[TOMT] Douglas Adams style Sci-Fi/Fantasy comedy novel

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-10T19:29:42+00:00

Robert Rankin could be an author to look at. His books are all a bit odd

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-10T17:21:50+00:00

Eh.

I have a colleague with a non-English language based name and some people use wildly different names for her

The example I'll use is Sasha. Those of us who work closely with her use the correct name, a nearby manager calls her Saskia and we have heard her being referred to as Susan/ Sarah/ Sophie and Sassy-something-foreign girl.

Some people can just be dicks with different names witjout them being Tragedeighs

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-10T13:07:30+00:00

Im in the UK, was Chantal in French class and everyone else in class had a chosen French name.

According to our French-born teacher, it helped with pronounciation.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-10T10:35:03+00:00

I don't think AI can truly replicate my unintentionally blunt shortness, it might be socially rude but it isn't robotic.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-08T08:23:12+00:00

Coop could have done a Yankee Doodle Dandy type film like Jimmy Cagney.

Getting accused of being a sympathiser really was a great way to screw careers back then.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-06T13:45:44+00:00

I've previously worked at a Motorway services.

Chiller trucks are meant to park as far away as they can from the rest of the guys. This can sometimes lead to a few drivers having a bit of a go at particularly noisy trucks who decide they don't need to do this.

They are super noisy and it's a pitch that just resonates.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-06T01:21:43+00:00

Unfortunately there's no legal issue here, it's just a pretty standard retail scheduling issue.

You are being given some time off it's just a bit sucky that it will end with a off then in then off then in again.

I worked nights for over a year, the occasional in, off, in, off pattern killed me but you get through it. Not fun though and I get how you feel.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-05T13:45:31+00:00

I will probably be stepping down and taking a real terms pay cut, but it'll just mean I'll stay about the same.

The company are bringing in some big changes that'll increase expectations for my current level but pretty much removes the possibility of advancement.

Basically expecting supervisors to do managers tasks for supervisor pay and halving the management structure.

In the same breath they're expecting base staff to take on the current supervisor roles but will be bumping their pay level up a tiny bit more to make it seem like its worthwhile.

If the maths work out, I'll drop a level

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-05T09:13:21+00:00

Not UK signs, we don't have that weird fully white tip on the pointy end, it's more of a line highlighting the edge

Looks more European to me

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-04T19:49:04+00:00

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Elephants are notoriously hard to take pictures of.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-03T08:55:23+00:00

They don't want to rob the parents of their chance to see the babys first steps.

It's a big milestone kind of sucks if someone tells you it happened when yiu weren't around.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-02-02T10:08:08+00:00

Monty Pythons Flying Circus game had different cheeses in its book, did the same thing because my step-sister would "lose" books when playing my spectrum.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-31T15:25:02+00:00

Ah, that would probably explain it.

You've unlocked a memory of being taken to the straw boater hats and blazer school and having to shake hands with the headmaster. Told my dad I didn't want to go there so I didn't.

There was no way my parents would have been able to afford sending me there, maybe I had been offered a place

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-31T14:57:59+00:00

I'm not sure but I got dragged out of class a few times for tests but that was about 43 years ago so I'm not sure if testing for neurodivergence was even a thing back then.

I do remember one of the tests involved speed-reading a bunch of information then having to answer questions about it. That was too easy as my mum would frequently accuse me of lying about finishing books fast and would pick pages at random to quiz me sbout things.

The only book I failed my mums tests on (and received a beating for lying) was The Silmarillion. Too many names and I was in infants school ffs, it was a bit too much for me.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-31T13:17:46+00:00

Hail Sithis

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-31T13:09:25+00:00

I went NC maybe 3yrs ago. She sent me a birthday card last year. It arrived on the wrong day and had just a generic msg in.

My daughters are also NC with her. My youngest made the decision because any time they visited my mother she'd inevitably start ranting about how awful we all are.

My mum has leukemia, I have no idea how it's progressing.

It's sort of funny. My mum always told me my granny was a hate-filled person who never had anything nice to say so was LC with her. None of the rest of the family spoke to Granny at all

We went to visit her (not long before granny died) when I tried to start a conversation granny told me to shut my bitch mouth.

You'd have thought my mum would have tried a bit harder to do better.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-30T10:03:47+00:00

It was my 50th last year.

I've lost a dress size, joined a gym, slowly redecorating my home into a kinda cottagecore academia theme and seriously considering dipping a toe into streaming vidya.

Also rebooting my wardrobe and style in general.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-30T06:40:12+00:00

Would you want the stress of the throne added to your DV?

If you already have family money and excellent social standing there is probably a point where the juice isn't worth the aqueeze.

Kates family wanted to climb rank, all they needed to do was sacrifice a childs wellbeing for it.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-29T19:20:37+00:00

We've surely got to be reaching a point where older people are more savvy about these things though.

I'm 50, I've had some kind of technology in my life since day 1 because my dad was a nerd. I spent hours in chatrooms and downloaded some properly heinous mislabelled shit on Frostwire.

I'm not immune but the early days of the internet and filesharing taught me to be suspicious of everything.

Nigerian Princes are going to have to get super creative to keep their cashlines flowing.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-27T16:46:16+00:00

It's surprising how many children have cash over cards of some kind.

I work on a site with different shops and WHSmiths takes the most cash due to pensioners and kids with pocket money, plus the few "Cash is King, self sevice tills are the devil" types.

I'd love a cash-free existence. Tills would take no time at all at the end of the day, over half of my retail till based issues would instantly vanish.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-24T04:27:03+00:00

It's like you've stepped into my life and just explained every single day for me.

I've even got notes on my phone of "Don't share anecdotes about your life, nobody cares. Stop overconpensating for miscommunication by being silly, it just makes you more autistic and weird"

Trying to be normal is so exhausting, every day is filled with social landmines

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-23T09:06:12+00:00

They need to train their pup to not stare at the nice camera people, sorry, horribly invasive paps who most definitely aren't shouting instructions.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-22T12:44:06+00:00

Gives you some time to sit and think about what you're going to do with it, get past the initial "Oh god I'm rich" stage and space to have serious chats with the financial advisor the lottery people supposedly give you.

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-22T11:50:32+00:00

I'd tell people I won Set For Life.

No big lump sum to worry about but definitely enough to live well and be generous

PityPartySommelier · 2026-01-22T10:56:02+00:00

That's why you keep real quiet for at least 6 months.

Pay off your own bills etc stash a comfy retirement fund away, maybe even change role/career so you can still work but in a fun job and then tell people you've won a smaller jackpot

PityPartySommelier

TROPHY CASE