u/fromofelia

I genuinely feel that this game does not need a "early game speed-up" to catch up with players that have been playing for longer. The end game isn't the point of this game. It's the grind. The whole point of the game is the grind, the slow progress, the process of spending months on one stat, the minmaxing of resources. This isn't a MMO, where all the fun dungeons are end game. It's very much a game where the process is the most rewarding thing, and newbies that would get catapulted in later game would be robbed of the experience.

Note that I'm talking about newbies and maybe first year of progress. People who are already close to higher ranks of legends do need adjustments so they aren't sandbagged behind top players with no hopes to actually advance. Absolutely. Not my point.

But newbies do not need a quicker game. Newer players shouldn't experience less of the game just because others have played longer.

It's a silly thing, but we all have been there - you walk back behind the bar, after polishing the cake display to impeccable shine, a customer walks in, pokes at the glass, asking about each cake, no matter how many times you tell them that you can't see what they are pointing at, all while their kid is trying to see how much of the glass they can touch with their skin at once, doing taste tests (of the glass) along the way.

Yes, it is a minor thing, yes it is silly, yes it's part of the job, but come on. Physically touching the glass doesn't enhance the experience in any way shape or form, and ffs, I really shouldn't be the one to tell your kid not to lick things in public places. Also, I really, genuinely can't tell which cake you are pointing at, even if you tap on the glass more aggressively.

I love personal cups. Our cafe strongly encourages them, and we have our own that get discounts. There are open floor offices in the area that doesn't allow single use to go cups on the floor. Reusable is the way to go and I love it. I mostly do not mind rinsing them, and offer to do it, while communicating that it's not our duty, cups should be clean when given to us.

There are exceptions, however. Not informing that the cup needs to be rinsed, rudely demanding it, stating that it needs to be washed properly, smoothies/thick drinks (those need a proper wash) or energy drinks (the smell genuinely makes me gag and feel nauseous).

My dude. It's your cup. Those social media posts you have seen from us about using your own cup? Those state it's not the baristas duty to wash it. If we do it, it's a favour. If you are rude to me, I won't do you a favour. If it needs more than a hot water rinse, I'm not doing it. If the drink in it makes me wanna puke, I'm not doing it. If you get rude about me refusing you this favour, I'm reeeeeaaaally not fucking doing it.

A mix of oldies, indie, background and crowd pleasers to throw on at our cafe, when I don't feel like picking a more specific playlist. The tempo is varied, so no one is falling asleep or overwhelmed, the main rule for this playlist is - thou shall not throw off the customers groove. That being said, we're a fairly alternative cafe and there are some songs that are a tiny bit more odd.

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If you have (non lounge) cafe playlists to throw at me - I will gladly check them!

While it's rare, I hate situations, when there's just one table, no other customers, and it's seen as a totally private conversation. If you feel like you need to sush the topic the moment someone walks in, it's not a topic you should be discussing in an "empty" cafe. There's still a barista in the cafe. And, while I'm trying my darndest not to listen, sometimes it's impossible, especially since it's a smaller cafe.

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/rant brought to you by a gross middle aged regular, bragging to his buddy about how he's cheating on his wife (also a regular), with much younger women (a nicer description than he used).

- Why are you constantly running that game?

- It doesn't progress if it's not open, and I like it

- Don't you want to use your phone for other things?

- That's the point. Doomscrolling noticeably hurts something I enjoy. If I doomscroll, my game is not progressing. So, I think twice about it, or only scroll for short bits.

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I realised that, for me, it's the main benefit of the game, and the reason why I won't move it to emulator or another phone. I have the self control of a toddler, when it comes to scrolling. While I know that faffing about on socials fucks me up, closing the tower takes away my progress, and it's easier to control myself with that.

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Yes, the game could be improved in many ways, and it is flawed. But, it gives me a fun idling activity, that doesn't give me psychic damage with depression DOTS.

My partner receives salary from the government, as my assistant. I'm working full time, and everyone in my life knows about my disability. Most know how hard I have struggled, and that I only really started independent life when I was pushing 30.

Yet, whenever this is explained, we often get strange looks and "you don't look like you need looking after". Holly hellfires. The fact that I'm dressed, showered, and holding my shit together right now, doesn't mean that I'm functional, or always good to be on my own. I do not need to be rolling around in my own waste or trying to hurt myself to heavily benefit from having someone who can assist. Yes, I am doing better than ever, haven't been to the hospital for a while, keeping a job, not breaking down. You know why? Because I have a support system, in the form of my partner, who is free to step in and help, when it's needed. And, it turns out, that if I'm not constantly running on fumes, desperately trying to recover from previous fall, I do better. If both my healthcare team and the government think so too, then maybe, just maybe, being looking after is beneficial.

And, yes, I can get up to working, after having slept for 4h, because I was having a panic attack the previous night, but I won't eat or shower, I will be crap at work, and in the evening I will be paranoid, won't be able to clean up or function, and then I will have a panic attack, and the cycle will continue. So, technically, you could argue that I don't need looking after - I survived a few years like that. Hey! I even had bits where I was better and caught up to some of the messes in my life.

But. What if I could not do that. With the resources already in place. For specifically these situations.

What are the phrases that you keep defaulting back to, when you have to dispel a potentially iffy situation? Be it long wait, something going wrong, out of stock, etc etc?

We are out of an item:

- Sorry, we were attacked by an army of hungry hungry hippos/cake eating goblins/cold brew drinking dragons etc etc

Cake drops before it reaches the customer:

- Well, that one desperately didn't want to be eaten, let's see if this one cooperates

Customer comes up while I'm eating/having a break/cleaning display, and apologises for interrupting

- Oh, this was just a strategy to summon customers, and it worked!

I'm in bathroom when a customer comes in

- Despite my best efforts, unfortunately still a human

What are some of yours?

Just had a 5h event just outside the cafe. We're talking 3-4x the hourly sales of a busy day (not the craziest of events, but big). Event ended, the helper team went home, I have to finish the rest of the shift and close. Except, I'm still wired, wound up and vibrating. I feel like I'm plugged into electricity. With not many customers and not much to do, I will crash if I stay like this. How to ease myself down?

For context - this is normally a single barista cafe, but it's located just by the street that gets closed for the biggest public events in the county. If there's an event, there's a team for the duration of the event, and if cafe closes way after, someone stays for the rest of the shift. Whenever it's me, I'm vibrating for another hour or so, and then I crash so hard I can't function anymore.

What do you guys do outside work, and do you adjust your hobbies to the demands that work puts on your body?

I'm asking, because I'm developing a repetitive strain injury that's probably due to the overlap of specific wrist motions between coffee making and crocheting. I hadn't thought about those two compounding. Putting down crochet for the busy summer season, but I'm curious about what the rest of you guys do, especially as I'm on a lookout for a new hobby.

I'm developing repetitive strain injury in tendons on right side of my right palm, just above wrist. It's a combination of being a barista (a lot of the motions for making coffee center around that bit), and crocheting whenever I can, and then a some. The issue is specific to moving my hand from side to side, horizontally.

My physiotherapist said that I really should avoid that motion as much as possible for now. I can adjust, but I can't avoid it at work. So, with heart braking sadness, that means that I have to put down crochet for this summer. My gifts. My wedding cape. Everything. I'm getting upset just thinking about it.

For those of you who have dealt with having to put down crocheting for a while - what crafts did you pick up? Did you find something that scratched that creative itch, gave that meditative state but let your hands rest from the crocheting motions?

P.s. I recognise that this is not directly about crocheting, and might be against rules, but I was hoping for experience of shared misery.