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purplebass · 4 years ago

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Hanging On // Thomastair AU

#5 and last Celebratory Fic! It was meant to be something else, but then I didn't finish and I thought this one would be better. You'd probably get the other fic sooner or later, as well as the other requests you may have sent me during these last few months. I had the idea for this Thomastair AU while watching this ambience video. Perhaps you could watch it while you read, use it as bg music. lol. Like the title said, this is a Thomastair coffee shop AU with Eugenia, because I've wanted to write something with her in it. Enjoy!

Characters: Thomas Lightwood, Alastair Carstairs, Eugenia Lightwood Words: 1637

Thomas stared at the early evening crowd of the coffee shop where he worked part-time and sighed. He liked his job, and not just because his parents owned the place and entrusted him and his sister Eugenia to run it. There was something about coffee-making and cake-serving that fascinated him. Perhaps the faces people made once they got their orders or the simple fact of interacting with them, even if they just told him what they wanted. Not everyone was open to conversation, so Thomas mostly observed the clients. He saw a different array of expressions everyday. Relief. Despair. Pain. Joy. There was someone who even cried while sipping their hot chocolate once. It wasn’t the chocolate’s fault.

The coffee shop where Thomas worked was mostly frequented by university students. People around his age who had decided to go on with their studies instead of hunting for a job. He was interested in following some paths, but didn’t feel like enrolling into any institute to pursue his interests, at least for the moment. He was happy making other people feel better for now.

“The coffee won’t make itself, Thomas,” his older sister Eugenia said, serving a brunette at the far end of the table.

He hated when his sister rushed him, but then again he had been distracted for a while. “Coming,” he replied with a sigh, and gave a professor his order.

It was Friday, which meant that it wasn’t just the last day of classes for students, but also their karaoke night. It wouldn’t start until eight, and some small groups of people were already tucking their notebooks away and gathering to order their dinners before their tone-deaf singing session at Thomas’ expense. Eugenia might not know that, but Thomas didn’t ask to have the 6pm-10pm shift because he was crazy. She told him that only someone who didn’t value his free time could choose that shift, because people got very excited when they sang karaoke together.

“What is going on?” Eugenia asked, shaking Thomas from his thoughts.

He was staring at the door and he probably hadn’t heard her. “Nothing is going, sister. Nothing,” he repeated, and used that as an excuse to go to the bathroom before rush hour.

He didn’t want to tell his sister that he had been waiting for someone to show up, and that person was late. Well, he didn’t know if he was late, but he was usually there to eat dinner around that hour, and he hadn’t showed up yet. Thomas bit his lip. Perhaps he had a date. An exam. Something that prevented him from coming. He knew he was overthinking. His sister was right, there was something going on, and he needed to take care of it. He should have kept distractions to a minimum while he worked, unless he wanted Eugenia to tell their parents that he wasn’t doing his duty the way they expected him to.

Thomas shook his head, hitting someone along the way because he wasn’t paying attention due to his overthinking. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. He was about to gasp, because the person he had bumped into was exactly the one he had been waiting for.

“You should watch where you’re going, giant,” the guy said, locking his ebony colored eyes with Thomas. He was frowning, but then again, what was new? He always frowned. That dark haired man was one of those people who no matter how many coffee drank, they always seemed defeated. As if not even that could help their mood. Perhaps the guy was someone whose coffee made him more nervous. Maybe he was a tea guy. No, he likes black coffee, Thomas. And you know it. It’s not the coffee’s fault if it doesn’t lift his mood.

Thomas wanted to say something, anything to keep the conversation going, but he couldn’t find the words, so the handsome stranger walked away, leaving him there with his heart thumping and two flushed cheeks.

Thomas knew that his heart would thunder in his chest when the stranger would go on stage and sing a song. For whom, he didn’t know, since he was often by himself typing away on his laptop until the shop’s crowd would thin and he would leave. What he did know was that the guy’s voice was amazing, that he couldn’t stop staring whenever he went on stage. Why was nobody listening to him? Tonight, though, while groups of two or more students went on singing random hits and wouldn’t leave the mic to someone who could actually sing, the guy stayed focused on his computer.

“Alright, I’m going home,” Eugenia announced at some point. Good thing he had been waiting for her, otherwise she would have found him staring and he didn’t want to answer any question she might ask. Not yet. “Will you be okay closing the place by yourself?”

Thomas, who had been doing it for weeks, just shrugged. “For the millionth time, Eugenia, yes,” he glanced at the tables, seeing movement in the direction of the area where the guy was sitting.

“Hey, don’t get angry, little brother,” she got closer to him, just as the guy stood up and got the mic from the last improvised singer.

“I’m not angry, just tired,” Thomas said a little bluntly, his eyes already set on the stranger as the song he chose to sing started playing.

“He’s good,” he heard Eugenia whisper to him. “I didn’t think he knew how to sing.”

“Do you know him?” he wondered with interest.

Eugenia raised an eyebrow, already trying to make up the reason why Thomas had asked. “I don’t, personally. But our sister Barbara does. He’s an International Relations student named Alastair, or at least that’s what she told me the last time she was here and he was too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Thomas, for real. Why do you want to know?”

Thomas was thankful that the lights were dimmed, otherwise his sister would have caught his flushed cheeks. “Can’t I be curious? It’s not like I’ve asked you the secret formula for Coke, sister.”

Eugenia nodded with a smirk plastered on her face. “Do you want me to introduce him to you?” she offered, and Thomas stilled.

“What, no,” he said, trying to seem as disinterested as possible.

His sister shrugged, then she walked away. In the meantime they were talking, the guy had already sung his piece and sat back down at his lonely table.

Thomas glanced at his wristwatch. There was still one hour before the place would close, maybe he would sing another song? Nope. He just ate in silence as he checked things on his laptop and occasionally typed other things from a notebook by his side, which was his only companion. The clock soon signaled that it was a little past 10, and after the last group of customers had left, Alastair was the only one left in the room. Had he lost track of time? Because he seemed unbothered. Thomas believed that was the universe giving him a chance to talk to him, but he still waited half an hour before doing that. Silly.

He took one big breath of encouragement and walked to the table. You can do it. “I’m sorry, but we are closing. You must leave.”

Alastair’s hands halted on the keyboard, and he looked up. “For a person so imposing, you have the bad habit of saying sorry too much.”

“What’s wrong with saying sorry?”

“Absolutely nothing. But I’m not sorry for staying here past the service hours,” he replied with what Thomas thought was hostility. “I’m finishing a paper, can’t you wait a little more?”

Thomas frowned. “I’m sorry,” he said again, then bit his lip in frustration. “But I have to close the shop and go home.” What was he doing? Why wasn’t he saying that he didn’t mind if he stayed more? Ah, yes. Embarrassment. But also determination. He didn’t know this person, and even if he liked him, he couldn’t make an exception for anybody. Right?

Alastair started to laugh, and Thomas was puzzled. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you laugh,” Thomas said before the other could say anything.

Alastair’s eyes widened in surprise. “It’s the first time I had the guts to talk to you,” he replied, then started packing his things in his black laptop bag.

Thomas started sweating. He didn’t expect it. “Me too,” he said. There was an imperceptible stop in Alastair’s movements, as if he had been caught off guard just like he was.

“I was joking,” he told him, rising from his chair, and Thomas froze. “About finishing the paper, I mean,” he added, and Thomas didn’t hide the relief he felt at the admission. “I just wanted to talk to you. I’ve been wanting to do it for several weeks, Thomas.”

“You know how to sing, Alastair,” Thomas said, wondering how he knew his name. But it was fair, he also knew his name through third parties. He registered Alastair’s shock. “What do you say we meet tomorrow after my shift and we talk more?”

“I thought you would never ask,” he answered.

“I thought you would never agree,” he countered.

If only I talked to him sooner, Thomas thought, as he and Alastair exited the coffee shop. It was okay, the ice was broken now. He finally had the guts to interact with him, and he thought that the evening shift was totally worth it, unlike what Eugenia may think.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed, send me a PM): @princesslucinda @kit-12 @immortal-enemies @lucian-evander @esa-emery @danieldyers @blackthorn-trash @rinadragomir @fortunesandfables @itsdaughterofthemoon @silvenys@thomastair3 @livvyheronstairs @ holding-infinity-and-a-book @lovelaces @axoloteca @autumnangel20 @cordelia-cardale @lucie-blackthorns @thephcastcouldsteponme-please

#tsc #tlh #thomastair #thomas lightwood #alastair carstairs #eugenia lightwood #tsc fanfiction #the shadowhunter chronicles #chain of iron #chain of gold #chain of thorns #tweety.writes

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signed-yours-truly-the-whale · 4 years ago

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Thoughts/Observations on Joker, part 1

AKA I Spent 7 Hours on This, I Will Die if it Gets Less Than Three Notes

I could rave for hours about this movie’s cinematography. Literal hours.

Nobody talks enough about Arthur’s full-fledged dedication to his clown craft. Man is working 60+ hours a week and does not break a sweat. I also fucking love this clowny face he pulls here. The first shot we see of Arthur in full. Holy shit is it beautiful. God bless Joaquin Phoenix.

These two shots together are incredibly important to me. In a split-second we see Arthur’s disbelief that he cannot control the whirlwind of emotions inside of his own head, not even being able to produce a smile, and then his resignation because it’s just another day. Heartbreaking.

Awwww shiiiiit

Gotham City is such a dump but I’d be bullshitting myself if I said I didn’t love the grimy aesthetic of it. It’s technicolor trash.

Arthur loves his job so much. He genuinely enjoys being Carnival. That hurts a lot to think about in hindsight.

This man just got his ass handed to him and he is STILL SPRAYING THE FAKE FLOWER ON HIS VEST

YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT DEDICATION

This opening card is so imposing. Not only does it take up the entire screen to the point of running off the edges, but it’s shielding Arthur from view. Arthur is invisible in light of Joker in Arthur’s own movie.

I screenshotted this by accident but I felt a need to put it here because he’s just so adorable. Even right before an episode.

E y e s s s s s

E Y E S S S S S

I desperately want to know what got Arthur sent to Arkham the first time. A suicide attempt? A public breakdown? I really want fanfics of it.

There’s a really, really good fanfiction on AO3 by Arthur_Fleck about Arthur slowly recovering and meeting a girl called In the Major and Minor Arcana

I highly, highly recommend it

Okay. Joaquin’s immersion into his characters -- all of them -- is absolutely incredible. But Arthur is just ... off the charts, man. No two of his characters are the same and he embeds himself so deeply in their skin, but Joaquin buried himself so deeply into Arthur’s brain that it is so hard for me to see any of Joaquin at all. God, he’s incredible and this shot makes me emotional because this just is Arthur.

ARTHUR WOULD BE A GREAT DAD AND I DO NOT ACCEPT ARGUMENTS

It really speaks to how shitty Gotham is that this man is having a full-fledged screaming/laughing breakdown on the bus and nobody is batting an eye

I adore how the cinematography paints Arthur as so small to his own environment. He’s a speck of dust. A fleck.

Babie is wincing :((((

I have been trying to figure out the layout of this apartment for months and my inability to, even with a floor plan, is driving me insane

I just found out that the Budweiser beer jingle Here Comes the King is on the soundtrack and plays when Arthur comes home and that made me go feral

I A M M U R R A Y , K I N G O F A S S H O L E S

It is second nature for me to do this stupid pose every time I watch this scene

Arthur blending into the crowd here makes me ... so happy. He looks so happy.

This is Arthur’s best laugh of the movie, fuck you. I am incredulous that I was the only person laughing when I saw this in the theater opening night.

This is one of the few moments I really see Joaquin shine through Arthur. I don’t know why, but this lighting and his voice and his intensity gives me visceral flashbacks to watching a little boy Joaquin in Parenthood. God, I love this man.

It really is a testament to Penny’s (lack of) parenting that Arthur is day dreaming about receiving affection and validation from a parent figure when his own mother is literally right there

GOD DAMN THIS MAN IS GORGEOUS

But also big bruise :(

Yes, I shall trust you, man named Randall smiling down at me in low angle light

Why was Hoyt not informed that Arthur got his ass beat on the job? As Arthur’s employer he should’ve literally been the first person to know so he could make a note of it. Either he wasn’t told or he gave so little of a fuck that his consciousness astral projected to another plane of existence while he shoved the white powder down his throat and forgot Arthur existed at all.

Literally fuck Hoyt. I hate him even more that his office is the coolest shit in the world

ARTHUR KNOWS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SMILE

Joaquin dislocated his knee in this scene, the poor boy

I could write a full damn essay about why the misleading advertising of Sophie as a prominent character was the greatest twist of the whole movie. Literally I am still speechless how the movie did that.

I am not kidding when I say my sister has this same color scheme in the bathroom of our house and realizing that made me werewolf

Also Arthur being the son Penny doesn’t deserve warms and breaks my heart

The complete lack of reaction to Penny’s “Don’t you have to be funny to be a comedian” makes me laugh and cry internally

This shot? Gorgeous. His face? Deadly. That jawline? Cutting diamonds. Hotel? Trivago.

I really, really want a Joker 2, but at the same time I do not want a Joker 2 because Joaquin Phoenix has a baby who needs him now and he cannot be pulling shit like losing 52 lbs for a role

Also I REALLY need to discuss how much this brass ballet reminds me so heavily of Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. Holy fuck, I got actually chills in the theater

Like holy fuck

And then this shot reminds me so heavily of the opening of Fedddy vs Jason with Freddy Krueger laughing over his newspaper collage of missing children. Holy fuck I love this cinematography.

Guys. G - Guys, his name tag says Dr. Carnival, can you hear me s o b b i n g

This part is so Chaplinesque, the way he slides the gun into his coat again

These children look so afraid of him for dropping the gun and wowie, does that really hurt

Was this asshole supposed to be modeled after Eric Trump? Because I get really douchebaggy Eric Trump vibes (minus the jacked teeth) from this ringleader

I don’t have much to say here except I am in love with the way Artie’s hair sticks straight up in bottle curls when the clown wig slides off

Also if you decide it’s a good idea to mess with a man dressed as a clown laughing maniacally on the subway of one of the most dangerous cities in the world, you are asking him to shoot you and I will not feel sorry for you

I will never not be in love with this image. I fell in love with it in the teaser trailer and almost went feral in the middle of the mall when I saw this was the poster they used to advertise the movie with. My friend described this movie as “chaos, beautified,” and nothing sums it up as well as this picture.

JOAQUIN AND TODD MADE THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE UP AND I AM IN LOVE

Hello, handsome

#joker #joker 2019 #arthur fleck #joaquin phoenix

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scones-and-texting-and-murder · 5 years ago

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Sweater Weather

(AO3 link 2676 words, general audiences)

Written for the @holidaymixtape and featuring adorable art by @bs-acorns!

“They’re looking for a barista at the dog park,” Sam had said, a combination of words so nonsensical that Dean asked him if he’d hit his head.

Sam rolled his eyes. “I told you I’ve been taking Phoebe to the park.”

When Sam finally reached the point where he could get a dog, he’d gone right for a Great Dane, like he was making up for all his dogless years with the biggest one he could find. Next to most people, Great Danes seemed like miniature ponies, but Dean couldn’t deny that Phoebe looked perfectly proportional striding along his oversized, long-legged brother. Despite her size, she was the world’s biggest couch potato, sometimes sitting down on the sidewalk to declare herself done in the middle of walks. As it was nearly impossible to convince one hundred and twenty-five pounds of stubborn dog to do anything, Sam began exploring other options. In doing so, he discovered that taking her to a park resulted in her loping around, sniffing and peeing in a nearly infinite loop, getting some much-needed exercise without Sam needing to cajole her for blocks at a time.

Dean pretended like he wasn’t quite sure. “You mean the one where Eileen goes?”

Sam blushed and Dean smiled smugly, happy to see his big brother intuition hadn’t failed him. He’d been “casually mentioning” Eileen and her service dog with telling frequency.

That’s when Sam explained that there was a coffee shop on site at the park.

Before Dean applied for the job, he’d never considered the logic of a coffee shop/dog park combo, but the more he learned, the more sense it made. Dog people, it turned out, loved to socialize with other dog people, and they would stay at the same location for hours on end if their dogs were happy. If they could capitalize on that by selling hot drinks to cold people, then really, it was a win-win. And while Dean might not have been a dog person, he could chat up customers and make drinks like nobody’s business.

That had been a year ago. Now Sam and Eileen were making plans to move in together, and whereas Dean started out barely able to tell a bichon from a beagle, he was currently familiar with at least a half-dozen types of terrier. And while he’ll never admit it to anyone, one time he’d accurately identified a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, leaving him with the same self-congratulatory rush he imagined birders got when they added to their life lists.

Not only had Dean gotten familiar with the dogs, he’d gotten to know a number of the owners as well. Dean didn’t quite buy the theory that dogs and their owners started to resemble each other, but he couldn’t deny the perfect pairing of Garth with his tall, skinny whippet or Mildred, whose old poodle mix shared her grey curls and slow, stiff gait.

Then there was Cas.

He was tall and broad-shouldered with strong runner’s legs. He had wild dark hair that looked like he’d walked through a windstorm no matter the weather, and his eyes were an almost unearthly blue. Dean could see him with a husky maybe, or a chocolate lab that could run alongside him, its tongue hanging out as it easily kept pace.

Whatever Dean expected, it wasn’t a small and sturdy pug. The first time he’d shown up, Dean knelt down to greet the pup, and he’d asked--like he always did--the dog’s name. He made a point of trying to remember them because that was just good customer service.

Dean let the dog sniff his hand before running his palm over her short, smooth coat. Excited by the attention, the dog’s eyes bulged and it snorted through its pushed-in nose. Dean felt his own eyes widen in response and he used the opportunity to glance back up at the handsome owner. “What’s your dog’s name?”

The man took a moment to answer as he was busy gazing fondly at the snorting creature. “Zeus.”

Dean looked back at the dog who couldn’t weigh more than about twelve pounds, and laughed. “That’s hilarious.”

The man looked apologetic. “I didn’t name her.”

“No?” Dean tried not to think about the fact that he probably had an equally gorgeous girlfriend who’d bestowed the name.

“I acquired her from a rather unscrupulous breeder. It seemed wrong to change her name when everything else had been taken from her.” His brow furrowed in such a sorrowful way that suddenly a pug seemed like his perfect companion.

Dean got back to his feet. “Oh, wow. That’s great. That you rescued her, I mean.”

“Thank you,” he said with a sincerity that had Dean biting back a smile.

“Welcome to Pups and Cups.” Dean held out his hand. “I’m Dean.”

“Cas.”

Dean liked a lot of things about Cas. Like the way he kept close to Zeus in the park. Plenty of owners unclipped their dogs from the leash and settled down on a bench, but Cas moved slowly around the park with her, like he was worried the bigger dogs might get a little too rough. He liked the way Cas seemed oblivious to exactly good-looking he was, either missing out on (or not interested in) the way both men and women tried to strike up conversations with him. He liked that Cas had an earnestness about him that was oddly endearing, an almost shy formality that made each smile Dean got out of him extremely gratifying. It generally involved greeting Zeus, so Dean made a habit of addressing her and pretending to take her order before getting his. Maybe it was the predictability of the interaction, but Cas seemed to genuinely enjoy the joke. He’d give Dean that full-on smile, the real one where his eyes crinkled.

“Ask him out,” Charlie told him after he’d gone through this routine one day.

“I dunno.”

“Dean. You spent the last forty-five minutes with one eye on the door waiting for him to show up.”

“Keeping an eye out for new customers is an important part of the job.”

“You elbowed me out of the way to take his order.”

“I did not,” he insisted as she sadly rubbed her upper arm. “Wait, did I really?”

“Of course you didn’t.” She grinned, validated. “But clearly you didn’t consider it out of the realm of possibility. Oh hey, here he comes again.”

“Shut up,” he hissed at her as Cas made his way back into the coffee shop. “What’s up, Cas? Does Zeus need extra whip?” He ignored the soft groan Charlie made.

“Actually, Dean, I just wanted to let someone know that the poop bag dispenser is empty.”

“I’m on it. Thanks for letting me know.” Cas’s cheeks were pink from the cold December day. So were the tips of his ears. Something about it made his eyes look extra blue. Dean didn’t realize they were still standing and staring until he felt something whap him in the arm.

“Here you go, buddy. Why don’t you go take care of that right now?” Charlie gave him a faux innocent look and Dean looked down to find the package of refills in his hands. “I’ll watch the front.”

Charlie was the best friend Dean had ever had, and she was practically bouncing on her toes when he came back inside. “Well? Did you ask him?”

Dean shook his head. “Charlie, I’m the guy who makes him coffee and replaces the poop bags. I’m not a guy he’s looking to go out with.”

“Dean--” Charlie began, a soft look on her face that was worse than if she’d yelled at him.

“It’s fine.” He was saved from any further discussion when a group of people and dogs came in through the door.

***

As December progressed, Charlie continued encouraging him to ask Cas out and Dean continued to refuse. He was fine for dumb jokes and he knew he made a damn good latte, but Cas had a real job doing...something important. From time to time Dean overheard him take a work call on his cell phone and it was all I’ll get you the files and Let me run the numbers and other fancy shit that reminded Dean that Cas was out of his league.

It was all good. Dean could continue to look forward to the few moments when Cas had those blue eyes focused on him, he could take satisfaction in making him smile and presenting him with a hot drink on a cold day. He didn’t need more.

One afternoon, he was crouched down in front of the counter giving a handsome Shepherd mix named Otto his puppacino. Otto’s overly large dark ears perked up when Zeus bounded over to say hello. It was well past the time Cas usually showed, so Dean had assumed he wasn’t coming, but from the looks of her, today was clearly a special occasion. She was dressed in a red and green Christmas sweater, adorned with a dog wearing sparkly green slippers and a candy-striped elf hat.

“Well, look at you!” Dean said, as she pushed her snout into his waiting hand. He got to his feet, laughing in delight when he realized Cas was wearing a matching sweater. “You guys been to an ugly sweater party or what?”

The familiar smile didn’t cross Cas’s face. If anything he looked more serious, his head tipping to the side. “Why do you ask?”

“Uh,” Dean said, praying for the floor to open beneath him. Or for the espresso maker to explode and vaporize him where he stood. Anything.

“Oh,” Cas said, as if it suddenly all made sense, and Dean thought maybe he’d be able to breathe again. He pointed to his sweater. “Maybe you didn’t realize that this is a pug.”

Dean looked more closely. It was indeed a pug. A pug, wearing an elf hat adorned with sparkly pom poms perched on a shiny red and green striped present. If that weren’t gaudy enough, green and red satin bows were scattered across the sweater.

Cas smoothed his hand over his chest in a most distracting way. “It’s even a girl! See?”

“A tutu,” Dean said, not sure if he was going to laugh or cry. “She’s...wearing a tutu.” And she was indeed, made of bright red netting.

“It’s our first Christmas together.” His eyes were shining.

Charlie, who had apparently witnessed this entire debacle, came to his rescue. “Dean, could you please. Get that thing. From the back.”

Gratefully Dean nodded. “Yeah. Sure.” In the back he stood with his forehead against the cold stainless steel of the refrigerator, trying to let it soothe the embarrassment that heated his face.

A few minutes later, Charlie poked her head through the door. “The coast is clear.”

Dean thumped his head once against the fridge before straightening up. Charlie watched him, concern in her eyes as he came back out. “What do I do?”

“I...don’t think he’s upset?” Charlie glanced out the window to where Cas was doing his normal route following Zeus around the park.

“Yeah, but he thought I was making fun of him.”

“That’s because you were.”

“What was I supposed to think?” The embarrassment was making him defensive, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “Who would wear a sweater like that sincerely?” Dean scrubbed a hand over his face. “I fucked this up.”

“I have an idea,” Charlie said.

***

The next day she arrived with a large shopping bag. They were still thirty minutes from opening and she pulled him into the back.

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

She nodded decisively. “I’m absolutely positive that it won’t make things worse.”

“That’s not exactly...reassuring.”

“Look, Dean. If you don’t want him to think you were making fun of him, then you have to put your money where your mouth is.” She reached into the bag. “Speaking of, you owe me $24.99.”

“He won’t be in until this afternoon. Can’t I put it on then?”

“No way. For this to work, you need to wear it unironically all day.”

Dean pulled off his outer layer and took a deep breath before pulling the sweater over his head. ”Not a word.”

In a flash, Charlie had her phone out to snap a picture. “You’re a hero.” She moved closer to show him. The bright red sweater was dominated by a large Christmas tree made from those sequins that changed color when flipped over. Next to the Christmas tree was a pug wearing a Christmas sweater of its own. In large letters under the tree it said BAH HUM PUG.

Dean took in a long, slow breath through his nose.

“He’s gonna love it,” Charlie said, using two fingers to flip the sequins.

He pushed her hand away. “Consent is a thing. I gotta get to work.”

All morning long Dean dealt with amused looks and a variety of snarky comments.

“You lose a bet?” he muttered as sarcastically as possible with his back turned to the counter after hearing it for the umpteenth time. The more people gave him shit--little joking comments that shouldn’t have meant anything but that built up over time until he was ready to substitute decaf in all their fucking high maintenance orders--the more defensive he got, going from shrugging apologetically and trying to laugh along, to glaring, his chest puffed out like a soldier. Why the fuck shouldn’t he be able to wear whatever he wanted without people making disparaging comments? It was an object lesson in...what did Sam call them? Microaggressions. He was making a mental note to text his brother and let him know he finally understood when Cas and Zeus came in.

Now the shyness that he’d started his shift with washed over him again. What if Cas didn’t notice, or what if he thought Dean was making fun of him. Again. He heard Charlie murmur “Here we go,” as she moved into place to take over the customer ahead of Cas.

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said. “Did you get a new sweater?”

“Heya, Cas. I did.” Dean knew this was the whole point, but he felt self-conscious and couldn’t seem to keep from rushing to take his order. “You want your usual?”

But Cas was still staring at his chest and a small smile had crossed his face. As Dean watched, he disappeared out of view, popping up a moment later with Zeus in his arms. “Look, baby,” he practically cooed in his rough, deep voice. “It’s a pug just like you.”

Dean stood a little taller, tugging at the front of his sweater like it would help her see better.

“May I?” Cas asked, nodding toward Dean.

“Uh, sure?” Dean wasn’t quite sure what he was agreeing to, but cradling the dog in one arm, Cas reached out and smoothed a hand over the sequins on his chest. Dean’s mouth went suddenly dry. Cas’s hand was a firm presence, warm even through the sweater. He stroked up and down, evidently delighted. Zeus snorted and pressed her nose under Cas’s chin.

It was now or never.

“Would you like to go out some time?” It came out in a rush, Dean almost breathless with nerves and Cas’s palm on his chest.

Cas went still but he didn’t drop his hand. His blue eyes widened in surprise. “I would love to.”

“Cool,” Dean said. “Cool. Ok. We’ll do that.” They stood and smiled at each other until the customer behind Cas cleared his throat. “Let me get your coffee.” This time Dean carefully wrote his number on the cup.

***

A few months later, Cas and Zeus showed up in matching red sweaters. Each one had a shiny satin pink heart with an applique of a pug in the center. In big letters were the words Pugs and Kisses. “It’s our first Valentine’s Day together,” he explained to Charlie, after giving Dean a quick kiss.

Dean was already wearing his.

#deancas #destiel #ugly holiday sweaters #cas + dogs #coffee shop au #2019 spn holiday mixtape #my writing

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connerlmzz292 · 4 years ago

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10 Things Everyone Hates About rail contractors london

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Table of ContentsThe Of Office Of The Maine Ag: Consumer Protection: Home ...All About 5 Steps To Finding A Good Deck Builder - Home Improvement ...The smart Trick of Why Hire A Contractor If Subcontractors Do All The Work ... That Nobody is DiscussingGetting The Being Your Own General Contractor - Bob Vila To WorkThe Only Guide to How To Find Contractors For House Flips And Rentals

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Prior to working with a specialist, see to it he or she is accredited, bound as well as insured for the task you require to be completed. (Photo Thinkstock).

Gillian Lazanik, Houzz Factor Do your due persistance before employing your specialist. Rate needs to not be the only aspect when making the decision on who will develop your desire house. Your home is where you invest a lot of your time, and also you do not want poor quality building details staring you in the face, every day.

1. Beginning with a detailed plan. This is the most essential product prior to you also approach a service provider. Job with a professional designer or engineer that can think of a detailed strategy to show your service provider to ensure that he knows precisely what you have prepared for your space. Strolling your professional with your room without a comprehensive strategy in hand will permit the contractor to transform his rates as he goes, because the specifics were never ever talked about from the get go.

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They give details about the basic design as well as structure however have limited or no information concerning coatings, interior style, custom-made millwork, lights as well as electrical attributes. This is the details that your service provider will certainly need to provide you accurate prices before you start building and construction. 2. Provide a list of requirements ahead of time.

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The rate to restore even a small bathroom can vary by tens of thousands of dollars relying on its installations and coatings. If you can select your pipes fixtures, coatings and also devices ahead of time, you will certainly save on your own and your service provider a great deal of pain during the building and construction process by having the items available when he requires them as well as by understanding all the connected prices to mount your defined products.

Price out your job. If you have actually been working with a developer or engineer and also you have a complete set of drawings and complete specs, ask that expert to advise a few building contractors to whom you can send your plans for pricing. Additionally, ask your good friends whether they have a service provider they have actually enjoyed with as well as send them your construction package to bid on as well.

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And the professionals will certainly have to adhere to their given pricing due to the fact that they had all the details in their hands. 4. Guarantee your contractor is Visit this page guaranteed. I'm certain you have actually all listened to horror stories about what can occur on a building and construction website. However, crashes become part of the standard in this sector.

Consider your contractor as an author bringing all the parts of an orchestra with each other to develop a work of art. There are bound to be incidents periodically, so please make certain your specialist is established to handle them correctly. 5. Take a look at your contractor's work. As soon as you've bid out your job as well as have a professional in mind, ask to see a few of his previous tasks.

If you like what you see, and also the proprietor of the other home is happy with just how points turned out, there's a great chance that you will more than happy too. 6. Interview your service provider. You will have to get rather near to your basic service provider over the duration of your job.

What Does 3 Tips For Choosing The Right Contractor To Build Your Home ... Mean?

During initial meetings, ask how unexpected issues or distinctions could be taken care of. This can include change orders that will certainly be released by you or your designer in writing. 7. Managing the extras. Bear in mind that your contractor might not have actually priced some products for your improvement, such as closet coordinators as well as bathroom devices.

Some professionals use bonus as an opportunity to make as much money as feasible throughout an improvement due to the fact that you are currently devoted to them. 8. Ask about timelines. Ask your professional the length of time he thinks it will take to complete your task and afterwards include an extra 8 weeks to assist manage your expectations.

The Texas Organization of Builders (TAB) is a voluntary profession company representing all segments of the property structure industry. Through training, education and active engagement in the legislative as well as regulative process, our organization works in combination with local residence contractors associations throughout Texas to make subscription an essential aspect of an effective building sector business.

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TAB is controlled by a Board of Supervisors chosen by participants, and also the board directs the policies as well as operations of the association based on its bylaws. The plans as well as bylaws of TAB do not consist of any kind of official or informal process to settle conflicts or problems against market participants. However, those experiencing troubles with house building and construction projects rate to share their experience with TAB in order to assist overview future training and also instructional efforts.

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schraubd · 5 years ago

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Partial Expression and Anti-Discrimination Law

Today, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2-1 vote (Judges Stras and Shepherd in the majority, with Judge Kelly dissenting), held that it was unconstitutional to apply Minnesota's anti-discrimination statute (which covers sexual orientation discrimination) to a videography company that wanted to get into the wedding video business but objected to filming gay weddings. Insofar as the statute required the videography company to treat same-sex and opposite-sex marriages alike (i.e., film both of them), it violated the videographer's free speech rights, since it effectively compelled them to express favorable attitudes towards same-sex marriages (which they in fact object to on religious grounds). In the context of anti-BDS law debates and others, I've been writing a fair bit about how cases like this well-illustrate why liberals should be wary about endorsing sweeping interpretations of the First Amendment as conflicting with (and trumping) anti-discrimination claims. As "First Amendment Lochnerism" swells in influence, there is more and more of a risk of huge swaths of anti-discrimination law being struck down as unlawful discrimination. After all, anti-discrimination law inherently asks that people associate with those they'd rather not associate with, and implicitly register their approval of social relations they might not approve of. If this is interpreted as an affront to their free speech rights, then anti-discrimination law as a whole is in mortal peril. That said, it is clearly the case that there are genuine and nettlesome free speech problems that can emerge in cases like this. And I do not think they can be ignored just because the plaintiff is engaged in for-profit work. Movie-making is, after all, often a for-profit business, yet it would be catastrophic if the government could say therefore there is no free speech rights available to directors or screen-writers in the content of their creations. So -- are wedding videographers or photographers different? And if so, how? The core distinction the majority seems to rely upon is that between "expressive" and "non-expressive" activity. Something like making a movie is an expressive act. It is artistic, it requires editorial judgment, it is the creation of art. Movies are thought of as a reflection of a creator's expressive vision; a medium for them to transmit a particular thought or view about a slice of the world. Contrast that to serving food at a restaurant: this is not typically thought of as a means of sending a message. Compelling someone to make a movie they don't want to make would do violence to their First Amendment rights. Compelling someone to serve food to someone they don't want to feed would not. To be sure, all activity can be "expressive" in some sense -- for example, a bigot might say that requiring him to serve a black customer at his restaurant implicitly expresses the view that the customer is his equal and worthy of service. But the idea behind the distinction is that most people do not typically view the act of serving food at a restaurant to be expressive, and so requiring restaurants to serve customers in a non-discriminatory fashion doesn't burden speech even if it "incidentally" has certain expressive feature (like "I'm willing to serve this customer"). The court concluded that making a wedding video is an expressive activity. The videographers, in their words, use their "unique skill[s] to identify and tell compelling stories through video." "They exercise creative control over the videos they produce and make 'editorial judgments' about 'what events to take on, what video content to use, what audio content to use, what text to use . . . , the order in which to present content, [and] whether to use voiceovers.'" This is all quintessentially expressive in nature, and so compelling a business to effectively "editorialize" in favor of a wedding they disapprove of is a First Amendment violation -- it forces them to directly, not incidentally, express thoughts they disavow. There's some force to this. But something about it kept nagging at me, and I was trying to nail down what it was. Here's my best stab at it: Nobody hires a wedding photographer or videographer for the purpose of expressing their genuine views about the wedding. Their job is to make the bride and groom, and their special day, look and feel great. For all I know, our photographer showed up to our wedding and thought that the decor was tacky and that Jill and I were a disaster for each other and that the Jewishness of it all was an offense to God. But of course, he didn't express any of those views, even in his "expressive" photographs. That's not his job, and he knows it, and everyone who sees his photographs knows it too. The flip side is that, when people look at our (lovely) wedding photographs, nobody says "wow -- your wedding photographer must have really thought your wedding was beautiful" (let alone "he must have really approved of your wedding"). A wedding photographer does engage in expression -- but only partially. There are expressive elements to what our wedding photographer did, that can be directly imputed to him: the virtuosity of a shot, or the way he used lighting, for instance. But note the contrast: if I look at my wedding photos, I do impute to the photographer artistic decisions about the staging of the shot, but I don't impute to him views about the merits of the wedding itself. Photography is expressive, but in this case not comprehensively so. It is, we might say, "partially" expressive, and it seems reasonable to say that First Amendment protections only extend to the part of the expression that reasonably, not incidentally, is imputable to the author of the speech. Compare this to the words spoken by a wedding officiant. When she delivers remarks at the altar, most listeners would reasonably take them to be an expression of her own views -- if she says "you two make a great couple", that is (with perhaps some latitude for puffery) her own expressive view on the matter. And so if she was uncomfortable speaking positive words about any particular marriage (for religious reasons or otherwise), it would be wrong to compel her to do so. But the distinction isn't between visual and verbal or textual mediums. On the one hand, a movie (as in one shown at the theater), is fairly thought to represent the vision and expression of the directors (and actors and screenwriters, perhaps collectively) "all the way down" -- not just in terms of technical attributes like how to frame a given scene, but also in terms of the message being communicated. If a documentary filmmaker presents a given subject in a positive light, that's generally imputed to the filmmaker -- they think positively of the subject -- in a way that doesn't track for a wedding videographer. And on the other hand, text if a restaurant serves a dessert that says "happy birthday!" on it, nobody thinks that the chef is actually doing so to express his or her substantive views on the merits of your birthday (I hate to burst anyone's bubble here). That's true even though there may well be expressive elements to the dessert that I do attribute directly to the chef. If I see a beautifully designed cake that says "happy birthday" on it, I view the chef-qua-chef as expressing his or her own message in the design far more than I do in the "happy birthday". So it's not enough to draw an expressive versus non-expressive distinction. I agree that making a wedding video is expressive, but I disagree that (under normal circumstances) it is expressive as to the merits of the wedding. Along that dimension, the videographer's implicit "endorsement" of the same-sex wedding they film stands on identical footing to the restaurateur's implicit "endorsement" of racial equality with regard to the Black customer they serve. In both cases, it is incidental, and so in neither case should it significant weight. Indeed, it cannot be the case that any expressive component in a business transaction sufficed to render it entirely expressive and therefore wholly insulated from regulation under the First Amendment. Even in the food service example -- which we've relied upon as our easy case -- very much can incorporate an expressive dimension, for example, in decisions on plating, interpretations of dishes, and so on. A restaurant can say, accurately, that it exercises "editorial discretion" on these matters, and so could potentially have a First Amendment difference if the state tried to regulate its "editorializing" in these domains (I say "potentially" because while a state law which seeks to declare how a veal marsala must be plated would assuredly fail under the First Amendment, one which insists that a "veal marsala" must contain veal -- "interpretation" notwithstanding -- could at least feasibly survive). But surely the expression here is confined to that domain, and it does not mean that the choice in who the restaurant serves is now expressive as well. Put (sort of) simply, the question is not whether the conduct has any expressive character. It's whether the expressive character of the conduct is what generates the allegedly compelled speech. If it doesn't, then the fact that a given piece of expressive conduct also comes attached to an implicit endorsement of a view that speaker disapproves of is incidental, in the same way that it is incidental where the conduct is not expressive at all. I don't pretend that I've just offered a simple, knockdown solution to one of constitutional law's thorniest dilemmas. But I do think we live in an era where wildly expansive understandings of the First Amendment are being wielded as a weapon against huge swaths of the regulatory state, and anti-discrimination law is one of the most inviting targets. We need to start thinking more carefully about limiting principles, lest virtually all discrimination become enshrined with constitutional protection. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/30GdQvq

#discrimination #free speech #gay rights #Minnesota

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wichitahaulingjunkmoving · 4 years ago

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more information is at: https://junkremovalhaulerwichita.org/hoarding-clean-up-near-me/

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As in most other parts of the country, there are quite a few individuals affected by hoarding tendencies in Wichita KS. Many who are affected do not fully understand the dangerous implications of their actions. Hoarded items and clutter can increase the risk of fires, mold growth, tipping hazards, and other disastrous events.

In order to prevent these tragedies from occurring, we provide complete hoarding cleaning services here at Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving to all homeowners in the Wichita KS areas.

The Dangers of a Hoarding Disorder

Hoarding Cleanup in Wichita KS: Compulsive hoarding, or a hoarding disorder, is a complex mental condition that causes affected individuals to experience fear and anxiety when they are faced with getting rid of personal belongings. This is true whether the items in question are valuable or not. Additionally, these individuals are often too embarrassed to seek assistance. This is why trusted family members and friends should intervene in a compassionate way.

The dangers associated with hoarding are plentiful, and it is important that individuals affected by hoarding tendencies understand the implications of their bad habits. The primary danger is that of a fire. This is because they are more likely to occur, but will also be more intense considering that the hoarded items will act as fuel for the flames. Likewise, when emergencies occur, there are less avenues of escape available because of blocked exits.

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When you choose to work with us, you can expect the following:

The Establishment of Trust: We work to gain the trust of the individual before removing any items, as we are fully aware of the psychological factors at play. If need be, we can connect affected individuals with therapists or social services, as well.

The Creation and Implementation of a Cleaning Plan: Once we have gained their trust, we will work with them to develop a complete sanitization and restoration plan. Once this is established, we will assist with determining which items to throw away, recycle, donate, or keep. We will also clean and restore affected areas.

Follow Ups: To help you help them break their hoarding habits, we will create a cleaning plan for you to follow once we leave. After this, we will check in periodically.

To take advantage of our unique hoarding cleaning services, simply contact our representatives. Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving is available 24 hours a day, and is proud to help clean and restore homes affected by hoarding in Wichita KS.

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Over 20+ Years of Hoarding Cleanup Experience Certified, Licensed and Insured We Work Directly With Your Insurance Company We Use the Most Advanced Cleaning Technology Sometimes a property can suffer from severe damage and contamination without ever coming into contact with blood or disease. Properties that have been long abandoned can develop mold and other toxins, and other properties can become distressed when they are not properly taken care of. Mental disorders can lead to problems such as hoarding or extreme filth that often requires professional bio-cleaning.

If a loved one suffers from a hoarding mental illness, he or she may be unable to part with any item that enters the home, even if that item is trash. Hoarding is a serious disease that effects many people in the US, and can quickly become out of control and destroy an otherwise beautiful property. If you have a property that has been affected by extreme hoarding, our expert hoarding cleanup crew can help to remove garbage and clutter, and then decontaminate and restore the underlying Texas property.

When a property becomes distressed due to neglect, prolonged lack of cleaning, or hoarding, the cleaning process can overwhelm an average cleaning crew that does not have the know-how and bio-cleaning equipment necessary to tackle such extreme hoarder cases.

Our hoarding and filth cleanup team has the experience and the tools needed to clean any home or business, and to remove filth, waste, garbage, clutter, mold, germs, and toxins in order to restore any property to full working use.

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Our hoarding clean up services team responds to the entire Wichita Metroplex and surrounding areas 24/7.

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Many people are hesitant to call for an estimate or cleanup of a hoarding scenario because they believe the process will be very stressful and lengthy. We work with this in mind. We make it our priority to make each one of our clients as comfortable as possible. We understand removing items from your home can be stressful and we work with you to make it a good experience. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.

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ANIMAL HOARDING CLEANUP WICHITA: A DANGEROUS SITUATION

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GROSS FILTH CLEANING WICHITA: TOXIC PARTICLES

Bacteria, mold, feces are all harmful and need to be cleaned up correctly and thoroughly. Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving has highly trained technicians with the skills and equipment necessary to get the job done. If left alone, mold can spread and become deadly in certain cases. Let the professionals take care of it so there’s no need to worry.

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Disaster may come in many forms, but one common factor is that it’s often unexpected. Whether it’s minor smoke odor or extensive water damage, you’re home or business may quickly find itself in need of serious cleaning and repair. Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving offers the specialized and personalized restoration services you need to get your commercial or residential space back to normal as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible. Here is a list of the many services we offer:

When left to decay on the floor, any of these items can cause permanent damage to a house. We not only assist in the removal of debris but also the restoration of any damaged flooring, including subflooring which can also be contaminated as well the sanitization and deodorization of the residence

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Welcome to Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving. We are the No.1 choice for all your clutter cleanup needs.

We tend to different cleanup requirements such as hoarding cleanup, junk removal, crime scene restoration, estate cleaning, homeless cleanup, and many others.

We are a full service cleanup organization that provides end-to-end cleanup solutions for our clients. Our clients are both residential and commercial customers. In fact, Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving is the most popular name among the residents here because of the timely, responsive, and high quality services that we offer.

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WHY HIRE A PROFESSIONAL AGENCY?

Before you call a professional agency for a cleanup, you should know whether you actually need them for your task. Of course, nobody wants to spend extra money when they don’t have to.

But, what you should also understand is that you do not want to end up compromising the safety, health, and security of yourself, and everyone you love, just because you wanted to save a few dollars.

But, how to differentiate between cleanups that you can do yourself, and the cleanups that requires a professional agency? There is no hard and fast rule to this. But, there are some things you can consider while making the decision.

Domestic consumers approach a professional cleanup agency like Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving when they face an insurmountable amount of junk, debris, or filth. This usually happens when they have a loved one, who is a hoarder.

There are also cases when the junk has gotten out of hand over the years, even when the person is not a hoarder. Another biggest reason is when the homeowners want to locate the jewelry that is missing in all the junk that is filling their homes.

Here, you might be wondering that you yourself can clean all the junk by yourself. But, that is where you are gravely mistaken. It is not as much about your capability to clean them, as much about whether you actually should.

If you are engaging in a cleanup, then you should follow one golden rule – never cleanup what you don’t know. Now, if you only have every day filth like dust, debris and grime, then there is no problem in cleaning it up yourself. On the other hand, in case of clutter messes or hoarders, you don’t know what they have under all that junk.

Chances are that the years of hoarding waste have created a highly fertile breeding ground for a variety of pathogens. It could be something as simple as a discarded chicken leg, or a dead rat buried under all that pile of junk. Any attempt from your side to clean it up can result in you catching diseases that can even prove to be fatal. Too high a price for getting rid of some stuff!

This situation escalates dramatically in the case of even more serious in situations when there is crime or accidents involved. All that blood and body fluids from the people involved in the incidents tend to be teeming with a variety of bacteria, and viruses.

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We, on the other hand, come in specialized suits that protect us from such contaminants. We will use special equipment and cleaners, which will help us clean all the contamination without ever coming in contact with it.

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It doesn’t take a genius to claim that we are the best. Everybody, and every business claims that they are the best at what they do.

But, only when the time has come to prove their mettle, do they end up showing their true colors to you. But, by then you will have already hired them and as a result, you have no choice but to suffer substandard quality of work.

Therefore, before choosing a professional cleaning agency, look for the following signs. Wichita Hauling Junk & Moving has built a strong reputation in the clutter cleaning business by following these codes of conduct to the T.

When you require a professional cleanup, chances are that you are in quite a desperate condition. Whether you want to help a friend’s hoarding problem, wish to cleanup a crime scene after the police are done with their inspection, or some other requirement, you want to get rid of all that filth as early as possible. A good cleanup agency like us understands your problem, and will respond immediately. They won’t make you wait, knowing that your dire need. As soon as you call us, we will send a technician to conduct an inspection and offer you a quote for the cleanup.

Never Leave Anything

A good cleanup agency never leaves anything behind. They will cleanup everything that needs to be cleaned, unless it is illegal. They will clean your property, irrespective of the size, shape or condition in which they are. Except for hazardous substances like fertilizers, dangerous chemicals, or something like that, we will free your place from all contamination.

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3veta · 4 years ago

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How to start providing online consultations from home?

New Post has been published on https://3veta.com/blog/business-advice/how-to-start-providing-online-consultations-from-home

How to start providing online consultations from home?

Starting an online consultations business is becoming extremely attractive. It’s quick and requires little resource, so many people are doing it as a side hustle or a full-time job.

This guide will give you all the essential advice you need before starting to provide video consultations. You can also download a checklist version of it we call: The Ultimate Checklist to Provide Services Online, so you can refer to it later!

So, you know you can offer a valuable service and you know a few people that are happy to be your customers.

What do you do next?

‘Success is the residue of planning’

Benjamin Franklin, about 250 years ago

Well, this is still true today so be sure to take it into account. Luckily, you don’t need to write a 50-page hardbound business plan, just follow our steps:

Do your research

Legal aspects of online video consultations

Operational aspects of online video consultations

Financial and marketing aspects of online video consultations

Get ready for your first meeting

Set up your workspace

Software and hardware check

Prepare a short script

Your first meeting

Organize a follow-up after the consultation

Follow up with the customer

Lessons learned for yourself

Reach out to your peers

Long-term mind-set for providing online services

Do your research

This part is arguably the most important one. Since you are going to be a one-man band, you will have to put on different hats – each of them will be one of your business departments.

Legal aspects of online video consultations

Nobody is a big fan of legal matters (unless of course you are a lawyer, in which case you will be interested in our guide for legal online consultations), but there are a few things to think about in that area.

First of all, do you need a special licence to provide consultations? The requirements differ between professions and are also very much country –specific. But if you are providing a service, your customers will want to know that you are allowed to do so.

Talking about customers, will you be storing any of their personal data? If so, and they happen to be in Europe, be sure to check what are the GDPR requirements for that.

If even after research, you are a bit clueless about these points, why don’t you speak to a specialist to have your bases covered? Actually, it can be an online consultation – bonus experience for you!

Operational aspects of online video consultations

OK, you are done with the complicated legal rules, so you can focus on what you excel at. How will you give your customer the best possible experience?

Let’s start from the beginning.

How will your clients book appointments with you?

Whether you take phone bookings or use an online tool, take into account your customers’ preferences. Ensure the software you ask them to interact with is simple and easy. It also has to be available in the language they speak and on the type of device they will prefer to use (desktop or mobile).

Determine whether your customer should be allowed to use their camera and microphone by default or only when you allow them to. Sports instructors, for example, may prefer to have their trainees muted by default.

Have you thought about your video quality? Does it matter for the consultation you will be providing? If movement fluidity or image sharpness are important for the end result, then get a good quality camera.

Financial and marketing aspects of online video consultations

One of the first questions you will be asking yourself is: Who will be my customers?

And this is important not only for the viability of your business, but for your marketing choices too.

If you need to build a customer base from scratch, you will have to implement a solid marketing plan. It has to ensure your clients will be able to find and book you online. Saying that, consider whether your business will be fully online or you want to keep providing face-to-face services too (this is often the case with teachers). This will have significant implications on your future marketing activities.

You will also have to make some careful pricing decisions. Research what is available on the market and decide whether you will provide a single service or a variety.

A first consultation for example might be priced differently than subsequent ones. The duration of the appointment will also affect the final price. Another good point to think about is will your prices be publicly available or will they only be available upon request. This can be something to consider as part of your platform choice.

When talking about prices, we have to mention payments (and payouts). There is a variety of payment operators on the market, such as Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, TransferWise, etc. Be sure to research them very well before you settle for one and keep in mind the following:

Your choice will affect how quickly you can have your funds available to you.

You might have to pay certain fees. They can be flat or a percentage of your rate.

Your clients might pay in different currencies so exchange rates will matter. Banks, for example, can’t boast with the most competitive rates on the market.

Get ready for your first meeting

This will be your favourite part. Video consultations are an exciting experience, and your first one will be a special one. Be well prepared for it!

Set up your workspace

Decide where you will be having your consultation.

Will you need a separate room for that or is a corner of your living room enough? Take care that the space looks neat and tidy and ensure you have the appropriate lighting. If you are using any props, have them ready and near you. These include notepad, pen, or even a glass of water.

Software and hardware check

Do you want to have the meeting on your laptop or on your mobile phone?

Consider what would be the impact for the customer from this decision.

Book a test meeting on the platform you have chosen so you know what steps the client will have to take. Always make sure all your accounts are set up with the correct data and with an appropriate photo (or logo).

Very important note – take care that you don’t have any disruptions during the call. Turn off all your notifications (from all devices!) and don’t let any bystanders nearby (moms, be careful with small children). Nobody from your household should listen to your consultations as it could impact your customers’ privacy (especially important for medical consultations).

Prepare a short script

This can be especially useful if you’re doing a consultation for the first time. Put down a few pointers that you must cover during the consultation. These can be certain questions you want to ask or some info you have to share.

Your first meeting

It’s finally happening!

The motto of business consultants is ‘Prepare, prepare, prepare’. Well, you are giving online consultations, so that applies to you, too.

You’ve done research, you’ve got the best solution, you’ve prepared for the customer – now it’s time to shine. Give your best during the video call and most importantly – enjoy it! After all, there will be many more to come. If anything unexpected happens on either side, just be rational about it and ask your customer what would be their preferences. As long as you are professional, everyone will appreciate that.

Organize a follow-up after the consultation

Follow up with the customer

Send meeting notes after the call. This will immediately show your professionalism and facilitate a long-term relationship. Ask your clients for some feedback and incorporate this into your next appointments.

Lessons learned for yourself

You have now acquired valuable knowledge, so go through your checklist and see where you can make improvements.

Do you need to offer better video quality? Maybe a new web camera would be quite useful!

Or did you maybe forget to have a notepad nearby and had to get up and get one?

Don’t worry, just make sure you add this to your personal checklist for meetings and you’ll be alright!

Reach out to your peers

You don’t need to be running on your own with video consultations. Suggest them to your friends who work in the same field. If both of you are going through the process of starting an online business, sharing the experience will give you an advantage. There is no faster way to grow than do it as part of a community.

Long-term mind-set for providing online services

Congratulations, you are an online service provider! But your work doesn’t stop here. It’s time to think about your future.

As your business grows, you have to make sure you have the right processes and solutions in place. You have completed one or a few consultations – imagine what your job will look like if you have 5 or 6 of them every day.

Does this sound appealing to you?

How will your calendar management look like?

Are you happy with your payment solution? The answer might be “Yes” now, but will it be the same if you start having 30 paid consultations a week?

It is vital that every choice you make for your online business be scalable for the future.

Quality has to come before quantity

Of course, everyone dreams of growing their business. And the more customers you have, the better you will become at your job. But don’t forget that quality must be your top priority from the very start. So make sure you download The Ultimate Checklist to Provide Services Online and get one step closer to being your own boss!

#3veta #3vetaservices #onlineservices #videoservices #videoconferencing #meetclientsonline

#featured-on-root-page

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essayonalzheimersdisease585 · 4 years ago

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blacktown-nsw-2148-plumbing · 4 years ago

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What Does Leaking Bath Tubs Do?

Erskine Park will be a top of 18C and a clear sky. Our Tuesday afternoon deal is $0 Callout Charge when you call before 6. Fixed Today has been offering pipes to the West Sydney district for well over a decade offering premium services across our large range of pipes services.

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More About Leaking Bath Tubs

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apartmentcleaninggxiy189-blog · 4 years ago

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The 10-Second Trick For Office Cleaning

iframe width="560" height="315" alt="All about Domestic Cleaning" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tylMfUFB4jc" frameborder="0">

Participant Marian Smith of King, North Carolina, claims she's employed a number of cleaning business throughout the years, but constantly reviews testimonials on Angie's Checklist initially. "I inspect to see if any issues have been lodged, and I constantly ask if the firm is adhered and also insured," she states. Those questions, professionals agree, offer a good beginning.

In addition to recommendations, Ray Smith, owner of Environment-friendly Brilliant Cleaning Solutions in Clermont, Florida, recommends figuring out if the business carries out background checks on staff members, which is a concern our professionals say most property owners neglect. As well as be sure to ask if it will coincide staff cleansing your home every time.

I started a cleaning company business right here in my home community of Toronto back in 2006, it's called Tidy My Room that would certainly have thought!? Over the years, I've learned a great deal about this industry and I intended to answer an inquiry that I obtain asked a whole lot: Just how do I know which cleansing firm to work with? Whether you wish to work with a cleaning company to assist you with a one-off task, a yearly spring tidy, or something on an extra regular basis, there are a couple of things you require to inquire about prior to you choose.

7 Easy Facts About Office Cleaning Explained

" Yet, it's cheaper to hire an under-the-table cleansing lady for cash money!" is something I usually hear. Amusing sufficient, I always encourage individuals to work with that maid if rate is their major issue, and if things go well, keep her close. Yet, when points don't go well, that's when you generate a service firm.

So, right here are 10 things you should consider when you're aiming to hire a cleaning company firm. Start by asking family and friends that they use recommendations offer you a within check out what a business is all concerning not simply what they say on their site (let's be sincere, a business can write anything).

Happy people do not tend to create as several evaluations as miserable people who really feel forced to shower the globe with their terrible experiences. Bear in mind, usually, those evaluations are people utilizing it as a chance to vent, blow a tale disproportionate, or try to damage the credibility of the firm.

Cleaner Can Be Fun For Anyone

No one is excellent. The other point to keep an eye out for is a company with an ideal rating. I know firms who pay customers to compose reviews for them, so certainly, they're going to be 100% ideal. Regardless, an excellent general rule is to stay clear of a business with all best ratings, prevent the firm with all horrible scores, as well as discover the ones with really consistent high ratings.

A firm should be willing to tell you if they have this protection and also offer duplicates of their policies at your request. Currently, be aware https://cleaning-click.co.il that this includes to the price of operating a solution firm, which is why the rates are higher per hour or per job. Nonetheless, this degree of assurance is valuable, especially when you're letting somebody into your home, and also can eventually be on the hook for something that fails remember, we reside in a litigious globe! For how long have they stayed in business for? Does the company have any kind of honors, certifications, or associations with expert companies? I such as to watch out for this because it makes me feel comforted that a business is credible and worried with their reputation.

These are things we have actually striven to obtain and also tout happily as a company. It shows our staff, customers, as well as possible clients, that we have done whatever we can to provide exceptional service. To give this a little bit extra context, there are a couple of companies below in Toronto that have a poor credibility as well as just fold and re-open under an additional name.

The Ultimate Guide To House Cleaning

Does the company take demands or offer a set solution? Just how detailed will they get? Relying on what you wish to be done, inquire regarding what level of solution is offered. If you can customize it as well as work with someone to come as well as tick a bunch of points off your to-do list, or if you just get the very same service each see regardless of what you wish to be done, or, if you can do a combination.

Make certain to ask about damage, damages, and also satisfaction guarantees a company needs to back up its work and its employees. If you're not delighted as a client, what are they prepared to do for you, just how will they make it right? It's just a truth of life points will damage.

This sounds insane, as well as I recognize many companies don't do this. They tell the customer to claim it under their very own house owner's insurance policy, or chalk it up to an inevitable error. If you're not happy with the cleansing, what will the business provide you? A touch-up? A free cleaning? Absolutely nothing? Companies have different plans about this so figure out what choice you have if you're not happy with the degree of solution you have actually received.

The smart Trick of Professional House Cleaning That Nobody is Discussing

Generally, agreement workers don't appreciate the very same advantages as employees do, neither do they have the exact same kind of oversight. While they're normally less costly to employ, they are most of the times inconsistently trained and are not as trustworthy because the reality is they're "changeable" to a large extent by that I mean that there is little to no investment in their real work product by the firm outsourcing the job, so they can swiftly relocate on to one more contractor while having actually lost little to no investment (training, taxes, advantages, etc.).

Staff members likewise pay tax obligations and also have tax obligations paid on their part by the company, which supports the province or state and also nation you live in. These 2 classifications as well as the legislations bordering them will certainly vary from nation to country. In Canada, I recognize the regulations inside and also out, and our personnel are workers because it is much better for them (regretfully, more expensive and much less lucrative for us!), as well as far better for the nation.

Do they utilize their very own cleaning supplies and also tools, or do you have to supply your very own? We require our clients to supply their very own and, certainly, assist them establish specifically what they require. We offer kits or offer them with a shopping checklist based on their details demands.

The Best Strategy To Use For Cleaner

Further, each residence has various needs; pets, individuals, finishes, and whatnot. I'm a huge proponent of utilizing the ideal products and also devices on each surface area, as well as I believe it is far better to offer your very own to reduce as well as decrease cross-contamination as well as potential harm to surface areas. Learn what the policy for terminating or altering your service is.

Many firms charge a cancellation fee since it can be tough to reschedule cleaners in the nick of time, and the business needs to cover off their shed wages. So, if you recognize this information, you can better plan and plan for any scheduling concerns.

Unknown Facts About Office Cleaning

Keeping a house clean can be a perpetual job that consumes much of our leisure time. If life appears to focus on wiping, vacuuming, cleaning as well as altering bedding, employing a professional housekeeping solution in your area may be the solution. This guide covers whatever to get out of a housekeeping or house cleaning solution consisting of package alternatives, what questions to ask and also what they charge.

Fascination About Professional House Cleaning

Depending upon your place or the firm you make use of, these solutions are referred to by numerous names: house cleaner, cleaning solution or housemaid. "House maid" historically described a salaried, live-in staff member of well-off houses who ran the household a lot like a butler. Today, it's just an additional name for a housekeeper. Picking the best solution is a straightforward process of research study and asking the appropriate inquiries.

Find out what services cover. Establish your budget plan and also what you actually need done. Interview solutions and also ask the ideal concerns. Understand what to anticipate when the service begins. Before you select a housekeeper, ask yourself if you truly need it. If what you're trying to prevent is a chaotic mess, you may wish to choose an individual coordinator.

Housemaid service are different and specialized. The majority of service business begin with a base plan after that relocate into specialized continuous or one-time solutions for your details needs. Special home cleaning company are often available for larger tasks such as garages, post-moving or post-construction. Housemaid solutions, staffed by skilled expert cleaner, are available in a wide array of choices including: Regularly set up regular check outs.

Home Cleaning Things To Know Before You Buy

One-time aid on unique occasions. Demanding jobs such as garage or cellar cleansing. Occasions before and also after. Some business likewise offer gift certifications. Residence cleaning up requirements differ significantly based on your house size, place as well as what you truly want and also require. With many large business, you can expect a basic plan with optional services.

Single visits often tend to set you back twice as much as an on a regular basis arranged recurring see. Yet how much is your leisure time worth to you? The average American invests regarding doing chores. House maid services expense a standard of. For independent maids, expect to invest in between considering that they charge between.

You might be priced quote much more per hour for an expert business, yet they usually operate in groups to do the job promptly. Weekly, Bi-Weekly or Regular monthly. Complete Cooking Area Cleansing Complete Shower Room Servicing Vacuuming Dusting Altering Linens Cuisine Addons to the typical package if you require something specific. Laundry Moving furnishings Polishing woodwork Ceilings & light fixtures Window Drape Furniture Flooring waxing Carpet cleansing Consists of anything from common and optional services in seldom used locations or before special occasions.

Fascination About House Cleaning Services

You can also employ a local house maid recommendation network for a mix of both. Independent housekeeper deal with references and referrals offering a reliable service on a budget. You ought to still have these professionals finish http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection&region=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/cleaning company a background check before working with. Bigger organizations evaluate their employees ahead of time. Exact same person whenever Personalized service Prices much less without above Uniformity gradually Guaranteed as well as adhered Background checks completed No employment documentation or tax obligations Dependable Not normally guaranteed Employment kinds to submit No history check Expensive Big crews many employees in your house per hr for someone per hr generally for a group of 2 Similar to any kind of solution that will certainly enter your residence, you'll intend to adhere to a couple of standards.

Prior to working with a service, meeting firms or individuals. Inspect out the questions listed below that you can ask in the meeting Make certain to collect referrals as well as call them. After all, they will have a great deal of accessibility to your home, and you ought to be comfy with them. If they give previous client call details, ask those referrals how satisfied they were with the service specialist's: Punctuality or routine availability, Cleansing abilities and tools, Mindset or job ethic, and Professionalism and trust or trustworthiness.

In some instances, a solution will certainly ask for to use the home owner's materials. If somebody in your house has allergies, consult your cleansing service to discuss particular products that may be advantageous. Prior to any work begins, figure out the exact scope of the services you require. You may likewise intend to discuss added duties over a normal cleansing routine, like laundry.

The Definitive Guide to Cleaning Services Prices

Think about co-creating a checklist of assumptions and responsibilities of the solution. Be extremely details as well as do not expect the professional to know exactly how you desire something done. Spend a couple of minutes reviewing locations you want cleaned up frequently. If it is very important that specific locations obtain special interest each see, direct them out.

See to it you discover a service that is open to personalized demands. Prior to each browse through, be sure to leave a list of trouble locations. The kind of home you own may affect service sees. Accessible car parking locations and coded entrances may produce access barriers that enhance travel time as well as therefore costs.

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shortstuff-ss · 4 years ago

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Hot Oil

Marty was surprised by their sleekness. It’s just that, whenever he thought of the robot that would replace him, he had pictured something, you know, clunkier.

Marty had been a cashier at Wendy’s for five years. He started in high school as one of the few cashiers that were hired at the new Sunset Terrace location. He lived with his parents at the time and they were always on his back about getting out of the house and earning some of his own damn money for once.

Marty applied to the Wendy’s before it opened. Banners flew in the wind, advertising the need for help. He had been walking from school and just said fuck it, fuck my parents, I can get a job. I can get my own money, and you know what? I can move out.

Steve greeted him at the front doors. Steve introduced himself as the manager of the new location. He asked Marty what interested him in working at Wendy’s. Marty shrugged. He didn’t prepare for an interview; he just wanted the paper application.

“Well son, we don’t just accept anybody. We here at Wendy’s have a motto, and that is, ‘it’s better than fast food – it’s Wendy’s.’ And that goes for our employees, too, we only take people who are better than average – they gotta be Wendy’s.” His smile showed his straight, pearly whites.

Marty quickly tried to think of a reason why he was exquisite, but came up dry. He rested on, “I’m an…only child. So I guess, I’ve had to teach myself a lot of stuff, you know. I had to play with myself – I mean, like, entertain myself, a lot.”

“Are you good with people?”

Marty thought about how much his parents wanted him out of the house. “Yes,” he lied. “Because you know, I had to teach myself social stuff too.”

“I see, I see. What position are you interested in?”

“Cashier.” The only question he already had the answer to.

“You like working with money?”

“Yes, sir. I’m good at math. And people, too.” He lied about the last part again.

“I assume you’re currently in school?”

“Yes, I go to East High, it’s only a few blocks from here. And, it’s only a few blocks from my house too.”

“East High, huh? I’m a West guy myself. QB for the Varsity team - as a freshman. Man, those were the days.”

Marty just nodded.

“Well, I guess I’ll put you on the night shift, so you can come in after school. Don’t have any after school activities do you?”

“No, sir. I’ve never been a sports guy.”

“Shame.” There was a long silence as Steve looked off into the distance.

“So, um, sir, are you saying I got the job?”

“Huh?” Steve snapped out of wherever he was. “Oh right, yes, if you want it, you got it. You’re actually the only kid that’s come up to apply. I think kids are scared of the fact it’s not open yet, like they’re walking into an open construction site or something. Like they need a hardhat to…” Steve trailed off. Hardhats – helmets – Marty figured Steve was probably back on the field, running old plays through his head.

Marty turned out to be a really good cashier. He had a clear speaking voice and was the only employee at the time with an ounce of patience.

And, he was good at math – even if it was just the simple kind. He could sometimes do the math of an exchange before the cash register’s drawer popped out. He worked the drive-thru window and the storefront counter. Sometimes he was the only cashier. Whenever that happened, work turned into an efficiency game for him. He would pivot instead of taking steps. He would take the drive-thru order, take the storefront order, then give the drive-thru order their food, and then return to the storefront with the correct food for that customer. He caught mistakes from the kitchen and fixed them – swapped fries for chili, swiped the pickles off the no-pickle order – all before it reached the customer. As far as cashiers go, Marty was top-shelf, maybe even “Wendy’s.”

He even picked up some kitchen skills to beat his personal records of efficiency. He learned how to work the Frosty machine. He learned how long to drop the fries, and how to safely remove the basket. He didn’t learn much on the grill, but it was never a big deal because he was always needed at the cash register. The Sunset Terrace location was busy – it was right in the hub of high schools and suburbia.

But now, staring at the modern machine, Marty regrets not teaching himself more.

He doesn’t even know if his boss was going to let him keep a job.

“Marty,” Steve greets him at the counter.

Marty nods.

“I see you met CSR,” he says it like the name Caesar.

“Caesar?”

“CSR. C-S-R. But you can just slur it all together and say Caesar – it’s more fun. Customer Service Robot.”

“Creative.”

“Well, they’re engineers, not naming geniuses.”

Marty shrugs and looks longingly at the four shiny screens. The bright screens shine a deep red – Wendy’s signature color. Images of the Bacon Deluxe and Spicy Nuggets flash by along with the phrases, “How may I help you?” and “Press start to begin.”

Marty sighs.

“Look, I know you’re not happy about giving up your cashier responsibilities, but you’ll have fun in the kitchen, I promise.” Steve says.

“I cut myself on the Frosty machine all the time.”

“Well, we’ll make sure – wait, really? We’ll get you someone to teach you how to use it then. I’m sure Cheryl knows how.”

“I’m surprised she still works here.”

“Of course she does.”

Marty gives him a side-eyed look.

“Well yes, I mean, I had to make a few cuts, but I kept most of the team, of course I did.”

“Who’d you let go?”

Steve pauses. “Nobody you know. All work the day shift.”

“Why’d you fire all day shifters? What if no one can cover their shifts because we all usually work the night hours?”

“All right, all right.” Steve waves his hand like shooing a gnat. He bites his lip. “Rebecca and Palo are gone.”

Marty raises his hands in protest. “What?”

“But so are Monica, Jones, and Cori – but you don’t even care about them.”

“Who are they? Day shifters?”

“See?”

Marty rolls his eyes. “Rebecca has kids. Two boys. I don’t have kids.”

“You’ve been here longer. What, you want me to fire you now?”

“No, no. I’m just saying.” He chews his bottom lip.

“I know you cared about Rebecca – “

“What? Says who?”

“I just meant as a coworker – you care about Rebecca, you care about Palo too.”

“Yeah I did, he had…a bike to pay for. It was always – the chain was always falling off.”

“Right, right. But don’t worry about them. Rebecca has her husband, who has a good paying job. She’ll find work better suited for her brain now in her free time. And Palo, he’s 17. He still lives with his parents. They’re fine, Marty.”

Marty nods slowly.

“You’ll come around. Now, go to Gary in the back. He’s there showing Cheryl the ropes.”

Marty purses his lips and concedes. He trudges to the back of the kitchen.

He finds his two remaining coworkers next to the deep fryer. They both smile at him, and Gary continues his drone.

As he tunes Gary out, Marty stares into the hot bubbling oil. The bubbles rising up and popping at the top. A rolling boil. Or a roiling boil? Marty didn’t know.

In the hot yellow liquid, he sees Rebecca, home with her two boys and husband. They’re huddled around the dinner table with a hot meal she’s made, authentic enchiladas. She’s smiling. She turns her head and gazes over at Palo, sitting in his house on a plush couch. He’s with his parents. They’re watching TV. Some cable show they always plan to watch together. Palo laughs at the screen and then turns to look at Marty. His face goes grim.

Marty sees himself in the boiling oil.

And then he sees himself.

#short story #story #short stories #robot replacement #fast food

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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7 Exit Popup Tips For Engaging Visitors Without Being Too Annoying

If you’ve been searching for methods to increase your conversions at once, exit popups are the number-one weapon that will most certainly get you there.

Pop-ups are an effective way to not only drive conversions but also reduce website abandonment and grow your marketing list when used intelligently.

According to one recent case study, the inclusion of an exit popup increased leads by an impressive 13% for an online marketing platform.

While these numbers seem to be small, when you add a high volume website traffic to the mix, it translates to a significant amount of conversions and email subscribers. It also goes into showing the incredible difference in the design and execution of pop-ups can have on the website conversions.

Contrarily, poorly executed pop-ups can belittle your overall customer experience. They may disrupt the customer in their journey to make the purchase forcefully and therefore, generate bad brand sentiment.

Even worse, obtrusive pop-ups may isolate customers from your service and either slow down or entirely stagnate the growth of your business.

How do you use pop-ups without annoying customers? Read on to find out!

1. Make the User Experience a Priority

The experience that visitors have when they land on your website until the time they are about to exit, plays an important role in forging a lasting relationship with potential prospects. Perfecting the UX and CX and engaging visitors is a challenge for all websites.

However, if you time your pop-ups right without interrupting the browsing flow of visitors, your exit pop-up can add to the user experience instead of interruption or distraction.

When a visitor’s behavior shows they are about to abandon your site, exit-intent popups show up at just the right moment.

For instance, Hubspot’s free exit intent popup software allows a site to trigger pop-ups based on the user’s behavior wherein one can set scroll triggers, time triggers, or page targeting to display at the right time and the right place.

It’s the timing that’s key to prevent the popup from annoying your visitors. It’s also worth limiting the number of popup appearances. A particular popup should appear only once to unique visitors. This way, your visitors won’t feel like they are being harassed with an offer.

In addition, a beautiful, tasteful, and most importantly, a simple popup is much less annoying than a flashy or incomprehensible one. So make every effort to design elegant overlays.

One example of a simple yet elegant popup is the one that the team at Coschedule uses:

2. Make Sure Your Popup is Clickable

There is nothing more annoying than a pop-up that the visitor can’t get rid of. Often the users will end up abandoning the website altogether if they can’t close the pop-up notification.

With an increasingly large number of users using mobile devices for browsing, this has become a major issue. Since the touch target is smaller, they face issues in closing the pop-ups adding to the annoyance of pop-ups.

Your pop-up needs to work well on desktop as well as mobile devices so special consideration needs to be given to the responsive design.

Designing the popups for mobile is something you need to keep in mind for ensuring engaging visitor experiences.

For example, this exit popup by Nick O’Neil has clickable text with a clear Call to Action (CTA) using the actionable verb “download”, and states the name of the guide, so interested viewers know what they will get when they take the action to click.

Ready to start using powerful popups for your website?

Book a free call to learn how our team of marketing experts can help you create high converting website popups today.

3. Embed a Progress Bar within the Exit Popup

A psychological phenomenon that causes people to feel uncomfortable upon witnessing incomplete situations or things is termed as the 'Zeigarnik Effect’. The majority of online marketers today utilize this phenomenon to generate leads.

You too can harness the Zeigarnik Effect to your advantage by ingraining an idea of incompleteness in your visitors’ minds. This can easily be done by adding a progress bar reading anything less than 100%. Your readers will then want to perform the required actions to get a full bar.

Here is one excellent example of how a progress bar can be embedded within the exit popup without coming across as too annoying.

4. Overcome Objections Commonly Faced by Customers

What if your prospect is faltering to make a purchase from you simply due to one small objection, and if you could overcome that, would it be the last nudge they need for getting converted to a customer?

Here are some of the most common objections that online visitors have, and the ways in which you can prevail over them:

I need to think about it first: People make any purchase based on emotion, therefore, if your website tries to nudge them on an emotional level all along, you’ll likely overcome this objection.

I will find a cheaper deal elsewhere: Demonstrate how you’re the best value or the best price around. You can also place a comparison chart on your website’s homepage.

I’m happy with what I have at the moment: Show them how their life will be far better once they avail of your product/service.

I don’t have the budget right now: Offer a payment plan. Or, justify your plan with calculations on how your service will actually save/make them money in the long run.

I’m not certain if it is the best-suited work for me: Offer a free trial.

I don’t have time right now: Throw in a limited-time bonus.

Sam Ovens does an incredible job of facing common objections that can cause visitors to bounce from his site, Consulting.com.

To better convert visitors, he provides a 14-day money-back guarantee, the choice to split payments out over time, and a special 6-month interest-free offer from PayPal.

5. Generate scarcity to grab a customer’s interest

“When our freedom to have something is limited,” Robert Cialdini says of scarcity, “the item becomes less available, and we experience an increased desire for it. However, we rarely recognize that the psychological reactance has caused us to want the item more; all we know is that we want it.”

It’s a well-known fact that scarcity (having less of something) greatly fuels a buyer’s impulse. Nobody wants to cast aside the increased probability of getting something they want, and it sure as hell doesn’t feel good when someone else gets it and you don’t.

Booking.com utilizes a popup during the reservation process to inform users how many other people are looking at the same hotel as them.

What it subtly implies is- “Better act before someone else gets your room!”

Use exit-intent related scarcity to get people to think twice before they abandon your website. You could offer a discounted price, but only for a limited time period or the first few who opt-in.

You could display a countdown ticker within the exit popup itself that shows how many more items are left at that price, and how quickly they’re getting sold. Here is an example of how you can do that:

6. Present a Survey

Surveys are an excellent way to learn more about your website visitors and how you can implement changes within your website to better meet their needs.

However, many websites set them floating at the wrong times, which makes for awful user experience.

Envision landing on a website for the very first time and being hit with a survey immediately about how your experience has been on the said site or, being right in the middle of a purchase, and getting cut in by a popup survey.

Both of these scenarios would leave you annoyed, right?

The best thing about exit popups is that they don’t interrupt you while you’re doing something on the page. This makes exit popups all-the-more suited for surveys.

You just need to make sure that you don’t encompass a survey on your homepage, or on any other page that wouldn’t be on the same wavelength as someone filling out your survey.

Here are some regularly named causes you can include to your website exit survey:

The information displayed regarding the product/service isn’t enough

The value of the product/service offered doesn’t match the price

Lack of trust for a new brand

The user flow or process (registration/download/checkout) is too complicated

Getting in touch with the technical support team is quite tedious

Here’s one intelligent example of a website abandonment survey by Qualaroo:

Always be deferential of your visitor’s time and don’t expect them to fill out a survey for nothing. Give them something in exchange for it, such as a free deal.

7. Leverage the Power of Reverse Psychology

Another reason visitors often bail on your website is that they’re simply fatigued. But as a matter of fact, if you can make them laugh or even smile, it will be difficult for them to turn a deaf ear to your parting offer.

For instance, the opt-out or ‘No’ link can read, “No, I’d rather not receive free deals in my inbox.”

In this case, seeing this link, the visitor will reconsider their option to opt-out and think, “Ok, why not?

I like free deals, I can read the emails when they arrive and decide later, ok I’ll signup.” KlientBoost uses the “pile of poo” emoji, those cute, smiling piles of poop, to lighten the mood:

“A choice can leave doubt in people’s minds if they did make the right decision or not,” said Krista Bunskoek on Wishpond.

“If someone said ‘No,’ that choice can linger on in their minds and there’s more likelihood of them coming back to your site anyway.”

Final Words

Finally, to summarize it all up, you just need to look into a few simple things to engage visitors with exit popups in an intelligent manner.

First and foremost, make the user’s experience a priority. Your website can include endless exceptional features but it's nothing if you can’t really keep your visitors hooked onto it, right up till they plan on exiting.

Then comes the fact that your website has to be responsive, no matter which device the visitor is accessing it through. The exit popup needs to be equally clickable across all devices and have a clear call-to-action. Because that’s the whole point of having an exit popup placed toward the end, isn’t it?

Grab your website visitor’s interest by embedding a progress bar within the exit popup so that they have a fair idea of how much more time they will have to invest within your website before they can acquire whatever they’re looking for.

Don’t leave a single stone unturned from your end. Overcome objections commonly faced by your website visitors within the exit popup in order to get their attention back to the ease of buying from/ investing in your brand.

Scarcity greatly fuels a buyer’s impulse. Use exit-intent related scarcity to get people to think twice before they abandon your website.

The best thing about exit popups is that they don’t interrupt you while you’re doing something on the page. This makes exit popups all-the-more suited for surveys.

Lastly, add a tinge of humor to your exit popup mix and you’ll see all the more conversions happening. We all like the one who can make us laugh, don't we?

The above-mentioned tips are just some of the ways you can design exit popups that work well in your favor.

You can choose any of these to harness maximum returns from this feature, the only thing to keep in mind is that you are looking to provide value to your customers and design a strategy that appeals to your target audience.

About the Author

Rahul Varshneya is the co-founder and President of Arkenea. Rahul has been featured as a technology thought leader in numerous media channels such as Bloomberg TV, Forbes, HuffPost, Inc, among others.

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#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230801

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filthy-reckless-rp · 7 years ago

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Congratulations Katherine! Your beautiful character Mia Salazar has been accepted. I honestly cannot wait to see this princess-turned-pauper in action (how much is a banana? Like $15?). I love how her soft and sensitive kindness contrasts with the fact she keeps everyone at a distance although I’m sure many will try to #breakdownthosewalls. With hugs. And puppies. Also, whenever we see ‘private’ Gossip Girl stirs maniacally in the background. Your para sample also had us on the edge of our seats!! Someone give this gal her own Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, I’m just sayin’. *How To Save A Life plays in the background* Okay...enough from me.

Please send your account in ASAP! Remember to open your ask and submit. We also have a Whatsapp group for members; if you would like to be added just let us know!

---Admin P

OOC:

Name: Katherine

Age: 21

Gender / Preferred pronouns: She/Her

Where are you from? / Timezone: UTC+08:00

How active are you? (please describe in words): I have one (1) maybe two free days a week and I will for sure dedicate at least a couple hours of those two days in flooding the dash

How did you found out about us?: A little bird (Maya. It was Maya) told me about this safe haven.

Mia Salazar • 22 years old • Advanced Emergency Medical Technician • FC: Shay Mitchell • OC • TAKEN

Biography:

“I am the one thing in life I can control, I am inimitable, I am an original.”

Filipinos are required two talents: singing and dancing. And those who do not have those talents become doctors. This was the course that Mia Salazar’s life was set on. And considering that her parents owned just about half of all the pharmacies in the Philippines, it was one that was not only expected but demanded. Which is why she did exactly that – she focused in high school, got the grades, and when the opportunity came she even volunteered as a junior EMT for medical experience during summer of junior year. Which is where our story, and Mia’s life, derails. See, she didn’t expect to love the field. But she did. She didn’t expect to get entangled in the thrill of being a first responder, of being the one person that had to essentially bring a person back from the brink before they even set foot in the hospital. But she did.

You can imagine her parents’ chagrin when she, their only child, announced that she wanted to attend Cuny Borough of Manhattan after graduation to pursue a career in being a paramedic. ‘A community college?!’ you could practically hear her mother screech from atop their Upper East Side penthouse. Needless to say, they were not happy. In fact, they flat out refused to pay the tuition (regardless of the fact it cost less than the things you could find in their bathroom cupboard) and told her that they would not offer any support until she got her act straight and decided to be ‘a real physician’. This did not deter Mia. In fact, it was practically the taste of freedom that she’d been yearning for handed to her on a silver platter.

Fast forward four years after high school graduation, and you’ll find that Mia’s come a long way from being another one of Constance Billard’s privileged princesses. With the first half having been spent accumulating training hours and barely-above-minimum wage funds at the back of an ambulance, she’s now in her second year of an Associate’s Applied Science degree. The experience, as well as the recent years of Broke Life independence, has put a bit of a stern edge on her otherwise ‘nice girl’ reputation. The fact that it was her own determination and grit that got her to this point – not her parents’ money or influence – has given her a confidence that she never thought she could have. What does it even matter that to this day she honestly doesn’t know how much a banana is supposed to cost? It’s as exciting as it is terrifying, but Mia’s instilled a sort of attitude in herself that says she’s not done discovering her potential quite yet. Does she have what it takes to keep going with her ambitions and dreams? Or will she end up crashing and burning, just like every cliche former trust fund baby that finds both their funds and rebellious streaks running dry?

You know you love me,

xoxo –Gossip Girl

Wanted Connections:

(I’m gonna put some wanted connections that you guys can jump on if you want :) (pls))

- a high school friend(s) that lost contact and they’re v v bitter about it??

- best friend(s) that unconditionally supported her and she them??

- college friend(s) trying to show her the ropes of life as A Normal Person Who Has To Work To Live

- previous patient

- roommate(s) that live in a cozy but also cramped apartment

Character’s Bday: 22 November

3 Virtues and 3 flaws, explaining each:

Virtues:

Heroic: The first time Mia saw a burning car, she had no idea that her first instinct would be to run towards it. But it was and it turns out it wasn’t just a one time thing. There’s never any conscious decision to put herself into a situation to help others – she just does it. It’s not just physical dangers either; whether it be a fire, someone being rude to a customer service worker, or a classmate forgetting a #2 pencil on exam day. If she can help, even in the tiniest way, she doesn’t hesitate.

Adaptive: Mia lives for life’s curveballs. Not only is she good at thinking on her feet, but she enjoys it as well. New settings don’t intimidate her, nor does meeting new people or trying new things. She’s a firm believer in trial and error and knows full well that complaining or feeling sorry for yourself never helped anyone accomplish anything.

Soft: Outside of the ambulance, the rigid persona (dubbed her ‘saving lives’ personality) is quickly shed to reveal the sensitive creature that Mia Salazar truly is. She listens to RainyMood around the apartment. She sold practically ¾ths of her wardrobe to pay for rent and textbooks, leaving her with only a closet-full of comfy sweaters and durable jeans. And cuddles? Forget about it – there is nobody else in the entire universe that loves comforting human (or fur baby) contact than Mia does. It’s therapeutic, really; if giving free smiles and warm hugs makes even one person she likes smile, then she will be the person to offer them.

Flaws:

Private: Being nice isn’t the same thing as being open, and Mia exemplifies that clearly. Because of the nature of her work, she’s left with basically no social life. But then again that’s also something she almost prefers. Small talk is an unusual skill that she’s actually mastered (because sometimes keeping a person talking is the only way to distract them from the fact that they’re bleeding out in the middle of Lexington Ave.), but when it comes to revealing anything personal she’s quick to deflect. It just seems like a waste of time and energy opening up to someone, if all it takes is a busy work schedule and a few disappointments to make them move on.

Impulsive: In hindsight, it probably would have been wiser for her to actually have a plan before abruptly taking her parents’ ultimatum, packing everything she could into a large Mulberry suitcase, and running off into the night. But she didn’t, and this trait is one that she unfortunately did not manage to grow out of. Because of her upbringing, consequences were never actually something she’s ever had to think more than two seconds about. And because of the literal life-and-death nature of her job, trusting her instincts is something that she’s been accustomed to do. So if Mia thinks it’s going to turn out okay (whether it be sprinting into a burning car or splurging on a new dress) she’ll do the thing now and regret the repercussions later.

Work-a-holic: Having become one of the people that actually had to work for a living just put gasoline into the inferno that was already Mia’s determination. But more than that, she genuinely loves her job. It’s the first real thing that she’s accomplished, that she’s pushed herself to be good at, and it’s good work (no matter what her parents think). So she drops everything for it. Anniversaries, dinner plans, a baby (once, when a friend asked her to hold it but then her phone beeped with a call from the hospital and she rushed to get away). Nothing is more important to her.

Para Sample (A couple of paragraphs, in third person, as the character you’re applying for):

“BPM dropping to 50.”

Mia had to stop herself from snapping back, because, yeah, she already knew that. Her eyes had been glued to the damn monitor as soon as they’d hooked it up to the patient. 20BPM and it’ll be too late, 20BPM and it’ll be too late – she chanted the words to herself again and again as she quickly and expertly maneuvered around the gurney to grab all the supplies she needed. E 80th St. sped past the windows and the first rule she ever learned in the ambulance came racing back to her.

No matter what, never yell for the driver to go faster. It never helped anyone, and those 0.5 seconds could’ve been spent doing something useful.

“Move,” she said, not unkindly but firmly, to the EMR next to her. She recognized the look on his face – the way he hovered too close to the patient, how his eyes seemed to be processing both too many things and nothing at all. Mia could sympathize, but didn’t. She already knew that he wasn’t going to be of any help and right now was not the time to deal with that. “I need you to get the atropine for me. Hey. Can you do that?”

It took a moment, but his gaze eventually ripped away from the patient and their quickly collapsing lungs to focus on her. Slowly, he nodded and finally got out of her way.

It didn’t look good, but then again nothing ever did in here. Mia’s jaw tightened as she watched the way the young man struggled to breathe, how only one part of his chest rose and the other was covered by a blotchy shade of deep blue. “Broken ribs,” she muttered to herself, reaching for a mask. Eyes flicking down, she noticed the nametag taped over his breast pocket. “Hey, Andre. It’s okay, it’s going to be okay. I need to put this on you, alright? We’ll get you breathing better, just stay with me.”

Andre’s eyes, half open but clearly dazed, barely seemed to register her presence. “O2, now.” she demanded, placing the mask over his mouth and nose.

They hit a speedbump, the one she knew was on right on 3rd Avenue, and Mia blew out a breath. “We’re almost there, sweetie. Hang on.”

But then a beep sounded, rapidly followed by more, and her heart sank as the monitor showed 30BPM. On the gurney, Andre’s body gave an abrupt hitch. “Atropine!” Mia yelled, scooting aside as the EMR sunk a needle into the IV lined into Andre’s arm.

“He’s not getting any oxygen,” he said, hands now shaking as they both watched helplessly as the convulsions got worse. He lunged forward, getting into position for CPR, but she intercepted him.

“His ribs are broken, you could puncture a lung,” she snapped.

“Then how is he going to breathe?!”

And this, this was the hardest part of the job. There was always somebody asking that question, and in all her five years of experience she never knew how to answer it. She didn’t know how to tell them that the hardest part wasn’t after her shift, when all she could think about was everything she could’ve done. It wasn’t even having to tell their family waiting at the hospital that they didn’t make it.

The hardest part had always been right before she lost a patient. In those minutes and seconds where she had to watch as all her options vanished in thin air. When they were still alive, but she knew that she couldn’t save them.

They got to Lenox Hill ten minutes later. Which was more than enough time for her to compose herself and give the awaiting medical staff a full report.

Because the second hardest part of the job was the one nobody ever wanted to talk about. The part where, right after you lose a patient, you’re not allowed to lose yourself. You have to shake it off, brush it away, because it was only halfway into the day and they just got another call about a fire up in East 95th. And Mia, with her five years of experience, was only now getting good at that.

#accepted

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yarnleo4-blog · 5 years ago

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Organised closet, organised life: What a career as a wardrobe stylist looks like

Anita Krizanovic is a successful stylist. On her website, one can see numerous fashion shoots for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Elle or Vogue and she styles TV shows, influencers and artists as well. Apart from that, she recently launched a new project: fashion illusion. As a wardrobe stylist, she helps her clients organise their closets and thus translating to an organised life. As her career shows, success does not necessarily have to be defined via a straight forward career path. FashionUnited spoke with her about her work.

How did you become a stylist?

When I was 16, I worked as a temp for Buffalo Boots in Frankfurt, Germany and in five years, I not only worked in the stores but also at fairs. That was my first connection with the fashion industry. After that, I reached my current styling career via detours. After graduating from high school, I trained as a fashion PR consultant - at a time when editorial was still sending out fax messages! After that, I studied marketing communication in Cologne and worked for various companies, among them Bread & Butter Berlin. In my late twenties, I finally fulfilled my childhood dream and studied fashion design in Berlin.

During my studies, styling was the topic when presenting my own collection; I started networking with colleagues and people in the industry and realised first projects already while still at university. During our practice semester, I had the opportunity to work for the first episodes of the TV show „X-Factor“ and that convinced me to make this my profession and start my own business as a stylist.

What does it take or what does one need to do to be successful as a stylist?

It is important to enjoy the profession and networking is also essential. The creative industry is constantly changing; especially social media has changed much in recent years. And one has to continuously assert oneself and keep at it. The most important thing is never to lose trust in oneself and the most beautiful feedback is happy customers. In the end, that it what defines success most clearly. More than anything else, those who want to work as stylists have to be realiable. Because one has to first gain the brands' and agencies' trust before one can borrow a collection. And of course, at the end of the day, one has to be good at one's job, and apart from creativity and networking, one has to know designers and trends, be good at organising and not lose the fun in fashion.

A few examples please: Which projects were you in charge of as a stylist?

Most exciting was working for a daily styling TV documentary that we shot all over Germany for a few years. I was in charge of styling and organsing more than 130 candidates and had to manage my own styling team. Here, we captured real women with real problems who got help with various wardrobe and styling problems.

Apart from TV, I worked as a stylist on editorials for Elle or Vogue, advertisements, music videos, e-commerce or celebrity outfits. Every job requires tackling it in a different way. One meets so many different people; after all, that makes the job so special, intense and diversified.

Which ones were particularly fun and why?

Particularly fun are projects with colleagues who bring a certain kind of energy along and who make sure that work does not feel like work. I like to remember my cover shoot for Elle Slovenia with photographer Suzana Holtgrave who lent me wonderful Chanel pieces. The whole process is always terribly exciting, from choosing the look via the enquiry and acceptance to delivering the actual production. Every time I am excited like a small child when big brands say yes and I open the parcels like Christmas presents.

Apart from the whole process, the biggest joy is the finished product, the completed music video or to see the celebrity on the Red Carpet or to open a magazine with your editorial in it or the happy private client who looks at you happy and content after your visit.

And what are the disadvantages of the job that nobody thinks about?

As is the case with most creative professions, work is omnipresent. There are no fixed timings to work or relax and one has to learn to take self-care breaks and to stick to them. As soon as I accept a job, my brain goes on overdrive and I start visualising the looks and prepare lists of what has to be done when; there is no off button for that. Also by now, I have many colleagues who have become friends so we talk about work even outside of work. I don't see this as a real disadvantage but one has to know one's limits and learn to know when they are reached.

I do see it as a disadvantage of how spontaneous one has to remain in this job. That also affects one's private life. Many times I have to cancel plans because a job has come in on short notice. I am very grateful to my friends and family for understanding this.

Recently, you launched your new project "Fashion Illusion". What prompted you to do this?

I first had the idea more than 15 years ago when I read an article about Kate Moss' wardrobe stylist at the time. The idea to organise closets for others, to shop for them and to style them fascinated me. I already saved the website name „Illusion Fashion“ many years ago and used it initially as a blog. Last summer, I remembered this moment and I said to myself 'if not now, then when?'.

The concept for Fashion Illusion was already there; I just had to tweak it and feed content to the website and since the beginning of the year, the wardrobe service is now online.

I realised how unsure people are when it comes to fashion and that I wanted to be closer to the end customer and help them.

What exactly do you do?

My motto is 'to have a well organised wardrobe is the beginning of a well organised life'. That means gaining confidence through analysis, clarity and structure and becoming the master of one's wardrobe. I offer different service packages; mainly it is an in-home service, meaning I come home to the clients and go through their wardrobe together with them. That also includes weeding out and gaining an idea of what is there and what is actually needed.

The most exciting part is the clients' wow-effect when they realise the connection between a lack of a clear view and purchase decision that are not smart or the surprised expressions when seeing the many potential looks that their wardrobe offers. According to their insecurities, I help them with type of figure, new job, new phase of life or occasion to find something that fits and more than anything to feel good for a long time.

Often, less is more. I do not want to primarily push new purchases or encourage consumerism but to first "shop" in one's own closet.

And to those who are already confident in their style or generally have less time, I offer services like personal shopping or cleaning out their closet. With my different packages, I have tried to cover all needs.

You have been called the German Marie Condo; how do you feel about that?

Marie Condo helps people clean out their past; I help people design their future. Marie Condo provides structures, how to best clean up; I, however, help people keep their own style and needs in mind and give each client individual advice.

What can each one of us do to consume fashion more sustainably?

Sustainable consumerism does not only mean switching over to organic qualities but to wear the clothes that one owns as long as possible and to make future purchase decisions more consciously. Because even a jeans made out of organic cotton takes 8,000 litres to produce.

Of course, one should not take the fun out of certain trends and can buy something that one does not really need but that should not always be the case and when buying something new, one should not buy impulsively.

As part of a TV documentary, I was at the second largest recycling plant for textiles in Germany and it is simply horrifying to see the heaps of clothes, partly unworn, that end up in collection bins.

This is why I help my clients select purposefully, advise about repair and care and depending on the state, suggest selling on various online portals or at the flea market. Or I help them make the right decision for donating the clothes, making sure they end up with people who need them. Regardless of what one decides to do, it is important to extend the clothes' life span.

Photo: Anita Krizanovic

This article was originally published on FashionUnited DE; edited and translated by Simone Preuss.

Source: https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/organised-closet-organised-life-what-a-career-as-a-wardrobe-stylist-looks-like/2019052828030

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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courtneybella-blog1 · 7 years ago

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Education!

Education: Success lows and highs

As a young female writer I want my voice to be heard in different forms i.e. poems, novels, articles, speeches and blogs. I have a university degree in English literature and film studies because I enjoy reading, writing and exploring education. I graduated last winter from London south bank University and the whole experience was overwhelming, emotional and happy at the same time. All my life I have been told I wasn’t good enough by teachers and bullies at school. Recently I have been feeling low moods and depression because once again I don’t feel like I’m good enough because I have tried to get a job but still haven’t succeeded. Applying for jobs and writing cover letters and CVs is the easy part but not being able to get interviews is the hard part. I have been on less than 10 interviews today and I have been rejected from all. I’m either overqualified for reception jobs or underqualified for high paid jobs.

Interviewer’s tell me I’m too young to work or I’m too nervous or have low confidence within myself and the most popular phrase is I need more experience and perhaps take on voluntary .As a young female in Britain today I feel misplaced everyday walking past the crowds of people rushing and catching a train or bus just to get to work on time. I’m always wondering when will it to be my time to work and gain the skills too. I need to feel like an adult and pay my own bills and purchase my own things instead of signing on at the job centre plus. The job centre makes me feel like I want to throw up every time I go there because the workers there undermine me for having a degree and not being able to get a job fast enough. I start shaking and I feel anxious so my brain shuts off and the room around me gets smaller meanwhile my chest is closing in on me. My work advisor is giving me homework assignments to find work and telling me to come in everyday meanwhile stress kicks in. My stress causes for me to get rashes, boils and my hair starts falling out and all I want to do is scream I cannot even pass the interview in order to get a job

It’s unfair that I studied for many years and still cannot get a decent job in a school, library, university or work for a media company which I’m really passionate about. I feel alienated from society because I barely have any friends and I’m single too. I cannot socialize in the real world without getting out my house and actually meeting new people. I have recently booked an appointment for counselling due to my depression and social anxiety. I don’t know who to talk to or confine in so I need to talk to someone about my failures and past and how it’s effecting my daily life. I spend hours and hours on my laptop everyday looking for work or talking to work agencies who invite me in for registration. I register with them and they promise within 2-3 weeks I will get a job but still no progression. I call and email them but still no reply or sometimes they will reply back and say my CV needs to be tailored more or my references haven’t been processed yet so it’s causes delays. Overall still no luck and now I feel like 2017 is not the year that I will shine. I look at my uni mates on social media via Facebook talking about job promotion and going on holiday and I end up feeling disparaged because I wish I was in the same boat as them. I have realised the world is full of rejection and nothing is easy but we have to keep trying as much as we can until we succeed.

I feel like due to my dyslexia it stops my brain from functioning properly and during job interviews sometimes I mix up my sentences and I’m not clear either. Honestly being dyslexic does not make you less smart than the 30,000 students in your university. As a dyslexic student some teachers would knock my confidence by telling me I wasn’t intelligent enough to complete my SATs test. From the age of 8 and upwards I was made to feel like the other because of my academic progress being a little bit slower than other students around me who were favoured by teachers. I used to get bullied in primary school which made me less confident than other students. Children at school would be condescending towards me specifically due to my dyscalculia. I felt alone, unworthy and isolated from everyone and now that cold feeling is coming back to me.

I remember teachers often saying your a slow learner its ok or you need to read books that are easier for you to manage. There were times when I felt bullied by the teachers and students which makes everything harder. It feels like your draining in failure and sometimes as a person you are so ashamed of your poor academic performance that you hide it from your own family. Now I’m embarrassed because I’m jobless, penniless and I feel like nobody is willing to give me a chance to even train and employ me. I want other students to know they are not alone in this and that there is a way out. A student can succeed through hard work, determination, dedication and patience. Sometimes you work so hard and you still do not get the prefect result or job but you have to wait on God's right timing and his rewards. Patience is the key to great success and real success. You do not want to end up with money alone it’s important to love what you do because without love your dreams won't feel like you are flying it will feel like you are walking through life.

If you want to dream big and dream huge then itâ€™s important to focus on the positive aspects of life. You do not need the prefect grades to make it in life all you need is knowledge, common sense and wisdom. As you can clearly see this world trains us to study for whole of our lives but at the end of the day by the time we finish with education we do not remember half of the things we learnt and it doesnâ€™t benefit us when we are unemployed either. This world is built for capitalists to control Marxists through slave labour such as working your whole life doing to many hours whilst getting less pay. This is the time where I have realised maybe I might have to pack up soon and leave just to find work in other countries because I cannot possibly be unemployed for another year.

Lastly anyone out there who feels like there failing in school or finding a job isn’t possible right now just don’t give up. Sometimes getting grades isn’t good enough even though it’s an amazing feeling to succeed in school. I remember opening my letter and looking at my GCSE results and being amazed at my wonderful grades to then opening my first sets of A-level results and crying because I didn’t do as well as I was supposed to. Grades does not define who you are! A teacher can only try and determined your life between 9am until 3pm. They do not know you on a regular basis and they do not know your hidden talents.

A work place cannot define your life because they don’t know your knock backs or your personal growth. As a writer I have focused on finding my own voice amongst the billions of writers out there and honestly writing this article makes me feel free knowing someone else will read it and actually take it in like absorbing the sea. If your feeling low right now as a young person trying to find your feet in the world well you are smart, determined, focused and you are a champion do not let anyone rule you. The world is competitive and society teaches us to compete with each other like a race but everyone is running in their own race. We won’t accomplish what everyone else is accomplishing because everyone’s path is different. After all we weren’t all designed to be the same instead we are similar as humans but also different which makes individuals unique.

Don’t let anyone define you just because they believe there beneath you and of course ideology plays a huge part in terms of controlling people. Many successful people in the world have dyslexia or they did poor in school and trust me everyone has their own struggles too. Some people successful entrepreneurs are wealthier than their teachers and school mates who might have possibly put them down. Also remember no job is beneath you so if you find a quiet part time in the library and you are happy with it then smile until something better comes along. If you find yourself working as a receptionist or as a customer service assistant then smile because at least you are growing and building skills as an individual. If you find yourself stressed, overwhelmed and depressed because life isn’t going your way and you cannot find your feet than seek help from work advisors, therapists and anyone who can help and guide you in the right way.

I will not give up on my dreams even though it seems easy to quit too. My own focus right now is to try and apply for my masters whilst trying to find a part time job. I’m even afraid and hesitant to do my masters. Recently people have told me my degree doesn’t mean anything anymore or its doesn’t apply to a job advertisement especially when I apply for recruitment consultant which clearly say, NO EXPERIENCE but anyone with any degree can apply. I have been turned down my many schools, offices, shops, libraries, media companies. Also even my own university rejected me when I applied for a one year’s paid internship as an engagement student officer.

All I wanted to do was get a job as soon as possible so I can help my mum with the bills and ease some stress off her. I feel guilty for being unemployed and now it’s really starting to affect me. I hope this article makes people realise that the working world is challenging and it’s very hard to get into but we cannot give up. We are the VOICE for the younger generation and it’s time to be heard. We aren’t quite as a mouse but we are roaring loud as a lion. We all need to work in order to earn money and buy a house, car and purchase stuff too and especially when we get married and have children a lot more expenses comes along the way. Lastly I appreciate all of the rejection and knock backs because in five-ten years from now the world will know me as a motivational speaker, writer, film maker and teacher to inspire people of all ages.

#education #motivational speaker #motivation #change #awarness

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