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Living at home as an adult comes with trade-offs that most people accept without much argument. You save money, but in exchange, you help with the household and tolerate a level of parental input that wouldn’t exist if you lived on your own.

But there’s a line between respecting house rules and being treated like a teenager who needs permission to leave, and the 24-year-old woman in this story found herself in that exact dilemma.

She made plans to go out with a friend for a few hours, but her overprotective mom implored her to stay home.

So, figuring she was a grown adult who could make her own decisions, she went anyway.

But when she returned, she realized her mother wasn’t just going to let it go.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITAH for going out with my friend even tho my mom didn’t want me to?

I (24F) still live with my parents. I came from a very traditional middle class family.

Last week, I made plans to go out with a friend for a few hours.

But her mother was very against this idea from the start.

My mom wasn’t happy about it and wanted me to stay home, but I decided to go anyway because I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.

I wasn’t sneaking around, getting into trouble, or doing anything illegal. I just wanted to spend time with a friend.

Her mother wouldn’t stop meddling with her plans, even sending others to do her bidding.

She even made my brother make a phone call to me asking me to come home ASAP, when it was only 7 PM.

When I came home, my mom was furious.

Now she’s facing punishment for her “wrongdoings.”

Since then, she’s barely speaking to me. It’s been about a week, and if she wants to tell me something, she’ll usually ask my brother to tell me instead of speaking to me directly.

From her perspective, I knowingly went against what she wanted.

But she sees things very differently.

From my perspective, I’m 24 years old, I went out for a few hours, came home safely, and don’t think that deserves a week-long silent treatment.

Some family members think I should have just listened to her because I live at home. I think adults should be able to have a social life without being punished for it.

So AITAH?

Overprotective much?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a stepmom who says stepson isn’t doing enough, despite the fact that he’s working 12-hour shifts to pay for his own college.

What did Reddit think of all this?

This user suspects there’s important information being left out of the story.

This isn’t how you treat an adult.

24 years old is definitely old enough to make your own decisions.

If her mom is really that upsets, she needs to explain why.

A week of silent treatment for going out with a friend at 7 PM isn’t a proportional response to anything — let alone your grown daughter going out to do something totally innocent.

Her mother may think she’s just being protective, but in reality, her behavior is just a control tactic.

The “my house, my rules” argument has a ceiling, and telling an adult daughter she can’t see a friend for a few hours in the evening is well above it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a young woman who struggles with her new reality after learning her adoption story was a lie.

The post She’s a Grown Woman — But When She Left to See a Friend, Her Mom Hit Her With a Week of Silence appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Let’s be real, high school is a very polarising experience.

Some people love their high school years. Whether that’s because they have a great group of friends, enjoy learning, or have an exciting range of extra-curricular activities, for some these years are a genuine highlight of their lives.

For others though, high school is more tumultuous. It could be that they’re dealing with bullies or a difficult home life, having a hard time in their friendships or not coping so well with the academic workload – but the truth is, if high school isn’t for you, better things are to come.

The student in this story is making the most of their high school experience, even joining the student leadership team to try to make things better for their classmates too. But doing so is becoming increasingly complicated, thanks to their staff advisor being the least approachable and supportive team member they could have been allocated.

So on the last day of the year, this student leader decided to go low-key revenge mode.

Read on to find out what happened.

Finally I got back at Mrs Happy and screwed up her morning by miscounting

I am in my last year of high school. As a member of student leadership,

I also help with our school’s pizza days. In the mornings of Tuesdays I help sell pizza vouchers that students can redeem at lunch.

Mrs Happy (her actual surname) is the one who is in charge of our student leadership, and she is one of the least happy people on this planet.

Ironic given her name is “happy.”

Let’s see what Mrs Happy’s leadership looks like.

Consistently Mrs Happy is screaming and interrupting our meetings. It makes it very difficult to get ANYTHING done. In the mornings, since she is the teacher supervisor, she is with us to help and look over us.

However, throughout the entire year, for any mistake we made she would lecture us and rant. We count the cards out each morning and additionally mark them down on a piece of paper, it’s a safety precaution.

So if we counted thirty cards and have twelve left, but only have sixteen marked down, we know we are out two cards.

She would lose it over this, something our previous teacher supervisor did not do. A single slice does not affect how much they order since they have to order in full pizzas anyway, and leftover unsold pizza gets frozen for kids without lunches.

Then, Mrs Happy’s behaviour got even less happy.

Last Monday, Mrs Happy cut each student in our student leadership a slice of cake as a celebration to end the year.

I was first in line, and she gave me a piece of cake one fifth of the size of everyone else’s.

Of course, upset, I got back in line to ask for a bit more.

She originally said no, but then gave in and cuts me another slice. This slice was half the size of the first one.

Eventually, this student decided to get revenge.

So, after a year of torture with her this morning I intentionally miscounted the cards. Each and every pizza voucher was out by at least one card.

Of course, she lost it. She also, additionally, made other mistakes but blamed us for them! I know for a fact she made the mistake since I remembered how many cards I had removed at the beginning.

We were missing three cards in one category, and had an additional three in another. Seems obvious they should be swapped. But she very clearly said, “I didn’t make a mistake I was listening very carefully! How does this happen?”

She looked me dead in the eyes and I could see the rage building behind them. Glorious. I am so glad I never have to see her again.

When Dickens wrote his characters, he chose names befitting of their personality: Mr. Sowerberry was a sour man, while Mr. Gradgrind was a teacher who worked his students very hard.

On an even more obvious level, the names of Roger Hargreaves’ characters couldn’t be any more apt: they described their entire personalities, after all.

It’s clear that Mrs Happy does not subscribe to the sentiment that her name suggests – or else she behaves this way deliberately to spite her name.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person approved of the revenge plot.

While others had endured similar teachers.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had a funny story to share.

Look, you don’t get to have a name like Mrs Happy and be obnoxious and rude, okay? Sure you don’t necessarily get to pick your name, but really? The jokes write themselves.

Teachers like this women genuinely suck. It seems like – with the complete lack of patience and kindness – like they don’t like their jobs… or other people… or the kids they teach. Whatever the problem is, Mrs Happy should not be taking it out on a bunch of kids – especially not the student leaders, who are voluntarily giving their time to try to do good for the school and their classmates.

They deserve a supportive advisor who will hype up their attempts and support them, rather than lecturing them and bringing them down. Whoever put Mrs Happy in charge of this did these kids a real disservice.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops speaking up in his Zoom meetings after getting constantly interrupted.

The post Their Staff Supervisor Spent All Year Shutting Them Down — One Student Had Been Waiting for the Last Day appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Have you ever been to a store that had a parking spot that was even closer to the front door than the handicapped parking spots? Would you automatically assume that this must be a handicapped parking spot too, or would you assume that it’s a regular parking spot if it doesn’t have any signs or markings indicating that it’s a handicapped spot?

In this story, one man parked in a parking spot that was not a handicapped spot but was more convenient than the actual handicapped spots next to it. Later, another person wanted to park in his parking spot and assumed that it was a handicapped parking spot.

He refused to move his car because it was perfectly legal for him to park there, but now, he’s wondering if he should’ve moved his car anyway.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA for parking in a not-accessible spot?

I do not have any disabilities. This happened a few years ago, I was a mid-twenties guy with a medium build. (that is to say, I don’t look disabled in any way.) I drove a 12+ year old lower end Mercedes sedan.

My college town grocery store parking lot was pretty crowded on the day this happened, but while I was looking for a spot, I found that the best spot in the parking lot was open. This spot is literally right next to the entrance for the store.

In fact, it is closer to the door than the two accessible spots next to it, and based on the paint pattern, I’m guessing at one point this was either an accessible spot or an access aisle for the spots next to it.

I can’t think of any reason why he couldn’t park in this spot

It might have been changed because it didn’t meet the handicapped parking standards for my town.

When this happened, all handicapped stripes have been painted black, and the spot has no special markings denoting it as an accessible spot.

It simply was not a handicapped accessible spot.

I parked in this spot.

It seems like his shopping trip started out okay.

It was early spring, and this store sells plants to put in your garden outside this time of year– so I meandered through this area right next to my car for a couple minutes. I then went back to my car, grabbed my reusable shopping bags out of the trunk, and began to head inside.

A man in a large white van had stopped and put his blinker on for my spot, and I waived to signal that I wasn’t leaving. I then went inside.

I believe this man was the husband of the woman who approached me later.

I don’t remember seeing anything on the van denoting handicapped access, but I am confidant the van was marked in some way.

This woman had been trying to track him down.

About 10-15 minutes later inside I am standing at the butcher counter when a 50-60ish year old lady comes up to me with a picture of my car on her phone. These aren’t her exact words, but the gist of what she was asking:

Her: “I’ve been trying to find you–this is your car, right?”

Me: “yes– uh oh– what happened?” I asked, slightly panicked that something happened to my car.

Her: “My husband has [disability] and can’t join me in the store because you took the last handicapped spot. I didn’t see a tag on your car, did you leave it at home?”

He explained the situation.

Me: I just started stammering “Uh… but… I…”

Her: Continues talking about the impact this has had on her and her husband.

Me: (Finally) “It’s not a handicapped spot.”

Her: “It’s not?”

He’s not sure if he handled this situation correctly.

Me: “No. There’s no sign, there’s no ground marking– the other two spots next to it are handicapped spots, but this one is just a regular spot.”

She then left, and I had a flood of adrenaline.

In retrospect days later, I wished I had offered to move my car, or had told her that if she/her husband had asked me to when I was parking, I could have moved.

Was I a jerk for taking this spot, and was I a jerk for not quickly offering to move so her husband could park and come shop with her?

He could’ve moved his car to be nice, but it’s a little much that she took a picture of his car and walked around the store just to ask him to move it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person thinks the woman was just confused.

Another person reassures him that he handled the situation well.

This person thinks the store messed up.

Nobody thinks he needed to move his car.

What I find weird is that she took a picture of his car and walked through the store looking for him. That’s a little much even if he had parked in a handicapped spot when he wasn’t supposed to.

It seems that she realized she made a mistake though and didn’t get upset about it. He didn’t do anything wrong. All he did was explain the situation.

If she really wants to park in that spot, she can wait until he’s done shopping.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose celebratory post-grad school vacation is being ruined by his family’s insistence he’s being lazy.

The post She Photographed a Car in the Parking Lot and Tracked Down the Owner Inside the Store — Then Realized Her Mistake appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Small family issues can sometimes affect big life moments.

This woman has been having problems with her soon-to-be sister-in-law, who recently moved in with her and her partner. She tries to be patient and understanding because her SIL has cognitive disabilities. But when her SIL asked to be part of her wedding, she had to be honest and tell her no.

This is quite an emotional family situation where OP had to choose between personal peace and family expectations. Indeed, wedding planning can really be stressful. Read the full story below.

AITA for not giving my future SIL a “special role” in my wedding?

I (28F) have been having issues with my soon to be SIL (23F).

She recently moved in with me and my partner (26M) due to a bad living situation.

She has some cognitive disabilities, and I used to be a disability support worker.

So I do understand her and try to be patient.

This woman tried to ask her sister-in-law to back off on the wedding preparations.

Recently, our family had a vow renewal for my MIL and step-FIL.

My SIL kept trying to make it about herself, demanding certain photos and insisting she needed special roles.

Myself, MIL and the MOH all spoke to her about backing off, but it didn’t really change anything.

MIL and SIL are rebuilding their relationship. So when I bring things up, MIL brushes it off with “she doesn’t understand” or “she doesn’t mean it.”

I get that, but it feels like everyone else just has to deal with it.

Her SIL was expecting that she would have a special role.

Now, my partner and I are getting married in 4 months. I’ve already been overwhelmed.

I actually wanted to just go to the courthouse, but my partner said I deserve a proper day.

Today, I was making bouquets and my SIL asked which one was hers.

I said none, because she isn’t a bridesmaid.

She said she “needs a special job,” and when I said she didn’t, she replied, “Well, I’m special, too. He’s my brother.”

She feels bad for her SIL, but she wants her wedding to be about her, not anyone else.

My partner supports me, but after this, I had a full emotional breakdown to a family friend, which is not like me at all.

I feel like I’m not allowed to be important in my own wedding.

I understand she struggles, but I don’t want to spend my wedding managing her expectations.

I just want one day where I get to feel special. AITA?

Honestly, OP’s feelings are understandable given how overwhelming wedding planning already is. After all, every bride deserves to feel relaxed and special on her big day. Agreeing to give her SIL a special role might make the situation worse.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops speaking up in his Zoom meetings after getting constantly interrupted.

Let’s see how other online users reacted on Reddit.

This user shares some advice.

Here’s another thought.

A valid point.

Another person chimes in.

And lastly, plain and simple.

Protecting your own peace is also part of preparing for marriage.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose celebratory post-grad school vacation is being ruined by his family’s insistence he’s being lazy.

The post “It’s Not Your Day!”: Stressed Bride-to-Be Pushed to the Brink After Entitled Future Sister-in-Law Demands a Starring Role in the Wedding appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Have you ever started at a new job, read the employee handbook or handover documents from your predecessor and thought “Weird. Why do they do things like that?”

Over time, it’s natural that you will have tweaked your work to do it your way – particularly if you came in and immediately knew of a better way of doing things. That’s completely normal, since fresh pairs of eyes mean fresh input, and if you’re an expert in your field – or have a wealth of previous experience – your way of doing things will likely enhance what your predecessor did.

Most workplaces embrace this, and accept that new people bring change, and that’s almost always a good thing. However, other places are more resistant and set in their ways. Perhaps they like the way things were done before, or lack the ability to see how things would change for the better. And when you know that things aren’t being done in the best way at all, it can be incredibly frustrating.

That’s exactly the position that the guy in this story was put into when his manager insisted that his team go back to the official way of doing things, instead of following a much more efficient and effective method that they’d developed themselves over time. But when they returned to protocol, the difference was plain to see.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Manager math: three times three isn’t nine

One of my early jobs was in the screen department of a CRT factory.

Here, various chemical mixes were dribbled, sprayed or poured into a screen (the front four inches of a glass picture tube) sloshed, spun or otherwise spread, then the excess was dumped or spun out and collected to be reclaimed, adjusted and reused for the next batch.

For one chemical, the official process was to top it off with new, mix it for twenty minutes, then if needed adjust based on the viscosity measurement you just took.

After every adjustment, another twenty minutes of mixing before measuring again. This needed to be done before the previous batch ran out.

But the employees realised that there were better ways of doing this.

We quickly learned that extra water was always needed, and you could fairly easily predict the size of the adjustment before measuring anything based on the pencil and paper graph of previous test results.

Our procedure became top off, add about three litres of water depending on the graph results from previous batches, mix, test and send. This resulted in a mix that was near center spec every time.

That was until an important manager with a degree watched me do a mix, and started ranting “You didn’t measure, you’re adding too much water, you should never add water unless the mix was out of spec, there’s too much water, you’re going to ruin the mix, only add water when it’s out of spec, follow the procedure.”

I asked if he was really asking me to add nine litres of water every third tank instead of three litres every tank, he confirmed. I told him that this increased the risk of running dry and causing a batch of defects, he said “I’ll take that risk, but you better not sandbag”.

Read on to find out what happened next.

It turns out that the people who run the process can make it run fine either thick or thin, but not when it changes from thick to thin every hour or two then ramps back to thick.

It also turns out that if something goes even slightly wrong on the previous shift they may not leave you forty minutes of mix time and ten minutes of measurement time before the previous tank goes dry.

The good news was that we were able to get a version of the smart way adopted as official.

We were then allowed to control the process using statistics, just like we were taught in our mandatory Statistical Process Control training.

Sometimes you have to accept that the workers know the processes better than those who aren’t doing them every day.

And in this case, it meant that the staff doing the mixing were well aware of how things worked best, and that wasn’t by the book.

Sure the manager would likely come under fire if things went wrong, but that’s more reason for him to be pushing for the changes to protocol to actually make things better.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who spent nearly 3 decades climbing the ladder at work only to be fired in a meeting that lasted less than a minute.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person agreed that it’s common for employees to not do things ‘by the book’.

While others gave examples that showed the workers were doing things the smart way.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had examples of workers making things better using their own initiative.

The very fact that protocols have now been amended shows quite clearly just how much better the workers’ way of mixing was. And the fact that the manager was so insistent on them doing things by the book – while technically correct, and avoiding him getting into trouble – is just another example of managers who don’t understand their employees’ jobs, but try to dictate the way they do things anyway.

There would be nothing wrong with him saying ‘okay guys, I need you to do it the way protocol states otherwise I’ll get into trouble, but I’ll push to get protocol changed to your way’. But of course, that would require him actually having considered his workers’ method, rather than just insisting they do it his way. Because the components (nine litres of water) haven’t changed. All that has changed is the order of it being added to the mix – with the official way making it much worse overall.

It pays to listen to your workers – in this case, quite literally.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

The post They Found a Better Way to Do Their Jobs — Their Manager Ordered Them to Stop appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Apartment living is certainly a divisive situation. Some people love it – after all, apartments that are built and furnished to a high standard – particularly if they have impressive city or coastal views – can feel like the height of luxury. It’s no coincidence that F1 stars live in fancy apartments in Monaco, a place where opulent apartments are hot property.

Even if your apartment is more basic, in cities they can feel like a very convenient way of living where you can be in the middle of everything, in a self-contained space that is yours to live your life in.

However, there are downsides to everything, and the neighbours you have as an apartment dweller can certainly be one of those downsides. Because if your neighbours are loud – anything from yelling to loud music, slamming doors or constant construction noise – you bet you will be able to hear it all over your home. And that can turn your perfect apartment into a nightmare.

That’s exactly the situation the folk in this story are dealing with. And regardless of what they try, nothing seems to resolve the issue.

Read on to find out more.

How do you deal with nightmare upstairs neighbours when absolutely nothing works anymore?

I need some advice because I’m reaching a breaking point.

The people living in the apartment above me are extremely disruptive, and living here has become unbearable for a long time now.

They make excessive noise at all hours of the day and night, drag furniture around constantly, stomp on the floor, play loud music, shout, argue, and regularly use offensive language.

They also invite large groups of people over, leave items in shared areas, ignore quiet hours, create disturbances, and have a very disrespectful and confrontational attitude toward other residents.

Let’s see how this person has tried to deal with the issue.

Trying to talk to them politely has not worked at all. We’ve had multiple respectful conversations, but nothing changed.

The property owner has already given them ultimatums and formal warnings, but that also had no effect. Written complaints have been submitted, yet the situation continues and, in some ways, has gotten worse.

Moving is not an option.

To be honest, I’m looking for ways to scare them away.

It really sucks for folk in this position.

To be trying to live your life and have it constantly disturbed by noisy neighbours is no fun at all.

And the fact that they know about the issue and yet it continues? Disgraceful.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a townhome owner who is at his wit’s end with the noise from next door.
Let’s see what the Reddit community had to say about this.

This person, who was going through a similar thing, felt truly sorry for them.

While others had plenty of ideas for how to encourage the neighbours to move.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had a more practical suggestion.

No one should be put in a position where they are unable to relax in their own home. After all, without sufficient time for relaxation, the body cannot fully restore itself, and you end up with your mental and physical health on the line. Of course, perpetually disruptive neighbours don’t care about that – not at all. Because when you only care about yourself, other people’s health and welfare means nothing.

It sucks that the property owner’s action isn’t even having any effect. It seems like a concerted effort from fellow neighbours, perhaps plenty of noise complaints to the police, and further attempts from the property owner are all needed if everyone’s peace and quiet is to be restored. Whether that means pressing charges or evicting them, this can’t go on. Because there is only so long that folk can endure this – though they shouldn’t be having to endure it at all.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who reported some missionaries after frustration over lack of parking boils over.

The post Their Entire Apartment Building Has Had Enough of One Noisy Family — and Nothing Anyone Does Seems to Work appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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When you work at one place for some time, you become part of that community. If there are a lot of like-minded folks working there, that can be a great thing – after all, you have a lot of shared experiences in work, and in many cases you spend as much time with your colleagues as you do your own family. So if your vibe fits that of your colleagues, you might have a great time at all work events – even the boring ones.

But if your colleagues have very different priorities, it can be hard to fit in, to enjoy their company at functions and events outside of the office, and the constant barrage of things to celebrate might become a bit overbearing. This is why most companies like to keep things low-key, especially office-sanctioned events, meaning that they can be inclusive and non-stressful, for everyone.

So when the government worker in this story heard that her colleague was going to plan cakes for her colleagues’ birthday, she thought nothing much of it. After all, how disruptive can a slice of cake be? But when she learned of the planned cakes – and was billed for half of their cost – she started thinking about things very differently.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Obligatory birthday contributions are making me call in sick tomorrow

I am a supervisor/manager at a government job in the USA (California).

We do not have a company credit card. Anything we do in-office, we have to spend our own personal funds on. For example, if the fridge in our office goes out, we have to split the costs amongst employees to buy a new one.

The reason I bring this up is relevant to my story (and the reason we have to pay for these things on our own is because the state I work for does not allow taxpayer dollars to be used towards them).

For context, we are also in the office two days a week for team building, three working from home.

Let’s see how this workplace drama really started.

My coworker “Barbara” is also a supervisor/manager. We both manage a team of two each. Above us, we have two managers, and then we also have three coworkers who work in our office suite, for a total of eleven people.

Barbara is the team cheerleader and events logistics person. If there’s a reason to celebrate, Barbara has the decorations, the planning, and everything else down. Barbara recently asked everyone for their birthdays and their favorite type of birthday cake.

Recently, we had two birthdays, one for team member A (my direct report) and team member B (one of her direct reports). She informed me on Teams that Team Member A’s favourite cake is red velvet cake and that she already pre-ordered it at Whole Foods two weeks prior… and she also included a cake for Team Member B, with the total being $120.00. She suggested that I chip in half.

I let her know that I was not comfortable contributing $60 of my salary to buy a cake, and to leave it to me to buy my employee some cupcakes ($18 for luxury cupcakes from Sam’s Club, highly recommend if you have one in your neighbourhood). She replied, “Well I already ordered it…” and I let her be.

Read on to find out how things went down on the person’s birthday.

The day of the office celebration, she brought both cakes in and I did not contribute because I felt like it was coercive.

The following week (last week), she bought yet another cake from Whole Foods for one of her direct report’s in-office baby shower. On top of that, she had baby shower games and gift card prizes for the participants. To her credit, she did not ask me to contribute to this celebration.

And here we are, tomorrow is another in-office Tuesday, and this time we are supposed to celebrate THREE birthdays for the month of June: one birthday of my direct-report employee, plus Barbara’s, and also my direct manager (who also is Barbara’s boss).

Again, I received a message today from Barbara on Teams asking if I had bought my employee an ice cream cake, since that is his favorite. Since his birthday is not until next week, I did not think of that (and I also don’t have access to the list of everyone’s favorite cake).

Read on to find out what happened with the ice cream cake.

Needless to say, I let her know that if we are going to be celebrating his birthday tomorrow, I can stop by a store and pick up a treat (some donuts, cupcakes, or other sweets), but no, she insists it must be ice cream cake.

After lunch, I got a Teams message letting me know she went to Baskin Robbins and picked up a $30 ice cream cake and some cookies, and that “should be enough…”

In addition, she is getting a cake for herself and for my boss.

The implication is real: contribute.

Let’s see how she’s feeling about this.

I feel sick to my stomach and coerced to give up $30 here, $60 there, and $90 over here. Considering we are a team of eleven, contributing $30 every time someone has a birthday would be about $300 a year out of my own pocket.

I became a manager to lead and earn more money, not to spend it on what I consider to be relatively expensive office treats for people that are just colleagues.

I am considering calling in sick tomorrow so I can avoid the birthday celebration altogether and save myself the guilt and pressure of contributing to what I consider to be over the top, as far as office birthdays is concerned. I am also concerned that by not contributing, I am putting a target on my back as a “non-team player” in the very likelihood a promotional opportunity comes up, which is unfortunate.

Please don’t be a Barbara.

It really sucks that this woman is being put in such a difficult position by her colleague.

Barbara is making a whole lot of assumptions about what her colleague can afford, and that really isn’t right.

It’s important she takes a stand with this, and who could blame her for calling in sick?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who is irate after she gave a group leader money for her daughter’s lunch, only to have him pocket the cash and ask all of the kids to pay their own way.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person thought Barbara’s plan was crazy.

While others offered much more appropriate solutions.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had experiences with a much more preferable system.

Sure, many people enjoy a slice of cake, but the sheer amount of cake that Barbara is ordering is bordering on unhinged. There are eleven people in this team. Eleven. And some months they’re having three cakes at one party, because there are three birthdays that month. That means eleven people having to consume three cakes between them. Some people would be revelling in that, but others? That’s heartburn central.

But that’s without even mentioning the financial pressure that Barbara is putting on her colleague. There’s a different between asking people to throw in some change and requesting that a colleague pay hundreds of dollars every year to subsidise this elaborate birthday cake habit. One is relatively normal, if a little annoying at times. The other is completely unreasonable.

Of course this woman doesn’t want to rock the boat or not be seen as a team player, but in reality, she should have someone backing her up here. There’s no way she should be made to do this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who abandoned their own D&D campaign when their friends stopped paying attention.

The post Her Colleague Secretly Ordered Elaborate Birthday Cakes for All 11 Team Members — Then Asked Her to Pay for Half appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Have you ever lived in a neighborhood that was dominated by one busybody who had to be in everyone’s business and was generally a huge annoyance?

Yes…that’s not fun…

Is that an understatement, or what?!?!

Because it can be a total nightmare!

And this woman knows all about it…

Take a look at what she had to say about a neighbor who is WAY out of line.

Narcissist Karen that will go to any extreme.

“We own and are surrounded by farms with some small tracts of houses scattered around us.

Our neighbors kids are little jerks and the mother is toxic as they come at home.

These children are really something else…

Their kids raised hell in our neighborhood for a while. Chasing a horse several times on other peoples’ property, throwing rocks at neighbors’ dogs in their fenced yard, driving through our fence, throwing rocks at my kid almost hitting my wires car.

Kids got in trouble once in their life and 3 days later started a rumor at school that spiraled till they weren’t in trouble. We sort it out and they want to be friends only to start more trouble. I have tactfully pointed out her flawed logic and stood up to her. On June 6 she attacked us out of nowhere on her neighborhood chat group.

We can’t even be invisible and be left alone.

She finally had enough of this nonsense.

I told her why she acts the way she does and tore her story apart on the chat group. She was not happy with that and blocked the road. Apparently the neighborhood has banded behind me and they silently “fear her” from what I keep hearing from everyone.

I put up a funny sign as a way to get back at her. She’s so insecure it’s not hard. This is the only thing I have ever done to them because we have anxiety from their toxic behavior.

It’s pretty obvious who causes the trouble around these parts.

We keep to ourselves down here. Our whole neighborhood is the same. We may hang with our neighbors once a month to every 6 weeks. This lady thrives on social status and connections.

This makes her feel rejected so she must protect her insecurities. No one wants to talk to her cause she is two faced and turns on you when she feels like she being accused of something, so everyone takes the stuff and avoids saying anything to her to keep the peace.

We installed cameras that were a huge expense due to the distance we had to run them from the house because it’s gotten to be too much harassment from their boys.

She decided to block access to 4 farms and the obstruction was on someone else’s farmland. We pulled deeds and maps to show that she in fact has the legal easement on her property.

It never ends with these people!

They concreted the road and gated it off when they moved in and made their neighbor family member allow passage on her land. They are above rules. We sent her a demand letter to allow passage or remove the posts immediately. She tells us all to get lost and get a lawyer.

Well a couple hours later she calls the sheriffs department and says I’m prowling around outside her property staring at them. I was walking my dog on my own driveway and there is another property between us and the KAREN.

Thank god for cameras cause she tried to frame me in retaliation. Unfortunately they won’t charge her for first time offense due to financial resources with the county. I have to keep worrying she’s gonna frame me or get an order of protection on fabricated stories. They are so vindictive.

She figured out the easement was on her luxury property where they live and that we legally have right to it. So she does a 180 removes the posts on the neighbor where everyone has been having to get access.

Then texts everyone on group saying we see the easement BUT we removed the posts. We just didn’t want our concrete to get damaged. They paved part of the road to keep gravel off their driveway. She is only saying that now because she knows the gates will have to come down and open her home up to through traffic.

She had to throw my name in there saying I’m not going to get into what’s going on with so and so, it’s all so & so, you don’t know about him, then saying she had to get the cops down here because of me ”walking my dog”….

She’s totally unhinged!

Seriously lady? They saw my video evidence I was nowhere near your place!

I’m considering putting up a sign that I had made that states. YOU CALLED SAYING YOU NEEDED DISPATCH, BUT AN INVESTIGATION HAS DETERMINED THAT WAS A LIE.

Taking her driveway is what the land owners have decided to do. She’s been a constant problem with this neighborhood and we are talking her to court to get an injunction to take down her gates. This is bittersweet victory. I know I have more drama on the horizon with her.

Is she a narcissist?

What should I do with this situation to get her to stay the hell away from us?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who responded to an HOA violation letter by investigating the bylaws and having the whole board removed.

Reddit users spoke up.

This person offered some advice.

Another individual didn’t hold back.

And this Reddit user weighed in.

Woof!

This woman’s neighbor sounds like a total nightmare!

You gotta feel for folks in this situation…it sounds like there’s no escape.

Some people just LOVE to cause drama.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a townhome owner who is at his wit’s end with the noise from next door.

The post Unhinged Neighbor Sparks All-Out Suburban Warfare Over Constant Harassment and Petty Chaos appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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This story, my friends, is why so many workers are totally fed up with work culture in America.

Most employees are expected to keep their mouths shut and be appreciative for having a job.

And even when things go south, like they did in the story you’re going to read, employers still don’t budge and offer any humanity to their workers.

It’s not good, folks…

In today’s story, a worker explained why they’re pretty upset with their company after their benefits were slashed.

Take a look at what they had to say.

My employer just told us “you should be grateful to have a job” after cutting our benefits. Anyone else dealt with this?

“Our company just announced they’re eliminating paid sick days and reducing health insurance coverage starting next month.

That old line…

When a few of us pushed back in the all hands on deck meeting, the HR director literally said we should be grateful to have stable employment in this economy and that the company is making tough sacrifices to keep us all on board.

I’ve been here four years. Never called out sick unnecessarily, I stay late when needed, I genuinely try to do good work. And somehow the response to legitimate concerns about losing benefits we were promised is just gratitude-shaming us into silence.

This place sounds pretty screwed up.

The worst part is some of my coworkers nodded along like that was a reasonable answer. I think a lot of people have been so conditioned to feel lucky for having any job at all that they stop questioning whether the job is actually treating them fairly.

Has anyone else gotten this kind of response when raising workplace concerns?

How did you handle it?

Did pushing back ever actually change anything, or did you just end up updating your resume and moving on?

Genuinely curious how others have navigated this because right now I’m feeling pretty demoralized and unsure what the right move is.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who spent nearly 3 decades climbing the ladder at work only to be fired in a meeting that lasted less than a minute.

Reddit users spoke up.

This person weighed in.

Another reader shared their thoughts.

This individual spoke up.

And this person didn’t hold back.

This is not the way to handle this kind of situation, folks!

Bosses and managers, take note: your employees will eventually get fed up and bail on you.

No boss should ever make their employees feel this way…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

The post “You Shouldn’t Be Complaining”: Defiant Worker Exposes Shady Company Overlords Who Cut Benefits and Demanded Ultimate Blind Loyalty appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Hey, times are tough out there…

And folks are doing what they gotta do to pay the bills.

A good way for some people to make a few extra bucks is to turn in used bottles for money…but the guy who wrote this story wasn’t too happy with a neighbor who has been going through his garbage cans to grab his bottles and turn them in for money.

Take a look at what he had to say about this and see if you think he’s overreacting.

My neighbor has been rooting through my bin for bottles for the return scheme.

“At first I thought it might of been a fox or a large rodent of some description, as my neighbor bares a striking resemblance to one from a distance no doubt down to his pointy snout and habit of walking on all fours (it’s some kind of Internet subculture I try not to get involved).

You don’t see that every day!

However I was more than startled to find upon further inspection that this was in fact my forty five year old fellow street dweller going head first into my recycling bin every morning at 4 am.

I discovered this after I installed a Ring doorbell. He approached the bin with all the vigor of an African Lion brutally mauling a Zebra.

He came out of it with four Lucozade bottles and a plastic two litre Cider bottle, which I can assure you whole heartedly is not mine!

He’s not okay with this…

I was impressed by the raw passion but I can’t help but be completely and utterly appalled that my neighbor thinks it’s in any way acceptable to root through another man’s bin in the hopes of pulling some kind of profit.

My friend Jorge later told me he overheard him talking about how he had made over 8,000 Euro the week of the Fleadh (music fesival) last year off the return scheme alone.

But it came at a great cost as he couldn’t properly enjoy the Fleadh festivities as all he could think about was when would he get his next bottle or can, how very tragic.

This guy sounds pretty desperate.

Jorge even overheard him say that he followed Marty Whealan around for upwards of half an hour praying he would drop his bottle of Vit Hit.

Anyway, if my Neighbor wishes to live like a Grade A cretin, it’s none of my business, but I wish he didn’t do it in my bin on account of it being my bin and therefore my property.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can deal with him?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a middle schooler who was totally frazzled after being left to babysit alone for 3-plus hours, and swears she’s never doing it again.

Take a look at what readers had to say about this.

This person shared their thoughts.

Another individual spoke up.

And this reader weighed in.

I agree with the last commenter on here…

Why does this guy care?

It really doesn’t seem like a big deal!

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

The post He Caught His Neighbor Going Through His Trash for Bottles — the Reason Made Him See Everything Differently appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Everyone has little routines that help them unwind after a long day.

For some people, it’s a hot shower. For others, it’s reading a book or scrolling through their phone for a few minutes.

For this man, it involves grabbing takeout food after football training, sitting down in front of the TV, and enjoying a little peace and quiet before bed.

Unfortunately, though, his girlfriend has a habit of turning that quiet time into something else.

Now he’s wondering whether he’s overreacting or if his frustration is actually justified.

Read on to see what’s been happening.

AITA for getting irritated that my girlfriend keeps eating food directly off my plate after football training?

Twice a week, I have football training in the evenings. By the time I’m driving home, it’s late, I’m exhausted, socially drained, and starving.

On the way home, I always stop at the same kebab shop and get food. I then sit in the living room eating it while zoning out and watching some mindless TV. It’s basically my decompression routine after training.

My girlfriend is normally asleep when I get home, but every single time I come in with takeaway, she wakes up and comes into the living room.

He gets low-key annoyed by the whole thing.

She’ll go, “Oh wow, what did you get? That smells so good”

Then she sits beside me, starts talking to me, and casually starts taking chips or bits of kebab directly off my plate.

The thing is, it irrationally annoys me because I’m genuinely looking forward to just quietly eating my food and switching my brain off for 20 minutes.

Frustrated, he tried to prevent it from happening again.

Last time, I actually tried to solve the problem in advance by calling her before I got home and asking if she wanted me to pick her up food too. She said no.

I thought that would finally stop this from happening.

Instead, I got home and, within minutes, she was beside me again eating chips directly off my plate.

He finally had to tell her to back off.

I finally told her, “If you want food, just take your portion off my plate and leave me alone for a bit.”

She got quiet after that and later said I was being weirdly hostile over “a few chips.”

From my perspective, it’s not really about the chips. It’s that I feel like my tiny post-training decompression ritual keeps getting invaded when I’m tired and overstimulated.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but many people would find that annoying.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose friends say he’s privileged for wanting to eat at nicer restaurants.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit think about it.

This woman’s husband also likes time alone after work.

According to this comment, he’s allowed to have alone time.

Here’s someone who finds her behavior rude.

And this reader won’t even be friends with someone who does that.

He isn’t wrong for wanting a little time to himself after training.

After all, he’s not asking for much. He just wants to eat his food, watch some TV, and decompress for a few minutes before bed.

But the good news is now that he has finally said something, she should have a much better understanding of where he’s coming from. And going forward, she can order her own food and let him have a little space.

Ultimately, this feels more like a misunderstanding than a serious problem, and a little communication can go a long way before things become unnecessarily tense.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who abandoned their own D&D campaign when their friends stopped paying attention.

The post Man Just Wants to Eat His Takeout After Football Practice, but His Girlfriend Won’t Stop Taking Food Off His Plate appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Let me pose a question for you to ponder…

What happened to work ethic?

No, I’m not talking about everyone, I’m singling out folks who don’t want to put in hard work and just expect to float by.

To be fair, I guess plenty of people do that, but it’s not gonna end well for some folks.

In today’s story, a person talked about a co-worker who did the bare minimum…and seemed pretty clueless about why they got let go from their job.

Read on and see what you think.

My coworker honestly doesn’t know why she was let go.

“I work somewhere that has yearly contracts but you have to majorly mess up not to get it the following year because we’re always hurting for staff.

My coworker got hired as a temp but it was basically 11 out 12 months because unfortunately my former coworker had a major medical issue and was close to retirement so she went ahead and retired.

My coworker was told that this was just temp but there would certainly be openings next fiscal year to be permanent. The only difference with temp was you were basically in a probation period the whole time.

Some folks just don’t thrive in certain jobs.

Well things quickly went downhill with her, she was always on her phone, paid no attention to most of her job duties and was often found wandering, not where she was supposed to be.

She regularly wore inappropriate work attire. We have very loose dress policy. Jeans and t shirt are fine but she would come in with torn sweats I mean torn where you could see her underwear, shirts that were wildly too small, short shorts and even one time what I could only describe as a night gown.

And some folks are just clueless!

She would not follow her scheduled tasks the only reason why management kept her at the temp position is because she had some specialty training only 1-2 other people had and she did do that part of her job.

She also talked horribly about practically everyone, her coworkers, her family, her friends, all in front of everyone coworkers, customers, children…

My job sent some more people to get the training she had and they told her they would not be renewing the contract she was a temp for but other full time positions were available.

She interviewed for every single one I think there were 5 in 3 different departments. Every one of the department leads told our boss they didn’t want to work with her.

Her temp contract is up at the end of the month now and she has admitted to me and several other coworkers that she is going to call off every day when she is supposed to her specialist work.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person spoke up.

Another reader had a lot to say.

This individual weighed in.

Another person shared their thoughts.

And this reader spoke up.

I really like this last comment.

Those are words to live by, friends!

Do your best no matter what job you have!

It’s hard to believe that some people can be this clueless…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.

The post A Temp Worker Managed to Break Every Unwritten Workplace Rule — Her Contract Wasn’t Renewed and Nobody Was Surprised appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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It’s that time again, folks…

Time for yet another story about a person’s neighbor who has no courtesy AT ALL.

In today’s edition, a man talked about how he came up with a brilliant solution to contend with his rude neighbor constantly blasting awful country music.

Check out what he had to say!

How I solved the annoying neighbor’s loud bass annoying Country Music.

“I don’t know if this qualifies as a neighbor from hell – but my neighbor and I both have pools. I’ve been growing emerald green trees to block him and his views and maybe some of the noise, but they have a while to go.

Anyway, for half of the year when pools cant be used where I live it’s fine. I hardly see him and his dumb family.

The only annoyance is he keeps his garage door open almost 24/7 even if the HOA forbids it and watches TV in his garage at a high volume.

Our garages face each other and his sons come over and they get loud, but I ignore it. Whatever, it’s usually on the weekends.

Nobody wants to deal with this…

From a summer pool perspective he and his kids and grandkids come over and play god awful country music with the bass up (from their pool area).

For my own peace – I avoid swimming with my family when they are out there, although what I’m about to tell you may help.

When they are out there I could still hear the “bass” from my living room and it was driving me nuts. After talking to Claude AI and telling it the dynamics of my house – Claude asked if I had an Alexa in my living room / kitchen, and said turn on “Brown Noise”.

Hey, whatever works!

I turned it on on my Alexa device and it completely eliminated or I guess neutralized the bass. I was amazed. I can be in my house and not hear anything, my wife was amazed too. (I am playing 12 hour loop of Brown Noise from Spotify)

Heres the science from Claude:

That’s the physics working in your favor — brown noise has a lot of energy concentrated in the low frequencies, so it’s essentially competing on the same acoustic turf as the bass and crowding it out perceptually.

Alexa’s speaker also helps because it’s filling the room at ear level rather than you trying to block at the ear with headphones

On trying to use my pool with this technique:

You control the near-field — Sound attenuates with distance (inverse square law). Your speakers are 3 feet from you in the pool; his are significantly further. You don’t need to out-power him, you just need to win at your position.

Anyway, not sure if this will help anyone here, but just wanted to share. If it gets downvoted all good, I’ve been dealing with this for 3 years and finally solved it for my peace of mind around things I can control. Hopefully it helps someone.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a townhome owner who is at his wit’s end with the noise from next door.

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person has been there.

Another reader weighed in.

This Reddit user spoke up.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

And this person chimed in.

Ugh, this sounds so annoying.

It shouldn’t have to come to this, people!

Can we all just agree to be good neighbors?

Yeah…I don’t think that’s gonna happen…

A person can only take so much country music before they snap.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who reported some missionaries after frustration over lack of parking boils over.

The post His Neighbor Kept Blasting Country Music — So He Found a Clever Way to Drown It Out and We Need to Know What It Was appeared first on TwistedSifter.