u/Tight-Connection-909

I’ve been sick for a week.

Symptoms started right after I got back from a family trip upstate. I don’t know if I contracted there or here, but it’s been intense.

I tested negative for Covid and flu but the body aches, sweats, cough, and sore throat remain. I’m hoping for some relief soon.

I’ve read many books on my Kindle, and while I can say that the reading experience is always enjoyable for me (especially since a larger font size is required for me), the memory of reading certain books perhaps isn’t as developed as it would be compared to reading a physical book.

Does anyone have the same experience?

Does anyone know how to turn off the vocal feedback for my workouts?

Every time I workout, there is a very loud coaching and I can’t turn it off despite disabling all notifications.

Please and thank you. 🙏

More and more people tell me that I need to use my network in order to find my next role. This is good advice, but - 

I worked for my previous company for almost four years, but put in my two weeks after my role had become untenable. I do have a few people there who could give me a reference, but they're not going to help me find a new role. 

I also have many old previous employers, but don't exactly keep in touch with people I used to work with - because we were not friends and simply worked together. They're all very nice people. 

I also left the previous company under previous circumstances, as more and more work was being dumped on me and I simply couldn't manage anymore.

It would be a little awkward to reach out to someone on an old team and say, "...Hey Michelle, I know we haven't spoken for five years, but I just wanted to know if you can help expand my network." 

Do you know what I mean?

I've gone to networking events and most people I meet are vapid, self-consumed, or guarded enough where they don't want to help me. Sometimes I receive business cards, follow up, and then receive no response.

I've played the game of coffee dates, but it typically leads nowhere and then I have no more leads to follow after the trail goes cold. 

LinkedIn is even worse as no one ever responds to in-mail messages, at least not for me. 

So - what am I supposed to do, beg? 

Hello! 

I'm looking into the online Master of Science in Management through the Gies College of Business. 

I've been looking through their program, and it appears that one can stack certificates into the program to graduate. 

Has anyone had a good experience here and would you recommend it?

This will be my second attempt at earning a master’s. 

I was recently accepted into the SCPS Project Management Certificate, which is great, but I also recently lost my job, which is not great. 

My previous employer was going to pay for most of the program, but now I'm left footing the bill.

My goal is to complete the program with the intention of continuing to a Master’s program later with recommendations, maybe within UVA, but maybe elsewhere. 

I had previously attended another Master’s program many years ago in my 20s, but sadly could never finish the program. 

I spoke to someone who went through the SCPS PM program and they said that it was a good experience, but nothing incredible that I couldn't have learned on my own time. 

I've also completed the Google Project Management Certificate on my own time for general knowledge, and enjoyed the material. 

Has anyone been through the program, and is it worth it? 

Is a Graduate Certificate from SCPS well regarded? 

I also ask this knowing that the employment market is terrible right now, but I'm still interested in trying something new. 

This would involve going back in time to accomplish x in order to produce y. It goes without saying that if traveling to any destination, you would be provided with any and all materials or items required. The choice is yours.

It would be so cool. 😎

I just want a System Shock 2 remake in the style of the System Shock remake.

Nightdive Studio, please get on this.

You know it would be amazing.

Over a year ago, I took a new role in my company. I had previously supported in sales.

On paper, the role was well-defined, but my day-to-day experience was anything but. 

I worked in retail for a major brand, essentially being an executive assistant to 10+ store managers, who each had their own competing priorities. My role and my work helped to support the entire store of over 150 employees. 

I was in the role for just about one year, and the role changed dramatically over that time. 

I supported many administrative projects, ordered supplies, uniforms, managed a budget, corporate communications, and more. I also helped to welcome outside clients into our store who worked for corporate, with meetings and events.

This aspect of the role was actually exciting to me at first, but was taken away from me due to ongoing leadership changes. I was deeply saddened as I was lied to during my interview, being told that I had an "open opportunity" to plan and try new ideas to help our team. Looking back, I know that this person was simply trying to fill the role, so they would have likely said anything to entice me. I took notes during the interview. I still have them. 

I knew something was wrong when I started, as my "approved" vacation was not approved until the very last minute, even though I was told it was "no problem" when I signed my offer letter. I was told that it wasn't communicated in writing, even though it was, and then its approval came one day before I was supposed to leave on my trip. This was also the first vacation with my wife's family, so not going was not an option.

A big part of my role was to be available, whenever and wherever, always. I often found out about things in the moment and at times wasn't Cc'd on communications, forcing me to scramble, having blame shifted to me, for things I often wasn't even aware of. This happened many times. In some cases, I was given additional slides for meetings, or asked to change them right before meetings occurred, adding extra stress for an otherwise simple task. 

I reached a point where I simply struggled to accept that my role would have no clarity. I spoke to our HR team and our Senior Store Manager, who each told me in so many words, "...there would be none.” I also struggled to learn that certain managers barely knew how to use technology, so I took it upon myself to teach them. I simply couldn't believe that someone making six figures didn't know how to use a computer. 

I worked in a terrible office environment, which was shared space with other team members who were taking breaks or having lunch. They would leave discarded food containers, garbage, and personal items on my "desk," which changed daily, seeing that I worked in a shared "office." It was also very loud and difficult to work in without noise-cancelling headphones. I was simply supposed to accept this as normal. I was routinely interrupted or forced to switch priorities. 

I also had challenges with the store's HR team. Seeing that I wasn't managed enough to always know what I should or even could be doing, our roles sometimes intersected enough to where we were working on projects together. This was never an issue and I enjoyed it. But, the ambiguity of my role forced us to be at odds. Both team members eventually left the company too, shortly after I did. I know they're in a happier place now, and took nothing personally. 

The beginning of the end for me was when I was asked to create printed name badges for our store's sales teams, which required me to print and cut out employee images into makeshift plastic holders with magnets. One manager in particular routinely placed extra stress on me during its completion, as it was a "major priority" for our senior manager. During the project, I was lacking many employee images, having to obtain or create many of them myself, which were located all over our store's cloud storage. This project also served no practical application and easily could have been something that was displayed digitally, which I had created, but physical badges were asked for because “they looked better.” It took about two weeks to complete as over 100 employees needed updates or design changes. Later, I was asked to change all of them with a small change "that looked better" but refused, because it was a waste of time. 

As time went on, other projects I started were taken away from me, changed, or abandoned altogether due to changing priorities. I had many ideas in terms of how we could create data-driven insights for our team, but these were passed on by managers, who always offered their own ideas or copied my own. 

Right before leaving, my primary focus was to arrange meetings for team members with our senior manager. This was easy enough in theory, but these changes would pull people away from the sales floor, and I had to essentially chase down and beg managers to make the changes, as I lacked access. To make these changes, I also used a “schedule manager” which was poorly designed and difficult to understand, given the company’s resources. Sometimes I had to use pen and paper because there was simply no other way to understand the information. I was also criticized for pulling people away from the floor.

Right before putting in my notice, I was criticized for “…not using enough AI” in my work. I have a fine eye for detail and graphic design, which I have learned over time. It was suddenly important that we were communicating our use of AI in our projects, even though these results quickly complicated simple projects that needed no AI. 

I trained my replacement and left the role. It’s been several months, and I’m still angry and upset just thinking about it. It was supposed to be a "great opportunity" and path to a better role, but it turned out to be an incredible disappointment. It's sad that there are people still there, still undervalued, desperate to get out. 

I suppose the only thing I’m grateful for is that I learned what I don’t want in my next role. I want a role where I have a voice, where I feel valued, where I feel like I'm part of a team. I don't think that's too much to ask. 

This has been the most important lesson. 

I absolutely love the Cthulhu mythos, even though H.P Lovecraft was a vile and repulsive human being.

Cosmic Horror is one of my favorite things, and it's exciting to think that we could be tiny insects next to ancient primordial colossi, who don't even care or know that we exist, whose very awakening could drive us into madness, chaos, and destruction.

What's yours?

Last night I dreamed that I was hiking through the woods with former team members.

We were all wearing Holiday Red shirts, blue jeans, hiking boots, and had frame backpacks on.

As we were walking, we were encountering customers with pop-up mobile stores that could quickly self-assemble on the trail with the tap of a button. These stores would shape themselves to the environment and provide shelter from the elements. They were beautiful.

Customers would browse, purchase, and upgrade, before the stores were quickly disassembled in a few moments into small devices that were slung over our shoulders.

I helped a family explore iPhones next to a steam as I taught them how to skip stones and identify wild birds. There were northern cardinals, crows, blue jays, and owls.

Some customers would simple scroll their phones, sometimes contently looking into the woods.

Before waking, I blamed one of my Managers for allowing me "to get old" and then opened my eyes.

Hello!

I'm a Google Fi customer and the update has caused my e-sim to stop working.

I tried resetting my network settings and resetting the device. but the issue still persists.

Has anyone else experienced this with their carrier?

I might remove the e-sim and add it again.

My wife and ai tried to see the Odyssey in IMAX in northern VA yesterday at 6PM.

We waited for about 15 minutes before we were told the projector was broken and everyone would be refunded.

People were not happy, but what could you do.

Fortunately, we were refunded quickly.

I’m going to wait a few more weeks and try again.

I simply no longer felt valued as a team member, and was not given opportunities for advancement despite continuing to hit sales metrics for our store.

After being turned down four times for Expert, I put in my two weeks.

I understand the role well, routinely mentored new team members, completed a in store train my experience for 30 new team members, and facilitated at several Core hiring events.

There were no tangible paths to corporate careers, seeing that less than 1% of people applying actually receive career experiences.

Beyond this, there was frequent blame shifting to our team from leaders, which continued to hurt morale.

I would absolutely come back or this were to change, but as it stands today, Apple
Retail is deeply broken.

I used the Apple steps of service, probed for Business, AppleCare, etc.

She only wanted to purchase the Mac.

Fine. No problem.

We worked together to find the machine she wanted, but she changed her mind right as she tapped her credit card.

She was very pleasant to speak to - but suddenly everything changed.

I pressed cancel and the charge was cancelled, thinking nothing of it. People change their minds all the time based on color preferences, products, and more.

This resulted in her checking her bank balance to see the temporary hold in her account, which I told her would disappear, seeing that the transaction didn’t process.

She quickly called her bank and loudly started telling them how I made a mistake in front of the entire store.

People stared.

The store went quiet.

She was getting louder.

Security was watching.

Then, she started screaming and crying until she was eventually escorted outside by security.

After she left, a Manager offered support, but then immediately chastised me for not selling her Apple Services, upgrading any other devices, or connecting her to a Today at Apple session.

This was the beginning of the end for me. 🫠

I worked for Apple for just over three years in several retail stores.

I really wanted to stay, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. It became more and more clear that my only job was to extract as much cash out of customers as possible, regardless of their income or product needs.

I was routinely denied promotions, which became debilitating.

There was also a revolving door of new team members, always coming and going.

I can only imagine what it’s like now with price increases, management, and customers being what they are.

It’s very sad too, because there are a lot of good people still there who genuinely care, and do great work.

You’re not really enriching lives, as much as you are enriching Apple.

Never again.

Hello, I purchased the Benq MA270s one month ago and for whatever reason, the monitor appears to zoom into content when unlocked.

I can easily zoom out when unlocked, but I can't be sure why this issue is occurring.

Has anyone else seen this with their monitor?

I have a Google Home with nest speakers that is beginning to show its age.

I’m considering upgrading to:

- A new mesh WiFi (from Google Nest with a Point) and
- new speakers for bedroom, guest room, and living room.

My wife and I both have iPhones and an Apple TV 4K.

I think right now we’re torn between the Eero Pro 7 Router and Nighthawk router and are also considering a Sonos System or maybe three HomePods.

What would you recommend?

What has your experience staying all Apple versus third party products with Apple Home?

Please let me know. Thanks.