to keep it safe. I'm thinking seriously dude, their 2 inches tall other than pooing on my car what harm is it? Life goes on

My family loves spaghetti, but over the years our tastes have changed. I don't love meat, but I don't want no meat. My kid likes extra meat. My husband wants no noodles but mixes some sauce into his people chow. Nobody eats the leftovers because the sauce soaks in too much and it gets dry and mushy. So last time, instead of making meat sauce, I got air-fryer meatballs. Delicious. When I put away the leftovers, I kept all the parts separate. This worked great, but we ran out of meatballs first so I bought more. Then we ran out of noodles so I made another batch. Then we ran out of sauce. You see where this is going. Now we have a gallon bag of cooked spaghetti, an opened jar of sauce, and a container of cooked meatballs being replenished in the fridge at all times for a good month now. We just heat up our preferred combo at any time and it tastes almost as good as fresh. I'm gonna see how long I can keep this going before we all get sick of it.

Pulled into the driveway with one of my favorite songs playing. Just as I reached for my keys, the song ended and faded out...

For just that moment, I felt the universe smile on me.

The air was cool and crisp, I could hear and see the branches of the trees near the fenced in yard swaying slightly in the breeze. I sighed and closed my eyes feeling like I could be grounded for the first moment that day and put my bare feet in the cold long grass. I opened my eyes and looked up, it was a full moon but the clouds were obscuring it, so it was a misty moon. It was the misty moon night 🌙

We had a nice clear night, and I love celestial events. I stayed up past midnight and kept going out to watch the moon go through the eclipse, and see if there was any aurora (not tonight). Mom (age almost 86) was interested, but had gone to bed at 9pm as usual.

She got up around midnight for a potty break, and came out to see how it was going. We had to walk out into the yard past the trees. I used my phone for a little light, and she carefully walked barefoot along the path, holding my arm a bit. We stood and watched the curious dark moon with its glowing hat, and a million stars. It was lovely.

I was casually chatting with my former colleague when she mentioned that time when we had lunch then she cried out of the blue.

She thanked me for not forcing her to open up and for inviting her for coffee after work.

I didn't do anything special on that day but apparently, what I did made a difference.

What makes this exchange even more meaningful?

My former colleague doesn't know I'm going through a rough patch. Her gesture is a welcome reprieve as it feels nice to learn that I did something right.

What I learned is that any act of kindness creates ripples. A polite smile, a simple token, or a random message can make someone's day.

I am going to bed now. My sheets are clean. I cannot wait to snuggle into them. Goodnight all!

Sitting on my back patio listening to the frogs in the background. Two dogs are napping. I see the last of summer’s lightning bugs. Smells like a bonfire in the distance. 💙💙💙💙💙💙

I started a job at a doggy daycare, and was left alone with a tripod dog who hates men (a man is the reason he's missing a leg). The dog had already given me a warning nip, so I wasn't going to push interacting until he felt comfortable. All the other dogs had been picked up, so there was an hour where it was just the two of us. I tried enticing him to play with a ball, but he was completely uninterested.

I was bored, there were 3 balls, so I decided to juggle them. It's important to note that I'm not very good lol, but it definitely got the dog's attention. He came over to watch, tail wagging, and then I dropped them again. He grabbed one, chewing on it for a minute before shoving it at my hand. We ended up playing fetch for the remaining time until I was let off!

And her tail was wagging and that made me happy.

apparently i sound so much like a squeak toy when i hiccup that i can fool the dog 💀 he's getting mad we're not giving him a squeaky toy that doesn't exist

So my husband and I did an announcement + gender reveal video and sent it out to our friends and family but while we were having the reveal itself just us two, we FaceTimed both sets of parents.

My mom and MIL already knew because their intuition is top tier but both dad and FIL were clueless.

Anyway, my dad is a stoic man and I've never seen him cry in my life, neither have my older brothers. He was happy and VERY surprised on the FT but that's about it.

Little did I know that after he and mom got off the call, he went to his home office and took it in alone and then teared up. Mom followed him to make sure he's okay and he was just murmuring over and over in Arabic 'My baby girl is having a baby' (rough translation).

That just made mom cry and stuff but AFTER, she checked the security footage and told him she's keeping the video to send to me when I'm having a rough go in my pregnancy to cheer me up or for when the baby is here and they meet him for the first time.

Anyway, I've been really down lately about my body during pregnancy (old issues resurfacing) and she decided that it'd be a cute pick me up. And it is. I just can't stop crying because what do you mean I'm gonna be somebody's mom when I was still just his little girl not that long ago.

I don't know if I'm making sense lol it just hit me in full force and seeing him tear up is just... I have no words.

+Islander.

+Athena.

+Business Time.

+Venture I.

+Chimera.

+No Money Left Over.

+Wildfire II.

+Finally, not a name, but a paint job: She was entirely painted a very saturated blue with grey and silver fish all over swimming through the blue.

I’m 30 and trans masc (they/them). I started testosterone at the end of May 2025 so my facial hair has been slowing growing since then. I finally ordered an electric razor and tonight was my first time shaving my face. I shaved the patchy spots so my facial hair looks even better now and I’ve been feeling lots of gender euphoria tonight!

It's astounding that so many people have dryer balls. We have hedgehogs for our tumble dryer. The little nubbins seem to help pound out the wrinkles.

The only challenge we run into (occasionally) is that they try to escape by jumping out when we're pulling clothes out, or by hiding in a sleeve or pocket. Many's the occasion we've found ourselves asking, "Have you seen one of the hedgehogs? There are only two in the dryer." And we go back to the most recent basket of clothes pulled out and hunt for the errant hedgehog.

I WFH exclusively (inhome daycare), my husband has a 20 minute drive from his work. We often enjoy a cup of coffee together after work, so he texts me when he turns into a specific street about five minutes from home, so I can start making coffee.

He texts me via the car‘s speech-to-text system, and it has forever failed to get the name of that street right. Being the goofball he is, he tries to find the most hilarious ways to announce his arrival. At first, it was quite obvious (as in „the street that can not be named“ or similar), then he progressed to Spanish (at which the system failed even more miserably than the original name of the street), and now it’s movie quotes.

I bring you today’s gem: „A day may come when the courage of men fails - but it is not this day! A day may come when this wretched system will allow me to speak my mind - but it is not this day! For coffee!“

I live alone, and recently have been learning an instrument for the first time in my life. It's kind of a big instrument and I don't have a lot of space, so the only place where I can set it up is next to my only window.

Well last night I went to play the instrument, and I look up and see the moon out of the window. I cracked my window open and turned up the volume so I could play for the moon since I don't have any other audience to share it with. It was nice sharing my song with the moon. I think I'll do it again tonight.