#and we couldn’t afford artificial ones

[selfconsciousfangirl]

I don’t remember being much of a Christmas person before. Life always got in the way, like the time I had to sit a university entrance exam on December 23rd. I was either busy working retail or wrapping up the school year and/or being deeply, clinically depressed. I rarely had the time or energy to put up Christmas decorations. Eventually I stopped doing a Christmas tree and focused on my nativity scene instead, which felt more meaningful to me for a variety of reasons. And then my dad died the week before Christmas and I gave up on the whole thing altogether. It took me a while to feel like doing even that much again, and sometimes I don’t end up doing it until December 24th.

Can’t even remember what was the point I was trying to make. I feel a touch disconnected from the seasonal mood, I guess. My dad was fun to buy presents for and got me truly special things. It’s just not the same without him, that’s just all there is to it. We adapt and choose what makes the most sense

[chronically-ghosted]

i'm empty without you, so come grow within me

AO3 Link | main masterlist | Joel Miller Masterlist

rating: explicit (18+)

pairing: joel miller x f!reader

word count: 9K

summary: with winter approaching, joel takes stock of what he wants and what he has in his life. he wants you, but he's not quite sure he has you, not in a way that only a life in Jackson can afford. joel's an old-fashioned guy, so he's looking for an old-fashioned love . . . if he can only remember how to do it right.

inspired by the songs 'why don't we just dance' by Josh Turner and 'the kind of love we make' by Luke Combs, this fulfills a request from @handsomehelmet for my 1k celebration (creativity struck and now i'm going to make it everyone's problem)

warnings: the nastiest thing i can possibly imagine which is romance and sincerity, some willie nelson lyrics, established situationship, no age of reader specified, body insecurity, feelings of unworthiness/shame, survivor's guilt, blatant disregard for old man knees by eating pussy on the floor, unprotected piv, a teenager bullying fully grown adult to quit being stupid.

a/n: i know everyone gets into a tizzy when Joel doesn’t name what Tess is to him in front of Bill and while there probably was a heaping amount of guilt that accompanied that omission, i wonder if it might be a bit more complicated: he simply couldn’t name one thing because she was all things to him. A friend, a lover, a guide, a support system, a protector, a partner. So he says it the best way he can: “she’s mine.”

come see what else we've done to celebrate 1K followers

By the fourth bag, all you can think about is a warm shower. 

A chance to scrub away the dirt smeared on your arms, your neck, probably your face. You’d brought your own work gloves to bag fresh dirt for the greenhouse, but the longer you work, more sprinkles of dirt find their way down the lip of your gloves. You can feel it against your palms, under your nails. The cold winter air lurks beneath the crack of the door, stifled from invading by the artificial heat provided by the generator just outside, and it stifles you too with its oppressive weight. You’re fairly sure the dirt on your forehead has turned to mud, sweat and damp earth encrusted on your dry skin. 

By the sixth, you doubt your shoulders will ever move again without popping. 

You know Joel’s already do. 

Never a particularly chatty man even in his best moods, the greenhouse had become stuffy with heat and silence, both you and Joel too lost in the work to find the energy to even fake idle chatter. But, knowing this about Joel and a certain degree yourself, silences with him were never a bad thing. That was one of the things you enjoyed most about being with him; you two could do your own things together. Many snowy days were spent with him stretched out on the couch, reading, and you working on writing your sheet music on the floor, his knee hovering over your shoulder with your back to the cushions – spent in total silence, and they are some of the fondest memories you had since coming to Jackson and falling into the third and final piece of the Miller-Williams household. 

Like with the end of the world, you weren’t sure how you got there until everything had fallen into place around you; Joel and his adoptive daughter had been just another group who were taken in by the town of Jackson . . . until they weren’t. Ellie was just another foul-mouthed kid who had seen too much and had too much taken from her . . . until she wasn’t. Joel was your occasional patrol partner and a fellow Willie Nelson fan. . . until he wasn’t.

Until that unmistakable line, one that seemed to be lost on a global scale beneath the blood and the gore and the grief, had been crossed when he asked you out for drinks and the both of you knew the evening wasn’t going to end in a nightcap. 

And then you were partners, even outside of patrol. Partners in re-enforcing a weakened part of Jackson’s outer walls. Partners in cooking, attempting to recreate an enchilada recipe Joel only vaguely remembered from a Tex-Mex hole-in-the-wall fifteen minutes from where he used to live in Austin. Partners when it’s snowing heavily outside and there’s not much to do except to read and, well . . . Joel was a fantastic partner in that.

Joel Miller was a great partner for a lot of things. He worked diligently, quickly and, unless the conversation was started by someone else, silently. 

He, in short, was not someone who was easily distracted.

Which, in combination with your own exhaustion and a desire to scrub the first layer of your skin off with a loofah, is why you feel a flare of annoyance when you look up and see him staring off into the distance. His fingers loosely grip the handle of the shovel, his palm resting over the curved point, Joel’s expression is nearly unreadable, except for the small crevice between his eyebrows. He stands, fixated on the greenhouse wall, as if watching the blurry Christmas lights from the town square, suddenly oblivious to the work you two have been doing for the past hour and a half. 

“Joel.” Nothing. “Joel!” 

You raise your hand to smack him on the leg when, without looking down, he asks:

“When was the last time I took you out?” 

“What?”

His weight shifts, holds the shovel by one hand now. You catch a sliver of frustration in those deep brown eyes as he looks at you. He wears what you and Ellie secretly refer to as his “pouty-mouth”, a classic expression when he isn’t getting his way about something but won’t draw attention to the fact that it annoys him.

“Tell me about the last date I took you on.”

You huff, standing up with a pop in your hips. Your knees are aching from kneeling on the cold winter ground and your skin fluxes between overheating under your jacket and stiffly frozen on your extremities. 

“Joel, c’mon, be serious. We’ve got three more –,”

“I am being serious.” Dumb-founded, you watch as he digs the tip of the shovel into the ground with a hollow chunk. Crosses his arms and continues to frown at you like you just suggested doing away with the Christmas holiday entirely. “We’ll get to this, but I want you to tell me right now what we did on our last date.”

You roll your eyes, humoring him. “Fine, I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but okay. On our last date, we . . . we did . . . you took me to . . .”

It’s your turn to frown. He raises a petulant eyebrow and it’s eerie how many times you’ve seen that exact expression on Ellie. 

“Okay, fine, so it’s been a while. We’ve been busy – we’ve all been busy with the winter season coming. All of Jackson has been out battening down the hatches. What does it matter if we’ve let things slide a bit?”

He doesn’t answer immediately, quiet in his Joel way. He glances out through the blurred greenhouse glass and maybe he was actually staring at the string lights hung over Jackson’s square. Normally, you didn’t mind being unable to dissect his every expression, every sigh, every carefully wielded silence, but when it came to you and his feelings about you – feelings that were always implied in those silences – you wished you had a little window, some hint, as to what rumbled on behind those earth-dark eyes. 

Joel drums his fingers on the handle of the shovel, unease rolling through his body as he shifts his weight. 

“Matters some,” he tells the ground. “With the holidays comin’ around . . . matters for Ellie – her first winter here in Jackson. Matters for Tommy, with that new baby of his . . .”

“Your nephew,” you supply as much as prod. Sometimes the only way to get an honest answer out of him was when he was just a bit pissed off and less guarded. Instead he just nods, gloved hand on his hip, thick jacket widening his already confounding broadness.

“It matters because it’s important. To me. It’s important to me.”

He meets your gaze and you’re struck full force again with that feeling like you drank too much of the Tipsy Bison’s shitty whiskey too fast. Same feeling that couldn’t be drowned even with the Tipsy Bison’s shitty whiskey when you shared a drink with him for the first time. When you managed to laugh when he bet you a whole day of stable cleaning duties that Willie Nelson and Chris Stapleton survived the apocalypse somewhere in a shack in Tennessee. Joel Miller was disarmingly funny when he wanted to be.

And even worse, disarmingly sincere.

You take his gloved hand in yours. You feel the sensation of his fingers threading through yours but not the heat you’ve grown so accustomed to. 

“Alright, then. What do you want to do about it?” You ask quietly, to the upturned collar around his neck, his green flannel peeking out from behind the zipper of his jacket. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s a lot of snow on the ground so that makes our options for date night kinda limited.” You scrunch your nose at him because you like to see the light in his eyes bloom when you do.

He chuckles, a rumbling sound, and he drops his forehead against yours, fingers tightening their grip around yours. Suddenly in your throat, your heart pounds. He’s never this affectionate in public. Maybe it’s those miraculously blurred greenhouse glass walls. 

His breath smells like that peppermint toothpaste that came in last week, infused with the warming-coil smell from the greenhouse. 

“Dunno yet.” He admits. “I’ll think of somethin’.”

“No ideas yet?” You raise your eyebrows against his forehead and he grins, shaking his head.

“Not yet.” 

“Then can I make a suggestion?”

“‘Course.”

“We finish bagging this dirt, then head home for a shower. In a really sexy way, obviously.” 

He huffs, smothering a laugh, and quick as lightning he kisses you on the cheek. But in the same movement, steps away and grabs the shovel again. You don’t have time to react to the fact he just kissed you for the first time outside of the four walls of his house before he’s scooping up dirt. You drop to your knees to pick up the bag again, your legs already weak.

“We both know you’re going to pass out on the couch the second we’re home.”

Your voice is steadier than you feel, as you look up at him. His face is flushed and that worry line between his eyes is gone. 

“You got me pegged, Miller. You got me pegged.”

Two days later, he stands in the middle of his living room, hands on his hips, surveying his handiwork. All of the furniture has been pushed to the far ends of the room, up against the walls or against the staircase out in the hallway. He’s kept the overhead lights off and put the standing lamps in the corners, bathing the room in a despondent glow. He thinks, after a quarter of a century never even entertaining something like this, it might be interpreted as romantic. He hopes you’ll see it that way at least. 

He hears it now, in his head, even though she’s out in the disconnected garage, snug and warm as he could have possibly made it – you worry too much, old man. 

Ellie knows there’s something going on between you two. Hell, the entire town has cottoned onto whatever this is; you’re often seen leaving his house early in the morning, and he’s been seen on occasion strolling up to your house with flowers. It’s not new, it’s not a secret, but it is . . . it just is and that’s about as far as he’s gotten. 

He hasn’t had you over for dinner with Ellie in that very specific way that very much needs to happen, as it often does when there is a new presence added to an established dynamic – as Maria often reminds him. But that almost feels like presenting your head on a silver plate to Ellie to either sniff with disinterest or tear into – both terrifying scenarios, even though they seem unlikely. Ellie does in fact seem to like you very much, as her riding teacher and occasional greenhouse buddy. But would she continue to like you in the context of you being one half of “You and Him” as a pair? Together. As a couple . . . of people who are seeing each other, whatever that means in a world filled with the most aggressive form of fungus imaginable. 

This life in Jackson, this fragile second chance to remember and rekindle his own natural instincts, is too precious to bet on a question like that. 

So he doesn’t ask it. At least not out loud. 

That’s one of the things he likes so much about you: his silences aren’t entirely indecipherable and often are encouraged by your own. Except this silence about this particular thing doesn’t feel like one of your shared, comfortable moments and instead it’s encroaching rapidly into avoidance. 

Standing in that greenhouse and seeing the string lights over the town square reminded him of a long ago Christmas, dancing with his favorite person under a Christmas tree, and how good it made him feel. How special it made him feel. All these years later, safe in a way his body has almost forgotten, there’s an urge he has to share that feeling, to recreate it under entirely different circumstances, with someone new. Someone else. To not try and fight the smile that constantly threatens to buoy up every time he’s around you. 

It’s foreign, that feeling in his chest, but it’s not entirely alien, at least not of late. 

He knows he’s white-knuckling it because he knows firsthand how painfully quick it can all be gone. Taken away. Left and buried by a black river while the world burns.

But he’s worried he’ll crush it with how tightly he holds on. How hard he begs a silent universe for it to last just a little bit longer. 

His knees ache, his left shoulder goes tight when it rains, his body is not what it once was, but his mind is still there, still clear, and he remembers how romance used to feel, where it used to reside in his younger body, and as he stares out at the cleared room, listening to your footsteps overhead as you attempt to follow his vague instructions to “make yourself feel pretty” (because you already were to him, even covered in dirt and sawdust), he thinks this feels like the old world. An old world romance. It’s foreign, that feeling, but for the first time in a long time he doesn’t want to hold it at arm’s length.

“Joel?” You call from the top of the stairs, your voice tentative and cautious. But not cautious like you peeking around a corner to look for clickers. But cautious as in unsure, doubtful. You are a woman made up of a lot of things, with foundations unlike he’d ever seen before, but doubt is not a part of you. You never doubt him. 

“Yeah, baby?” Your nerves make him nervous and he futzes with a lampshade while waiting for you.

“Are you done down there?” 

He has to breathe slowly through the fluttering beneath his breastbone before he can answer. “Yeah, baby, all finished. You can come down now.”

“Okay . . . but you can’t laugh.” Him, laugh at you? There’s the instinct to smother the faint grin that spreads out across his mouth, but he told himself he wasn’t going to fight whatever came across his face tonight. If you see it, then you see it and he’s come to accept that. 

(Maybe even want that.)

He shakes his head, his only pair of nice boots (a thank you from a former rancher when Joel fixed his family’s heater) clicking on the hardwood floor as he stands at the bottom of the stairs. You must be hiding behind the wall because he can’t see you. 

“I’m not gonna laugh, sweetheart. Why d’ya think I’d laugh?” 

Silence faces him at the top of the stairs, and then:

“Because quite frankly I forgot my tits could look like this and I don’t know how to feel about it.” 

The snort that comes out of him is a poor attempt to muffle the chuckle. He thumbs the wood finial at the top of the bannister. 

“Can’t remember ever having any complaints before and I don’t think I’ll have ‘em now, no matter how they look.” 

“Whatever, Miller, you’re just a horn dog.” 

He rolls his eyes, fingers rubbing anxiously together at his side, as if he could tug the fluttering out of his chest. He leans on the other foot, the one with the bad knee, to adjust the slightly uncomfortable tightness in his jeans. A dark swirl in the second step of the stairs has become wildly interesting.

“Baby, just come down here. I’m not gonna laugh. Promise.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that,” you grumble, still out of sight. “I know where you keep your feral child and I will not hesitate to let her loose on you.”

Joel nods, grinning faintly, still focused resolutely on the whorl in the floor. “That’s a real big threat from someone who –,”

The words die in his throat.

In fact, he’s quite sure he won’t be capable of speech for a very long time. 

That foreign feeling – that feeling he’s worked for twenty years to suppress – is ignited in his chest. 

You walk, no, maybe you float down the stairs in the most stunning red dress he’s ever seen. It’s definitely not yours – he knows every inch of your closet because he had inspected it studiously when you offered to keep some of his clothes at your place and he was trying very hard to delay putting a handful of his belongings beside a woman’s things in a move that felt heart-stoppingly domestic. 

No, he has never, ever seen you in this dress. 

Come to think of it, he’s never seen you in any dress and you were entirely correct that your tits look wildly different. Fantastically different, but –

“Maria didn’t have any heels that fit me to go with the dress,” you announce airily, your chin up. But your eyes dart over his face as if looking for something you need to find. “But it’s fourteen degrees outside, Joel, and I’m not doing whatever this is in just socks because that’s ridiculous so you’re just going to have to deal with the boots.”

The Boots. The ones you wear while crushing clicker skulls and tending the stables. They still bear damp spots from where you tried to clean the blood and dirt from the leather.

It’s rather incapacitating how arousing he finds this particular combination.

So much so, he doesn’t realize he hasn’t said anything in a full minute until you bark at him, a cold tinge of panic in your voice.

“Joel!” His eyes snap to yours. Of course, you’re fucking beautiful – your eyes seem bigger, cheeks pinker, mouth wet – fucking Christ, where did you get make up? 

“Say something!” Those rosy lips drop down and to his horror, you’re upset. “Please!”

“B-baby, you look . . .” He doesn’t mean to grab your entire ass in one hand; he just wants to feel as much of that velvet on your skin as possible. You stumble into his arms, another something that is so unlike you, as he tugs you forward. Bends his lips to your ear to discover how fast you’re breathing. How fast your pulse races in your neck. The shudder that breaks the rigidity of your body when he brushes his mouth, the short bristles of his beard, against your skin is no surprise; you told him exactly what that sensation does to you in no uncertain terms the first night he ate you out on the table of your kitchen. “You look incredible.”

Your fingers bite into his biceps. Push back out of his arms, despite the obvious warmth in your cheeks. You level his arousal in a single glare. “Joel, I asked you not to tease.” 

Tommy once told him he was a pain in the ass to be around sometimes because he displays every negative emotion as anger and so it’s damn near impossible to figure out whatever it was he was so bent out of shape about.

Sadness as anger.

Shame as anger.

Guilt as anger.

Fear as anger.

With your fingers balled up, it's the tremor in your fists that gives you away. 

He had genuinely intended this to be a quiet night away from the cafeteria, away from the Tipsy Bison, away from anyone else. He wanted you all to himself and in his greed, he didn’t see it until he saw it in your eyes. 

How vulnerable being pretty made you. How vulnerable privacy made you. 

How being vulnerable made you so deeply, deeply afraid. 

Almost as afraid as he was. 

Without a word, he turns to the record player, strategically hidden behind the couch and puts on the carefully selected record. The silent scratches for a moment before –

Your eyes widen as Nelson begins to sing his most beautiful love song (in Joel’s humble opinion). Your shoulders slacken, hands lose their grip, you blink up at him in total bewilderment. You aren’t an indecisive person, you’re quick as a whip, rarely confused – so this befuddled look on your face is kinda cute. 

Tucking that rare look on your face away for another time, Joel wanders to the center of the room, in the heat of the light from the fireplace, his good boots clicking over the wood. He opens his arms, hand out to you.

“Let’s try something new tonight.”

I'll always be with you for as long as you please

For I am the forest but you are the trees

The decision you make is a visible one. 

Your palm is warm, weighted as it slides over his. This time his hand respectably settles on your waist, then on your low back when (to his surprise) you come closer. He’s delighted to watch you smile at him, distantly aware of the stretch of his own on his face. 

Willie strums on his guitar, crooning softly, the sound warm and deep. With the weight of you against his chest, that feeling crackles like the flames over the wood logs in the fireplace. You drop your head, turn your cheek, and just before you come to rest on his shoulder, he sees your smile slide into a smirk.

“New, huh? What’s new look like for a sixty-five-year-old man at the end of the world?” Even with teasing, your voice is soft and sweet, the soft powder of cinnamon. Slowly, as if not to startle either one of you, he leans his chin against your forehead.

“You n’ I’ve been burning both ends, keepin’ the lights on. New to us is having a goddamn break.” His voice is low, meant only for you, and in the tremble of his deep bass, the words elongate in his mouth. He brings your intertwined hands just under his chin and when that goes well, he tightens his grip around your back, drawing you flush against him. It reduces the dancing to more of a sway but Joel can’t find a single thing to complain about. You gently tap the pad of your middle finger in the hollow of his collarbone to the beat of the song.

I'm empty without you so come grow within me

For I am the forest and you are the trees

And the heavens need romance so love never dies

“‘N ‘m only fifty-six, jackass.” 

You grin, twisting in his grasp, rub your nose on his chest to wrap your arms around his neck. He clutches to your back like a key finding its lock. 

You'll be the stars dear and I'll be the sky

And should any of this find us let them all be forewarned

That you are the thunder and I am the storm

“This is nice, Joel,” you murmur in his ear. The backs of his arms are growing warm by the fire. He presses his lips to your exposed shoulder, unsure of what to say, or what not to say, only nodding. He closes his eyes, trying to hold this moment forever in his memory. The soft flare of your waist, the winged-spread of your ribs, beneath his hands brings him back into your arms.

"Yeah?" Quiet, into your skin as if to muffle the question entirely, to muffle the unsure wobble in his voice. "It's good?"

He feels you nod beneath his chin, the smell of fresh soap escaping from the back of your neck, and the clamp around his throat loosens. He breathes, unimpeded for the first time all night, a low exhale taking the tension from his body as the air leaves his lungs.

Relief. A sinking down into the moment, into your arms.

You chuckle with your cheek against his chest and he feels the vibrations down to his stomach.

"Yeah, Joel, you did good. Really good." With the hand he holds in the air, you rub your thumb over the knuckle of his thumb, soothing. It used to bother him you could read the lines of his emotions as well as you read a book, as well as you write your own name, effortlessly, as if you had been given a guide no one ever thought to show him. But now, now that you understand how much this means to him, that you know he needs to be told he made you happy, it's more than relief. It's an unburying – a resuscitation of pieces of himself (seed-like bone fragments) that he thought had long since died in the soil of his ribs. "Thank you. I needed this."

He wants you to see the whole of him. Lift up an antiquated silver plate and show you the dents and scratches in his reflection. When you kiss his cheek gently, the hope floating in his chest flares, a solar explosion with tendrils that reach into the blackness of space and it asks him, what would you do to keep her?

Everything. Anything.

He shuffles closer, feels the warmth of your body lined up against his, the clean scent beneath the edge of your jaw blooming in his nose and throat. The hope hums, pitches dark like the forest floor in the rain, and grows teeth. His want for you digs into his skin and evolves into a needy, unsatisfied thing.

“Where’d you get this dress, hm?” He asks, lips half an inch from your shoulder. It falls and rises, never catching on your skin as he plays with the fabric. He runs his palm up your spine, the velvet coming with him, and watches as the swell of your thighs and the tease of your ass is revealed. Dirty old man. “‘N who do I have to kill to get you to keep it?”

You laugh into his neck. He wonders if you’re intentionally twisting his curls at the base of his neck to send sparks of arousal down his spine or if you are completely unaware of the cause of his insanity. Your hands are littered with scars and calluses and every time you touch him, he could melt through the floorboards.

“They found it in some strip mall and were actually going to strip it down for material. But Aaron at the sewing center owed me a favor and you said wear something nice, so . . .” You thumb the lip of his collar, your fingertips brushing the knot of his spine every time you drag your fingers back and forth. 

And I'll always be with you for as long as you please

For I am the forest and you are the trees

He knows you well enough to know that something lingers in your mind, but even after all this time, even after what he’s seen with you, been through with you, the things he’s done to you – he isn’t quite sure if he has the right to ask. 

Instead, he squeezes you. He means to do it just with his hands, but ends up swallowing you in his arms. 

Your mouth is pressed up against his chest when you finally go on. 

“It just seems silly to keep, Joel.” 

The high he’s been riding on all night falters, since you first walked down those stairs to him. Your eyes are wet when he pulls back and cups you by your cheek. He stops swaying with you.

“Why’s that?” 

There it is, that all too familiar flicker of fear. You can’t look at him, despite his every touch, his every glance pulling you into him, to be near him. 

“Because other people should have it. They should have a chance to . . .” 

You withdraw your head from his hands, his thumb brushing your jaw as you retreat. He might actually lose a piece of himself if you let go now, but instead you clasp his wrists in your fingers. You stare at your hands and his between you, as if this whole thing between you could solidify at your feet, finally real. 

Willie has stopped singing, only that musky drone on an empty track.

“Someone else should have a chance to feel pretty, to feel this way, because it shouldn’t be wasted and I’m afraid – I wonder if –,”

He knows he’s being a bit too rough when he takes your jaw and straightens your gaze to him, but his heart might fly out of his chest before he has a chance to say anything. His stomach turns, not knowing he’s not at the peak of a roller coaster drop, that he’s standing on solid ground, even if it swims under his feet.

“What you feel is not wasted.” A murmur, stern, as steadily and as serious as he possibly can be.

That feeling aches in his chest and you haven’t even gone anywhere. You haven’t left . . . yet. “What this is, is not wasted time. I spent twenty years wasting time, looking for something that wasn’t there, and with you . . . I can’t say I’ve found it –,”

“Why? Why can’t you say you’ve found it?” Your grip around his wrists tightens, eyes hard. “Why can’t you name it, Joel?”

“Can you?” He pulls his hands out of your grip and you let him go. “How can you ask for what you want when you can’t even ask to keep this dress?” 

“Because I don’t deserve it!” It’s not silence that follows; it’s emptiness. You face away from him, pressing the heel of your hand into your brow bone, teeth slightly bared. Your arm bars across your stomach like you are literally holding in your guts. Finally, you lift your head, the few scant tears on your face sparkling in the firelight. “I don’t deserve you, Joel. I don’t deserve any of this. Ellie, the way she . . . I’m here, warm and happy, acting like the fucking world hasn’t ended. Playing house, playing pretend. Pretending like I’m your –,”

You swallow the words caught in your throat, gaze leaping away from him. At your side, your hand trembles again. 

Oh, honey, the shit I’ve done . . . 

With wide, wet eyes, you watch him approach. He doesn’t look at you, instead seeing exactly where he’d like to put his lips on your stomach beneath the fabric. 

“Then what do you want, hm?” There’s a fold in the front of the dress and he runs his fingers along the edge of it. “We can’t fix it. Can’t go back ‘cause there’s nothin' to go back to. I don’t care what you had to do to get here, right here, with me because I’m so fuckin’ glad you are. I’m not pretending, not wasting my time, never was. ‘Cause you’re right.” 

Your hand over his stills his endless roving and then it stays, scarred hand over scarred hand. Your gesture says something to him, something so meaningful he has no idea how to put it into words. He swallows his attempt and instead, slowly, drags both hands over your hips, where they stay. Heavy against the velvet. 

You rest your own against his forearms, neither pulling him in or pushing him back. 

“I was right about what?”

His eyes flick to yours and maybe it’s presumptuous, maybe he really is an old man afraid of his feelings, or maybe living this long – despite everything that ever tried to make it otherwise – living this long has granted him the privilege of knowing with perfect clarity what you’re thinking when you look at him like that. How he wants to whisper it back to you and he decides he will the next time your skin is warm and tacky, body helpless beneath his. 

Your eyes shamelessly track the brush of his tongue against his bottom lip.

“That you’re mine. Just like I’m yours.” 

The hands at his forearms glide up to his chest. The rims of your irises have gone a bit blurred, a bit unstable, and you can’t decide whether to look at his mouth or his eyes.

“Joel?” Suddenly breathy, all begging, pleading.

“Hm?”

“Get me out of this fucking dress.” 

When your lips crash into his, his entire world narrows down to where on his body, yours touches: 

your rough hand cradling his cheek, the other fisting the collar of his shirt. His fingers digging into your skirt, the heat from your thigh nearly driving him to tear straight through the fabric to get to you. Your sweet, perfect mouth smeared against his, lips puffed pink, nose to your cheek. 

That warm, wet cunt he thinks he can feel through his boxers, jeans, the dress and your underwear. 

It’s not enough. 

The cry you let out is some mangled mix of a moan and his name when he licks the soft supple skin behind your ear and nips your earlobe.

“Baby, please – please – bedroom, we have to–,”

He grunts his disapproval at your words, overwhelmed by the scent that makes his mouth water as he stains the column of your throat with wet, humid kisses. 

“Joel, c’mon, honey, just upstairs –,” 

The last flickering tiny speckle of logic in his brain fights with itself; take your right here or haul you over his shoulder – which isn’t great for his back and, quite frankly, he intends to spend most of the night on his knees. 

First option it is. 

You mumble in confusion, eyes shut, chin brushing the thread of gray curls on the top of his head as he purposefully sucks a bright hickey into your collarbone, one hand cupping your breast, the other pushing you backwards. You go willingly, of course. 

Until the backs of your legs hit the couch and there’s nowhere else to go. In the stumble, your dress rides up even higher and those thighs he’s actually lost sleep over appear to him. He drops to his knees, hands like meat hooks as they squeeze your waist, pulling that warm cunt even closer to him over the edge of the couch. You groan when he pushes the skirt up even higher, practically to your tits, as he explores your outer, then inner thighs with soft strokes of the back of his hands. He presses his nose to the crevice between your thigh and hip and inhales. 

“B-baby, the windows,” you swallow thickly, slurring like you’re drunk, grabbing at his shoulders like you’re trying to steady yourself, or turn him towards the windows. “I mean – the curtains, baby, the curtains are –,”

“It’s a fucking blizzard outside,” he explains tersely with his eyes still closed, as if irritated to have a conversation instead of focusing every ounce of concentration he has to the heat and smell beneath your black panties. He drags his teeth over the elastic band around your hips and makes you whine his name for an entirely different reason. 

You don’t make him stop or wait when he tugs those panties down your hips. In fact, you help, lifting your hips, the irises of your eyes so wide and black, you look halfway out of your mind.

Good.

He gathers the skirt he was once so fond of and stuffs it into the cushions behind you. You watch him as he moves, eyes half-lidded, finger scraping your bottom lip. Around his ribs, your knees dip back and forth, moving targets, like he’s forgotten why he’s here and needs reminding. 

His big paw, the size of which makes you feel indescribably small, catches your knee and stills it, gaze dark and heavy. Do not test me right now. You try not to moan. 

“Can’t believe I’m going to let you fuck me with my boots on,” you whisper airly, watching with delirious fascination as he puts one of your slender legs over his shoulder. His mouth is actually watering at the sight of your damp curls. 

“Not gonna fuck you. Just gonna eat your pussy. You’ll know the difference.”

“Semantically, it’s the sa-a-me thi-ng, Jo-e – ah, Joel!” 

His tongue up inside you turns you into a whiny, high-pitched, feminine mess. He eats like he does everything else: diligently, quickly, and silently. 

Until you bury your fingers in his ash-flecked curls and tug. 

That first deep, loud moan ripples through his body, rolling him up just off his heels, his crotch seeking some kind – any kind – of friction. 

The feel of his mouth humming against your cunt has your eyes rolling back in your head. “Please, oh fuck, please –” 

You are a grown woman. You should not be making these noises. 

You also shouldn’t be using a man’s face to get off . . . but you do it anyway.

“Tha’s it, baby,” he mutters when your hips grind against his face. His nose catches your clit and around him, your thighs wobble. “Use me, fuckin’ use me.” 

His grip around your calf over his shoulder turns rough and he knows he’ll bruise you, but fuck, the thought of you walking around town with a mark in the shape of his hand where everyone can see —

He briefly lifts his grip from your thigh to adjust his iron-hot cock in his jeans. From his view over your cunt, it doesn't seem like you noticed, or even saw him leave your skin. He watches you writhe, try to capture your breath, eyes crammed shut as your hips rock almost without your control. He takes a chance to lick the musky dampness from his upper lip when your cunt rolls back from his face a fraction of an inch — and then he sinks in again.

Call it age or the fact that you both are here at the end of the world, but the first night he ate you out, you told him exactly how and where you like it, unabashed and in control and honestly it’s the hottest thing he can think of in recent memory. 

He would have written it down on the backs of his eyelids if he could. 

He follows it to the letter.

“Joel – Joel, baby, please don’t stop –,” You buck and moan beneath him as he spells out your instructions with his tongue along your cunt. He dots the i’s with a tap of his tongue or a lick on your clit. Just inches above his head, your chest heaves, your fingers locked into his curls, gently pushing him closer to your puffy pussy as if he’d ever waste a drop of what leaks out of you. 

With a flat-tongued brush against your suffering clit, you arch off the couch, your sighs now verging on desperate, high and whinging, because it’s just not fair how good he makes you feel. He can feel your foot curl against the planes of his back, the rubber heel heavy, your mouth open and wet, with your eyes locked on the ceiling as you try to ride out your humming orgasm with a semblance of control.

“Look at me.” 

No other man has ever been able to make you come with just his mouth, you told him once.

And no other man ever will. 

It’s sweet, the way your eyes soften briefly when you lock eyes with him, crouched between your thighs — before your head tips back, lips wrenched apart in a silent scream, and you come, as hard as he has worked for the flush of slick down his chin.

There’s goosebumps on your thighs, he notes. He rubs his thumb against your raised skin and you shudder, head rolling against the back of the couch.

He’s already feeling a slight twinge of shame at the noise his knees will inevitably make when he stands, but for now he’s content watching you glide down from your high, his head against your knee, shoulders still stretching your legs open wide. 

To his delight, you manage to laugh, your hand draping over your eyes. You can see the shine of the dull light all across his lips, his chin, his nose and you have to close your eyes. He should make you lick it off him, but not tonight.

“Top marks, Miller, as usual,” you mumble, “but the threat of voyeurism really deserves the extra credit.” 

He grins. Still waiting for your breath to slow, he wipes his mouth with his palm and slides the leg over his shoulder down in between his own thighs. Propped up on one knee, he begins to unlace your boot. He holds your calf like it’s delicate as he gently drags the boot over your heel. 

He’s just as reverent with the other side. 

And then your boots, the pair, sit at the end of his couch, like they were always meant to be there. 

His heart, easing down from its own thunderous beat, squeezes and that feeling, that strange-not-so-strange feeling, the one that dictates practically every action with you, dribbles into his veins. 

You open one eye. A flutter of lashes, coy and playful, the curve of your mouth guarding a hoard of secrets.

“Now, Joel Miller . . . will you take me to bed?” 

It’s a question. A request. Your eyes, as dark as ever, on his warm his chest, all the way down his spine. You’re asking, politely, for a thing you both know he would never, ever deny you. 

He cannot lose you, he just can’t. 

He stands and, yes, his knees crack and pop, but he regains stability when he toes off his only good pair of cowboy boots. He nods, grinning, and offers you his hand.

The walk, half-run up to his bedroom is something his brain designates as not important enough to store away. 

Instead, it languishes in the way you stretch out on his mattress before him, ass in the air, knees spread over his blankets and arms sliding through crumpled sheets towards the headboard. 

The room is dark, the only light fighting its way through the downpour of snow comes from the lamp posts that dot the street outside. But the veil of snow warps the light and everything in the half-darkness is doused in blue. 

The shadowy, blurred curve of your shoulder, blue. 

The spread of your fingers on his mattress, blue.

The swollen bottom of lip of your mouth —

“Joel.” 

The snow falls so fast and hard, it patters against the windows and the sides of the house. It’s the only thing he can hear over the pounding of his heart and the short breath in his lungs. He stares at you, soaking his blankets in your scent and slick, and you stare right back in utter and total silence. 

You sit in the center of his bed, bare for him beneath the velvet dress that is red like blood, your patchy white socks at complete odds with your smeared make up and the fucked-out look in your eyes. But there’s something else there too. 

Something softer. Gentler. 

You reach out a hand to him and he goes to you, like always. The instant your skin touches his the instinct to fuck you hard until you’re bruised and crying evaporates. He doesn’t think you want that anymore either. 

No, you need — 

“Joel, please come here. I need you.” 

You need him.

The mattress squeaks when he settles one knee and then the other on top of it, his fingers stroking your ear, brushing the tips of your hair, while he kisses you with an ache that is not physically manifested. Instead, it resides —

“I love you,” you whisper. 

You pull back infinitesimally, just enough that your eyes are all he sees. 

A patient silence hangs from the ceiling. The sound of snow falling. Of baited breath. The scratch of your fingers against at his beard —

“I love you too.” You smile and his body is no longer big enough to contain his heart. “I feel like I’ve always loved you. Is that strange?” 

Your gaze traces the same path your fingers take when you think he’s sleeping; it runs over his nose, his forehead, his eyebrows, the plush curve of his lips. Like you can’t believe he’s there with you. Like you can’t believe he’s real. 

That feeling — that feeling he had been fighting because it always was the only thing that would ever really do him in — is love. He loves you. 

He loves you.

And you love him. 

Didn’t think they told stories like this anymore, not in a world like this. So maybe, for once, Joel Miller just got lucky. 

“No. It’s not. Just be sure you mean it.”

He can't tell if the glow in your eyes comes from within you or it beams out of him. “Every word.”

Eventually, he sheds you of his favorite dress of yours, your only dress, and he lays you back, fully bare in the nest of his blankets. In the corner of his bedroom, the heater hisses like the wind from a purple storm, the static crackle of warmth hovering in the air. You watch, with eyes that shine like stars, as he pops apart the pearl-snaps holding his shirt together. 

And then his white undershirt goes next. He used to worry what he looked like, until he found someone else who had done exactly what was necessary to survive. 

When he goes to unzip his pants, you sit up, hair mussed and the hickey he gave you earlier throbbing like a dream. 

“I wanna do it.” 

He lets you unbutton his jeans, slide the zipper down, at the edge of the bed, but your hands are shaking, your breath stunted.

“I’m fumbling like a teenager,” you huff, a small, flustered smile on your face. “It’s like I’m nervous, but what is there to be nervous about —,”

His mouth pressed up against yours creates the most beautiful silence of all. 

How do you want me, you ask him and he thinks, all the time. But he takes you both under the covers and settles in next to you. He positions one leg over his hip and immediately you know exactly what he’s asking for. Quick as a whip, you are. 

There’s a rustle of covers, the bed slats squeaking, and then he’s nearly nose-to-nose with you. You kiss him again, maybe nervous still. 

He disconnects, when you slip between his legs and take his thick, leaking cock in your hand. 

“Baby, wait, do you need — I know it’s a lot — I’m a lot –,”

He can’t fathom why he’s so nervous either. But you chuckle, shake your head, smile at him. 

“Don’t need anything but you.” 

Your leg wraps tighter over his hip, knee up to his ribs, as he sinks inside you. The palm wrapped around the back of your knee grips roughly only once.

This is true silence. The instant where the world goes muted, everything distant and muffled, when he’s first buried deep in your heat. 

Your fingers thread through his curls and suddenly all sound is cranked up to an eleven. Your rapid, stilted breathing, the groan of the bed, your soft smothered moans, or are those his? —

“Fuck me, Joel.” 

Eyes never leaving yours, he does. 

Your fingers dig into his skull, nails biting, hand wrapped around his neck to hold yourself steady as he thrusts up into you. He thumbs your stiff nipple, half of his hand still grasping your ribs. 

You meet him thrust for thrust, a slow steady pace that draws sweat to his hairline and endless gasps from his mouth. But your gaze stays strong, never falters. Your hand slips to his shoulder, to stabilize just a bit more, but then it's on his chest, twisting his chest hair and he thinks he feels that sparkle of sanity, of rationality, any restraint to hold back crack and shatter between the clench of his teeth. 

“Goddamn–,” 

He rolls, taking you under him and demanding a faster pace. You push your hand against the headboard, the bed knocking against the wall in rhythmic, hypnotic thuds. 

He thinks you hiss his name before you bite down his shoulder. 

The sharp shock of pain lights up his brain, channeling the sudden awareness that he liked that so fucking much all the way down his spinal cord where it presses hot against his groin. 

He lifts up onto one elbow, skin sweat hot and sticky as it splits from yours. 

“Tell me what you need to come,” he pants.  

You whine again, your throat dripping sweat, but that’s not an answer. Knowing he has about a half-a-dozen to a dozen good grinds before it puts too much strain on his back, he uses every single one of them to drag you to the knife’s edge. 

“What–,” grind, “do you need –,” grind, “to come?”

The wail you let out nearly makes him come on the spot. Your eyes have that same, out-of-this-world, off-this-planet unfocused gaze, any sort of language impossible. You plead with him in the silence. A silence loaded with damp moans, grit teeth, and skin against skin against skin against skin against skin. Best sound in the world, as far as he was concerned.

You arch until he lifts above you and, taking the hand that was by your head, tuck it down between your legs. You let him grasp around with spread fingers where you are wet, where his cock rocks into your body, watch as that pulls him apart faster with dark eyes, before pressing his thumb against your clit. 

There, you say without words. There is where I need you.

Once, twice, he circles – he can feel the tightness in his back already settling in, his jaw fixed and locked, his body battling the two overwhelming sensations of dull pain and fierce, wild pleasure – and you hit your release and you soak him in it. 

He falls then too, falls just as hard and as fast as you, the chronic pain he holds in his shoulders, his neck, his back, his knee fleetingly gone in the rush of heat that branches out of his body from his groin and it feels divine.

When he lies on top of you, face buried in the curve of your neck, the heat from your humid skin warming up the breath in his lungs, the throb of your body matching his, his mind wiped clean, the thought occurs to him:

It’s not silence he’s found with you, it’s quiet. 

It’s peace.

Eventually, some awareness seeps back into his trembling body and he rolls off of you, but takes the curve of your jaw in his hand as he goes. He can’t settle into the pillows because he can’t stop kissing you, love bites occasionally against your lip, as if where his body fails, he proves his love for you won’t end so easily.

Eventually, you press your fingers into the base of his skull and, like a reset button, he groans and drops onto his back. 

Eventually, the quiet returns. Only soft noises, murmurs of existence outside of this perfect little room, fill the space. 

Eventually, he falls asleep with you curled up next to him. 

He knows you love waking up in bed together, but he also knows you love fresh coffee even more. 

Which is where Ellie finds him the next morning. 

He nearly adds too much ground coffee to the pot because he’s distracted, lost in thought about the way your curves looked in the bright morning light, when the back door slams open and a little creature made of entirely scarves, mittens, and an oversized purple jacket stomps into his kitchen and clomps its snowy shoes on the rug. 

“Joel, we gotta go!” She’s a little breathless, red-cheeked too as she unwinds the scarf around her head and her face is revealed. “We don’t wanna miss it!”

“Miss what?” Joel asks, this time carefully measuring how much water the pot needs. 

His question is not met with her usually buzzy chatter. Instead, she’s stopped undoing her scarf and just stares at him like he’s been beamed down from another planet. 

He realizes all too late that he’s still in PJs at 9AM (basically a sign of another apocalypse), he’s making more coffee than just for himself, and he’s smiling. 

Shit.

“Ellie, um, I –,”

She rolls her eyes. Her scarf is flung off her neck and she starts yanking off her gloves, her plucky attitude back, if not a bit smug.

“Get your girlfriend up too. They’re lighting the big tree in town square in an hour. I know she’d be pissed if she missed it.” 

So definitely caught. Time to be “The Adult” here and put it out on the table. 

“Don’t call her that.” Joel eyes her. Coffee percolating, he grabs a slice of bread and Ellie’s favorite jam. “Makes it sound like we’re fourteen.” 

She frowns at him, classic “pouty-mouth”. 

“I’m fourteen — rude. But seriously, and I say this because I care, get over yourself. Call a spade a spade. You’re dating her, fucking her–,”

“Ellie!” 

"– and you make gross ga-ga eyes at each other when you think I’m not looking."

She slides into the seat at the island in front of him as he pushes the toasted bread with jam across the marble to her. She takes a bite, chews with her mouth open, and shrugs. “That’s a girlfriend, dude.” 

Joel turns back to the eggs that might be burning, his shoulders hunched and fist tight around the spatula. Hate it when the kid is right. 

He salvages what he can of the eggs, plates them along with two strips of bacon on two plates, and balances a mug of coffee on each. He tries to salvage some of his dignity with a glare. 

“When you’re older, you’ll see some things just don’t need labels.” 

At that, she rolls her eyes again and snatches up the last strip of bacon from the folded, greasy napkins. “Whatever, you dork.”

Argument soundly lost, he gathers up the plates and heads back up stairs. She’s still mumbling to herself as he goes. 

“'Girlfriend', pfft . . . much better than fuck bunny!” She yells to no one in particular.

You hear the entire conversation from bed, the door cracked open enough for the sound to travel. Muffling a giggle, you snag his white shirt from the floor and draw it over your head. You should probably be more embarrassed that Joel got caught in his Walk of Shame, even if it was to his own kitchen to make breakfast. But . . . you’re just not. 

The smile is still on your face when his footfalls approach the door and he sticks his head into the room.

“Sounds like we’re busted,” you smirk. 

Joel almost chuckles. “'Bout as busted as you can be.” He hands you one plate and sits on the end of the bed with his own. He takes a low, slow sip of coffee and you follow him. The eggs are nibbled at and the bacon is perfectly crunchy.

“So . . . girlfriend?” 

He rolls his eyes. “Not you too.” 

“I mean," you slip the plate and coffee onto the bedside table, then hug the sheets around your knees, "I agree with you on the bit about labels. It seems silly. And not wasteful silly. Just . . .”

“Silly.” Joel’s eyes are as dark as his coffee, warmer than it too. “Doesn’t really capture the whole thing, does it?”

An apocalypse and a half later, and a boy’s sweet eyes on you can still make your stomach swoop. 

“No, it doesn’t.” 

“Then what do you wanna say, if people start askin’?”

You bite your lip, eyes up in faux-thought. “Truth be told, I'm kinda partial to fuck bunny. Cute like with a little tail and ears —,"

The groan from Joel and subsequent head shake makes you laugh enough for you to take pity on the old guy. You crawl closer and his eyes slip from your face to where the sheet tucks under your knees. But a hand on his cheek returns his gaze.

"I like what you said last night." Your smile is soft, pleased. "That I’m yours. Like you’re mine.” 

Joel’s warmth bleeds from his whole frame as he leans in close to put his mug on the bedside table, then leans in closer still to you. He drags his nose over your bare, exposed shoulder, in a way that is sweet and sensual all at once. He stops with a kiss on the hinge of your jaw. 

“I like that too. I like saying that you’re mine.”

Ignoring the shiver that rockets up your spine at the low hum of his voice, the flutter of his lips barely against your cheek, you tuck an errant curl around his ear and it immediately springs back up again. You smile and he smiles back, a youthful shine in his eyes.

“Wherever you are, I am too.”  

Listen to: I am the forest by Willie Nelson

[copperbadge]

Every time, you guys. Every time I look into alternatives to Lulu.com for self-publishing I come up with “Wow Lulu really is the best of a bad set of options, huh?” 

Recently, Draft2Digital bought Smashwords in order to bring a print book company under their aegis; they’d formerly only done ebooks. I thought I might investigate them as an alternative to Lulu, which I’ve used for about twelve years now. For ebooks I would venture D2D is probably top of the line. For print books they are....not. 

I’m writing this out half so other folks can see it but half so that in the future I can look this up and remind myself of why I’m still with Lulu. 

TLDR: Not only does Draft2Digital want 60% of my print book royalties where Lulu takes 0%, and $30 for a proof that costs me $11 at Lulu, but I also appear to have solved the problem of why Lulu was making me price my books so goddamn artificially high. Which is like. Honestly the best anti-anxiety drug I’ve experienced this week. 

Basically there are a number of elements that go into self-publishing with a print-on-demand service. For some publishers, there’s a “setup fee” which doesn’t really set anything up, it’s just there to be a fee, everything is done by computer on the back end. Traditionally, Lulu has not charged a setup fee. Smashwords used to charge $50, but Draft2Digital currently waives it. I was heartened by that because the setup fee was keeping me from migrating, since I can afford $50 but I balk at knowing I’m paying them $50 for nothing. 

Next is the cost of printing -- what it costs the company in paper, ink, machinery, labor, etc, to just make a book with no profit. Lulu’s price calculus isn’t super clear and I’ve never bothered looking at what the breakdown is, because they’re pretty up-front -- they tell you in the process of setting the book up how much it’ll cost. In this case, a 140-page 6x9 trade paperback, no frills, which is how all my books are printed, is $5. Draft2Digital doesn’t tell you the flat price anywhere but they do offer the breakdown information; it costs $1.22 flat plus $0.0133 per page. So, for a 140 page book, the at-cost is $3.08. So far so good. 

Now, if you’re going to sell through Lulu, the “at cost” is the minimum price. You won’t make any money but you CAN charge just $5 for a $5 book. Any pricing above that is your cut. So -- let’s price this 140 page trade paperback at $13-$15. That’s a bit high to be honest but let’s just see. At Lulu, your take is roughly $6-$8 based on those prices, because you’re just dropping out the cost of printing from the retail price. 

At Draft2Digital, the same 140-page trade paperback, which remember is quoted as costing roughly $1.20 less to print than Lulu charges, gets you $2.75-$3.50 in royalties per book.

....wait, what? 

So now we need to sidetrack a little but I promise it’s for a reason. One of the motivations for looking into a change to Draft2Digital is that I didn’t like that Lulu was setting higher “minimum prices” than I was accustomed to -- they would tell me the book only cost $5 to print but require me to sell it for $12 or similar, and I couldn’t work out why. I’m an idiot but the penny did finally drop: it’s because when you distribute them outside of Lulu (say, on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or similar) your royalties drop like a stone. $7 in royalties purchased through Lulu comes out to like twenty-five cents purchased through Amazon. So Lulu forces you to price the book at a point where you even GET royalties and don’t end up weirdly owing Amazon money. The “global distribution” is what’s driving that minimum up. 

So in price-quoting a competitor I actually solved the problem with Lulu. 

Which is good, because the fun doesn’t stop there. If you want a proof copy of a book from Lulu, it’s the at-cost of the book, plus tax, plus postage. Buying a proof copy of this book from Lulu would cost me $11. Lulu makes you order a new proof copy every time you make a change, which is shady, but usually I only need to make 1-2 changes across the life of a book, so at most the cost will probably be $35 and for that I’ll get three copies of the book. Draft2Digital doesn’t give you an option. If you want a proof pre-publication, it’s $30 flat. If you want to publish and then buy a copy you can, but you can only make one change to the book every 90 days once it’s published. If you want to make more than one change, it’s $25 every time you upload a new version of the manuscript within that 90 day period.

So Draft2Digital’s books cost less to print but they take a massive cut of your royalties out of the retail cost of the book. If the book costs $3 to print, and I price it at $15, that’s $12 in profit on the book. Of that $12, however, I only receive $4. Draft2Digital literally wants 2/3 of my royalties per book. They want $20 more than Lulu to send me a proof copy. If I need to correct the proof, the correction is free, but I’m assuming the second proof will also cost me $30. Any changes after that, within 90 days, will cost $25 plus $30 for a new proof.

Which means my upfront costs at Lulu are about $35 per published book; to do the same thing at Draft2Digital is between $60 and $105 depending on whether I need to make changes after the second proof copy. And even after that, my royalties at Lulu are just about twice what they would be at Draft2Digital per purchase. 

So, well, Lulu it is. And the problem I was having with Lulu is solved if I decide to just retail through Lulu rather than selling globally. Which...selling globally has done two things that I’m aware of:

1. Fucked up my author page so badly on Amazon that one of my books is still attributed to Kathleen Starbuck, and one of her books is for sale on my author page. 

2. Raised the minimum price I’m allowed to set my books at by like, 40%. 

So I think probably what’s going to happen is going forward my books will be for sale only on Lulu. I can still assign them ISBNs and they still will ship worldwide, and the prices will fall significantly. My deepest apologies to those of you who have paid an artificially inflated price for the last few books; I’m going to fix that going forward, I’m going to go in and try to fix it retroactively in the books that are already on Lulu, and if it’s any consolation at least the cash came to me, and TWO THIRDS OF IT didn’t go to Lulu. 

It’s gonna take me a little time, untangling Lulu’s relationship to other retailers is tricky, but eventually the Shivadh Omnibus and Twelve Points should come down significantly in price, and there ought to be a dollar or two drop for the older books as well. 

This is why it always pays to do the math, even if like me you are dreadful at it. 

[cognitivejustice]

Hundreds of people, and a handful of grassroots cooperatives, collectives and networks, are trying to figure out how to build an alternative to capitalist industrial agriculture, and not a moment too soon. 

25% of children in London face hunger during the school holidays. A total of 3.2 million adults in the UK reported not eating for a whole day because they couldn’t afford or access food. 70% of our wildlife has been obliterated in the last 50 years, 64% of our insects in the last 20. Crops contain 40% fewer nutrients than they did 100 years ago. 99% of London’s food comes from outside the city, while almost one third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, one fifth being from transporting it alone.

Where do you even start when the industrial model has wrecked so much? As the Zapatistas say, there are many yeses and one no. Twenty years ago, a group of young growers persuaded Waltham Forest Council to lease them 12 acres on the edge of the city, to start a cooperative farm. Today, OrganicLea distributes hundreds of veg boxes each week at tiered solidarity prices and has trained hundreds of new growers. This is a flagship `Yes’, but there are others. Several food cooperatives redistribute surplus food and buy produce in bulk to cut costs. At least three community cafes sell high-quality food at variable rates people can afford, providing vital refuges in a gentrifying, hostile city. And dozens of community gardens practice regenerative ways of caring for the land, reclaiming small pockets of the city and tending the otherwise eroded agency of its inhabitants. 

From the food forest started in an abandoned church garden by XR activists, to the healing herb gardens cultivated by the Community Apothecary (a collective offering affordable herbal medicine) to Time To Grow! (TTG) a project helping people grow food for the community in unused private gardens, there’s an endless appetite here for experimenting with localised alternatives to capitalist agriculture. And in these times of worsening climate unravelling, of desperate isolation, of profound (however artificial) resource scarcity, growing food with each other feels like a wise move. 

The youth-led collective Climate Vanguard explains how growing food in the community can be part of building a transformative mass movement by thinking of them as “climate survival programmes”. Just as the Black Panther Party’s breakfast programs were key to building popular power, growing can be a way to ameliorate the worse effects of climate breakdown and build the power we need to transform the economic system causing it. 

[lothli]

III: Cacophaton

He was following me home. I could hear the faint buzzing — not with my ears, but within my brain. The elevated heartbeat, the desperate yearning for everything and nothing. The Long, the man-insect-creature. I tried to lose him.

He continued to follow. To be perfectly honest, shaking him would be near impossible. I needed to confront him.

The streets here were quiet and abandoned. I stopped, and so did he. The buzzing softened.

We stared at each other. He had returned to a more human form, but the faint incongruities remain. He smelled of hemolymph, and the buzzing of insects surrounded him. His eyes were an inky black, with no whites to speak of. They swirled with something unknowable.

He grinned at me before a cacophony of voices spilled out.

"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I DON'T care, I don't CARE—" "Extra! Extra! Read alllllllll about it!—" "I don't like it here please get me out please get me out please—" "Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not—"

They shrieked, jarringly separate, overlapping, and contradictory. I flinched, backing away instinctively as the barrage continued.

"Do you want to hear a secret? Too bad, too bad! Those are aaaaall mine! But if—" "Step One: Start by pouring the spaghetti into a pot of boiling water. Add a can of motor oil—" "—the rules for distinguishing moths from butterflies are not well established, one very good guiding principle is—" "WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!?"

My head hurt. Was he even saying anything? Did it matter?

"Stop. Talking." I needed it to stop, but he certainly didn’t obey me.

"What does a caterpillar think when it spins its cocoon? Does it know—" "The modern English word moth comes from Old English moððe—" "It's okay, it's okay. I'm sorry. I can't control it, it's just—" "Non posse à nobis dubitari, quin existamus dum dubitamus—"

I had to remember: he wasn’t human. He was Long and not a hostile one at that. I couldn’t afford to do something hasty. But still, this method of communication was unbearable.

"Please. I cannot understand you when you are like this." Desperately, I tried to bargain with him. He tilted his head a bit, and the endless deluge of voices thins.

"Fine, fine, mortal. Is this good enough?— while moths are notorious for eating clothing, most species do not, and some moth adults do not even —toned it down for you a little. I wouldn't do this if I didn't like — in gi rum imus noc te et con sumi — so. That's about it."

I blinked. It was slightly more comprehensible, but I still struggled to process his words.

"What is it that you want?"

"A little birdy told me that you've been poking around, investigating, cutting up Children. Moths frequently appear to circle artificial lights, although the reason for this behavior (positive phototaxis) is currently unknown. It's not that I don't approve, it's more that — Step Five: Squeeze a dollop of toothpaste into the mixture. Toothpaste — someone as weak as you to do something like that, you feel, understand, get me?"

I was finally starting to understand him. I focused, parsing out that one voice, flitting about, constantly changing, and zeroed in on it. I took a deep breath.

"Okay, okay. So from what I understand, you think I was being reckless by taking on the Children by myself, but you don't disapprove?"

"Right, right, you got it. And hey! You've actually managed to filter out a single, solitary, unique voice, huh? That's quite impressive, spectacular, great!" he grinned, just slightly too wide.

"Your voice. Do you have any control over the rest of them?" The other voices were still droning on and on, and I gritted my teeth.

"Ah, well, you see, this voice is the one that's trying to actually communicate with you. Everything else, all those other words I speak, are merely random things that have floated into my head and come spilling out." He cricked his neck, the sound reminiscent of an insect being crushed. "They're quite wonderful thoughts, of course. I'd really recommend you try out my spaghetti recipe later, at the very least!"

"And why is this voice the only one that can communicate? Why are the other voices there in the first place?"

He laughed, his cackle echoing through the night air like the buzzing of a thousand moth wings.

"Because, you silly human, you foolish mortal, you are only slightly, marginally interesting. Interesting enough to attract my attention, which is an accomplishment, a feat. But certainly not ALL of my attention. No, no, no, not quite, not nearly, not yet."

"What do you want?"

"You have been cutting up Children, butchering them. And that's great! I hate those damn Winter cultists. They're too stagnant for my tastes, you see. Too... uninteresting. But, that said, your methods are, unfortunately, somewhat lacking. You have a tiny little knife, and you try to stand against Long? That won't work unless you're Long yourself! Which you're not. You're just a mortal who’s a little bit sharp, has a little bit of Edge. And that's no good."

I didn’t like where this was going. There was no way he was suggesting...

"No, no, no. I can tell by your face that you're worried about my ulterior motives, or my plans, or something." The Moth Long’s face scrunched up in disgust. "Are you mocking me? Do you not understand Moth? We don't give two whits about that kind of thing. We're all about the now, and the now is that I'm a bit bored, and you're a bit interesting, and so I want to see how you can cut up these Children of Silence. And I think you want that, too."

"What I want is for the cults to be destroyed. Not simply weakened. Destroyed." And him, too. But I wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud.

"Good! Good! I hate Winter, and I hate stagnation, and I hate the Dead, and I hate the silence! And one of the best way to destroy something is with Edge! You're quite versed in Edge, aren't you? I can see the scars! The scars on your skin, which you refuse to shed." His eyes gleamed, and I shuddered.

"Edge is a tool, nothing more. But if you're offering, I would be a fool to decline."

He grinned, a wide gash across his face.

"I'll offer a helping hand, a hand, a hand cut off from The Son, a hand that doesn't know itself!"

"It's not a literal hand, I hope," I groaned. I wouldn’t put it past him.

"Nope, not a real one, not quite, not yet. Here." He tosses over a worn ball of iron — no, Taenite-iron. It fit comfortably within my palm. "That's the kinda thing I'm talking about. It's sharp, it's strong, it's heavy, and it will cut through almost anything. A bullet used to hunt monsters, of creatures bigger than any mortal. You can keep it around, let it hone your Edge, or use it. Fire it. Pierce someone with it. Make a nice, new scar."

"I thought you said the best way to destroy something is with Edge." A rounded ball didn’t seem very Edge-like to me.

The Moth Long pretended to make a shocked face. "This is an Edge artifact! I'm hurt. Do you think I'm lying? I'm not. I don't lie, not often, just sometimes, not to you, not yet."

I sighed, eyeing the artifact. On closer inspection, it seemed to be infused with Edge, with a strange sharpness that belied its shape. I pocketed it.

"You're right. I'll take it."

"Excellent. Excellent. I will see you around, then." He stood, and his moth wings burst out from his back. His eyes shone in the dark, and he flew into the sky. He was gone, leaving only a few wayward moths in his wake.

I stared into the night. The first light of dawn was peaking above the buildings. I needed to retreat and rest up. I would have more work to do, and soon.

[bennydwight]

TGAMM Oneshot (Spoilers: S2E3 A Soda to Remember)

Summary: Practically every visit to the Ghost World in the past year had been a result of the Council dragging Scratch under, kicking and screaming the whole way. And now, here he was, seeking them out.

All because of a STUPID soda.

(A oneshot born from a headcanon. As always, ao3 format here)

Scratch hovered, staring at the swirling black portal, and wondered if he might be crazy.

He avoided the Ghost World on principle, too many people he couldn’t just disappear from if he didn’t want to be seen, too many eyes on him, especially now that he wore The Cloak. The food was serviceable at best and the company worse. Plus, practically every visit to the Ghost World in the past year had been a result of the Council dragging him under, kicking and screaming the whole way, so obvious negative connotations there.

And now, here he was, seeking them out.

All because of a stupid old soda.

Most of him was grateful to Molly, and Libby, and Darryl, for risking their safety on their dumb little heist. It showed (in their own obsessive, pushy, annoying way) that they cared for him, and he could appreciate that. But a smaller part regretted the whole ordeal, a pain in the neck that had opened too many doors.

Like this one. To the Ghost World.

Scratch turned away, the portal swirling closed behind him. This was stupid! He shouldn’t even bother making the trip to the Council, all they’d do was stuff him into the robe again and demand he make decisions that weren’t ‘where to hide the caramel ribbon ice cream so Sharon wouldn’t find it’. Lame, unimportant things, and a two minute trip would take two hours, and he had a nap scheduled that he couldn’t afford to miss, and—

A vehicle pulled away outside, the sound drifting in with a breeze that rustled the curtains, and Scratch was slammed into the Memory without warning: curly brown hair, a sunny smile that matched a yellow shirt, artificial strawberry on his tongue. “Every time we drink this soda, we’ll think of each other—”

And just as suddenly, the world crashed down again, leaving him disoriented and annoyed and shaken. He gripped his head in his hands and growled at the dark sensation of loss clawing open his gut, riding out the displaced emotion like a wave of nausea. Why? Why this memory? Why couldn’t he remember something nicer, like a family pet, or a nice meal, or even his own name?

The next portal opened, inches from his nose. Well that was embarrassing, he was making them involuntarily now.

Way too many open doors lately. In his head, in the ether, downstairs whenever Ollie came over. What he wouldn’t give for some closure.

Yeah right. Like he was ever that lucky.

Scratch paced in angry circles, fists flexing at his sides, all the while eyeing the new portal. He moved towards it, backed away. Advance, retreat. He turned his back on the twisting abyss, form tight with stress. No, he wouldn’t go, he’d call it off—

“That way, I’ll never forget you. And you’ll never forget me.”

Spirits below, fine!

He launched himself through the portal before he could change his mind. The Ghost World hit like a smelly, dour slap to the face. Or maybe that was just the vibe of the Council chamber. His four ‘advisors’ sat hunched over their massive curved desk, quill pens in hand, and not a single one of them looked up at his presence. Almost out of habit, Scratch flinched at the empty slot between them, the silhouette of the (former) Chairman looming in negative space before Scratch blinked and the illusion disappeared.

Not foreboding at all.

He waited, hovering over the spot where he was normally summoned. Nada. “A-hem.”

Alistair gestured over his shoulder to that huge, vacuous with his quill. “You know where to be, Scratch.”

Curse these chuckleheads and their rules. “Yeah, no, I’m not ‘Chairmanning’ today,” he fingerquoted. “Taking my two weeks vacation. All year.”

“Then you’re dismissed.”

Oooh no, no one could just dismiss Scratch anymore. “Trust me, I’d love nothing more than to be as far away from you guys as possible, but I got a quick question.”

“Is it about competency,” Bartholomew grinned nastily, “because then it won’t be quick.” The others sniggered loudly at the quip. It wasn’t even that funny! Pete could do better! Fury spiked down Scratch’s arms and back in a ripple of agitated ectoplasm, size swelling briefly as he fought down the urge to adopt a scare form. They’d probably just make some kind of dumb comment about how he could catch up on his scare quota.

There was really no one else in the Ghost World for these questions?

Through gritted teeth, Scratch bit out, “it’s about memories.”

Quills stilled and the Council glanced at each other in that secretive, in-jokey way that made his form bubble. Alistair set down his quill to rest his chin on the bridge of his hands, looking an equal mix of suspicious and smug. “What about memories?”

How to get them back? How to get rid of them forever? Suppression? Answers? All those felt too… personal. “Why do ghosts come here with out memories of their past life?”

Another infuriating round of glances, and Scratch was tempted to put The Cloak on just to yell at them in Scary Chairman Voice when Grimbella said, “All ghosts have memories.”

The world tilted, the metaphorical rug whipped out from his metaphorical feet, and the world dimmed as Scratch’s opacity flickered the slightest bit. All ghosts. A fact. So why didn’t he? “They remember everything?”

“Not exactly,” Lucretia set her quill down in its pot. Had none of them ever heard of pens? “The amount of retained memories change with the ghost, but generally important memories regarding personal identity remain intact.”

He’d intended to come into this conversation casually, but to his humiliation, Scratch burst like a dam. “But why only some memories?” He demanded, floating up to their desk and pacing again. “Why are some more important than others? Who decides? What makes a memory important enough to bring to the afterlife?”

Grimbella answered easily, not one iota of attention paid to his turmoil. “A ghost keeps them based on what they knew in life.”

Oh, if they’d been keeping this from him, he was going to sic the frightmares on them so fast. “What do you mean?”

“The exact details are still being researched,” Alistair admitted with a snooty shrug. “But patterns suggest that a ghost’s memories are most strongly linked to the interpersonal connections that they held in high regard during life.”

“Like you,” Scratch turned on Grimbella, and her cool disinterest brought up another surge of annoyance. “Grunhilda, or whatever. You know your name!” And he got it wrong on purpose out of spite.

A shimmer of satisfaction lit his core as her unflappable brow finally furrowed. “Grimbella,” she corrected icily, and Scratch made a mental note to get her name wrong at every possible opportunity. “It’s true, my family name was very important in my upbringing. Most of my strongest memories are of the pride my parents showed when teaching family history.” She trailed off, wistfully staring into the middle distance with a dreamy look. Gross.

“But names are a low bar,” Bartholomew cut in, casting Grimbella a side-eye. “An interpersonal relationship doesn’t have to be strong for a ghost to remember their name. As long as there was someone to give voice to a name during life, a ghost could remember it after death.”

“Not that you’d know much about that, Scratch,” Alistair pointed out greasily, and the next round of barely contained snickers nearly popped Scratch’s eyes out.

“At least I didn’t get stuck with a name that sounds like it crawled right out of a medieval toilet,” he snapped back.

Up went the quills again, their interest in him noticeably waning. “Don’t get waspish about it,” Alistair’s face hardened. “Some ghosts would kill to be in your position. Not all memories are warm and fuzzy.”

He’d mentioned something about his dad once, hadn’t he? On the list of ‘Things Scratch Cared About’, Alistair’s past was somewhere below ‘amount of carbohydrates in a loaf of garlic bread’, but recent events pulled a twinge of guilt from him.

He’d said he didn’t want to know. That was still true. And it wasn’t. Would he be better or worse if he’d remembered every second of being a lonely, bitter, jaded man in life? He’d still be Scratch either way, right? Except he wouldn’t be, he’d have a human name.

He’d absolutely been Scratch this morning. Now he wasn’t sure. Was anything about him real?

“Scratch?” His head whipped around to Lucretia, half from being torn out of his thoughts and half because he’d never heard her sound so gentle. Almost sympathetic. She still hunched over her book, but pinned him under an unreadable stare. “If it’s any consolation, there have been numerous cases of ghosts discovering more of their memories as their time here lengthens.”

Scratch’s colour shuddered, and he refused to believe it was hopeful. “How?”

“Through intense meditation and unparalleled self-discipline, of course.”

Scratch gagged. “Hard pass.”

Lucretia’s expression clouded back to it’s normal stormy gray. “Then I hope you enjoy your afterlife as a nobody.”

He knew a final dismissal when he heard it (those jerks, still finding a way to snub him even after he became their boss). He wasted no time building a portal back to Molly’s room, and the moment it closed behind him a huge weight lifted from above his head. Hello, Damocles. Ugh, every second he spent in the Ghost World was a second too long.

Something pulled insistently at his mind, and the ripples of his ectoplasm went still. The confusion and uncertainty and sorrow tearing at him as he faced the Council had… just flown away with that weight. He wasn’t a ‘nobody’ in this room, in this house.

He was Scratch McGee.

He had a best friend, and two (three?) good friends. He liked bread and ice cream and comedy, and thought the Crazy Carl movies were overrated, and got into arguments about it. He’d had a sleepover, and ridden a motorcycle, and hadn’t done pottery yet but still kind of wanted to try. He had a family that loved him, and a house, and a town.

Maybe he’d been someone before Scratch. But Scratch had a life too, and it was pretty darn good. A forgotten past didn’t make his present any less real. He had experiences and fun and wants and dreams, like any living person.

Like now, in fact. After dealing with the headache that was the Council, he dreamed of leftover meatloaf and a nap on the couch.

Maybe his past would come up again. Maybe not. But in the meantime, he’d enjoy being Scratch McGee.

 END

[adamwatchesmovies]

Bad Genius (2017)

No matter how difficult your studies might’ve been, they’ll seem like a walk in the park after Bad Genius. The cultural pressures imposed on the young protagonist make you understand why this story about an important test turns into a heist.

Brilliant Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is accepted into a prestigious school. She doesn’t realize that her scholarship covered only the initial application fees, leaving her father to struggle to afford a number of additional payments that weren’t disclosed intially. Out of guilt, Lynn agrees to help some of her friends cheat during their exams, which turns into a highly profitable endeavor. As her clientele grows, so do the stakes, culminating in an elaborate scheme to steal the answers for the STIC.

The culture Bad Genius is based in makes this more than a generic heist film. While there is pressure on everyone to get good grades, the school Lynn attends takes it to another level. After Lynn and Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul) perform well in a TV competition that pits schools against each other, a gigantic banner with their portraits and achievements is hung on the side of the skyscraper-like learning institution for all to see. Talk about pressure. With the corrupt academic officials basically coercing her father into giving them more money, you can see why she succumbs to temptation and decides to help Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan). That leads to Lynn helping Grace and her boyfriend Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) cheat, which leads to loads of people wanting her "help" too. There could’ve been a slight problem with this story. You might care about Lynn but all of her friends are spoiled rich idiots who couldn’t answer a multiple-choice exam if their gift of a brand new car depended on it, so where are the stakes? Thankfully, writers Tanida Hantaweewatana, Vasudhorn Piyaromna and Nattawut Poonpiriya (who also directs) are aware of this potential issue. They team Lynn up with Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul), who also desperately needs the money. He's also from a lower caste, in a country that would never give him or Lynn the chance to move up if it wasn't for this scheme.

Another element that makes Bad Genius unique is that it isn’t all about stealing the STIC answers. At first, the movie is just about Lynn figuring out how she’ll pass her messages to her classmates without the teachers figuring out what’s going on. To anyone who ever read Naruto - or watched the animated series - it’ll remind you of one of the very first chapters, where all of these wild techniques are used to do what is really just a mundane task. The thing is, the tests feel big because of what it means to the people involved.

That's great and the performances are strong. You wouldn’t even know most of the young actors are relatively inexperienced. Then, there’s the direction by Poonpiriya. The film begins with Lynn as she's being confronted about cheating on the STIC. You think the movie is spoiling itself but actually, it’s pulling a fast one on you and when we get to the reveal, it's so good I kind of want any aspiring screenwriters to see this movie just so they can add a new trick to their arsenal.

One aspect of the film that doesn’t quite match the rest is the conclusion. There’s one particular character whose allegiance changes drastically towards the end and while it isn’t completely out of nowhere, it sort of makes you wish the whole film had been done from their point of view. At the very least, you wish they had gotten more screentime so we'd seen more of their journey. There are also a few moments where the tension feels like it’s being ramped up artificially. A cell phone vibrates. Its owner is afraid to pick up because they know the message they've received is incriminating… but the person looking at them doesn’t know that. If they just looked at the phone and casually turned the screen off after two seconds, no one would be the wiser. Their reaction makes you frustrated.

Bad Genius does a terrific job making what should be a no-stakes, boring scene - students taking an exam - into a compelling drama. That alone makes it delightful. While this movie or the true events that inspired it might not get directly remade by Hollywood, it's only a matter of time before someone takes inspiration from it. I say check out Bad Genius before it’s the cool thing to do. (Original Thai with English subtitles, February 4, 2022)

[tameblog]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[ramestoryworld]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[alexha2210]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[angusstory]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[tumibaba]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[romaleen]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[monaleen101]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[iamownerofme]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link

[shelyold]

Robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have quickly crept into just about every industry. New vehicles now come loaded with safety features to compensate for human error. AI technology is being used to quickly analyze and summarize large bodies of text, making life easier for students and professionals alike. More trivially, some bars have installed self-pour beer stations, meaning less time spent in line and more time with friends. Even the cleaning industry — which has been historically averse to newer technology — has shown a willingness to explore robotics technology.   To get a better sense of why and how the industry has made the jump, Sanitary Maintenance spoke to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability at Imperial Dade, Jersey City, New Jersey.  Sanitary Maintenance (SM): Right or wrong, end users often seem to think many robotic technologies are the same or similar. Why do you think that point of view exists and is it justified?  Bill McGarvey: Part of it just goes to the nature of the business. We tend to lump things together. When we look at the various types of equipment, you've got different manufacturers — and they've all got different bells and whistles. Some of that certainly is part of the reason why the customer gravitates toward a particular model. But I think when we talk about this as an industry, we refer to robotic technology and folks see it as one monolithic system. They don't necessarily see that there are various operating systems from different organizations, but instead consider it all as autonomous machinery.  SM: What are some of the more popular floor care robotic offerings on the market and what makes them unique?  McGarvey: The most popular technologies I've seen are either automatic floor scrubbers or vacuums that tackle either hard or soft flooring. I'm sure when manufacturers were first trying to decide where robotic machinery makes sense, they looked at larger-scale equipment and bigger areas, like long hallways. It didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using autonomous equipment in these areas.    One of the first robotic scrubbers I saw was at a school district where a longtime custodian had retired. Times were tough, and the district couldn’t afford to replace this person. The custodial supervisor at the time was one of the early adopters of robotics and brought in a floor scrubber. He had to reassign some of the work, but was able to let the scrubber take on some of what a former full-time employee or full-time equivalent was producing.   This was a few years ago, but as we look back on that time, we can see that's where the trend was. Some people saw it as replacing workers, but in reality, that’s not normally the case. An organization could hypothetically set out to do that, but I think more often than not, end users are just trying to fill cleaning voids that they couldn't fill with people.  Then there was the advent of the pandemic. People realized that the custodial team could make an impact when it comes to protecting public health — and protecting health is more important than having the shiniest floors. If custodial teams can reassign the work that doesn't need that human touch, they can free up the people to take care of things that, frankly, are more important, especially when we start talking about protection of health.  SM: Do you think that autonomous technology is here to stay?  McGarvey: I don't think autonomous equipment is going anywhere. Manufacturers will continue to improve them just like we've seen with the traditional floor scrubber — which were automated floor machines when they first came out; meaning that they dispensed the solution at the touch of a button. We are presently seeing the evolution of some of this equipment, so I would expect to continue seeing it progress further.  SM: When it comes to selling autonomous floor care products, what features are the most important to customers?  McGarvey: Multiple factors come to mind. When we talk about healthcare and education, safety is first and foremost. Nobody wants their patients or students to be run over by robots. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing that.   I also think the ease of operation is important. Some machines are more complicated in terms of establishing the route. Others are more easily adaptable, so they might have their regular route, but then an obstacle comes up. For some, users can hop on, override the machine, and operate it themselves. Other machines require a quick lap to learn the route and from there it'll go on its own. The ease of routing is important.   Service after the sale is important, too. Some manufacturers, at a certain point — if ongoing service is being paid for — will replace the machine for users if they're having problems, which was never done in the old days.   SM: Robotic floor care can certainly get expensive. How can distributors sell end user customers on its long-term value?  McGarvey: I think part of it is looking at that return on investment (ROI). What job or jobs is this machine accomplishing? And while frontline teams aren’t trying to put anybody out of work, robotic equipment offers a fixed-cost solution to frontline cleaning jobs that are difficult to fill.   We're also talking about trying to improve the quality of life for custodial personnel. Oftentimes there has been a fine line between providing the service and being able to pay people. Robotics may offer an avenue to take care of some of that work, while also putting the employer in a position to better reward the people that are there taking care of the bigger tasks.  SM: Do you have any advice on how end users should be maintaining their robotic equipment?   McGarvey: A big piece of maintaining any equipment and keeping it in working order is making sure all those little bullet points within the operator's manual are being addressed. Distributors should educate their end user customers to make sure fluids are being emptied out, that the equipment is being properly rinsed, that parts are being wiped down — really, all the things that we would normally look to take care of on any piece of equipment.  SM: When considering robotic floor equipment, how crucial is it for distributors to provide good customer service, especially when the price point is higher?  McGarvey: It's something that customers must weigh when making their ultimate decision because, as we said, these folks are taking a leap of faith in this technology. The last thing they want to deal with is a problem with the machine, and now they can't get somebody on the phone. Custodial managers have people to answer to, so they need to be able to get those answers when things aren't going optimally.  Jake Meister is a freelance writer based in the Milwaukee area.  POSTED ON: 12/27/2024 Industry News & Trends Industry Training & Events Advice from the Field Insights & Updates Source link