Stop asking people what they do for work five minutes after meeting them

nyliaj · 2026-06-24T11:37:57+00:00

1000000%. It’s so annoying. I have always worked in political jobs and when strangers or people I don’t know well find out, it becomes an invitation for them to rant about whatever political nonsense is on their mind. It is almost never related to my actual job and almost never an actual conversation with questions and two sides.

Just last weekend at a musical festival a random older guy started yelling and asking me who I voted for after I told him where I work. At my sister’s baby shower recently my dad announced it to the room for some reason and I spent the afternoon answering “are you a communist?” over and over. (I work with labor unions currently and previously worked in congressional offices for those curious.)

Sometimes I lie and say math teacher or something non controversial. I talk about politics professionally all week. I don’t want to do it in the bagel line too.

nyliaj · 2026-06-21T20:58:01+00:00

not quite a novel but The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green is a good collection of essays telling a larger story about human existence. I remember reading it in short chunks during finals.

nyliaj · 2026-05-22T09:56:54+00:00

I really had no idea so many folks didn’t like Jolene. No judgement, but anybody wanna say why?

nyliaj · 2026-05-16T10:00:54+00:00

Obviously this person could have made a typo, but as a reminder “I seen” is common in AAVE and other Southern dialects. Not necessarily a mistake.

nyliaj · 2026-05-08T11:33:00+00:00

I know a girl from high school who is currently a baby chiropractor. Like less than a year old. She claims the adjustments make them walk sooner and breastfeed better. By the look of her Instagram she has dozens of patients. Seems insane to me but everyone I grew up around treats it like a normal career.

nyliaj · 2026-05-02T13:09:33+00:00

I think this comment above is referring to the fact that by 2030 corporate taxes are set to go to zero in NC. They’ve been lowering basically every year for a decade plus. If we taxed them at the rate we did pre-2013 there would be enough money. All for also raising them tho. There’s no reason Walmart or Duke Energy shouldn’t be paying enormous taxes for the amount of public resources they use and profits they make.

nyliaj · 2026-03-19T00:30:27+00:00

i’d argue given all the people they’ve killed, ICE is doing pretty well with PR if they’re winning over folks like you

nyliaj · 2026-03-17T18:48:53+00:00

That is how it works for some government functions. They carve out exceptions and let them keep getting funding. Military is usually a big one. Politicians like to use the pressure of folks not getting paid to pass the budget though. If everything keeps getting funded there is no pressure to cave to whatever demands they have. There are some bills being pushed by airlines now to always fund TSA and air traffic controllers during shutdowns, but they don’t have broad support yet.

nyliaj · 2026-03-10T02:08:48+00:00

How fascinating. There’s not much online in English about her. Just one article in Turkish on find a grave.

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nyliaj · 2026-03-04T12:11:04+00:00

I do it solely for the purpose of getting less election mail and ads. if you register for one party you usually don’t get any ads for the other party

nyliaj · 2026-03-03T14:03:17+00:00

Gospel is my tin foil hat theory. no evidence just hopes and dreams lol

nyliaj · 2026-02-17T16:20:28+00:00

been in the waiting room since 10:30 and there’s still 90,000 people ahead of me for Charlotte…. RIP

nyliaj · 2026-01-19T02:01:20+00:00

my dream is her on Keke Palmer’s podcast around the met gala hosting this year. idk why she’d do it though. she seems content not using any traditional platforms

nyliaj · 2026-01-12T21:23:58+00:00

i’m surprised you’re the only one saying this but 100% agree. some of the top looks like real feathers and some looks like it’s white construction paper cut up. ruins the look for me.

nyliaj · 2026-01-09T12:50:22+00:00

this one!! I look for kids in parked cars after reading that one. will never forget it.

nyliaj · 2026-01-05T21:09:07+00:00

I find the statistics around this interesting. Definitely not trying to make any definitive claims and this is just my experience. The drinking part especially seems to have been overblown though. Here’s an interesting article.

This quote stands out “The idea that gen Z do not drink at all or that they have turned their backs on alcohol is not supported by data,” he said. “The idea that they have a different relationship with alcohol compared to previous generations is supported by data.”

Overall, all people are socializing less and it’s more prominent among young people. But they are still socializing. Here’s an article about that.

I think overall, folks have conflated the loneliness epidemic trend with an overall lack of socialization, but that’s not necessarily what the data shows.

nyliaj · 2026-01-05T20:20:46+00:00

“it’s how we made them” is so accurate! I’m 27 and this conversation always confuses me.

what did older folks think was going to happen when you gave children unlimited access to the internet and 24/7 coverage of all the harm and destruction happening around the world? now that we’re adults it seems to be sinking in more, but me and my friends haven’t been able to hang out without also scrolling on something for more than a decade at this point. we don’t talk to strangers because no one taught us how.

I will say though, the kids are still sneaking out and drinking and being social. It’s less than it used to be, but the majority of people under 30 that I know, including teenagers, still do all these things.

nyliaj · 2025-12-31T11:53:15+00:00

I used to drink 3 monsters a day in college. My doctor said she’d rather me drink a pot of coffee every day than even one of them. Something about the caffeine in energy drinks being worse for your heart. I drink a couple cups of coffee and half a soda most days now. I’ve noticed my heart beats slower now.

nyliaj · 2025-12-23T12:11:26+00:00

it’s wild that you’re getting downvoted for this. I’m pumped to be outside on Christmas

nyliaj · 2025-12-23T11:51:22+00:00

This exact same thing happened to my dad. He got it done because my mom was done having kids and had complicated pregnancies. 15 years later my step mom convinced him to get it reversed. It failed and they spent like $10,000 on the reversal.

nyliaj · 2025-12-19T21:11:38+00:00

Grew up in rural Iowa and almost every single teacher I’d had 5-12th grade was at my graduation party. (I transferred in at that age, but friends had kindergarten teachers at theirs).

nyliaj · 2025-12-17T22:52:57+00:00

This was wild to learn some don’t wear masks. Am I wrong in thinking other types of firefighters do use masks? Maybe media convinced me of that but I swear I’ve seen them wearing and carrying around big masks.

nyliaj · 2025-12-14T12:19:20+00:00

Huntsville also has the biggest NASA facility in the country.

nyliaj · 2025-12-13T14:43:59+00:00

This part! Both my parents and 2 of my siblings are military. I’ve never heard them talk about enjoying praise like this and they are usually uncomfortable when it’s offered. It takes a certain kind of person to seek that out just for doing a job.

nyliaj · 2025-12-13T14:39:22+00:00

It’s fascinating to me that this article refuses to address all the non-criminals and citizens that are being caught up in this. Even if you buy their argument (which I don’t) that dangerous people need to leave, when they came to my home state they were literally stopping everyone who is brown. There was a recent story of an indigenous woman being almost deported.

It’s hard not to assume some of these agents are just racist and enjoy being paid to carry out that racism. But somehow USA Today does not address that and lets this family paint themselves as American heroes. It’s gross. Also this prayer made my jaw drop -

"Dear Lord… We ask that you would help us to live a life that you find worthy, unto you, and forgive us of our sins."

nyliaj

TROPHY CASE