Bad Manners and Brimstone

Some friends and I were eating in a family-style chain restaurant.

A couple tables away, a couple had cleared an area on the table and were changing their baby's diaper. They were about as close to the restrooms as one could get.

When my husband died, one of my friends hugged me and said, "My heart breaks for you."

One widower I know set up a calendar for the upcoming month and when people asked what they could do, scheduled lunch or coffee with that person, so he had something to look forward to. A meal or casserole in a container that could be put in the freezer for later would be much appreciated.

Maybe call and say you're going to grocery store - what could you pick up for him?

Thanks all.

I cut my own hair at home. I have colored it successfully for many years, too, but this week tried to take a shortcut and failed miserably.

I have an appointment  Monday with someone to color my hair - no idea how much to tip her, or how to tip her. Do i hand her the tip? Leave it at the desk? 20%? 25%? Cash? written in on the bill?

I’m not sure what’s going on with jarred sauce where I am, but sure, if it’s unopened it’s fine past that date but it it’s opened and put in the fridge, I get mold growing in a matter of days.

I get from this thread that no one will believe me but it’s true. You have to watch pasta sauce and salsa. It goes bad, even in the fridge, soon after opening.

Maybe it’s just Ontario.

Around here, there's a seller of yummy jams and jellies, and we've learned that once opened, they need to be used rather quickly, or they grow mold. No preservatives, I guess.

I imagine calling a tractor "the Dominator" gets a lot of hits in the internet. That's why the name was picked.

I worked for a tux rental company for a few years. The owner was looking towards retirement and wanted to sell his business, and his nephew was contacted to take a look around and see if it would suit him. Nephew was about 30 years old, I'm guessing. He arrived with his own father (brother and former business partner of the owner.) While I (a 60-year-old woman) stood four feet away pressing tux pants, Nephew held up his cell phone and said loudly to his dad, "Hey, look have you seen this? She can make her ----s dance in time to music." I've seen the video, it's circulated widely. I didn't particularly care - but brides who aren't cynical middle-aged people might very well care.  A different type of employee might care, too.

Owner wasn't asking much for this business.  I suspect he'd have given the nephew a great deal, but the young man wasn't interested. I had an opportunity to go full-time at another business nearby, and left before the tux shop was sold. A few months later, the same young man applied to the store where I worked for a position in sales. Boss asked, "Do you think he'd be an asset? Do you know anything about him?" I told him what little I knew, which pretty much amounted to the fact that he seemed clueless about who was near around him while he watched videos on his phone.

Consort and I belong to a hobby group. There is a woman who at one time had a crush on Consort. (She asked him to consult with his ex-wife and me about her desire to marry him.) FWIW she is open about the fact that she's autistic. She and consort sometimes do group projects together, which she enjoys, but other times she makes absurd claims to other members of the group. (Consort broke promises to her, he's racist, he hates her, etc.) She sends us written letters: half the paragraphs are about her loneliness and how she wants us all to be friends, alternating with screeds about how we need to stop harassing her. Owing to the fact that she'll say outrageous things about her 'friends' when she's angry and frustrated, I have told her no, I'm not going to be her friend, because she treats her friends poorly.

Last weekend we were at a convention, and when she saw me, asked if she could hug me. I said no, we're not friends, I'm not going to hug you. (I realize this sounds just awful, but I don't want to lead her on) The next day she sat down beside me, and a few seconds later, threw her arms around me and said, “I love you.” I moved away, told her again, we aren't friends, please don't do that, you lie about people and I'm not comfortable being friends with you. She then tried to explain how she was upset and that's why she was justified in trying to ruin Consort's reputation. I got up and moved.

I'm at a loss. Consort sees her more often than I do, maybe once a month (he's more active in the group). I don't want to be rude to her, but I also don't want to be in her line of sight when she gets frustrated. I won't be surprised if another letter arrives in the mail, with the same "I want us to be friends and do things together / I demand you stop harassing me" format.

She's not dangerous. It isn't something that one would take to the police to get a restraining order. I don't know much about autism, mixing it with this sort of behavior just leaves me mystified.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I work in retail. It sounds like a ploy to move street-length wedding dresses that didn't sell during the scaled down weddings during the pandemic.