u/LauMiauPlays

I'm thinking about a Barbie Basics, because they seem to have good quality and I like their articulation, but I'm not very fond of the beige clothes

I recently found a job as a cashier. The shop is in a tourist town in Spain with a lot of English, French, Italian, and German tourists.

There's a man, maybe in his 50s or 60s, a bit overweight with a beer belly, who only speaks English. He is very tanned and looks a bit dirty, and he comes in a lot to buy beer and a little bit of food.

He is a really sweet man; he always greets me and laughs. Today, I called him "my favorite customer" and asked him if he lives nearby because he comes so often. He then confessed that he's homeless.

He comes to buy a single beer maybe thrice a day, and he always gives me the exact amount in cash. Sometimes he also buys ham or other "ready-to-eat" meat.

The place is very hot, especially now that it's summer (here we have winter and summer, with barely any in-between), but I don't know if it chills down at night.

I feel an actual pain in my chest every time I see him. He sits almost right in front of the shop all day, every day, and comes in to buy something for 85 cents or less very often, so I see him a lot.

I want to give him something to make the pain go away. I'm not rich; in fact, it's very hard for me to do this job as I have multiple sclerosis, which I'm hiding from my boss. Because of this, I spend a lot of money on things like corsets, adult diapers, cooling pads, etc.

Yet, I feel so privileged compared to him.

So, I'd like to know: what do you think I could get him to make his life just a tiny bit easier? I need this pain gone. Sometimes I feel like crying at work, and I don't want to draw attention to myself.

Thanks.

I had my eye on some of these toys since I was a teenager and wanted to start collecting, but I had no money. Then I went through a vulnerable phase where I was deeply affected by my family's pressure to be "normal." After that, I dealt with a chronic illness that kept my mood really low for years, before finally reaching that adult phase where you "kill the father" and start discovering who you really are.

A few years ago, I started collecting MH G3. I was into way too many things (video games, crafts, makeup, etc.), almost like I was re-experiencing everything through the eyes of a child. To make the most of my money, I had to cut back on certain things (like going to one workshop instead of three, or traveling twice a year instead of every month). As a result, I also passed on collecting certain dolls and plushies.

Now, I've come full circle and I know myself better. I love dolls—and not just MH, but LOL, Fugglers, Barbies, Sylvanian Families, and RH...

And OH GOD, how I hate myself for missing out on the chance to collect the core RH dolls. Their stands, clothes, color themes, accessories, and articulation... I have five of them and they look so cool together...

But now, new RH releases just aren't the same. They feel cheap and gimmicky, with less articulation and no stands... I don't know how to explain it, but I just feel this deep regret.

My biggest source of happiness is going to the toy store after a hard week of work to find some booty to bring home and play with. I got to experience that with Legos, MH, and Beanie Boos, but I won't get to have it with RH anymore.

That's my rant. Thanks for reading.

This is an update to a previous post.

First, I'd like to say I was surprised to find negative comments in this forum (and their upvotes). However, I want to thank those who actually had something helpful to say and truly did help me.

So, I'm in a situation where I don't need a job to survive, but I need a job to "live longer." It's hard to explain, but it's a strange situation and I was kind of desperate to work.

I'm a programmer, but due to a six-year gap in my resume and my high disability level, nobody would hire me. So, I started sending my resume everywhere, and I hid the fact that I'm severely disabled—to the point of rejecting financial aid so my employer wouldn't find out.

I was finally hired as a cashier. I also have to restock shelves and clean. Here is how I manage to keep my symptoms hidden.

The first and most important problem I have is that I need to use the restroom every 20-30 minutes, and if I don't run, I soil myself. To deal with this, I wear an adult diaper under my uniform, and I only use the restroom once or twice a shift.

My ankles and knees are very weak. For my ankles, I bought braces meant for sprained ankles, and they keep me way more stable. For my knees, I just try to use both my knees and my back when carrying heavy boxes.

Because I use my back incorrectly, it hurts terribly by the end of the day. I also have a slightly displaced hip and scoliosis, which makes it worse. I end up barely being able to keep my torso straight, as if I were missing all the muscles in my back. To fix this, I started wearing a corset—a cheap, rigid pirate costume piece from AliExpress. With it, I don't bend my back as much, and I can support my upper body on my hips. I cut off all the fleece, ribbons, and decorations, but if anyone looked closely, they could probably tell I'm wearing a corset under my uniform.

As for my "clumsiness," that's just what people think it is—that I'm just a bit clumsy. When I have to walk through the wine aisle, I just pick up the pace so I don't stumble, but usually, I move around with the stock cart and use it for support. I've fallen a few times, but fortunately, nobody was around and I didn't break anything.

I have strong arms, but I've lost most of the sensation in my fingers and my grip isn't firm. Because of this, I wear cut-proof safety gloves all the time. They give me a lot of grip, so glass items don't slip from my hands. My coworkers think it's strange that I wear them all the time, even while cashiering or cleaning, but I just tell them I hate constantly taking them on and off. My hands end up hurting at the end of the day because of the moisture, but it's fine as long as nobody notices.

We have a small breakroom with a fridge, and I keep a few water bottles there. I'm the only one carrying a water bottle around, but it gets hot and my face turns noticeably red, so my coworkers can see it and understand why I need to drink. The cold water and the store's air conditioning help a lot. When I'm restocking boxes and start overheating, I pretend to go to the stockroom for something and stand inside the walk-in cooler for half a minute until I'm fine again.

When I'm restocking, especially with glass bottles, I try to be very careful with how I move my hands. I'm a bit slow; I tighten my grip and move very deliberately so I don't break anything. This is harder than enduring the pain, as it's mentally draining. I'm afraid my coworkers will think I'm too slow, but fortunately, two of them have already broken glass bottles, which diverted the attention away from me.

I hope this can help someone in my situation learn how to hide their symptoms, and I will be forever grateful if anyone has any extra tips for me.

My BF (M25) and I (F38) have been together for 5 years. When I first met his grandparents, they had a chicken coop, some goats, and a vegetable garden. However, after about a year, they had to get rid of everything (except for one rooster) due to mobility issues.

Since then, my boyfriend and I have taken over the care of the entire property: the land, the old coop, the stable, and the old greenhouse. Everything was in terrible shape: old, filthy, infested with rats, and cluttered with junk (scrap metal, old machinery parts, car pieces, rusty water heaters, and boards with rusty nails sticking out). We’ve been slowly cleaning it all up, though it's still a work in progress.

On top of that, I always help his grandparents whenever they need anything. I’ve driven them to the hospital at 3 AM, I take them to the bank, buy their groceries and medication, and I even cut their nails. We’ve always had a really good relationship.

A few months ago, we ended up getting chickens. It wasn't planned, but it was a family commitment we had to step up for. Even though I’m a city girl at heart, I’ve fallen completely in love with country life. I do most of the farm work because I genuinely love it. I buy their feed, got them new waterers, and rewired the entire enclosure to keep predators out. I'm learning how to build nesting boxes, and I collect fresh grass for them daily. I even started breeding mealworms for them and planted specific greens to supplement their diet. Honestly, taking care of my small garden and the coop makes me feel like I'm in heaven.

However, his grandmother is completely against us having chickens. She claims the roosters disturb the neighbors. But we barely have any neighbors—we live in a rural zone. In fact, the land is officially zoned as rural by the local town hall. This area used to be full of animals and crops, but as the older generation aged, they got rid of everything, and the younger generation had no interest in keeping it going. We are literally the last ones left keeping livestock. She also thinks coops are inherently loud and messy because when they ran it, they kept all the chickens and roosters cooped up together, leading to inbreeding and disease. But I only keep one rooster, and he is not loud at all.

Eventually, some of the chickens started laying and incubating eggs. I was so incredibly happy to experience this. I checked on them, marked the eggs, wrote down the expected dates, and prepared a safe space for the chicks and their mothers.

But right around the hatching date, all the eggs vanished. I was devastated. We blamed rats, thieves, a jealous neighbor... We installed security cameras, set rat traps, and changed all the locks on the gates.

Soon after, my chickens started incubating a second clutch of eggs. And the exact same thing happened: the eggs disappeared. We checked the security camera footage, and to my absolute horror, the culprit was his grandmother.

I am beyond furious. Right now, my boyfriend and I are spending our free time completely rewiring her house and installing a new bathroom adapted to her mobility needs.

But after seeing the footage, I just walked away, blind with rage. I was so close to having baby chicks. I feel like my boyfriend bought me a ticket to Disneyland, and his grandmother stole it and tore it to pieces right in front of me.

I need someone to tell me that I'm overreacting and why, because as of right now, my relationship with her is changed forever.

Edit1:

-I don't own the property. I stay 4 days a week to help his grandparents with basic stuff like meals, using the bathroom, etc... his grandfather uses a wheelchair and the house is not adapted.

Edit2:

-If the age gap is such a concern for some of you, let me clarify a few things to clear up any assumptions that I’m taking advantage of him:

First, he was the one who pursued me. We met while studying electricity and electronics. I was the only girl in class who shared his passion for disassembling old washing machines.

Second, I am asexual and I don't want children.

Lastly, if anyone thinks he’s being trapped or used, let me lay out my reality: I have multiple sclerosis, I am currently unemployed, and I’m slightly overweight. My only real social interactions are on the internet and talking to my chickens. My parents are well-off enough that they’ve told me I don't need to work due to my illness (though I am actively looking for a job and making some money selling my crafts).

I am hardly a 'trophy girlfriend' or a gold digger. I don't even know what’s in his bank account, and we have an open agreement where he is free to have sex with other women. He is with me because he wants to be, and he is free to leave whenever he pleases.