u/popguise

i'll go first-- i work in a nursing home kitchen, and one of our exit doors is unfortunately easily accessible by confused elderly folk, and it also happens to be very close to our grill station. as i was helping a newer coworker empty the fryer filter, our night manager casually strolled over and started putting new oil in the fryer-- before we finished cleaning it and while the filtration was open, spilling oil all over the floor.

i genuinely just stood in shock because this manager never cooks and doesn't know how to use any of our equipment, so i'm genuinely confused as to why she decided this was the moment to jump in. now me and coworker have to immediately clean up the oil before it makes its way to the high-traffic exit door and some poor old person's walker goes flying, and our manager just laughs off her little "oopsie."

this is the same manager who showed up at a coworkers house at 4 in the morning to find out why they weren't working that breakfast shift (a day they had asked off for months in advance).

what are some of your best (or worst) manager stories?

what characters in your opinion were obviously set up for a redemption, but it failed to make them likeable?

for me the biggest example is Marisol. Her introduction to the series was home-wrecking jenna and kc, she outed her best friend as having an eating disorder, took part in bullying imogen and let her and fiona take the fall for the prank she and katie planned. then her intended redemption was supposed to be shown through dating Mo, where we would allegedly see a softer side to Marisol. but more often than not, she was a pretty sucky girlfriend to Mo too.

Zoe is another one. she literally distributed nude photos of underage girls for profit, amongst countless other things, yet we're supposed to feel compelled to root for her in her relationship with Rasha. i will say i would've liked the storyline with Rasha if they had actually given Zoe a proper redemption, but it was lacking compared to all of the things she did before.

obviously Jill and Jess treated Brynn and Ashlee horribly, but the general consensus based on what Brynn and Ashlee have said (supposedly, since i've never actually them say this but it's accepted as general knowledge) that Jess was the only one who genuinely disliked Brynn and Ashlee while Jill was just playing it up for the cameras.

My question is, are we sure there's not at least a little bit of genuine disdain on Jill's part? Because the way she interacted with Ashlee and Brynn, especially after the zieglers left, was appalling. If she really was doing it purely for cameras then she's the one out of the cast who needs an acting career because her behavior was enraging lol

also if anyone has a link to where Brynn and Ashlee said it was fake i would love to see it, i always see people citing this but no one ever provides the evidence for it

i understand the narrative of season 5 was that abby and jill were offended and unhappy with Nia branching out into a music career, and it makes sense for those two because abby was upset with Nia doing something that didn't involve abby, and Jill didn't like that Nia's music was "competing" with Kendall's. but why did Melissa always seem to get so peeved and blatantly rattled when Holly talked about Nia's music? especially when MDP asked about it, Melissa was boldly talking over Holly and acting exasperated with the whole thing. Really Nia's music didn't affect Melissa or her kids at all, and i know Melissa typically just falls in line with whatever the popular opinion of the group is at the time. but her reactions usually weren't as big as they were when it pertained to Nia's music.

my last handful of reads have been full of classic novels and academic texts which is what i usually enjoy, but life has been getting stressful lately and the aspect of moving onto another elaborate work seems honestly overwhelming. i want to get back into the things that started my love of reading as a young girl, so i would love any recommendations for books that encapsulate the vibe of being a little girl full of energy and curiosity when life's problems aren't so big. something easy and relaxing to read that maybe doesn't require a ton of brain power (i'd like an opportunity to turn my brain off for a while lol)

Just some thoughts i have that don't really warrant their own individual posts (mostly about season 4 because that's where i am in my rewatch right now)

1. in one of her youtube videos years ago, Christi claimed one of her biggest regrets was "calling someone fat on tv" and the way she was talking about it made it seem like she just did it once or twice. but watching the show through its obvious that criticizing someone's weight was her go-to insult, not only for abby but for other people as well (for example when she told cathy to skip a meal). she criticized people's weight multiple times in every season she was in, so it makes me wonder what kind of internalized prejudices she has about fat people.

2. another christi one but this time in (tentative) defense of her; she was especially nasty in season 4, but i think it's actually pretty understandable why. her best friend and sometimes only ally was gone, she had a miscarriage around this time (which i think many people don't fully understand bc most dm fans are so young, but a miscarriage is a highly traumatic event and also messes with your hormones insanely), and the whole schtick of the season was threatening the kids that they'd be replaced, and chloe wasn't even technically an aldc student at this point, so of course in christi's mind she'd be the first target. that doesn't mean christi's behavior was totally okay, but it's understandable why she had her guard up so much and was just vicious sometimes.

3. i wondered why Jade and Lori wanted to be on the show at all. Jade was 15 and already a beautiful dancer, she really didn't need any guidance from abby and her competition career was nearing its end. it could make sense if she wanted an actual dance career, but it seems like dance really had no part in her life after she became an adult (she's a pilot now btw which is awesome) and she seems to live a very quiet and private life so i just wonder what their intentions were for coming on the show. maybe Lori thought it could bring more attention to her own studio? especially if it's framed as the aldc holding jade back from her winning reputation.

i'm currently watching the show with my girlfriend, she's never seen yyh before (or really any anime in general) whereas i grew up on yyh and have rewatched it more times than any sane person would. something that fascinated me was that, even though my gf has never seen yyh and isn't familiar with anime in general, she was able to guess pretty much immediately that the masked fighter was Genkai. We've just finished the house of 4 dimensions right before the chapter black arc, and again she knew almost right away that Genkai was the one who set up the challenge for Yusuke's team. I even tried to bluff and say that Genkai was permanently dead after the fight with Toguro, but she felt Genkai was too important of a character for them to not bring her back

So now i'm wondering if Genkai's presence in these instances was this obvious to anyone else when they watched yyh for the first time? to be fair my gf and i binge watch, so perhaps it's easier to tell, but i wonder if it felt that obvious back in the days before streaming when episodes were spaced out? i had a dvd set when i was a kid and watched it literally every single day so i don't remember if it felt obvious to me on first watch lol

I'm trying to create a reading list for my next few reads based on common themes of poverty, desperation, and forced independence/ agency, particularly in childhood. So far my list consists of The Glass Castle (the memoir which actually inspired this list), Oliver Twist (for a classic read), The Secret Garden (for a childhood story actually targeted to children), and The Goats (for a more fantastical, adventurous take on these themes).

I would love just one or two more books that fit into these themes, particularly memoirs or books inspired by real stories and events, but any suggestions are welcome!