"We were united in the way that women had to be in order to thrive in a man's world, through mutual respect, intellect and collaboration," Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter posted in a tribute.
EVANSVILLE, IN—After finding several messages the father of three had sent to women online, members of the local Branson family admitted Wednesday that they couldn’t even be mad at their dad after seeing his heartbreaking attempts at cheating. “I know I should be upset, but it’s hard to feel anything other than pity…
Shaking off rumors of his retirement, 82-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) declared his plans to seek reelection, saying in his announcement video that the 2024 election “is the most consequential election in our lifetimes.”
NEW YORK—Earning $2,200 per appearance, former president Donald Trump has begun paying his legal bills with a new gig as a CNN contributor, sources confirmed Wednesday. “We are pleased to welcome Donald Trump to CNN’s talented roster of experts and insiders,” CNN chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said of the former…
CHICAGO—Dismissing concerns that funds were being mismanaged, the Chicago Police Department vigorously defended its decision this week to buy an entire fleet of 1967 Ferraris. “We will use these babies to keep the community safe, and we will look badass while doing so,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Larry…
The world has changed in the hundred years since A. A. Milne introduced us to Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals, but that doesn’t mean our lovable friends haven’t adapted to life in the twenty-first century. This heartwarming, laugh-out-loud parody—by frequent McSweeney’s contributor Jennie Egerdie—takes us along for some marvelous misadventures as the gang grapples with modern life’s headaches and pesky predicaments. Today, we’re happy to offer an excerpt from Oh, Bother.
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Session 1
Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, in a sensibly furnished den, Eeyore shared feelings of inadequacy with his therapist, Dr. Festinker.
“Everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood has a home,” he complained, “and I live in a wobbly tent of sticks.”
“I’m sorry,” said Dr. Festinker. “That must feel terrible.”
Eeyore shook his head from side to side. “Not much use feeling bad about it,” sighed Eeyore. “Feeling bad doesn’t build me a house.”
“Maybe not,” agreed Dr. Festinker. “But ignoring your feelings will only lead to resentment and make it harder for you to make the changes you desire in your life.”
Eeyore stared at his skunk therapist. He took in her deep, sympathetic gaze as well as her strong, pungent scent. (This was the reason behind her very reasonable rates: a sliding scale based on each patient’s tolerance of the odor.)
Eeyore let out a long, slow sigh. “Can’t help noticing you’re right.”
“Have you told your friends how you feel about your home?” asked Dr. Festinker.
“No,” said Eeyore.
“What do you think would happen if you asked for their help in finding you a home like theirs?” encouraged the skunk.
“I think they would help me,” admitted Eeyore glumly.
Dr. Festinker smiled.
“Not that they think of me as a friend,” added Eeyore. “They only keep me around so they have someone to blame when it rains.”
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Session 17
Eeyore was remembering a trauma.
“And then,” said Eeyore, “my tail went missing.”
“That sounds very hard,” said his therapist.
“It was,” said Eeyore gloomily. “Have you ever lost a tail?”
“Can’t say that I have,” said Dr. Festinker.
“That’s what I thought,” said Eeyore, gazing sadly at his therapist. “Losing a tail is terrible. But it got worse. My tail was at Owl’s house being used… as a bell-pull.”
Eeyore let out a long, sad sigh.
“My tail…” He moaned, slowly shaking his head. “A doorbell!”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” said Dr. Festinker.
“Owl didn’t even notice it was my tail,” said Eeyore with a great deal of self-pity. “He would have noticed if it were Pooh’s tail. Pooh’s the best bear in all the world. And what am I? A grey, gloomy donkey, with a droopy tail that keeps getting lost.”
“Eeyore, you have many strengths,” said Dr. Festinker kindly. “But what if, since losing your tail bothers you, you left your tail at home?”
“Can’t,” answered Eeyore.
There was a long silence.
Dr. Festinker politely counted to ten in her head.
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Session 114
Eeyore was making a gratitude list, naming things that made him happy.
“I like the little Piglet. He’s my favorite size,” said Eeyore. “I like Pooh Bear’s kindness. I like that Rabbit always has snacks, and Kanga’s warmth, and that Tigger is so bouncy. And I like that Owl sends out a newsletter to the whole wood for free.”
“Eeyore!” exclaimed Dr. Festinker. “Look at all this positivity! You’ve made so much progress!”
“I think so, too,” agreed Eeyore. “I’ve been feeling sunnier as of late.”
“That’s wonderful,” beamed the skunk.
Eeyore smiled and looked out the window at the fine autumn morning in the forest. The sun dappled between green and bronze oak leaves, greeting the donkey with waving branches in the cool, fresh winds.
“Oh, no,” sighed Eeyore. “Looks like rain.”
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Illustrations by Ellie Hajdu.
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From the bookOh, Botherby Jennie Egerdie. Reprinted by permission of Running Press, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Copyright 2024 by Jennie Egerdie.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
What’s the etiquette, if that’s the right word, for leaving a job before the end of your notice period?
I resigned due to a toxic micromanager boss who also leans toward abusive. She has been out on medical leave for the last three weeks, but is back today. I’m halfway through my notice period and my last day is Friday.
She’s going through her emails now and so far I’ve received two from her, both of which literally say, “I’m going through my emails and see this (insert issue that arose while she was out) and I assume nothing was done? Please advise as to why not.”
Actually, both tasks that she mentioned were handled and filed appropriately, and email loops were closed (which she will see when she gets through all her emails). It’s just in her nature to always assume the worst.
I’m wondering what obligation I have to remain at my current job for my full two weeks? I understand I committed to do so … but I’m also concerned about my mental well-being. While she was out, all was fine but her being back is reminding me why I resigned.
So … if she decides to spend 20 minutes berating me for using square and not round bullet points (true story) or something similar, is it an option to just say that the current day is my last? Or does that do too much reputational harm? I’m trying not to borrow trouble, but it’s 10 am and I’ve already been accused (twice) of doing nothing while she was out.
For what it’s worth, I was honest with the CEO that my manager was my reason for leaving and did detail why. Other executives have asked me directly if I’m leaving due to micromanagement from my boss, so it’s not a secret that she’s like this. (Why they let it continue is a conversation for a different email.)
What are my options? Is staying the entire time given in my notice period my only choice?
You don’t need to stay for your full notice period if you’re being mistreated.
If the tone of your manager’s communications remains accusatory or harsh, it’s reasonable to say any of the following:
“I’m taken aback by the emails you’ve been sending me today. I’m happy to stay for the remainder of my notice period as long as I’m treated respectfully. But I don’t want to be accused of not doing work that you’ll see I did if you continue through your emails.”
“I’m happy to spend the rest of the week wrapping up projects, but I’m not willing to be berated for (examples). If that continues, I’d prefer we make today my last day.”
“I don’t appreciate being spoken to like this when I’m working hard to leave my area in good shape before I go. Given that, I’m going to make today my last day. If there’s anything you’d like me to handle before I leave today, please let me know.”
If her treatment of you were particularly outrageous, you could just leave on the spot: “I don’t think it makes sense for me to remain for the rest of the week. I’ll let (other person) know.” That other person could be HR, your manager’s boss, the CEO you’ve already been talked with, or whoever else makes sense.
Speaking of the CEO, since you’ve already told her that your boss is the reason you’re leaving (and I’m gathering she wasn’t terribly surprised?), another option is to go back to her now and say that your boss’s treatment has you questioning your willingness to work the remainder of your notice period. Who knows, she might encourage you to leave now and/or say she’ll handle it with your boss.
The other option, of course, is to just stay and internally roll your eyes, knowing that what you’re seeing from your boss is exactly the reason you’re leaving and feeling vindicated that you’re escaping. Hell, since you’re leaving, you could simply ignore her ruder emails and figure she’ll realize when she gets through all her messages that she was wrong and thus your response is not required. This option could save you some hassle and drama, so you might choose it for that reason. And sometimes knowing you could leave if you wanted to makes it easier to just roll your eyes and deal with it for a few more days.
But you’re absolutely allowed to set boundaries on what you will and won’t tolerate, and you’re not required to stay if your manager isn’t holding up her end of the bargain and treating you with basic respect.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
Am I crazy or is this a red flag?
I’m working a temp to perm job, and was just let in on a departmental secret. Apparently, when our supervisor is deciding who to keep on permanently, she will figure out which car is yours and walk out to it on a break to inspect the inside. If it’s messy, she doesn’t hire you on full-time.
This is insane, right? I feel a little bit like my privacy is being violated, honestly. I know people can see into my car, of course. But I don’t expect anyone to be actively snooping.
Is this a sign I don’t want to work here? I like all my colleagues and the work I’m doing. This is the first red flag I’ve seen, and I want to make sure I’m not blowing things out of proportion.
As a hiring test, this is insane.
Plenty of people have messy cars for reasons that have nothing to do with how they’ll perform on the job. Maybe they had a hectic weekend and their car ended up messy and they haven’t had a chance to clean it. Maybe they’re neat in every other area of their life and their car is the one spot they don’t care much about. Maybe they share the car with a slob. Maybe they’re a generally messy person but they’re still awesome at their job. It means nothing.
It’s particularly silly as a hiring test for people she already works with. It’s one thing to look for proxies when you don’t have much other data to go on — but when she works with people every day, she has loads of direct information about their work and how they operate. She doesn’t need to go looking for hidden meaning in their cars.
All that said … is it a sign you don’t want to work there? Eh.
It would be easy to say “anyone with ridiculous tests like this is a bad manager who you don’t want to work for.” But I’ve worked with people who have silly pet hiring theories, and they were perfectly fine to work for.
For example, I used to work with a woman who was absolutely lovely — a good manager and a good person. And she believed that she could tell things about candidates by how they handled the offer of a beverage. I asked her about it for this very old post and she said, “It’s a measure of politeness extended, politeness rejected or accepted, and how it’s done. I don’t care if they accept the drink or not, but I do pay attention to how they respond to the offer. Also, I pay attention to whether they dispose of the cup themselves (these were paper cups that would tossed in the trash) or leave it for me to do myself. Tells me so much about what kind of person they are.”
I think that’s reading way too much into it (especially in an interview situation where people are nervous and may simply forget to throw away their trash), but my point is: she had a silly test that she had convinced herself she could learn from, and she was still a fine person to work for.
Would she be better at hiring if she got rid of that test? Yes. Should interviewers move to more evidence-based forms of hiring that more objectively assess the must-have characteristics and skills for the role? Yes. Was her test an indicator of what she was like to work for? No.
Just as your manager should be focusing on the more substantive things she sees from you every day, the same goes for you: Pay attention to the substantive things you see about her. Does she set clear and realistic expectations, give useful feedback, resolve roadblocks, and ensure you have the space and tools you need to do good work? Is she fair, transparent, and even-keeled? Do other people seem generally happy working with her? If all those things are good, her car test may be a fluke. On the other hand, if some of those things are bad, the silly car test doesn’t really matter; she’ll be a problem to work for regardless.
QUEEN’S PARK – During a press conference at the Ontario Legislature, Doug Ford made it clear that pro-Palestine encampments in universities across the province were unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated, after accidentally mistaking the encampment tents for affordable housing units. “Listen, folks, I am just not in favour of these young, tax paying citizens of […]
LOS ANGELES—Kicking down the unlocked classroom door after listlessly wandering around campus, bored riot cops reportedly broke up a calculus course at the University of California, Los Angeles, on Tuesday. “Hey guys, look—there’s some students in there,” said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Thomas Larkins, who led…
DAYTON, OH—Several reports indicated Tuesday that the email that would tear your life apart was currently in your nemesis’s draft folder and that after it was sent, nothing would ever be the same again. According to sources, the 600-word email—penned by your lifelong foe—is CC’d to your friends, your relatives, and…
Columbia University canceled its commencement ceremony after weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that have shaken the campus, despite the fact that other universities have held their ceremonies with few disruptions. What do you think?
I did a video about Seoul last year, and one of the elements that I think is most interesting is how many “people movers” — really automated light metros and frequently locally-called “light rail” — exist across the region.
Seoul’s Sillim Line. (Credit: JR Urbane Network)
As I’ve talked about before, people movers often feel like they are used by cities as a crutch, connecting places that should be on the rapid transit network but were missed for one reason or another, be it a rapid transit line that didn’t stop where it should have, or a major development sited off of the transit network.
Acknowledging that people movers often exist to try and mitigate problematic conditions, I think it’s interesting to ask what we could do if we had more! While I certainly would rather major universities, hospitals, airports, and shopping centres be directly served by rapid transit, if they are not, a people mover could still be a serious improvement on the status quo.
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No American city seems poised to highlight this more than LA, which is in the process of building two different people movers, one connecting LAX to the LA “Metro” light rail system (it’s worth noting that rail to airport is a very common people mover typology in America), and another connecting SoFi stadium and other destinations with another light rail stop. While in both cases I think the people mover is a band-aid solution for poor planning (like putting an event venue the size of SoFi away from rapid transit — many cities most impressive stations are at major stadiums), the connections will be much better that what could have been offered by buses, and arguably higher capacity than the light rail service, since people movers should be able to operate at extremely high frequency.
Rendering of an Inglewood People Mover station. (Credit: City of Inglewood)
Now, what I think makes Seoul’s “people movers” particularly interesting is that they are not all strictly there for the purposes of connecting remote destinations. These such routes (like the Everline) do exist, but many of the lines actually act as infill urban transit, operating like a light subway line in an area that is poorly connected or dense enough to justify even more service. Since Seoul is extremely dense and hilly, this kind of role would be a struggle for trams, and while the city does do buses at an almost unbelievable scale (Seoul is easily the most underrated BRT city), once you experience a constant stream of diesel buses along a street you realize it is an imperfect solution.
And to be clear, cities in Asia in general have a lot of people movers. Bangkok has its Gold Line (nicely incorporated into the BTS system), I can think of loads of examples in Chinese cities (often using bespoke domestic tech), Singapore has its suburban “LRT”, and more than any other country, cities in Japan have all manner of monorails and people mover lines augmenting the conventional heavy rail and subway systems (it’s also one of the few places where these systems have been running long enough and have become busy enough that multiple generations of rolling stock have been introduced). In Asia, people movers feel like less of a crutch and more a flexible tool that can bring fixed guideway transit to places where it would be challenging for conventional rail. Of course, while a people mover is less convenient or capacious than a direct high-capacity rail link (likely delivered by shifting an alignment to hit a major destination), they still do offer a big boost for transit as a lightweight connecting service that can provide high frequency, and thanks to automation usually has low operating costs.
To some extent, the role played by these lines is similar to the “shuttle” lines in some traditional metro systems like Paris, London, New York, and Madrid — it’s just that like with light metro, people movers let you emphasize frequency instead of vehicle size, creating a better system — especially for inevitable transfers.
In a series of future posts, I am going to talk about how we can design and plan people movers to improve as opposed to simply fill in gaps in our transport systems, and I might even include some concepts for places in various cities where one (or several) might be of use.
Rakus, a wild Orangutan being observed in Indonesia, was seen using a medicinal plant called Akar Kuning, which is used throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation, to heal a facial wound, chewing the leaves and applying them to the injury like a bandage. What do you think?
WASHINGTON—Showing wide-ranging approval across all demographic groups regardless of political affiliation, a new poll from the Pew Research Center found Monday that the majority of U.S. citizens want immigration reform that includes making up new last names for people again. “Our data show that most Americans do…
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JERUSALEM—Following its ban of the Qatar-based news outlet’s operations in the country, Israel accused Al Jazeera Monday of being a mouthpiece for journalism. “It is clear from its continuous, 24-hour coverage of the war in Gaza that Al Jazeera is working on behalf of journalistic principles,” Prime Minister Benjamin…
Maybe Otto just really likes swimming, and this is why he has made the choices that led to this. Maybe designing and building farmsteads shouldn't be an "overnight, in a food-driven mania" kind of activity.
For those who’ve been waiting, the Floppy Emu Deluxe Bundle and the Frosted Ice Acrylic Case are back in stock at the BMOW Store. While you’re shopping, check out the new Mac VGA Sync-inator too!
Floppy Emu is a floppy and hard disk emulator for classic Apple II, Macintosh, and Lisa computers. It uses an SD memory card and custom hardware to mimic an Apple floppy disk and drive, or an Apple hard drive. The Emu behaves exactly like a real disk drive, requiring no special software or drivers. It’s perfect for booting your favorite games and software, or transferring files between vintage and modern machines. Just fill your SD card with disk images, plug in the Emu board, and you’ll be up and running in seconds.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I have an employee who is unable to obtain childcare when he is on call, which is an essential part of his job, and the job is not safe to take a child to. Therefore, we may not be able to keep him on.
I supervise a team of maintenance technicians who rotate being on call 24/7 for one week every month. Being on call for emergencies is an essential part of the job, as they respond to calls such as water leaks that could cause property destruction, air conditioning calls (this is a 24/7 facility and the upper floors can get above 90 or higher degrees in the summer), lock-outs, and other urgent calls that can’t wait until business hours. We have a small team of four, so it’s essential that everyone take part in the rotation so no one is on call 24/7 too often.
We make it clear to everyone before hiring them that on-call shifts are a requirement.
It has recently come to light that one team member is unable to find childcare for late night emergency calls and has been taking his child with him. For very obvious reasons this is not OK, but the child is too young to leave at home. (We didn’t know this was happening until his ex-wife found out, got a court order that prevented him from both taking the kid with him and leaving him home alone, and also alerted us.) However, it’s not exactly easy to find a babysitter at 3 am when you have to rush into work immediately. His family is not always available, and it’s not like there are daycares open.
It’s not fair to the rest of the team to leave him off of the emergency rotation, which is an essential part of the job, but it seems cruel to let someone go for not being able to find childcare.
I am proposing we give him two months off of the rotation to figure something out. After that, I’ll have to have that difficult conversation with him.
Is there an alternative that I’m missing here? We are waiting on advice from HR, but I know they’re going to tell me that he can’t remain in his position if he can’t meet the schedule requirements.
This really sucks for everyone involved.
You did the right thing when you ensured he knew about on-call requirement before you hired him, and you’re right not to want to shift an extra burden to his team mates.
On his end, he’s undoubtedly not taking his child along for the fun of it. Finding last-minute child care in the middle of the night when you live alone would be impossible for most people. Bringing the kid with him isn’t the right solution, but it’s easy to see how someone desperate could have landed there.
Would you be open to attaching an incentive to the on-call shifts to make other employees more interested in volunteering for more of them? For example, if each on-call week came with a bonus or, say, extra days off, you might be able to fully staff them without this employee, and without making the rest of your team resentful if he’s not doing them. You don’t have to do that — again, this was a requirement of the job that he agreed to up-front — but if you’re looking for a way to make this work, it’s something to consider.
Otherwise, giving him two months to figure something out is reasonable. That also gives him time to job search if he thinks he’ll need to. If he’s not able to make it work by the end of that period, you wouldn’t necessarily need to fire him; you could mutually part ways on good terms. And while you wouldn’t be obligated to offer severance, you might choose to in recognition of the difficult circumstances.
(Also, this probably isn’t your place to suggest, but if he wants to stay in the job, could he have his kid stay with his ex-wife on the weeks he’s on call? There may be reasons that’s not a good idea, but otherwise it might be something he could consider.)
In brief: All our available data continues to point toward the arrival of a line of storms after midnight, moving from west to east across the Houston metro area. Because the heaviest of these rains are likely to fall north of Houston, and the high amounts of rainfall already received there this week, we are raising our flood alert for areas along and north of Interstate 10 to Stage 2 for tonight and Sunday.
The overall pattern we’ve been in for the last several days will persist tonight into Sunday. That is to say, the atmosphere is chock full of moisture and unstable. A forcing agent will come early Sunday as a disturbance moves into the region from the west. In recent days the trend has been toward rain events over-performing expectations. So I don’t want anyone to let their guard down just yet.
After midnight we’re likely to see the development of an MCS to the west of Houston. What is an MCS? In meteorological parlance, it stands for ‘mesoscale convective system,’ essentially a large complex of thunderstorms. But when they come through at night I prefer to think of an MCS as a ‘midnight canine stimulant.’ So yeah, it could be one of those nights.
The area at the highest risk of heavy rainfall on Sunday is highlighted in red in the map above. (NOAA)
The primary risk is thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. Generally, I think most of the area will pick up 1 to 3 inches, but my concern is the potential for bullseyes of 5 inches, or more. The most probable location for these heavy rains is areas north of Houston, which have already received a foot of rainfall, or more, during the past week.
After the strongest part of the MCS sweeps through, likely around 3 to 6 am for areas such as Katy, 4 to 7 am for downtown Houston, and a little later for the coast, we are likely to see additional showers—on and off—for most of the rest of Sunday. It’s my hope that these will be a little less intense, and a little less organized than the initial push early on Sunday. Matt will have a full update for you tomorrow morning.
You’re probably not going to be believe me, and that’s fine. But I still do expect our pattern to dry out on Monday. We’ll turn sunnier, and hotter for awhile. Rain chances may not go away entirely, but they’ll be significantly diminished.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have tied their playoff series against the rival Boston Bruins at 3-3, working hard to engineer a uniquely perfect opportunity to break their fans’ collective hearts by losing in seven games instead of five. Following a slow start from the Leafs, fans reported concern that this year’s playoff run […]
It is "the first known case of active wound treatment in a wild animal with a medical plant," biologist Isabelle Laumer told NPR. She says the orangutan, called Rakus, is now thriving.
ACEH, INDONESIA—Watching in awe as the wild animal applied the medicinal product to the top of his head, primate researchers were reportedly stunned Friday after witnessing an orangutan use Rogaine to fix a bald spot. “This is the first known case of any wild animal using an over-the-counter hair loss treatment…
WASHINGTON—As mounting campus protests and arrests over the Israel-Hamas war threatened his fragile electoral coalition, advisors to President Joe Biden assured him Friday that this would blow over once all Gazans were dead. “Just lie low, let a few thousand more bombs drop on densely populated areas, and you’re…
