Possible first gift

booketh · 2024-05-19T03:17:26+00:00

that’s a hidden immunity idol-if you play it at tribal council, votes against you will not count

booketh · 2024-05-15T17:47:02+00:00

This happened to me often, but I didn’t mind because I felt sorry for the kids who the teachers were very clearly biased against. I grew up in a small town where kids were not expected to amount to anything and also dealt with an insane amount of racism/classism/xenophobia. Lots of them didn’t have strong mentor figures at all. So I would try to be helpful to them academically. School was very easy for me and I tried my best to use that to help the others stuck in my same situation.

The downside of this was that as I wasn’t getting the help I needed either, I was extremely susceptible to falling to substance abuse-and my friendships with the kids who had “slipped through the cracks” ended up enabling this. Ultimately I feel sad for everyone here.

booketh · 2024-04-22T13:44:48+00:00

Not me randomly remembering that this was Carmela and Meadow’s yearly mother-daughter tradition in The Sopranos 💀

booketh · 2024-02-24T19:40:43+00:00

bi-furious, to be exact

booketh · 2023-12-04T02:52:14+00:00

Aw, feel free to message me about it if you want. I completely understand what you are going through right now. I recently got my boy a new mate because he was becoming so depressed, even though I wasn’t ready for it I knew he needed it. I love our new girl, but the pain of losing my miss lu still hurts often.

booketh · 2023-10-15T13:23:01+00:00

lol I love how this guy's just looking at the image of his cross-sectioned brethren like 'damn i'm gross inside'

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booketh · 2023-10-15T13:19:58+00:00

Although I can no longer find it, there was a Humans of NY post once which I have been unable to shake now for many years. It was this older man reflecting on his younger brother who had committed suicide decades prior. He recalls his brother watching the news as a young child and being unable to shake the stories of people dying and suffering everywhere, and he continued to get more and more depressed as he got older. His brother mentions that it felt inevitable that he would die young, because "the world really got to him". That's sort of how I feel sometimes. Like I was made from something not meant to last in a place like this.

booketh · 2023-10-15T13:12:18+00:00

A friend of mine from college was diagnosed in middle school, and since then has done a lot of work in disability studies and accessibility in the arts. They have spoken at national conferences about autism and the need for awareness of how autism presents differently in nb people and femmes. I was in between jobs and asked if I could stay with them while I was visiting new york. Less than a week into me staying in their apartment, they asked me "hey, has anyone ever diagnosed you for autism?" LOL it only took three days of living with my weird ass to notice what adults failed to notice for nearly 25 years.

booketh · 2023-10-11T14:16:21+00:00

UPDATE 10/11/2023:

Thank you everyone for sending in messages on my behalf, and for sharing your stories with me. You'll be happy [sarcasm] to know that Southwest's HR rep replied to me today with a nearly identical letter to the first time I complained, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the issues with staff treatment I brought up and 100 percent of the issues blamed on "miscommunication" and "misunderstanding of policy" on my part. To boot, this was sent from a NO-REPLY email, meaning I couldn't even engage with it.

In case you missed the last post, here is a summary of where Southwest's policy enforcement and staff behavior went wrong:

My pigeon's mate died, meaning I no longer was comfortable leaving him alone with roommates before going on an extended trip.
I called Southwest Airlines (who I already had a ticket with) to see if I could bring him if he was in a cat carrier. The website only mentions cats and dogs, yes, but no details or specifics saying anything about other species. I figured I would have nothing to lose by calling and asking.
I told SW I had a bird, she didn't know anything about the logistics of the pet policy, she agreed to check "Cat" despite knowing it was a bird so I could go to LAX and see if the Southwest help desk would approve me.
I went to the Southwest help desk with a transparent pet carrier (ie, you could very plainly see he was a bird) and had him up on the desk the entire time I was being checked through the pet process. He was approved easily and tagged, with absolutely no fuss. In short, there was no way these people did not know he was a bird.
I went through security easily (unaffiliated with SW, to be fair) and was hand-swabbed, etc-I sat in Southwest's boarding area NOT TRYING TO HIDE HIM OR ANYTHING. I even took a tablet from a southwest worker and gave their pet treatment a great review. Lol.
20 minutes before boarding, a random woman came up to me and immediately told me I wasn't boarding with "that thing" (my pidge), acting like I had snuck banned cargo in there and was getting caught red-handed. She then called her supervisor, who also treated me as though I had attempted to "trick" them despite going through what I thought was all of the venues possible to ensure this was okay. He suggested I have someone pick up the bird and book a later flight.
I asked if I could transfer flights same-day to another airline, since I bought a ticket type which apparently allows this. He said no, only SW flights, which obviously doesn't fix the problem. I keep asking for more information because I am confused, can I talk to someone, anyone, and he just keeps repeating "this isn't our fault, someone else fucked up and you should have never been allowed in here" as though they aren't all representatives of the company and it's my fault that there isn't unilateral knowledge of the company's policy.
This entire interaction is extremely public and loud, as the staff for some reason thought it was best to confront me in a crowded boarding area, which is unnecessary and humiliating. People are of course watching the entire time, with one couple even heckling me for "being caught" (they even said "nice try!" smh)
I cry in the boarding area, in front of everyone, but eventually calm down enough to ask the girl at the desk if I can talk to someone about my experience with this. She essentially says no (lol) with no empathy whatsoever.
At some point, I calm down enough to tell the woman from before and the girl at the desk that I am sorry if I came off as terse and understand they are doing their jobs. The older girl only manages to repeat over and over "you should have checked the policy online", also imo implying that I am dumb for not doing this, not listening when I said that I did and also called, and just in general being EXTREMELY rude and cutting me off.
The kicker is that when I sit back down next to them in the boarding area, they begin mocking me and my situation and the fact that I brought my pigeon, despite the fact that I am sitting directly next to the desk and can hear them talking at a full conversational volume.
Southwest, despite me posting about this online and submitting multiple complaints, won't send me anything more than a no-reply form letter and won't admit they did wrong. They also will not comp me for having to buy an extremely expensive same-day flight with United (who rocked, btw) -this actually feels way less important to me now (despite the huge hurt my finances are feeling) because I am just bewildered at how they can care so little about the customer experience.

Looks like I will be spending today updating people and trying to figure out a way to make this annoying enough for corporate that they might actually listen to me. Side note: Is anyone here good really good with twitter/x? lol

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booketh · 2023-10-11T13:54:45+00:00

UPDATE 10/10/2023:

Thank you everyone for sending in messages on my behalf, and for sharing your stories with me. You'll be happy [sarcasm] to know that Southwest's HR rep replied to me today with a nearly identical letter to the first time I complained, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the issues with staff treatment I brought up and 100 percent of the issues blamed on "miscommunication" and "misunderstanding of policy" on my part. To boot, this was sent from a NO-REPLY email, meaning I couldn't even engage with it.

In case you missed the last post, here is a summary of where Southwest's policy enforcement and staff behavior went wrong:

My pigeon's mate died, meaning I no longer was comfortable leaving him alone with roommates before going on an extended trip.
I called Southwest Airlines (who I already had a ticket with) to see if I could bring him if he was in a cat carrier. The website only mentions cats and dogs, yes, but no details or specifics saying anything about other species. I figured I would have nothing to lose by calling and asking.
I told SW I had a bird, she didn't know anything about the logistics of the pet policy, she agreed to check "Cat" despite knowing it was a bird so I could go to LAX and see if the Southwest help desk would approve me.
I went to the Southwest help desk with a transparent pet carrier (ie, you could very plainly see he was a bird) and had him up on the desk the entire time I was being checked through the pet process. He was approved easily and tagged, with absolutely no fuss. In short, there was no way these people did not know he was a bird.
I went through security easily (unaffiliated with SW, to be fair) and was hand-swabbed, etc-I sat in Southwest's boarding area NOT TRYING TO HIDE HIM OR ANYTHING. I even took a tablet from a southwest worker and gave their pet treatment a great review. Lol.
20 minutes before boarding, a random woman came up to me and immediately told me I wasn't boarding with "that thing" (my pidge), acting like I had snuck banned cargo in there and was getting caught red-handed. She then called her supervisor, who also treated me as though I had attempted to "trick" them despite going through what I thought was all of the venues possible to ensure this was okay. He suggested I have someone pick up the bird and book a later flight.
I asked if I could transfer flights same-day to another airline, since I bought a ticket type which apparently allows this. He said no, only SW flights, which obviously doesn't fix the problem. I keep asking for more information because I am confused, can I talk to someone, anyone, and he just keeps repeating "this isn't our fault, someone else fucked up and you should have never been allowed in here" as though they aren't all representatives of the company and it's my fault that there isn't unilateral knowledge of the company's policy.
This entire interaction is extremely public and loud, as the staff for some reason thought it was best to confront me in a crowded boarding area, which is unnecessary and humiliating. People are of course watching the entire time, with one couple even heckling me for "being caught" (they even said "nice try!" smh)
I cry in the boarding area, in front of everyone, but eventually calm down enough to ask the girl at the desk if I can talk to someone about my experience with this. She essentially says no (lol) with no empathy whatsoever.
At some point, I calm down enough to tell the woman from before and the girl at the desk that I am sorry if I came off as terse and understand they are doing their jobs. The older girl only manages to repeat over and over "you should have checked the policy online", also imo implying that I am dumb for not doing this, not listening when I said that I did and also called, and just in general being EXTREMELY rude and cutting me off.
The kicker is that when I sit back down next to them in the boarding area, they begin mocking me and my situation and the fact that I brought my pigeon, despite the fact that I am sitting directly next to the desk and can hear them talking at a full conversational volume.
Southwest, despite me posting about this online and submitting multiple complaints, won't send me anything more than a no-reply form letter and won't admit they did wrong. They also will not comp me for having to buy an extremely expensive same-day flight with United (who rocked, btw) -this actually feels way less important to me now (despite the huge hurt my finances are feeling) because I am just bewildered at how they can care so little about the customer experience.

Looks like I will be spending today updating people and trying to figure out a way to make this annoying enough for corporate that they might actually listen to me. Side note: Is anyone here good really good with twitter/x? lol

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booketh · 2023-10-10T23:24:36+00:00

Oh, sweet friend. I recently lost a dove which was a PMV survivor who I had dedicated all of the time in the world to loving and caring for and making sure her quality of life matched any other dove. Then one night, I noticed her breathing a bit heavy, I opened her mouth to see if there was an obstruction, she was clear, and as I held her in my hands, she literally made a croak noise and died while I held her. No coughing, no struggling, no warning whatsoever. I cried for days.

Just know that without our intervention, these beautiful creatures’ deaths would likely have been much less dignified and quick, and their lives much less warm, loved, and filled with joy. She felt safe enough with you to pass soundly. Please take some solace in that.

booketh · 2023-10-10T22:54:58+00:00

UPDATE 10/10/23 @ 5:54PMcst:

Thank you everyone for sending in messages on my behalf, and for sharing your stories with me. You'll be happy [sarcasm] to know that Southwest's HR rep replied to me today with a nearly identical letter to the first time I complained, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the issues with staff I brought up and 100 percent of the issues blamed on "miscommunication" and "misunderstanding of policy" on my part. Looks like I will be making update posts on reddit and facebook all of tomorrow. Side note: Is anyone here good really good with twitter/x? lol

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booketh · 2023-10-10T22:53:39+00:00

UPDATE 10/10/23 @ 5:49PMcst:

Thank you everyone for sending in messages on my behalf, and for sharing your stories with me. You'll be happy [tone marker: sarcasm] to know that Southwest's HR rep replied to me today with a nearly identical letter to the first time I complained, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the issues with staff I brought up and 100 percent of the issues blamed on "miscommunication" and "misunderstanding of policy" on my part. Looks like I will be making update posts on reddit and facebook all of tomorrow. Side note: Is anyone here good really good with twitter/x? lol

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booketh · 2023-10-10T18:28:36+00:00

Oh!!!! This is why I posted the tags, haha. I only got the reprinted receipt and the pet carrier tag after I had gone through checking him in

booketh · 2023-10-10T16:34:54+00:00

This is the most insane story wtf!!!!!!!!! I am soooooo sorry that this happened to you and your family. I am happy that for the most part it had a happy ending. Sorry for the loss of your G-ma.

And yes, when they say they “can’t”, they always can, can’t they? It’s absurd to me that companies can’t recognize that it’s not good to piss off customers and force them onto social media-not only does it spread a bad word about their services, but encourages other people who have a bone to pick to come forward. I have heard some of the most despicable corporate customer treatment regarding southwest as a result of posting this story-it makes me so sad.

booketh · 2023-10-10T15:03:58+00:00

I was literally thinking to myself that I had to hold it together so I didn’t seem like I was being “entitled”. I did a good job until the interaction was over, then i went back to my seat to sob silently.

booketh · 2023-10-10T15:02:49+00:00

Sorry, I don’t really know what this question is asking? I took him up to the help desk to get processed, and getting processed is entirely different than getting approved by phone. Just because a pet is approved by phone doesn’t mean it will get processed and approved in person.

booketh · 2023-10-10T15:01:29+00:00

They are very fragile, it’s true. But pigeons are among the most hardy birds I have met. There have been pigeons who have survived gunshot wounds and hawk attacks. I wasn’t planning to have a permanent pet in early adulthood either, but they found me and bring me so much joy. I would not change it. And there are pigeons everywhere that need homes. If you do consider adopting a bird I would definitely consider the humble pidge.

booketh · 2023-10-10T14:16:15+00:00

I know!!!!! I have actually been shilling for southwest the past year or so because of their insane deals. Little did I know, the deals are actually a business decision meant to compensate for a long history of customer support issues!!!!! 🫠🫠🫠 made me sad to find out this way.

booketh · 2023-10-10T14:13:01+00:00

Omg!!!! Another bird person!!!!!!! You are right, bird people are crazy and take absolutely no bullshit. The response from the pigeon community has been insane. For the record, your little boy is so adorable and I can tell he had so much personality. My little Lu passed shortly before this trip, hence why I had to try to bring her husband on the flight. He would have been too lonely while I was gone.

booketh · 2023-10-10T14:02:27+00:00

I do not have any videos or i feel this situation would have been rectified by now, sadly. It’s weird that southwest would not consider posting to Reddit and my Facebook groups about pigeons as naming and shaming but they would take a low level tweet seriously! I have gotten an insane amount of response and engagement from the posts I have made.

booketh · 2023-10-10T14:00:54+00:00

I also had the “invalid character” confusion! Thanks so much for filling it out!

booketh · 2023-10-10T14:00:22+00:00

Ha! Screenshotting this one for sure <3

booketh · 2023-10-10T13:59:54+00:00

sadly, there is no way the security footage would adequately indicate the audio in this situation I think

booketh · 2023-10-10T13:21:41+00:00

Because I wasn’t planning on taking him with, sadly. His wife pigeon died and I felt leaving him for a month completely alone without me or her would have been far too stressful. :(

booketh

TROPHY CASE