#if i worked in hr and saw this on a resume'

[beardedmrbean]

An upcoming class at the University of Maryland will ask students to examine how "fatness" relates to "Blackness" and is a "social justice issue."

"Intro to Fat Studies: Fatness, Blackness and Their Intersections," is being offered as a General Education course to students for the spring semester. The three-credit course can be taken to fulfill the university's Distributive Studies or Diversity course requirements to graduate, according to the university website.

The course description says it "examines fatness as an area of human difference subject to privilege and discrimination that intersects with other systems of oppression based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and ability."

"Though we will look at fatness as intersectional, this course will particularly highlight the relationship between fatness and Blackness," the description continues. "We approach this area of study through an interdisciplinary humanities and social-science lens which emphasizes fatness as a social justice issue. The course closes with an examination of fat liberation as liberation for all bodies with a particular emphasis on performing arts and activism as a vehicle for liberation and challenging fatmisia." 

The course is being taught by Sydney Lewis, who is a senior lecturer at the university's Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, according to her university bio.

All 20 spots for the class are full, with eight students on the waitlist.

The course drew criticism from a retired professor at a nearby university. Richard Vatz, a professor emeritus at Towson University, mocked the idea that the subject would prepare students for the real world, in comments to The National News Desk.

"I don't think if you went into a job interview and the interviewer said 'what have you taken recently?' and the respondent said, 'Well, I'm taking a course in fat studies, but the intersection of a Blackness and fatness,' that this would put you in a position to get much of a job, so the utility of this and the job market is probably pretty questionable," Vatz said.

"I have to be honest with you, this is kind of a laughable, laughable subject," he continued. "This stuff is just ludicrous."

Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Maryland and Lewis for comment.

Over the summer, Brown University offered a pre-college summer course on the "Politics of Fatness," providing students with the opportunity to explore "how fatphobia intersects with other systems of oppression."

[letteredlettered]

What an interesting topic. I’ve heard that a large percentage of employees cite their bosses as the reason they leave their jobs. What are some ways companies try to mitigate this?

They don't.

I can really only answer for my company, which cared about retention (of employees) a lot. Many companies do, because it costs much less to recruit/onboard/train as little as possible, and because it can be hard to get the work done without adequate staffing. I'd add that my company had one area in which staffing was a nation-wide crisis; also my company was in the public sector and was in the press a lot, which mean they cared about their image.

They still didn't do that much to ensure that people had good bosses. That has less to do with this company and more to do with the structure of business in capitalist society. This is a big reason HR is never going to be that helpful unless you've got a tiny company that, completely by luck, has mostly good folks.

A company isn't going to take a generalized point about folks leaving their job because they don't like their bosses as fact. Companies feel they are too diverse and the financial risk is too great to pour money into something if they don't have hard data, so the first step to retention is getting data. You would think exit interviews would be really informative, but those require a lot of time which equals staff which equals money. Some employers do them but mine would only do one if you asked, and then they did nothing with the info. This is because the company's mentality was "well, if you're leaving you're probably really dissatisfied and we don't want to hear about that." I know this makes no sense. But in general, not just in the business but in this society (formed by capitalism), the idea seems to be if you're dissatisfied it's your fault. Meanwhile the company is interested in data about why people stay; they figure if folks are satisfied, that's the company's fault and they want to keep doing the same so they can retain employees.

Our company had a huge employee satisfaction survey they did every year that included questions about employee opinions about the company, their colleagues, and their bosses. You get emails to remind you to take it and if you can't get time in the workday, bosses are supposed to allow time for it. Some problems with that are you still have to remember to take it; if you don't have time you have to ask a boss you might not like to get that time; some folks at my company literally had jobs that literally are life or death so it can be hard to take time to take a survey; the survey is only in English; the survey is only in the computer; the reminders are only in email. So you have to be a moderately good English speaker who regularly checks email and knows how to use a computer and gets regular access to a computer for the company to get your data about your satisfaction. As you can imagine, our most vulnerable employees often get missed.

If the survey showed that folks were really dissatisfied with a particular boss, that boss got put into a series of trainings. Training is good, but US businesses (and plenty of employees themselves) seemed to have latched onto the idea that training is the be-all, end-all of improvement. Many of us saw this in response to the discussions about EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) that came about in 2020; business promised to be anti-racist and had some EDI seminars to prove it, and that was all. Why is it like this? What is really needed to make bosses better bosses? And why isn't that being done?

When it comes to "why is it like this": recruiting and retaining good leaders is hard. The way someone becomes a boss in almost any organization is a) management likes them, and/or b) they were good at a job in a lower level or different department, or c) they come from the outside with a good resume and what sounds like good experience. But a lot of time, management likes people who aren't disruptive, and sometimes folks who aren't disruptive are the folks who are not thinking for themselves and not asking questions and doing everything the way they're told even when it doesn't make sense. That doesn't make a good leader. As for folks who are good at the lower level job in the hierarchy or in another department, they aren't always good at managing. It's a different skill set, but I've seen a lot of leaders and employees make this mistake. They think that that the folks who are great at the job should be promoted, and honestly that really doesn't make sense. And last but not least, folks who get hired from the outside are a complete crapshoot, because experience with leadership does not necessarily a good leader make.

As for what is needed to make bosses better bosses, imo what you would really need is someone embedded within the department who is managed by the boss and is doing the same work as the other employees, but also has the training and experience to evaluate what the boss is doing well and isn't doing well, and then also has the authority and buy-in to work with the boss so that the boss can shadow and learn the leadership skills they need. Then, if the boss can't improve, there would need to be the will within the org to fire or demote that boss, and often that will doesn't exist because recruiting bosses is so hard and the training is usually monumental.

Side note, what I'm describing is what consultants should do and normally don't. Consultants come in and ask a lot of questions and do focus groups and maybe some observations, but they are not in there doing the work understanding what it is like to live in this world, and without that I frankly find a lot of the work they do useless. That said, consultants are almost always hired to identify inefficiencies; they're not really there to make it a more satisfying job. Imo, the greatest efficiency is a satisfied worker, but it is hard to get the data to point that way, and again, companies only want data, and again, your dissatisfaction is your own fault.

Another side note, this is why unions are so great. Union stewards are folks who work for the company but can act as a union representative. This means they're embedded in the department and doing the work everyone does, but they can also at times step outside that role and carry the authority of an outside entity that does have some power to use against the employer. This is why all employees should have a union.

So, why aren't companies doing this? As you can imagine, hiring the ambassador to embed within a department, training them, paying them for their time--all of these are just too cost prohibitive to justify when they only thing you're getting out of it is employee satisfaction. It is also possible to improve employee satisfaction by paying employees more, which is in fact why I stayed in this job I hated as long as I did. I was getting paid so much that it just did not make sense to walk away without a firm plan in place. In the end, paying employees more costs less than ensuring they have a good boss.

I have lots more to say about this, but I've said a lot already, so if anyone has follow up questions, feel free to send more asks.

[karteinss]

Co-workers.

Top Male! Reader x Sub! Scara

Unreliable Narrator/Outsider's perspective, original female character, and male reader.

Cw: bottom scara & slight nsfw.

M/n and Scaramouche were polar opposites, nothing of them matches up but they did have one thing in common; Wanting to become the Employee of the year.

M/n was a bright handsome young man, always loyal and obedient (or so their boss thought), almost never missing a day at work. He was loud but generous, a fun guy to hang out but he could also have a serious side to him.

Meanwhile, Scara was a rather cold but pretty man, a quite intimidating figure in the office. Though he holds no authority of a higher figure, his face and cold tone was intimidating enough for anyone to look away, afraid to make him angry.

The only way they would "interact" was through their rivalry. Insane, right? That's what Celine thought when she first entered their department.

It really was a tiring job, not only did she do overtime often but she has to do it with those 2, making it even more struggling and painful.

She really wishes she could've been put in another department, to do overtime in peace at least.

She was tired and absolutely annoyed at both of them in the first year of her job but as another year passed by, she got used to it.

But it didn't mean that she didn't get tired of listening to their bickering, it could lead to “physical” fights if they go far enough which she herself had to stop..

She was just like their nanny, an underpaid one to be exact.

For those who are asking: No, the HR doesn't know a thing about this since they always fought at places where the security cameras couldn't see.

And none of the other employees decided to snitch on them— Let's just say that they were too afraid.

The amount of stress she gained was abnormal from just listening to them bickering!

She should get paid for doing such a job so torturous.

.

.

.

Celine was just doing some work peacefully, writing documents and other things an average worker with a minimum wage salary would do. Well, her peaceful and quiet atmosphere was short-lived when she suddenly heard a loud crash in the Janitor's closet.

Ah, fuck, they're at it again.

Celine walked towards the Janitor's closet and she was right— Inside, there was M/n on top of Scara, their clothes were slightly messy.

God, when will they ever stop fighting?

Celine just sighed, “What are you both doing? You should be doing your work, not fight. Stand up” Celine commanded, her voice sounded threatening but there was barely any intimidation in her voice.

As they both stood up, she saw red-blue marks on their skins.

Damn, how far did those bastards go? Celine was confused, they would always fight “Physically” but they were never badly injured.

As she was still rambling inside her head, M/n talked first.

“He started it first.”

The accusation made Scara's eyes widened as he yelled.

“WHAT!? NO I DIDN'T!” Scara responds with a loud yell, which made M/n smirk. “Yes you did, you dragged me here first, no?” He said calmly, meanwhile, Scara looked so angry and red— red from embarrassment, maybe.

Scara tries to respond back but he stays silent, he just walked right out of the Janitor's Closet with his ears and cheeks painted a light red.

He must've been embarrassed.

As Celine watched Scara walk out, M/n suddenly whispers; “Don't tell the HR or anyone about this, it was just a friendly fight, no worries.” M/n whispered but a small smirk was visible on his face as he too went out of the closet.

Well, AT LEAST M/n was slightly better than Scara in terms of personality.

Though, she often questions if their dynamic was healthy or not— They get into physical fights often, isn't that too extreme?

She lets out an exaggerated sigh as she too left the Janitor's closet to resume her work—

She wonders if they truly hate each other.

“Celine, they're fighting again...” Her colleague pointed out, it was in the middle of the day, it was only 1pm and this was the 3rd time today! Not to mention it was a goddamn Monday! Could her day just get any worse?

“I know, just let them be” She responds calmly, too tired of their bullshit as she continues writing a document.

“M/n is dragging scara somewhere—”

A slam could be heard from Celine's table as Celine immediately walked over to them, grabbing Scara's arm to pull him back.

“You will NOT fight in this office, fight elsewhere.” Celine said to M/n as she dragged Scara from M/n's grasp and dragged him back to his chair.

“Work, don't fight, this is an office.” Celine said as she left both Scara and M/n stunned.

“We're not fighting! I just wanted to talk to him privately—”

“Is it work related?”

That seemed to stun M/n as he went quiet.

“No...It isn't.” M/n says truthfully, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Find an appropriate time to do it, then. Office hours aren't supposed to be time for you both to start a petty fight” Celine was getting more and more tired of them, she was hoping this was the last time they'll fight for such petty reasons.

“Right, sorry..I won't do it again” M/n apologizes as Celine nods. “You too, Scara.” She also told him, Scara just silently nodded she finally went back to her seat in peace.

Hopefully this will be the last time they fight.

A few weeks have passed since then and one day, M/n didn't come to work which was unusual since he never missed any days of work. But the more unusual thing is that Scara didn't come to work either— This should've been an advantage for Scara but apparently, he too didn't come to work.

“Weird” Celine thought to herself, maybe it was just a simple coincidence.

Well, atleast she would have some peace for a day.

No, it was just a coincidence.

Every goddamn time one of them gets sick, the other doesn't come to work either.

It can't just be a mere coincidence, right?

Curiosity killed the cat as Celine finally decided to ask both of them why they don't come to work when the other was sick.

And all they answered was;

“I want to make the rivalry fair”

That didn't stop her curiousity at all!

It seems out of character for those two bastards who literally fight every goddamn time they even lay their eyes on each other.

But hey, at least Celine has the peace she always longed for on those days.

It was just a normal Friday night for Celine, overtime in the office again, stuck with those two bastards and some other colleagues which Celine thanked God for.

The good thing is she gets paid for this shit, which is a good thing but she secretly wishes for more pay— A fee for taking care of those delinquents who kept trying to bite into each other's necks.

It was always; “He started it first!” this or “He doesn't deserve to be employee of the year!” that, well turns out none of them were employee of the year, Celine was.

At least her efforts paid off but it was a headache of trying to comfort an upset M/n and an annoyed Scara...God, those two were like the Sun and the moon.

As Celine was rambling inside of her head, she didn't notice how the sky became darker. She glanced at the office computer and saw how it was already time for her to leave, she looked at the left and right sides of her to notice how both Scara and M/n were both gone.

Oh no, those fuckers were probably at it again.

She hurriedly tries to look for them in every nook and cranny, she couldn't find anyone to help her as she realized her other colleagues had already left as she panicked.

They could be in a massive fight, oh god. What if they try to kill each other and one of them tries to kill her too???

All those negative thoughts were making Celine's head spin, but she still tried to look for them despite her fear of possibly getting killed by one of those psychos.

She searched and searched and finally— She stood in front of the Men's bathroom, there's no way she's going to do this right? Celine was reconsidering her decision, will it be like those true crime documentaries where she'll get brutally killed in the bathroom!? This was the men's bathroom, what if someone saw her and thought she was a huge ass pervert?

All those thoughts kept running throughout her head, but she stopped to listen into the bathroom as she heard a...whimper?

There was definitely someone there.

She placed her ear next to the door, trying to hear what was happening inside.

She heard...sounds of pain? Moans? Groans?

Then, she heard a voice like Scara screaming and begging to do whatever the other person was doing to him.

“M/n..! S-stopngh—”

Oh my fucking God.

M/N WAS A MURDERER.

What if she barges in and gets killed too in the process?

What if M/n found out she was eavesdropping and was brutally murdered?

What if..

What if!?

All of those “What if” questions kept repeating inside of her head as if she was back in 5th grade studying about WH-Questions.

God, she didn't like Scara but she didn't want him dead...

There's no other choice but to barge in.

As Celine starts to bang on the door, trying to communicate with Scara by screaming— She stopped when M/n finally opened the door and to her surprise; He wasn't covered in blood, rather, he was covered in sweat and some sort of...liquid? Not to mention, his clothes were messy like it had just been put on.

Did...did she misunderstand the situation?

She was speechless and embarrassed, as M/n suddenly coughs and talks.

“Hey um..do you mind leaving us alone? I..I promise you I'm not a murderer”

That's something a murderer would say!

“And why should I?” Celine responds back, leaving M/n sweating nervously. He stepped aside to show a somewhat perfectly fine Scara but he too was drenched in sweat, his clothes were a mess though.

“Oh...”

Did Celine interrupt something?

“Y-yeah uh...Please leave us alone...I want to talk to him privately”

Oh...

“Yeah...uhm, sure. Sorry.” Celine apologized as she quickly took her leave in embarrassment, so she misunderstood everything!?

They looked like a mess, and they were drenched in sweat. Were they exercising?

What the hell were they doing in there?

All those thoughts were repeating again and again as she quickly packed up her bag and turned off the office lights.

As she passed the same men's Bathroom, she could've sworn she heard a loud moan.

She doesn't want to know what they're doing.

[songmingisthighs]

Wanbelyn

introduction pt. i | pt. ii | pt. iii

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ch. vi - fire ?

neurosurgeon!hongjoong × reader

buy me coffee ?

tw : medical emergency

where love and peace is held, i never expected for this to happen. i planned and i planned, i expected, and i hoped, but it was never you. you held what i wanted hostage to make room for you, the thing that i needed but has no means of acceptance. deny me, live your best life.

It had been a while since you stepped into a hospital in the hopes of getting a job. Last time you did, you were younger and more naïve, unaware of what the job entails. Unaware of what was waiting for you.

The thought of working as a nurse kind of made your palms sweaty and knees knock slightly. You suddenly wanted to run but you had already told the HR that you were there and Yeonjun had spent a good amount of time prepping you. Not to mention Wooyoung who gave you the opportunity itself. You can't disappoint them and you can't disappoint yourself. You kept repeating the words your dad told you after that morning's call, "Calm down, take a deep breath, hold until 3, then bust a move."

He's dorky but you love him.

So in your attempt to distract yourself from your nerves, you began looking around the hospital, taking note of the things around you and naming them. It was then that a noise caught your attention from the end of the hall, causing you to immediately snap your head towards the direction. You couldn't see it clearly but you saw an abandoned cart rattling and shaking slightly before a tiny figure emerged, going on his tippy toes trying to get something from the top. It worried you to see a kid rummaging through carts like that as in hospitals, there's a chance that the cart could be filled with medical equipment that children shouldn't play with. You would've attended to the boy and brought him back to his parents but you were about to get called in for the interview any time and frankly, you learn to leave things that are not your responsibility alone. As hard as it was. So you looked back to your lap and took a scan through your resume, recalling the things Wooyoung wanted you to mention and the way you should explain things.

As you were deep in your own head, practising answers to potential questions, you heard clattering sounds from the direction where you saw the boy and soon you saw him on his back on the floor. Your eyes squinted in hopes of getting a better view of what was going on, both curious and worried, so you let your legs move on their own, walking closer to the figure only to hear strangled noises coming from the boy who was slowly turning blue.

"Oh my God," you whispered, body freezing in shock. No matter how much you were trained to face emergencies, the sight of the boy convulsing on the floor with his lips turning blue was scary enough to render you useless. Your hands shook and flashes of memories passed in your head, the figure of the boy who was in front of you mixed together with flashes of another child who was lying on his bed with blaring alarms from machines flooding your mind, almost suffocating you as well.

"No, no," You whimpered, bottom lip trembling as your eyes swam with tears, "Not again."

The boy lay not far from you, face red and lips turning blue in a position that made his choking even worse. You knew you had to help, you knew that at that moment, there was no one else but you who could help him and you needed to act fast.

With a bit of struggle, you managed to get your frozen body moving again slowly, step by step. You fell to his side and saw that the boy was clutching an empty jello container. You immediately put the information in your head, slightly relieved that it was a rather softer food instead of literally anything that wasn't food or worse, something sharp.

Though you were practically trembling in a mixture of fear and PTSD, you braced yourself, you grabbed the boy and dragged him to your lap, placing his chest on your thigh as you made sure his mouth was opened. As you manhandled the boy, you could feel how rigid his body was and it did not make you any more relieved/ Heck, it reminded you how you had to move fast or else it was another kid's life in your hands.

For a moment, you hesitated, you didn't want to do something you felt you were not ready for yet. But what were you supposed to do? So after successfully pushing the thought aside, you began striking the boy's back hard, right between his shoulder blades. The first hit made you stiffen, afraid that you might have done more harm than good and slightly hoping that it was all it took. But alas, the boy's face was turning purple and when you saw his eyes rolling back, something took over your whole body, something that was a mixture of determination and fear. You can not lose this boy, not when you can do something about it, you decided. So you sent blow after blow, one by one, and with each one delivered, you felt your mental state slipping slightly to the point that it seemed like you were not in control of your body anymore. You were fully aware that you had been trying to get the boy to cough up the jello he choked on, but you had absolutely no idea how to stop.

You swore you processed what went on, you swore you finally heard the boy's clear, loud cries from his lung that was no longer congested. You realized that you managed to save the boy but your hand wouldn't stop hitting him until you were yanked away and thrown to the other side. With your body slumping, you slowly regained consciousness of what was going on. Your cognition came back like a wave of cold water crashing onto your body. You hadn't had time to fully comprehend at what point of time you were at when you were yanked up to your feet.

"What did you think you were doing!?" you recognized her as the HR personnel who was supposed to interview you. "What?" you gasped out, a little delirious from your dissociated state but she didn't care, "Why were you hitting that boy!?" she yelled out, surprising you. At the mention of the boy, however, your eyes darted around until you fell to his crying figure. He was being held by a nurse who was glaring at you as we wailed loudly, so loud that it caught the attention of the people who were slowly gathering around. It didn't occur to you earlier at all but once reality crashed down on you, you recognized the boy as Kijoong, the boy Wooyoung brought to Yeonjun's cafe a couple days back.

Just as you felt relieve, the HR personnel snapped her fingers in front of your line of sight. "Well?" She asked, seeking an explanation out of you. Dread crawled to your chest and the look of absolute distaste and Kijoong's wails only made you feel worse, it struck a deep sense of fear in you. "I-I was, I saw him there all alone a-and I noticed he was taking, I think it was jellos? He got up and a-and got like a jello from the unattended cart so-," "So you punished- no, ASSAULTED a child you don't know because he was being juvenile?" She snapped, voice loud as she stressed the word 'assaulted'. Your eyes widened and you shook your head quickly and you moved to take a step back only to fail. That moment you realized that you were being held by a security guard who was rather bulky, unable to escape even if it was just to create some distance. "No! I-I, look, I was-" the words were at the tip of your tongue but your brain was muddled, your cognition was not working correctly and maybe it was because you had had what could only be practically described as an out of body experience, but it was also due to the situation you were put in. Who would be able to stay calm in that situation?

Though she could've waited for you to explain, she simply rolled her eyes and told the security guard to escort you out the hospital after making sure that security has your picture and profile.

"P-profile? Wha- Excuse me?" Things weren't making sense and the people who were there did not provide clarity. The HR personnel paused momentarily in front of you, letting out one sharp exhale, "I'm afraid we can't process you in our hospital, Ms. (y/l/n). The behaviour you had just shown in this very unnecessary situation tells a lot about your personality and I do believe with absolute certainty that you would not fit in with this hospital. Frankly, I do not think you are fit to work in this profession whatsoever. The interview is off, you are no longer permitted back into this hospital, effective immediately," she then turned sharply just as you saw Kijoong being put on a gurney and getting strolled out.

"Wait!" You called out, what for? You weren't sure. It didn't matter anyway because just as Kijoong's voice grew further as he got wheeled away, you were dragged with such force by the security, past the group of people who were glaring, leering, and whispering at your expense.

Honestly, you didn't even care about the interview or the job opportunity, you just wanted to make sure that the kid was okay. Sure, his voice was loud and clear, but you wished there was a way for you to be absolutely sure.

One thing is for sure though, you may have lost an opportunity, but you had potentially saved a life.

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[beyondthesefourwalls]

This Love Came Back to Me (5)

Summary: You and Bradley hadn’t ended on bad terms; really, you stopped before the two of you could even truly begin. Still, in the last seven months, you had never completely left his mind. So when you suddenly appeared in front of him at the bar, asking for a favor and pulling him into a kiss, he thought maybe it was the perfect opportunity to see if this time, things could be different. But what neither of you realized was that there’s more going on than just rekindling a lost romance, and it might not be as easy as simply just wanting it. 

Pairing: Bradley Bradshaw x Reader (no use of y/n)

Warnings: second chance romance, language, allusions of smut and potential full smut, stalking, unhealthy obsessions, delusions of feelings, unwanted attention.

Part Five Word Count: 4.1K

Part Four :: Series Masterlist

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Friday couldn’t come fast enough, but when it finally did, Bradley felt like it dragged on forever. He hadn’t looked forward to a weekend this much in quite awhile, and he knew you were the reason. 

He hadn’t been able to see you since your date on Monday, having late nights on base the rest of the week. He had been tempted to make the 25 minute drive from his apartment to yours each and every night, but the notion of going too fast too soon had crept up in the back of his mind. You had settled into a relationship that felt stronger and more hopeful than what it had been seven months ago, but he was still mindful of the fact that it was, in some ways, new. 

But it was Friday, and you had plans to spend the weekend together again, and he couldn’t wait. He smiled even thinking about seeing you. The nightly phone calls you had all week were great, but they were nothing compared to seeing you in person.

He was on his way home now, windows down and tapping on the steering wheel in rhythm with the 80s playlist flowing from the speakers. You were coming to his place this time and he knew you wouldn’t be too far behind, having texted him when you left your office. 

Bradley’s smile slipped slightly as he thought about that. 

It had taken everything in him not to track that douchebag that you worked with down when you told him about the comments he had made to you on Monday, and then how he had almost certainly purposefully run into you. The thought of him physically touching you made him want to be sick. And then he had the audacity to send you flowers in return the very next day. 

It went beyond just not knowing how to take a hint, of that he was certain. He couldn’t wait for you to get out of there. He knew you had met with HR earlier in the week and that nothing had really come of it aside being told they’d “look into it.” It was frustrating, but he knew there was nothing he could do but be there as support. You had spent the week working on your resume and job hunting, one of the reasons he hadn’t pushed to drive out to you every night. He was just as anxious for you to find something new as you were. 

You deserved so much more than what you were getting. 

He had barely taken his shoes off once he was home when there was a knock on his apartment door. He opened it quickly, and he swore, you damn near took his breath away. For a moment, he couldn’t do much more than stare at you, standing there smiling at him, twirling your keys around your finger. 

“Hey there, Aviator.” 

Your voice broke him out of his stupor and he reached out. You giggled as he pulled you through the doorway and into his chest, the door slamming shut once you were inside. He kissed you firmly, tasting the sound of your laugh. 

“Missed you this week,” he murmured against your lips. 

“Yeah?” 

He shook his head at the shy tone you had adopted and kissed you again. He felt your grin get even bigger before you pulled away. Your gaze swept over him, and when you gave a low whistle, he felt a flush creep up his neck, even as he cocked an eyebrow.

“See something you like?”

“I never saw you in your uniform much,” you shrugged, eyes lingering on his pins. Your finger brushed over his last name. “You look good in khaki.” 

“You look good in anything.” 

He shot you a wink when you rolled your eyes. He squeezed your hip before letting you go, and you followed him further into the apartment. He asked you about your day as he grabbed you a glass of water. 

“Can we not talk about work tonight?” 

He set your cup down slowly in front of you, considering your question. You didn’t seem upset, or like you were avoiding talking about something. Your eyes were still shining and a soft smile remained on your face. So instead of pushing, he nodded.

“I have a proposition for you, then.” 

You looked at him curiously, and Bradley cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. It was something he had been thinking about all week, really. His friends had seen him leave the bar with you on Friday night, and he had strategically avoided all the text messages over the weekend aside from responding with a “I’m alive, but busy. See you at work.” in the group chat. He had arrived on base on Monday to a firing squad of questions. You had met all of his friends before, but Nat was the only one who really knew how hung up on you he had remained after your breakup. She was more cautious than the others in their excitement that he had gotten back together with you. It had taken a private conversation for her to show how happy she was for him; he was pretty sure he still had a bruise from where she had punched his arm when he jokingly cooed about her concern for his feelings.

Still, despite knowing all of his friends were supportive, he wanted them to see for themselves how happy you made him, how the two of you were good. Strong. And, if he was honest with himself, he selfishly wanted to show you off a bit, too. 

“How do you feel about going to the Hard Deck with me tonight? Phoenix and the rest of the guys will be there. We can stay in if you’d rather-” 

“Bradley,” you interrupted, placing a hand on his chest. Fond amusement was written all over your face as you nodded. “I’d love to.” 

___

Bradley was hit with a bit of deja vu when he walked into the Hard Deck later that night. He couldn’t help but think about how last week at this time, he was spotting you from across the bar before you beelined your way over to him and back into his life, tilting his entire world on its axis. The bar was just as crowded, but this time, he was walking into it with his hand clasped tightly in yours. 

He knew his friends were in the back corner that they’re always in. Slipping his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt, he started to pull you in that direction when you stopped him with your free hand wrapping around his arm. 

“Can we get drinks first?” 

Looking down at you, he noticed how your eyes were slightly wider than normal, and how you seemed to bounce on your feet a little before settling. 

You were nervous. 

For some reason, that made his heart skip a beat. 

He gave you a soft smile and cupped your cheek with the hand not holding yours, pressing a kiss to the side of your head. Without a word, he changed direction and headed to the bar instead. You kept ahold of both his arm and his hand the entire time, but he didn’t mind a single bit. 

“Hey,” he murmured once Penny had set your drinks on the bar in front of you. He waited until you met his eyes to speak. “I’m really glad you’re here with me tonight, Bug.” 

Some of the anxiety on your face fell at his words, a breath of air leaving your painted lips. You pushed up on your toes to kiss him, pulling away way too soon for his liking. 

“Me too.” 

He held his bottle up between you with a wink, and you laughed lightly, clinking yours against it before you both took a sip. He arched his eyebrows in question and with another deep breath, you nodded. With a hand on the small of your back, Bradley guided you in the direction of his friends. 

It was obvious the moment you were spotted by the group of aviators. Loud calls of both of your names rang out, along with some obnoxious whistling that had him rolling his eyes. Everyone greeted you happily, a few of the guys even offering quick hugs. Nat’s the last one to approach, her eyebrow arched in a way that is so very Phoenix as she drew out your name. She smirked in Bradley’s direction before looking back at you.

“You didn’t learn your lesson the first time? This guy is a pain in the ass, but he’s your problem now. You can only return him once. It’s in the policy.”

He let out a breath of relief he didn’t even realize he was holding. You laughed, accepting the brief hug that his best friend gave you. 

“That’s okay,” you assured her, looking up at him briefly. “Guess I’ll just have to keep him then.” 

He smiled and shook his head, but his heart pounded in his chest and he felt warm all over from the implication of your words. 

It didn’t take long for you to get sucked into conversations. You really had gotten along well with everyone before, and it seemed like time hadn’t affected that, either. Bradley loved seeing you laughing and having fun, effortlessly fitting in with the people who he considered family and who meant the most to him. It just solidified what he already knew, which was that you were meant to be here with him. 

You finished your second drink about an hour later, and Bradley kissed your cheek as he said he would go grab another for the both of you. But you shook your head as you slid off the stool you had been sitting on, telling him that you needed to go to the bathroom anyway and would just grab another round on your way back. 

“I’ll go with you,” Nat chirped. He let out a soft “umph” when she shoved her pool cue in his chest, telling him to take over her game for her. You giggled softly as the two of you walked away. Bradley watched your back until you disappeared from view. When he turned back, everyone was looking at him with varying levels of amusement. 

“Shut up,” he muttered, prompting laughter. He rolled his eyes as he moved to take the vacated spot at the pool table, and after some expected teasing that he took proudly, the conversation shifted to the trip Coyote was planning on taking next month. 

It had been less than ten minutes, nothing to really be concerned about considering how busy the bar was, when Fanboy nudged his arm with a laugh. 

“Yo, Rooster. I think Phoenix is roping your girl into one of her bar fights.”  

Bradley’s eyebrows knitted together as Fanboy’s words registered, but once they did, he turned quickly to look where he was pointing. Red-hot anger surged through him as soon as he spotted you, because it wasn’t just anyone Phoenix was going toe to toe with - it was Paul.

The pool cue clattered to the ground and he was moving before anyone could say anything. 

Phoenix was standing beside you, an annoyed look on her face. But it was your expression that had him forgetting his manners as he pushed through the crowd.  You were holding your arm close to your chest, your mouth slightly opened in shock or disbelief or both. You looked startled, and your eyes were wide with something that looked far too close to fear than Bradley was comfortable with. 

When he was close enough, he could hear Phoenix spewing something about personal space. Similar to how he was with him last week, though, Paul was looking right past her with his focus trained solely on you. 

“Hey!” he called, and three sets of eyes plus a few onlookers turned to him as he stormed up. He pushed himself between you and the red headed man, effectively blocking you from view. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he growled out. 

Paul’s eyes widened at first, before a flash of anger went over his face that settled into a cool indifference much too quickly to be genuine. But he didn’t look surprised. Instead, it was like he had been anticipating this confrontation and had prepared himself. 

“I’m not here to talk to you,” he replied. He shifted like he was trying to peer around Bradley’s larger frame to see you, but Bradley mimicked the movement. Paul’s jaw ticked in annoyance. 

“Yeah, well you aren’t here to talk to her either,” Bradley snapped. His voice was filled with a steely determination that he doesn’t think he’s ever heard come out of his mouth. “You’ve bothered her enough.” 

“I’m not bothering her!” 

Bradley scoffed at the absolutely delusional words he was hearing. It was only your hands settling on his back and your body heat as you stepped closer that prevented him from completely losing it. He reached back to settle a hand on your body while keeping himself in front of you. His jaw clenched as he forced himself to take a deep breath. 

“Whatever little crush you have on her, you keep it to yourself from now on. No more coffees or flowers or any of that bullshit you’ve been pulling. Leave her the fuck alone. She doesn’t want you, man.” 

Paul finally stopped trying to look around and snapped his eyes to him at that. Gone was the indifference that was there before. What replaced it was something that had Bradley tensing even more. His eyes were cold, infuriated even. The red head huffed out an angry breath, his spine straightening as he took a step forward.

“And you think you’re good enough for her?” he hissed. His hands shot forward and pressed into Bradley’s broad chest like he was trying to push him, but the larger man barely budged. That seemed to just make him angrier and he repeated the motion. This time, Bradley pushed him back with the hand not touching you. Unlike him, the smaller man stumbled back several steps, nearly losing his balance. Bradley went to take a step forward as his anger surges, but your grip on him tightened, the fabric of his shirt clenched in your hands. He heard you whisper his name into his back, your tone urgent and pleading. 

“Please,” you said, “he’s not worth it.” 

The air was tense, and more than just those in their immediate surroundings had begun to notice the confrontation happening. Bradley kept his eyes trained on the person who had caused you nothing but stress and who had put the fear in your eyes, but it seemed the man in question had noticed how all of their friends had pushed through the crowd and joined them. It was clear whose side they were on, even if they had no context as to what was going on right now.

Still, though, it was like Paul was weighing his options and his chances as he glanced around. Bradley almost couldn’t believe it. 

“Is there a problem?”

Penny, as always, had impeccable timing. Payback and Bob moved to the side easily to let her through, and though she was speaking and looking at Bradley with raised eyebrows, he could tell that she knew it wasn’t him who was the issue. 

Before he could say anything though, Phoenix spoke up. 

“As a matter of fact, there is. This douchebag here doesn’t understand keeping his hands to himself or the word no. Rooster was just giving him a friendly reminder.”

Bradley’s nostrils flared and his fists clenched at the thought of him having touched you. The only thing keeping him from really reminding him was your forehead between his shoulder blades and the grip you had on him. 

Penny knew them all well enough to know they’d never bullshit her, so she simply nodded. 

“You disrespect a woman or the Navy in my bar, you buy a round. Since you seemed to do both without even bothering to start a tab, I’ll make it easier for you by telling you to get the hell out and not come back.” 

She only briefly looked at the outsider as she spoke to him. She nodded at the guys, instruction enough to make sure her orders were followed through; she knew they would - they always did, and this was one of their own. 

Perhaps the first smart decision he had made that night, Paul seemed to realize just how outnumbered he was. He spoke your name in a last ditch effort to get your attention. You pressed yourself closer to Bradley’s back at the sound of it. He was unmoving in front of you. 

“Go,” he growled out. “Now.”

He turned to leave with a sigh. Before he could get far, though, Bradley stepped away from you and grabbed his arm. He knew his grip was tighter than it needed to be by the way the smaller man winced. Good. He stepped up to him, leaning down to speak directly into his ear, his voice laced with venom and a clear warning. “You’re going to leave her the fuck alone, or you won’t be walking out of here next time. I can promise you that.”

Paul glared up at him, but Bradley knew he heard. He released his arm with a sneer and watched as he scurried away, Fanboy and Coyote following to make sure he left like Penny had requested. It was only once he saw them go through the front door that he turned, and as soon as he did, he had your face in his hands. 

“Are you okay?” 

You nodded, though your eyes were still wide as you stared up at him. He watched as you took a shaky breath and it took everything in him not to follow Paul into the parking lot and introduce him to his fist. But you were his priority here - you always would be. “Baby, what-” 

“That guy was a fucking creep and his beady little eyes might be in my nightmares now.”

Your eyelids fluttered shut at Phoenix’s words and you turned your head just slightly away from her and into his hand, like you didn’t want anyone to see your moment of weakness. He wondered if perhaps Paul would be in your nightmares, too, or if he already has been. He felt queasy at the thought. 

“I think we could use another drink after that,” Nat continued decisively, turning to you and asking if you were in. 

He didn’t take his eyes off of you and saw how you bit the inside of your cheek by how your lips pursed and how you took a deep breath in through your nose. He could practically see the calm mask drop over your face as you opened your eyes. You sent him a tight lipped smile and squeezed his wrists, nodding once.

He hesitated for a moment before he reluctantly let his hands drop from your face. 

You forced as much joy into your tone as possible, telling his best friend that another drink sounded like just the thing you needed. When the other aviators who had gathered dispersed either to the bar or back to their regular spot, though, Bradley held you back. 

“We don’t have to stay,” he assured you. Selfishly, part of him wanted you to say you were ready to go, so he could take you back to his place and hold you tightly for the rest of the night, assuring you but also himself that you weren’t hurt. But you shook your head at his words. 

“He’s not ruining this for me more than he already has. For either of us. Just….one more drink.”

He spoke your name gently and shook his head, not quite knowing what to say.

“Please, B.”

Your soft, quiet voice cracked slightly and your eyes were pleading with him, and god, Bradley hated this so much. He hated him so much. 

But he pressed a kiss to your forehead, breathing you in for a long moment as you clung to him in return. Then he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and guided you back to where you had been sitting before, accepting the drinks that Nat had gotten for the both of you.

___

You were quiet on the drive back to his apartment. Too quiet, in a way that left Bradley feeling on edge and out of his depth. You had pushed through two more drinks at the Hard Deck, a smile on your face and laughing at everyone’s jokes as you stayed integrated into the conversations happening around you. It was almost like the altercation with Paul hadn’t even affected you, you were so convincing. But he knew better. He could see the way your eyes had darted more often than usual to the entrance, or how your brows knitted together in thought if you went too long without talking. 

You were both the strongest and the most stubborn woman that he had ever known, and it wasn’t until after Jake and Nat had both slunk off and the others were starting up another round of pool that some of your facade had faded. You had barely needed to say his name before he was leading you out of the bar after a few quick goodbyes. You had kept a tight hold on his arm as you walked toward the Bronco. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t surveying the packed parking lot more than he normally would, and he knew you were doing the same.

You kept your gaze out the window, your hands in your lap. He could hear the sharp snap, snap, snap of your hair tie against your wrist and finally Bradley reached over to place his hand over yours, stopping you from the unconscious coping mechanism you had. You didn’t say anything, but you turned your palm up and laced your fingers through his, squeezing his hand instead. He kept it there in your lap until he pulled into his designated parking space. 

You still didn’t look at him once he turned the ignition off, and Bradley felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin with how the silence was killing him. 

With a sigh, he climbed out of the car, walking slowly around the back of it to your door, trying to give you a moment by yourself, no matter how brief. 

He mustered a smile when he opened the door to the passenger side. You did your best to return the gesture, but it was half hearted. He was just extending his hand to help you out when you finally spoke. 

“I think maybe I should go back to my place tonight.” 

Your words made his heart stutter in his chest for all the wrong reasons. He took a deep breath and clenched his jaw, clearing his throat when the words got stuck in it. 

“Is that what you want?” he gritted out, trying his best to keep his voice neutral. It was the opposite of what he wanted - what he needed, truthfully. He had promised to do everything to support you, and he knew being alone was something you valued sometimes, but god damnit, the thought of you alone in your house as upset as what he knew  you were, even if you weren’t showing it, didn’t sit well with him at all. He wanted you here with him, just like the two of you had planned. 

He hated that dickhead for making you feel like this. He should’ve followed him into the damn parking lot. 

You chewed on your bottom lip for a moment, and when you released it from between your teeth, he could see how it wobbled.  Bradley’s heart clenched. 

“Not really,” you admitted, your voice cracking with the words.

“Then why?” 

You shrugged miserably, shaking your head. You didn’t say it, but he could make guesses as to what you were thinking. You were too much. You didn’t want him to see you upset. He shouldn’t have to put up with this. 

The possibilities were all bullshit and couldn't be further from the truth.  

Bradley took a step closer until he physically couldn’t anymore, blocked by the car frame. He brushed his thumb over your cheek and you leant into the touch, your eyes fluttering shut. 

“Come inside, Bug. Please.” 

You took a few deep breaths and his heart was in his throat until you finally gave a shaky nod and unbuckled your seatbelt.

------

Part Six :: Series Masterlist :: Main Masterlist

Notes: Does Paul give anyone else a serious case of the ick? I hope you enjoyed this one! Likes/comments/reblogs are the best encouragement for posting more🖤

Thank you to Mak and Em for all of your help making this story come to life. And thanks to Mak for the AMAZING banner!

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[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for editing my friends cover letter and then telling him I wouldn’t give him my employee number for a referral if he used the cover letter he wrote? (Emojis to find this whenever it posts)

✍️🧠

For some context… I work for a HUGE university that is extremely hard to get a job at. I have friends in HR here now and they said pretty much every job posting (and the postings are pretty sparse) gets a minimum of 250-300 applications. I got extremely lucky securing my job and truly do not take that for granted. And now that I’m an “insider” I have the ability to make referrals for my friends so that they can at least get an interview and hopefully a job here too and hop on the good pay and excellent benefits train especially since we’re all coming up on 26, therefore, we are all losing our health insurance (yay America).

So, one of my friends finished his masters degree recently and was looking for jobs in my area and saw something at my place of employment he was interested in. I told him I would be more than happy to look over his cover letter and resume before he submitted his application because I know what they look for in those. He said if there was any major changes he would pay me for edits too. I agreed because why not help my friend out. Give him a shot at this place.

And as much as I hate to say it… his cover letter was just… bad. It was so bad I reread it a good 5 times before I was fully able to comprehend just how bad it was. I had to go for a walk around the block to collect my thoughts on it. It literally made me question how he got a masters degree if I am being completely frank. It was also just so atrocious I offered to edit it for free because I felt so bad.

I don’t want to give specifics but think, half a paragraph on things he explicitly states that he has not done and will never do in his masters program, saying “folks” instead of colleagues (which is fine in conversation but like. Not for a cover letter ya know?), talked more about his experience in retail than he did his actual masters program, and just so so so much more.

So to just give him as fair of a shot as I could, I asked him for his thesis and service work that he did in his program, and asked permission to pretty much start from scratch on his cover letter. He excitedly agreed and told me to “go to town and do what you have to” and said “you know better than me what they’re looking for” and once I returned the final product to him he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the amount of jargon I inserted and the amount of changes I made to his “flare”. I had my friend in HR at the specific department I work at read it over and he said it was spectacular and he would interview someone with the cover letter in a heartbeat. I told my friend that and he still felt like I “robbed it of his personality.” I told him he’s welcome to edit it however he wants but my friends in HR said it was really strong how I wrote it and I would highly recommend not making any changes before he applies if he wants to get an interview and told him to just think on it for a bit before throwing in his application.

He didn’t respond for a couple of days and then called me out of the blue and told me he was working on his application now, was planning on using his original cover letter unedited, and needed my ID number for the referral. And I said… no. I am super super lucky to have my job and as jobs here are in such high demand I was scared to stick my neck out for him because I felt it might stain my reputation and reflect poorly on me. And he yelled at me and accused me I was being selfish and uppity about my job and that I needed to just give him the number because “if doesn’t matter anyway”. I tried to explain to him that any referral an employee makes gets added to their file regardless if the person got hired or not.

I did not want to stand by his original cover letter because I felt like it would’ve knocked him out of the running LONG before the interviews would’ve even started getting scheduled. I also feel it is important to add, I never told him his cover letter was garbage. I just told him it needed some work/jargon/fine tuning to the job description. I would never EVER say something like that to someone because I would never want to hurt someone’s feelings

I feel horrible. I didn’t want him to be hurt by the advice and changes I was making but I am in a very interesting and delicate position with my job in that I am one of like 5 people in any kind of administrative role at the entire institution that doesn’t have a bachelors degree. I secured my job because I worked as a temporary assistant for a few months and they loved me so much they made an exception to hire me in fully. I am deeply loved in my department and I truly love my job with all of my heart. It is wonderful and incredibly rewarding to do the work that I do so I really do not want to fuck this up for myself. I have had other friends apply and get jobs here with a little guidance and they love it too. I absolutely want that for my friend I was trying to help. I truly do. But he was not willing to take my advice and I just couldn’t risk sticking my neck out for him. So… AITA?

TL/DR: I work for a hard to get into place. Spent a lot of time fixing my friends app bc he writes like a 14 year old despite having a masters degree. He said he was using his shitty cover letter and asked for my referral number anyway and I told him no it’s not gonna happen because I can’t afford to stick my neck out like that since I got my job in a non traditional way leaving me a bit more vulnerable than most. I never explicitly told him “your cover letter is garbage” because I didn’t want to make him feel bad but warned him it would most likely not make it to the interviews and the one that I wrote him was applauded by my friends who work in HR.

What are these acronyms?

[hasufin]

The Hunt

90% of jobhunting is utter, meaningless bullshit.

That is...

It doesn't matter whether you're a perfect fit for the job listing - in fact, being a perfect fit may mean you absolutely cannot and should not get the job, because the listing was needlessly inflated by HR (e.g., the hiring manager wanted 3 years of experience, HR doubled that to 6 and added four other requirements which have nothing to do with the job). Or the listing may not be tied to an actual position at all, because companies want to have a large pool of applicants onhand Just In Case they decide to start hiring, and they also get some financial incentives to claim they're hiring.

It doesn't matter what you say in your cover letter, it won't be read.

It doesn't matter how you format your resume, it will be fed into a company application process and turned into plain text or your clever formatting will be broken such that you look like a moron who can't create a document. And you're going to have to copy it all manually into their website anyway.

No human is going to read past your intro anyway. If you get to the interview you'll be asked, repeatedly, specific information which is right on the resume.

You're going to sit in front of a couple dozen people for the interview, none of whom have any actual say in whether you'll be hired, and many of whom will never even be asked their opinions of the people they interview.

A thank-you for the interview will be ignored or even get you labeled as needy. Double for any subsequent follow-up.

A perfect interview may be meaningless if the interviewer is having a bad day for whatever reason.

Actual hiring decisions will be made by someone whom you never met, did not look at your information, and decided based on criteria you never learned about.

Hiring managers often like to employ "secret tests of character" by which they read deep meaning into random details of their surroundings; it's like fortune telling for people who think they're a lot more clever than they are.

Point is, in all likelihood, any given element of the jobhunting process is not going to matter. And very often closely following exactly what the employer claims they want will sabotage yourself and keep you from getting the job.

Unfortunately...

you are obliged to treat every step as being the most important part. Absolute A game on each bit. If you call out that an element is repeating something else, or that this is obviously not relevant, you're out. Pointing out it's a game means you lose the game.

You never get to know just which part is actually important. you will never, ever, be told "We saw a typo on the 7th page of your application and decided that meant you weren't detail-oriented". You'll be strung along for as long as is convenient, and then just ghosted. Even if you win and get hired, you will never be honestly told "On your 4th panel interview we were really impressed with how you tackled that off-the-wall scenario Bill made up on the spot and that's what got you the job."

I think the reality is, we've got this entire economy which supposedly revolved around hiring people who can do the work, and we've had this economy for a pretty long time, and we're really bad at it but we don't know why. So you get more and more steps in the process hoping that if you add one more round of panel interviews, feed the resumes into an AI model, and increase the requirements by 5%, This Time it will make sense and companies will Know Who To Hire. But you can't tweak parameters when you don't know what they are, and they're really just trying to predict the future.

[a-b-riddle]

Pen Pals Chapter One: Welcome to the Internet

I feel like most girls who claimed they loved world history either had a hot history teacher or a Percy Jackson obsession. Well, I'm not like most girls. I had both. I may have been failing math, but when I tell you I was passing history with flying colors...

It was 2009: I was a freshman in high school and at 14 years old, I was very impressionable. Full disclosure: I was not groomed. Well, by my teacher at least. My history teacher wasn't like that weird, over-friendly coach with the students. He was just hot. Very incredibly boring, but hot by my standards as a 14-year-old who up until that point had only kissed two boys, but read some very questionable fan-fiction. 

Our semester closed on the unit about World War II. It was the week of Christmas, we just finished our finals and we watched a movie I highly recommend called 'Pearl Harbor'.

That movie just kind of fueled my obsession with World War II. It's like those little kids who had a really nice nurse when they were sick and they grew up wanting to be nurses. I saw Ben Affleck in a WW 2 uniform and was fucking SET. 

Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed it besides the hot actors. I loved the stories. I loved the heroes. Second Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy: The most decorated soldier of the war. He was credited for killing over 200 Germans. Corporal Desmond Doss was a medic, never picked up a weapon and saved 75 men by lowering them down from a freaking cliff. I cry every time I watch his interviews and if you want to know his full story watch Hacksaw Ridge. Then there was Private Steven Grant Rogers. Started out as an E-1 and then promoted to a O-3 (or a Captain) and was renamed  Captain America.

Just like how people think of Tom Brady when they think of the Super Bowl, I did the same thing when it came to Captain America and the war. Now, I don't want to say I idolized the man, but I did admire the hero.

My obsession made me major in History and later get a Master's in Conflict Management. Now, I was applying to one of the biggest companies in the nation: Stark Industries. Now, that was partly because I could not find a job anywhere and someone that I went to college with started working in HR and was able to get me an interview. It didn't have to do with anything pertaining to my degree, but it had been a while before I was able to find a job that paid this well. 

I felt like I was running my sponsor dry with his support and I had applied several times to multiple colleges in the city. I mean I had a freaking Master's degree with intentions of pursuing my Doctorate for crying out loud and the best I could do was be a personal assistant.

I was going to be a secretary. Nothing important, but the pay was more than exceptional. 

Stark Tower was intimidating to say the least. Over 90 floors and reflective glass windows. It hurt my neck to look directly up at it. 

When I walked into the building, security instructed me what floor to go to. When I got there, I was greeted with an empty desk. I waited several minutes downstairs before a strawberry blonde woman with cute freckles came down to greet me. "Hi, you must be the secretary applicant." She smiled. "I'm Pepper Potts. So you're resume here is quite impressive and Harrison in HR highly recommended you."

"Yes, I was so excited when he told me you had a position available."

"Usually, I would be doing the interview, but I'm afraid I have to head out on some other business, so if you want to take the elevator to floor 82, Mr. Stark will be waiting."

"Of course." I said holding a folder that contained all the documents he requested I brought in.

"Hello, Mr. Stark." I greeted.

"You must be Pepper's replacement."

"Oh," I said. "Is she not-"

"She's been made COO." He clarified. "She can't leave that easily."

"Oh, good." I said. "She seemed really sweet."

"To you, yes. To me, I can't do anything. Don't put your life in danger, don't challenge terrorists." He mocked. "She's no fun." He walked further into what I assumed was a common room of sorts. It gave no indication that he lived on that floor. There was a full bar and it looked more of a place he hosted parties. "So tell me a bit about yourself." He began to pour himself a drink. "Something that isn't on your resume."

"Um, well, I'm taking a course in French and Greek right now. Just online classes, nothing too time consuming. I prefer dogs over cats because I think that its important if you die, for your pet to at least be sad and I am the first one in my family to live in New York, that I know of. I'm the first girl to graduate with their Master's. I plan on eventually getting my Doctorate, but not for a while. I don't like hot coffee and I'm terrified of snakes."

"Who would actually prefer cats over dogs?"

"Pepper?" I asked to which he laughed, even though it wasn't that funny.

"I like you." He took a sip of his drink. "It's not liquor. Pepper has this rule that alcohol should only be consumed during certain times of the day."

"I think 9:30 on a Monday is acceptable. I was debating on getting Mimosas after the interview if it went well."

"And if it didn't?" He asked.

"I would say tequila, but I got food poisoning from the limes once."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I had about 15 limes and felt terrible the next day."

"I prefer a good scotch myself."

"I like anything that doesn't taste like alcohol. I'm really impressed that a bottle of wine can cost thousands of dollar, but I guarantee it can't be as delicious as a Moscow mule."

"I haven't had a Moscow mule in forever." He said. "They were my go-to in college."

"Where did you go to school?" His response was to point at a wall that was covered in awards and accomplishments. "You went to Andover?" I asked looking at his degree.

"Seven years." He said. "I really liked the science department."

"I've given a few guest lectures there. It's a lovely school."

"What was the topic of discussion?"

"The North African campaign during World War 2, but specifically the Battle of Ramree Island."

"History nerd. Nice." Mr. Stark replied sarcastically when the elevator door dinged. "Speaking of historical nerds."

If my legs could have physically turned into jelly at that moment they would. None other than Steve Rogers walked in with a blonde following dutifully behind. "Tony."

"Capscicle and the ice queen." He whispered too low for them to hear.

"Rogers, meet our new secretary." Tony introduced and started to head toward the elevator.

"It is such an honor, Captain Rogers." I said taking his outstretched hand.

"Please, call me Steve." He insisted. The blonde beside him remained quiet and eyed me up and down with a stoic expression.

"Not that I'm trying to cut you off, but I'll let you two old ladies reminisce on the glory days." Tony clicked the elevator door and waited until it dinged opened. "I have somewhere to be. Congratulations. You got the job. Blah. Blah. Blah. Monday at 9, don't be late." He pressed a button I couldn't see and the doors began to close. "Or do. I really don't care, but if you're late, bring coffee."

"He's..." I began, but couldn't quite pick the right word.

"Arrogant." Steve finished.

"I was going to say interesting." I said.

"So what 'glory days' was Stark referring to?"

"Oh. I gave a few lectures about a few battles at the University he went to. Nothing exciting."

"Well Mrs.-"

"It's just Miss." I said. That was stupid. Why did I say that? That was rude to cut him off like that. "Sorry." I apologized. Why was I apologizing?

"Well, Ma'am. It looks like we'll be seeing you Monday morning. If you're late Tony gets a triple shot of espresso and a disgusting amount of sugar in it."

"Being late isn't really my style. My mother always said if you're not early, you're late." Why was a quoting my zealot mother right now. Jesus, stop it.  Not like Jesus Jesus. You know what, never mind. "I think I can find my way out." I said.

The walk back home I felt my cheeks burn the entire time. I haven't even started and I'm already flustered. Jesus, get a grip.

Suddenly my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was him.

*So how did it go?*

*I got the job* I replied back.

*That's wonderful. I'm so proud of you* I couldn't deny the pride that swelled inside of me at his praise.

*Thank you, although I did make a complete ass out of myself*

*How so?*

*Well, my new boss introduced me to one of his partners and I felt like I made a fool of myself.* I typed. *Not partner in the sexual way, but someone he works with. He called Mrs. and I corrected him and said 'no it's just MIss' like it didn't even matter, he was just being polite. Then I quoted my mother. I was just flustered, but I start Monday.*

C didn't reply after that. We were supposed to have a date tonight so I'm sure he would just finish the conversation later. I had a caprese salad, but ate mostly the mozzarella. I showered, shaved and waited until I got a notification.

 *Sorry. Something came up. Regardless, I think you'll do great.* I smiled at his message, but was disappointment that he was cancelling our date tonight. Well the closest thing we came to date nights which usually ended in me being in an unsavory position.

Initially, C and I met on a chat forum in 2016. I was working on my senior seminar and had sort of an open ended question regarding the war. It was something along the lines of taking the notion that if a war on that scale were to happen in today's world in what ways would American citizens contribute to the war effort at home? Back in the 40s most companies like Ford made strictly military equipment. It was an honor to have a government contract whereas now it's more like any other business deal.

I received a lot of interesting responses, but a user named CR0876 replied that shifting the current American ideal of self-preservation to what we had before which was sacrificing for your country was the only way in which today's America could possibly aid in a war. I messaged CR0876 to further discuss the topic. 

He wrote me: All I am saying is we now live in a day and age where you have people who won't vaccinate their children simply because they choose not to. They don't have an issue with you vaccinating your kids, but not theirs. We eradicated some of the deadliest diseases that are still present in some third-world nations and you have entitled people who don't trust science to preserve the health and well-being of not only their children, but everyone they come in contact with. The reason that our life expectancy has shot up isn't because of ground breaking medical break throughs like chemotherapy, it is for preventative measures. Getting vaccinated. Getting checkups. Wearing sunscreen. Washing your hands after wiping your ass. 

A few minutes later he sent an apology for getting so riled up in his rant and I told him that no apology was needed and I completely agreed with him. From then on our friendship started to blossom. 

Most of our conversations had something to do involving the war, but then it got more personal. I felt comfortable with him. I talked about my time at college and what I was studying. We went from a few messages a week to communicating everyday. Eventually when graduation came around, I offered him a graduation ticket. I was a little disappointed to find out it was too far for him to travel. He asked for my mailing address. That he felt guilty for missing such a big event and he wanted to make it up to me. I was a little apprehensive. I mean, we were taught to never give your stranger your address, but I was an RA in a college dorm. I would be out into the real world soon and he wouldn't know my room number or what I looked like.

So I sent it.

A few weeks passed and I got a pair of beautiful pearl earrings with a card that read. A beautiful girl always needs a set of beautiful pearls. Congratulations on all of your hard work. -C

Four and a half years later and I still have that card. We still talk about the war. I recommend him movies, while he recommends books then we both point on the inconsistencies. It was stupid, but it was fun. Now, I just sort of tell him about my day to day life and he tells me small tidbits about his. It was earlier in 2020 when the pandemic hit that things started to get... well things just changed.

I had just moved to New York in early February to start teaching at a local college. I was going to start with May-mester classes, but then Covid hit and the world stopped. 

I had moved in with little to nothing. I had a few pieces of stuff for the kitchen and a bed. It wasn't much, but it was mine and I was damn proud of it.

My pride was short lived when I got the e-mail. In a panic, I sent him a message.

Hey can you talk?

Sure. What's up?

Is there anyway you can call me? I'm kind of in a bad place right now and I really don't have anyone else to talk to. I felt guilty as soon as I hit the send button. I'm not like going to hurt myself or anything I am just super stressed and if you have the time and energy, I just need to unload some stuff.

Seconds later my phone began to ring.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I took a deep breath. I can't believe this was the first time hearing his voice. It wasn't what I was expecting. I expected almost a pompous scholarly tone in his voice. But instead he was borderline on being batman. His voice was deep.

"They rescinded my offer." I took a deep breath. "I just spent all of my savings literally to move to this stupid freaking city and they told me over an e-mail 'we are sorry to inform you that your offer for employment has been rescinded until further notice due to the impending pandemic and the unforeseeable circumstances it holds. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and wish you the best in your future endeavors.' They said sorry and good luck." 

There was a pause and I heard him sigh. "Sweetheart, I am so sorry." 

"Thanks." I rubbed the back of my neck. "Looks like that chapter closed before it got any good. I guess I can see if maybe I can do virtual learning for a high school, but I don't know if my degree is enough. I think you need an education degree to teach."

"But you always wanted to teach college..." His disappointment matched mine.

"I know..." I looked down at nearly clear streets of New York. "But I need a job, C." I sighed. "It's either that or call my parents and I would literally rather be homeless than ask them for help."

"How much?"

"What do you mean?"

"How much was your job going to pay you?"

"80k a year starting." I said and felt another wave of nausea wash over me. 80k wasn't much to some, but it was a lot for me and it would be doing something I loved.

"Tell you what, that is about 6 and a half grand a month. I will pay you 7 grand a month if you promise me not to give up."

"What?" I couldn't believe this. "There is absolutely no way I could ever accept that kind of money."

"It's not like I don't have it, Princess." He can't be serious. That's crazy. He never mentioned having money or being well off. 

"And what do you want in return?" The butterflies in my stomach began to churn. God I hope he wasn't wanting to do anything... unethical. "Surely you wouldn't do that just because you want me to be a college professor."

"Nothing." He said. "Absolutely nothing. I just want you to be taken care of and pursue your dream."

"I really can't let you do that."

"It's only temporary." He tried to assure me, but I still felt guilty. 

"C-" He was always so argumentative and authoritative over messaging and he matched it over the phone.

"I promise." He interrupted. "It won't put a dent in my wallet."

"Only until I have a full-time job." I tried to say.

"Until you become a professor."

"No," I said. "As soon as I get a job and can support myself."

"Sweetheart, it's not polite to argue."

"I appreciate it." I said. "I really do."

"So does that make your day a little bit better?" He asked.

"It does."

"Anything else gone wrong you need help fixing?"

"No." I responded and felt like a child and and adult came up to fix the mess I had made.

"Good." I heard him sigh. "I'm glad that was easy to fix and now, that I got you on the phone... it's nice to finally hear your voice."

Chapter Two: Confessions

[crazy-lazy-elder-sims]

-the Tired accountant and the senior Designer pt2-

Hello again i decided to expand on my sims for the simblr office idea by @kashisun once again thank you for this and apologies if im a bit spammy im slightly excited lmao

Okay buckel up folks cause im about to take you on a journey TM lol

Introducing our office babes

Christian Sinclare:

33 years old but feels 50

Doesn't like coffee but drinks it to stay awake

His favorite color is Naomi's hair color👀

..... And sage green

Literally the only accountant in this company that you can talk to that wont bring up budget cuts in the first 5 mins

His favorite meme is the "keep calm and carry on" meme but people call him an old man if he brings it up. #leavesinclarealone2023

Always works late but only because he prefers to finish the financial reports on the same day he started them so he can sleep at night (anxiety gang hello👋)

So many coworkers from other depratments come down and talk to him about various Accounting things he has no idea why its not like he is the manger or head of the department ( its because he is handsome and all the peeps want a piece of him he's just too cluless to notice)

Obsessed with the presence of Mathematical algorithms in nature and everyday life

His favorite is how Bats can find the exact location of things using echo location and the math behind that

The golden Ratio is another obsession and he spends his days off in Museums observing painting that has them

Naomi Marroquin:

31 years old iced coffee addict

Her hair color was an accidental dark red home hair dye job that went wrong but she liked it so much she kept it for years

Her favorite color is red

Hates staying late and leaves the office at 5 o'clock sharp and no one can stop her (trust me they tried)

Says she doesn't care for all the office gossip and scandal but she is besties with the one HR employee from how much she goes down there to get the juicy gossip

Is the senior graphic designer but the graphic department head put her in charge of Budgeting and making exel sheets for the accounting department because she was the only one with "excel proficiency" on her resume

That was a lie

The first time she got assigned an excel sheet assignment she googled "how to learn excel fast" then added " for dummies" exactly 2 mins later

She oftten clashes withthe Accounting department on thier requestes to lower costs and cut out quality

Hates doing all the obove through email and tries to meet anyone from the accounting department but they all avoid her because they have no time for her 30 mins lectures about the importance of paper quality

Fun facts:

Naomi is taller than Christian 💓

Naomi used her personal email on accident for her resume which is called: Naomi.is.da.best.2012@simail.com but they hired her anyway because they desperately needed someone with excel skills

Naomi's corporate style is inspired by her mom who used to be a corporate goth but naomi is not one (infact some of her office Fashion staples were given to her by her mom)

Christian's second reason for staying late is that he hates going home to an empty quiet small Appartment and prefers the feel of the big spaces of the office

Christian refuses not not wear any sort of jacket during his workday but once the day is over and everyone leaves he takes of his jacket loosens up his tie and takes out his bun to feel more comfortable

Naomi once saw christian at a museum staring really hard at a painting then she saw that painting printed on a corset the next day it made her laugh so much she had to buy it for work

One day Naomi wore tights with bats on them (vintage 😉) when she arrived at work and "happened" to get in the elevator with Christian he instantly said "nice bats" but then panicked and went into how much he loves bats for 10 mins straight. Naomi instantly fell for that panicked rizz lol

Next day she came to the office with some nice bat earing but swears its not related to Christian and his love of bats(it is) and its NOT HER GIVING HIM SIGNS OMG GUYS DO YOU WANT ME TO GET WRITTEN UP TO HR( she totally was)

How they got close and began working together:

After a particularly tough day at work of having to stay late and trying to get through to the accounting department because they wont budge on buying the expensive colored ink for thier printers and how not doing that will compromise the color quality plus almost calling the accounting manger an uneducated potato,

she decided to pass by the empty (or so she thought) accounting department to let out some cuss words at a poor empty desk, she saw Sinclare sitting there tie loosened and all and decided to try again and convince him to not cut the important supplies from the budget

How she thought that conversation went:

How it actually went:

After he recovered from that he told her he will help her write better more convincing reports to present to the department and from then on they became friends (who are trying so hard and failing not to fall for each other)

Aaand Thats all for now folks if you read all that i wanna say thank you i love getting super inspired like this its so much fun! Tell me what you think of the babes here im So excited!

Thank you again to kashisun for this extremely fun idea❤️

[guysunderwearstories]

Story #23

“Pajama day? What are we, five years old?”

Aaron was disgusted. Not only was his boss making them work all day on a Saturday, but he was trying to insult him and the other employees by making it a “fun pajama day.” This job was supposed to be a part-time thing to put on his resume, but here it was ruining his social life.

“I just thought if we all had to be here on a Saturday, we could all dress comfortably,” said his boss, Vincent. Though Vincent founded the small startup, he looked like he couldn’t be a day over thirty. With an imposing figure and brown hair shaved into a buzz cut, his constant sternness juxtaposed what could only be described as a youthful face. Both his seriousness and his youth described exactly a person that would find pajama day fun.

“Again, since I’m not a toddler, I don’t own any pajamas, so I guess I have to work on a Saturday AND be uncomfortable doing it,” replied Aaron. Brock and Sam, the other two guys his age in the office, nodded emphatically.

“Can you guys bring sweatpants or something?” Vincent was looking flustered.

“Why do we have different rules we have to follow than everyone else?” Brock fake whined. His carefully styled black hair and Egyptian features made him look more like he belonged in a modeling agency than a startup. He, like Aaron, clearly just wanted to push Vincent’s buttons.

“If I’m going to wear pants, I’m not going to wear sweatpants. I’m going to actually commit to the bit,” laughed Sam. Sam had a slight Australian accent, dark hair shaved into a fade, and charming enough looks and personality that no one really noticed that what he said didn’t make a thing of sense.

“Well if you boys don’t wear pajamas, what do you wear to sleep?” inquired Luis. He was the one older man in the office. “I”m genuinely curious,” he said innocently to a clearly exasperated Vincent.

“Boxers,” said Aaron proudly.

“Undies,” said Brock with a grin.

“What kind?” asked Sam. “Panties? Budgie smugglers?”

“Nah, boxers too,” laughed Brock as he gave Sam a punch on the arm.

“This meeting has gone off the rails!” Vincent wasn’t happy about having to work all day Saturday either and all this backtalk wasn’t helping his mood. “If you boys really want to come in Saturday wearing your actual sleepwear, be my guest! Karen is still on maternity leave, so it’s not like anyone is going to mind!” Lisa, who they all called Karen, was the only woman in the office.

“Boo ya!” Aaron, Brock and Sam all high fived each other.

“Not that I think you boys have the balls to do it,” muttered Vincent under his breath.

“Carefully, Vinny, that’s an HR violation,” teased Aaron.

Aaron drove home, his displeasure at working Saturday completely alleviated by the knowledge he could cause havoc at work showing up in his boxers. As soon as Aaron walked in the door, he shed his khakis and waltzed around in his blue boxers with red lobsters on them. If he was going to spend all day in his underwear, he might as well get the practice in now. He plopped down on the couch, but the sudden movement caused a family jewel to plop out the bottom of his underpants, which he hastily readjusted. He frowned. Even if his office was willing to bend the dress code rules tomorrow, there was only so far they’d be willing to go. He got an idea and walked upstairs.

He knocked on his roommate James’ door. James, in the middle of a video game, laughed when he saw Aaron, though it was almost bitter. “Nice outfit,” said James. After all, Aaron was standing there in his plaid button down work shirt and crustacean boxers.

“Well, I have to get used to it don’t I?” laughed Aaron. He quickly filled in James on the events of the day.

“Why are you telling me all this?” asked James.

“Well, while boxers are pretty similar to shorts, there’s always the possibility that something might pop out the bottom,” Aaron grinned. “You would know that if you ever wore boxers.”

James glared at him.

Aaron continued, “I was wondering if you would loan me a pair of briefs I could wear underneath. I don’t own any.”

James looked at you in horror. “Loan you a pair of my underwear?”

“What?” asked Aaron. “You’ve loaned me bathing suits. If you don’t, I’m going to have to go to the store and actually spend money on those things. And I don’t want to encourage any future production of them.”

James scoffed. “Remind me to burn those bathing suits.”

Both boys stared at each other in awkward silence. It was time to address the elephant in the room.

Last weekend, after a breakup with his girlfriend, James drank way too much and somehow ended up filming an Instagram Live at 2 am featuring all his unsuspecting roommates. Only issue was James was in his underwear and all of his roommates were in their various sleeping attire (for the majority of them, their underpants). It’s not that Aaron was embarrassed to be seen in his underwear (he was going to work pantsless tomorrow, after all), but it was the principle of the thing; even if James was drunk, his instincts were try to embarrass his friend.

But even Aaron had to admit that the guys’ retaliation may have gone a bit too far. They picked up a fast asleep James and left him in nothing but his briefs on the porch of their attractive neighbor, June. As James angrily informed them all the morning after, he woke up (quite cold) to a disgusted looking June, clutching her bathrobe tightly to her body and poking him with a broomstick. James merely ran away. He still has never spoken to her and after that he probably never would.

“Listen. It was none of our finest hours,” Aaron said slowly.

“Get out of here. Not doing anything for you after that shit,” snapped James.

Aaron wasn’t too bothered. James had a bit of a temper but he was fiercely loyal to his friends and he knew their “bromance” wasn’t in any danger. But he was slightly annoyed that now he had to go to Walmart to buy briefs, something he has never done.

Aaron walked into the store from his xar. He found a pack of five solid black Gildan that didn’t look to bad (saying “good looking briefs” would have been too much of an oxymoron for him). But $35! He was going to wear them under his briefs one time for a bit at work. That wasn’t worth it.

The store didn’t have a ton of briefs; mainly boxers and boxer briefs lined the shelves. While it inconvenienced him in this moment, the lack of briefs being available to the public did restore his faith in humanity just a little bit.

He involuntarily grimaced as he passed a seven pack of Hanes tighty whities. His housemates Carlos wore them, and as a result in the infamous Instagram Live he looked like a beefy baby. But he did a double take. $15?!? For a pack of 7?!? He couldn’t argue that was a better deal. He found a pack in his size and shrugged. It’s not like anyone would see them. He tried to shake off the feeling that that statement was probably some nasty foreshadowing, almost like something an amateur writer might put in some gay erotica on Tumblr.

When he got home, Aaron went into his room, took off his boxers, and pulled on the tighty whities. He had to laugh at himself. He took off his plaid work shirt and stood there in nothing but the tighty whities. They made him look a loser but he had to admit a pretty well-endowed loser.

He slid back the boxers over them. Nothing was going to pop out now. There were some faintly visible brief lines, but if anyone was going to be staring at his ass that intently they better be buying him dinner first. The Hanes waistband stuck out over the top, but he wasn’t worried, as he’d be wearing a shirt tomorrow.

His phone buzzed from inside his discarded pants. He picked it up to see a text from James.

JAMES: Sorry for being a dick.

AARON: All good. Was kind of a dick too. Can you drive me to work tomorrow lol. Eli is borrowing my car.

JAMES: Sure. Text me a time.

Aaron smiled. James really was loyal to a fault.

The next day, Aaron woke up and got “dressed” for work. He pulled on the white briefs, a pair of white boxers with red polka dots (the funniest pair he owned), and a white wifebeater tank top. Socks and sneakers completed the outfit. He didn’t even put on a coat, as he wanted everyone in the office to take in his grand entrance.

Aaron and and James walked to James’s car. They carried two large boxes of bags of potato chips. As the least senior employee, Aaron had also been charged with bringing snacks to get them through this awful Saturday workday.

James parked the car. Aaron stopped him.

“Let me carry in the boxes with you.”

“Oh please,” Aaron brushed him off. “I got it.”

“Seriously.” James looked at him. “I was mad about one person seeing me in my underwear but I put you online. I feel bad. Let me help you out. Not like you can carry in both boxes those scrawny arms anyway.”

“Fuck off,” laughed Aaron. The two guys got out of the car, bragged boxes, and started walking towards the office.

As Aaron opened the door, he heard the crunch of potato chips as James threw his box to the floor. He gripped the waistband of Aaron’s boxers and pushed him forward with all his strength. Fuck. James must actually have been stronger than him, because his boxers ripped clean off. He landed on the office floor in full view of his coworkers, wearing nothing but white socks, black sneakers, the white tank top, and the Hanes tighty whities.

“I didn’t know you brought white ones!” cackled James. He ran out the door. Aaron heard snickering coming from every guy in the office. He took a couple seconds to recover from the shock before standing up. He started to run for James, but felt Vincent’s hands on his shoulders.

“You wanted to wear your actual sleepwear to work, and now that you showed up like this, you actually have to work.” Vincent looked stern and aggressive at the same time. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and gray sweatpants.

“I don’t actually wear these,” sputtered Aaron. “I was-“

“What do you mean you don’t actually wear them, you’re wearing them right now,” said Vincent. The whole office, still listening intently to the conversation, erupted in laughter.

Most of the office opted for Vincent’s sweatpants idea. A handful of guys wore flannel pajama pants. Brock and Sam were the only two in boxers. Brock opted for a basketball jersey and some Yankee boxers. Sam wore a faded fraternity t-shirt and some dark green boxers with light green shamrocks on them. As Aaron sat at his desk in shame, the two guys walked up to him.

“Was that your boyfriend who dropped you off?” teased Brock.

“Shut up.” Aaron was fuming.

“I didn’t think guys actually wore those outside of cartoons, but good for you for being different.” It seemed like Sam was trying to be nice. In his own special way. “Kind of weird to wear them to work though.”

Brock started, “Yea I can kind of see the outline of your-“. Aaron slapped a folder in front of crotch. He was humiliated. He hadn’t worn briefs since the age of six and now at the age of 23 he had the spend the entire workday in them. This was the stuff of nightmares.

All day long, people came over to take peeks of him and chuckle. He would keep trying to cover himself with things but everyone would just take them away. He was pretty sure he saw Brock filming a Tik Tok.

Luis walked over to him. He just wore his normal work clothes.

“Now people used to wear briefs but I thought that went out of fashion years ago,” he said to Aaron.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” Aaron’s patience was waning.

“Listen here you little shit.” Luis, usually jovial, was not messing around. He opened up a pair of potato chips to reveal nothing but dust. “I am not going to take any crap from some loser who wears tighty whities to work.”

[reasonandempathy]

I saw that you work in HR. Any advice for a psychology graduate to get in that field with no experience, how do I get my foot in the door , when all there looking for is someone with experience 😔?

Just a few things, certainly.

You are looking for entry-level HR roles. Common job titles are HR Associate, HR Assistant, HR Administrator, or HR Representative. If you're looking to get into recruiting it's Staffing Coordinator or Staffing Specialist. Of these, HR Rep and HR Admin, and Staffing Coordinator have the highest average compensation.

Ignore any experience requirement of 2 years and less. Just ignore it.

Get HR Certifications. Or just say you're studying for them. Even if you're not it demonstrates you're looking for field and industry-specific knowledge.

Familiarize yourself with SHRM and HRCI. You can make an account with either/both. They have free HR resources and are where people go to get HR credentials. They also have member-exclusive job boards to help you find HR specific positions to apply for. And put both SHRM and HRCI on your resume or application somewhere; they're common filters.

Try and find a job on a team for your first job or two, meaning moderate to mid-sized companies (100+ employees). HR is complicated and there are a lot of laws involved so having other professionals you can build a relationship with who can guide you is important.

It's not a thing I'd recommend, but I don't know where you live so it may be necessary. If small companies (<100 or <50 people) have an HR person it's usually rolled into another job, like Office and HR Manager, or secretary and HR. It may be easier for you to get one of those sorts of jobs where there isn't too much HR work (since it's so small) so you have the time to learn and get experience on paper.

My first job was as an HR Assistant with a company of about 40 people in 3 states, reporting to the COO. When I learned what I was doing I had weekly HR work, including payroll and benefits, down to maybe 4 hours a week, so it's doable. If you do get one of those double-jobs just expect to be busy at work until you get a solid handle on the HR portion.

Hope it helps, and if you have any other questions let me know.

[literaticat]

I saw a comment that agents are using AI to sift through queries. Is this true and is this allowed? Wouldn’t that put unpublished work owned by that author into the public domain? I know lawyers are currently being sanctioned for putting private client info into AI to help with cases. This isn’t as high stakes, but it does put the author’s work at risk of being stolen. Thoughts?

There's a lot to unpack here!

Saw a comment... where? From whom? I have never heard of this, personally, so while I'm not saying it's untrue... well, I don't think it's NORMAL PRACTICE or anything, at all. Just on its face, that sounds sus to me. (For one thing, I don't think most agents would even know HOW to "use AI" to write a birthday card, let alone how to program some kind of slush-robot and trust it to accurately gauge our mercurial preferences!)

I can't speak to the lawyers being sanctioned or whatnot piece, idk about that, so let's focus on issue at hand. Let's say I somehow got hold of an AI tool that would sort through my slush pile and only show me the things it deemed most likely to sell. A SLUSH ROBOT!

First, it sorting through slush wouldn't "put your work into the public domain" -- (words mean things!) -- Your work that you personally created is, in the US, anyway, under copyright protection the moment it leaves your brain and is fixed in a tangible medium, you don't even need to register for copyright (though you or your publisher will do so when it is published just for an additional level of protection!) Copyrighted work is NOT in the public domain, that's why there are lawsuits from authors suing various tech companies who used their work to train their AI. So, if I were to use this tool to TRAIN the AI, I'd be abusing your copyright (unethically in my opinion, but I guess the legality is for the courts to decide!) -- but that would NOT render your copyright null and void or put it into the public domain.

But because this hypothetical slush robot is probably a program that I bought or got from someplace, not something I've invented and am training myself, it isn't using any data it gleans from me to train off of -- it's already been trained. For example, the GPT in Chat GPT stands for "generative pre-trained transformer" -- it uses the billion-whatever things it was trained on to generate new things / make predictions / whatever.

I talked to my friend and client Martha Brockenbrough about this (her excellent book on AI, FUTURE TENSE, is out now and is required reading if you are interested in this topic but don't know much about it!). I asked her for an example of how a tool like this might work and she replied:

"For example, companies that get a lot of applicants may use AI to narrow the field. The tool isn't training the model -- it is using an algorithm trained on resumes to look at the new one. AI looks at patterns and makes decisions. Just like people do, but in some cases faster / better / worse. So, when you turn in a resume to a company, are you worried that the HR person is going to steal your resume or leak info?"

Basically, this worry is akin to one that has been around forever, which is the concern that if you query an agent they will "steal your ideas" -- which, a) we don't want your ideas, actually, they are worthless on their own, and b) stealing them would actually be quite a bit harder/more complicated than just representing you and making money off them in the normal fashion, and c) don't query an agent you don't trust, I guess!

[nd-babblinggoblinfromthevoid]

Seeing some other users pop up who also have pots, and reading their past and current struggles has inspired me to write a little about my experience. (From what I remember anyway.)

Just in case, tw/cw pregnancy loss is mentioned.

My symptoms started right smack at 13. I had always been slightly heat sensitive but not enough to really think about it. Then I turned 13 and it was like I was burning constantly. But also, even when I was hot, my extremities would still sometimes be ice cold.

I fainted in the shower, daily. I almost always felt it coming beforehand. The sudden dizziness and weakness. It was my normal routine to feel that, lie down, black out, wake up, then resume my shower. (Usually 5-15 minute black outs)

I knew something was wrong, but I was a young teen. My thoughts were "too scared to address it" and "I'm just being a baby" and "What doctor is gonna believe a teenager these days". So I suffered through it.

It was horrible. My teen years were riddled with unnoticed tachycardic episodes brushed off as "you're out of shape" and "just push past it". Meanwhile i felt like i was dying.

I know teenagers biologically need more rest, but i was chronically fatigued and of course, "lazy teenager" label got thrown at me constantly. I tried to stay active, productive, but it got harder and harder. (Not knowing I also struggled bcuz of audhd but that subject is touched on in a previous post.)

When I really branched out into life and into the workplace at 18/19, it hit me that this wasn't going away. This wasn't a weird teenage thing i was experiencing.

I could work, but was significantly more exhausted than my coworkers and the only one ever to stop a lot, Cool down, rest. Drove managers nuts because "you're too young to be this way" was said to me constantly.

Through a few job changes in my early twenties it got harder and harder to work. Exhaustion. Overheating. Tachycardia. I fainted at work idk how many times during a really bad streak.

On top of pots brain fog, I'm audhd (which i didnt know until mid-late twenties) so my brain just doesn't brain for me and all I had going for me were labor jobs. That's all i had. That's all i knew i could do.... and i was slowly becoming unable to do that.

I didnt push to see a cardiologist until i got pregnant with my first child. I was terrified. That pregnancy exacerbated my pots and i thought that pregnancy was going to kill me. If it didnt, then giving birth would. My resting hr was regularly in the 140s/150s and i was fainting/near fainting all the time.

But i saw a dick of a cardiologist who nearly immediately dismissed me as a hysterical pregnant woman who just had anxiety. Even in our first consult appointment he was already very not hiding the fact that he wasn't taking my concerns seriously. Even after I told him these symptoms weren't just popping up during pregnancy. That it'd been most of my life. (In one ear out the other let me tell you)

I suffered horribly through that pregnancy not knowing i also had pots so my heartrate and blood pressure were bonkers whenever i went to appointments, not knowing that i only had high bp bcuz they'd check it after I'd sat down in the lobby, stood up, then immediately sat down in a room. Which as y'all know fucks hr/bp and all that without being pregnant. But we didn't know. And the only dr I'd seen, dismissed me.

I thankfully got through the pregnancy and all was well. My symptoms went back to pre-pregnancy intensity. Life, a loss in between, and another full pregnancy happened. This time my pots didn't overly act up. I only struggled bcuz that baby was a biggg one.

After recovering from my 2nd birth i thought for months about everything. My health. My life with my kids. How i was sick of not having answers. Sick of how that first dr treated me. So i told my primary all of this and she sent me to the same heart institute, but a different dr.

NOW THIS DR LET ME TELL YOU.

From the GETGO the vibe was different. He listened. Talked with/to me not AT me. Actually listened with the intention of listening and absorbing the information, not listening with the intent to say whatever he was already wanting to say and just waiting until i stopped talking (like the previous dr)

He took me seriously. After info dumping my 16 years of suffering he was already ready to get testing done and scheduled and i nearly cried when he left the room because HE LISTENED HE TOOK ME SERIOUSLY.

I had my testing done (tilt and breathing) and he saw me for the followup but they hadnt gotten the results back so he pushed the dept for the results and one hour after that appointment, he called me and said basically "yea you failed the test almost immediately and your results were consistent through the whole thing so I'm proceeding with the diagnosis of pots"

He explained the basic no cure but you can try xyz to help and you need to listen to your body when it's having symptoms dont ignore it to your detriment. All that.

I hung up. And cried all evening/night. Happy tears. Tears of relief. I got my answer. I was listened to. I actually got through it. But also tears of grief. For the girl who suffered. For the young woman who thought she was gonna die during pregnancy/birth.

I'd had (and still slip into sometimes) a harsh mindset of self hate for years. Why am i so lazy. Why am i so weak. Pathetic. Etc. It just spiralled all the time and pots + audhd is a shitty mix and to be approaching 30, with answers I've wanted and needed for half of my life.... I just... uff da! It's a lot.

I was diagnosed February of this year. So it's still kind of fresh for me. I'm still trying to find what works for me officially to navigate it. But I definitely am trying to give myself grace for all the years I thought everything was my fault. Or that I just wasnt trying hard enough.

I'm sure I've missed some things but my memory of my life is really patchy from audhd and trauma. But I think this covers the bulk of it and feels good to info dump about life when, for most of it, I bottled everything.

[moshintheteagaiwan]

T. Kettle Part 12: Time To Go

When I first applied for the managers position at T. Kettle, I was very nervous and kept wondering if it was a mistake. What if I left my job as an exterminator and things at T. Kettle didn’t work out? Could I get my old job back? Would I find myself unemployed for a while? Besides some encouraging words from friends, the big thing that pushed me over was that the company was so new at the time, having only been around for less then a year, and so as it grew they would need to hire for position such as regional manager.

During my initial interview with the company I had expressed great interest in moving up to regional manager should the job ever become available. I was told that when this position opened up that people within the company would be given the opportunity to apply. I was also told this frequently during my time with the company, as were other managers who were wanting to move up. Throughout the year the company had closed stores and opened more.

Maggie, whom you may remember was one of my seasonal staff, was able to get a managers position of her own at a new store that was roughly an hour from where she lived. It was a massive store and they gave her the same speech they gave me about how great the store looked and how the stock was there and everything was ready to go. She too was met with a dirty, partially set up store with no cleaning supplies, and even worse, because of the company no longer having a teaware supplier, she had only a little stock from a closed store to fill her shelves, but it was not nearly enough.

I congratulated her and wished her best, but I knew the best was never coming. About a week later while browsing in Indeed for jobs I saw a new posting from T. Kettle looking for a regional manager. I thought that was odd considering they had not told anyone that this position was now open. I felt so let down by this. My store had high numbers consistently. I had expressed my want to this position numerous time and was promised a chance to interview for it when the time came, and yet I never got a word. None of us did. I called the other managers and they too were shocked.

I decided to take shot and apply for the position on Indeed anyway to see what would happen. Days went by and nothing. I heard from no one. I was deflated and it was clearer now more then ever that not only was the company full of shit, but that it was gonna sink and I needed to abandon ship. As luck would have it my old employer had begun treating the mall food court and on several occasions I ran into my old boss who would always ask me if I was ready to come back.

I usually told no because in truth I didn’t want to go through the physicality of being an exterminator again, but on this particular occasion, he joked that an office position was open but figured I wouldn’t be interested. I told him I absolutely would be! Seeing that I was serious he said he would talk to the current office staff and get back to me, and a few days later he called me to offer me the job, and to let him know when I was ready to come back. At this time I decided to take one more shot at the regional managers position.

I emailed HR directly with my resume and explained that I had been promised an interview for the position and that if I was not given my fair shot that I would be turning in my 2 weeks notice. I never heard a word from and neither did any other manager. And so that was it, I was through. I put in my two weeks and shockingly the company got back to me within a couple hours to wish me luck and let me know who would be taking my position so I could train them.

I informed my team who were not happy but understood. I never kept them in the dark about the bullshit that was going on behind the scenes. Fast forward to three days before my time was up and I still had not heard back from the company on my replacement. I emailed that and they said they were still looking. I suggested having Maggie take my position as she lived close to the store and had already worked for me and with my team. They decided to take my recommendation and Maggie was transferred to take my position. It was a good thing too because her store never did get it stock and with only a couple months was shut down. And I returned to my old employer in a new position and never looked back.

I kept tabs on the store since leaving. For roughly another year my store remained open in the mall while more stores continued to close. My old stock was given the majority of the stock which helped keep the shelves full but there was still no new teaware supplier and still on going issues getting tea to stock the tea wall. Maggie’s partner also worked for T. Kettle behind the scenes and reported multiple people leaving or getting fired which created more delay.

A little over a year after I left my old store was shut down due to lease issues and transferred to another nearby mall, however it remained closed and employees unpaid until renovations were complete because in this case they had not moved to an old DavidsTea location but instead an old chocolate store, so the whole space had to be remodelled.

Finally after a long wait they reopened. I went to visit them and saw that they had been converted to also selling waffles and boba. I was also told that the company which at it’s highest had around 45 stores was now down to just 3. Upon this last visit I felt more confidant in my decision to leave then I ever had. I truly hoped to relive my Teavana days and create a new haven for tea lovers but it was not in the cards. This was truly a clear case of a company taking on too much and a subject which they new nothing about, and had no business being a part of.

But I am glad for the 10 months I had there. Yes, this was all within 10 months. I do miss my team and getting to hang with them and making new relationships with other mall employees. However, it wasn’t meant to be, but judging from where the company is at now, I have no regrets.

The End.

[astriiformes]

hi, feel free to ignore, i saw your post abt the herbarium thing, and im actually applying for an herbarium job right now but ive got no experience or science/office background at all. i do type at 75 WPM, but, and i hope this isnt too weird, do you have any advice on how to go about applying? see i rlly want the job and im extremely nervous, like should i call/email their HR and ask the same? any advice is appreciated, thanks for taking the time to read either way, great blog also btw

Yeah I'm totally happy to do my best to offer some advice, although I do have much more of a science background so my experiences are a bit different.

I think not having experience in the sciences probably won't be a deal-breaker since archival jobs are more about, like, data entry and attention to detail and that sort of thing as opposed to being super experienced in the field. When I applied for my herbarium job I emphasized that I had some collections experience, but I also talked a lot in my cover letter and interview about how much I love archives and how I think the work they do is super important, which is something you could definitely do as well. The folks who work in archives often have a real passion for what they do, so emphasizing the reasons you really want the job and why you think what they do is important is very likely to make you feel like more of a fit for the position. Lots of people don't realize how important collections are for research, so approaching your application with some knowledge of that is a solid place to start.

As far as skills to emphasize in your application (like on your resume, etc), attention to detail and organizational skills are both big ones. There's a lot of fiddly information to keep tabs on when doing digitization work especially, so any experience you have with that is worth highlighting. Even if you don't have previous experience with data entry, bringing up times you had to keep track of a lot of information at once at previous jobs is probably going to be in line with what they're looking for.

I hope at least some of that is helpful to you! Best of luck with your application; I feel a deep kinship with everyone else passionate about collections and archival work and love that you reached out about this.

[cinematicnomad]

hi! i hope this is okay to ask, but i was just wondering if you could tell me/us a bit more about how you landed your job (which seems SO cool)? like, is this something you were always interested in? did you have to go to school for it? i'd love to work on the comm/marketing team for a university in my country--because i really miss the feeling of being on a busy, bustling campus--but idk if there's a better way of going about it than just cold-calling or emailing the hr dept about vacancies...

(2/2 uni job anon) comm/marketing and recruitment (which is what you do, i think?) are quite different ofc--i just think that these particular universities could really use a hand with their various english-language dispatches and know i could really help them out if i found a way onto their staff roster...

hey anon! i'm definitely happy to answer any questions. i can't comment on how your countries university's handle hiring. in the states, universities tend to list all of their open administrator/staff positions online. you can literally google a university name + jobs and you'll find a link. once on it, you can usually narrow you're search—so in your case, you could potentially narrow it down to positions with the words 'marketing' 'communications' 'social media' etc etc. then find the position that fits your interest and fill out the application and submit it. then you just have to...wait. which for universities (at least in the states) can take some time.

i put my personal journey in my work below the cut if anyone's interested:

i didn't originally go to school with the intention of working in higher ed. i got my bachelors in english lit with a minor in history. i thought i might become a writer or go into publishing or something. i v much did not know what i wanted to do by the time i finished undergrad. i traveled some the summer after college and didn't really seriously thinking about my post-school plans until late july. i didn't have a drivers license (let alone a car or easy access to public transportation) and i was living in suburbia with my parents so my options were really limited—but i lucked out in that we lived about a 15 minute walk from a large public university so i just kind of...applied to everything? i didn't have much by the way of experience—at this point my resume amounted to 3 summers working as a clerk in a doctor's office, a summer as a day camp counselor, a summer working as a sales associate at homegoods, and an internship at a british private publishing company. basically i had customer service skills and i knew how to function in an office and i could string coherent sentences together. the one guiding point i had when applying to jobs was that...i'd grown up traveling around the world and so i was intrigued by the jobs i saw that had to do with international admissions/students/etc. i prioritized those applications, but honestly i would have taken anything.

i luckily got an interview and an eventual offer for a part-time assistant job in the office of international admissions. and my career kind of just...evolved from there? about 6 months later my supervisor moved into a new position and i was asked to apply for his job so i did. it wasn't exactly what i wanted to be doing—i spent my days sitting in an office reviewing international transcripts to determine a) if the school was recognized/accredited; b) the US degree equivalency; and c) the student's equivalent US gpa AND i was given the task of processing and issuing immigration documents for incoming int'l students. these are two incredibly niche, vital processes for international admissions and having that baseline expertise was good for me. i stayed at that university for a total of 4 years before accepting a position at a smaller private university in DC—by this point i had a license and a car and could afford to move closer to public transportation. career-wise it was lateral move—i didn't get a title bump, but i did get a decent salary increase AND the job was more generalized. which was good for me! all of my work up until that point had been SO specialized and isolated that i spent a lot of time on my own cooped up in an office doing work alone—and bc my job was so isolated and no one could cover for me, and it was so reliant on being in the office, i was never given the opportunity to travel. which sucked. my new job let me experience different facets of admissions with a team of people and also allowed me the chance to get some experience recruiting domestically.

after i'd been there for a while i took advantage of one of the common benefits of working in higher ed in the US—tuition benefits. i applied for and was admitted into a master's program int'l education and my job covered 90% of the tuition. whenever i had a performance review or check in with my supervisor i let her know i was interested in recruiting internationally for the office. halfway through the program my boss offered me the chance to apply for a new position in my office with the understanding that it would come with a pay increase, a title bump, and FINALLY: int'l recruiting. i applied, got the job, renewed my passport so i could be ready to travel...and then COVID hit.

that derailed plans a little but i stayed in my job and kept working. i finally got to start recruiting internationally for my job last fall and around november i had another conversation with my boss about a new position—this one would be focused on recruiting internationally and on developing partnerships with other universities and designing joint programs. so that's what i'm doing now! and that's how i got here.

not sure if anyone is actually here still reading this! but if you are, i am happy to answer any questions you might have about preparing for interviews, what to expect, other nitty-gritty details, etc.