#business matters

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

why is the tea already selling out? obviously it's because people want it, but will the current blends restock? will that happen soon?

It is hard to be an unpaid social media intern for a coffee and tea company.

First, you must convince a lot of people to buy your tea and coffee--which is no small matter because you are asking people to buy something taste-based before they have tasted it.

If you are good at your job, thousands of people will buy the coffee and tea. Huzzah. They will be happy, since it is truly exceptional coffee and tea. And the world will suck less because more people will have access to comprehensive tuberculosis care. You did it. You are a good unpaid int--

BUT WAIT. There is another job. You must oversee the buying, packaging, and sale of the exact right amount of coffee and tea. If you buy too much, you will have spent money that you cannot recoup. This will mean less money going to fund comprehensive tuberculosis care simply because you thought too highly of your ability to sell coffee and tea.

Then again, if you don't buy enough coffee and tea, you will lose out on sales, which will also mean less money going to fund comprehensive tuberculosis care.

So either way, you are kind of a failure!

Some varieties of tea (and soon all varieties because we're close to selling out of the others) will be unavailable until September, when Keats & Co. properly launches and we are able to restock and reassess. We're sorry about this!

In many ways, this is a failure, but it also gives us time to make sure the supply chain is working well and that our costs are controlled and all that kind of stuff.

[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes. 

[oswlld]

oscar award winner michelle yeoh saying no woman should believe she is past her prime is healing something in me rewiring something no one speak to me

[thepeacefulgarden]

[bacchuschucklefuck]

space sweepers but they're delivery people and are at no point on screen through the entire movie

[crazysodomite]

[just-null]

jay u NEED to draw more ino

PLS I BEG YOU HES SO HGHGHGH IN YOUR STYLE...

he's pretty cute!

even his underlying jealousy is pretty cute in how he asks because he goes right back to wanting to know everything about you and your day!

[fairydrowning]

"I am a very romantic person. I don't mean romantic in a flowers and chocolates kind of way. It's more like if it's raining, I'll go up to the window and press my nose against the glass and sigh at how beautiful it all looks."

– Amy Winehouse

[thefrsers]

#do you see the grip she has on him😭#she was not letting him go the ocean be damned😭

[feydrautha]

There's just something about the earnestness and commitment to the inherent silliness of acting when it comes to Jeremy Strong...

[whole interview here]

[guinevereslancelot]

what was with cameron house md she spends 90% of the episode saying she wants their patient to die bc he's a genocidal dictator and her colleague husband says "babe it bothers me for ethical reasons that you want our patient to die :(" and she said "hm maybe you're right :/" but when it comes down to it the genocidal dictator lays a finger on her in an aggressive manner and chase instantly commits medical malpractice to murder the guy and then when he tells her she LEAVES HIM bc boo hoo he's a murderer now like GIRL he killed a man for you!!! he's wracked with catholic guilt!!! he's being crushed beneath the weight of his sins because he chose his devotion to you over his devotion to god!!! he literally could not get any sexier at this moment in time!!!

[dailypearldoodles]

Day 563

The happiest of farewells to Season 9 of Hermitcraft, what an amazing season truly. Pearl truly outdid herself this season with her beautiful and colorful and absolutely lively megabase, honestly me and Mod Cosmic cannot do it justice XD I started this doodle endeavor a bit of ways into S9 and I hope to make it last throughout S10. Thank you Pearl and all the hermits for a wonderful season and I can't wait to see what they do next :D

[stuckinapril]

I hate to be that one person who’s like when ur so busy ur not consumed by other people or being in a relationship blah blah blah …. But truly when u have ur hands full you could fucking care less and it’s so liberating

[thepeacefulgarden]

[crushedsweets]

Toby specifically stalks this elderly lesbian couple because one of them started spouting off nonsense about demons and slendy wants them to stop poking their noses in the paranormal.

Toby decides to purposefully make it obvious they’re being stalked by a real person instead of haunted, but he just further convinces both of them that they have a demon in their home. Nothing he does works and he doesn’t really wanna kill them. Starts sending them emails saying giving the demons attention gives them more power.

The ladies give ignoring the “demon” a shot, so he stops purposefully breaking into their house and moving stuff around and scaring them. Now they truly believing ignoring a demon is how to stop a haunting. They no longer stick their nose in the paranormal. This is a successful Toby mission. And he stole a lot of money and jewelry in the process. Extra Toby points