BlitzoTheOisSilent @ BlitzoTheOisSilent @lemmy.world

Posts

1

Comments

274

Joined

1 yr. ago

I used to be a mail carrier, so I've got a few stories I could share.

There was the 95 year old retired Army vet who would give me a bottle of wine as a tip at Christmas. The first time I met him, he was writing his name on the top of his mailbox in sharpie, and when I asked why, he said, "Because the doofus you have delivering our mail keeps mixing up the boxes," to which I responded, "Well, as that doofus, I apologize, I just started" and he started laughing and apologizing. He'd greet me from the porch every day with his mug of wine and a hearty "Oh boy, here comes trouble!"

There was the house that refused to empty their mailbox of mail, they'd only take packages. I took all their mail from their full box like 3 times over the course of six months, making them come pick it all up, and they kept doing it. So, one day, I had two small packages, and their mailbox was 3/4 full. I knew if I just threw the packages in there, the packages would be grabbed and the box would be full of mail the following week.

So, I pulled all the mail out, put the packages in the very back, and put all the mail back on top of it. She called the supervisor at the post office saying they weren't on her back porch, he told her the packages were scanned delivered and they should be there, check the mailbox. She called him back and said the mailbox was empty. He told her he'd contact me and figure out what happened.

He called me, and asked where the woman's packages were. I told him this was the house that wouldn't empty their mailbox, so, I put them under all of her mail to try to force them to take their mail. He laughed and told me when I got back later that she had called back and said she still couldn't find them despite "looking in the mailbox," and he simply told her to empty it and she'd likely find them.

Had a house that kept leaving their dog off leash, and it would run up and bark at me while I was walking around their neighborhood. Per USPS policy, if a dog is outside and loose without any kind of fence/leash/etc, then the neighborhood doesn't get mail that day. I told the kids they needed to keep the dog inside, I told the mother, I told their neighbors, and I was working the issue with my postmaster. The PM called them twice and sent them a letter telling them the dog is either inside when I pull up, or we're not delivering anymore.

Well, I got one house past the dog's house, and it came sprinting out the front door, barking and running for me. I'd had enough, and I snapped. I stomped, stood my ground, and shouted at this dog and it just stopped and started running back. Their son was in the yard, and (I feel bad in hindsight about it) I kinda yelled at the kid, telling him that damn dog was supposed to be in the house, their parents knew this, and they were lucky I didn't dog-spray the little shit (the dog, not the kid). Whole time the kid is frozen, a yard away, just staring at me.

I continue walking my loop, still irate, when I see this guy starting to walk towards me, asking me why I was yelling at his son. I turned and asked why, after all of the warnings and requests they'd gotten, they couldn't keep their fucking dog inside for 15 minutes a day when I'm here. He followed me on my loop, kept asking me to stop and talk to him, as we're shouting at each other all across his neighbor's lawns. I just kept telling him I had nothing to discuss with him since him and his family clearly couldn't listen, and I strongly encouraged him to call the post office.

So he asked for my name, and I told him "Dave, no need to write it down, I'll be letting my postmaster know you and I spoke," and left. When I got back to the office at the end of the day, I was pulled into the office and handed a stack of letters from my postmaster. "You're to deliver all of these to that neighborhood tomorrow, this is the 4th instance of that dog being loose, the whole neighborhood is going to the curb." (This means moving the mailboxes from the house to the road) Well, the neighbors absolutely lost their shit that they were being forced to move their mailboxes because of their irresponsible neighbor, even asking me about it as I would go through the neighborhood.

To end on a slightly lighter note: the reason I told the guy my name was "Dave" was because it was the unofficial response for our office. We had a carrier named Dave that was kinda the office punching bag (he took it well and gave it right back). The old timers told me that years ago, one of the carriers Scott (I think) got into with a woman on his route. Like, in each other's faces, shouting, cussing, etc, it was heated. Well, when the woman asked for Scott's name, he said, "Dave!"

Dave got back to the office that day, and the PM is laying into him about how he was speaking to this customer. He's shouting back at her that he has no idea what she's talking about, and she keeps insisting the woman said the carrier's name was Dave. She checked the address, and it wasn't on Dave's route, so then she started yelling at him about why he was so far from his route (this was before the GPS-enabled scanners). All the while, Scott is laughing his ass off in the break room listening to all of it until they realized and started yelling at him, haha.

Last one (again, not my story, but another from an old timer): Back in the 80s/90s, the post office was a different beast: no GPS tracking, no cell phones, if management wanted to observe you work outside the office, they had to either find you or ride along with you. Because of that, carriers used to do all kinds of stuff back in the day that you can't now (like everyone finishing their routes by 11 am, and then all going to the bar until 3 before heading back to the office).

Well, this one carrier had one of the "rough" routes in his city, but he was always treated well because he brought the government checks every month. Well, his customers knew when their checks arrived every month, so on that day, he'd park at a bar at the end of this long street, and just drink his beer while the customers came through and got their checks. When everyone from that end of the road had come through, he'd drive to the bar at the opposite end of the road and repeat, since everyone had just watched him drive by. And they'd all cycle through, all while he sat on a stool, drinking his beer, and making his bread for the day.

I agree, but it's up to those in charge to deem who are the conspiracy nuts and neonazis, right? And that quickly becomes a slippery slope.

The solution isn't taking votes away, it's getting more people to vote.

But if someone asks me to refer to them a particular way, sure what not? It means more to them than it means to me.

And it costs you nothing. :)

Using someone's preferred pronouns is a sign of mutual respect, your refusal to do so is a sign of disrespect to those around you. It's really that simple, bud.

Do you call people Johnny when they tell you their name is John? It's literally the same thing, they've explained how they'd like to be addressed, and deviating from that uninvited is just rude.

I get that they matter a lot to some people, and of course it's super annoying (if not worse) to be referred to in the wrong way

It's dehumanizing and disrespectful, it's not annoying. I've had family members refuse to use an individual's pronouns, but in a heartbeat correct themselves for referring to a pet by the wrong pronoun. I've had people go out of their way to call me "man, guy, dude, bruh" when I'm fem presenting, and I'm the only woman they're speaking to that way while I get the "I talk like that with everyone, bruh," excuse.

and if one group of people can try to force a change they prefer, I'm as much in my right to resist it if I don't like it.

Correct, but then you don't get to complain, like you are, that people get upset with you about it. You're not free from the consequences of those around you simply because you have the right to feel differently on something like basic human respect for your fellow people.

I don't get to complain that no one wants to have dinner with me just because they don't like me taking food off their plates, even though I don't agree with that societal norm.

America has a long history of trying to figure out how to make the votes of certain groups fractional of "true" Americans, the whole 3/5ths compromise and all that.

I don't think we should be trying to introduce modern day versions of that. I'd much rather see voting day be made a federal holiday, and voting become mandatory.

As Jon Stewart put it: Republicans rely on loopholes, Democrats rely on norms.

I personally believe we should have the right to die, moreso as an individual choice than one a relative should make. We as individuals, who did not consent to living in this absolutely broken society, should have every right to just say one day, "Y'know what, I've had enough, I'm done." This comment will likely be controversial, and I am not encouraging anyone to commit suicide, seek help where and how you can, suicide can be a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

A friend of mine told me once she considered those who commit suicide (outside of terminal illness) to be cowards, taking the "easy" way out and leaving their loved ones to suffer. I argued back that how is it unacceptable for loved ones to suffer, but it's perfectly acceptable for the individual to suffer to keep the loved ones comfortable? And that's what mental health (tin foil hat time) is entirely about: not comfort for the individual, but comfort for the society.

It doesn't matter if you are completely disenfranchised with society, struggling to make ends meet, working multiple jobs with no benefits, eating the same meal 2-3 times a day every day to save money, none of that matters because you're not contributing to society/capitalism they way you're supposed to. When the VA was trying to force me onto SSRIs despite my objections due to the side effects they can have, I told them flat out I wasn't taking a pill just so I could be "productive" for a society that will let me die in the streets at the earliest and cheapest convenience. And no "pill" is going to fix how sick and broken we are as a society.

We as a species weren't designed for this kind of society, we're an analog species trying to adapt to a digital world we haven't had time to properly adjust to. We aren't designed to work 40 hours/week, 8 hours/day, 50+ weeks per year. We aren't designed to work ourselves to exhaustion and forego social interactions in the pursuit of more money to try and keep the lights on. And we are watching the largest transfer of wealth to the ultra-wealthy, making the Gilded Age look like child's play.

So I guess, to sum it up: I think everyone should have the right to end their own life, regardless of the reason, but I don't believe anyone should have the right to end someone else's life outside of already-established practices (DNR orders, "pulling the plug" as PoA, etc). We are too broken as a society to trust ourselves to choose when others should die, but we should absolutely be allowing individual's to end their own lives.

Criticism should be constructive, they offered nothing constructive in their criticism.

The military and the VA offer gender affirming care, and what they offer varies.

For instance (I'm going off memory for active duty, I got out in 2017), if you're active duty, I believe they'll pay for everything so long as you lay out in your Transition Plan everything you want covered and your commanding officer approves it. You need "approval" to ensure that your absence during medical recovery won't hinder mission readiness, so basically, if you're about to be deployed in a month for 6 months, and you're supposed to have gender affirming surgery tomorrow with a multi-month recovery, your surgery will likely be postponed.

The VA, which is for veterans, covers a majority of gender affirming care, but they aren't legally allowed to cover everything. GRS/SRS is the big on, the military will cover that I believe, but the VA cannot and will not.

With Trump coming in, I have a feeling this is all going to go away, and they're going to use a similar approach as the Federal Minimum Drinking Age Act to basically make LGBTQ+ healthcare illegal via withholding federal funding from those states who try to continue after a federal ban. "The states can choose their drinking age gender affirming care, but those who don't follow the federal guidelines will lose access to XYZ federal funding."

What's even crazier is that, in the modern US military, less than 1% of the population serves in the military.

There are also more NYPD cops than there are active duty Coast Guard personnel.

most gun owners seem completely incapable of doing so.

You got a source for "most" gun owners being "completely incapable of doing so?"

Cause I've yet to see a study that says any of what you said above.

I would say rightfully, yes.

Yep! Told my family that once they strip me of my disability, I will be priced-out of society: I won't be able to afford my house anymore, I won't be able to afford my bills, and I will likely lose everything. And I'll likely have nothing to live for.

They tell me I'm overreacting and that there are "checks and balances" in place to prevent them from doing that stuff. I just point at Roe v Wade and they tend to change the subject.

I got out in 2017 partially because I'm trans and Trump was coming into the oval office. He had made it clear that trans people would not be welcome in his military, and I wasn't going to risk being discharged because of President Bone Spurs.

The military held him off last time, but I'm not as hopeful this time. And I just wanted to throw out there: I personally believe the GOP is going to use federal funding to essentially strip LGBTQ+ people of their rights and healthcare access. It's going to be the Minimum Federal Drinking Age Act of 1984 again, where the fed is gonna say, "Sure, you can offer gender affirming care in your state... If you do, you won't have access to XYZ federal funding anymore."

And the states will let it happen.

Guess the gloves are coming off, god damn...

So is it fair to the family not to mourn?

How many families of Holocaust victims were given the privilege and closure of mourning and burying their loves ones?

I agree that no person is at fault for the actions of their family or their ancestors, but, their family's actions do no negate the consequences of those actions. Seeing what people like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini did to their own people, nevermind what they did to those of other countries... Do their families have more right to mourn their loss than the people do who suffered at their authoritarian hands?

I would argue no, because life isn't fair, but also because the amount of suffering enacted should not be met with honor or remembrance or respect. The family of authoritarians can mourn in their heads, if they do choose, but I would argue they should choose not to. There's no "separating the art from the artist" when it comes to authoritarian genociders. Mourning their life isn't just mourning the loss of them, but the loss of everything they did in their life as well.

If you've lived the kind of life where people are debating the morality around whether or not you deserve a funeral, I'd say you don't deserve one.

Hell, they'll probably make us pay back the economic impact payments we got during the last pandemic.

Did the Confederacy actually lose, though? Or did the Union just suffer a pyrrhic victory?

Edit: Just saying, the Confederacy lost but their flag is still flown on the state flag of Mississippi, Reconstruction didn't go far enough and failed, sharecropping, Jim Crow laws, segregation, civil rights movement opposition, systemic and societal racism is still rampant and accepted (Trump), hell, the "state's rights" arguments is still one of the first reasons people give for the cause of the Civil War. Fuck, we still have legal slavery via our prison system.

So... Did the Confederacy actually lose? Cause they're ideology, beliefs, and the consequences of their hate is still rampant, and we're still dealing with their bullshit.

they'll just turn those services over to private companies that receive tax dollars for providing pretending to provide that service to the public.

Ftfy

But Hamas settled in Israeli land, robbing it from Israeli families who held it for generations!

Wait, that was Israel settling Palestinian land...

But Hamas has spent decades walling off Israeli neighborhoods, essentially creating ghettos where residents may be restricted from leaving their own homes and are essentially isolated from the world and their communities!

Wait, that was Israel again...

But Hamas has been treating Israeli's as second class citizens, throwing their garbage onto their heads from the streets above, and forcing them to live under military-law with no protections since Israelis aren't citizens of Hamas!

Wait... That was Israel, again...

But Hamas killed over 43,000 Israelis over the course of the last year in response to Israel killing 1200 of their citizens and taking several hundred more hostage!

Fuck, that was Israel too... Shit.