Agreed. I grew up in a poor family that would give you the literal last meal or shirt off their backs if you needed it more than them. I hate this idea that those of us in poor communities are all unrefined thugs simply because we don’t have material possessions or urbane white culture. 

It was painful to watch as these two women (and a room of editors, of course) downplayed Kim’s complaints and manufactured some “He doesn’t bother me, so it’s just her, so let’s make a scheme...”

It’s one of those days at work, so I’ll join in...

Everyone should have a will.

I’m sorry you had to go through that.

The people with an app that solicits your business say yes.

If there’s a local Office for the Aging, they may have a contract with local lawyers who can assist at little to no cost for an independent meeting for review and update. 

Wills in my rural area start at the advertised rate of about $100. When I was in private practice, I routinely did will/health care proxy/power of attorney suitable for most folks for $50 or less, if I was representing them in something.

I cannot cook to save my life (well, maybe literally you can subsist on my three dishes) but I’m fascinated by articles such as this that expose me to new things. Thanks. 

Depends if you’re looking at “theory” or “reality.” In theory, the regs are written that any disabling condition can be an exemption. In reality, you need a doc to agree and, despite 60 Minutes famous hit pieces, that’s an upward climb in many of these rural places.

I can only speak from experience, but when my MIL’s father died, she was a child, and her mother was dead set that they would not take charity or a handout.

As a former hiring manager, I looked askance at notes as the person with the note is overly formal, likely outdated and is probably going to have trouble in our informal workplace.

I could have written this.

In the safety of the internet, I’ll agree with you...the trouble I often run into is my Boomer relations will accurately complain about service, and then it’s due to interracial couples on tv or their pet peeve of the week, and not because, you know, the concept of work in the global economy is changing or whatever…

That’s good news. I know the blue collar union has really faded at the school I went to, so I’m glad to hear something working...

Yeah, I was thinking more about the faculty and, decreasingly, the union staff. I grew up in the shadow of one of the district’s state schools. The students, largely, came from the surrounding community and largely mirrored it, even though their being there meant there was hope I could encourage something other than…

Plattsburgh and Watertown are both in the district and, if not as notable as Saratoga, both relatively important locally as the media hubs. The area also has a large number of colleges that skew some areas bluer than you might expect.

I share your pet peeve, even though recently I’ve had more experiences with more than one person trying to take out order. It’s a better version of the same problem, in that someone isn’t communicating effectively. The most recent time it happened, it’s because we were at a place with fifty numbered tables and the…

You know, I’m going to admit that it never crossed my Old mind that people might mean “bites” and “for the table” or whatever weren’t the traditional appetizer-entree-dessert model I grew up with.

Yeah, I’d generally agree with this. I used the factories as our most glaring example, because those are jobs that pay quite well, but it really is all the unskilled sectors. But you’re right that there is a lot of variation in that category.