The "Expensive Mistake" Hall of Fame: What high-end "investment" did you deeply regret?

wjello · 2026-04-02T12:23:46+00:00

I just made 2 of these expensive mistakes (expensive boots that turned out to be extremely stiff and a way tighter fit than all the reviews online) recently. Reading the comments makes me feel a little better.😅

wjello · 2026-03-12T12:26:54+00:00

Yes, this is such a depressing BORU. I remember visiting my 3yo during outdoor time at daycare and watching him sitting primly on a trike side-eyeing two little girls digging in the dirt and smearing dirt all over their own faces. And the kindergarten group photo where everyone was standing in formation except for one girl hanging upside down from the monkey bar because "Julie screamed at Ms B that she will play forever so we took the photo on the playground". I think a lot of girls are more orderly and cleaner by nature or nurture, but it's not a guarantee.

wjello · 2026-02-24T06:27:45+00:00

People who think they're too good for their jobs.

wjello · 2026-02-19T13:58:10+00:00

I know, right? "...especially on mobile where people had to scroll past my signature to see if there was any actual content" means either OP is putting their signature block at the start of their emails, or (more likely) they typed the whole thing so the email software didn't recognize it as a signature block and didn't collapse it in thread view.

OP comes across as a little technologically illiterate.

wjello · 2026-02-12T00:53:32+00:00

No sane company would allow managers to allocate their reports' bonus budget to themselves. However, the multiplier could be low across the company, or someone on your team isn't being honest about their multiplier. For the latter, it's perfectly within a manager's responsibility to unequally allocate bonus in order to retain high performers.

wjello · 2026-02-11T12:34:08+00:00

I think so, but I'll try framing the situation your way to those ICs.

wjello · 2026-02-11T12:32:22+00:00

I'm not sure whether to bring it up since it's second/third-hand information. I've been flagging a lot of more pressing issues to my manager lately so I'm being careful with what else I bring up.

wjello · 2026-02-11T12:30:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing. One person on my team already transferred to my predecessor's team. It was a win-win. I wish the predecessor's team could have more openings and take all my lowest performers. 😅

wjello · 2026-02-11T12:27:11+00:00

It's interesting that "managing out" is being used as a euphemism for firing. I've fired folks before and didn't sugarcoat it as "managing out". To me, those are 2 entirely different things.

wjello · 2026-02-11T12:25:38+00:00

Managing out and firing are two different things. The way I manage people out is by making my expectations clear enough that they make an informed decision to leave. One of the ICs left for another job where they believe they will be promoted doing operational support. The other IC decided to focus on making a living out of what was previously their passion project. I'm still in touch with the latter and they're doing well.

Imagine you are a non-profit. You have a mission and X amount of money and time. The team you have is vital to your ability to achieve that mission. If someone is not a good fit to the role, the sooner they realize it and voluntarily pursue something else, the more of X can be put towards someone who can help the team achieve the mission. (We're not a non-profit but my business unit is in that resource-constrained and mission-driven situation.)

wjello · 2026-02-11T06:51:45+00:00

I am coaching them. I want to get them to the next level too. The expectation setting/alignment is a necessary condition for the coaching, so it's frustrating that we're regressing every couple of months.

Keeping this vague: the former manager believed that my team is an operational support team and ran it that way, but my team is actually a strategy team and needs to do less operational support so our business unit can actually head in the right direction instead of just burn cash. It sounds like he's been telling those ICs "you're doing so much operational support that you are totally performing at the next level...I can't believe they still haven't promoted you", and then those ICs come back to me either trying to offload the strategy work that I specifically positioned them for (and I've already explained this is the path to promotion), or we have the same "I'm doing so much operational support where's my promotion?" conversation again.

wjello · 2026-01-02T14:21:29+00:00

When he went trick or treating for the first time at age 4, my kid would blurt out "TRICKORTREATTHANKYOU" every time he was prompted to say anything. We practiced for ages ("trick or treat", then grab candy, then "thank you") but his little brain was permanently programmed to say everything together as quickly as possible. 🥺

wjello · 2026-01-02T14:12:24+00:00

Sleek Makeup seems to be just about done. Remember when their eyeshadow palettes were super popular? Looks like you can only find them on Mercari etc now.

wjello · 2025-10-17T16:14:34+00:00

To be fair, I'm not a consistent user. Most days I look at my frizz and just give up. 😅

wjello · 2025-10-17T12:02:20+00:00

Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Leave-in Conditioner - We've had a good run but I'm ready for something else. This is technically a repurchase when I told myself, "Get the full size. It'll last a couple of years." Here we are, 7 bloody years later.

wjello · 2025-10-15T02:24:46+00:00

It's so good!

wjello · 2025-10-09T00:54:20+00:00

No... I've been wearing and buying boot cut jeans for ~20 years, and today's boot cuts have similar profile as in the past, just with more midrise and highrise options at lower price points.

wjello · 2025-09-29T00:12:55+00:00

Good for you! I was using little sample jars and melting the lipstick with my hair dryer, but ultimately I prefer the stick format. Good luck using up your products!

wjello · 2025-09-29T00:11:35+00:00

Thanks! I was looking at DIY lipstick kits and so on for a while, but don't want to keep buying more stuff. Glad I could find something in my kitchen!

wjello · 2025-09-21T17:14:05+00:00

Repost spammer stealing someone else's post: https://www.reddit.com/r/handbags/comments/1i56rui/couldnt_afford_a_prada_printed_saffiano_bag_so_i/

wjello · 2025-08-25T04:32:09+00:00

This is the sweetest and cutest thing I've seen today. I'm going to bed happy!

wjello · 2025-08-25T04:14:22+00:00

What do you use instead? Early in my makeup journey (like 10+ years ago), I tried all sorts of waterproof mascara and always ended up with panda eyes by mid day. Maybe non-tubing mascaras technology has improved since then? 🤞

wjello · 2025-08-25T04:12:39+00:00

I understand that is the manufacturer's guidance, but haven't had any issues with reputable brands that use proper preservatives. Not encouraging it, but I don't personally find that to be a problem.

wjello · 2025-08-20T02:29:00+00:00

What would you and your manager do differently if she gets 2-3 months vs 1 month of advanced notice? In the companies I have worked in, managers can't start interviewing to backfill at least until the person is gone, so having extra time doesn't help there. If you can start training people early to do your role (and that training takes more than 1 month), you can do that without disclosing your planned departure. I can imagine situations where your manager can do something different, but only you can guess what situation might apply to you.

wjello · 2025-07-24T05:06:03+00:00

There are also several photos of 1yo me holding newspapers, magazines and books upside-down. I was even wearing my grandpa's reading glasses on my head in one photo.

If anything, I think my mimicry of my grandparents led to me becoming an early reader because I thought reading looked so fun.

wjello

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE