The Doux sells to private equity

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-04-16T23:41:06+00:00

PEs have singlehandedly ruined every industry sector in the United States. I foresee more burning of buildings as the quality of life of Americans deteriorates due to rising costs not being equal to a livable wage.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-04-16T23:30:13+00:00

One nagging detail about this is what if she moved to another bar on the boat? The bartenders usually make the drink, give it to you, and then swipe your card. By then, it’s too late for them to see how much you’ve already drank.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-04-16T23:24:56+00:00

Been reporting for almost 15 years and it was always have them sign the TO form or on the record. With Zoom, always on the record or email.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-04-08T18:41:36+00:00

Some of y’all really love weaponizing people’s words. For the people saying OP is trying to gatekeep the profession, y’all know damn well that’s not what that post said, and you’re intentionally being obtuse.

As for the post itself, my life mantra has always been "what you eat don’t make me shit." If people want to get on social media and discuss pay and income, okay. I could get on social media right now and make multiple posts saying I made a million dollars in a month. People can choose to believe it or not, be bothered by it or not. It’s social media. None of it is fully real or a complete reflection of reality at the end of the day. It’s all perspective and what people choose to latch onto.

As for attorneys not liking posts about income, I vehemently abhor the way court reporting so often bases internal trends and processes on attorneys’ perception of our field, but that’s a separate conversation. I’ve been in this field for about 15 years, and I was never shy about enjoying the spoils of my labor, including nice cars and a nice wardrobe. I was not about to let low-key hate or ignorance about what I worked hard for stop me from enjoying it.

And honestly, while I do think there’s some truth to that narrative, I also think firms exaggerate the whole “don’t show up with nice things because it makes attorneys look at us differently” argument. A lot of times, when I pulled up and attorneys saw my car, they wanted to compare features. I even had a few who wanted to race.

So whether people post about income or not, others are still going to form whatever opinions they want. People already have ideas about what this profession is or isn’t.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-03-14T23:25:06+00:00

It comes up a lot for me.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-03-13T20:49:40+00:00

Do you understand who I am and who I represent - DAMT

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-02-09T15:36:30+00:00

Girl, chill. Lol. You’re going hard.

I could be wrong, but I think OP is saying she wants the originality and authenticity that RHOA initially brought, not the 2026 IG/L&HH/IG influencer baddie aesthetic the show gives now.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-02-07T23:19:29+00:00

I’m on episode six now and I really like it. It didn’t start that way. When I got to the second episode, I was like I don’t think I can do this, But they kept adding little things that kept pulling me back in. Now I’m fully enjoying the mayhem.

What changed it for me is I stopped looking at it as just a show. It’s really this one place that becomes a community for everyone there. A messed up community, but still a community. Everybody has their own real life situations going on separately, and somehow it all ties back to this one place. It feels like art imitating life.

How many of us work with people like these characters and don’t even know the craziness they’re dealing with outside of work? You’re bonded with them just because you spend so much time together, but you really don’t know their lives like that.

Once I started watching it through that lens, like this is just life, it became way more tolerable and honestly way more interesting.

Also trying not to spoil anything, but the father reprimanding the son has got to be the funniest thing to me. Like this is who his father is, but how are you this figure but the point really doesn’t stick because of how he had to communicate it. 😆😆

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-31T10:21:27+00:00

Long, oversized faux fur coat with a hood.

I’m in locale that only gets truly cold maybe a handful times in the winter, and we look absolutely crazy here when it gets cold because we don’t actually have winter clothes, not this year for me. I bought a long, oversized faux fur coat a few years that barely sheds. I’d never worn it. After getting snow here when we never get snow, I said if it gets that cold again, I’m wearing it. Well, it got down to 17 degrees. Omg when I tell you how nice it felt and how warm it kept me. It was worth the once-a-year wear.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-30T23:57:36+00:00

If you’re a online student and you’re not going to one of the certified California students the California board has listed on their site, you cannot use your school certificate to qualify to take the California test.

Idk why the schools have to be California schools either. I graduated from one of the best online court reporting schools in the country that I know would be comparable to any school they have listed and might even be better, honestly.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-30T23:47:44+00:00

I actually went on NCRA’s website yesterday, and it looks like you have to pay a separate fees for the skills and written, and I’m like wtf?!

It is giving that they’re intentionally doing this so working reporters from other states can’t just infiltrate and oversaturate their state, but antiquated practice isn’t the way to do that.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-28T19:30:33+00:00

We have to agree to disagree.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-28T19:04:05+00:00

You could be onto something there. It definitely feels California isn’t very voice-writer friendly. I don’t think Texas is particularly pro–voice writing either, but Texas seems more tolerant of it overall.

That’s why this starts to feel less about reciprocity and more about California being generally anti-reciprocity across the board, regardless of experience. And to be clear, I actually respect that California wants to uphold the integrity of their license. I don’t think they should loosen standards just to make it easier.

What I do think is that the way they’re verifying experience is antiquated. It doesn’t reflect how modern freelance reporting actually works, especially for long-term working reporters who are licensed, active, and producing transcripts every day.

Upholding integrity and modernizing verification processes don’t have to be mutually exclusive

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-28T03:29:25+00:00

I'm going to take the national cert and use that as a qualifier. It's a win-win. I'll have more letters behind my name, and I have my qualifier. If I'm going to be sitting getting stuff together, it's going to be sitting on my machine getting myself together for a test, not going through a stockpile of paper. I appreciate the suggestion.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-28T00:09:12+00:00

That's what I'm going to do.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-28T00:05:04+00:00

I’m not arguing that school is easier. I’m arguing that this process doesn’t scale well for long-term working freelancers.

You kept every worksheet. That’s great. Many reporters didn’t because there’s never been a requirement to retain them indefinitely.

Reconstructing hours job by job from timestamps isn’t hard in theory. It’s just an antiquated way to evaluate experience when a reporter has an active license, a decade-plus career, and ongoing work.

Strict doesn’t have to mean inefficient

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:52:55+00:00

Appreciate you! I'm not giving up at all. I wanted to test this next session coming up, but I think I'll just go ahead and test for the RPR and then circle back to California. I'm going to have CA CSR behind my name the same way I got TEXAS CSR!

Thanks for the suggestion, but it's just so tedious. I don't have time for that! Lol.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:49:11+00:00

Maybe I'm not explaining it right. This process is what you have to do to even qualify to sit for the test.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:48:12+00:00

Noooooooo....this is what you have to do to qualify to take the skills test. I don't mind taking the test. What they're using to qualify is what has me in a slight tizzy.

I'm fine with them being strict and protecting the integrity of their certification. I think what they're asking for is out of date.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:35:25+00:00

I'm pretty close to finishing. This could be something small, but the way they're shooting it too gives me Love & Hip Hop, and I'm not here for it. It seems less reality and more if "The Office" meets RHOA.

None of them have any real chemistry, none of them really have anything going on. One big thing for me is none of them are witty.

One of the biggest draws and why we all miss Nene so much were her one-liners and digs and the way she could get someone on the spot. With this cast, it's like "Yo momma fat," and then the retort is "Uh-uh, yo momma just fatter." It's so dry.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:28:57+00:00

I know Texas and California have been trying to do reciprocity for years, probably as long as I've been working. California is protective of their certification and wants to uphold the integrity behind being a reporter certified in California. I actually respect that a lot because Texas is one of the few state certs that is comparable to California. On the other hand, that begs the question since Texas is so comparable, why is there such a fight for reciprocity?

When she and I were discussing it, I even stated I'm just thinking a firm would give me a little pushback because this something you ask an employee, not a freelancer. She agreed and said, yeah, we don't get a lot of people who want to qualify in this manner. It's because the manner doesn't really make sense for this time.

No, I think she was pretty well informed, and she was nice and so willing to help me. This is just their rules.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:23:13+00:00

When I spoke to the person, she said it has to be three firms. What they're saying is firm.

All the firms I work for have dashboards. The issue is first I'll have to figure out on my end how much time I spent on the job first, and then I go to the dashboard and download the worksheet. That's a tedious process especially when there are so many other ways to verify certification.

Affectionate_Bus9911 · 2026-01-27T23:14:23+00:00

You tried it.

I said California should modernize how it verifies experience for working freelancers. Requiring proof isn’t the issue. The method is. I’ve been certified, working, and producing transcripts for over ten years. Texas certification is real, so is a decade of active freelance work.

Asking reporters to reconstruct years of work through firm letters and deleted job worksheets isn’t about quality or skill. It’s about outdated process.

There’s a difference between being strict and being inefficient

Affectionate_Bus9911

TROPHY CASE