#so apparently the new internet-provider doesn't solve the issue.

[racke7]

Huh.

[commiemartyrshighschool]

Even ignoring the immense ethical issues that are inherent to an ad-supported journalism model, as a revenue stream it has also entirely broken down. The internet has entirely supplanted the newspaper as the public bulletin board, and the apparent ROI for a banner ad with trackable metrics is way higher for most advertisers, plus color doesn't cost extra.

This has all accelerated lately because the simplest means of increasing profit in any news org is to provide less coverage while charging existing subscribers the same (or more) money, or further degrading the line between ads and coverage through sponsored content.

The effectiveness of slashing coverage is particularly clear in the case of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where most of the newsroom has been on strike since October 2022. The wealthy family that bought it hasn't had great success in finding scabs but after an initial rush of cancellations the remaining subscribers haven't been moved by declining coverage and the far-right stance of the owners attracted some new support after they fired a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for presenting the mildest critique of Trump.

Or perhaps look to the Bezos owned Washington Post which changed its motto to "Democracy Dies in Darkness" while it has subtly but appreciably shifted any coverage of Amazon away from the critical, on top of its broader endorsement of American Imperial projects. Their owner is perhaps not so concerned with profits, but control over the messaging from the outlet, and even if he never directly intervenes his mere ownership exerts pressure from the top-down to keep him happy.

This article deals with the issue of coverage in the UK and matters of international coverage, which I'm less familiar with, but the fact is reporting the world over is under threat from the consolidation of ownership and the undermining of editorial independence.

I'm personally in favor of reporters and editors directly owning their outlets, which is the only way that many smaller or more remote communities will be able to have an independent investigative capacity. It's exceedingly rare that a member of the general public has the time and inclination to make sure a small-town's budget is actually being spent in the stated way.

We need community funding of somebody to do that, but without it coming through a government that can use funding to exert control.

But we need this sort of model to exist in a transnational form too. Sending reporters overseas is far more expensive than to town hall, but many news orgs are struggling to do that. Collaborating with local reporters is ideal, but has its own logistical hurdles.

Which I guess is a rambly way of saying I agree with this thesis, but that we need a really transformative approach to how journalists work and are organized to solve this issue beyond making donations to a handful of existing orgs, even ones presently doing good work.

From the outset of the latest Israel-Palestine conflict, the capitalist media in Britain and USA has acted as an obedient mouthpiece for the establishment, echoing their imperialist propaganda. We need to build a voice for the exploited and oppressed.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

my woes, as yodeled into an indifferent void me: aahhhh! i'm so excited for my doll to arrive! *checks tracking 500x a day* the doll: finally arrives me: oh it's here! thank goodness it arrived safely!!!

me:

me:

me: doesn't open the box for a week

can my mental illness pls give me a break? executive dysfunction is so stupid. THE BOX IS RIGHT THERE! (related query: i know a lot of people keep their doll's boxes for a secondary proof of legitimacy but oh my sweet summer fuck this box is huge!!! where am i gonna put this!!!! where do y'all put yours??)

see also: doll next to me with no wig, holding her wig. i could put this on at any time and yet! it's not Time to put on the wig, apparently!

cannot impress upon the neurotypical enough how little choice i have in this dumb little matter, it's either "spend all night changing doll styling because i am Anxious" or "i am blind deaf and dumb to the concept of recreational activities." i spent eleven hours on and off yesterday, while doing other things in my life, looking at horse photos on the internet. i don't know why. i do not choose the hyperfixation, i merely live under its shadow. i could, theoretically, have stopped at any time and chosen to do something i actually wanted to do, but- oh sorry i blinked and it's been two hours since i last blipped back into awareness, what were we talking about?

and sure, my problems are small in the grand scheme of things, but i am awake at 4:30 in the morning so it's time to dish the Real Doll-Adjacent Dirt(TM). i am being hampered in my ability to do doll things by my dumb little life and it blows. (never mind that it also makes it incredibly challenging for me to function on a day to day basis when i either have to monch constantly to have an attention span, or i forget that i need to eat food entirely, never mind the fact that i've never had a consistent sleep schedule or awareness of the passage of time as a whole, but that's another matter.) (also for anyone suggesting medical assistance, oh buddy, i'm trying. my insurance provider serendipitously decided to no longer cover what i've been taking and thanks to no one believing in the pandemic in my area, my doc contracted The Rona which hampered scheduling of appointments -- and thus i have been forced to come off my medication cold turkey and i've been off for weeks verging on nearly two months. i'm surviving but if i can't even play with dolls when i want because of my idiot brain, extrapolate that to my ability to do anything else with my dumb little life.

this isn't so much a cry for help as me shouting into the void... eventually this will get sorted. until then, i'm exactly as bonkers as i normally am, but without the benefit of steering to direct the mental illness into a positive outlet. if anyone else is in the same boat as me, godspeed! i am forever furious by this change in policy; change "adhd medication" to "blood thinner" or "insulin" and i'd be Fuckening Dead, but the gross mischaracterization of mental health issues as something unimportant that you can solve by ~manifesting your blessings~ and lighting a new candle continues to be a pox upon society at a global scale.  i typed all this instead of opening the box or putting a wig on a doll because i, like stu pickles making pudding at 2 in the morning (which coincidentally i also just did -- it's banana pudding,) have lost control of my life. but hey, at least the box got here okay, yeah?

~Anonymous

[the-changelings]

Disclaimer: all names (not not ages!!) have been changed for privacy.

This is long af so I'm adding a readmore. it's all background info. I haven't even got into the baffling part yet. lmao

relevant characters:

Anna, 23, store manager

Becky, 37, shift manager

Frank, mid-40s, shift manager

Me, 27, assistant manager

Anna has been our store manager for about 2 months. She was hired directly into the position as she has manager experience from her previous job.

Becky and Frank have been with the company for about 6-8 months? I think? it's a bit fuzzy because I had to do most of the training for them while short staffed and also new to my current position (and to full-time work). both of them were hired as managers directly.

I have been with the company for 4 years and know all the systems, policies, and types of people who choose retail jobs pretty well. I started as an associate, then became a manager, and now am essentially the assistant manager of the store. I ran the store for 2 months when our previous store manager quit unexpectedly without finding a replacement.

Our company treats all managers the same in terms of the power structure, except that store managers can access some things other managers cannot (such as the hiring system). Store managers are also expected to do the schedule, but all managers technically have access.

ok. with that out of the way, let me tell you a little more about my coworkers.

Becky is...having some issues. obviously I don't want to completely blast her on the internet, but that's just the truth. I have never met a person who attracts as much drama as this woman. she needs a therapist like 8 years ago- not least so she can drop her no-good ex who causes injuries every time they interact. A customer has accused her of day drinking (apparently it was on her breath), she takes extended lunches frequently because she falls asleep on her couch in the time it takes to microwave her lunch, she has allegedly verbally cursed Anna out on the phone (obvously this can't be proven). She is so anxious about not inconveniencing customers that she rushes through things and makes mistakes that make everything take like 5x longer.

I trained Becky. I know that she knows how to do all the things she needs to do in her department, because I taught her all of them several times. Important to note that she has some disabilities that mean memory takes longer to solidify, and I've been fine working with that. I'm happy to teach the same things over again as long as she is getting better at them!

The trouble is that Becky isn't getting better at them. I know she can count. I know she can do a return, or a warranty swap, I know she can print daily reports. But she doesn't. She asks me where the same parts are every week, and when I tell her, she says "oh yeah, I was gonna say-" or "oh yeah thats what I thought" every time without fail. We have a labeled map of where all the parts are. These are problems she can solve herself, but she either can't or won't and at this point I'm not sure which it is.

Frank has different issues. He always smells vaguely of weed when he comes in, he also never really remembers how to do anything (despite having been shown repeatedly over 6+ months), and getting a hold of him outside his hours is nearly impossible. That last one is mostly fine, by the way, but it is important. If someone doesn't want to be available outside of work hours, they have that right. Can be a bit inconvenient when we are trying to get a shift covered, though.

Allegedly, Frank is a bit of a hothead, though I haven't personally witnessed this either. He apparently cursed out another coworker when they were closing together, in front of customers. As far as I know, no formal complaints were made, and we don't have cameras so there's no proof of this either (the other coworker tends to exaggerate and play the victim, so another layer of complication).

I have seen Frank lie about what services we do and do not provide, what parts we do and do not sell, etc. He won't even check. It's wild. This has improved somewhat over time. I have also seen him approve tills over or short by ridiculous amounts and not even tell anyone. He knows the policy (email one person up to a certain $ amount, email and additional person for any amount higher), but he's only followed policy like twice. again I cannot tell if he can't figure it out or just won't bother.

Anna is quite young, and very new to her position. She is a quick learner, but much like with the others we haven't had the time to dedicate to teaching her everything due to being understaffed at most locations. Another store manager (34 years and counting!) and our district manager have been helping, but can only do so much since they have a lot to keep track of as it is.

The schedule is the main sticking point for most people when it comes to Anna. Our scheduling system is a pain to use and the requirements for each day vary (and often don't actually reflect when we need to have more people). She's doing her best, but everyone has different requests for their schedule, not everyone has accurate availability listed in the program (and either can't or won't fix it), and some people literally will not work with other people.

Anna is also not a huge people person. She does have the typical young woman level of people-pleasing to overcome, but she is blunt and to the point and a bit sassy as well. She is generally confident in her decisions and her previous manager experience is serving her well (at least in my opinion). The other main issue people have with her is the bluntness- some people describe feeling unheard (and thus undervalued) due to her responses to issues, others feel she is bossy and disrespectful. I have not had these issues, but I can also come across in these ways at times, so I think our brains have some similar inner workings.

I have spent a lot of the last 8 months trying to build bridges between my coworkers, by explaining what I'm seeing and trying to refrain issues they have with each other. I have tried to encourage everyone to talk to each other and make an effort to understand each other well enough to at least be polite. I tell them they don't have to be friends, but we do work together and it would really help everyone if they can get along enough to not actively avoid one another or fight.

I appear to have underestimated how difficult this is for people in their 30s+. At least these specific people.

something unsettling is happening at work.

actually it's more frustrating and also baffling, but those two don't go together great imo?

I'm not even sure how to put it into words but I will try. after I grab some lasagna.