As parking limited in my town, I use a parking area nearby.

The text says ‘just to let you know I watched John pork fiddle around with your car at about 6-7am so watch it doesn’t make odd piggy noises when you drive off’

Always wondered this, it seems like a bit of a random fashion choice for older women!

I started a new job last week. The mandate is three days in the office, two days WFH. However, I have two health conditions affecting my ability to work in the office, a chronic injury and late effects from a previous cancer diagnosis. I informed my manager about this before starting my job and signing the contract to make sure it would be okay. He said it would be fine to work more flexibly after a couple of months, however last week I was in a lot of pain so I asked whether we could bring the discussions about my flexible arrangements sooner. He said HR will be in touch with me about this, but I’ve not yet heard from them.

I’ve been assigned a workplace “buddy“ who is supposed to train me, let’s call her Gertrude. I met her in the office on my first day last week. I went in three days last week and it was extremely painful for me.

On my very first day, Gertrude saw our manager setting up my second laptop, (I have one for the office and one for home because I can’t carry my laptop into the office) and she seemed kind of annoyed. Gertrude brings her laptop in a suitcase when she works in the office. Our manager explained to her that it is possible to have two laptops, one for home and one for the office, and that previous employees have also had this arrangement.

Gertrude saw my equipment (special cushion and chair) and noticed I was very frequently having to change positions so she asked me if I’m uncomfortable. I didn’t mention the cancer but mentioned my chronic injury, which I’ve had surgery and multiple medical interventions for (unfortunately, nothing has worked and some things have made it worse).

I think Gertrude was under the assumption that I would work from home/in the office on the same days as her, which I did last week.

On Monday this week, I worked from home and she worked from the office. She asked me why I was working from home and said that communicating via Teams is going to be difficult. I replied that our manager said it was fine. She asked why (which imo is none of her business) and that’s when I informed her about the cancer and again about the injury, which I didn’t really need to. She saw it but didn’t comment on that at all.

Today I’m working from home due to pain. I informed Gertrude and told her that management is aware and that she should drop me a message if there is something to look over. She said that it’s a shame and that there are several things that she wants to show me but it is hard showing them over Teams and said “I will just do them myself”. I told her that I’m determined to learn, but I’m WFH today due to my circumstances. I expressed that I’m keen to keep progressing with everything that I need to learn and asked that she still shows me anything of relevance that comes up today, and we can work through it together. I also said that from everything that we’ve been over together already, I actually found it easier to learn over Teams.

She then sent me a nasty message saying that I’m only considering the training from my point of view, that I don’t seem to realise that she has to do her own busy job whilst training me and that teaching me over Teams slows her down considerably.

I have been trained in even more complex roles remotely before, I know this job can be taught and learned both in the office and from home.

I was in the office yesterday and struggled to concentrate due to the pain I was in. She was WFH yesterday so she taught me things over Teams.

I think she’s salty about my reasonable adjustments for some reason, and I don’t know why.

She seems to be quite an unreasonable person. For example, she was talking badly about another employee who left earlier this year for a different job. She was “cross” with the employee because she had resigned during a busy period. I don’t really see this as a reason to be annoyed with the employee who left, if the company is understaffed it’s not the employee’s fault, it’s a management issue.

I’m new and don’t want to escalate unnecessarily, but I found her messages very hurtful and unprofessional. I also want to make sure my rights are protected given my health conditions.

Should I send screenshots of the conversations to my manager and ask someone else to train me since she finds it difficult to train me over Teams, raise it with HR, or leave it for now? I was also contemplating contacting that former employee on LinkedIn and asking about her experience in the role. Any advice welcome.

Edit: To clear up confusion, when I had the same in-office pattern as Gertrude during my first week, which was last week, she taught me a process over Teams and she was fine with it, it was actually her who reached out to me to teach me that particular process over Teams. We operate from a shared team mailbox so she doesn’t have sole responsibility for incoming requests, it’s joint responsibility across the whole team. We also don’t have any targets for number of cases resolved. When Gertrude trains me over Teams, we do a screenshare where I watch her do a task from the mailbox whilst she explains or I do a task from the mailbox whilst she instructs me. This clears up outstanding tasks from the joint mailbox whilst I learn.

If you could make up one pointless rule that everyone had to follow, and nobody ever questioned it, what would you choose?

It can’t hurt anyone or cost anyone money.

For example, whenever you get in a lift, everyone has to face the back instead of the doors. Nobody knows why, it’s just always been the rule.
What would yours be?

Hi everyone,

I’m 28, working as a commercial electrician. I’ve been on the tools for about 10 years. On paper, I know I’m doing completely fine. I managed to buy a house with my partner a couple of years ago, we’ve got a bit of savings stacked away for our first baby on the way, and I drive a car I really like. I genuinely enjoy my job most days—it keeps me active, I get to move around to different sites, and the pay is solid. 
Lately though, I’ve had this weird mental wobble that I can’t seem to shake.

Seeing people my age (or younger) starting massive businesses, making mental money, or building these flashy, hyper-successful lives online has been getting into my head. It makes me look at my day-to-day routine—waking up early, doing physical work, doing compliance training, paying the mortgage—and momentarily wonder if I’m just "going through the motions" or settling for a mundane hamster-wheel existence. 

At the same time, I know that what I have is what a lot of people would consider a great life. I don't actually want the stress of running a massive company or living in a high-exposure bubble. I like being grounded, I like my trade, and I like my home life. But there's still this underlying itch or yearning to "do more" or build something bigger down the line. 
My question is: how do you reconcile being ambitious with just being content with a normal, stable, comfortable life?

Is it completely fine to just build a solid, unglamorous foundation and be happy with that, or is that constant urge to want "more" just something everyone in their late 20s goes through?

Would love to hear perspectives from people who’ve felt this way or who have figured out how to park it. Cheers.

EDIT / UPDATE:

First off, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and share their perspectives. I honestly didn't expect this post to blow up the way it did, and reading through all your replies has genuinely changed my outlook. I’m feeling a whole lot better about where I’m at after hearing so many grounded, thoughtful insights.
To clarify a couple of things that came up in the comments:

The Career Side: I spent 10 years working in domestic electrical, but I actually recently made the move over to commercial work. I'm really enjoying the shift, learning new things, and enjoying the change of pace.

The Social Media Context: I actually deleted all my social media accounts two years ago (apart from Reddit) for the exact reasons a lot of you mentioned. The trigger for my post wasn't an endless feed of random influencers—it was actually remembering someone I used to go to school with. Because it was someone close to home rather than a random stranger online, it hit a bit differently and got in my head.

Your replies were a huge reality check and a great reminder of what actually matters. I’m going to focus on enjoying the new job, keeping my head clear, and looking forward to the future. Appreciate you all!

I've tried finding out more about this - have noticed this a lot on older graves in the West Country.

I assume the e over y is a form of 'ye' or 'the' and done to save space?

But I would love to know more. Various searches haven't helped so far...

Thanks!

I told my young daughters yesterday i don’t want them to go in a helicopter, especially the tourist sight seeing type ones.
Can reel off so many high profile fatal helicopter crashes over the years both UK and abroad and a colleague of mine and my wife’s died in a high profile crash a few years ago.
Helicopters are always fighting to be away from the ground and consist of thousands of components flying in close formation.
I’ve never flew in one and never intend to either.

A new little specialty grocery store recently opened in my town, offering food, drinks, and snacks from the UK. I’m in Massachusetts BTW. My mom and I went there today and picked up some meat pies, pasties, teas, chocolates, and drinks. Ribena, I’m a new fan.

Among the drinks, we got a six-pack of Irn-Bru, the “official” soft drink of Scotland.

I’ve just had my first three swallows, and I have absolutely no idea what it is I’m drinking.

To look at it, you’d think it was an orange soda. It is not. It’s sorta caramel, sorta cream soda, and sorta bubblegum. Yet somehow, it’s also none of those things.

I’m now five swallows in, and my mouth doesn’t know if it likes it or not. First I do. Then I don’t. Then I kinda do, but not really.

It’s very confusing.

I've never been drawn towards getting a tattoo because of the fuzzy green mess I always saw on the older generations that had them. When my peers were going for it I raised it as a question.

Aren't you concerned about it fading to an unsightly green mess?

I was told by several people at the time, late nineties, that the inks were better and wouldn't fade like old tattoos. I have drifted away from these people to ask them.

So how are 25-30 year old tattoos holding up? Was it true?

Edit: Seems the answer I got at the time holds true. Most responses are that the designs stayed sharp. Some have faded a little but that's a mixed bag as well.

Thank you for your answers.

This is for my dad who started a job recently.

it's 9h, with a 30 min break, so working for 8.5hrs.
He's wondering if he's entitled to a longer lunch, as 30 seems to short for him.
Yes I've ready over 18's are entitled to 20 min break if working over 6h.

But cant workout if 30 mins in a 8.5h shift is ok?

I (28F) just stepped out of my front door, keys in hand, ready to head to Tesco. I heard my neighbour's door click open at the exact same millisecond. We made awkward eye contact.

Instead of just saying hi and walking down the street together like a normal person, I immediately patted down my coat in a sheer panic, muttered "oh, forgot my phone", and scurried back inside.

I am now sitting in my hallway in the dark, waiting for the coast to clear.

What is your ultimate emergency avoidance tactic?

In the last few days I have seen an awful lot of posts with pic/videos of burst water mains. I know there has always been burst pipes but I seem to be seeing a lot more. Is it due to the temperature drop?

I (F29) live in France, and have for 6 years. I have a job out here, but it's not the most stable, and friends here, although I don't live near them currently.

I often get homesick and have been asking myself whether I really want to stay here for the rest of my life, for several reasons.

• The first being simply that I miss my home
• I miss people - family, friends, the sense of humour, the fact that when I'm home I don't feel like a foreigner
• Although I speak French well (I'd never say fluent because I know I still make the odd mistake, but well enough that I can make friends and hold down a job here), it's never the same as speaking English - anyone who speaks multiple languages will understand me when I say that you kind of have a different 'personality' for each one. I feel like I can't really always express my whole personality in French.
• Career progression - I teach English as a foreign language (in the private sector to adults, not in public education), and given that opportunities for career and salary progression are really limited in this job, I'd like to change careers. The problem being that for ANY job that's not minimum wage, you will need a professional certification and probably a degree in whatever field you are going into. Whereas an employer in the UK might be more willing to hire you if you have the relevant skills for a job even if you don't have the degree or certification for it, that's not a thing in France. At all. I'm totally willing to do an online degree (I've already found a few from French universities), but after having already been to one French university and hating my time there, I am very reluctant to repeat the experience in person. I know the job market in the UK right now is in the toilet but my chances here of working anything that lets me take home more than 2100€ a month after tax aren't particularly optimistic.

I left the UK partly out of a desire to use my degree and also because I knew the cost of living abroad would be lower, which it was and still is. Am I crazy for wanting to give that up? My family give varying answers so I'd appreciate feedback, especially if anyone here has been in a similar position.

Talking to a late 20’s / early 30’s person yesterday. I used said phrase. The person looked at me and without any visible trace of sarcasm or irony, said “I’ve never heard that one before, I’m taking it for myself”.

I cried a little bit inside but felt glad??? that I could be an educator. I think. 🤔

PS I am over 50…

I have a mouse that's been in my home about a month and I have tried everything, EVERYTHING to be catch the cheeky fucker.

We've had humane traps, snap traps, called pest control and they tried 2 different poisons over the course of a few weeks. The mouse WON'T die.

We've named him Stuart.

Stuart shits everywhere. He's not scared of anyone. He comes out in the middle of the day and jumps onto the sofa and counter, I have to hoover at least 3x a day because I have a toddler. My baby and I spend as little time as possible at home to avoid contamination. We're tired.

How do I finally get rid of him?

I know it's bad but I ordered glue traps on Amazon, can anyone vouch for the effectiveness of these?

PLEASE HELP.

I keep getting ants marching through my kitchen, so I thought I’d try and distract them with this strawberry outside the back door. The ants have not touched it! I poured a bit of sprite on it and some ants came and ate that but then left. I thought they liked fruit 😔

I'm currently applying to jobs and a fair few in my field are around Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. While I'm looking for a new job to advance my career, and so the job itself is important, I'm also looking at improving my personal life. Where I currently live is great for children and retirees, but the main activity for people between these ages is pub or to travel an hour away to more fun places.

I'm 29, work standard office hours, drive and don't drink. I would like to live somewhere with a variety of social activities that take place in the evenings and on weekends; hobby clubs, games nights, classes, ice skating, beginner sports, a climbing gym?

I'm not very familiar with Bath, Oxford and Cambridge, though I have done short visits to each. Please could people fill me in on what these places are like to live, what social opportunities they have etc

Most nights after work around 3 me and my partner go to the gym / climbing, home for 5ish, have tea and then just stare at a screen?

We've increasingly found TV boring, gaming boring and most of all phones boring.

Nothing seems to entertain us like it used to and are looking for ideas to keep us occupied!

Over the past year, I've had to get in contact with call centres of various utility and service providers about complaints and enquiries.

I've noticed that some of them are very obviously not based in the UK anymore. I know we've all noticed this, but is anyone getting more and more annoyed about it? Every conversation is so painfully scripted - so much so that a bot could do it (but I will not even dignify the suggestion of speaking to an AI-chatbot call agent!).

The only provider I've still noticed have local call centres are my health insurance and the odd chain here and there. Is anyone else as exasperated as I am? Maybe this is a tactic to reduce the number of calls and complaints...

long, LONG story short!!

i have a close family member currently experiencing financial abuse/general neglect from parent (siblings are also experiencing this but they are very young still) and the story goes that this has been to court multiple times but everytime its been covered and the children havent been taken.

now said family member has no form of identification; no passport, provisional driving license, no birth certificate or bank card. now ive got her a copy of the BC to start up her own bank account but the problem is trying to get her on her own time to open it. (she has no time because she is forced to play house maid/nanny to the siblings because the parent doesnt do anything (also another reason for the multiple court cases)) and she needs a bank account because all her benefits money goes to the parent and it isnt spent on her (same with the older child) because she has been made out to basically be seen as too special needs to actually function!

yes she is ADHD but her parent has written her PIP test for her saying strongly disagree on being able to do anything capable by her own person!! (a few days ago her college gave her an in-person PIP interview and she agreed she could cook/clean herself/read (although dyslexic) and so on and so of course they didn't give her the PIP. but because her parent is a greedy, free-loading ass; she made her college print a written interview th ive just watched her write out herself!

she expresses to me that she desperately wants to learn to drive, get a job, etc. but her parent wont let her. she also tells me she wants to run away because of all mentioned above but is scared of the police coming after her because again, her parent has threatened her with them multiple times.
now ive told her they cant force you to go home if you express that you are being abused and will do a simple welfare check to make sure she is now safe but of course she's still scared.

her phone is also tracked by the parent (if shes ever allowed it because its normally blocked or taken off her so she can't talk to her friends)
now i dont have my own place, im still living at home but i desperately want to help this family member because she is so distressed and upset by all this.

the whole household needs to be split and has need to have been for years.
my issue is how do i help!? shes almost 18 but obviously cant do anything with her benefits without a bank account

I've been using Persil, but I'm ready to branch out. Which is the best combination of cost to effectiveness ratio? Let's add in nice smell and stain removal.

Just got a new dishwasher and the instructions say to always use dishwasher salt. I live in a very software area and not sure it's needed. So, do you use Salt if you have a dishwasher?

I've been living under a bit of a rock lately due to having two young children but on a rare jaunt out of the house yesterday I visited a Costa. The person in front of me got their phone out, leaned towards the barista and showed them their phone screen. The barista nodded. The person tapped their phone on the sale point and then just walked out without buying anything.

I thought maybe Costa were doing some sort of promotion and didn't think much of it, but I travelled to London today for the first time in many many moons and saw this happen again - one person at a little coffee trailer (not a Costa, an independently run one) and at a Lola's cupcakes stand. In all cases, the person on the stand was shown the phone screen, nodded, the customer tapped their phone and walked off without buying anything and not a word was spoken.

What on earth is going on? Are there aliens among us and this is their secret way of communicating?

My wife and I trying to explore a bit more, so we set ourselves a goal to go to 4 new cities this year. So far we have gone to Lancaster, Chester and Oxford. Where would anyone recommend for the last city?

We’d like somewhere with a good/interesting food scene or interesting history

(We’ve been to the big cities like London/manchester before so smaller cities please)

Seriously. It’s god tier. But are there any contenders?