What to do when you are constantly being excluded

Being a scapegoat is not easy, especially if you are one in your family. This Redditor wonders how to soften what she confessed to her family (that she is almost never included), and I think it might be time to stop explaining and explore other groups of people. Dynamics, to continue functioning, have to be fed through both sides; if one stops, the dynamic can't perpetuate itself. Of course, this is much easier said than done, particularly when we're talking about family, but I think the OP is one step away from breaking free from feeling excluded.

Usually, abandoned senior cats are one of the toughest types of rescues to deal with. Not so much because of them being hard to catch, but more so their deteriorating health makes them a hard sell for fostering and adoption. But this story takes that notion and flips it on its head.

Reddit's r/Feral_Cats subreddit is usually a place to discuss how to handle truly feral felines. The cats who were born outdoors, live outdoors, fight outdoors and are generally only patient enough to endure a gentle single stroke from the hooman that occasionally feeds them. However, amongst those stories we found this one which turned out to not be a feral feline at all, but a senior cat who had gotten lost or been dumped by her pawrents. Found crying for help from anyone who would listen our little old lady was scooped up by a cat mom of 2 who got her squared away in her home immediately.

The strange part is that when it was discovered that this cat actually had a mother who was contactable she never came forward to actually claim the feline. In what must have been a series of guilt driven moves the original cat mom reneged on her promise to pick up her pet and disappeared. Thankfully our rescuer was not phased by this development and went ahead and found the feline in her care a furever home that would be purrfect for her. Letting this once lost feline live out the rest of her days in purrs and peace.

 

Why (and when) does commute stop being personal time and start becoming work?

This story explains perfectly how I feel about RTO policies. A remote worker was asked to return to the office three times a week, which for him is a struggle since he lives 45 minutes away. After carefully doing the math, he asked HR to cover the daily commute he had to endure, with a monthly cost of $190. HR, as we can expect, declined his request and gave him the most vague answer ever.

I'm not against working at the office. On the contrary: I think we can all benefit from face-to-face interactions, and those beloved coffee breaks. The problem appears when the company, which had been working remotely for years now, expects people to shift their routine entirely just to fit the new policy. There's nothing wrong with wanting your employees back there: the issue arises when you cannot accommodate their demands.

Now, in the case of the employee, he requested the company to cover the money it costs him to commute three times a week, since it's an expense he was not considering. Of course, HR denied it and told him that everyone is responsible for the way they manage to get to the office. That's it: no other solution other than a vague and not helpful response.

The remote worker admits by the end that he wasn't expecting a "yes" from the company: he just wanted to test them. As he states at the bottom, he confirmed that all of those years of good work led him to standard replies and no help at all. I think we can learn that sometimes, the best approach when it comes to our place of work is just to accept what they give us and analyze for ourselves if it's worth it or not. 

Is it a kitten or a ragdoll?

That's the question on the minds of cat lovers on TikTok right now after seeing sweet little itty-bitty Dan. This tiny orange kitten has big 'ole eyes and a lot to say. However, he has nowhere he wants to go, other than into your heart. The little guy refuses to walk. His human has done the research, gone to the vet, and still has no idea what's wrong with him. He either has something neurological going on that they will have to check out eventually. Or he is simply being lazy and does not want to walk. 

Why walk when humans can carry? Little Dan is a chatty Cathy who mews and purrs with happiness whenever he's being handled, but his human is worried. She has a makeshift sling for Dan to be harnessed up in to encourage walking. It's just a little piece of fabric, held up with two sticks, and with four leg holes. She puts Dan in there and just helps to keep his body up while he walks, hoping he'll use his legs. His legs are moving and grooving, so it's not like he can't move them. He just really doesn't want to use them. 

The adorable footage of him meowing so loudly while he's in this ridiculously cute sling has, obviously, gone viral. Because he's an adorable cat doing a silly little thing. Due to his orange-ness, as many cat lovers already know, it's possible that he truly is just being lazy. Orange cats are notorious for being silly little mischievous things, so he could just be faking flat-tired-legs just so his human has to carry him. It could really go either way…

Business partnerships are supposed to be like a three-legged race, everyone moving together toward a shared goal. What actually happens sometimes is one person named Claire tapes their leg to yours, throws you in a ditch, and then sends you an invoice for the ditch.

Something has shifted in the way recruiters look for candidates, but something has also changed in the way candidates approach interviews.

 
We all know that the current state of the job market is indecipherable. We don't even understand what companies are looking for in candidates anymore. Every hiring manager is different and has completely opposite expectations for each candidate they interview. There is no formula to get a job. It's a combination of having an incredible résumé (but not TOO incredible), a charismatic personality (but not TOO charismatic), and being good at selling yourself as a great employee. You have to be amazing but not too amazing. A good interview consists of finding the balance between perfection and not being too good to leave for a better job in two months. 

This Reddit thread got me thinking about another aspect that we don't usually consider that has shifted in the job market: candidates. Reading the stories some recruiters shared got me thinking that everything has changed SO much that no candidate is secure enough during interviews. Overqualification has become common, and, at the same time, the ones who have a resume that goes well with the job description aren't showing enough social skills. It seems that everyone is so nervous about not having a job that when the opportunity of an interview appears, fear is what takes over them. They don't showcase themselves as normal employees, and instead they come off as weird. But they aren't weird. They are just nervous. 

This shift in industry trends has shown us that even if you are a great candidate, you may not get the job. Everything is changing, and nowadays nothing really secures you as a great prospect. It seems as if it's just luck. Let's just wish things go back to normal. Companies lower their expectations on candidates, recruiters stop being subjective towards the people they interview, and candidates loosen up and act less terrified when just being asked simple questions. No magic trick will land you a job, and things are really difficult right now, but the last thing anybody should be doing is stop trying. 
 

Kittens sometimes find themselves in the most bizarre places before they get adopted.

They say the Cat Distribution System works in mysterious ways, but sometimes - it pits a person against the harsh reality a cat is about to go through, even if they knew them beforehand. Usually, the CDS just sends a cat in need to the arms of a human who will give them the forever home they deserve, through adoption or fostering. But what if the cat was your co-worker and you knew them before?

Well, sort of. You see, u/BMFresearch worked in a factory that had some cats living in it - working as rodent reducers, and probably enjoying the heat of machinery when they wanted a cozy nap. But then, the factory was closing down. No more humans to care for them, and no more safe places to hide. What should a cat do? In this case, get promoted from a co-worker to a roommate, apparently.

This man wasted no time and scooped a cute little kitten from the resident bunch, and she accepted the promotion with purrs and snuggles. We love it when a cat in need of a home is on their way to one - where we know they'll be loved and cared for. And this kitten is no different. She's going to be the house's purring princess, we're sure.

Some companies enjoy making job applicants jump through hoops in the interview process… only to reject them after weeks of hard work. Which leads to the question, when should a job applicant put their foot down and refuse to be subjected to all these hoops?

When you need a job, you are willing to do just about anything in order to get it. 10 interviews spread across three months? No problem. 3 assignments that provide the company with some free labor? Bring it on. Five recommendation letters from former employers and your kindergarten teacher? You got it covered. All before you even signed a contract, and for the off chance of actually being accepted to the job.

As long as there are people willing to go through all these steps, the hiring process is not likely to change. In fact, in recent years, it has only gotten worse. And all thanks to… take a quick guess… Yep. The lovely technologies offered by AI.

So now, not only are job applicants going through numerous rounds of interviews, but they also have to do it in front of a barley functioning AI tool. Companies don't even bother to have a human meet with a candidate first; they simply send them a link for a "one-way video interview" and call it a day. Let the job candidate figure it out themselves, that will get them to want to work for your company for sure.

The only way to make a change in the hiring process is if people stop participating in it, and the job seeker below has already taken the first steps. They decided that a company that does not have ten minutes for a real human conversation during the initial screen is never going to value them as an employee. Why should they waste their time on these horrible video interviews if all they get in return is a generic rejection email? It's not like these companies are worth it anyway.

It's time that job candidates learn that rejection is a two-way street…

Two are better than one, and that's very apparent when it comes to cats.

It's a field studied from left to right, from right to left, and the conclusions are clear - cats are social creatures, and they thrive when they have company. For some reason, cats have this PR smear campaign claiming they're "independent", "aloof", or "misanthropic". Every person who has ever had a cat could tell you otherwise in a second. Cats crave attention, love, and affection. And they deserve it, too.

Usually, it doesn't matter who the friend to the feline is - it can be a preferred human, a fellow pet like a dog, but mostly, cats bond with other cats. When cats come in pairs, they're usually bonded, and the wholesome cuddle levels are breaking the cuteness ceiling. Pawrents of two or more kitties know this truth. And this is why they share these purrecious snuggly moments with the rest of us online.

If you're already raising a meowgnificently cute cat child and always wanted to get them another feline friend, see this as your sign. Go to the nearest shelter and adopt your cat a buddy. The results are heartwarmingly wholesome.

Somewhere between the collapse of print journalism and the rise of the algorithm, we accidentally built the greatest comedy writers' room in human history, and none of them get paid a cent. That's the entire premise behind ReplyArchive, a page that simply does the sacred work of screenshotting strangers roasting each other online before the original poster deletes the evidence out of shame. Nobody asked for this content, especially the specific poster of some of these posts. And yet here it is, better than ninety percent of what network television has produced since 2015.

New York is not an easy city to grow up in, and imagine being a little kitten off the streets. 

In Reddit's r/StrayCats, a feral pregnant mama roams the streets alone.  This family saw the pregnant mama cat and figured she had her 4 kittens. They're probably about 6-8 weeks old by now, and they run around and play in the backyard of this family. They've been trying to capture the kittens to rescue them, but the kittens are turning out to be a little bit more difficult than expected. They're also trying to trap the mama and make it one big happy family. They've only caught one kitten and it's been in the house for 14 hours but he's not eating. He probably misses his siblings and mama, but hopefully it's the start of the rescue mission for the other cats. They're doing their best to take care of the cats despite them being outside. They see the kitten is terrified, and they're worried. They're going to try and trap more, but they turn to the internet for advice on next steps in the situation. Read the full story below for all the information and what happens next. 

We all need a sense of comfort, love, and belonging, and when we hear the slow and low purr of our cats, our nervous system has a meowment to calm itself. 

Cats have something meowgical about them. Their purr is so unlike anything that another person makes or like an animal makes. The sound is so inviting, so calming, and so cute. It's so soft that you may not even notice is, but it's low rumbling will have you vibrating ever so slightly, and just enough to calm your nerves. It can transform the atmosphere in the entire room with just a few pets to the kitty. After a long day, it can be the most comforting thing to just go home and give your cat some love. Being able to pet him or her on the bed or couch and hear the happiness come out of him in the sound of purrs is the best feeling. The stresses of the day melt away when you can hear how happy and relaxed your cat is simply because you're home with him or her. The life of a cat is one of stillness and stoicism, and that can be really comforting amongst the overstimulating environment we live in. At I Can Has Cheezburger, we know that you find comfort in cats. In their ease and unexplainable cuteness. They don't expect anything from us, and that's really the key to why we love them so much. Enjoy these comforting cat memes for some Tuesday calmness, because we all need to feel a sense of soothing from the chaos now and again. 

Lost in translation

I love that people feel the need to make silly confessions like this. I don't think lying is always bad if it doesn't really hurt anybody. I'm surprised to know the barber never realized the English-speaking man was actually French. Either he is an excellent English speaker, or the barber was just playing along for all those years. In my experience, you can always tell when someone is not Native, no matter how perfectly they speak the language. Maybe it would've been easier to be upfront about not wanting to do small talk, but this other option was a little funnier, and it involved some performance, so I'm up for it.

In customer service, you often encounter people who believe the world revolves around them. But how can you make them see that it is definitely not the case?

When a customer calls customer service, they usually have a problem they need fixing, and they expect the person on the other line to be able to solve it. 99% of the time, the issue really is an easy fix that a short phone call can provide, but there are these rare occasions where there is nothing that can be done.

The problem is that people do not like being told 'no', and it only urges them to push for a solution when they hear that word. When that customer is also a person who believes the sun shines out of their you-know-what, it could lead to a long dispute for the poor customer service person. All of a sudden, a pleasant conversation turns into a yelling-fest, as the customer is told that their issue is their problem, and there is nothing that could be done to change it.

When it comes to the tourist attraction in the story below, published on r/EntitledPeople, you can definitely say that the customer who called fully believes that the world revolves around him, as his request was so entitled that it almost left the customer service person speechless.

The phone call started with the customer telling the tour guide that they were going to be late to the tour they booked, then admitted that "traffic" had caused them to be an hour late. Then, they proceeded to ask the tour guide to delay the tour by an hour so that they would be able to make it, but considering the tour was fully booked, the guide refused to make the entire group wait for two people who clearly had an issue with time management.

As we established, people don't like being told 'no', and this customer is no different. Scroll down to discover how they reacted to this single word.

How do cats manage to look so disappointed all the time?

I swear some cats wake up every morning already annoyed. You can give them food, fresh water, a comfortable place to sleep, and a house that basically belongs to them, and they'll still stare at you like you've failed some important test. The amount of judgment packed into one tiny feline face is honestly impressive.

What makes it even funnier is how specific their expressions can be. Some cats look mildly concerned. Others look like they're reviewing your performance and preparing a detailed report. Then there are the real experts, the ones who can make you question your entire decision-making process with a single glance from across the room.

Of course, that's exactly why people love them. Their dramatic reactions turn ordinary moments into comedy. A cat doesn't need to knock something over or cause chaos to be entertaining. Sometimes all it takes is a perfectly timed side-eye that makes it seem like they're silently wondering how humans have survived this long.

Now, cats will always be that ball of fur that decides when to be sweet and cuddly. With these, I want to preface that, although they might seem mean and judgy, they show they love in that way. I see it as being kind of like a parent in a way: they want the best for you but still will judge you silently no matter what. 

If you can relate to any of this ramble, then you'll love these judgy cat memes that I selected for you. Now, I hope you don't feel to judge with these felines… they most likely know your past and are here to make you feel worse about it. 

Malicious compliance or the dumbest idea you ever heard?

When things don't go our way is normal to feel not only hopeless but also mad. This irritation may showcase itself in weird ways that may not always be the best ones. Anger tends to get the best of us, and that is, in fact, completely understandable. Especially during divorce is normal for emotions to take the place of our brain. To stop thinking about actions and consequences and instead just act in the way that you feel would be the most damaging for the other person. Someone you used to love, but now you hate so deeply that the thought of inconveniencing them makes you thrilled. This is normal. You aren't crazy just because you want your ex-spouse to be unhappy. The problem is when it gets out of hand and begins a lawsuit.

In this Reddit story, the user's sister is going through a tense divorce that has indeed exterminated the remaining love the couple had for each other. The judge has heard them fight for long, and everyone in that courtroom is already tired of them. So when the woman says that it is fine if his ex-husband gets half the things in the house, everyone is happy. She didn't discuss or complain. She complied. The bigger problem did not happen in the story yet. That one is about to come any day now.

The wife decided to take that "in half" phrase literally. She cut his clothes, disassembled his appliances, and separated the CD's of his DVD collection from their packaging. This, unfortunately, is not malicious compliance. This is being dumb. As I previously said, it is normal in this kind of situation for your emotions to get the best of you. But this does not excuse not following the law. This case is going to escalate from a normal divorce to bigger problems just cause this woman could not have it in her the fact that his ex-husband was going to get what he wanted. She made everything worse and damaged herself for just simple things that didn't hold that much value in reality. 
 

What could go wrong when managers care more about metrics than real solutions?

I've read and heard multiple stories of managers trying to solve a problem, only to cause a much bigger one. In this case, they thought that by having each customer support employee close the unsolved tickets by EOD, the numbers would improve. Instead, they caused the whole system to collapse since multiple cases were opened, even three or four new ones per client. Since this made everything go wrong, they backtracked and dissolved the request.

I expect managers to understand better than anyone the numbers and metrics of a company, so I really get confused when they are the ones who ask employees to follow a mandatory task that ruins the whole system. As we can all imagine, these types of decisions end up being erased…

Anyways, sometimes trying new things is worth the attempt. But if they were going to change the whole procedure, they should've expected the numbers they ended up having: multiple new cases a day, and around three or four per client. That's a lot… even for customer service.

The part that I found to be the funniest was the one when nobody was shocked when the numbers exploded. The support agents knew exactly what would happen because they are the ones dealing with customers daily. If a problem depends on another department, closing the case doesn't really make the case disappear. It just creates more work later when the same customer calls the next day and demands an update.

It got to me when they didn't complain about the manager's rule. They simply followed the instructions exactly as they were given. That's usually when flawed policies reveal themselves the fastest. A dashboard might look cleaner for a few days, but reality eventually catches up. That's when they learned that a closed case and a solved one are not the same, and that it's better to have both of them even though the numbers are worse.

What could be more gentle than a soothing scroll of cat memes that inspire lightness and humility? 

Gentleness isn't just about a feeling. It could be an image, an art piece, or a meme, or it could really just be a cat sitting next to you. When you're with your cat and he or she is purring, you get a wave of calmness over you that's unexplainable. The purring is like a low rumble that calms our nervous system. We sometimes get caught up in the day to day chaos that we forget to take the time to take deep breaths and pet our little furballs. Speaking of art, the works of Sandro Botticelli are some of the best. He was an artist who explored themes of beauty, desire, and intimacy. Women portrayed as mysterious, powerful, or symbolic. His art blends realism with dreamlike ornamentation, creating images that feel both elegant and surreal. His famous one, The Kiss, is iconic for love and intimacy. A couple is in a slightly distorted embrace, while shimmering in gold garb and floral designs. This type of gentleness in art is a message about love. And why can't your cats also give a message about love? Their gentle fur and whiskered noses are purrfect for soothing the soul and adding a dash of kitty cuteness to your day. Enjoy these adorable and calming cat memes. 

A pspsps and a cuddle were the finishing touches on making these kitten siblings inseparable. 

The life of a cat never fails to surprise us. They seem to find their way to us and sneak into our hearts effortlessly, and that's exactly what happened in the story from Reddit's r/cats. A couple was at the river with their dog. They were on their way out on the trail and they saw these two adorable sibling teens. They approached with caution and did a little pspsps at them. They both approached fearlessly, but then they ran away after hearing a noise. They were probably 6-9 months old, and the couple couldn't bear to see them stay in the wilderness. They left to bring their dog home and grab the cat crate. They returned to the area and lo and behold the cats were still there! They spotted them and brought some food. As soon as the cats heard the food they came running and they were able to easily cat the two cats. The brown one is the boy, and the white and grey one is the girl. She's very sweet but more timid, and he's more social and friendly. They were inseparable on the ride home, and they put them in their bathroom when they got home. They went shopping immediately for all the necessary things to take care of them. It was clear that these two were so connected and really needed each other. 

Despite already having a cat and a dog, they couldn't just take them to a shelter to be potentially separated. They decided they needed to keep the two together, and the best way to do that would be to keep them as their own. They were initially going to drop them at the animal shelter, but a little cuddling did the trick to make them want to stay. Read the full wholesome story below. 

A few minutes with these felines is cheaper than therapy and fluffier than a weighted blanket.

Some days just call for an emergency serotonin refill, and cats never disappoint. They're basically tiny, furry mood boosters that don't even realize they're on the job. One second they're sleeping with their little paws tucked underneath them, the next they're launching themselves across the room because they heard absolutely nothing. It's impossible to predict what they're going to do next, and that's half the fun.

Cats manage to make the smallest things hilarious. A cardboard box instantly becomes a luxury apartment. A piece of string turns into the greatest discovery of the century. They'll stare at a blank wall like they've just uncovered government secrets, then spend the next five minutes sprinting around the house at top speed before flopping over like they never had a single responsibility in their lives. That's the kind of energy everyone could use a little more of.

When life starts feeling a little too serious, cats have a way of fixing that without lifting a paw. One goofy face, one dramatic yawn, one perfectly timed loaf, or one look of complete confusion is sometimes all it takes to turn a rough day around. They remind everyone that it's perfectly acceptable to get excited over absolutely nothing, take an unnecessary nap, or completely ignore the to-do list for a little while.

So if the serotonin tank is running on fumes today, these delightfully goofy felines are ready to help fill it back up. No prescription required. Just plenty of whiskers, chaos, and the kind of cat shenanigans that somehow make everything feel a little better.