Una breve teoria del tutto $BBBY $GME $IEP
TLDR: RC ha sviluppato un piano nascosto e ben congegnato per utilizzare l'ecosistema Web3 con l'ambizioso obiettivo di costruire una rete complessa di rivenditori al dettaglio online e fisici al fine di rivoluzionare l'esperienza del consumatore prevenendo l'oligarchia della fine del XX / inizio del XXI secolo dal trasferire le loro pratiche di corruzione poiché l’ambiente Web3, se utilizzato correttamente, respingerà intrinsecamente i metodi machiavellici ma rigidi della mafia del mercato. In tal modo RC contribuirà a definire le prime iterazioni di una transizione sociale e tecnologica così profonda che sarà presto intesa come una nuova era dell’uomo, distinta dal passato prossimo e unica per tutta la storia umana. ———————————————-
✅ Molto tempo fa, in condizioni di mercato lontane, un giovane imprenditore canadese di nome Ryan Cohen diede uno sguardo attento al panorama digitale dominato da Amazon per scoprire uno spazio digitale sottoservito se non completamente non rappresentato in quello di un mercato online che teoricamente potrebbe sposa l'esperienza del servizio clienti in negozio con la comodità dello shopping digitale.
✅ Laddove la maggior parte della vendita al dettaglio online dell'inizio del 21° secolo competeva quasi esclusivamente sul prezzo, semplicemente introducendo la mano invisibile del capitalismo sul web2, e pochi altri sfruttavano la nicchia dei prodotti unici/artigianali consentendo margini maggiori, Ryan Cohen ha visto che nessuno di questi le aziende stavano superando lo spartiacque impersonale dello schermo del computer per personalizzare l'esperienza, deliziare il cliente e, come affermato in precedenza, sposare essenzialmente il fascino del rivenditore a conduzione familiare del passato con l'efficienza di un'esperienza digitale ottimizzata.
✅ Quale segmento migliore della categoria Animali Domestici per colmare il divario digitale. Dopo i bambini, la categoria degli animali domestici è pensata per un approccio orientato al cliente. Se Amazon ti contattasse con una nota personalizzata per commemorare l’acquisto di una batteria, patiresti immediatamente una crisi esistenziale. Ma fiori per il compleanno del tuo animale domestico, lettere di condoglianze dopo la perdita del tuo migliore amico, un team di assistenza clienti che ha tenuto registri meticolosi e ti ha parlato come un cliente stimato piuttosto che un semplice numero d'ordine, insieme a un impegno chiaro nel catalogare ogni individuo transazione ed ecco le caratteristiche di un negozio all'angolo digitale. Aggiungete a ciò una generosa politica di restituzione e l'impegno a consentire ai rappresentanti del servizio clienti di utilizzare la meticolosa tenuta dei registri in modo da far sentire ogni cliente come un membro della famiglia Chewy e avrete il connubio perfetto tra Main Street e Silicon Valley. RC capì implicitamente che umanizzare l’esperienza di acquisto digitale, normalmente senz’anima, non solo avrebbe facilitato una straordinaria fidelizzazione dei clienti, ma avrebbe allo stesso tempo favorito una cultura di fiducia attraverso una relazione simbiotica tra il rappresentante del servizio clienti e il consumatore costruita sul principio del piacere reciproco.
✅ I venture capitalist erano nel migliore dei casi scettici, nel peggiore dei casi sprezzanti. Il concetto richiederebbe un’attenzione maniacale ai dettagli, una continuità del messaggio quasi perfetta dall’alto verso il basso, dipendenti ben formati, un posto di lavoro ben organizzato e arricchente, offerte salariali competitive ecc… Ma soprattutto, se RC in qualche modo dovesse costruirlo, nel momento in cui inizieranno ad arrivare in massa Chewy incontrerebbe il grande filtro web2, Amazon e il suo attacco su più fronti contro chiunque si avvicini a una quota di mercato significativa. Un attacco che sfrutta le vendite allo scoperto illegali, l’annullamento della vera scoperta dei prezzi, la manipolazione dei media, l’infiltrazione aziendale e la chiusura di un sistema normativo compromesso.
✅ Conosciamo tutti la storia, Larry Cheng, con il suo approccio asimmetrico alla valutazione delle opportunità, è intervenuto con il capitale iniziale che ha dato a Ryan Cohen le risorse per costruire l'infrastruttura del piacere. Cohen si è trovato faccia a faccia e, con la pura volontà di forza, è riuscito a passare attraverso il grande filtro dell'Amazzonia. Ma nel processo fu costretto a confrontarsi con una sorta di rete istituzionale centralizzata così ossessionata dal mantenimento del potere e del controllo che si potrebbe essere inclini a intenderla come la parte inferiore strettamente intrecciata del subconscio collettivo o, meglio ancora, dell’ego collettivo. L’ego deve sopravvivere, temere la sua forza trainante e quindi l’incessante consolidamento del potere e delle risorse come mezzo per aumentare le probabilità di sopravvivenza delle oligarchie alla fine crea una macchina così grande che nessun individuo può rallentarla dall’interno.
✅ Ryan Cohen ha trovato un difetto intrinseco in questa macchina autosufficiente, nel senso che mentre effettivamente manteneva il dominio e il controllo a breve termine, la sua natura ingombrante la rendeva destinata a soffocare la concorrenza, indebolire l'impulso all'ingegno tra il pubblico in generale, soffocare pari opportunità e alimentano inavvertitamente le fiamme della discordia sociale attraverso la disuguaglianza dei redditi e il collasso economico ciclico. Queste fiamme minaccerebbero inevitabilmente l’oligarchia stessa e le élite, per quanto disprezzino le masse, richiedono un certo grado di conformità e passività per perpetuare il loro potere.
✅ Nella sua essenza il sistema era autodistruttivo, nel peggiore dei casi diffondeva tossicità in tutto il mondo in modi sia sottili che palesi. E così, dopo aver raccolto miliardi dalla vendita della sua partecipazione in Chewy, RC si imbarcò in un progetto così fantastico che non poteva osare rivelarlo ad alcuni dei suoi più stretti confidenti poiché le parti mobili erano tali che la testa non poteva sapere cosa fosse il cuore. fare, e viceversa. Un progetto volto a ottimizzare un ambiente digitale inospitale al colosso centralizzato.
✅ E quindi, sia da un punto di vista tecnologico che sociale, era in corso una grande corsa, anche se la maggior parte, compresi molti membri dell'oligarchia, erano sordi al suo segnale iniziale, quindi continuarono semplicemente ad accumulare il peso del capitale dirottato, il peso ciò li avrebbe ironicamente rallentati una volta che si fossero resi conto che la corsa era iniziata. Questo è stato lo sprint inaugurale aperto solo agli imprenditori più lungimiranti. Presto sarebbe seguito l'evento aperto sotto forma della grande migrazione al Web3.
✅ Primo passo, acquistare una partecipazione di controllo in una vendita al dettaglio di mattoni e malta criminalmente per eccesso di cortocircuito con due caratteristiche chiave. Una nostalgia radicata nel cuore di generazioni e uno spazio perfettamente situato per guidare la migrazione al Web3. Gaming, dove gli NFT avrebbero preso piede prima di diventare un punto chiave nel tessuto stesso della società.
✅ Lo short squeeze di GameStop del 2021 è stato un momento di svolta non solo nella storia del mercato, ma anche come perfetto presagio delle implicazioni sociali del sismico cambiamento digitale all'orizzonte. Nei primi WSB, Superstonk e subs oltre, abbiamo visto la coalescenza dei precisi elementi necessari per creare un consenso organico così potente e adattivo da rappresentare una sorta di precursore analogico della rivoluzione digitale caratterizzata dal più completo ed efficiente sistema di decentralizzazione delega di autorità sempre disponibile per l’uomo, per ordini di grandezza. Quale modo migliore per creare un controllo e un equilibrio per le strutture oligarchiche sempre più obsolete e i loro monopoli di disinformazione che si limitano ad arricchire pochi a scapito di molti se non una macchina per la costruzione del consenso che richiede verità, trasparenza e cooperazione contro il potere corruttore.
✅ Ma, come se fosse stato un segnale, l'ego collettivo non poteva tollerare l'ondata di paura limbica cosmica dell'ignoto causata da un evento così inaspettato e travolgente che la loro risposta istintiva fu essenzialmente quella di rompere il contratto sociale in pieno giorno. e sfidare i contadini a cercare di fermarli. Ai loro occhi questa era una dimostrazione di potere assoluto, attraverso la lente della storia sarà ricordata come una follia nata dalla disperazione. Perché è stato qui che hanno commesso il loro errore fatale. Hanno mostrato la guarigione del loro Achille.
✅ Ricorrendo a una criminalità così sfacciata potrebbero aver guadagnato un po' di tempo, ma hanno perso la loro risorsa più grande, l'illusione di onnipotenza attentamente elaborata. Non solo potevano essere battuti nel loro stesso gioco, ma erano così impreparati che i titani dell'industria diventarono semplici mortali in un batter d'occhio.
✅ Per quanto mi riguarda, gli ultimi tre anni hanno poco a che fare con il prezzo delle azioni del GME e tutto a che fare con un piano in rapido sviluppo che coinvolge un numero di attori chiave che portano tutti un patrimonio di know-how ed esperienza rilevanti e altamente specializzati sia nella vendita al dettaglio che nei moderni meccanismi del mercato, insieme a un disprezzo generale per il casinò di mercato ispirato a Madoff, Griffin perpetuato che continua a lasciare un percorso di distruzione sulla sua scia. Un sentiero ricoperto di cenere da cui ora ha cominciato a rimbombare una Fenice.
✅ Solo Ryan Cohen sarebbe così audace da aumentare il livello di difficoltà di questo progetto a 11 non solo tracciando il percorso verso Web3 tramite GME utilizzando gli stessi strumenti di delega, responsabilizzazione, cooperazione e integrità che alla fine costruiranno i templi digitali del domani, decide, in un inno alla giustizia poetica nella sua forma più raffinata, di resuscitare i marchi familiari un tempo amati di un'era in declino, la cui scomparsa è stata il risultato diretto, o almeno facilitato da, BCG, Citadel, Dark Pool, Jeff Bezos. Nancy Pelosi, macchina degli hedge fund Vulture. Una macchina così ossessionata dalla propria crescita da non aver mai considerato la possibilità che sarebbe stata troppo ingombrante per passare attraverso la porta modesta e democratica del Web3. Una piccola porta verso una distesa illimitata. Il panorama aziendale dell'esperienza Web3 sarà intrinsecamente rivoluzionario in quanto faciliterà naturalmente i movimenti rivoluzionari di tutte le forme e dimensioni. Ciò è in contrasto con le strutture di potere centralizzate della storia che intrinsecamente soffocavano la rivoluzione finché la volontà del popolo non traboccava in una violenta protesta. Facilitare e persino incoraggiare i movimenti rivoluzionari pacifici costituirà forse la caratteristica più importante di Web3 poiché nella pace digitale accelereremo il risveglio spirituale collettivo.
✅ Il CEO di Overstock Jonathen Johnson ha gettato le basi con il suo editoriale su Linkedin del 2020 prevedendo, o forse sostenendo, l'emergere del modello di cooperazione aziendale supportato dalla blockchain basato sul principio giapponese di Keiretsu, un concetto in cui varie aziende con vari gradi di interesse competitivo , formano una rete cooperativa per condividere risorse e manodopera accuratamente selezionate, ciascuna selezionata per le sue caratteristiche reciprocamente vantaggiose senza invadere i vantaggi proprietari e/o i segreti commerciali dei singoli partecipanti. Laddove il tradizionale Keiretsu giapponese si basava sulla fiducia implicita sostenuta da un’enfasi culturale sull’integrità rispetto alla concorrenza spietata, il Keiretsu Web3 sarà protetto tramite la tecnologia blockchain che consente lo scambio di informazioni selezionate attraverso una rete sicura. La blockchain proteggerà contemporaneamente le informazioni proprietarie aziendali e la proprietà intellettuale sensibile, eliminando così la necessità di fiducia cieca. A mio parere non è una coincidenza che Overstock sia un attore chiave nell'accordo BBBY, soprattutto considerando la loro storia unica nella lotta contro la macchina di Bezos.
✅ Carl Icahn, il leggendario attivista, trovò in Ryan Cohen un successore con una visione così avvincente e con un grande piano che incorpora così tante parti in movimento che avrebbe richiesto una ricchezza di esperienza, intelletto e completa segretezza insieme a un set di palle grandi abbastanza da generare una spinta gravitazionale all'interno dei testicoli, una sorta di sistema binario a sfera.
✅ Carl odia i bulli, molto, odia i bulli ma odia i ragazzi che lasciano che i bulli li maltrattano ancora di più. Vuoi che il bullismo finisca, non abbassare la testa e tremare di paura sperando che non si preoccupino di un'anima timida. Hai appena garantito che le tue peggiori paure ti seguiranno. Dai un pugno in faccia a quel figlio di puttana, se devi subire un pestaggio temporaneo, allora prendilo, alzati, asciugati e colpiscilo di nuovo prima che si sfaldi. Domani sarai dolorante, il tuo corpo farà male ma la tua anima sarà intatta. La carne guarisce, l'anima o si nasconde o si libra in volo. Combatti sempre e la tua anima ricompenserà dieci volte il tuo coraggio. Carl vuole sferrare un ultimo pugno e questo taglio superiore sarà il colpo mortale che ha aspettato di sferrare per tutta la sua carriera. Carl ha fatto carriera combattendo i bulli della vecchia guardia e, anche se ha abbastanza punti per arrivare alla vittoria, Carl è il tipo di persona che arriva al 15° round KO.
✅ Brett Icahn è un attore chiave qui. In poche parole, il mercato Web3, come immaginato da Ryan Cohen, faciliterà la costruzione del consenso tra una serie di comunità diverse, a volte sovrapposte, consentendo a queste comunità di monetizzare i propri sforzi senza dover fare affidamento su un’infrastruttura centralizzata per facilitare lo scambio di beni e servizi. per il capitale. Inoltre Web3 creerà un universo in continua espansione di sforzi creativi il cui valore sarà determinato da un'applicazione leggermente evoluta dei principi standard della domanda e dell'offerta.
✅ L'ambiente digitale del Web3 faciliterà anche un ambiente fisico del 21° secolo che sminuirà le file infinite di scaffali riforniti concentrandosi su offerte di stock semplificate per fare spazio alle esperienze di acquisto AR in negozio fornendo agli sviluppatori di prodotti una miriade di opzioni esplorare approcci innovativi e in continua evoluzione al marketing, fornendo così al cliente informazioni preziose e conoscenze del prodotto per facilitare un processo di acquisto altamente informato. Oltre all’AR ci saranno una serie di tecnologie complementari in negozio che delizieranno il cliente in modi troppo vari per essere previsti. Ma se l'ultimo grande vantaggio competitivo della vendita al dettaglio è l'acquisto istantaneo in negozio, allora l'AR non porta semplicemente l'esperienza online nel negozio sacrificando l'acquisto istantaneo?
✅ Entra Ovidio. Invito tutti a cercare su Google il progetto Ovid di Newell, il loro ambizioso progetto di catena di fornitura OmniChamnel, in lavorazione da oltre due anni e mirato a creare una rete di distribuzione estesa ed altamente efficiente per garantire il ritiro in negozio lo stesso giorno. Due punti da considerare. Primo, sono disposto a scommettere che Project Ovid non punta solo alla spedizione nello stesso giorno entro un'ampia finestra di spedizione (4-6 ore dopo l'ordine), ma piuttosto si tratterà di un sistema che consegnerà un prodotto AR selezionato entro 15-30 minuti di acquisto. Come lo farà? Keiretsu ovviamente. ( Flexport è il partner logistico perfetto per questa impresa)
✅ L'unica cosa su cui le aziende concorrenti collaboreranno naturalmente è lo stoccaggio dei prodotti e la spedizione consolidata per aumentare la vicinanza dei prodotti al negozio, accelerare i tempi di consegna e aumentare la gamma di opzioni di ritiro in negozio per servire esponenzialmente più clienti, ad esempio ordinare online presso Teddy.com e ritiralo in uno qualsiasi dei negozi partecipanti, sicuramente uno di loro sarà nelle immediate vicinanze. Per facilitare un rapido ritiro in negozio, la condivisione dello spazio di magazzino sia in negozio che tramite una rete di centri di distribuzione consentirà ai rivenditori di garantire che ogni prodotto venduto tramite AR o qualsiasi altro mezzo virtuale sia in negozio o, nella migliore delle ipotesi, a poche miglia di distanza.
✅ La seconda cosa, e l'ho già menzionata in precedenza ma penso che meriti di essere ripetuta, è ciò che non posso fare a meno di vedere come un enorme uovo di Pasqua nel nome del progetto di fornitura Omnichannel di Newell, Ovid. Questo è un riferimento al grande poeta Ovidio e in particolare alla sua opera epica intitolata Metamorfosi. Questo pezzo di letteratura altamente ambizioso non può nemmeno essere vagamente legato all'idea di una navigazione efficiente poiché questa poesia è una meditazione sulla storia epocale dell'uomo vista attraverso le epoche distinte che sfidano le epoche (Oro, Acciaio ecc...), epoche con distinte caratteristiche che aiutano a spiegare la complessa interazione tra adattamento individuale e progressi umani collettivi. I progressi contemporanei nelle varie epoche sono, in un certo senso, guidati dalle macrocondizioni dell'epoca specifica, ma nel tempo l'ingegno dell'uomo crea scoperte tecnologiche che alla fine facilitano l'emergere di nuove macrocondizioni che a loro volta alterano le dinamiche governative, sociopolitiche e interpersonali in modo profondamente che diventino gli ingredienti per il prossimo Grande Balzo in Avanti. Una nuova era dell'uomo. Perché cazzo dovrebbero intitolare un progetto di fornitura omnicanale con un argomento così grandioso?
✅ Se Ovidio fosse vivo oggi sarebbe costretto a contemplare l'alba del Web3, un'era che verrà a gettare un'eclissi sulle prime iterazioni del Web come lo intendiamo attualmente. Un’eclissi così opaca che ogni sviluppo tecnologico del XX e dell’inizio del XXI secolo che lo precederà sarà visto attraverso la lente storica come semplicemente un periodo di sviluppo delle infrastrutture di base per un’evoluzione digitale così ampia da segnare l’inizio della vera era digitale dell’uomo. Un’epoca che modificherà profondamente i governi, le istituzioni, l’autonomia dell’individuo e quindi il panorama socio-politico, soffocando essenzialmente il polmone d’acciaio delle entità centralizzate egoistiche i cui meccanismi di controllo perderanno il loro più grande vantaggio, la capacità di controllare la diffusione dell’informazione poiché deve ora viaggiare attraverso una rete di complessità cosciente sempre crescente.
✅ Quindi, se questa tesi si rivela corretta, ne consegue naturalmente che il cavallo di Troia di Ryan Cohen nell'iterazione ottimale di Web3 sarà un mercato incentrato sul cliente, potenziato dall'AR e supportato dalla catena di fornitura omnicanale, che mostrerà proprio la categoria che si rivolge agli aspetti più fondamentali e sacri delle esperienze umane. Bambini.
✅ Portare la vita in questo mondo e allevare il bambino attraverso il labirinto di un mondo in continua evoluzione è un processo che richiede uno yin-yang di incertezza e stanchezza che ogni nuovo genitore deve scoprire. Quello Yin può essere Teddy, il rivenditore Web3 che soddisfa le esigenze individuali della tua famiglia in modo così completo e con tale attenzione ai dettagli e al piacere che ti accorgi di vederlo come la roccia su cui puoi riposare la testa stanca e trovare soluzioni a un problema. serie di sfide in continua espansione.
✅ Teddy non avrà bisogno dell'impronta di vendita al dettaglio, l'AR può essere facilmente implementata in casa come in negozio (anche se il negozio dovrà offrire funzionalità esclusive per rimanere rilevante). Immagina una futura mamma che indossa occhiali AR all'avanguardia che pedala tra la culla, la carta da parati e le opzioni del fasciatoio nella futura stanza del suo piccolo. Questa esperienza diventerà tradizione quasi istantaneamente. Teddy può facilitare una fusione inversa di Baby, forzare la chiusura dei cortometraggi, utilizzare questi marchi commerciali mondiali e spalancare la porta all'esperienza di vendita al dettaglio Web3 online / in negozio / Keiretsu / AR che esploderà sulla scia della valanga della stampa libera questa mossa farà scalpore. A parte l'ubiquità dei punti vendita, Teddy avrà una serie di partner di vendita al dettaglio per facilitare il ritiro in negozio lo stesso giorno, mentre molti clienti andranno bene con la spedizione standard in due o tre giorni. L'enfasi sarà deliziare mamma, papà e bambino in modi che non dimenticheranno mai.
✅ Se c'è qualcuno adatto a farcela è Ryan Cohen e non c'è nessun secondo vicino. Lanciando con successo un'esperienza Teddy che non solo implementa il meglio di ciò che offre Chewy ma migliora sia il servizio clienti che i componenti logistici, Ryan Cohen mostrerà al mondo il vantaggio intrinseco dell'esperienza di acquisto Web3. Con una prova di concetto innegabile, le richieste di partnership e collaborazione da parte di aziende di tutto il mondo arriveranno a frotte.
✅ Ma prima di costruire nuove alleanze, RC innalzerà il Jolly Roger commemorativo, segnalando la resurrezione di quei marchi familiari del passato, ciascuno vittima della macchina corta e distorta. Bed Bath e oltre tramite Overstock, Blockbuster, Sears, Toys R Us, ovviamente Buy Buy Baby e probabilmente molti altri rimasti per rivenditori morti dei nostri nostalgici tempi passati. Queste attività saranno riorganizzate per soddisfare le esigenze dell’era moderna e la loro ascesa simbolica rappresenterà un colpo di cannone sull’arco dell’oligarchia delle SS, segnalando la fine del loro regno di terrore. Mentre i criminali ondeggiano nei mari spietati, salutiamo per l'ultima volta il cuore stesso del marciume sistemico al centro dell'era postindustriale mentre affondano lentamente negli abissi dell'infamia, la loro ultima visione è quella dell'ascesa trionfante del marchi che avevano lasciato per morti emergono da tombe improvvisate mentre la nave che un tempo dominava i mari cade impotente sotto la marea.
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Epilogo
È importante notare che, sebbene le speculazioni sulla strategia di Ryan Cohen discusse in questo post possano o meno realizzarsi, imploro sinceramente ogni membro di questa comunità di considerare seriamente l'inevitabile passaggio sociale al Web3 e le numerose opportunità che abbondano. Sebbene le comunità di investimento si siano dimostrate abili nel mantenere un discreto grado di continuità in mezzo all’incertezza, al FUD, alla manipolazione dei media e contro un nemico spietato e potente, resta il fatto che il nostro successo rimane intrinsecamente legato a elementi fuori dal nostro controllo, al successo o al fallimento di le aziende in cui investiamo.
La forza di questa comunità si trova nella sua vasta condivisione di risorse, nella sua vasta gamma di competenze individuali ed esperienze uniche, in un senso di gioia e umorismo ovunque e in un incentivo finanziario per alimentare le fiamme dell'innovazione e dell'esplorazione. In particolare dopo Moass, possiamo formare senza soluzione di continuità una varietà di iniziative di crowdsourcing a scopo di lucro che si rivolgono a una moltitudine di settori, soprattutto considerando il nostro dito collettivo sul polso della vendita al dettaglio online, del mercato NFT in evoluzione e molto, molto altro ancora.

In California I was fired three times from the same company while out on disability. I didn’t return to work while out on disability but received three separate termination letters all months apart with different dates. My supervisor was actually the one who recommended that I go out due to some traumatic events so that I wouldn’t lose my job since I didn’t qualify for fmla. While out on disability the company texted me nonstop asking when I was returning. They would occasionally say my fmla was denied and I would reply that I know, I’m on disability not fmla. They never once provided me with a form they needed. My doctor filled out all the forms they faxed to her and she has to confirmations that they went through. I reached out to them asking if they had everything they needed from me and they did not reply. My first termination stated I went AWOL. I asked them to explain this further and stated the above info to them. My second termination two months later was for not turning in required documents, which I had asked for and never got a response to. I even called and was told someone would call back. A week later no one called back so I called again. Same thing. The third termination I didn’t even bother to read because why at this point. My doctor suggested suing them for wrongful termination because the constant contacting and texting me truly did worsen my symptoms from stress and anxiety and caused me to be out longer. Is this even worth filing a lawsuit over? I’m sure the company has great attorneys on hand. I don’t even know if I could win. Just looking for opinions or suggestions I guess.
Eta: I could probably fight to get my job back but I feel it would be so toxic against me at this point that I don’t want to go back even though I loved working there and enjoyed the work I did. I was also complimented on my work and had never received a write up or any negative feedback. I was good at my job and I love working in general and feeling productive. So being out in disability hasn’t been a fun vacation and I was looking forward to going back. I’ve never in my life been fired before so I have no idea how to explain this in job interviews.

11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
The past couple of days are events I pray no one else ever has to go through what Kate and I had. I had her and Mr. Raines cleared of all charges, having found the proof we all needed to end this case and find the true killer. Kate no longer has to go into witness protection and I had given the police a good enough lie to keep myself from looking insane in the eyes of my co-workers. I know no one will ever know the true story or believe it, but I’m writing it out here. It at least needs to be known written somewhere. Even if my and Kate’s eyes are the only ones that will ever read it written out and forever imprinted in our memories.
The morning Kate had run off to the mountains on her own, I had made my way to the Blackwell home where I was immediately met with Mr. Blackwell charging at me and wrapping his large hands around my neck. He was shaking me and blaming me for getting his daughter killed and not doing more to keep her safe. The police who had been called to examine the scene and read Kate’s letter had to sedate Mr. Blackwell to get him off of me, lying him down on the couch, his head resting on Mrs. Blackwell’s legs. Though the woman was distraught and begging the police to bring her daughter back, she still took the time to shoot that cold, death glare my way. The ice in my chest growing. I couldn’t tell these people that this thing had come after me to get to Kate. I knew it wouldn’t change anything. If anything they’d hate me even more for keeping it to myself.
The sheriff was there and he pulled me away from eye sight of the Blackwells, trying to tell me that this wasn’t my fault. But I couldn’t help but blame myself. I should have done everything I could to keep Kate as far from those mountains as possible.
There were no signs of a struggle in Kate’s room and the letter was definitely written in her hand writing. Her father’s rifle missing from the study, a backpack and some food and supplies gone as well. She had only grabbed one set of clothes from her drawers, showing she did indeed have plans on returning after only one night in the mountains to confront whoever or whatever the killer was.
I told the sheriff to keep any police from going up to the mountains without first allowing me to go up there first to find Kate. He of course argued, telling me that he couldn’t break protocol based on any hunches I may have had. However, I told him that I could get Kate back without her putting up much of a fight, whereas she may struggle with a group of cops who didn’t understand the situation she was in. I was close enough to this case to have built a trust with her after all. I was mentioned in her letter about ending this case for me.
It took a good hour to get the sheriff to eye the Blackwells, Mr. Blackwell beginning to stir from his sleep, and allow me to go to the mountains to find Kate. He didn’t bother to call off the search to the police that had already begun making their way to the mountains, but did radio to tell them to not try getting Kate home without first allowing me to speak to her. He then gave me twenty-four hours to find her to which I told him I’d only need at most ten.
Without telling him about the disturbing scratches on my car, I sped to the mountains, taking the same path Kate had that day she took her friends on their trip. The route, as the sun began to rise was scenic. A drive that may have been a sign of a bright future ahead with a beautiful week in the mountains of nothing but nature, was now a reddening sky of horror. I couldn’t understand how Kate felt, going down the same roads that led to her only friends’ fates to avenge them, but the feeling of guilt did weigh heavy on my chest as I saw the signs of the Appalachian Mountain trails grow bigger on the horizon. Guilt for not doing more to prove Kate was innocent, for allowing Mrs. Mayfield for getting killed right before my very eyes, and for Liam for not being lucky enough to save him.
When I finally arrived to the cabin, there didn’t seem to be any change since the first day I was called to the crime scene, the only thing out of place being Mr. Blackwell’s truck parked precariously near the cabin. The police tape was still up, the cars of Kate and Mr. Woolfe still left where they were, the tires still slashed, the door wide open from when Kate, Ms. Greymoore, and Mr. Woolfe ran out of the cabin upon Mr. Billings was killed by an unknown force. All the bodies had been found and were now being prepared by their families to be buried or cremated. Only one body of the five still roaming around to avenge each and every one of their deaths.
I called out for Kate as I made my way into the cabin. The Ouija board was still on the coffee table, the white line of where Mr. Billings had been found lying face first on the floor with his head bashed open remained on the spot. The planchette was still missing. I kept calling out for Kate as I made my way up to the attic, the door left unlocked, using my flashlight to shine down on the white outline where Mr. Steele had been found completely torn apart. To think Kate had done such a thing, I now realize made me look like a complete dumb ass for believing it.
When I couldn’t find Kate in the cabin, I made my way out the cabin, still calling for her. I called out to her, promising that she just needed to come back home with me and we could solve the murders together. I knew it was a lie and that the sheriff would immediately have her take away to some secluded place where the killer couldn’t find her, but it was all I could think of to try luring her out to meet me. Still, she never appeared.
The sun was soon beginning to set as I tried retracing the very steps Kate and Ms. Greymoore had taken to outrun the killer. I had passed the small shrine of flowers and the pictures of Mr. Woolfe where the boy had been found, his face permanently remaining nineteen forever in the photos of him with Kate and their friends. I kept going, trying my best to follow the same path to the cliff where Ms. Greymoore was found, calling for Kate along the way.
It wasn’t until I found the place Kate had buried her best friend that I found Kate. She was on her knees before the rock where she left her bloody handprint, sniffing as her head was lowered, her dad’s rifle in her hands.
“Ms. Blackwell-“ I began as I took a step toward her. I was immediately cut off as Kate jumped to her feet, raising her father’s rifle at my head. I jolted back, raising my hands up to show her I meant no harm to her. “Ms. Blackwell, it’s me, Det. Snow!”
“Detective…?” She gasped, slightly lowering the rifle, but keeping it on me. “P-Prove it!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I thought I saw Sonja…” Kate breathed between tears, the rifle shaking in her hands, “it… It was wearing her face… It had her voice… How… H-How do I know you’re really Det. Snow?”
“You… Saw Sonja?” I asked as gently as I could with a terrified woman pointing a gun my way. “She spoke to you?”
“Prove you’re Det. Snow!” Kate demanded as she stilled her arms, readying the rifle as she pointed straight between my eyes.
“Alright! Alright!” I kept my hands up, backing up slightly as I tried thinking of how I could prove to her I was really me. “I… I, ah… I have… Had a brother… We went to get ice cream together once and… I dropped a dime and went to grab it… I was five… I followed it out to the road and despite how trafficked it was, I didn’t get hit. I grabbed the dime just as a truck was speeding my way and it swerved just before hitting me… Seeing how close I was to death, I dropped the dime and it rolled into the sewer. My brother called me Lucky Dime since then… Saying the dime was lost to me because it did its job in protecting me… I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven and I haven’t spoken to my parents in…” I looked at my watch. “Five years… No one else calls me Lucky Dime… Not even the people at the station know that was my nickname.”
With this, Kate lowered the rifle, her eyes softening from her furious fear to a more melancholy terror. She looked to Ms. Greymoore’s grave marker, her hand print just barely visible In the approaching darkness.
“It… It looked just… Like her…” She sniffed, “it had her voice… Why did it have her voice… Why did it look like her…?”
“Ms. Blackwell,” I soothed, relaxing now that there was no weapon in my face, “we need to head back, your parents are worried about you and the police are looking for-“
“I can’t go back yet!” She snapped at me as she spun to look at me, tears in her eyes. “That thing is still out there and will kill again unless I end it!” She held up her dad’s rifle as if to show me how she meant to “end it.” “I’m not leaving until I end that… Thing that had the balls to wear Sonja’s face and have her voice!”
“Ms. Blackwell, we will catch the killer, I promise, but right now, we need to get you home before your dad ends up killing a police officer for keeping him from looking for you.”
“I told him in my letter I’d be back tomorrow! I’m twenty-years-old, he can’t force me back home if I don’t want to! I just want to stop this thing before it-“
A howling in the distance cut Kate off. Coyote from what I could hear. If I couldn’t get Kate home, I’d have to get her somewhere safe. I turned to begin talking her down and taking her to one of the other two cabins for shelter. However, when I looked back at her, her face had turned to a bone chilling terror I’d never seen on a person before. She looked like hunted prey that had been found by its predator. She gripped her dad’s rifle to her chest tightly, her hand reaching for the trigger.
“Ms. Blackwell, it’s just a pack of coyote,” I tried telling her calmly, “let’s get to one of the other cabins and-“
“No, no, no,” She stopped me as she stepped back, looking around for where the howling was coming from, “I… Heard that same howling just before I saw Sonja! I thought it was far away, but she… She was right in front of me… She… Something was off, but it looked just like her!”
“Ms. Blackwell, you didn’t see Sonja,” I assured her, “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t-“
“Lucky… Dime…”
I froze. My blood turned to ice. The fear on Kate’s face grew as she began backing away, her back hitting the grave marker. I spun around to see a figure in the darkness limp toward us, a scratched and garbled familiar voice coming from it.
“Lucky… Dime…” It wheezed, “You brought her… Back… Give her… To me…”
I whipped out my gun, pointing it at this thing that had his voice. I stepped back to stand directly between this thing and Kate.
“Stay back!” I demanded. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Lucky… Di-“
“Shut up! Stop calling me that! Who are you? Not another step or I’ll shoot!”
The thing stopped limping toward us, its body shuddering in place as it stared us down. I took the safety off of my Glock, ready to blow this thing’s head off if it got any closer or even dared using that voice on me again.
“Kate…” It turned its attention to Kate, a completely different voice coming from it, another male’s voice. “Kate… I’m cold…”
“J-Jasper…” Kate began to sob, “Please, stop using their voices… Please stop!”
“Kate… Kate why did… Did you leave me…?” Another male voice asked. “I… I was in so much… Pain…”
“Shut up!” Kate cried out.
“I thought we… Were friends… Kate…” A female voice. “You said you… Loved me… Why won’t… You let me have… Your warmth…?”
“I said shut up!” Kate screamed as she pointed her rifle and shooting at the creature. She had missed, but the thing still let out an ear piercing shriek as it dodged out of the way of the bullets Kate was shooting. It ran off into the darkness, but Kate kept pulling the trigger of her rifle.
“Stop!” I shouted as I snatched the barrel of her rifle, shoving it to the ground before us. “It’s gone, you scared it off, get to the cabins, I’m right here with you!”
I began shoving Kate back toward where the cabins were, the sounds of that thing screaming out in a symphony of different voices ringing out throughout the woods. I shoved Kate into the first cabin we had arrived to, Cabin #1 I could only assume as I slammed the door shut behind us. It smelled God awful, like the smell of the corpse I found on my first murder case, and it was getting darker as the sun began to sink behind the trees outside.
“Detective, it smell terrible in here!” Kate cried out, covering her mouth and nose, but the tears still falling from her eyes were still visible as they rolled down her cheeks.
I pulled her close and kept her behind me as I took my gun and flashlight out. “Stay close to me,” I ordered, leading the way through the cabin, “do not run off or use that rifle without may say so, understood?”
Kate didn’t answer, but I could feel the heat from her body following after me as I made my toward the smell. It was getting worse as we inched closer to a closet door in a hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The door was locked, but after a couple of kicks I was able to get the door to swing open, the smell blasting us in our faces making us gag and nearly throw up on the floor. I fumbled around the sides inside the room to find a light switch that I was able to find to the side of the entryway. A yellow light flickered on, revealing the door led to a staircase. I led the way down the creaking steps, Kate close by as she kept her mouth covered with her shirt.
Once we had made our way to the bottom, Kate dropped her dad’s rifle and let out a scream as we stared at what was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. In a large pile at the corner of this basement room were nothing but skin and bones of humans and animals covered in maggots and flies. Some of the human bodies being small and child-like in size. The missing people who were never found after vanishing when they came to Cabin #2.
I grabbed Kate’s rifle off the floor and began pushing her back up the stairs, her screaming and sobbing all the way back up to the cabin. I slammed the door shut behind us and pushed Kate to the front door.
“We need to leave,” I had told her, trying to calm her down as we made it outside, “we need to get you home and away from here as soon as possible.”
“N-No… No!” She began fighting me, trying to escape my grasp on her. “No! That… That thing is still out there! You saw it! You can’t say you don’t believe me now! It even called you Lucky Dime! It said you brought me back!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you!” I shot back. “I do, I saw exactly what you saw, but it’s way too dangerous for you to be out here while you’re the one it’s after!”
“I escaped it once, I can do it again!” Kate pointed out as she struggled against me while I tried getting her into my car. “I’m not running away this time, I want to kill it!”
“God damn it, Blackwell, we’ll let the police handle it! Just because you have a weapon doesn’t make you safe or ready to handle something like… Like that… That thing!”
“It killed my friends! It wants me! I’m going straight to it so I can blow its head off! It’ll come right for me!”
“I came here to bring you back home, not let you accomplish some stupid ass revenge plot! Get in the fucking car, unless you want to end up like those bodies down that-“
“D… De… Detect… Detective…”
A scratched and moaning voice cut me off. Kate and I both froze at the sound of something approaching. I turned to see a police officer stagger toward us from the tree line. I could barely tell who he was or who he used to be, his head held low and blue uniform covered in blood.
“H… Hel… Hel… Help… Help me…" It croaked as it stumbled closer.
I held up Kate's rifle. "Stay back!" I barked. "Not another step!"
The thing that stood before us wearing the cop like a full-bodied suit stopped in place. It swayed where it stood, blood water falling from its head and down to its chest.
"It… It… It's inside… Inside me…" It breathed painfully. "I… I can't… Help… Me…" Its voice then changed to that familiar voice that made my skin crawl. "Lucky… Dime… I… I'm so… Hungry… Give her… To… Me…"
I pulled the trigger of the rifle, hitting the creature in the head, the rest of it staggering backward from the blow. Still though, it remained on its feet, turning itself to look toward us once again.
"Give… Her… To… Me…" It wheeze, blood and brain pouring from where I had shot it, it beginning to stumble toward us once again. I continued shooting, hitting it in the shoulder, the arm, the leg, the head again, but it just kept coming toward us faster, demanding I give Kate to it.
I was about ready to ram it with the rifle, having run out of bullets, when a voice off in the distance made the creature freeze just an inch before us.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It called out in an almost sing-songy way, using the voice of a little girl. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"I'm… Here…" The creature repeated as it jerked its body to look to where the voice was coming from. "I'm here… I'm here… I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" It began shrieking in a high pitch wail. It sounded like a mixture of different voices ranging from child, to woman, to man. Keeping flat on its feet, its upper body fell forward onto its hands before speedily crawling off like a spider.
We stood in shaking silence for a moment, Kate digging her fingers into my arm while I was too numb from shock to care about the pain she was unknowingly inflicting. It wasn’t until the radio from my car buzzed to life that jolted us back to whatever reality was at this point. I scrambled to the driver’s side, swinging the door open as I fell inside to grab the intercom to respond to the voice yelling for me over the receiver.
“Det. Snow, what the hell is going on up there?” The sheriff’s scratched voice called out over the receiver when I could barely get my name out of my mouth.
“Sh-Sh-Sheriff…?” Was all I could respond with, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
“Y-Y-Yeah,” he responded in mock shudder, “what the hell is going on up there? I’ve tried radioing every man I’ve got up there and am constantly being left on red! Do I need to send back-up?”
“No!” Immediately, I returned to full reality, finally understanding the severity of the moment and putting that knowledge into my tone. “Landon, do not send any more men up here, call everyone back immediately! I don’t know what this thing is, but it’s too dangerous! Call everyone back, we’re heading back to the Blackwell house now!”
“We?” The sheriff questioned, skepticism in his voice.
“I found Ms. Blackwell, she’s here with me.”
I was met with statice before the voice of Mr. Blackwell blasted over the intercom.
“Bring my daughter home, right now, you son of a bitch!” Mr. Blackwell demanded. “You bring her home this instant before I decide to kick your teeth in!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the radio was snatched from my hand from Kate. “I’m not coming home until I kill this thing!” She snapped into the radio. “I don’t know what it is, but I at least know I’m not crazy and that it needs to die before it kills anyone else!”
I grabbed the radio from Kate’s hand, beginning to tell her off when a agonized scream erupted from the intercom. I dropped the radio to cover my ears as Kate did, the scream piercing from my car to throughout the forest around us. The voice screaming and crying for help sounded male and it seemed to echo all around us.
“GIVE HER TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” A mix of the screaming voice and Mr. Blackwell’s hissed out after a good five minutes of screaming before the radio short-circuited and puffs of smoke flowed out.
After allowing my ears to adjust to the sudden silence, I grabbed the radio once again and tried calling for the sheriff, for the cops with us in the mountains, for anyone. When I was met with more silence, I slammed the radio back down on the holder and cursed loudly, hitting the wheel as if it were the source of all my problems.
After a moment to take some deep breaths, I told Kate to get in the car as I placed her rifle in the back seat.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she shot back. “I’m not-“
“Damn it, Blackwell, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, it can mimic peoples’ voices, and it just ran off like a fucking black widow!” I snapped, stepping out of the driver’s seat to glare down at her. “The last thing I’m doing to leaving you here alone and I’m not staying here another second until I can wrap my head around what the fuck I just saw! So, you either get yourself killed out here while I try talking you down this hero complex high, or you’re going to do what I say and get in the damn car!”
We stood in heated silence, glaring each other down before Kate huffed and stormed over to the passenger side of my car and slamming the door shut as she climbed in. I jumped in after her and began driving away from this nutty nightmare I had found myself in.
We drove down the trail back to civilization in silence, Kate staring out the window and trying to keep her tearful sniffs quiet. I had finally begun calming down and was starting to feel bad for snapping at her. She had only gone there to avenge her friends by killing that thing that had most likely killed a whole bunch of cops to find her. However, I still couldn’t just let her stay to hunt it and I didn’t want to stay out in those mountains with some kind of creature that could take the form and voice of someone I knew. I still couldn’t understand what is was I had even seen.
“Wendigo,” Kate whispered, breaking the silence in the car first. She had said it as if she had just remembered something important.
“What?”
“A Wendigo,” She repeated, turning to look to me with wide scared eyes, “that’s what that thing is! It’s a Wendigo!”
“Slow down, what’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s… Oh, just forget it! You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Ms. Blackwell, I just saw a cop being used as a puppet and then run off at inhuman speed on all fours; I doubt I’m not going to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth now. What’s a Wendigo?”
Kate eyed me for a moment before releasing some of the tension from her face as she took a deep breath and began explaining to me. “They’re a Native American myth; it’s believed they’re the spirits of people who would lose themselves in the woods and would end up eating other people to satiate their hunger. I think that’s what that thing is. They can mimic the voices of people who died and use it to lure people to them, they can take the form of that person too.”
“Why does it want female hearts?” I asked, not realizing I had yet told her what my mysterious caller kept asking for when they called me.
“It… It wants my heart?” she asked shakily.
I cursed to myself before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I think this thing wants hearts, but it only wants female hearts. Why? I don’t know yet. But the only other person to be found after killing someone in those cabins was found with his partner’s heart missing to which he was blamed for taking out of her. Recently, I’ve been getting calls from some… Thing wanting me to bring you back here so it could take something from you. It would have taken Ms. Greymoore’s, but you hid her well enough that only the police could find her in time. Now, I’ve been getting calls asking for you and to get something from you.”
Kate looked to me in shock before a wave of guilt twisted her face in pain. “I… I’m so, so… So sorry, Detective!” She cried out. “I… I had… I had no idea you were being… Harassed by it! Had I known it wanted me back and was demanding you brought me here, I never… I didn’t… That’s why it said you brought me back! Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She pressed her hands to her face, grabbing at her hair between her fingers and tightening them around her eyes.
“No, no, no, stop, stop that!” I ordered, screeching the car to a halt, having to bring it to a crooked stop so I could stop her from hurting herself. I snatched her arms from her head and pinned them to her lap, tears flooding her face. “It’s my fault for not telling you sooner! I was too focused on trying to solve this case with the most efficient evidence I could, but that just kept me looking to you as a suspect. I should have stopped thinking you were the killer the moment I got that first call. There’s no way any of us could have seen… This coming… Except people who probably already believe in that kind of stuff or don’t stop to assume a more rational explanation like a cult… I’m… I’m sorry. But, I won’t let it take anything from you, not anymore. I’m going to get you home and then I’ll deal with this with the rest of the police department. You don’t have to deal with this thing anymore, it’ll be my burden from now on. You need time to finally get some rest and mourn your friends with your and their families. It’s already fucked your life up enough, I won’t let it go on making it worse.”
I stopped her before she could argue with me with a wave of my hand. “Your friends’ deaths shouldn’t be your burden to handle. I know you want to be the one who kills that thing and do right by them, but that’s not what they would want. They’d want you to remember them and continue living. They know you didn’t do it, so stop blaming yourself and stop acting like you’re the one who has to make it up to them. I will put an end to this die trying, but you need to go home and be with people who are happy you still get to live.”
Kate looked down at her hands that I kept down on her lap before nodding weakly and letting out a broken “okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you home before-“
My words were cut off when the honk of a car barreling toward us echoed through the woods. The headlights were fast approaching and I barely had time to grab the gear shift to put us back in drive as the other vehicle hit us, forcing us back and forth in one violent motion. It took me a moment to check myself to be sure I hadn’t hit my head on anything or got whiplash from the crash before I immediately returned my full attention to Kate who was kneeling over holding her head. I gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to examine her head. It didn’t appear to have been busted and bleeding, but she was holding the front side of her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, prying her hand away from the spot on her forehead, seeing that it was beginning to bruise. “Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can understand me!”
“I… I’m f-fine…” she mumbled as she looked to her hand to check if there was blood on her palm, “I… I think I just… Hit… Hit the w-window…” She then blinked twice in my direction before looking to the car that had rammed us.
I turned my attention as well to the car to see it was a police van, it’s front crushed into the left of my front. I quickly jumped out my vehicle and stormed to the van, yelling at who ever was driving the van to come out and explain what the hell they were doing.
The driver’s side of the van swung open once I was near enough and a man in an orange jumpsuit climbed out, staring familiar daggers at me. The moment realization set in, my mixed emotions of confusion, frustration, and fear turned to fury.
It was Leighton Raines.
“Jesus, you really are a shitty detective.” Was all he said to me before reaching into the can and retrieving a rifle out from the passenger seat.
[END OF PART 1]
Part 6

TL; DR at the bottom. It’s a long one but context is important.
My child (2m) attends a DCFS-licensed daycare program full-time. When I went to pick him up early on Friday, he had ankle weights attached to him!
My son has no medical diagnosis or known neurodivergence. He’s never exhibited aggressive behavior. Quite the opposite - he’s shy and fairly anti-social. He is being treated by a Developmental Therapist (DT) and a Speech Therapist (ST).
The assistant director at his school (Katie) has told us many times that our child is a poor listener. Other teachers have noted he doesn’t listen when told to stop running. Katie also uses a lot of buzz words hinting at a diagnosis such as “stemming,” “non-verbal,” and “sensory processing stuff”. He says 80-100 words. A little behind for 27 months old, but that’s why we’re getting ST.
Back to Friday - I was shocked to see the ankle weights and the teacher commented that these were needed to slow him down and keep him from hurting himself/others.
Katie soon came into the room and explained that the weights were used on another “big kid with sensory issues” and they thought it would help slow down my child. Important to note kids in this room are age 2-3. My kid is big but middle of the pack in his classroom. He’s never hurt anyone- no biting, hitting, kicking. He’s thrown 1 car in his 1.5 years at day car. That’s the only “incident” we’ve ever been made aware of.
Katie also commented that the weights were “only used in the morning”. My child arrives at 7am. These were still on at 12pm.
I have yet to consult with an attorney. We are meeting with the director tomorrow and the DT plans to counsel staff and management on the proper use of weights (under supervision and only as part of a treatment plan + training). I have expressed in writing that I am not comfortable with weights/restraints/compression being used without the direction and supervision of an Occupational Therapist or certified medical professional. I did get a swift reply acknowledging they should have told us first and won’t do it again.
From what I’ve read, ankle weights are not at all developmentally appropriate or safe for a 2 y/o. They force children to use quads instead of hamstrings and can do serious damage to their developing muscles.
I have so many more questions I forgot to ask. I was so taken aback and horrified. Who directed this treatment/interventon? How long has it been occurring? Do other children wear them if they’re running too much? Does any teacher have discretion to use them or just Katie? What’s the process for determining weights are needed and for putting them on?
What is my recourse here? We’re considering having my husband leave his job and try the stay-at-home-parent route. I don’t know how we can trust that they aren’t doing worse things behind our backs. Or how we can trust they won’t retaliate against my child if we make trouble for them. Part of me wants to stand outside and warn every incoming parent about this. Part of me wants to demand Katie never be allowed near my child (I’m speculating she is the one “ordering” the use of the weights) or resign. Should I make a DCFS complaint?
TL;DR - my IL licensed day care center applied therapeutic and potentially dangerous interventions on my child. Without a treatment plan, without my knowledge or consent, and without the necessary training/certification.

my mom can be very irritable at times, so sometimes i wonder why she married/stays with my dad when he messes things up/doesn't follow her instructions to the letter and she shouts at him. last fall when we were moving (already very stressful time) and we were stuck in a hotel room together for a week (with our cat too) and he messed something in the house buying process (something minor that was fixed the same day) and she wouldn't stop yelling at him. when we were leaving and he didn't catch the cat right away she was yelling at him that he was so stupid and she'd make him sleep at another hotel for week instead of the house. whenever she's mad at me it pushes me to my breaking point. i try and go to my dad for comfort but all he really says is basically "forgive and forget" (hes a jesus guy) but the problem is that i basically forgive her when she gets into a good mood and im like "wow we r basically bffs" and then the cycle repeats. one time she was yelling at me for my ocd obsessions and compulsions and then we went out for breakfast and acted like everything was normal. im so scared of her and my dad seems scared of her (being vulnerable or making a mistake/foolish decision and saying verbatim "don't tell mom". and i thought our cat was the one creature in this house who was safe but when she couldn't find her and thought she got in our dirty garage and said she'd "throw her out" (cat was completely inside and clean). she says she'll always love me when i get into depressive episodes, and i want to trust her, but she doesn't always love my dad (saying she hates him, him fearing her), so how can i know for sure.
and every time she pushes me to my breaking point and i vent to my friends who are my saving grace, they're like "um thats fucked up you need to leave asap" (in the moment or when i turn 18 in a couple years) im like yeah i should this isnt a healthy environment (especially for a depressed asf growing person), but i always stay (because i do love and care for them but sometimes my mom doesn't)
it's weird because simultaneously i'm scared for my family (especially my parents) to die.

Ive just laid down my 9 month old son for a nap that he immediately fell asleep for. Im about to water house plants, journal, and sweep my floors. When he wakes up, Ill lather him in sunscreen and take him to the park.
This time 8 months ago I was getting 4 hours of sleep per day, pumping every 3 hours, and struggling to bond with my son. Simultaneously I was constantly anxious he would die in his sleep or choke on his spit up and aspirate. He had reflux and would grunt in his sleep. So even when he slept, I couldnt. Itll get easier, they all said when I would finally open up to someone.
This time 4 months ago I was getting 5 hours of sleep, still struggling to bond with my son. I loved him immensely, but it was hard. Yet I was still worried about him despite not having a super strong bond. Why wasnt he rolling? Why did he hate tummy time? Why wasnt he taking more milk? Why isnt he cooing much? Why is he so upset? Why is my best friends son laughing? Itll get easier. Dont compare, they said.
This time 2 months ago I was beyond frustrated with my son. It wasnt his fault, I knew. He was so uncomfortable because he needed a doc band (preemie baby, I baby wore him constantly..so no he wasnt left alone for long periods of time). I knew he was uncomfortable, yet I still took his constant state of upset personally. Why wont he let me read to him? Is he teething? Why wont he eat solid food? Why is every single day different? Itll get easier. All babies do things in their own time and in their own way, they said.
This time 3 weeks ago I was exasperated. My son was sleeping through the night and eating well but still seemed to be upset. Although he was getting happier, but he wasnt really happy. We were definitely more bonded by this point but I didnt understand. What am I doing wrong? Did I mess up our bond somewhere along the way? Why isnt this getting easier?
Since then, hes popped out 2 new teeth and has learned to army crawl. Hes started babbling. When hes mad he yells YAYAYAYA, when hes happy he giggles and says apuuaaah. Hes eating finger foods. Hes sleeping well. He cries when I leave the room. He giggles at himself in the mirror in the car. For 8.5 months Ill be honest, I wasnt enjoying motherhood. I had good moments and of course I love my son. But these were the hardest months of my life. When friends and family said it would get easier, I wanted to scream at them. It WASNT getting easier. STOP saying that to me.
But you know what? These people understood something that I didnt yet. That time was going to pass. My baby was growing, learning, and changing every day. That soon enough, he would be easier. My old problems would be replaced with new ones. But he would be easier. And the little baby that was turning me into ash so I could be reborn into a phoenix.....he would be gone and replaced by a new person every few months. My boy who grunted in his sleep and kept me awake but contact napped on me for hours would be gone and instead Id have another boy who refused to let me rock him to sleep (despite being my favorite thing we would do) but would laugh at me for 10 minutes straight while I growled at him.
For the moms and dads in the thick of it for the first time.. I know how hard it is. I know how much it sucks. Soon youll start getting yourself back. Try to find whatever joy you can throughout the day and hold onto it. Know in your heart that all the seemingly mindless and unhelpful advice is so true. Dont compare. All babies do thing in their own time. And I promise you, it does it get easier.

Hi Folks! We are moving to Vancouver from Toronto in Aug of this year and my LO's daycare in Toronto ends on June 30th. I didnt put her in daycare in July since I will have quit my job by then. So with mom and toddler (2.5 years) home, what resources (like drop in centres, mom and baby classes, parent-child programs etc.) are available for me to do with her for a month since we are both going to be free? We live downtown right by Eaton Centre. Any leads on good music classes or any other activities are highly appreciated! :)

I have an elderly relative (90+ year old, call him Bob) who is beneficiary and trustee of an irrevocable trust created in the 1980s by Bob’s parent on her death. It holds $400K of appreciated stock (cost basis is de minimus since purchased in 80’s). Bob has a non taxable estate (regardless of the 2025 sunset).
It seems efficient to terminate the trust and distribute it to Bob as the stock would then benefit from a step up in basis and could be passed to Bob’s heirs on Bob’s death (in a new trust or outright) with stepped up basis vs the low basis in trust. I can’t find any discussion of this strategy online even though it seems like it can’t be too uncommon with today’s high lifetime exemptions.
Am I missing something that makes this not an obviously effective strategy? There doesn’t seem to be a minimum holding period to get the step up. I don’t have a copy of the trust document yet but for the purposes of this discussion assume it allows distributions to Bob and or termination by the trustee.

Quick backstory: In July 2023 I left the job I had been in for 7 years despite not having anything else lined up due to severe burnout. Shortly after that my dad's chronic health condition worsened and he ended up being hospitalized for 4 months. During that time I spent a lot of time at my parents' house (they live 2 states away from me) supporting them, so it actually worked out well that I was between jobs. But by the time dad was all squared away money was running low so I was not being picky about what job I took, I just need to pay the bills. I ended up taking something that was not in line with my former career path. I started there in January of 2024. It's okay and I'm not miserable or anything, but I know it's not going to be a longterm fit.
I just saw a couple of jobs come up in my field that I'd love to apply for, but I know it doesn't look great on my resume that I have a gap of 7 months with no work followed by this current job I've only been in for 4 months. Should I address this in my cover letter in any way, and if so what's the most professional way to say "I had to just take any job to pay the bills, but now I want to get back to doing what I really love?" I was thinking just one sentence like "After a brief career pause to care for an ill family member I had to be less selective about my current role, but I am eager to resume my [field] career with [company]." Or would it be better to just not mention it?
TIA!

Me [21 F] and my boyfriend [21 M] have known each other since high school. We just recently had a baby together and things have been pretty good considering that having a baby is extremely difficult for first time parents. Figuring out the dynamics and adjusting to a new human is unsurprisingly draining, but I do love it because I love my son. However, some issues that have been going on with my partner have been bothering me especially lately because I don’t think I addressed them while I was pregnant to not put stress on the baby while he was in my stomach, if that makes sense. I used to let tons of things slide. When I first found out I was pregnant it was around May. I had severe morning sickness and couldn’t work so he went to work at his regular job and another job to keep up with the rent and the car. It was a struggle with my mental health because I was always throwing up and angry because I was tired of it and couldn’t get relief. While you think he’d have patience for me because I was so sick, he absolutely did not. It was a situation where I was constantly trying to explain to him what I was going through and he just nodded said a few things that I might want to hear and kept going on with his day. He was annoyed I was in bed all day, annoyed I wouldn’t eat anything and went to the extent of telling me I was dramatic. I was too drained to argue so I let it slide. My birthday is in July and his in June so while I was almost at the peak of my sickness period we celebrated his birthday by going out with his siblings. Then, on my birthday he worked because he didn’t tell his jobs ahead of time that he couldn’t work so we did nothing for my birthday. I was alone in the dark room throwing up my guts for 12 hours while he was at work. I understood, I let him know about it being hurtful but I did kind of understand. It bothers me today but what can I do now that it’s over? Just remember it. Fast forward to me giving birth. We have two dogs at home who are crate trained so whenever we leave they sleep in the crate. We live an hour and a half away from the hospital I was giving birth at so while I was actively having contractions after being induced, he starts telling me about five hrs after having gotten back from the apartment to walk the dogs that he’s going to go again. However at this specific time he was saying that I was in a tremendous amount of pain, even with the epidural. I wasn’t hysterical but I was telling him to not leave me because what if I had the baby while he was gone. Then, he got mad at me and said I was being inconsiderate about the dogs because they needed to go to the bathroom but with perfect timing, the doctors came in and told me it was time to start pushing. I was upset he was just on his phone worried about the dogs while I was literally giving birth to our son and in pain, but all I could do is let him know it was pretty upsetting and let it go. Now, four months later I’m bothered because I was Mother’s Day, my first ever Mother’s Day and he didn’t give me a card, write me a letter, or even just sit with me and do an activity even though I reminded him about a week ahead of time. It’s just so much things that he does that make me feel he is insensitive and not really interested in making things special or taking the time to be comforting to me. His response is always “well I was going to do something but I didn’t have time” or “I’m sorry I forgot it’s because I really can’t take the day off for your birthday” or “well the dogs had to go to the bathroom what do you want me to do”. I love my dogs but because my family chose not to come and help me through the birth I couldn’t take the chance of giving birth alone in case something happened to me or my newborn. What should I do? I’ve had through discussions about this bothering me and I get the same lame excuse and even an attitude when I mention these things. It’s notable to say that I know he does love me. He does do things for me like cook and clean and obviously go to work but even after emphasizing that I do want special things he doesn’t do them.

Hi everyone,
I’m a parent of two toddlers. At their daycare, it’s teacher appreciation month. In total, there will be 9 people I will be getting gifts for. I’m planning to get gift cards, but I’m usually more thoughtful than a gift card.
What gifts do teachers typically like?
I’m avoiding the stuff that says “teacher” (initially what I was going to do), cups (no one wants that lol), and food/candy. I was thinking about getting everyone custom name keychains in their favorite color.
Making a gift is out of the question since it’s so many people.
My daughter’s class has two teachers and my son’s class has four teachers. The other people work in the front but they do help in the classroom.

I'm a student graduating from a CSU looking to apply to econ & econ adjacent (accounting/finance) PhD programs. I'm not sure where to aim since I have a weird profile. I'd appreciate anyone's input. I like tax research and asset pricing so I think I'm going to focus on accounting Ph.D.'s since I think my calc grades will be less of an issue and because I have a job lined up at a public accounting firm in the fall.
I plan on working for 1-3 years before applying. I'd really just like an idea of what I can do to improve my profile and where I should be aiming right now. Goal-wise if I went accounting I'd be shooting for an R1 placement and if I went econ I think I'd be shooting for a job as a CSU prof.
I am also looking at econ masters programs. I can attend USC's applied masters program at a deep discount (taxable tuition waiver) because one of my parents is an adjunct there. That seems like it would solve a lot of my problems since it would establish some distance between me and my undergrad grades and they have a masters thesis option which could give me a letter of rec from someone well known. Placing into USC's accounting PhD would be ideal, there are a lot of people there I'd like to work with. My main concern is that it is not intended for PhD prep, so I'm not sure how much I would actually get out of it.
My Profile:
Overall GPA: 3.1
GPA in the last 2 years: 3.65
Econ GPA: 3.9
Math GPA: 3.13
Note: My university does not award A+ grades, an A is a 4.0.
Math Classes in Chronological Order:

• Business Calc: A
• Stats 101: C
• Calc 1: B (Retaken after a D)
• Calc 2: C
• Calc 3: B
• Probability Theory: C
• Intro to Higher Math (Proof Writing): A
• Linear Algebra: A
• Intro to Real Analysis: A
• Mathematical Statistics: A

Econ Classes in Chronological Order:

• Intro to Micro: A
• Intro to Macro: B
• History: A
• Price Theory: A
• Money and Banking: A
• Econ Data Analysis: A
• Macro Theory: A
• Labor: B+
• Development: A-
• Metrics: A
• International Finance: A
• Public Econ: A

Research Experience:
1.5 years as an undergrad research assistant:

• Assists in modeling energy markets & optimal levels of liquid natural gas storage in the EU
• Used Python to aggregate over 20,000 firm level datasets into a comprehensive dataset for the EU, giving us 100 times as much usable data.
• Incorporated state-level Renewable Portfolio Standards into existing python model, generating additional metrics used to measure the impact of regulatory pressure
• Utilizes Python data science packages for regression analysis, data manipulation, and visualization

Letters of rec:
3 pretty enthusiastic letters, but none of them are well-known economists of course because its a more teaching-oriented school. One is from the professor I was a research assistant under, the other two are from professors who I took an upper-division class with and wrote a class paper for.
My math stats professor, who has a phd in stats & a masters in econ, said he would write a supplemental letter saying that I am well prepared for phd level econometrics if that matters.
GRE:
Haven't taken it yet, but I have done well on every standardized math test I've taken and this will be the first one I put a lot of effort into. I got a 170 on the quantitative section of the practice test before studying, so I expect I'll be able to get a 167+ by the time I apply. Would a 167 vs 170 make a difference in my case?
If you read this whole thing, thank you so much! I appreciate the time everyone here takes to help each other out.

If you got presented with the following two options for a new job, both of which require your family to relocate, which one would you pick? Husband works remotely so his job is unaffected. We don’t own a home where we currently live and have deliberately been looking for jobs elsewhere so we can move. We also have a toddler who will need daycare wherever we go. Issues with our current location are that it’s a small town, poor healthcare services (not even a 24 hour pharmacy!), closest semi-major airport is 1.5 hours away, lack of good restaurants (we enjoy eating out 1-2x a week), high property tax, high income tax, high home prices post-pandemic (think on par with Austin, TX these days!), very old homes (we are very risk averse and do not want a home with lead and asbestos, not to mention the higher maintenance cost of an older home), general lack of good services.
Option 1: - Dream job, great work environment, potential for lots of growth - Bigger city than we live in now, but still small (~180k people) - 45mins to major airport - good access to healthcare services - similar weather to where we live now (long winters, very nice but short summers, not a ton of sunny days) - older homes and very high property tax (so house searching will be a bit difficult since we want newer builds)
Option 2: - OK job, less potential for career growth than my current job - Large major city with still decent commute times - Within the same city as a major airport - Because large city, excellent access to healthcare services - All four seasons but 2x as many sunny days as where we live now and Option 1 - newer homes and low property tax (so house searching will be easier) - my parents would likely move to this same city or within 2 hours drive and could be more involved with our son's life (right now they are across the country).
Both have similar COL and similar housing prices to our current town. My post-tax salary in both locations is similar - higher salary in Option 1 but also higher income tax, lower salary in Option 2 but also lower income tax.
My husband is very much in favor of Option 2 because of the city and housing market. But I’m torn because I would be taking a step back professionally for an overall step forward for our family.
What would you do? Or how else would you evaluate/view the choices?

* I split all splitable codes; so, please ONLY redeem what we agree upon. Thanks in advance!
DISNEY HD SPLIT CODES (port to MA)
Aladdin 1992 Animated (GP)
Aladdin Live Action 4K (MA) or HD (GP)
Ant-man (GP)
Atlantis The Lost Empire (MA)
Atlantis Milos Return (MA)
Avengers Age of Ultron (GP)
Avengers Infinity War 4K (MA) or HD (GP)
Big Hero Six (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (GP)
Brother Bear 1 (MA)
Brother Bear 2 (MA)
Captain America The Winter Soldier (GP)
Cars 3 (GP)
Cinderella 2015 (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Finding Dory (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Frozen (GP) or (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Frozen Sing a Long Edition (GP) or (MA)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (GP)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (MA) 4K
Inside Out (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Into The Woods (GP) or (MA)
Iron Man 3 (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Jungle Book 1967 (GP)
Lightyear (GP)
The Lion King Animated (MA) 4K
Maleficent (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Mary Poppins 1964 (GP) or (MA)
Mary Poppins Returns (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Oz The Great and Powerful (GP) or (MA)
Planes (GP) or (MA)
Planes Fire and Rescue (MA) or (GP)
Saving Mr Banks (GP)
Spies in Disguise (GP)
Star Wars The Force Awakens (GP) or (MA) (iTunes redeems 4K)
Star Wars The Last Jedi (MA) 4K
Strange World (GP)
Super Buddies (GP)
The Good Dinosaur (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
The Lone Ranger (GP) or (MA)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (GP)
The Pirate Fairy (GP) or (MA)
Thor (GP)
Thor Love and Thunder HD (GP) or (MA 4K)
Thor The Dark World (GP)
Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast (GP)
Toy Story of Terror (MA)
Zootopia (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
SONY BUFF PASS x1 (Choose 1 of the following options...)
My Girl 4K
Hancock 4K
Stripes 4K
The Blob 1988 HD
Blue Thunder HD
Born Yesterday HD
Bye Bye Birdie HD
Guess Who HD
Stir Crazy HD
Untraceable HD
Universal Rewards May (Choose 1 of the following...)
A Dog's Purpose 4K
Backdraft 2 4K
Black Christmas 4K
The Sparks Brothers 4K
Agnes Browne HD
Antz HD
Being Frank HD
Don't Let Go HD
Final Account HD
Kicks HD
Loving HD
Raw HD
HD CODES (VUDU or MA)
007 Skyfall (vudu/GP)
47 Ronin (MA)
A Dogs Purpose (MA)
A Good Day To Die Hard Extended (MA)
A Quiet Place (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
About Time (MA) split
Alex Cross (Vudu) split
American Girl Grace Stirs Up Success (MA)
American Girl Isabella Dances into the Spotlight (MA)
American Girl McKenna Shoots for the Stars (MA)
American Made 2017 (MA)
American Reunion Unrated (MA)
Anchorman 2 (VUDU split)
Animal House Natinoal Lampoons (MA) split
Annihilation (Vudu) split
Apollo 13 (MA) split
Atlas Shrugger Part 3 (MA)
August Osage County (Vudu)
Bad Grandpa: Jackass Presents (VUDU split)
Barbie and her Sisters in a Pony Tale (MA)
Barbie and her Sisters in a Puppy Chase (MA)
Barbie and the Secret Door (MA)
Barbie in Princess Power (MA)
Barbie in the Pink Shoes (MA)
Barbie Mariposa and the Fairy Princess (MA)
Barbie Rock n Royals (MA)
Barbie Starlight Adventure (MA)
Battleship (MA)
Baywatch (Vudu split)
Ben Hur 2016 (vudu split)
Billy Elliott 2000 (MA)
Blackhat 2015 (MA)
Book Club (VUDU split)
Buttons A Christmas Tale (Vudu split)
Captain Fantastic (MA) split
Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie (MA)
Cirque Du Soleil Worlds Away (Vudu) split
Crocodile Dundee 1 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Crocodile Dundee 2 (HD Vudud/4K iTunes)
Crocodile Dundee 3 in Los Angeles (HD Vudu/HD iTunes)
Curse of Chucky unrated (MA) split
Daddy's Home (VUDU split)
Daddy's Home 2 (VUDU split)
Darkest Hour 2017 (MA)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K iTunes)
Dead in Tombstone urated (MA) split
Deadpool (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Despicable Me 2 (MA)
Despicable Me 3 (MA) 4K
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days (MA)
Dracula Untold (MA)
Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (MA)
Eddie the Eagle (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Ender's Game (VUDU split)
Epic (MA)
Everest ( MA) split
The Fast and Furious 2001 (MA)
Fast and Furious 2009 (MA)
Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift 2006 (MA)
Fast Five Extended Edition 2011 (MA)
Fast & Furious 6 Extended Edition (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Theatrical (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Extended (MA)
Furious 7 Extended Edition (MA)
Fences (Vudu split)
Ferris Buellers Day off (Vudu/iTunes)
Fifty Shades of Grey unrated (MA)
Flight (vudu split)
Get Out (MA)
G.I. Joe Retaliation (vudu split)
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters unrated (Vudu split)
Hard Target 2 (MA)
Hercules 2014 (vudu split)
Home Alone (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Hop (MA)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 (MA)
Hunger Games (Vudu)
Hunger Games Catching Fire (Vudu)
Ice Age Continental Drift (MA)
Independence Day (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (vudu split)
Interstellar (VUDU split)
Jackass 3 (Vudu Split)
Jack Reacher (Vudu split)
Jack Reacher Never Go Back (Vudu split)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (vudu split)
Jason Bourne (MA)
Jaws (MA)
John Wick 1 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
John Wick 3 (vudu/GP/iTunes 4K)
Jurassic Park (MA)
Jurassic Park The Lost World (MA)
Jurassic Park 3 (MA)
Jurassic World (MA)
Katy Perry The Movie (vudu split)
Kick Ass 2 (MA split)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (MA)
Labor Day (Vudu) split
Les Miserables 2012 (MA)
Life of Pi (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Lucy (MA)
Madagascar 3 Europes Most Wanted (MA)
Mean Girls 2024 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Minions (MA)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (vudu split)
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (Vudu split)
Mission Impossible Fallout (vudu split)
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (4K Vudu/4KiTunes)
Mr Peabody and Sherman (MA)
Nebraska (Vudu split)
Noah (vudu split)
Non Stop (MA)
No Strings Attached (VUDU split)
Oblivion (MA)
Office Christmas Party (VUDU) split
Olympus Has Fallen (MA)
Pain and Gain (vudu split)
Paper Towns (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 1 (vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 2 unrated (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 3 extended (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 4 unrated (Vudu Split)
Parental Guidance (MA)
Penguins of Madagascar (MA)
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (MA)
Perks of Being A Wallflower (vudu)
Pitch Perfect 1 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 2 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 3 (MA)
Project Almanac (Vudu split)
Rango (VUDU split)
Ride Along (MA)
Rio 2 (MA)
R.I.P.D. (MA)
Rise of the Guardians (VUDU)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Runner, Runner (MA)
Safe House (MA)
Selma (vudu split)
Sing (MA)
Sisters (MA)
Snatched (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Snow White and the Huntsman (MA)
Spiderman 2 Theatrical/Extended 2004 (MA)
Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
Star Trek Beyond (Vudu split)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Vudu split)
Straight Outta Compton unrated (MA)
Strawberry Shortcake Dance Berry Dance (MA)
Super 8 (VUDU split)
Taken 2 (MA)
Ted unrated (MA)
Ted 2 unrated (MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 (vudu split)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Terminator Dark Fate 4K (vudu split)
Terminator Genisys (Vudu split)
The Adventures of Tin Tin (Vudu split)
The Amazing Spiderman 2 (MA)
The Big Lebowski (MA)
The Big Short (VUDU split)
The Boss Baby (MA)
The Boss Unrated (MA)
The Bourne Identity (MA)
The Bourne Legacy (MA)
The Bourne Ultimatum (MA)
The Breakfast Club (MA)
The Croods (MA)
The Dark Tower (MA)
The Dictator (VUDU split)
The Dilemma (MA)
The Fault in our Stars (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
The Gambler (Vudu split)
The Girl On The Train (MA)
The Great Wall (MA)
The Guilt Trip (Vudu split)
The Heat 2013 (MA)
The Impossible (Vudu)
The Internship (MA)
The Mummy 2017 (MA)
The Other Woman (MA)
The Purge 2013 (MA split)
The Purge: Election Year (MA) split
The Scorpion King 4 Quest For Power (MA) split
The Secret Life of Pets (MA)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (MA)
The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge out of Water (VUDU split)
The Wolf of Wallstreet (VUDU split)
The Wolverine Extended (MA)
This is 40 theatrical (MA)
Top Gun (vudu split)
Top Gun Maverick (VUDU 4K/iTunes 4K)
Transformers Dark of the Moon (vudu split)
Transformers Age of Extinction (Vudu split)
Transformers The Last Knight (Vudu split)
True Grit (VUDU split)
Turbo (MA)
Unbroken (MA)
Unfriended (MA)
Van Helsing (MA)
Warcraft ( MA)
War For the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Warm Bodies (VUDU split)
What to Expect When You're Expecting (vudu split)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Vudu split)
Wonder (Vudu or iTunes)
World War Z (Vudu split)
X-Men Days of Future Past (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
XXX Return of Xander Cage (Vudu split)
ITUNES HD CODES (unless otherwise stated)
Alien Covenant (redeems 4K)
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Road Trip (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues (split)
Assassins Creed (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Bad Grandpa Jackass Presents (split) (redeems 4K)
Battleship (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Baywatch (split) (redeems 4K)
Big Little Lies Season 1
Buttons A Christmas Tale (split)
Cowboys and Aliens (ports to MA)
Daddy's Home (split redeems 4K)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Deadpool (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Despicable Me 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Diary of A Wimpy Kid The Long Haul (ports to MA)
Dredd (redeems 4K)
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (ports to MA)
Dr.Seuss' Horton Hears A Who (prts to MA)
Exodus Gods and Kings (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fast and Furious 6 extended 2013 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fifty Shades of Grey (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Game of Thrones Season 1
Game of Thrones Season 2
Gifted (ports to MA)
G I Joe Retaliation (split) (redeems 4K)
Gone Girl (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hansel and Gretal Witch Hunters
Hercules 2014 (split redeems 4K)
Hidden Figures (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hitman Agent 47 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone 2 (ports to MA)
Hop (ports to MA)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hugo (Split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games (split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 (split redeems 4K)
Ice Age (ports to MA)
Ice Age 5 Collision Course (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
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Im in England and essentially I was inside a betting shop on the terminal doing the awful low rtp slots while I waited for my horse to race.
I did a spin and the feature triggered however it crashed. Didn’t award me anything but the machine did say total won after first spin was £2.60 and it had 7 more spins. I went to the desk he looked puzzled and said oh it’s only saying on the system you won £1 and he gave it me BUT I received a letter this morning saying I have pay £1 that I wasn’t entitled to plus fees or go to court.
The thing is I was entitled to it well extra. If the 7 remaining spins hit £0 then I’m still owed £1.40 but since their system isn’t seeing that i asked them to check the camera above me but they said the cabling is broken for 3 cameras and that’s one of them.
Where do I stand
Oh the fees are an additional £53.16

TW for sexual, physical, medical, emotional, and religious abuse, childhood sa, suicidal ideation, and self harm
This past week has been incredibly difficult due to that holiday so I decided it would be good for me to write a letter to my nmom to keep for myself during my healing process to get everything out and it's been very cathartic. Part of my healing journey has been sharing my (extremely personal) experience with others who understand, hence why I'm sharing this here, and maybe it'll give someone some strength knowing that I made it out after all of this. I hope everyone was kind to themselves this week and was able to treat this holiday as a holiday for themselves for surviving their nmoms!
Dear mom, Happy belated Mother’s Day. My Mother’s Day was spent being upset and anxious so I decided to write this letter. This letter is so incredibly difficult to write and even more difficult to read back to myself. Moving away from university and back home during COVID was genuinely one of the most difficult things I have done in my life simply because of all of the repressed memories that flooded back into my brain every single day I was in that house. I used to resent the pandemic for forcing me to live in an environment that made me want to harm myself every single day and die every other day, but I am now thankful for the clarity that it brought me as I don’t think I’d have the foresight that I have now.
There is a lot that I want to say. I am angry, bitter, resentful, and traumatized from things that you have done to me as a child and also as an adult. I thought for a very long time that thing were normal but thank God I now know just how truly fucked up so many of my childhood experiences were. Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that I went through. I am haunted every single day by things that you did (and some things that you didn’t do) and hope that one day I will be able to heal from what I experienced.
I grew up being close to my cousin Chloe (a year younger than me) who was obviously very bitchy, mean, and abusive. This fact isn’t something you weren’t aware of as I know a fully grown adult would be able to see how she treated and talked to me when around you and come to the obvious conclusion that I should not have been allowed to be around her. She bullied me, called me names, physically assaulted me by pushing me, pulling my hair, and sitting on me with my hands held behind my back until I couldn’t breathe, forced me to bathe in scolding hot bath water that would burn my skin, making me undress and make fun of parts of my body, and forced me to watch things that she knew would scare me. This is the same time that I started having insomnia and struggled in school due to anxiety. It’s also the same time I remember my sound sensitivity starting. Do you remember my childhood friend’s mom Amelia and how protective she was over my friend, Diana? Diana met Chloe at my 9th birthday party and Diana went over to her house for a playdate and Chloe did something to her. She physically reached over and groped Diana on the privates. I knew Amelia IMMEDIATELY prevented her daughter from ever being around Chloe again. I also knew that it's possible she mentioned this to my aunt, but I'm not positive. I know that Amelia is the type of mom to prevent Diana from reading Harry Potter because she thought it was a bad influence on her due to being “demonic”, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she made you aware of what Chloe did to Diana as she knew that I spent a lot of time around her. I doubt that what Chloe did to Diana was ever kept a secret from you. Chloe also forced me to do sexual things I didn’t want to do from roughly the ages of 8-11. One time, we were in her kitchen and she pulled out a knife and said that she was going to stab me. By then, I knew she just wanted to scare me so when I had no reaction, she put the knife away. I was terrified of what would happen if I said no to her so I went along with whatever she wanted. She would go into the bathroom and tell me to follow, would lock the door, and make me take off my clothes and let her do things to me and forced me to do the same things to her. I used to think that you had NO IDEA about this until I remember you saying the words- “you were an amazing kid and never had any problems until you got a little older. I always wondered if something happened.” Who the fuck says that to their kid???? Yeah, something DID happen and it wouldn’t have happened if you protected me!!!! You fucking idiot!!!! I remember being in our new house and taking a shower with you when I was about 8 (which was VERY inappropriate and should NEVER have happened at all) and saying something that clearly made you uncomfortable. It CLEARLY indicated something was going on. I remember the exact face you made and know that any normal, healthy adult would have done something about it and made sure nothing was happening. They would have made sure I was SAFE, and talked to me about safety, but nothing was said or done. You have failed me many times, but this one is the most painful. Not only will you need to live with the fact that you knew about my abuse and did nothing, but I will have to live with the fact that my mom knew "something happened” and didn’t care about me enough to protect me. I look at my beautiful niece Hallie, and imagine not protecting her like that and want to vomit. I cannot fathom how a mother would have the thought “I wonder if something happened to my daughter to case a massive behavioral change” and NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! You didn’t talk to me, never asked me if Chloe was doing anything, or anything at all. If I even had a minor suspicion that something was happening to Hallie, I would IMMEDIATELY do something about it because THAT IS MY JOB as an adult in her life. You failed me and deserve to know that this traumatized me and gave me PTSD. I am NOT autistic, no matter how much you WANT me to be so you can go around and gain sympathy for “having an autistic daughter” rather than owning up to the fact that you caused what “went wrong” with me.
Not only did you not help prevent me from being molested by my cousin, you also added to my sexual trauma by forcing me to use the giant egg monistat insert to treat a yeast infection when I was 11. I was ELEVEN and you had a bright idea to force a HUGE foreign object into my prepubescent body even though you were fully aware I could have easily gotten a prescription for a pill to swallow from a doctor. I was scared. I had so much pain and itching and needed a mother to hug me, tell me it’s going to be okay, or at the very least, EXPLAIN what I had and how we were going to fix it. You didn’t do any of that. You told me to lay down and proceeded to try and administer medication that is NOT meant for children 12 and under due to the physical damage it could cause. I was clearly in pain and scared, but you kept trying anyways. At any point, you could have stopped and taken me to the fucking doctor, but nope. You then got frustrated that “you couldn’t get it in” and told your 11 year old daughter to shove it inside herself. Then you left the room. I hadn’t even had a period yet, let alone know where my vagina was but you sure felt the need to yet again abandon your parental responsibilities and place them onto your kid! Miraculously, I put it in and wobbled out to lay on the couch because I was in physical pain from BOTH the infection and YOU, but because a child’s body isn’t able to properly fully insert the medication used (which once again I’ll remind you is meant for girls 13 and up), it came out and got on the couch because you didn’t give me a pad. And rather than prioritize your own daughter’s health, safety, wellbeing, and comfort, you were more upset about the stain on the couch and yelled at me. I will never forget in all of the years that I am alive how ashamed and disgusted I felt standing behind you watching you furiously scrub at the stain that I caused (actually, that YOU caused since this never should have happened in the first place!) and feeling a huge flood of guilt every time I saw that couch stain. One of the best days of my life was when we got a new couch and I never had to see that stain again.
All of this caused me to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and ideation, self harming behaviors, having out of body experiences where I dissociate, and panic attacks amongst other things. YOU caused ALL of this and you fought tooth and nail to convince me that it was MY fault for being broken. “There’s something going on with you,” and you made it your mission to never take any responsibility for any of the trauma that you caused. Not only did you ignore all signs of abuse and sexually assault me yourself, you bullied and helped a family friend Sharon bully me when I was “being mean” to (her daughter) Faith. I was treated like I was a mentally ill monster who couldn’t be trusted and always got in trouble whenever Faith shed a single tear because I was “mean to her”. Faith cried at LEAST 15x a day, and I was blamed every time she decided to say I was the reason. You allowed a monster (Sharon) to ABUSE me and had the incredibly wise idea to start passing along what shit talking you two would say about me TO ME, a 13 year old girl. I was THIRTEEN. I was A CHILD. And yet, you came crying and complaining to me about how tired you were of hearing Sharon say I was being mean to her daughter when you could have TOLD THE OTHER ADULT IN THE SITUATION TO STOP. It never was my responsibility as a child to try and make another adult stop abusing me by “behaving better.” There was nothing wrong with how I was behaving. You never once tried to help me, you always blamed anybody and everybody else for your failures. I would come and ask you for help when I was struggling and if you didn’t care, you would pawn it off to somebody else- “go talk to your older sister” “talk to your therapist about that” “I don’t know what to say except to tell you to pray about it” and when I came back saying praying didn’t magically fix my depression, you told me to pray harder. I guess you really thought it was a skill issue rather than a diagnosable health condition! No wonder I wanted to die! Hahaha! I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I was sobbing hysterically and struggling to get out the words when I told you just how badly I was affected by Sharon and said how you played a role in helping her harm and abuse me. “WELL. I’m SORRY if you think I didn’t protect you enough. I know what that feels like because my parent’s took my sister’s side a few weeks ago when we were having an argument” (as FULLY GROWN 50+ YEAR OLDS arguing and bitching LIKE CHILDREN!) No, mom, it’s not the same. I was a child and not only did you not stop an abuser from harming me, you joined in. You allowed her access to me and you passed along what horrible things she said was wrong with me. “SHARON said she thinks YOU’RE BIPOLAR. Do you think you are?” “Sharon told me that you’re having AN EPISODE and are being mean to Faith! Show me your phone!” Erm? I’m thirteen? What do you expect me to do? “Well, I just don’t understand why you keep bringing this up when it happened so long ago. I just hope you can forgive her and move on.” You’re fucking disgusting. Should I go into detail about how many times I asked you to not interact with Sharon more than you needed to and you proceeded to try and force her into my life more? You KNEW how uncomfortable I was with you attending Faith’s wedding and yet, you cared more about how you looked and not only attended, but hosted both her wedding and wedding shower. I have always wondered why you never cared how I feel until I realized that you prioritize yourself and how you look to other people above anything and everyone. There is a clear pattern of behavior- - When I was 17 and you were berating me at your work for wanting to visit my friend up in Boston to see a concert together because “you just didn’t understand why I’d want to do that” and I started crying. You rolled your eyes and said “you better leave now if you don’t want my next client to see you crying because her appointment is in a few minutes.” You cared more about having your random client seeing me cry and potentially thinking you’re a bad mom than comforting me. - When I was 13 and we were saying our nightly prayer the night that I had my “therapy appointment” (aka, you and my “therapist” chastising me for writing in my diary that I was having suicidal thoughts), when you were praying you said “Dear God, please help (my name)… and… pLEASE HELP ME!!!!” Clearly, YOU were affected more than I was even though I was the one wanting to die because of you. Wow. Your life is so hard! - Telling everyone around you that I “have problems” and am “really struggling” so you can gain an ounce of sympathy. The way that your friends come up and talk to me is baffling. - Laughing about me with my friends in high school when I was out of the room- “hahaha my daughter is sooooo weird hahaha” - When I was 18 and you called my “therapist” (who did NOT get my consent before doing this and violated her ethical guidelines) after I moved out and stopped talking to you, you got her to help you write a list of “rules” to force me to stay in contact with you. They consisted of requiring me to “talk to you, dad, or my sister at least 1x/day” so you “knew that I was safe” aka, you wanted to control me even though I was an adult and not living in your house. I was perfectly safe, and yet you made me sound like I was doing drug deals in the morning, prostituting myself after lunch, and had plans to commit felonies later that night. I went to school, ate, and went back to my apartment. You had no right manipulating me into talking to you by using my therapist, dad, and sister against me. Pathetic. - Telling me to go do my runs on a strange man’s property instead of the road because it’s “safer.” Dad said that this man who I’VE NEVER MET told him that “there are bad people out there who will kidnap her and do horrible things to her, SO INSTEAD she should run on MY property!” Not sketchy or rapey at all, right? And completely dismissing me when I said that made me uncomfortable by saying “my dad knows him”? Lady, do you know any rape statistics? Clearly not, because you’d then know that only 7% of assaults are strangers while 93% are family members or acquaintances. NINETY THREE PERCENT. The amount of times that I’ve mentioned someone made me uncomfortable or had a massive affect on me as a child and you’ve replied with “Oh, well did they touch you?” People don’t have to touch me to traumatize me. You’re pathetic for thinking that.
I’m not mad at Chloe. I don’t feel any anger or ill will towards her at all. She was a child just like I was a child. She was failed more than I was failed. No child acts that way and assaults other children without learning that from somewhere. I blame her parents for what happened to her. I blame YOU for what happened to me. I vividly remember things that my aunt would say the same time this was happening about little girls and their bodies and I want to smash my head against the wall. Children are to be protected above anything and everything else, by you didn’t. Do I hate Faith and think that she’s a bad person because of what happened when we were 13? No. I fully blame you and Sharon. The amount of adults that have failed me in my life keep me up at night. I think about how different my life would be had dad been more involved and seen what was going on and taken me away from you. I am angry with him for that. I dream one day I will be able to sit down with him and tell him everything I have written about and he will hug me, support me, cry with me, and apologize for not being there more to protect me. But who knows, he might defend his child abusing, mentally ill wife and say I’m making up everything. Who knows.
Do you want to know what my sister said when I told her all of this? She apologized to me for not being 15 years older than I am so she could have raised me instead. I want you to sit here and think about how fucked up that is. My own sister wishes she could have taken me away from you so you couldn’t have abused me. I imagine the pressure she must have felt having to grow up while also raising her mother and sister and I sob for her. I’ve sobbed for me for the mental anguish and torture I experienced at your hands. I’ve even sobbed for you because I can’t imagine being even a fraction of how fucked up you are to resort to abusing and neglecting your child- a child you begged to have. A child you had trouble having and prayed for. Embarrassing.
I’m never going to have a relationship with you again. If God is willing, I will never have to interact with you ever again. Saying that phrase “if God is willing” is ironic because you forcing me to pray my problems away rather than helping me led me to not believe in him. How can I believe in something that also neglected me? I’d sit in my dark bedroom night after night praying and sobbing for him to help me. I didn’t know what was happening to me, but I felt broken and alone. I now know that I was a child praying for God to take away my PTSD, and that is not possible. My heart breaks for that child.
You’re a pathetic excuse for a mother and human being. I’m truly shocked that I survived you and your abuse. I’m surprised that I didn’t ever try to kill myself to try and get away from you because you’re a vulture that prays on innocent people. The only important people in your life are people you think will give you something or will make you look good. That’s why you refused to ever cut ties with Sharon, you knew she was sexually abused as a child and you couldn’t POSSIBLY NOT be her friend because you need her to be your “friend,” or rather, your token sexually abused as a child friend. I genuinely hope that you get better and become a normal healthy person but I won’t ever be around to see it. I hope you feel even a fraction of the pain and abandonment that I have felt my entire life. Happy Mother’s Day, but today isn’t Mother’s Day for me, it’s Daughter’s Day. Moving far away from you one month ago has truly saved my life. Instead of trying to survive, I am enjoying my life. I would have died in that house. I get to finally celebrate being away from you and celebrate myself for staying strong and fighting when I could have easily given up. You once told me “you feel like I HATE you!” to guilt me into fawning over you and telling you how much I loved you, but now you get the opposite. I DO hate you and hate how you have permanently changed me and I wish to never see you again. Instead of praying for the “God forsaken, atheist, lost, evil, liar, miserable, spiteful, hateful, disgusting, mentally ill, “autistic” daughter, pray for yourself. Pray for God’s forgiveness for emotionally, medically, physically, sexually, and religiously abusing and neglecting me. You deserve to remain in your "clueless" state of "having NO IDEA what you did wrong to make her stop talking to me!" for the rest of your life.Happy Daughter’s Day.

Hi, I'm a 37 year old ftm with an almost 23 month old. In the last month, he swapped his favorite from me to his Dad. It's been hard- really hard- but I also love his Dad so I get it. His Dad also sees what is going on, and makes sure to turn to me sometimes even when he is "picked".
Tl;dr I'm not upset (though i am a bit jealous, but not in a mean way?) with my toddlers Dad, I feel like this just happens to be rough behavior cycle for me. I've also had a flu on and off the last month, so I have been objectively the less fun parent.
The one that's killing me is he seems to favor a caretaker at his daycare over me.
When I drop him off, everyone gasps and shouts her name, because my baby is SO EXCITED to see her. She has taken him put of my arms at drop off, saying "my baby!" (That one made me cry when I got to the car). I've seen her holding him and kissing him on camera. Worst, I found out VERY recently that he won't sleep (nap) when she isn't there; I suspect she's cuddling him to sleep.
But my pediatrician read me the riot act when I said I cuddled my baby to sleep. And actually, as I write this I am realizing the favoritism kicked up more when I wasn't able to cuddle him to sleep in my arms anymore. But the lady at daycare can??? I'm beyond hurt.
For the record this daycare takes REALLY good care of him in general, it's just this one relationship that is wearing on me. But also I want him to feel safe at school, so maybe I'm a monster for having these feelings.
I know this is dramatic but I feel like she's stealing my baby's love from me. I'm really hoping I wont be judged. Like i am literally sobbing as i write this. I'm really hurting and I don't have anyone to go to in real life about this (I do NOT want my husband to feel bad, he is being a good Dad and I don't want to stand in the way of that).
Thank you, please be kind.
*edited several times for spelling errors

So, here is part 2 of my entitled employee story. We left off with discovering Sally’s retaliation of giving me trash as a Christmas gift after her latest write-up.
So, the next several weeks, I am noticing more problems, but here’s some of the highlights.

1. Ever since we had issues of the office’s checks going randomly missing, Sally had apparently decided to just stop throwing any envelope away when opening the mail. She would supposedly search the envelopes/paperwork & then keep the envelopes with the paperwork. So, instead of doing her job better, she would decide to just stop doing the job at all. After all, you can’t get in trouble for screwing it up if you aren’t doing it, right? However, this resulted in items getting left with the paperwork (which sometimes wouldn’t get touched for several weeks due to being busy) that had needed to be collected or addressed right away.
   
2. Sally’s careless mistakes continued at about the same rate (average of 2 to 3 a week). She would put deposit slips/emails with the wrong office’s report, put one office’s mail in another office’s bin, put one office’s funding papers in another office’s bin, put one office’s bills in the folder for their correspondence & vice versa, put one office’s bills in the folder for another office’s bills, put the new month’s bills in the folder without taking out the old month’s bills so they would get mixed up. I could go on & on.
   
3. Sally would still ask for help on things she shouldn’t need help on anymore, ‘cause I had helped her many times on items exactly like it in the 2 years she’s worked here. I mean, the whole point of asking for help when learning new things on a job is so you can take the input you’re given & use it to get better at the job so you don’t have to ask for help anymore. I mean, what kind of office works by their employees constantly needing to be walked through everything every day? Sally would even ask for help on things no one would need to ask for help on. For example, she asked me, “An office took a deposit to the bank without showing it on their report. How do I write that up in the letter to fax to them?” Um, exactly what you just said to me. Or another time, she asks how long she should wait before calling an office back. Well, how long do you think you should give them? Just use your good judgment. You don’t need help with that! Again, you’ve been here 2 years!
   

On Jan 26, I take the Dec bills, correspondence faxes, & timesheets out of their folders to scan them into the computer. Now, one thing the bills should always have on them are the check number used to pay for this purchase & the date it was paid. The offices themselves are supposed to write this on there, but they don’t always, which is why it is our job to write it on there if it’s missing. I had noticed when I scanned Nov’s bills around Nov 30 that a lot of Sally’s offices don’t have that info written on them. So, I explained to her what needed to be written on every bill/receipt. I now flip through the Dec & Jan bills of her offices really quick to check them. There are quite a few of them with no info written down on them. There’s strike one for noncompliance.
Another task we would do several days a week (that’s Sally’s responsibility) is to check the bank accounts online. She is to look at the bank balances & report any low balances to Greg (or me if Greg isn’t there). She is then to look at the transactions in order to see if anything looks fraudulent. Since we are a loan company, check fraud is very common for us. So, we look at the checks for anything funny-looking, & we look to see if there are any auto debits (like when you use your bank account online to pay for a bill) that would tell us if someone got hold of our bank account info.
On Jan 30, at 1:15 p.m., I asked if any of the bank balances were low (Greg was out of town for a few days). Sally said she had forgotten to check the bank accounts that morning. Weird, ‘cause you had to check the Dallas office to make sure the money we sent them had shown up. How did you get the login sheet out to look in their bank account but then forget about checking all the bank accounts? This just further cemented in my mind that she was NOT checking these bank accounts the way she should. I was 100% positive that all she does when logging into these bank accounts is checking the balances to give to Greg but then never checks the transactions. I know this ‘cause, 1) I’ve observed Sally only logging in to write down the balances & then logging back out (she had some flimsy excuse ready when I asked her about it), 2) there have been auto debits that appeared in bank accounts that we didn’t find for weeks until I happened to see it for some reason & guess what? She never pointed those out to us, & 3) Sally hadn’t bothered to check the bank account balances since Greg was out of town, so clearly she only felt the need to check the balances. There’s strike two for noncompliance.
& even more bad mistakes or decisions:

1. At the end of Jan, we discovered that Sally had mailed the employees’ W2s to the managers’ home addresses instead of to the offices to distribute to their employees!
   
2. We had an office that moved locations to right across the street, so the only thing that changed in their address was their street number (12 Main Street instead of 11 Main Street). I explained this to Sally & gave her an updated list of the office’s addresses. 3 weeks later, we get a call from that office saying that mail we send to them keeps going to their landlord’s house. I check the address labels Sally had created for herself. Sure enough, it had the wrong address on them. I go to grab the lease, & at the top is where the tenant’s new address is listed. & all the way at the bottom of the page in the paragraph titled “RENT” where it lists where to send the rent is the landlord’s home address. & that’s the address Sally had chosen to be the new office’s address on her address labels.
   
3. Sally hadn’t been faxing the offices to ask for bills/receipts that never made it to us.
   
4. I used the last towel on a roll of paper towels, so I went to the cabinets to grab another. We were out. Sally is in charge of keeping track of supplies that need ordering, so I go to Sally & say we’re completely out of paper towels, we need to order some. Sally response: “No one ever tells me when they grab the last roll so I know when to order them.” Um, excuse me, since when is it our job to tell you to do your job? It’s your responsibility to keep track of supplies. You should be checking the level of paper towels, toilet paper, Kleenex, etc., to see when you need to order them.
   

So, I knew she needed a second warning write up for carelessness cause of the numerous mistakes since the first warning write up in the middle of Dec, & I would be giving Sally a first warning write up for negligence cause of her not asking the offices for missing bills & not writing the info on the bills I had told her to do at the end of Nov. However, it was only a few days from Feb, which was the time for performance reviews. So, rather than doing a write up now & then in a week or so doing a performance review that was one of the worst performance reviews I’ve ever heard of, I decided to just do it in one fell swoop. You know, just get it all out of the way with one bad conversation, one bad day, & then both of us can hopefully put it behind us & move on.
I decided to do the performance review & write ups on Feb 5 (Monday). It went much smoother ‘cause Greg was there, so Sally couldn’t really give me lip or lash out by showing attitude & anger like she had previously.
On Feb 7 (Wednesday), I log in to get the transactions for an office who is switching banks. I wanted to get an updated list of outstanding checks so they know how many checks are left before they can close the old bank account. & what do I see? Someone had used the bank account to pay $100 on their AT&T bill. I call the office & find out it was actually them, so no fraud there. But I then ask Sally if she had seen that when checking the bank accounts. She said she didn’t remember. Obviously, I have found my proof that she is either not checking them or isn’t paying attention when she does. I have a discussion with Greg about it, & we decide I need to have a sit down with her about her not doing her job. She is sick on Thursday, so I plan to talk with her the next day she comes in.
On Feb 9 (Friday), I begin the conversation about checking the bank accounts & how important it is. I am planning to say things like, we expect you to do this job, you’ve been told multiple times to do this task, if you’re not going to do the job, then you’re welcome to go find another one, etc. But she cuts me off at the beginning with an excuse of, “Well, I didn’t know what I should be looking for, now I know.” & it broke me. She does this exact thing every time I have to have a conversation with her. She has an excuse ready to go on the tip of her tongue, always spins it around so it’s not actually her fault. It’s always, “Well, I didn’t know that, but now, I do.” & I was just done. I didn’t continue the conversation, even though I needed to, ‘cause I just broke down in tears from the stress of having to discipline her & knowing that nothing will ever come of it, but having our hands legally tied to be able to fire her right now. I cried nonstop for over 4 hours.
On Feb 12 (Monday), I sat down to continue the conversation, this time with a written statement for her to sign.
Me: You respond a lot of the time that you don’t know how to do things, which is very frustrating, ‘cause you’ve been shown multiple times how to do these tasks. It’s very inefficient & wasteful that I have to constantly check all of your work & retrain you on the same thing over & over again. This needs to change. This job is about accuracy & accountability.
Sally: You’re not giving me a chance to improve. I never hear “Good job,” from you. All I ever hear is, “You’re doing a bad job, sign this paper.” I get in trouble every time I ask for help, so I guess I’ll just follow the instructions & hope I’m doing it right.
The problems with that response:

1. You’ve worked here for 2 years, Sally. You’ve had plenty of time to improve.
   
2. The reason you never hear “Good job” is ‘cause you’re not doing a good job. How am I supposed to tell you “Good job,” but also need to give you a write up for doing a bad job? If you’re getting multiple write ups for doing a bad job, don’t you think that’s a sign that something is wrong? I mean, she thinks that managers should be telling their employees good job on everything they do right. No, you’re expected to do these tasks. We’re not going to congratulate you every time you do your basic job requirements like some toddler that needs constant positive reinforcement so they know that doing something right is a good thing! You will hear “Good job” when you are doing a really good job on something, when you go above & beyond!! I mean, do you think Greg tells me “Good job” when I’m just doing my job as expected?!! NO!!! I’ve never had a manager constantly tell me “Good job” all the time!!!! (Whew. Sorry about that. Kinda went on a crazy rant there. I’m good now.)
   
3. Here’s another example of her mentality of “if I don’t do the job, I can’t get in trouble for doing it wrong.” She’s going to stop asking for help instead of using the help I’ve given her to do better. I mean, if you’re making these mistakes when you ARE asking for help, how many more are you going to make when you stop asking for help? How does this make any logical sense?!
   

Well, here’s another chance for some malicious compliance. She claimed she didn’t know how to check the bank accounts, right? Well, my job as the manager is to make sure my employees know how to do their job. So, I need to sit down with her & train her how to check the bank accounts. Again. Even though I know she already knows how to do it. So, every time you tell me that the reason why you didn’t do a job is ‘cause you didn’t know how to do it right, well, we’re going to sit down & waste both our times & annoy you having to be retrained on something you do, in fact, know how to do.
Sally continues making careless mistakes & not doing stuff she doesn’t think she should have to do. Like answering the phones. It’s her job to answer the phones; that’s something I as the manager should be delegating to her. However, she never answers the phone unless I literally can’t. So, I had asked her to start answering the phone more. She will wait until the last possible second before answering the phone. By that time, it’s already rung twice, so I have to answer it before it goes on any longer or they hang up. One time, we were both away from our desks when the phone rang. We both went to answer it, but she was closer & got to her desk before me, put her hand on the phone, & watched me until I got to my desk before she picked it up. With a comment of, “Oh, (laughs) I didn’t want to make you walk all the way to your desk.” Well, you did, anyway, you little jerk.
On Feb 27, Sally asks for help on a report. She says that my note stating the office is over-deposited $28 on report 1 but fixed on report 2 by being $28 under-deposited didn’t work out. She says that they were never over by $28 in the first place. I take the report to look it over. Her calculator tape adding up the deposits shows the bank is in balance, but I don’t see deposit slips.
Me: Where are the deposit slips?
Sally: I haven’t gotten them yet.
Me: (trying to comprehend her logic) Then how do you have the deposit amounts added on this tape?
Sally: I got the amounts from the report.
Me: You…(my brain trying not to implode at this point) you can’t add up amounts to see if the bank has too much or too little money in it without knowing what was actually taken to the bank. The amounts on the report don’t always equal what was taken to the bank.
I log into the bank account & discover just that: the report says they took $500 to the bank, but their deposit says $528. They were indeed $28 over-deposited. I then lecture her (for the second time in a few months) on the correct way to account for the deposits at the bank, that we are only to use the dollar amounts on the bank’s deposit receipt. (The first time was her getting the deposit amount from what was written on the deposit slip instead of what the bank gave us credit for on their printed receipt. The bank had shorted us $500, & we never knew until her deposits didn’t work out when reconciling the bank statement at the end of the month. We were missing $500 for 4 weeks! It’s a miracle we didn’t overdraw the account.)
Another task that we do several days a week is checking the CFPB website. This is a government website that uses federal regulations to monitor financial institutions. It’s like the Better Business Bureau, but more official. Customers can make complaints through them, prompting an investigation to make sure we’re following the federal guidelines. We have 2 weeks to respond to a complaint before it is past due.
On Feb 29, Greg just happens to be looking at an email inbox that he never checks, ‘cause after all, we’re checking the CFPB website, so he doesn’t have to look there, right? There is a complaint in 2 of the portals that have been in there since Jan 22. He immediately marches out & tells Sally about them.
Greg: Aren’t you checking the CFPB sites?
Sally: Yeah, I am.
Really? Then how come you didn’t print this complaint off to give to Greg in the last 6 weeks? She came back from lunch to a second warning write up given by me for negligence.
On Mar 5 (Tuesday), we are working on reconciling the bank statements so we can close the month of Feb. Sally brings me a Jan bank statement for an office.
Sally: This never cleared in Feb.
I look at the bank statement. It’s an electronic deposit of $254 on Jan 31. I remember this. She had asked me at the beginning of Feb why this deposit wasn’t recorded on the office’s report. I explained that since it didn’t show up in the bank account until the last day of Jan, they might not have known about it before the end of the month & so recorded it on the first of Feb. We will wait until the first report of Feb. If it’s still not recorded, then we’ll bring that to the office’s attention. & here she is, clearly telling me she hadn’t brought it to anyone’s attention all month long.
Me: (staring at the bank statement as I try to prevent my autistic brain from exploding at her while also trying to prevent a spontaneous stroke) You didn’t keep track of this all month?
Sally: Well, I didn’t know if it was treated differently ‘cause it was OTBP (One Time Bill Pay, which is the electronic deposit). (Oh, what a shocker, she once again didn’t know how to do something.)
Me: But we talked about this. If it wasn’t on the first of the month, we needed to address it.
Sally: Okay, well, now I know that we treat this the same as other deposits. (goes nonchalantly back to her desk like it was no big deal, like she hadn’t just revealed she had once again disobeyed my detailed instructions)
Me: (seeing her flagrant disregard for the seriousness of the situation & wondering just how on earth she could once again think that not doing her job would have no consequences) This is exactly what Greg talks about over & over, about how we can’t leave errors like this to sit for weeks & weeks, that these need to be dealt with as they happen.
Sally: (still as easy-going as if she had simply used the wrong color highlighter) Okay, I’ll make note of that.
Now, I am getting really pissed off. She keeps saying, “Oh, now I know that OTBP is treated the same as everything else.” That doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know it’s treated the same! I specifically told you to take care of it if it didn’t appear on the first of Feb! It didn’t matter what kind of deposit it was! I said to tell me if it wasn’t on the first of Feb!
Now, this was right before she leaves at 3:30, so by the time I’m finished with my text conversation with Greg (‘cause he isn’t there that afternoon), she has already left. But I’m telling Greg that I have once again caught her being negligent, & she’s already had 2 written warnings about this, which means our next step is letting her go. Not to mention, her carelessness is still continuing. He said that he supports my decision to let her go. By the way, the final decision happened an hour after she left. If I had known before she left that we were indeed going to fire her, I would have done it before she left so she didn’t have to come all the way to work in the morning just to leave again.
So, on Mar 6 (Wednesday), I arrive early to work so I can be prepared. I am standing at my desk, watching her come in. This is unusual, so she frowns as she approaches me.
Me: Sally, we need to talk.
Sally: (still frowns at me)
Me: (handing her the typed up notice) We are going to read this together. “When reconciling the month of Jan, around Feb 5, it was brought to my attention that we had a deposit that hadn’t been reconciled. I gave you instructions to wait a report to see if it works out. If not, you would need to bring it to mine & the office’s attention for further instructions. This wasn’t done. It wasn’t until Mar 5 that you brought this to my attention again. You have been told many times the importance of reconciling the financials of the office. You have been warned several times of negligence. This is another example of negligence with respect to your job. All you had to do was follow my instructions. It is for this reason that it is now time to terminate your employment.”
Sally: When did you tell me to do this?
Me: (thinking, “Um, I kinda just told you when I told you do that, but, okay.”) When you showed me the Jan bank statement—
Sally: Yesterday?!
Me: You showed me the Jan bank statement a month ago when you were reconciling Jan. I told you to wait for the first of Feb & then—
Sally: You did no such thing!
Me: Yes, I did, Sally.
Sally: When does Greg get here?
Me: Around 9, like usual.
Sally: I’m calling him, ‘cause this is ridiculous. You’ve had it out for me from the very beginning.
Me: No, I haven’t.
Sally: Yeah, you have. Just like the other 2. (sets her bags at the front door, goes outside, & calls Greg)

1. How could I have had it out for you from the very beginning when we didn’t have problems for the first year & a half you worked here? If I’d had it out for you from the beginning, you wouldn’t have had a job the past 6 months. Need I remind you what Greg told you about the timesheet thing being something we fire someone for on the spot, but that Molly had gone to bat for you & gave you a second chance? Why would I have done that if I had wanted you gone from the start?
   
2. “Just like the other 2.” She’s talking about Irene (who had left in Feb 2023) & another employee (who we’ll call Phil). Phil had been fired (by Greg, by the way) for continuing to watch movies on his phone at his desk despite being told multiple times by Greg to not do that. & Irene? She wasn’t fired. She gave her 2 weeks’ notice. & we then discovered when going through the work she’s been doing as we started taking over her tasks that she didn’t just not do jobs. She would actually forge the work so she wouldn’t have to work. “A bank imbalance of $2.65? Well, I’ll just add it to the imbalance that’s been building up for who knows how many months & just label it as an over-deposit from the end of the month. That way, I don’t have to look into why the bank isn’t balancing.” But no, I had it out for them, apparently.
   
3. Does she really think that calling Greg was gonna reverse my firing her? Does she really think I would do something as drastic as writing her up or firing her without discussing it with my supervisor first? Did she really think I would do this behind his back?
   

Apparently, she did, ‘cause Greg confirmed that Sally tried telling him about all the stuff I’ve been doing to her as if he didn’t know. She hung up on him when he explained that he’s been told everything as it happens & he supports this decision.
Sally: (storming back into the office & towards her desk) I’m not signing anything.
Me: Ok.
Sally begins packing up her desk. I had known she kept a lot of personal items at the office, so I had gotten a big box or 2 out & placed them nearby for her to use to pack up her desk.
Me: We can give you a box if you need it.
Sally: I don’t need sh** from you guys.
Me: The only thing we’ll need is your office key.
Sally: You’ll get it when you get it. I’m packing my desk.
Me: Ok.
I go back to work, keeping an eye on her as she packs to make sure she doesn’t take anything she’s not supposed to or damage any company property. Sally at some point decides to use the boxes she didn’t want from us to pack up her many items. She takes both boxes to the front door where her bags are & sets them down to put the last of her things in. She picks up one box to take outside.
Sally: You are the worst manager ever. (goes out the door)
Me: (shrug)
Sally: (comes back in for the final box) Seriously, you’re the most evil person I’ve ever met. (leaves)
Really? I rank worse than the guy that beat you up? I’m worse than him?
I continued watching her to see if she’s going to come back to give up her office key. As she packed up her car, another employee had arrived (we’ll call him Randy). He had run into her on the way in & asks me if Sally quit. I explained, no, she was let go. I then see that Sally has gotten behind the wheel of her car without coming back to give us the office key.
Me: Well, I guess we’ll just change the locks.
Randy then takes it upon himself to go out to her car. He phrased it very gently by saying he wanted to spare her having to come back in to turn the key in.
Sally: I guess Molly didn’t have the balls to do it herself. (hands the key over)
& then…she was gone. Despite having to do the entire corporate office’s work all by myself & falling steadily behind little by little, I have never been more happy. I had forgotten how much I loved my job & how much I couldn’t wait to get to work. I haven’t been this stress-free in 6 months, & it feels fantastic! & the great part is, I’m not really falling as far behind as I expected to without her. Having to do 2 people’s jobs by myself is only affecting me a little. Really goes to show you how bad she was for the company & for my job when she disrupted everything that much. For example, me & her would get through maybe 5 to 6 offices’ reports between us in a single day when playing catch up after closing the previous month. One day? I caught up on 10 offices’ reports in a single day. By myself.
Oh, did I mention she smoked marijuana most days on her way to work or while on her lunch break? We could never actually prove it. But, come on, you don’t smell that strongly of marijuana on only select days if you aren’t smoking it recently. If it was leftover from the smell of your house or car, you would smell like that every day. But it was only some days she would come into work or back from lunch smelling like that. Obviously, smoking on the job. So very glad to be rid of her & her awful skunk smell. Although, I do wish her well on a new job search. I don’t wish ill on anyone, ever. But I am just glad she’s no longer my problem to deal with.
(Added 2 months after she was fired): By the way, I am actually gaining on my work. I’m not only not behind on my work, I’m actually getting it done soon enough to work on extra stuff. Also, out of the blue, we’ve started getting about 3 to 4 sales & scam calls every day since Sally left (for things like better Medicare benefits, better retirement benefits, & even one time recently where “Walgreens” was calling to ask if I still had diabetes). I’m convinced Sally signed us up for calls as retaliation. I hope they die down soon, especially as they are starting to get rude. (Our response to every one of these is “Sorry, this is a business.” This one guy responded to me with, “This is my job.” I said, “I understand this is your job, but this is a business. I am not allowed to take personal calls.” He said, “Why?” I said very slowly & firmly, “Because I’m working!” He started to say, “Can you explain to me why—” I hung up. Jerk.)