u/4215265

I’ve been doing a work exchange for a local studio for the past 6 months. I did it to get to know the community better so I can teach there one day and to get a free pass.

I’m starting to question if it’s a bit exploitative though. I’ve had an ex teacher tell me the work was way more than normal studios.

It’s a 4-5 hour shift once a week. I have to:
- run the front desk
- greet guests, give tours to newcomers
- open and close the studio
- scrub the shower
- wipe the floor boards, counter, handles, benches, cubbies
- do the laundry at the laundromat down the street
- fold said laundry
- make the spa towels
-wash the windows
- mop
- vacuum
- clean the toilet, mirrors, sink
- take out the trash
- work as the sole worker each shift besides the teacher
- find all shift replacements if I’m going to miss a shift
- run basic IT tasks with the owner cause he doesn’t know how to download a PowerPoint, stuff like that
- I am being watched on the cameras. I haven’t missed a task but have been warned that I will be called out if I do.
- the monthly membership is about $160/month

I want to say this arrangement has worked for me so far because I love working for my community and it’s fulfilling, but the owner has started engaging in some questionable behaviors and an ex teacher told me she believes the owner treats me poorly. I’m wondering if this amount of work is normal or if I am getting taken advantage of, even if it gives me a leg up to work there in the future .

Hi! Trying to shift to being vegetarian and maybe one day become vegan. Trying to find “ethical” dairy sources as a transition. I am trying to move away from industrial farms and support local farmers and cows treated with as much respect as possible.

I found a few farms in the valley, however, they mainly serve raw milk. This concerns me as I would not trust a farm that serves raw milk.

Does anyone know of local dairy farms that serve pasteurized milk and treat their cattle with (more) care?

I have a coworker I'll call "Jake". He is my senior and technically my only counterpart (it's a small team) although I have a boss that runs our team of 5. I've been here for ~6 months.

The first 4 months or so were amazing, he was helpful, friendly, and we joked around a lot. He was the first person I felt comfortable with questions. His wife had a baby about 3 weeks into my job, and then he took 3 weeks off for paternity leave. Although it sucked feeling thrown to the wolves covering him with minimal training, I felt good and like I proved myself as being capable of the role. I have ~4 YOE.

He was unchanged after his baby, which I was shocked and impressed by. However, 2 months or so after his baby was born, he started "renovating his garage" and undertook a large work project. After this, he has become a completely different person to everyone on the team. He's short, uncommunicative, and hostile.

This would be fine, except he's my senior. He passed off a big project for me, was absent or completely distracted during code reviews, started telling me everything I changed was "fine as long as it worked". Now, his big work project is done, but his garage is unfinished, and he's turned the hostility up a notch. Doesn't respond to any of my "thank you"s, is unkind about code changes I've made because I "didn't run it by him" despite be running it by him in stand or with my boss and submitting code change requests, and is altogether still hostile.

My boss is concerned but very relaxed. The team is extremely laid back, the work environment is scrappy (startup vibes for a non tech company). However, I'm extremely concerned. I'm wondering if I'm to blame, if he finds me incapable, or is upset but won't communicate it.

How do I go about reconciling this? Do I go through my boss? Do I talk directly to him? I dont' want to set him off. What do I say? This is all becoming so unprofessional, how can you expect to suceed beyond senior if you can't manage or even be helpful to your junior? I'm trying to be empathatic to his situation as a new parent, but come on, all this over a new garage??? The newborn was fine for him, but it's the GARAGE that has set him off. It's so confusing.

Hi! I’m half Indian and new to Hinduism as a way to explore my spirituality and connect back to my heritage (I’m American and never had exposure to anyone Hindu growing up + my mom was adopted).

I have been studying the religion, texts, and yoga (beyond asanas). I want to get an ohm tattoo to remind me of my heritage and to spiritually anchor me.

I’m thinking of getting a small one on the outside of the wrist, is that disrespectful given the context or placement? Most Indians or non Indians do not guess I am half Indian, just racially ambiguous or Latina, so I don’t want to offend people. Thank you!

Hi! I’ve been drawn to yoga for years, but haven’t been able to practice consistently (until recently) as I have a nerve disability that makes any time on my hands virtually impossible (no down dogs, no planks, even dragonfly type poses aggravate my arms) as my hands will go numb for days.

I recently started Bikram yoga because you spend virtually no time on your hands. However, I’m drawn to mysore ashtanga due to a similar regimentedness of the practice.

I know I can always modify and a teacher will help me through my disability, but I’m curious if anyone has a similar experience to mine and is successful? I have heard personal anecdotes of temporary injuries, but am curious if anyone has done anything with a long term or lifetime disability. I won’t lie, doing dolphin and modified chaturunga is harder than not modifying, but the later half of the sequence seems easier!!!

Background: I have 3 years as a DE at a marketing agency, 1.5 years in house as an adtech PM at a brand, just switched back over to DE in house at another brand.

My last company was a lot more advanced technologically than my current job. Their focus over the last few years has been hyper personalization, part of that was creating customer centric “profiles” in the data, focusing on a robust CDP, personalizing landing pages, etc. part of the reason is their repeat base was huge and part of their business model (a health subscription based brand, I’ll try not to dox myself).

However, at my new company, everything from the baseline data is structured around an individual order, and customer id is not even a traceable identifier. Beyond this, their ad targeting and suppression is all around “engaged in the last 90 days”. I know this is pretty standard, but they’ve done no work in discovery for repeat business because the brand is really new customer focused.

I’m curious if my new company is the exception or the norm. I’m starting a project trying to better create customer centric views in the database and try to find meaningful purchase patterns. Wondering what your experiences are in this sort of work.

TW: eating disorders, possible maternal abuse, childhood eating disorders

It seems like every girls trip I go on I come home ravenous. I could go on a co-ed family trip or friend trip and eat the whole time but the second it’s a girls trip, there’s always at least one person in the group that wants to eat as little as possible, will shame/question the group for being hungry, etc. I’ve learned to just eat regardless and bring plenty of snacks but it’s like fighting for survival at some points.

I’m on a trip to Disneyland right now with my mom, aunt, her two daughters (14, 9), another cousin, and grandma. The first night, there were complaints about sugar and about how most of the group is off sugar. My cousin even said her husband “would get so mad if he knew she was eating sugar”. Complained about how “rich” the desserts are and how they’d only take a small bite. Other comments about not wanting flabby mom arms or wanting to lose weight.

Second day was Disneyland. I started to get concerned for the small girls. The whole day they + their mother had:
- 1 churro each
- 2 shared bags of popcorn
- 1 small shared bag of pretzels
ALL BEFORE 5 PM
- shared tapas for dinner, where there mother was constantly pointing out who was eating what, trying to get everyone to eat her food (presumably so she didn’t have to)
- 1 shared cookie after dinner, I shared my cookie with the 9 year old and the mom got mad that she didn’t share the cookie with her instead (so she ate half instead of thirds)

I luckily was able to sneak some food to the 9 year old throughout the day. She was very hungry. Mind you we were out from 7 am to midnight walking 30k steps. The 2 girls and their mom are very thin. I just assumed it was genetics but she is constantly policing their food.

The next morning, we got some small pastries from Starbucks per their mom’s request. Before we went, the mom said “I’m still full from the meatball from dinner!” (She had ONE small meatball at dinner). The 14 year old took 2 bites of her food and said “I guess I realized im also still full from dinner”. The 9 year old was happily eating her share of food and her sister’s. If she’s that hungry, shouldn’t they be too??? The nine year old ate more dinner than them.

I just feel like I’m in hell. Gives me absolutely no hope for women if we can’t even treat our bodies right. Literally the only people who haven’t commented on food or shamed our food or others is me and my mom. All they do is talk about food and our next meal. I know this is the exception trip not the rule, but I’m thinking back on all my girls trips and some form of this happens.

Thoughts? Is there anything I can say to try to discourage this? I’ve tried talking with the girl and encouraging her listening to her body but the mother and teen seem beyond my reasonable help.

EDIT: this family is not poor. Uncle is a CIO and aunt works in political campaigns. They are doing extremely well.