You don’t. I mean, I can only speak for myself, and I wasn’t even raped, just ... Other stuff. But 16 years later I’m still pretty much always wary.. paranoid, even.

It does take a lot of guts. But then the trolls will say “they’re doing it for money/attention, and this is proof!” Sigh. As a survivor of sexual abuse/rape myself, it amazes me the kinds of mental gymnastics people will go through to discredit victims.

It’s amazing how many trolls online will say, “where’s the proof that this happened?” Here is your proof. No more anonymity, all guts. I applaud them.

I love the open chair at the end of the line. It’s silently implying so many things. Because you KNOW there are more out there. And more women that will be raped by others. It's almost an open invitation to other victims to feel like they could step up and join those women who were able to come forward.

I’m sorry. No matter what sort of work you choose, you should be able to do so safely.

Girl with arthritis, here.

There’s a bigger issue, here, though even - if she did commit suicide. If she was illegally detained, then there may still be an argument that the police department is at fault. I think the legal analysis would come down to causation, and if the act of being illegally detained caused her suicide, the family may still…

Re: your last paragraph:

Nope, the mother claimed she had “accidentally” spilled the coffee because she was “so distressed”. My manager knew I wouldn’t lie, but found it more expedient to explain, calmly and sweetly, that we couldn’t have kids tearing open boxes and dumping the contents of them onto the shop floor. That this was damaging our…

I work at a library, so you can bet that I feel your pain.

The most offensive part of this story is that it took 40 minutes to make 3 pancakes at a diner. A DINER! DO YOU KNOW WHAT A DINER IS?! That's a goddamn travesty.

That’s really the key here: are the parents making an effort?

I live in Maine and have actually been to this diner. I think the important thing to know about Marcy’s is that it really is a hole-in-the-wall. There are maybe 5 tables and one counter that might seat a dozen. It is tiny and cramped and hot (because the griddle is 3 feet from the counter), but the food is delicious…

Usually the people who send the e-mails are clearly protagonists, so from experience, we all probably expect that your posting their story is an endorsement of their actions. Might be worth an ed. note if you find one email particularly unsympathetic but too bizarre not to include.

Oh, and on the topic of ed. notes? If…

Not really on topic, but where you mortified when “corn-holing” became a term for throwing beanbags into holes in wood? At my old job they had corn-holing tournaments and I just didn’t...

I feel like this could be taken as shots fired in a glorious pizza chain war that could carry on for months, if not years. You deliver a pizza to our pizza joint, so we send our employees undercover to pose as asshole customers and make ridiculous demands. They spike our water supply, so we burn down their city hall.

(Editor’s Note: Bob must not have been doing the job for very long if he was mortified by that question, because servers and cooks say WAYYYYYYYY more fucked-up shit to each other pretty much every day)

The movie theater story reminded me of one of my own. One time getting popcorn at a local multiplex, the (obviously new) teenage girl behind the counter asked me “Would you like a golden shower with that?” causing me to pause significantly before confirming that I would like some butter-like topping. While she was…

Once, as I was climbing into my car, I called a place for takeout. They answered and put me on hold. I drove 15 minutes to the takeout place on hold. Got out of my car and walked in, still on hold, and asked for the manager. He came out and I showed him my phone and explained I had been on hold for 15 minutes. He took…

I kinda feel like the Pizza hut manager didn’t really have a leg to stand on either legally or otherwise. I mean if your service is so bad that people are ordering takeout to be delivered, that’s on you as the manager.