💡Thought Shares

c/debate-my-take

2

murphy.aaron•11h ago

Serious question, is 'no call no show' really that big of a deal for a job interview?

I showed up 20 minutes late to a interview last Tuesday at a diner Downtown and the manager wouldn't even see me. He said by not calling ahead I disrespected his time and that he had other candidates. I mean, I was still there, I drove 30 minutes in traffic and actually wanted the job. Has anyone else had a place turn you away for being late even when you made it there?

8

allen.kai•2d ago

Just realized my granddad's advice about fixing things first was right all along

He told me to always take 15 minutes to read the manual before touching anything, but I used to just dive in and make it worse. Last weekend I spent 3 hours trying to patch a drywall hole in my kitchen before I finally stopped and looked up the proper technique on YouTube, and it took me 30 minutes after that. Has anyone else ignored good advice from an older relative and regretted it later?

18

michaeltorres•2d ago

Unpopular opinion: replacing a toilet flapper shouldn't take 4 hours

I had a slow leak in my toilet last Saturday. Thought it would be a 15 minute fix. Ended up spending an entire afternoon because the plastic nut on the fill valve was fused on from hard water. Tried pliers, wrenches, even a hairdryer to loosen it. That little piece of plastic cost me 4 hours and a trip to the hardware store. Has anyone else had a simple plumbing job turn into a whole day project?

23

the_wendy•2d ago

That 'open concept' kitchen remodel I did 2 years ago is driving me nuts now

Back in 2022, I knocked down a wall between my kitchen and living room in my Philly row house. Everyone said it would make the space feel bigger and brighter, and it did at first. But now I'm stuck smelling every single thing I cook throughout my whole house, and there's zero privacy when I'm cleaning up after dinner. My neighbor still has her old separate kitchen and she can shut the door on a pile of dishes. Has anyone else regretted an open concept layout after the honeymoon phase wore off?

26

victorh81•2d ago

My opinion on ride-sharing apps shifted after a trip to Chicago last spring

I used to think Uber was way more reliable than taxis, hands down. But after getting stuck in a surge that cost me $65 for a 10 minute ride while a cab would have been a flat $20, I started seeing it differently. Now I flip between both depending on the time and place. Has anyone else changed their mind after a specific bad experience like that?

14

marywilson•3d ago

Vent: My old professor told me to stop using big words in my essays and I doubled my grade in one semester

He said nobody reading my history papers cared about 'utilize' or 'endeavor' when 'use' and 'try' said the same thing faster, so I rewrote my last three assignments with simple words and jumped from a C to an A minus - has anyone else had a teacher call them out on writing too fancy?

3

hill.margaret•4d ago

Wasted $120 on a meal prep kit subscription for 3 weeks

I signed up for HelloFresh thinking it'd save me time and money on groceries. After 3 weeks I'd spent $120 and still had to buy extra stuff like oil and spices they didn't include. The portions were tiny too, I was hungry an hour after eating. Plus the packaging waste was ridiculous, cardboard and plastic for every single ingredient. Has anyone else found these kits to be a ripoff or did I just pick the wrong plan?

19

uma_williams•4d ago

Standing desks are overrated compared to a good walking pad

I bought a fancy standing desk last year for $400 and ended up with sore feet and lower back pain after two months. Swapped it out for a $200 walking pad under my old regular desk and now I walk three miles each day while working. Has anyone else found a simple movement setup that beats the hype?

16

wyatt_mitchell26•4d ago

I was dead wrong about running first thing in the morning being terrible

For years I swore I could never be a morning runner. I tried it maybe 3 times and felt awful each time, heavy legs, couldn't breathe, the whole thing. But my buddy at the gym kept saying I was just going too hard too fast and not eating right the night before. He convinced me to try a 4 week experiment with a super easy pace and a banana before bed. By week 2 I was actually looking forward to the quiet streets and the sunrise over the lake near my house. Now I've done 8 weeks straight and my afternoon runs feel way harder in comparison. Has anyone else found that switching when you run completely changed how you feel about it?

30

lilya76•5d ago

Vent: I miss paper maps on road trips honestly

I used to plan every road trip by spreading a giant paper map across my kitchen table in Portland, marking routes with a highlighter. Now I just punch an address into my phone and go, but I feel like I miss half the weird little towns and scenic detours. My dad taught me to read maps when I was 12, and last week I realized I haven't touched one in over 5 years. Does anyone else feel like GPS killed the adventure of getting a little lost?

13

jenny47•21d ago

Coworker told me my reports were just a wall of numbers and she was right

I used to make these weekly performance reports at my job that I thought were super detailed. I would cram in every metric I could find, like conversion rates, traffic sources, bounce rates, all in a big spreadsheet. Then my coworker Sarah pulled me aside after a meeting and said honestly, nobody can follow what you're trying to say here. She told me I needed to pick just 3 key numbers and explain why they matter, not just list everything. So I changed my whole format last month. Now I lead with a single sentence summary, then show only the top 3 metrics with a short reason next to each. People actually read them now and I get way fewer questions. Has anyone else had someone call out their formatting in a way that stuck with you?

6

lewis.terry•21d ago

Question about denture care routines after my aunt's experience

My aunt came into the clinic last month and she's been soaking her partial dentures in bleach water for 15 years. She figured if it kills bacteria it must be fine. Now the acrylic is all brittle and the wires are corroded. Her dentist told her it was ruined and she needs a whole new partial for $1200. I always thought people knew not to do that but apparently not. It got me thinking about how many other folks are using harsh stuff on their dentures without realizing the damage. Is diluted vinegar actually safe long term or is that just as bad? What are you all using for daily cleaning that doesn't wreck the material?

25

jade517•21d ago

Bought into a fancy meal prep service for 3 months, turned out to be a waste of $450

I signed up for a local organic meal kit delivery because I wanted to save time cooking after work. But after three months, I realized I was throwing away half the produce every week and the portions were tiny for the price. Has anyone else tried these services and found them actually worth the money?

6

charlescraig•22d ago

Update: My gas station credit card got skimped at a Shell in Tucson last week

I stopped for gas at a Shell on Speedway around 9pm last Thursday and used my card at the pump. Two days later I got a fraud alert for $180 at a grocery store 20 miles away. The cashier told me they've had issues with skimmers on pump 4 for months but nobody reported it. Has anyone else had luck with getting the station to cover losses or did you just eat the chargeback?

1

spencer782•22d ago

My friend's 8 year old called me out on my plastic water bottle habit

I was over at my buddy Mike's house last weekend helping him set up his new TV stand. His daughter Lily walks up to me and asks why I'm drinking out of a single use bottle when I could just use their tap water. I laughed it off at first but then she wouldn't let it go. She told me her class learned about how those bottles take 450 years to break down in a landfill. I honestly hadn't thought about it that way since I just grab a pack of 24 for like $4 at the grocery store. Now I'm looking at those metal bottles at Target and trying to figure out if spending $15 on one is worth it. Has anyone else had a kid make you rethink your daily habits like that?

8

matthewdixon•22d ago

That one Monday where everything went sideways on a simple thermostat swap

I had a basic Honeywell thermostat swap booked for 9am last Thursday. Easy money, right? Got there, old unit came off fine, but the new one's wiring labels didn't match anything on the old plate. Spent 45 minutes tracing wires back to the air handler in a dusty crawlspace with a bad flashlight. Then the homeowner's cat knocked my screwdriver into a floor vent. Has anyone else had a 'simple' job turn into a three hour nightmare over something stupid like mismatched C-wires?

22

charlescraig•23d ago

Found out my local coffee shop's $5 latte has more sugar than a candy bar

I checked the nutrition info they posted online out of curiosity, and a 16 oz caramel latte has 52 grams of sugar... that's more than a Snickers. How do you guys justify spending $5 on something that's basically dessert?

21

kelly385•23d ago

Pro tip: I hit 500 freelance gigs last week and here is what cracked the code for me

Honestly, I never thought I would break 500 jobs on Upwork, but last Tuesday I hit that number after four years of grinding. The secret was niching down to just small business website fixes instead of taking everything. Has anyone else found a specific niche that worked way better than being a generalist?

3

the_claire•24d ago

Appreciation post: That older guy at the hardware store who steered me right on gutter guards

I was standing in the gutter aisle at Lowe's in Austin last Saturday, totally lost between three brands. This older employee named Frank walked up and said 'save your money on the mesh ones, they clog in a year with pine needles.' He showed me a solid aluminum cover for $28 a section instead. Has anyone else gotten surprisingly solid advice from a random store employee like that?

15

rose_reed•26d ago

That $200 air purifier I bought for my warehouse is the best money I ever spent

I work in a dusty warehouse and my sinuses were a mess for months. I kept buying cheap box fans with furnace filters taped to them and they barely helped. Finally dropped $200 on a real HEPA air purifier with a carbon pre-filter. Set it up near my workstation about 3 weeks ago. I can breathe so much better now and I'm not waking up with a scratchy throat every morning. The filters are supposed to last 6 months so I think it'll pay for itself in my quality of life. Has anyone else coughed up for one of these and felt it was worth it?

14

wood.eric•27d ago

Used to scrub decks by hand with a wire brush. Now it's just a quick soft wash and rinse.

Anyone else find themselves ditching the hard way once you learned the right chemical mix?