#retail price matching

[priceintelguru]

the impact of price matching on retail and e-commerce with this insightful article! Learn how price matching influences consumer behavior, competition, and business strategies in today's marketplace. A must-read for retailers and e-commerce enthusiasts.

[greaseonmymouth]

Don’t pirate books for all of the reasons above but I want to point out that it can affect publishers too. Where I work there is barely any attention paid to ebooks and audio and the one and a half people we have working on those are fighting an uphill battle to get more resources to properly promote and back the formats as well as issuing takedowns of pirated copies online. Pirated ebooks DO impact sales of ebook formats so it’s this cycle where we can’t hire more people/get more resources to combat it because sales are low. We all know it’s piracy but so long as print does well the higher ups don’t care and won’t sign off on it. We could hire more people! But no. And this does directly affect the author too because low ebook sales means they don’t see as much royalties for those formats.

I feel like book piracy has become so normalized now and its honestly so ugly and disappointing. Like I totally understand that some people in other countries have straight up no library access but for people in the US/UK?? saying that pubs are their 'free trial' without even trying to use a library??? I truly think younger readers using them don't realize how badly it could fuck an author over

i think book piracy comes down to people not understanding the differences between the film industry and the book industry. i don’t fully understand the film industry bc it’s not my focus, but i do know that pirating movies or shows is not going to directly impact the actors and/or the little people behind the movie or show. (if someone wants to elaborate on how, please do! i’m not really sure.)

however, pirating books is going to directly impact authors, not publishers or CEOs or any other bigwigs. an author is paid thus: they sign a contract for a certain amount of money, say, $100,000 for a two-book deal. that means that each book will be (technically) worth $50,000. depending on the contract, a check will be written for $25,000 upon the author turning in the version of the manuscript that the editor bought. that check will go to the author’s agent, who will take their 15% commission, which will be $3,750. then, the agent will send the remaining $21,250 to the author, minus taxes. with that same scenario, a check with the remaining $25,000 will be written upon the author turning in the final copy of the manuscript, aka the version that will go to the printer, and the process repeats (the check is sent to the agent, the agent takes their 15%, the author gets the remaining $21,250, minus taxes). 

that’s not where this story ends, though: in every contract is a thorough section detailing royalties, aka how much the author will receive per sale of a copy of their book in the book’s entire lifespan. if an agent is good, this will be one of their most important areas they focus on during negotiations. it’s imperative that people know that royalties can make or break an author’s career. it’s better to have larger royalties than a larger advance, bc an advance is only once, whereas royalties will continue as long as the book continues to sell (hardcover, paperback, audiobook, ebook, etc). the higher the author’s advance, the more pressure there is for the author to break even, aka for the author to make back the $50,000 spent on that first book. in a worst case scenario, if an author doesn’t earn back their advance (a big turn of phrase in publishing), they could have book 2 canceled, or they could possibly never be able to sell another book to a publisher again due to a poor sales record. in that case, it’s likely the author will have to re-debut under a pen name so the publisher backing them can treat them like a debut author. or, you’ll see an author’s first printings tank between book 1 and 2 or book 2 and 3 etc etc. for instance, Enchantee by Gita Trelease had a first hardcover printing of 175,000 copies (which is big for a debut!), while book 2 of that series, Everything That Burns, has a first hardcover printing of 75,000 copies. now, i can’t see the sales numbers, but it seems likely a lack of sales is the culprit here. 

so when people say that pirating books will directly influence whether or not your favorite author gets to publish more books, they really mean it. it won’t affect the publisher (who has massive protections in place) nearly as much as it will affect the author (who doesn’t have those same protections), and it could mean that your favorite author never gets to finish that series you love or can never publish another book again. in conclusion, don’t pirate books, kids. 

[voidspace-bubble]

biggest pet peeve as a cashier

when you have a fuck ton of items and you bring your cart all the way to the front of our belt to unload, that's what the belts fucking for, it's so you can unload while i put it through and there's no delay between placing items and scanning items

[aphelionwrotes11]

(MDNI, dubcon) (not edited)

Thinking about stalker!john price who retired early and can’t stand spending his time in his big ol’ house all by himself :(

Wanders across a pretty little dear like you, working retail in one of the little stores in the small town you live in. Can’t help falling in love with those tentative eyes that look up at him through your lashes, all shy and soft.

He just can’t control the way he feels like he has to keep you safe, your his now, doll. Follows you home every night, just to make sure you’re safe. Puts a few cameras around your house, only to make sure no unwanted visitors are hanging around, of course!

But he can’t help himself when he finds himself in your room when you’re sleeping, gazing at your relaxed figure. Oh, so peaceful and gorgeous.

You start getting a bit paranoid when you begin noticing a few things out of place. A door closed that you could’ve swore you left open when you left, a few missing shirts, a few missing panties, and now you come home to an apartment just a bit cleaner than you left it. Your bed made a little neater, no dirty laundry hung from a chair or lying on the edge of your bed.

At first you think you’re losing it. This shitty job must be taking too much out of you. But, on a night when an especially shitty shift happens, everything comes crashing down. Some rando decided to take out their frustration on you which then led to you bursting into tears and running off to the back room, frustrated and humiliated. A few minutes later your manager comes to tell you that you can go home, that bloke was dragged off by some guy into the night, she’s certain he won’t be a bother again.

So, you make your way down your usual path. Sniffling every now and then, pausing only to wipe your puffy eyes. When you get to your front door, you find that it’s already unlocked. Blinding hot fear lodges itself into your throat. Did that guy follow you home? (No lol)

You push the door open to be hit with the smell of your favorite take out. You take a few cautious steps in, scanning the kitchen and living room. It’s empty, but spotless. Dishes are put away, the counters looked like they’ve been scrubbed clean, the floors are swept. On the table rests a bag from your favorite restaurant, a note lies beside it reading, eat up little dear :)

John watches you from the crack in the door of your small hallway closet. Watches you walk through your house, kitchen knife in hand, looking for any potential threats. You look everywhere, besides the closet in the hallway. Oh honey, what would you do without him? What if there had been a real intruder and you had just missed him? Gosh. But, John’s upset is quickly replaced with joy as you settle into a seat and eat your still hot dinner. He can’t help but shiver as a relaxed look comes across your face, more relaxed than you’ve looked in ages. That must mean that you accept him now right?

Well, he takes it that way. Starts getting more bold. Leaves gifts on your counter for you to come home to, your favorite foods, books you like, items from stores you looked at just a bit too long. Keeps your apartment tidy, clothes washed, dishes laid to dry. At first, fear grabs you by the heart each time you come home from work to find another gift and a clean apartment. But after a week or so you decide that whoever it is that’s been watching you has been more of a help than a nuisance, and if they wanted to hurt you they would’ve by now, right? So you stupidly allow yourself to relax into this routine. Had to decide not to call the cops when you came home to find a few pairs of lacy panties laid out on your bed, matching bralettes resting beside them. In your size of course.

So, on one of your worst nights of the year, a shitty shift, shitty day, shitty week. You find yourself sobbing into a pillow in the darkness of your room. Sleep just couldn’t find you. You gasp when you feel the other side of the bed sink. Lying there, frozen. You feel a big, warm hand on your shoulder, squeezing softly. John sucks in a breath just at the feel of you. You start to cry more, “no- no please-“ you sob, terrified.

And John just coos at you.

“Shh, shh, don’t worry honey. M’not gonna do anythin. Just wanna hold’ya, make you feel better.”

He lays down behind you, warm arms encircling your waist, pulling you closer to his broad chest. And despite better logic, you allow him too. Find yourself relaxing in his warm grip, melting from his low coos. This is bad, very bad. Extremely dangerous. But at this point you just don’t care.

John holds you like that for a while, rubbing his hands up and down your sides, pressing his nose into your hair.

“What’s got you all worked up, honey? Hard day? Could make you feel a lot better. Could make that all go away.”

He whispers into the soft skin of your neck, and you whimper. Starts squeezing the fat of your hips, placing little kisses along the length of your throat. Your hands find his hair and tug, he takes that as a sign to keep going.

S’not long before he’s spearing you with his hot, heavy cock. Thrusting into you at a languid pace from behind. His calloused fingers rub your clit. Your whining and moaning, melting from his touch.

“Would do anything for ya honey, promise’ya I would, so perfect..” he groans into your ear, a hand coming up to roll your nipple between his fingers.

He’s moving so perfectly, his thrusts hitting a spot inside of you that sends ripples of pleasure up your spine. When you finally come, shuddering and clenching on his cock, he whimpers.

He doesn’t stop there, flips you onto your back and starts thrusting into you like a battering ram, no more soft love making. That’s when you see his face, that ruggedly handsome regular that you’ve had the biggest crush on, who just so happened to also be your stalker.

Your too fucked out too care, and he’s too pussy drunk to think. Fucking himself into you like an animal.

“Been waiting to touch you like this sweetheart, waitin so long- fuuuck-“ he sounds drunk, his voice thick. His eyes are glassy as he stares down at you.

“Need ya, I love ya..” he mumbles deliriously, getting closer to filling your tight cunt by the second.

“Cum in me..” you whisper. And that’s what throws him over the edge.

He cums, hard. Thrusting his seed into you, milking his cock with your clenching cunt. He’s crying, a few tears dripping down his cheeks. :((

“Love you, love you, love you, love you-“ he repeats like a mantra, fucking himself into you still despite the overstimulation. Looks utterly wrecked.

Takes a few weeks, but eventually he manages to coax his little sweetheart into living with him. It’s a lot easier, isn’t it? I mean he’s always with you regardless, been following you around for a while. Now he gets to see you constantly. Has you quit that shitty job, promises to take care of you. Deposits money into your bank account each week to ease your nervousness, just so you don’t feel too trapped, not that he’d ever let you go.

Follows you around like a lost puppy, always an arms length away. Eventually you mind less and less.

Months pass by in a blur and it’s not long till your stomach is fat and swollen with a little baby, and he’s on one knee in front of you with a ring. Doesn’t matter what you say though :( you’re his girl, forever.

(Gaaahhhhh I love him so much. NEEEEEED HIM.)

[cottonlemonade]

Fake Dating Your Ex

word count: 2852 || avg. reading time: 12 mins.

pairing: University AU pining ex!Kenma x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff + angst

warnings: bullying

request: For a midnight snack I’ll get a 15 and 24 and go back to sleep with kenma please || fluffy-angsty, fake dating + jealousy, ex Kenma

“Question.”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask yet.”

“Fine. What?”

“How would you, as a person… as a…. as a human person”, you shook your head for a moment but then decided to roll with it, “feel about accompanying another human person to an event?”

Your ex finally looked up from the console in his hands with profound confusion written all over his face.

“What?”

Bracing yourself you tried again, spelling it out this time, “Would you please come with me to my high school reunion?”

You expected him to frown, sure, but instead of the immediate shot down he asked, “Why?”

Not a No. Okay!

Pulling up a chair from the adjacent lunch table to sit down across from him, you used your hands in a nowhere near helpful fashion to explain, “I got invited and originally I said No because why would I want to go but then this girl who used to bully me-“

“Momoka.”, he added.

“Yes.”, you said in surprise, “Her. Anyway, she messaged me and asked if it’s because we broke up.”

“How would one correlate to the other?”

“Because while we were dating I may or may not have bragged pretty excessively about you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you were all over my social media for two years and well, now you’re not, so she was asking if we split up.”

“We did.”

You tried not to click your tongue, thinking any sass would lower the likelihood of him agreeing to play along. “I know, but I don’t want her to know. So I may or may not have kinda sorta said that we are doing better than ever and just because you gained so much more popularity that we are trying to keep it on the down low and”, you took a deep breath, “she said I should bring you then and I may or may not have said Yes.”

“Y/n.”, he groaned.

“I know, I know! But I will get you SlimeBlast2 and the new Counterforce if you just pretend to be my boyfriend for one more evening. We can even leave early!”, you offered, spurred on by the fact that he hadn’t yet simply gotten up and left, “You can say that you have a planned stream that night and be back home before you know it.”

He thought about it for a moment while he resumed his game.

“Why have a reunion three years out of high school anyway?”

You mimicked her voice. “Because she is moving to America with her doctor fiancé and wants to say goodbye to everyone before she leaves. - Tch.”

He paused the game again and regarded you with a studying look. You, on the other hand, were focused on kneading your chubby fingers and not meeting his gaze.

“When is it?”

“So this is what all that streamer money can get you, not bad, not bad.”, you said as you slid into the passenger seat of his new car. Kenma didn’t comment on that. Nor did he compliment your little black dress that had him do a minuscule double take the way it hugged you in all the right ways. You broke up six months ago and instead of wallowing in a dark room as you had done, Kenma chose retail therapy - to the extent that every other day another out-of-breath mail carrier was ringing his doorbell and handed him anything from new consoles to games to figurines and even a body pillow because, thanks to you, he was now incapable of sleeping without something soft and squishy in his arms. This car was one of those more recent purchases, an impulse that surged in him around the same time he watched you flirt with a TA. He also felt the forgotten price tag itch in the back of his black button-down and matching dress pants he wore tonight.

The drive to the venue was mostly silent due to a mixture of old comfort and new awkwardness. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you play with your fingers, twirl your hair, scratch at your neck, and chew your lip.

“No one forces you to go to this thing.”, he eventually said. His GPS announced that you’d arrive soon.

You stopped scrunching your dress, sighed, and looked out the window onto the well-lit row of restaurants and bars you were driving past.

“I know. Social pressure does, though.”

“You never really cared about what people thought.”

“Ha! Good one.”, you countered drily.

“I mean it.”

“You only think that because we didn’t know each other in high school. This devil-may-care attitude”, you gestured vaguely up and down yourself, “was carefully curated once I was finally free of these people.”

“So, why not just ignore the reunion and go do something fun?”

“You know, if you’re gonna keep being right and logical, this night is not gonna work.”

He smiled and rolled to a stop in the parking lot among many other cars.

“We can still leave.”

You scratched at your neck again. He reached out to grab and trap your ever-busy hand in his, laying it gently on the middle console. He waited.

“Yeah… maybe you’re-“

“Hey!”, a muffled call accompanied by knocking on your window cut you off. Outside stood one of your former classmates waving excitedly.

Kenma grimaced.

“Look who I found getting all cozy in the car!” The large private room in the restaurant was filled with a whole bunch of people you hoped to never see again. They sat on the floor around the long table, apparently a couple of drinks ahead already.

“Oh my god, Y/n! I can’t believe you came!” Momoka got up to greet you like an old friend. Her cheeks were pink and she was clearly not too steady on her feet.

“What’s this? - Is that a hickey?!”, she squealed with mock scandal, pointing at your neck.

Your hand shot up to cover the reddening mark.

“I-uh-“

“Yeah, I just… couldn’t help myself.”, Kenma said in a tone that wouldn’t convince anyone sober. Luckily no one was.

She turned to him and as if she’d known him for years she slurred, “Well if it isn’t Kodzuken! I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t think you were real. I mean, of course you’re real but what would you ever want with our Y/n, when you could have anyone!” She laughed and ushered you both to sit next to her.

“I’m so sorry.”, you whispered to Kenma while cups of sake were pushed into your empty hands.

“Tell me, because I’m dying to know”, Momoka said, leaning forward, “how did you two even meet?”

The handful of former classmates in your general vicinity stopped their conversations to listen.

Kenma and you looked at each other.

“We just met at uni.”, you shrugged and pulled a platter of food closer to have something to do.

“Oh come on, Y/n-chan, there’s gotta be more to it than that.”, Momoka playfully pushed your shoulder.

“It was our first day actually.”, Kenma said, “I was sitting in the cafeteria playing a game and she came up to me with her tray and asked if she could join me.”

You caught his eyes and smiled, touched that he remembered.

“Of course, you met over food. Our Y/n loooves to eat, doesn’t she?” Momoka giggled into her sake.

Unfortunately, your mouth was just full of maki roll.

Kenma frowned.

“So, Kodzuken - or should I call you Kenma? You’re probably so tired of people addressing you by your username. Like hello, I’m a human being, too! So Kenma, what is it like being a streamer? I, personally, love YouTube. I think if I hadn’t gotten engaged”, she raised her hand to show off her ring, “I would have also gone into streaming. It looks so fun. And you’re just playing games all day. I love playing games. You could say I’m a gamer girl myself.”, she laughed and brushed her hair behind her ear like she was confessing something embarrassing, “I have played Animal Crossing over 100 hours. I know it’s too much, but what can I say, you understand, right? Sometimes you can’t put a game down for months.”

“… right.”

When he didn’t answer as bright-eyed and infatuated as she hoped, she turned to you with a devious smile, “Our Y/n should definitely do some of those… uh eating shows! You know, the ones where they just eat ungodly amounts of food at once. She’d be so good at that. Honestly”, she chuckled behind her hand, “I could have sworn she was training for that in high school.”

“Excuse me. I have to go to the bathroom.” You pushed your untouched sake further away, stood up, and walked quickly out of the room, sliding the door closed behind you. Muffled voices, cheers, and laughter could still be heard. You swallowed the lump in your throat and took a few deep breaths. Slipping back into your shoes you walked over to a corner with an open window that looked over the quiet courtyard that was closed for guests because of the snow. What a horrendous idea to even come here. Why did you think it would be any different? People didn’t change. As soon as you were in the company of your bullies suddenly you turned back to the timid little fat girl that was pushed into cold showers with her uniform on, that was tripped in the hallways, hackled in class for a wrong answer. The girl that was pointed at whenever she ate something. It didn’t matter what it was.

Normal lunch? - What a glutton!

A homemade salad? - Who is she trying to impress? As if that is gonna do anything.

It was only in university that you found people who accepted you for who you were and not what you looked like. And Kenma had made you feel loved and wanted for the first time in your life. Until he didn’t. You vividly remembered the night you broke up with him. His genuine shock when you told him that just hanging out and watching him stream was not how you envisioned your relationship to be like. After over two years of dating, you realized that you wanted more than dry texts and being the one to initiate intimacy. Kenma was a great listener and didn’t rush you into anything. He let you grow on your own and was truly happy when he saw you smile. But it wasn’t enough. You didn’t regret breaking up with him. It was the right thing to do. But whenever you felt stressed or overwhelmed you did seek out his streams. His calming voice and deadpan comments still helped you truly relax. You wondered if he missed you too sometimes.

“You’re gonna catch a cold.”, Kenma said behind you.

“Hey.”, you sighed, “Sorry I dragged you into this.”

“Don’t worry.” He came to stand next to you, close so that his arm was touching yours for a sliver of warmth. You both watched the snow fall for a moment.

“You really toned down just how obnoxious those people are.”, he noted, “I understand that you’re upset.”

“Oh, I am not upset. I am way past upset. I’m freaking miffed, that’s what I am.”

He gave a playful gasp. “Damn, not the m-word. - By the way, that girl hit on me the second you left the room.”

“Oh god, really?”, you scoffed.

“Yeah, apparently I’m on her list.” He put the last word in air quotes. “Like she can sleep with me and her fiancé would be fine with it.”

“Wooow, congratulations. Doesn’t that make you feel extra special.”, you said sarcastically.

“Absolutely.”

“Truly the bedrock of any good and healthy relationship.”

He chuckled under his breath. “I know, right? As if I’d ever want anyone else when I have you.”

A pause followed in which you were trying to find covert ways to push your face in the snow to cool it down and Kenma regretted ever learning to speak.

“Listen…”, he said after a minute or so, “why don’t we get out of here? You made an appearance, proved I’m real and now you can go enjoy your night. Maybe… maybe we can head to your place, get some pizza, and watch a bunch of those trashy Christmas rom-coms? I know Netflix is flooded with them right now.”

You stared at him for a moment, then squinted suspiciously. “I’m gonna yell at the TV, you know that.”

He smiled and his eyes softened.

“I’m counting on it.”

You looked down at your arm that was still gently pressed against his, thinking.

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m gonna go get your stuff then. - Here.”, he fished his keys from his pocket, “You can wait in the car, I won’t be long.”

You turned the keys over in your fingers as you watched him go, shaking your head in an attempt to smother the bubbling feelings in your chest. As you walked out towards the car, you tried to remember in what state you had left your living room when-

“Y/n?”

Very confused, you lifted your head and saw a young man standing a few meters away. He was maybe a head taller than you, broad shoulders were well hidden underneath a soft sweater and coat. Nothing about the man seemed familiar, not the glasses or the styled black hair. He must have noticed your confusion when he put a hand to his chest and said, “Izumo.”

Kenma was very glad that he wasn’t raised to be polite so he just gathered your purse, scarf, and jacket, said you both would be leaving, and closed the door behind him. Even though at most 20 minutes had passed since your arrival, it felt like you and he had stood by that window for hours watching the snow. He should tell you that he wasn’t over you.

He should tell you that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes again if you’d give him another chance.

He would ask you to take him back.

His steps lengthened at the thought of being back at your place, cozy on the couch and having an absolute ball listening to you rip the movies to shreds. Pulling his puffy parka tightly around him he hurried in the direction of his car and saw you talking to someone. At first, he was worried it would be another bully but then you laughed. His steps slowed.

N…no! He was not about to lose his opportunity to get you back to some random hunk with a sleeper build. Picking up the pace again, he thought hard about what to do. What happened next was not one of his proudest moments. Kenma came to a halt next to you, lay your jacket over your shoulders, and said, “Here you go, babe.”

“Oh, hey, you’re Kodzuken!”, the guy said and had the audacity to give him a genuine smile, “I’m a big fan! I’m glad to see you two are doing well. I wondered if you might have broken up because you haven’t posted about him in a while, Y/n.”

You laughed nervously.

“No, nothing like that.”, Kenma said, and, developing a life of its own, his arm naturally wrapped around your waist, “Everything’s great.”

“That’s what I thought.”, the guy said brightly, his eyes flitting momentarily to the mark on your neck and to Kenma he added, slightly flustered now, “You got yourself a good one.”

“Did you want something?”

“I- uhm.”, Izumo blinked, perplexed, “No, just catching up. But I see you’re on your way out. Have a good night you two. And Y/n, we should totally have coffee.” Kenma pulled you closer to him. “You know, when you have the time.”

Very glad his much-practiced glare was still hitting the mark, Izumo bowed to both of you and went inside.

Once in the car, Kenma looked at you, mentally preparing himself for a scolding but found you smirking and nodding your head.

“What?”, he asked.

“Nothing just…. Didn't have you being jealous on my bingo card this year. Interesting.”, you clicked your tongue in amusement, “Very interesting.”

“I wasn’t j-“

You met his eyes and cocked your brow.

He mumbled something and turned to focus on his steering wheel so you wouldn’t see the hue of pink blooming in his cheeks.

“Izumo was bullied in high school, too.”, you explained, “So he was one of the few people I got along with. We weren’t ever super close or anything but I’m glad he seems to be doing well.”

“Oh. Well… okay then.”

“So no need to be jealous, babe.”, you echoed his tone with the last word perfectly.

His face felt even warmer.

“In my defense, he looked like he was about to ask you out.”

“Uh huh.”, you became, if possible, even more smug and clicked your seatbelt into place, “I mean, could you blame him?”

It was remarkable how quickly your confidence bounced back by simply watching Kenma squirm for an answer.

art: 8.amidori_RN on Twitter

a/n: thank you so much to the anon for this absolutely juicy request. I hope you enjoyed it! And thank you everyone for waiting 🌱🌟

[dutiful-wildcraft]

This one is for all my retail pals

John Price has never worked retail in his life and it shows.

Price x reader, meetcute? if this qualifies

-

You're scrambling, have been since you walked through the door. They were already calling your name by the time you clicked your radio on.

From that moment forward you were hustling back and forth across the store, helping who you could, pulling orders for customer pick ups, trying to answer questions for the seasonal team members who got thrown to the wolves with slap dash training. 

You're tired, you're hungry, and you've been listening to the same 5 christmas songs on repeat since the 1st of November. 

You're trying to make it back to the break room for a quick snack, walking at mach speed, head lowered, praying that those you passed could see the sheer overwhelmed energy radiating off of you in waves and not ask you anything.

But there is always one.

“Excuse me!”

Your blood pressure shoots up immediately. 

You stop short, try to school your expression into something friendly. He's a big man, shoulders wide enough to fill a doorway, with mutton chops that strike you as odd, but suit his face. The man hustles toward you, holding an expensive jacket out to you like a toddler.

“Can you tell me the price of this?”

Everyone thinks you have a scanner.

The chops age him, but a closer look reveals that he must only be a little older than you, pretty blue eyes scrunched apologetically. You think this grown ass man should be old enough to see the scanners staged on every other aisle, the big signs attached to the ceiling highlighting their location. Irritation wells up like a geyser as you pull the garment from his hand searching for a tag. 

You search and search, even fishing around in the pocket to see if some kind soul accidentally yanked it off and put it back.

“Must be free!” Chops chuckles, and you think you should be able to pass out one free throat punch a day for simply working under these conditions. 

It takes effort, not to shrivel up like a raisin over the monotonous comment. Trying desperately to focus on finding the fucking price and ignore the way the big bastard bores holes into your face. He could have looked it up on his phone, you're certain, but instead he's standing a little too close, watching you flounder, at least his cologne is nice. 

A painful silence falls between you when you don't even giggle at his joke. But you must have a scrap of patience left in you because the angel of good will tugs on your ear, reminds you that not everyone stares at this shit day in and day out like you do, and he probably would have trouble finding it online anyway. 

You suck in a deep breath, fish out your own phone to pull up your company's website. 

“M'sorry for the trouble sweetheart” he murmurs, rolling almost sheepishly on his heels, hands reaching at his shoulders as if to grab something that isn't there, falling uselessly at his sides as he hovers over your shoulder. 

The pet name should piss you off, but the rumbly timber of it tickles you somewhere in your monkey brain, he is a handsome thing, and something about the way he crosses his arms, peers over your shoulder like this was a problem he's helping you solve is kind of endearing. 

You feel bad immediately for your bitchy attitude toward the fella. 

“Sorry It's taking a second, I'm trying” 

“I can see that, I appreciate you. I know you lot are busy, think I've seen you make a few laps now.” he teases, nodding to the bustle of people about the store, rummaging through once neatly folded tables like it's a yardsale. 

You type in the style number with a little amused huff. “You have no idea, I get in miles trotting around this place” you joke, scrolling through site’s workwear options to match the jacket in your hand. It's one of the nicer one's the store carries, a sturdy brown canvas with a fleece lined collar and interior. You try to make small talk that you're notoriously terrible at.

“You must work outside.” 

“Something like that” he muses, “been meaning to get the house prepped up for winter, I waited a bit late.”

You snort, “Hell me too, I barely have enough wood left for the stove myself, I'm just going to pile on blankets this winter!”

“Well that won't do.” 

The hard tone of Chop's voice breaks you from your searching. A quick glance confirms he's serious, brows pinched as his posture has shifted to looking directly at you. Chin tucked to his chest.

“What?” 

“You've got no one taking care of you?”

Nosy fuck. You don't know why you get defensive. “I take care of me just fine.” you retort confidently, finally pulling up the stupid jacket and telling him the price. 

“Negative.” is all he replies, looking at you with the same stern gaze. You suddenly feel like a child, wanting more than anything to prove to this man you were more than qualified to handle yourself. You work retail for fucks sake.

He cuts you off before you can smart off again. “You're going to write down that number for the coat, and your number, so I can bring a load of lumber by. I won't have a pretty thing like shiverin’ in the night.”

Something inside your brain purrs at the idea. The idea of somebody looking out for you when you barely have time to keep your clothes washed and body fed was…appealing. Especially coming from a pretty gorgeous stranger. And yet?

“I'm not giving my number to a stranger, sir.” you retort with some semblance of authority. 

Chops is having none of it, he makes a pointed show of raking his eyes down to your nametag dangling against your chest before flickering back up to your face. Your name rolls off his tongue easily, and you can't help the little shiver up your spine at the timber of it.

“John Price” he offers after, big paw curling around your own to shake playfully. “Not strangers now are we?”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How Google’s trial secrecy lets it control the coverage

I'm coming to Minneapolis! Oct 15: Presenting The Internet Con at Moon Palace Books. Oct 16: Keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

"Corporate crime" is practically an oxymoron in America. While it's true that the single most consequential and profligate theft in America is wage theft, its mechanisms are so obscure and, well, dull that it's easy to sell us on the false impression that the real problem is shoplifting:

https://newrepublic.com/post/175343/wage-theft-versus-shoplifting-crime

Corporate crime is often hidden behind Dana Clare's Shield Of Boringness, cloaked in euphemisms like "risk and compliance" or that old favorite, "white collar crime":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/07/solar-panel-for-a-sex-machine/#a-single-proposition

And corporate crime has a kind of performative complexity. The crimes come to us wreathed in specialized jargon and technical terminology that make them hard to discern. Which is wild, because corporate crimes occur on a scale that other crimes – even those committed by organized crime – can't hope to match:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-criminals-no-crimes/#get-out-of-jail-free-card

But anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. After decades of official tolerance (and even encouragement), corporate criminals are finally in the crosshairs of federal enforcers. Take National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo's ruling in Cemex: when a company takes an illegal action to affect the outcome of a union election, the consequence is now automatic recognition of the union:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

That's a huge deal. Before, a boss could fire union organizers and intimidate workers, scuttle the union election, and then, months or years later, pay a fine and some back-wages…and the union would be smashed.

The scale of corporate crime is directly proportional to the scale of corporations themselves. Big companies aren't (necessarily) led by worse people, but even small sins committed by the very largest companies can affect millions of lives.

That's why antitrust is so key to fighting corporate crime. To make corporate crimes less harmful, we must keep companies from attaining harmful scale. Big companies aren't just too big to fail and too big to jail – they're also too big for peaceful coexistence with a society of laws.

The revival of antitrust enforcement is such a breath of fresh air, but it's also fighting headwinds. For one thing, there's 40 years of bad precedent from the nightmare years of pro-monopoly Reaganomics to overturn:

https://pluralistic.net/ApexPredator

It's not just precedents in the outcomes of trials, either. Trial procedure has also been remade to favor corporations, with judges helping companies stack the deck in their own favor. The biggest factor here is secrecy: blocking recording devices from courts, refusing to livestream the proceedings, allowing accused corporate criminals to clear the courtroom when their executives take the stand, and redacting or suppressing the exhibits:

https://prospect.org/power/2023-09-27-redacted-case-against-amazon/

When a corporation can hide evidence and testimony from the public and the press, it gains broad latitude to dispute critics, including government enforcers, based on evidence that no one is allowed to see, or, in many cases, even describe. Take Project Nessie, the program that the FTC claims Amazon used to compel third-party sellers to hike prices across many categories of goods:

https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-used-secret-project-nessie-algorithm-to-raise-prices-6c593706

Amazon told the press that the FTC has "grossly mischaracterize[d]" Project Nessie. The DoJ disagrees, but it can't say why, because the Project Nessie files it based its accusations on have been redacted, at Amazon's insistence. Rather than rebutting Amazon's claim, FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar could only say "We once again call on Amazon to move swiftly to remove the redactions and allow the American public to see the full scope of what we allege are their illegal monopolistic practices."

It's quite a devastating gambit: when critics and prosecutors make specific allegations about corporate crimes, the corporation gets to tell journalists, "No, that's wrong, but you're not allowed to see the reason we say it's wrong."

It's a way to work the refs, to get journalists – or their editors – to wreathe bold claims in endless hedging language, or to avoid reporting on the most shocking allegations altogether. This, in turn, keeps corporate trials out of the public eye, which reassures judges that they can defer to further corporate demands for opacity without facing an outcry.

That's a tactic that serves Google well. When the company was dragged into court by the DoJ Antitrust Division, it demanded – and received – a veil of secrecy that is especially ironic given the company's promise "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful":

https://usvgoogle.org/trial-update-9-22

While this veil has parted somewhat, it is still intact enough to allow the company to work the refs and kill disfavorable reporting from the trial. Last week, Megan Gray – ex-FTC, ex-DuckDuckGo – published an editorial in Wired reporting on her impression of an explosive moment in the Google trial:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/#fundamental-laws-of-economics

According to Gray, Google had run a program to mess with the "semantic matching" on queries, silently appending terms to users' searches that caused them to return more ads – and worse results. This generated more revenue for Google, at the expense of advertisers who got billed to serve ads that didn't even match user queries.

Google forcefully disputed this claim:

https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1709726778170786297

They contacted Gray's editors at Wired, but declined to release all the exhibits and testimony that Gray used to form her conclusions about Google's conduct; instead, they provided a subset of the relevant materials, which cast doubt on Gray's accusations.

Wired removed Gray's piece, with an unsigned notice that "WIRED editorial leadership has determined that the story does not meet our editorial standards. It has been removed":

https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-lawsuit-search-results/

But Gray stands by her piece. She admits that she might have gotten some of the fine details wrong, but that these were not material to the overall point of her story, that Google manipulated search queries to serve more ads at the expense of the quality of the results:

https://twitter.com/megangrA/status/1711035354134794529

She says that the piece could and should have been amended to reflect these fine-grained corrections, but that in the absence of a full record of the testimony and exhibits, it was impossible for her to prove to her editors that her piece was substantively correct.

I reviewed the limited evidence that Google permitted to be released and I find her defense compelling. Perhaps you don't. But the only way we can factually resolve this dispute is for Google to release the materials that they claim will exonerate them. And they won't, though this is fully within their power.

I've seen this playbook before. During the early months of the pandemic, a billionaire who owned a notorious cyberwarfare company used UK libel threats to erase this fact from the internet – including my own reporting – on the grounds that the underlying research made small, non-material errors in characterizing a hellishly complex financial Rube Goldberg machine that was, in my opinion, deliberately designed to confuse investigators.

Like the corporate crimes revealed in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, the gambit is complicated, but it's not sophisticated:

Make everything as complicated as possible;

Make everything as secret as possible;

Dismiss any accusations by claiming errors in the account of the deliberately complex arrangements, which can't be rectified because the relevant materials are a secret.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/09/working-the-refs/#but-id-have-to-kill-you

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

Image: Jason Rosenberg (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/underpants/12069086054/

CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

--

Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[exhaslo]

Over-Time Ch8

(CEO!Miguel x Shy/Clumsy!Reader)

Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4,Ch5, Ch6, Ch7

Warning: MINORS DNI, sexual thoughts, eventual smut, slow-burn, mentions of sex, bullying, cussing, fluff

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The world of the rich was truly different compared to what you had been accustomed too.

As Miguel promised, he had taken you dress shopping. You were to be his date for the Fall Banquet and needed to look the part. It took you by surprise since you had an idea of what you were going to wear, but Miguel declined the idea.

You were going to match him.

As you played with your fingers, you watched as Miguel spoke with some of the associates. The two of you were currently in a large, high-end retail clothing store. A place that you had always admired from afar.

"(Y/N), shall we look?" Miguel offered his hand out to you.

"A-Are you sure? This...This place looks like it's going to charge me for breathing..."

Miguel's eyes widen for a moment before he burst into a small fit of laughter. With a small pout, you felt your cheeks burn red. You had not mean to make a joke, but at least it did humor Miguel. Even though you truly believed what you said.

"How cute," Miguel calmed down, his hand against yours, "What color shall we wear? Don't fret the price, I shall cover the expense."

"Are you sure? I can he-"

"I offered, so I shall pay. In exchange, I am relying on you to pick the color and attire for us."

Miguel said with a low hum as he kissed your hand. You tried not to whimper as the associate led you to the back. Normally, this would feel like too much responsibility, but you were feeling comfortable in Miguel's embrace.

As your eyes wandered across the vast selection, you tried to imagine what would look good on you. Everything would look perfect on Miguel, but you beside him? This was something different.

"You can try them on." Miguel tickled your ear.

You felt your cheeks fluster as you lowered your head. You wanted to hide your smile, but this was exciting. Glancing up at Miguel, you slowly pointed towards a set of blue suits and dresses.

"Be honest with me...on how I look,"

-------

Miguel leaned back in his seat, eyes glued on your shadow behind the curtains. A smile creeped upon his lips as he watched you stumble. The way you would look so perfect beside him made Miguel giddy with joy.

Perhaps, this would be the perfect time to finally stop holding back and ask you to be his girlfriend.

"Um, how...how do I look?" You nearly stuttered as you poked your head out from the curtain.

Miguel chuckled, "I can't tell until you step out, love."

Biting his lower lip, Miguel was practically eye fucking you in that dress. Your body was perfect. That dress was hugging your skin so elegantly. The blue complementing your skin along with the little hint of red that made your eyes pop.

"M-Miguel?" You tried to cover your face since he was staring too much.

"Sorry, it's been a long time since a goddess stood before me."

Miguel approached you, his hands stroking your side. As tempting as it is to kiss you, Miguel held back. Instead, he fixed your hair, adoring your shy expression.

"I think we found a winner."

---------

You hummed quietly on your couch, reviewing Miguel's schedule for the next week. The Fall Banquet was coming up and Miguel had a long line of meetings to go to before then. The tricky part was after the party.

Lyla had mentioned before she left that scheduling Miguel after such a big event was talent. You had to predict which people Miguel was going to want to have meetings with after the party and who deserved more attention than the other.

"There are so many people on this invitation list."

Honestly, when was Miguel every going to get a break? Everyday was meeting after meeting. Leaning back in your seat, you took a deep breath and thought.

--------

Miguel tapped his finger against his table as he looked at the security footage from his home. A snarl escaping his lips as he quickly replaced it with a drink.

This was frustrating.

"Why won't that woman ever give up? Poor (Y/N) won't survive against that snake."

Miguel sighed heavily as he recalled how easy it was for you to melt against his touch. Your innocent expression nearly begging for more with every pat. Miguel wondered what would happen if he fucked you good.

But what good was that if the snake got to you first?

"I'm going to need a distraction."

Coming up with an idea, Miguel exhaled a loud sigh before making a phone call.

---------

You were running around like a chicken without a head. The Fall Banquet was the next night and you were trying to get everything ready. Miguel was in the middle of a meeting and you were in charge of some of the party stuff.

Honestly, you wanted to cry.

Finishing with the spotlight cameras, you hurried into one of the closets to unwind. You needed to get away from the stress of it all. Whimpering lowly, you tried to calm down.

"I can do this, I can do this." You whispered to yourself, "I just...I just have to see the music director and security...that's all."

Taking a deep breathe, you started to feel better. As you did, you felt your phone vibrate. Rubbing your eyes, you smiled as you saw Miguel's name.

'You owe me for this boring meeting, love'

Chuckling, you rolled your eyes towards Miguel's silly text.

'Haha, sorry. I'll find a way to make it up to you, promise'

'I like the sound of that. I'll do with a kiss'

You felt your heart race towards those words. Was Miguel serious? Of course he had to be! Shuddering towards the thought, you tried to think of a good response.

'Sounds fair'

Biting your lower lip, you leaned your head back against the wall. Kissing his cheek was fine. It wasn't unprofessional at all. Like if Lyla could bite then why wouldn't you kiss? It was fine. Totally fine.

Right?

---------

Miguel couldn't stop smiling as he read your text. Although, his smile was making his partners nearly giddy. As if the smile was for them, which was hilarious.

Miguel was going to enjoy that kiss.

Oh, so very much.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter

@timidquindim @decentsoupperson @ivkygirly @reader-1290 @daddyfroglegs @eepybunny0805 @ddreabea @iamperson12280 @migueloharasoulmate @tojishugetiddies @koko-1025 @hyeinwluv85s @daisy-artfield @migueloharastruelove @a-lil-whore @hcqwxrtss123 @the-pan-liquid @tojisfav @pochapo @bubblegumfanfictions @brighterthanlonelythoughts @ghstypaint @mangoslushcrush @synamonthy @scaleniusrm @moonspectorx @dorck26 @a060403 @lunablackcosplay @soraya-daydreams @lovefanfic1 @mymrsweirdnessshipperstuff-blog @pretty-pink-princesss @corpsebridenightamare @razertail18 @gachagator @droolingmuttt @miguelsfavwife @ryzguy06 @raideaters-blog @manishkaworld @keidilla @byjessicalotufo @pigeonmama @k3ythesapphic @acesangels @stealingyourturts @angel-xx-1 @amberbalcom14 @ofmenanduhhhwellmen @oscarissac2099 @keepghostly @zeyzeys-stuff @k3ythesapphic @nightingale1011 @uncle-eggy @safixiovi @flaps200 @dahehow @weirdothatwritess @gerblinradio @electronicchaoschaos @mafiaanomaly @keyisloved @unwrittenletter @reader4life @leenasgirl200 @oscarissac2099 @mari0-o @cinnamoro1l @leryg0 @hizzielover @resident-clown @girl-of-multi-fandoms @sana-408-blog

[mmkclarkey]

We have a spare room ~ Part 1

When everything goes wrong, moving in with three guys will solve it?

You were a fairly average girl, who never really took any risks and lived a safe life, besides being a blossoming TikTok sensation (as some may say, not you, you do not say), that is until you found your roommate in bed with your boyfriend; ruining everything you had planned for your life so far. Also meaning that you had to find somewhere else to live.

This however was proving quite hard as you hadn’t long moved to London, and your original plans weren’t to move away from your flat in quite a nice place in soho so soon. Bringing you to where you were now, sat on the sofa of your brothers flat in east London, looking through listings when an ad pops up on your app specifically made for influencers wanting to move in to London:

Looking for a fourth roommate, flat in mainstream London, open to anyone who isn’t going to doxx us

You laughed at the sight, swiping up on the notification and continuing scrolling, mind thinking back to the advertisement quite a bit. You bit the inside of your cheek with a furrowed brow while looking at your screen, clicking on the notification and pictures of the flat popping up, looking like quite a nice place and after more research; quite a nice price too.

You immediately messaged the number attached, still nervous as the ad didn’t exactly explain who any of the roommates would be, just mentioning that they were YouTubers.

Hey, I saw your ad, and I’ve recently had to move out of my flat due to some circumstances, and I’m totally interested in moving in with you guys if you’d be up for it.

~

The reply to the message didn’t come until the next day, which at that point the ad had slipped from your mind. It came through with a ping in your pocket while you were using retail therapy as your way through Oxford street, stopping in the middle of TKMaxx to bring it out and view the message, a smile coming to your face as you do.

Hi! Omg we would love for you to come round and have a look, if you wouldn’t mind we’d love to talk to you about what you do etc, not to be weird just to make sure that you’d be the best match for the flat!

You quickly type out a reply:

Thank you so much! Do you have a day in mind that we can do it, looking to move out of where I am ASAP

As if to match your energy, the reply came through almost instantly.

Would you be free today?

Yes of course! I can be there within the hour if that’s okay?

Yeah course! The address is *****************************

You quickly wrap up in the shop, turning to your brother as you walk out. Strolling for a bit longer before deciding to start the short walk to the address you had been given.

~

“I’m going to view that flat from last night” you say casually, making your brother raise his brow, quickly holding your arm softly.

“Please be safe yeah? I don’t feel like filling out a missing persons report for you two months after you move to London”

You smile, giving him a hug as you walk away, heart pounding out of your chest as you think through all the terrifying possibilities that could be awaiting you. What if they were serial killers? What if they hated you?

~

“Are you here for the listing” the voice sounds soft, you wonder what type of girls you’d be moving in with.

“Yeah I am, I said I’d be here within the hour” you said with a small laugh, the door buzzes quickly as you head into the lift, fiddling with your fingers, reaching the door of the flat as you ring the doorbell.

The door opens in the middle of you taking a deep sigh, a man answering with a smile on his face.

“Oh uhm, I must have the wrong flat I’m so sorry-” you begin as the man stops you.

“Are you here for the listing?” He asks in a soft tone, making you nod your head. “No you’re at the right place, not expecting a guy or something?”

You laugh as you reply “not particularly, the messages kind of gave off a girl vibe, and the decor of the flat”, the man in front of you hits the door lightly after you step in, closing it behind you.

“For fucks sake Chris! I told you to message her with a different tone, poor girl must be terrified, me answering the door!” he shouts back into the living room, making you let out a little laugh as he guides you through, you see two other men sat on the sofa, both turning their heads at the same time to see you, making you smile awkwardly and wave.

“I didn’t think she was a girl! I thought she was like a gay guy? Anyways, come sit down, my name’s Chris” the shorter of the two men stand up from the sofa, leading you to a seperate chair in front of them, shaking your hand.

“Ah, nice to meet you Chris” you say shaking his hand, laughing a bit as you see the femininity in him slightly, His blonde hair quite obviously permed while he sported a red Christmas jumper, holding a mug of tea in his hand before placing it down carefully on a placemat on the coffee table. He quickly rushed to lick his lip as he realised he had tea in his light moustache, the overall light stubble complimenting a seemingly babyish face.

You sit down opposite the three boys as another one begins to talk, the one who met you at the door. You now noticed that he had a few tattoos on show, jotting down in your mind to bring them up later. He had brunette hair that lay lazily over his forehead, not quite messy though, as well as a small 80’s style moustache above his lip. His style was different to the other two, the only way to describe it is a grandad but if they were stylish? It complimented his soft demeanour perfectly.

“I’m Arthur, it’s lovely to meet you, what’s your name again?” You tell him your name as he shakes your hand too, his grip a bit softer and less anxious than Chris’, the small difference showing that arthur definitely spent more time with female friends that Chris did, making you smile more genuinely at him, immediately feeling a sense of security with him.

The man in the middle of Chris and Arthur sat scrolling through his phone, not seeming particularly interested in you being there. Arthur hit him with his elbow, making him switch off his phone and place it in his lap, reaching his hand out, as you take it the same as you did the other two.

You noticed straight away that as much as all three of the men in front of you were good looking, the one in the middle was both taller and more stereotypically attractive than the other two. His hair was carefully styled, and as he turned his head you noticed what seemed to be a growing mullet, catching your eye as his hair was slightly lighter than Arthur’s. Unlike Chris and Arthur, his beard was more full on rather than a moustache or a light stubble, complimenting his style as he wore a pair of oversized jeans with a blue and black sweater.

“I’m George, it’s nice to meet you” his face finally cracks and he lets a large smile set on his face, showing you that he kept the serious face on because of skepticism, of your character and of your demeanour.

Arthur clears his throat as you all lean back in your seats, whipping out his phone as he scrolls through then looks up at you, asking you a question.

“So, what do you do as a job?”

You think for a moment, wondering what you should say, then reminding yourself that these boys are also influencers. You begin to talk as George cuts you off, almost definitely accidentally.

“She’s a TikToker and she’s getting more popular on YouTube too, I’ve seen so much of your stuff, you’re hilarious”. He slightly rambles as he says so, a smile on his face as he leans forward, clearly interested in the conversation.

You laugh as Arthur looks at you, as if to look for confirmation, you nod your head as you thank George, happy that he seems to like you.

~

Many questions later, laughter and a comfortable atmosphere fills the room as the boys in front of you quickly say that they need to move into another room “for deliberation” as Chris put it. After a minute of hushed whispering in the hallway, they walk back in one by one, sitting down in front of you.

“You’re in” Arthur smiles at you.

“I swear you won’t regret this.” You blurt out with a happy smile on your face. This was new to you, but exciting.

~~~~~~

A/n- Hi guys! I’m hoping this will be a long series? Not all as long as this maybe, I took majority of the idea from new girl but I swear I’ll change it mostly, just the basis of the idea as I love the show and see the boys in each of the characters! Let me know if you like it please, love you all xx

A/n again sorry- who wants to be on the tag list for this????

[imtomiee]

Welcome to another episode of goo's closet♡ cause this man is my favourite fashion geek

Due to requests I've been able to find close matches of the famous jersey jacket

This is the old jacket goo has on front and back:

So for starters its black and white sukajan jacket and it has tigers and says "japan" on the back

Bad news i DIDN'T find the exact one but found one on ebay thats very close

It retails for 172$ as for the brand according to my calculations it's called Hoshihime

Moving on

There is this one on a website called k2japanbcn it has the same one but in black and white instead of this pissed on yellow colour

It retails for 213$ and it's the same brand.

Basically if you want one of these jackets they are called sukajan jackets some are silk others not and they are mostly vintage and you can find them mostly on ebay for appropriate prices

That's it tell me which item of goo's closet i should do next 🤔

And ofc credits to: @ianrkives for these adorable dividers

Edit: for my lovely babies who wanted one the wonderful @getgooakitten found an alternative for it at a reasonable price and great material :) this is the link for the shop: https://store.japan-zone.com/products/sukajan-jacket-roaring-tiger

[3liza]

saw a youtube sponsorship for a brand that markets itself as "masculine shoes in small sizes, for trans men" and if the entire idea wasn't already preposterous (this is part of a large scale marketing push to convince trans people that clothing that has been available on the normal heterosexual market for generations is "hard to find" so they can charge you hundreds of dollars for it), it's also ugly, and they have chosen to call their company "Tomboy Toes". if you said those two words to my face in a shoe store i would slap you

$120 for a black or brown version of the standard school uniform brogue which has been available all the way down to toddler sizes since uhhhhhhh approximately 1820.

just to double check my sense of reality i went to the largest single online shoe market on earth besides Amazon (zappos) and typed in "women's brogues" and selected size 5 which would be pushing the lower limit on the larger part of the bell curve of adult AFAB people on earth, or at least the northern hemisphere, and there are many options in approximately the same price range depending on brand name, with sales regularly down to much less, on similar or identical styles. ebay also. Tomboy Toes carries down to size EU33 which is around 3.5 US Women's and again, that's just in the children's section if you need Picture Day/uniform (children)/ Office Whatever (adult) Shoes and they are on eBay lightly used in great numbers because kids grow out of them in 6-10 months.

is it annoying to be shopping in "women's section" or "kids section" for these things when you are an adult man. yes. so i dont understand the marketing impetus to replicate that exact scenario by naming your company for adult trans men something i would assume was a sassy yet misguided terf brand if i found it on a label in a generic wingtip at Goodwill. cis men who are very small also have to shop in the small sections for their small clothes. i am wearing a t-shirt meant for a 7 year old right now, it says so on the label. it fits me better than any of the shirts i own that are made for the standard american adult. i literally have bigger things to worry about

naturally their "vegan leather" selection is much larger but again, it's ugly Trendy Booties that will fall apart in a year and are, i cant emphasize this enough, made of plastic, nothing special, and in standard women and children's sizes which are already plentiful at every shoe retailer. why are we letting these "trans brands" charge us a $100 tax to pretend to take us seriously (while at the same time calling us "tomboys")? does anyone know

i do, its actually because of the learned helplessness issue again. the accepted wisdom at the tumblr layer of transness is 'its so hard to find [item of clothing that is suitable for trans people]" because the knowledge of how to shop for these items in the actual market has completely evaporated within the last ten years, i watched it happen right in front of me. but it's a complete fallacy, you can find this stuff easily. you can find large women's shoes, small men's shoes, women's clothing with wide shoulders or long torsos, there are entire stores for this already and measurements and sectiions within "department stores" (such as they are) and then after that there are one million billion foam inserts and seams and button placements and belts and scarves and gloves and hem lengths and blah blah blah that trans people and also cis people who are not standard-shaped or who just want their shoes or bras or shirts to fit have already been using for thousands of years so ive been mad about this all day. TOMBOY TOES. they are having us for absolute fools. just call me a slur at this point

i already know some nincompoop is going to match me paragraph for paragraph in a heated defense of the hundred dollar jingle keys boring shoes so i just want them to know in advance: we are not the same. i have so many cool shoes it is unbelievable. in every gender imaginable. and i didn't pay more than like $50 for any of them. also no theres no cheat sheet to learning to buy clothing for your body, i do not say this with any rancor either, its just hard, it takes a long time, and i dont have a cheatsheet for it because there isnt one. except rule #1: dont buy $120 boring ugly shoes from someone jingling their keys in front of your face and calling it Queer Fashion when you can get them for a lot less basically anywhere $120 isnt even a lot for a GOOD pair for mid-range, non-designer leather dress shoes. if you know they will last for ten years and stand up to resoling, it's completely fine. but not for thooooooose

[fuck-customers]

Working at a Desert County Lob Jot and we had an older daughter and mom come up with a veeery pricy air mattress and claim it was on sale for like $40. That thing regularly cost $100 and I knew there was no way we would sale it for that little. I ring it up with their ID so that any sales automatically apply at checkout and YUP--still the 99.99 price.

Mother starts doing her Karen thing saying that there's a sign on the entrance display that says their $40 so I "have to give it to her".

"IT'S THE LAW!!" she starts whining.

I'm like this is my last week...I'm starting a job I can actually make a living with...I'm not dealing with this alone. I call over one of the assistant managers who's on the floor a lot more than me and ask if it's supposed to be on sale. He's got no clue and heads over.

Meanwhile she's trying to be like "there's a sign right there" and "you have to give it to me" and "it's state law" and I'm just watching from across the service counter as the assistant manager is trying to find the correct mattress.

The mattress in question had a completely different series name and was a thicker mattress, so I tell him look for a box that says [series name] for the mattress on sale.

Eventually because he was having a hard time I went through the exit and through the divider to enter through the entrance and sure enough, right under the $40 sale sign, was the CORRECT MATTRESS. I grab it and show it to the woman and even bring it around again, showing that the sign product name and SKU matched.

Surprise surprise, now that she'd been confronted, she didn't want it. Made all the excuses in the book. We apologized that the sale one wasn't what she was looking for to preserve a bit of good will with her and the two stormed out.

Like why tf do people find it so hard to read sale signs? I sit and I double check everything the sign says matches what I grab and SHOCKER I've never been sold anything at the wrong price as a result. The literacy of the majority of customers seems to get checked at the door as soon as they enter a retail store jfc. There should be a psychological study on it I swear.

Posted by admin Rodney

[dear-ao3]

if you are one of those hooligans who goes into a retail store on black friday to get a price match for something that you bought last week i am whacking you over the head with your purchase

[dulcevenganzaa]

hiii so i decided to put together my research skill and love for fashion to look up some of the sunglasses gerard's been wearing this leg of tour since i've seen some people wondering about them and personally i just really like some of these. so, this is what I've found so far 

Black SL 421 | Saint Laurent / they've been wearing these all tour basically, seen before in the NA shows (Montreal, St Paul, Oakland, and most recently in Brisbane) - they're sold out rn but they usually retail around $350 - $400 

YY5010 | Yohji Yamamoto / (worn in Aotearoa and never seen again 😔) These are kinda hard to miss, the particular design of the bridge is a staple of the brand, another thing is that they're pretty hard to get a hold of? they're not on the official website as far as i could tell, but they're listed in sites like grailed, the model in the link varies a little but they're the same basically

Lemtosh Sun (Flesh) | Moscot / these were the hardest to ID, pretty much bc there are like a million models that look like this, i am certain these are the ones he's wearing, what gives them away are the rivets (tiny screws) and that curve on the inside of the bridge, he really seems to favour these lately lol but he also wore them a few times in the states iirc

Tristan | Jacques Marie Mage / i wasn't too sure about these ones at first since they look like generic wayfarers at first glance but they do have that curve on the top and the rivets match pretty well, this are the most expensive on the list so far, and they come from a relatively young brand from LA that manufactures some models in Japan < so hence the price im guessing 

GG1119S 001 | Gucci / these are a complete shot in the dark tbh since they're a pretty generic model, you could look up any brand and find their own version of these but Gucci's model is the closest one i could find so far, not a 100% match, if you look at the model G's wearing the bridge has a more pronounced curve and as i looked through other pics the temples don't match either and they seem to be way rounder?

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

PSA--DO NOT FALL FOR THIS WALGREENS LISTING!

I guess file this one under 'If it seems too good to be true it probably is.' A few nights ago I was searching for a completely different doll when Google dropped this Walgreens listing for RH Georgia Bloom in my results. Now, the original Georgia has been sold out for quite awhile--long before I even started collecting Rainbow High--but I've had good luck in the past with retailers randomly putting up deadstock at or below the original retail price, and I assumed this was probably a similar situation.

The product description matched the photo and everything otherwise seemed legit, so I went ahead and ordered one. Georgia is one of the few RH dolls I want but have no expectation of ever owning, because her secondary market prices are beyond what I'm willing to pay. This seemed like an amazing opportunity to fill one of the few nagging gaps in my collection.

After I placed my order, however, I began to have doubts. And when the shipment arrived today, sure enough--

--they sent the 2022 budget version. TBH by the time I had the box in my hands I was halfway expecting this. Given the price and the likelihood that they actually had the original S3 Georgia in stock, this was probably the most likely outcome. I couldn't even really be mad about it...but I did call the Walgreens customer care hotline to complain. To their credit, once I explained my problem I was issued a full refund immediately, without having to return the doll. So I at least ended up with a free placeholder budget Georgia for my trouble. Other customers who were duped by this didn't even get that much. Taking a look at the reviews currently posted on the site (which were not there when I placed my order) some people aren't even receiving the right character!

So anyway yeah, if this listing is placed in your way by Google--I'm putting this squarely on them because there's no way I would otherwise be searching for dolls on the Walgreens website of all places--DO NOT BUY IT. Unless you're really in the mood to spend $25 on a budget RH lottery.

[cityof2morrow]

CDK: Build Accents

Published: 9-15-2024 | Updated: N/A SUMMARY Cubic Dynamics by John B. Cube and Marcel Dusims forged the future with furnishings that were minimalist in design and maximalist in erudite pretension. Generations later, the company continues to produce edge-of-cutting-edge designs. Use the Cubic Dynamics Kitbash (Simmons, 2023-2024) collection to set up corporate, exposition, and office environments. Envisioned as an add-on to the Cubic Dynamics set (EA/Maxis, archived at GOS), it features minimalist and retro-futuristic objects. Find more CC on this site under the #co2cdkseries tag. Read the Backstory and ‘Dev Notes’ HERE. Here is a compilation of BUILD ACCENTS, older windows, doors, and decorative window/door frames which have been repo’d to use the same color scheme as the rest of the CDK series – this way, the exteriors and interiors of your offices will match. Remember to replace original files. See the compatibility note at the end of this post.

DETAILS All EPs/SPs. §See Catalog for Pricing | See Buy/Build Mode You need the Company Expo (Mesh Pack) set (Simmons, 2024) for TXTRs to show properly in game.For the glass, you need the Plain Glass TXTR Repository from my Repo Pack (Simmons, 2023). All files with “MESH” in their name REQUIRED for textures/models to display correctly in-game. ITEMS Deco Door Arches (Single/Double/Diagonals) (360 poly) 4ESF’s Doors & Windows (112-124 poly) Cyclonesue’s Never-Ending/Privacy Windows/Arch (68-112 poly) ShinySims’ Modern Windows (12-482 poly) Tiggy027 Window Frames (24-108 poly) DOWNLOAD (choose one) from SFS | from MEGA COMPATIBILITY AVOID DUPLICATES: The #co2cdkseries includes edited versions – replacements - for items in the following CC sets: 4ESF (office 3, other 1/artroom, other 2/build), All4Sims/MaleorderBride (miskatonic library, office, postmodern office), CycloneSue (never ending/privacy windows), derMarcel (inx office), Katy76/PC-Sims (bank/cash point, court/law school sets, sim cola machine), Marilu (immobilien office), Murano (ador office), Reflex Sims (giacondo office), Retail Sims/HChangeri (simEx, sps store), Simgedoehns/Tolli (focus kitchen, loft office, modus office), ShinySims (modern windows), SH (reverie office, step boxes/shelving), Spaik (sintesi study), Stylist Sims (offices 1,2, & 3, Toronto set), Tiggy027 (wall window frames 1-10), Wall Sims (holly architecture, Ibiza). *The goal is to link the objects to the recolors/new functions in the #co2cdkseries without re-inventing the wheel! Credit to the original creators. CREDITS Thanks: ChocolateCitySim, HugeLunatic, Klaartje, Ocelotekatl, Whoward69, LoganSimmingWolf, Gayars, Ch4rmsing, Ranabluu, Gummilutt, Crisps&Kerosene, LordCrumps, PineappleForest. Sources: Any Color You Like (CuriousB, 2010), Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik). SEE CREDITS (ALT)