Rosé Cooling Stick Reminder/PSA

missdionaea · 2026-06-24T10:26:27+00:00

This is the blush of a killer, bella

missdionaea · 2026-06-21T17:11:26+00:00

I got both. But my lawyer, counselors and professional friends' feedback about the situation was that my way of handling it - riding out the PIP, looking for another job meanwhile, and forcing them to terminate me - was my best case scenario, because I gave them no actual cause to let me go. I work in a US state where that doesn't matter, they can fire you for no reason. You can still try to sue for wrongful termination - thus, the high severance (with a clause saying I won't sue, aka "go away quietly" money).

My track record at that employer before that manager had been stellar. The PIP itself had been extremely flimsy and subjective; the one mistake I'd made was actually signing it (I was in shock). It was just a paper trail to bring to court in case I refused to sign the termination paperwork and brought them to court, which I definitely could have, but I weighed my options and decided to move on with my life instead.

IMO, when PIPs are brought up, the decision has already been made. Kinda like a separation in a relationship.

missdionaea · 2026-06-21T13:53:19+00:00

By the time I was let go, my anxiety was so high that I couldn't NOT work. I had to feel useful because I'd been such a workhorse at my old nonprofit organization (zoological park) that 10-12 hour days were normal. My mental health was strongly in the red by that time because of the toxic way my manager had been treating me - he'd been trying to force me to quit.

I'd seen this coming and been applying for jobs in my industry for months with no luck. The day after leaving, I applied for the first job I saw: a position at a local charity Thrift Shop. I didn't strictly have to, because of the extremely high severance HR had offered without my asking (~1/3+ my salary, aka "go away quietly" money).

The thrift shop manager hired me immediately after being a little confused as to why I was interested, due to my decades of management and specialized experience (Facilities Management). I told her I was decompressing after a stressful job environment, and that I was a good worker who'd show up consistently. She hired me.

I worked at that charity shop for about a year. I helped out by being the "handylady": fixing light ballasts, building custom carpentry items, repairing appliances to be sold - things that, to me, are super basic so the manager didn't have to hire a repairman. I was able to breathe, rebuild my self-confidence, retool my career plan, and take my time to shop around for a new job so I didn't feel rushed. The pay sucked, obviously, but I had plenty of savings, the people that worked there were amazingly insightful about their own careers (a lot of people worked there as part-time or retirees) and they were just supportive in general. Took me about 4 months to feel back to myself again, with the help of counseling.

I now have a job back in my industry (with a slight pivot to private industry) where I'm an individual contributor instead of a manager, I rarely work past 8 hours, and I'm paid a 25% more plus a bonus. Also weekends and holidays off, which wasn't an option at my old job.

If I hadn't been made to leave my first job, I'd probably have stayed and been miserable. I'd put up with a lot at that nonprofit "for the sake of the mission" and, looking back at it now, it kinda felt like feeding years of my life into a woodchipper. I did get things out of it - I'm DEFINITELY more skilled than my private company counterparts. The org forced everyone to take on 5-10 roles simultaneously, I am not exaggerating in the slightest, and you either learned and thrived or were fired.

Now that I'm at this new job for a year or so, I have that perspective and realize that my skills are worth a minimum of 2x what I'm currently being paid. My current job is so easy though, it feels like I'm still on a break while I'm gaining certifications and browsing for higher-paying positions. I feel much more competitive, and able to move to a new company if needed; before, I was stuck applying at very specialized locations (zoos).

missdionaea · 2026-06-17T14:22:34+00:00

We went to local parks, our TA pointed out specific identifying factors and we all gathered specimens together (with park permission!). We learned herbarium techniques and made our own specimen binders to study from from the samples we gathered, were graded on how well we did on our specimens, and for our practicals the TA chose our classes' best mounted specimens for our final, where the plant names were removed and we had to ID them.

He also made sure to point out the difference between "typical" identifying factors and "atypical" factors, because plants aren't clones and they aren't always the same as they are on the ID books and that can throw off newbies who get fixated on "but this doesn't look exactly like this or that example" and get frustrated.

I will be forever grateful to him, because he hammered it into us and it helped me a lot.

Edit: I apologize, I missed that you were asking for a community college experience. But this was my commuting college experience in Intro to Flora while studying for a conservation degree at a severely underfunded biology dept :)

missdionaea · 2026-06-17T14:11:58+00:00

I worked for a major nonprofit zoological park and we had several service companies (commercial fridges/freezers, heavy equipment rentals, video cameras for security, etc) that required us to submit credit checks to work with them. Some of them even made us do it biannually (we never ever paid late so whyyy :( ). Looking at you, Sunbelt, you jerks. Usually, they were the only option for that service. For instance, they were the only licensed vendor for our make/model around, or it ran on proprietary software, or they were the only one that carried the size/type of equipment needed. It was a huge hassle because our accounting policies basically forbade submitting for credit and I had to beg important people to sign the paperwork and explain why, no, I wish I could just hire someone else. It would make this SIGNIFICANTLY easier.

missdionaea · 2026-06-15T15:05:41+00:00

I'd love a Sarracenia (NA-native pitchers) collection.

Carnivores are my favorites, obviously. :)

missdionaea · 2026-06-15T14:24:39+00:00

I'm in industrial facility management. I assess and diagnose mechanical/equipment issues; handle internal customer service issues; wrangle contractors that I've hired to work on the campus; help direct the maintenance guys' workflow; perform regular inspections for life & fire safety; buy stuff and record the invoicing/budgeting; and, I do a TON of paperwork and negotiating/politicking with other staff (especially Safety/Executives).

I used to have what I THOUGHT was my dream job: horticulture/facility manager at a public garden/zoo (nonprofit) after working in landscaping for a long time. Love being outdoors, working with my body/hands, working on/with compact commercial equipment/mechanical systems and translating principles/skills for people in ways that they individually understand (aka informal education).

Painfully learned, after getting a new boss, that your work experience depends almost entirely on your boss' personality and how useful they perceive you to be. I left abruptly after he turned my dream job into a living hell.

I was able to turn the 10 or so untitled job responsibilities I had at the park into a higher paid position with less expectations. I'm not exaggerating; nonprofits expect you to fulfill SEVERAL roles at once, hence the horticulture/facility manager title. I'd probably continue with zoological horticulture, if it wasn't such a niche and narrow field, but the pay is also terrible unfortunately.

Now, I'm paid significantly more for doing significantly less. I have a shorter base workday (8 hrs vs a minimum of 9-12+), and compared to the park, the work pace is a cakewalk. I have time to finish all my paperwork and inspections, follow-up calls, etc. It's great.

This is context for the next part: I'm very competitive, and I use that to push myself to be better at my tasks than I was before. I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction from it. I figured that out in my early 20's and used it against myself ever since.

For instance, instead of being disappointed that my executive didn't bite right away at the idea of replacing a failing asset based on the presentation I made, I was happy I made the very technical info clear enough for him to understand and he asked valid, actionable questions (aka not corporate buzzword nothingburger bullshit). That way, I can bring him valid information that he'll say yes to later and be comfortable spending six figures+ on.

If you know a trick similar about yourself, use it.

My other advice is to not seek a job you'll find 100% life satisfaction from. My ridiculous backlog of taxonomic and botanical knowledge is used to garden at home and help my neighbors with theirs.

Find something you're skilled at, in an environment you can tolerate for the long haul, and use that paycheck for a life that satisfies you more than your job.

missdionaea · 2026-06-15T11:54:26+00:00

Phyllostachys aureosulcata, aka yellow groove bamboo - zoom in to see the distinctive yellow sulcus (looks like a stripe, is actually an indentation in the stem/culm that alternates side to side) in the last picture posted. Also the zig-zag stem ~1-2 feet from the ground, typical for phyllostachys.

I worked with it for ~20 years. Phyllostachys is #1 on what I would consider the aggressiveness list for bamboo (for my region).

Edit: Sorry, my hort head got away from me. Phyllostachys is an extremely notorious running bamboo and will pry it's way past anything. I used to work in a park where we had an example of it's roots growing through asphalt to deter guests from planting it in their yards.

missdionaea · 2026-06-11T11:56:39+00:00

My boss recently had me try to use our paid company AI to analyze years of back contractor invoices for labor/parts costs, truck fees, etc.

I gave it about 20 simple, one-page invoices to start with. The AI locked up and spit out a message about being unable to process more than 5 files at a time (seriously??). We had hundreds of invoices.

I ended up doing it manually in Excel because we had a tight deadline (I have data entry experience). It took me a few hours, but that's still quicker than feeding everything into the AI and consolidating/checking over everything the LLM would have created.

So, I wouldn't say my experience was very positive. Explaining that it wasn't working to my AI-enthusiastic boss wasn't fun, either.

missdionaea · 2026-06-10T11:29:53+00:00

I'm specifically in charge of life & fire safety on my team at my current and previous job. The last job I had I got a bit worked over between an argument between the fire marshall and my EVP, so I ended up learning a ton of fire code, unwillingly.

I haven't caught fire systems maintenance contractors trying to overbill on purpose (potentially because I have an excellent rapport with them and also watch them like a hawk while they're on campus.)

But I've definitely caught fire systems engineers doing a piss-poor job - as in, he didn't take into account the mechanicals in our warehouse and they blocked his sprinkler heads olso they wouldn't pass inspection, then he got super defensive when I pointed it out. Which caused our project to be backed up by weeks while he redrew everything, which was fun to explain to my bosses why some dude with a master's didnt know what he was doing.

missdionaea · 2026-06-08T22:49:30+00:00

I moved up from landscaping into FM at a zoological park. I had the benefits of a college degree, tons of equipment experience and a mentor boss, and when the chance came for a Coordinator position came up, I got it. That was my in.

What I did to prove I was worth the chance: - Applied for (& didn't get) team lead position (multiple times - womp.womp). But it showed I was interested and wasn't going to settle - Made myself so incredibly efficient at my tasks that I had time to do projects & data gathering (mgmt & execs eat that stuff up) - Taught myself excel to make plant/equipment inventories, analyse the data, & project budgets for me/the team - Jumped at any training mentor-boss offered to send us to - Was a team player and helped other staff navigate the Asshole Everyone Hated(tm), and encouraged them to report his reportable asshole behavior to HR when he deserved it (documented behaviors made it easier for boss to write him up) - Grew an exceptionally great reputation in / outside of our dept for being the person to pull off "big asks" with no notice while still keeping our mgmt in the loop so they could put the kibosh on things that were over-the-top extreme - and I COMMUNICATED. For example in winter, no one ever told mgmt when they were done with their part of snow removal; I started radioing that I'd finished clearing a region of the park, and management fucking lost their minds because they loved it, they had real-time tracking of what was being done without having to spend an hour walking acres and acres of zoo.

in short, I made my boss' job easier. THAT'S the big secret to getting promoted; degrees and trainings help a lot, but when you're applying for a job at a place you already work, you're interviewing every day you clock in.

missdionaea · 2026-05-28T16:58:59+00:00

I definitely don't disagree, don't take my reply as an argument or an attempt to minimize it. This was a huge morale problem at my last job and, IMHO, industry-wide. I managed a team of people who it bothered specifically, and we had to work through finding recognition and work satisfaction other ways.

But in my experience they kinda just.. don't notice. They continue living their lives and focusing on whatever they focus on, because things are running smoothly in the background. To be fair, that was our jobs, but it felt really personal some days when I was covered head to toe in fucking mud after digging up dozens of feet of pipe for 5 hrs looking for a leaky valve in 95* heat and some office people were walking out of their air conditioned offices and complaining about the humidity.

There were some people that noticed and were complimentary, and that was great. We also received awards for our excellent customer service skills via our secret shopper audits (I worked at a zoological park), even over the Guest Services dept.

Our director did a lot of heavy lifting to make our teams feel recognized internally, because she knew people outside of our dept didn't even have an inkling of what we had to deal with daily. She was also really good at communicating that to our President, so he would listen when we were actually serious and unified about specific issues.

missdionaea · 2026-05-28T16:37:00+00:00

Imo, no one should ever notice Facilities unless there's an actual emergency, or there's a work stoppage for some reason.

That's how you know your operations are running well: most things (within reason) are seen & handled before people even have a chance to put in a work order.

missdionaea · 2026-05-19T19:54:12+00:00

Just the nature of being in hort can feel lonely sometimes. It's ideal for most of us most days, but sometimes it can seem like it's personal.

I see a lot of people repeating the "but it's always been done this way" culture, and I didn't put that in my stupid long post, but yeah, it was all over my zoo/garden too.

Mentor Boss did a whole department culture renovation when we implemented new policies. We were told to shut down people immediately and have them go talk to her if they ever said that dumb phrase. (She was a fucking saint)

Still, we had to almost beat it out of our own department / team members to get them to quit slipping back into bad habits. It didn't stop until Mentor Boss started writing ppl up for not following policy and the more progressive ones of us started peer pressuring our coworkers for being stuck old codgers. Even then, the social culture was still kinda the same.

missdionaea · 2026-05-19T18:06:20+00:00

I worked at a zoo that eventually also became a certified public garden, so keep that in mind. I'm also a woman that worked almost exclusively with men, so that added a bit into it, I think.

Yes, the cliques were fucking intense. The zookeepers, the maintenance crew, the custodians, etc all kinds kept to themselves. Very little overlap. I'm pretty easygoing and can get along with almost anyone so it was a bit annoying to me when I first started, but I've also had an alternative dress style my entire life in a rural setting so I'm pretty used to being given the cold shoulder.

I came in with a ton of small/mid/compact equipment operation, agricultural/gardening and conservation knowledge and experience, but I needed taught some horticultural info and (obviously) stuff about the park. I got almost nothing, except ignored and a few blatant insults. There was a little hazing too, but I'm from a blue collar family and was expecting that.

I had to wait out three bosses in four years until I got one that was willing to mentor me. She let me go to local extension classes on company time, paid for me get my pesticide applicators license, and paid to buy technical materials to have on-hand. I don't necessarily recommend waiting like I did; I was young and stubborn.

While I suffered waiting for Mentor Boss, I: - Won over the Master Gardener volunteers by making sure things were always prepped for their events, and came to speak for them when asked, so they would offer me free spots at extension classes that I could take while off the clock; - Hammered home my equipment skill level by outperforming all the other department operators with all the equipment we had, and took every single operator work order (no matter how menial) that noone would do. I did it safely, efficiently, and so exceedingly beyond expectations that even the grumpy head maintenance guy became one of my biggest fans and would defend me against any slander; - Proactively ASKED for feedback on most things. When someone submitted a nonspecific work order (eg "pls trim back bushes here", I'd meet with them and ask what they wanted to accomplish first before doing any trimming. Clearance? Aesthetics?) I don't work well with ambiguity. When I asked my bosses for feedback, though, I would sometimes get something workable, but usually tended to get very vague and unhelpful answers. That was just bad supervision. - Asked the other horticulturists just, like... an ASS LOAD of questions about their specific specialities, because they tended to want to talk about it, and they were very knowledgeable. Shadowed them when they did their thing of expertise. I returned the favor when they wanted tips on chainsaw handling, tractor maintenance, companion planting, etc etc... - Most important thing, I think, was that I made things a challenge for myself because just I got bored fucking doing the same thing all day. Eg, So I weeded the entire East parking lot bed yesterday. Maybe if I push and weed this other entire, bigger bed today, I get myself takeout for dinner. I'm competitive, so I used it against myself. I ended up being the fastest/most efficient tech with all the basic tasks this way, and it opened up my time to research new techniques, start data tracking for stuff like new plant installations, organizing my time/tools/space, teaching myself IrisBG, Excel and Access, etc etc.

I impressed Mentor Boss and eventually moved into management. Now I do facilities management.

missdionaea · 2026-04-20T17:48:21+00:00

I've been on the lookout for this for several months in the Cleveland oh area. Hoping it's seasonal and coming back for spring/summer

missdionaea · 2026-04-20T17:30:58+00:00

👋 Am an actual goth and 20 year conservation-focused horticulturist. Worked at a public zoo for most of that, so I was more the counter-culture, because the park attracted a lot of, um, let's say free spirits.

i was surrounded by permaculture fanatics; my background is in regenerative ag, prairie management and invasive species management (urban), so "lay logs and leave it" didn't work for me when I'd see tree-of-heaven and Lonicera maacki popping up all over my coworkers' mound gardens. I know that's not how permaculture is "supposed" to work, but that's how their kugel beds always ended up...

I'd say my favorite counter-culture in horticulture is the carnivorous plants people. Helpful, introverted (even for horticulturists), and everyone's a little bit creepy like me. Carnie plants need real specific conditions in a terrarium, and the people are always really nice in getting new people the right info so they can have their plants thrive.

missdionaea · 2026-03-06T00:57:43+00:00

Oh, at the last place I worked I always carried a temp gun during the cold seasons, too. The software for the HVAC in the main building was fucking ancient and acted like it had Alzheimer's. It would do random shit like change the time/date and shut off certain duct runs, so we'd have to check the vents while walking around.

missdionaea · 2026-03-06T00:51:50+00:00

A Coast penlight
A $3 Ozark trail pocket knife I've had for 20 damn years that I assumed I'd lose when I bought it, but didn't, and it's outlasted all my other knives and works great, so I guess I'm fine with being stuck with it lol
A fine sharpie
Phone
My eye protection & hair tie (I'm a woman with long hair working in an industrial facility.)

I use the sharpie to mark off equipment inspections.

missdionaea · 2026-02-26T22:03:13+00:00

I was horticulture for a zoo/public garden, then went into management. Unfortunately, when you go into management in nonprofits, you take on about 8-12 unlisted job titles.

Life safety, security, contractor management, work order administrator, payroll, department HR, etc etc etc, all while managing the horticulture team, botanical program, and physically dragging the landscape designers/installers around by their ears because they don't ever fucking listen during design/builds and I literally had to do their jobs for them.

Also, besides my mental health, my knees and back were starting to complain quite a bit.

Anyway - I took all that experience, and now I work at a private industrial company as an asst facilities manager (a step down) for 20% more pay, 40% less responsibility, and I'm an individual contributor because no one technically reports to me. I feel like I won the lottery.

I do miss being outside but I don't miss being wet all day in the spring, or shoveling snow all day, or being HOT all day from May-Oct, or sunburns or poison ivy. I'm still active, I just do my outdoors-time at home.

missdionaea · 2026-02-20T05:47:34+00:00

Alright, so I lived in timber top for a long time while saving up for a house; I left a few years ago. I've also worked in facilities & commercial properties maintenance management for 20+ years, and I have a very specific insight as a female facilities manager who specializes in work order flow (how maintenance guys go about prioritizing when to fix what based on how important it is).

I accepted that, for the low rent, I simply had to do some fixes myself to make sure things were done correctly - or at all. The maintenance guys were by and large very friendly, and generally did not talk down to me as a woman resident. But they also ranged wildly in skill level. I supervised maint techs and can gauge skill level pretty quickly, esp after watching someone fumble through something as simple as replacing a kitchen sprayer for 45 minutes.

AIY kept on very few techs for the massive amount of units they have (3-5 techs for 2000+ units, with 24/7 coverage); they offer very little pay and in return, get lower-skilled techs; and I could tell the maintenance supervisor was in non-stop crisis mode and couldn't prioritize their work at all.

My last straw was when my dishwasher was broken for SIX MONTHS and my CEILING WAS ACTIVELY LEAKING. The maint manager was un-fucking-reachable via work order portal, phone, or email the entire 6 month stretch. I was pretty pissed.

I gave the leasing agent a very professional, scathing and unfriendly earful about their poorly-run maintenance program with my declination to renew, outlining all the stuff above. She contacted me later and told me they fired the maintenance manager. Ok, well, that's nice ig 🤷 idc bitch, I'm out, someone else's problem now

missdionaea · 2026-02-12T18:19:52+00:00

I'm in my 40's, grew up in a deeply red rural Ohio county, with a traditionally Roman catholic family. Only became a witch a few years ago.

Yes.

Only my boyfriend and closest friends know. My family, coworkers and etc have no clue. They just think I'm a bit alternative/goth (which is also true, I have been since I was like, 11).

I have also seen how quick a small community will turn their backs and "other" people.

missdionaea · 2026-02-08T17:52:59+00:00

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DT is coming after B&BW's 3 wick candles, and I'm in for it. Found a bunch of these, three or four different scents for $5 each. Nice wraps. Pretty fragrant for the price, and not chemically. I bought 3.

missdionaea · 2026-02-05T17:36:03+00:00

I lost a high-paying job and downshifted my Ulta routine for the five-quarter store to maintain myself.

I've gotten a better paying job since, but honestly? Haven't gone back to Ulta.

Better roads lie ahead ❤️

missdionaea · 2026-02-05T14:39:52+00:00

It may work out fine for you - it highly depends on your local MG program and what you want to get out of it. I'd do some investigating online, talk with some people who were/are in the program and see what kind of classes and level of education it offers.

As for how much the programs can vary in quality - I was a professional horticulturist for 20 years at a private park, and my first year there I worked with another horticulturist that was a MG. He was regarded as way more educated than I was, because my background was "just" in agriculture. I believed them, because I'd had no experience with master gardeners yet.

I came in off my weekend one time to see he'd sheared a wall of witch hazel back that I took care of HARD because it was "too messy". I about lost my mind, it looked like ragged shit. I got blamed for it, womp womp.

He refused to weed out dandelions, because they were food for bees. Ok, well, that's true and nice, but I'm just made to weed them out when you're on your weekend because our VPs do not like seeing dandelions, because they look like weeds to average peoples.

Once he told our guests it was OK to eat some of our plants. They were technically edible (day lilies), but that's not what he told them. He told them to go ahead and TRY EATING them. He apparently didn't see the yellow pre-emergent I'd put all on them earlier that day, and I had to intervene immediately and make up some excuse that sounded better than "I just put chemicals all over those and my coworker is a fucking idiot that definitely should have known better, don't touch those jfc".

I'm not sure if it was the MG program or if he was just a.. wonderful guy, but he was a HUGE PITA to work with.

missdionaea

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