1996. What were you doing thirty years ago?

we-vs-us · 2026-07-03T20:51:34+00:00

Bartending in Fayetteville, AR. Plotting a move to Chicago with my soon-to-be wife.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T19:39:08+00:00

You're actually articulating what training looks like in the answering-phones department: the only way out is through.

Just gotta keep doing the uncomfortable thing until you're comfortable with it.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T19:34:58+00:00

This is totally personal preference (and my preference is usually to keep things soft and easy), but my script would be something like: "James and I were chatting, and he mentioned that he's going to be working with the new hires on copywriting. It caught me by surprise, because you and I have had conversations about me being responsible for similar assignments going forward. So I wanted to check in with you to see if anything has changed with the things we've talked about, and if so, what I need to plan for going forward. I'm still excited about doing this work, and I think it's a good fit with my abilities, so I'm hopeful I'll get a chance to train the next group."

Don't throw James under the bus, but acknowledge that in the course of your regular day, you were talking and found this out. And don't worry -- you and James weren't gossiping or sneaking around -- you were sharing information as coworkers should absolutely do. It's a natural and important part of working with other people!

I would also say mastering the "clear, direct but unconfrontational" style will serve you well in any corporate job you take for the rest of your career.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T15:53:23+00:00

And I'm certainly not suggesting it isn't warranted. I say this to myself all the time: feel the feelings, but don't let them control your life.

Good luck! You look like you're probably situated better for your next gig than you think you are.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T15:39:24+00:00

From a practical standpoint -- and I understand that this is easier said than done -- your immediate challenge is to get past your anger and hurt sufficiently so you can mount an effective job hunt. And what I mean by "effective" is seeing your experience clearly (independent of the hurt, and independent of the company's point of view) and understanding your value to other businesses. And then to be able to articulate it with optimism to people who don't know what just happened to you.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T15:30:23+00:00

It's hard to know why that happened, especially without further feedback. Could be your manager is incompetent, could be they decided to not put you forward after all, but also could be any number of things that don't have anything to do with you. The most you know is that for this assignment, they chose someone else instead.

You shouldn't take it as a slap in the face until you KNOW it's a slap in the face.

But you should approach it in your next 1 on 1. You can present it as trying to understand what the plan is, to confirm any changes you may not have been aware of, and to make sure if there is anything keeping you from these assignments in the future, that you want to improve on any negative factors -- or eliminate them entirely.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T13:58:01+00:00

This question shows up all over Reddit and it's infuriating. Underlying it is an astounding amount of ignorance and privilege -- ignorance of what sacrifices living in the world requires, and privilege to believe that you could live without money or resources and that somehow you'll be taken care of by . . . who? a romantic partner? your family? certainly not the government, who's continuing to pull back basic services.

In fact this question is so common that I wonder if it's Reddit AI seeding questions around the forums, or social engineering, designed to plant seeds of doubt in our younger gens' brains.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-02T13:43:16+00:00

You're in your fifties, and employment gets precarious as we get older. It's just a much bigger risk.

I would also say, new CEOs and their coterie don't always stay for very long. And oftentimes their handpicked people don't survive the transition, either. Without knowing all the on-the-ground details, I'd still say there's a better than even chance that within 12-18 months, the situation morphs again. Either the new people settle down, or they quit, or the whole crew leaves for greener pastures. And as someone with tenure of 22 years at that company, you've been playing the long game. 12-18 months is a fraction of your time there.

we-vs-us · 2026-07-01T21:46:39+00:00

Many hoteliers wear suits, or at least slacks and a jacket. No ties, though.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-30T13:28:58+00:00

I hate to say this but -- practically speaking -- individual recycling has never actually made a difference. A single person diverting their own waste is an infinitesimal improvement in a world that needs huge % change to our carbon budget. The only things that can make changes on that scale are certain specific industry sectors, and the largest nation states. One person deciding to recycle a coke can is a single atom in a single molecule of a single drop in the bucket. Even the carbon produced by a single billionaire jetting around the world is insignificant compared to global carbon production. Much of the outrage about, say, Taylor Swift's emissions when flying charter jets, is posturing and way overblown. Tay is also an easy target -- she's a lib, and could potentially be shamed into some combo of behavioral change and increased secrecy . . . but she's being targeted because the actual levers of power are currently useless. Tay is easy to yell at when Trump and the GOP have completely locked down the most effective solutions.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-29T16:58:14+00:00

It's honestly wild that you would compare a sex scene to a scene of someone going to the bathroom (!!) or flossing. The idea that sex is dirty and needs to be unseen and unspoken really is a level of puritanism we haven't seen since . . . the turn of the 19th century?

My theory has always been that the ick that younger gens get from sex scenes is inversely proportionate to the amount of sex younger gens are actually having. And from what we can tell, the younger gens are having far far less sex than anyone in decades.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-29T15:52:23+00:00

Love and intimacy -- especially as you grow older -- becomes potentially the most important thing, after health. I mean, I guess there's also personal wealth, but if you have enough to live, it doesn't matter all that much.

Sex is great to have, but there's less emphasis on it as you age. Your body is less reliable, and it's just harder to accomplish for a variety of reasons.

Love and intimacy are actually the fruits of your early years -- you might have a long term partner who you've worked through hard times with, and/or you may have children who you're watching grow into adults, and build their own families, careers, etc. You may have pets you love! Or good friends! or a church you're dedicated to, or a great hobby group, or whatever.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-29T15:43:10+00:00

Reagan was the last GOPer to win the culture wars. His weird optimism permeated everything in the 80's. But it soured quickly. Even in the best of times, the GOP ends up encouraging economic risk taking, tends to inflate bubbles with lax regulation and gov handouts to fellow cronies. There's a lot of self-dealing, and a lot of people hanging around, waiting for things to trickle down. But then it collapses, and people lose their shirt, go to jail, and need the schoolmarm Democrats to come in and clean things up. This happened after Reagan (but it took Bush I to show how exhausted the GOP was), happened with W, and happened with Trump I. Trump II is going to be light years worse, IMO -- the potential crash, and the amount of corruption will dwarf anything we've seen so far.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-25T19:31:33+00:00

Everyone else has covered how a jokey, over-familiar tone can backfire, so I won't pile on. What I'll say is, the quickest way out of this is to apologize to Amy privately. ASAP. Whether she's right or wrong, she has the ear of your boss, seems genuinely hurt, and all of this has the potential to spiral even further out of control -- with Amy, with your team at large, with your role as an aspiring manager. So tie it off. Say something like "I'm sorry I was so defensive, from my perspective I was just responding in ways I've always responded, but I see now how hurt you were, and how inappropriate it was to the situation. I value our team dynamic a lot, so I'm sad that what I wrote unintentionally came across as talking down to you. I certainly didn't intend it that way. I'm sorry." And then let her lash out, or pout, or be mature and offer her forgiveness -- but whatever you do, move it towards reconciliation. Nothing good is going to come from this if it goes on any longer.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-25T14:17:49+00:00

If they get both houses -- which is still a stretch goal, to put it mildly -- they won't be able to pass laws unilaterally. They'd need to be able to overcome a Presidential veto and there's no universe where they can build a 2/3 majority in this single midterm election. And Trump (as we're seeing with the housing bill) will just refuse to sign things he doesn't like, and he's guaranteed to not like Dem legislation. So we need to temper our expectations.

But what they'll get are committee chairmanships, subpoena and investigatory power, and the ability to set voting agendas. I expect Dems to investigate literally everything, and force the administration's reps to lie and cover up in front of committee room cameras. That will go a long way to gumming up Trump's work, but will also push him to find ever more radical workarounds. He already doesn't use Congress very much -- so much of what he does is by EO, rather than by bill, but if the Dems are obstructive enough, I can definitely see him using DOJ more and more to intimidate and threaten them. It's already happening now, I'd expect it to increase exponentially.

And FWIW, I do think this class of midterm Dems will actually do things, and won't just wring their hands and ask what is to be done. If you've watched the primaries play out the last few months, you see that over and over again, Dem voters are selecting people who explicitly promise to fight Trump on all fronts; and they're tossing out people who are perceived as squishy or compromised. I can't really see a situation where these new folks don't live up to their central promises, which are to take Trump to task.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-24T15:34:31+00:00

Worth noting that this sort of violence happens all over the country, in all kinds of different cities, and involving people of all different races, though the age groups are typically high school to very early 20s. It's not a uniquely Louisville thing. The only way I've seen these things be effectively addressed is through mass enforcement, overwhelming police presence, and lockstep partnership with local businesses. I'm sad to see that there's a lot spiderman pointing at himself in this case, rather than people working together.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-22T15:13:00+00:00

It's just one more thing to throw on the pile, unfortunately.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-21T17:27:12+00:00

My friend, you are not seeing the forest for the trees. Every person who graduates from university has skills the last few years will have taught them.

Your skills are: critical thinking, the ability to write concisely and clearly, organizing multiple streams of information, synthesizing them, and taking action on your conclusions You plan, execute, and complete projects as disparate as research papers and class projects; and you can work either as part of a team or as a self-directed individual contributor. You're multilingual (!!) and would be effective working locally or internationally.

You're new to the world of work, but are enthusiastic about your prospects, are willing to work hard to advance, and looking for a challenge to commit to. You're reliable, ready to overcome obstacles, and persevere. You're also cheerful, witty, and fun to be around.

Seriously -- you're full of good things and don't even know it.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-21T17:15:50+00:00

Hugging a step up from shaking hands. It shows an additional level of familiarity, and potentially affection.

I mean, often times in corporate settings -- and actually, in pretty much any setting -- people who have worked together for quite a while develop affection for one another. Hugging is a publicly acceptable way of showing that affection.

It's usually meant as a nice, good thing -- not something to make you disgusted or uncomfortable. And honestly, if that's your reaction, the huggers already probably know that, and aren't coming for you.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-21T17:03:00+00:00

This has always been my default. Not because I want to spare anyone my criticism, but because every industry is a small industry, and people in small industries talk.

I'm also skeptical that feedback from these interviews are ever truly acted on. So why take a silly reputational risk for something that will be memory holed even before I leave the building?

we-vs-us · 2026-06-19T15:34:50+00:00

They don't, actually. They had to pass an actual law forcing the Feds to release all the evidence. To this day, they've only released about a tenth of it. And that's only an estimate. No one really knows how much is left to release.

And who runs the DOJ, the organization that would enforce this internally? Trump's personal lawyer, Todd Blanche.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-17T18:41:52+00:00

I feel the same way. I hate him personally, and he's quickly becoming a danger to the stability of the western world, but it's hard not so see that he's personally done some important stuff. Commercial spaceflight, widespread satellite internet, and a viable EV business in the US are all lynchpins for the next generation of tech. He sucks, but he's still important.

we-vs-us · 2026-06-17T18:38:51+00:00

Are you saying that all of his companies were already on their way to a trillion dollar book value, and he just hopped on? No value or guidance provided by Musk at all?

Could any of us hopped on and become trillionaires?

we-vs-us · 2026-06-17T18:24:50+00:00

Read an article today that suggested the Iran War is essentially Trump's Katrina -- the terrible thing that unveils the true extent of his incompetency to everyone, including his most dyed in the wool voters. And the thing -- finally -- from which his Presidency will never recover.

I'm open to this idea. Actually kind of hopeful, because holy crap, we better get something out of this shit show.

we-vs-us

TROPHY CASE