Did this in a (basic minimum wage, fortunately) grocery store on occasion in HS. The biggest problem I had, as a kid with a job because I needed money but still was in school/activities, was the owner/manager's expectation that we put his business as our top priority. He thought nothing of piling tasks until 2-3am on…

Expansion and culture change. It was far from perfect in the Cuse, but the expansion effort has been aimed at creating this a generic chain.

Too true.

My HS job was in a grocery store, so I did get paid for the post-closing work. But the manager/owner entitlement about how school kids were supposed to stay until 2-3am on some nights probably analogizes pretty well to the restaurant staff experience.

I was late for work today because I was doing nothing but sitting on the couch in pjs and couldn't bear the thought of khakis and a button up shirt at all. Fortunately I'm in the sort of job where no one cares about twenty minutes either direction.

Yep. And “breed a lot so we outcompete the other faiths” is somehow now enshrined as a mystical directive.

Partner wanted to start working scrotal cysts impeding sperm flow into conversations whenever the topic was raised. In retrospect, I should have caved.

I wish I was having those adventures, but the epiphany of not having kids was a similarly new one for me, coming from a small town in the cultural backwater where 1950s (tv version) morality and mores are in play. "Wait, I don't have to stop my life to watch Disney movies on repeat and put my career on hold, ie, end…

My mother was the child that, time and again, dropped everything to take care of parents. What did it get her? The same share of the inheritance as everyone else, a more checkered work history and a fair amount of bitterness. No thanks.

I'm sorry for your mood, but you're response is entirely delightful in that it's so many things I wish I could say.

I feel for my mom, who doesn't really want me to have kids I don't want, but has that "oh, but grandkids" thing because all her friends are spoiling little cherubs. My MIL, on the other hand, is the sort of mother who never should have had children and had a huge role in my partner's decision not to make the same…

Wow, I'm sorry that you went through that medical mess. Which isn't nearly a harsh enough term to describe it, but late in the day I alliterate.

I've actually had this. "No, we're not home enough for a dog, and we already made the cat a psychological case study with our parenting techniques" and they completely understand we're not a good fit for a dog, followed by questions about when we will have kids.

Not a woman, but I tend to use "childfree" for describing myself and my partner. It's not inaccurate, but it's also a dig back at the endless "why? but you're so good with them!" questions and prods we get.

I used to like BBT. It was nice to see nerdy stuff in the mainstream and see nerds having friends and lives, odd as they might have been. Then it seemed, and shame on me for having faith in a Lorre show, they reached the syndication barrier and character development, actual plot-driven stories and odd-but-lovable all…

And also: "Oh, I didn't use mayo, I used salad dressing" as if that makes a bit of difference to me. It's spiced mayo, not an entirely separate food group.

Correct. I am a middle school lunchmaker's nightmare.

Donut place named for dead drunk driving Canadian.

That's my fear, too.

Doozers, I bet. Always struck me as passive aggressive.