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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 3rd, 2023

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  • A few weeks after my mom passed, I was reading a book winding down for the night. I set the book down in the middle of a very large coffee table and went to bed. Maybe 20 mins after laying down I heard a loud bang in the living room. I shot outta bed and grabbed a bat and went to investigate. In the living room, on the floor about 5 feet from the table, was the book I was reading. There were no animals or other people in the house and all the doors and windows were locked. This was a heavy hardcover book, so I don’t think wind or something like that picked it up and threw it. Im skeptical by nature but I still can’t come up with an explanation for that one.







  • Im deliberately being vague to avoid being linked irl to this story, but to assuage a random strangers’ criticism of this situation: He applied for multiple of the same programs. He took advantage of the good will of charities and social services by using their services while stealing from them. He got kicked out of many many places during that year for forging identities and stealing from other residents. He had things like food stamps but would just sell them for fractions of their worth for cash. So, Yes he was a mooch. He was not in good faith trying to use these services to better his situation. He was using them to try and get his next fix.

    I get what your trying to say but maybe try rephrasing it so its not so accusatory towards a person you have no fucking clue about.


  • I tried for three years to help a family member get clean. It cost me most of my savings, my relationship with my fiancee, my house as most of my money went towards treatment and whatever was left, ended up stolen by him. Also most of my family because they all blame me for what happened. And what happened is after 3 years of futile attempts to help, I finally kicked him out and instead of hitting rock bottom and helping himself, he just gave up. He became homeless, mooched off the system for a year and then died.

    There’s not a lot you can do for people once they are fully in addiction. They have to want to get better for themselves. I’m sorry. I know its a shit situation and it’s gut wrenching to watch and not really be able to do anything. My best advise from someone whose been there- Make it clear your available to them if they want the help, but they have to want it. Don’t put yourself out there for someone who isn’t ready to get clean because they will take advantage of you. If they really do try and help themselves, then just be there for them. Don’t give financial support, its to tempting for an addict. Support them morally and emotionally like if they need a ride, or someone to sit in a NA meeting with them, then do that.

    Remember, addiction is a disease. It changes people against their will. I don’t say this to make you loose hope for your friend, but rather to help you keep in mind that the person lying, stealing and manipulating you, isn’t your friend. They are an addict. I really hope your friend comes back soon.









  • Some things that my company does:

    • Has someone watching you browse our site live. We can see everything you do in real time. All your searches, missclicks, mouse movements, etc. Only thing it cant see is credit card info.

    • Uses these live views to create a profile on you. Are you in the deep south and searched for something that could be “conservative”? Your now on our Conservative mailing list. Vise-versa as well, We have email marketing campaigns that are written to cater to demographics. For each email sales campaign we put out, there are about 8 varieties of those emails that are tailored to what we think you want.

    • Keep databases of all our customers and people who visit the site, with as much info as possible. IP, location, estimated salary, spending potential, whether or not you are more likely to click on our links. All kinds of info that isnt really protected in any meaningful way. Most of it is just on a Google Drive.

    • For our big spenders and repeat customers, we have a separate database that has even more personal info. The marketing manager has even gone so far as to look up Facebook and Linkden and whatnot on you and take whatever they can find. Family, friends, hobbies, jobs, anything that they think can be useful to sell more stuff. Again, none of this is really secured to well.

    Im not in the marketing department of my job so theres probably a lot more that im not aware of. These are just a few things we do and im sure this is mild in comparison to bigger companies. My job is a small family business with like 10 people working there.