The main goal of a family vacation is to have a nice, relaxing time, not see each other every split second.
 

I bet that having two-year-old twins on vacation isn't an easy task. But the hardest thing about this story seems to be having to put up with her cousin and her insane requests for the holiday. If you go on vacation, whether it's with family or on your own, it is important that your main goal remains the same. To relax and regain energy. Whether you want to get that relaxation from doing fun activities, hanging out with people, or sleeping the whole day, that's up to you. You should be focusing on having a nice time no matter how that happens. Not on the fact that your cousin is mad at you because you can't hang out with her full time.

When I went on family vacations, I usually did whatever I liked during the whole day, and only met up with them for dinner and breakfast –and sometimes not even breakfast. It's actually nicer this way, as we all could do the things we like the most and still hang out with each other more than we usually can. We also arranged a couple of activities all together, or at least most of us, so we could see each other more. But usually it would just be doing what you like or chipping it on somebody else's activity for the day if you felt like it.

This probably is something that varies according to the family that you have, but in my case it seems obvious to let all of us be free and just meet up a couple of times. We are all tired and stressed for the year, so making some strict schedules to see each other won't fit into our idea of vacation. It will just make us uncomfortable and irritated. Is better to leave the "hanging out" part of the job to the spontaneity of life. After all, it's just a vacation, and we all deserve to have a nice time!

What to do when your own manager takes the credit for you and speaking up could put a target on your back?

There are some things that I'll never understand about corporate life. Managers, for example. You can have the best experience with them and have a manager that is inspiring and very helpful… but other times you can be whatever this man is. A person who is not playing a part in an important project but feels entitled to take all the credit for it… for something we never do.

And the worst part of all is that managers tend to have a good relationship with the people who are above them, important people for the company, who don't really care about what's happening in the smaller teams below. As a result, those employees felt they couldn't speak the truth or claim the reward they deserved for the big project they'd done. 

Being a good manager means being more selfless and putting your own team before you… At least, that's what a manager is to me.

I feel I'm getting triggered by this story, but it sounds so unfair! I can't help but feel bad for these people who may have worked super hard for something they are not even being acknowledged for… But hey, that's how life can be sometimes! I think we can learn a valuable lesson out of this story, especially for those employees who were silent.

Remember: we work to live; we don't live to work. That's an important mantra to always have in mind for the next time you're spending a whole night finishing a project or writing a report that is due the next day. Your own life, your family, and your friends should be the things that you care the most about, and the ones you should be taking care of the most.

The backpacks are packed, the alarms are set, and students everywhere are already wondering when the next break starts.

Summer is coming to an end, which means it's time to trade sleeping until noon and having absolutely no idea what day it is for alarms, homework, and pretending you remember anything you learned last year. Cats might not actually go to school, but spiritually, they understand the struggle.

First comes waking up early. After months of perfecting the art of the midday catnap, suddenly you're expected to be awake, dressed, and functioning before 8 AM. Absolutely hiss-terical. Even the most ambitious feline would take one look at that alarm clock, knock it off the nightstand, and go back to sleep.

Then there's getting ready. You bought new notebooks, picked out the purrfect first-day outfit, and packed enough pens to survive the semester. By week two, you're writing assignments on random scraps of paper and hoping someone has an extra pencil. Organization had a good run.

Actually sitting through class is another challenge. The teacher has been talking for ten minutes, but your brain is already watching a bird outside the window. You're physically present, but mentally you're curled up in a sunny patch somewhere far away from algebra.

And homework? That's tomorrow-you's problem. There's plenty of time to finish it after dinner. And after one episode. And after checking your phone. Suddenly it's midnight and you're staring at an untouched assignment with the same panic as a cat who just heard the vacuum turn on.

At least there are friends, lunch breaks, and the occasional class where you can get away with doing almost nothing. Plus, every school day eventually ends, which means you can race home, throw your bag on the floor, and collapse into bed like you just worked a 12-hour shift.

Good luck out there, students. Stay pawsitive, take plenty of catnaps, and remember that winter break is only a few hundred assignments away.

Why would he spend $100 a week on just dinners?

Eating dinner with friends is a great activity. Getting to live with your friends as roommates seems like a great idea to have fun while living on a budget. Getting to eat dinner every day with your roommates who are your friends sounds great in theory. But maybe it's not as good as it sounds! Living with your friends can bring several issues into the relationship. You could fight because of the cleaning of the shared space, due to the guests each brings to the apartment, and especially due to money issues. Not every friend has the same budget, and getting to live together is going to make that even more obvious.

Some friends never go through with the moving together thing because of the money differences. They can afford different kinds of apartments in diverse places, and getting to an agreement can be hard. But if you decide on that and go on with the move, that doesn't mean that problems end there. You will start to think that most of the qualities that made your friend a great one are actually quite annoying. It may be fun to befriend a funny guy that's never serious, but to live with them… that may not be the smartest decision.

Stories like this abound on the internet and in life. And they are a reminder of how careful we have to be before deciding to move with a friend, especially if we want to remain as such after the living-together period has passed. So be mindful, talk to each other, and compromise. Don't just say yes to anything because your roommate asked. Be especially mindful of how you want to manage your finances and take care of them. A roommate could be found anywhere. Friends are more rare. 

Saying you're "definitely not taking in another cat" is basically an invitation for the Cat Distribution System to send one your way.

This hooman already had a void when they started hearing tiny meows coming from underneath their roommate's car. Sure enough, there was a big-eared kitten hiding down there. They had no intention of adding another feline to the family, especially while working abroad, so they started by putting out some food and water and hoping someone else might take the little guy in.

Then the heat became impossible to ignore. Temperatures were hitting 115 to 125°F, and after three days, the kitten was panting more and more. He'd also found himself a hiding spot underneath a water tank and still wouldn't let anyone get close.

Eventually, waiting him out wasn't an option. His future hooman crawled underneath the tank and managed to catch the escape artist. A call to their wife, who happens to run a cat rescue, meant there was no pretending this wasn't happening anymore. The kitten was set up in the bathroom while they waited for a vet appointment, then it was finally time to meet the resident void.

The two were a little unsure about each other at first, but that lasted roughly an hour. Soon enough, the new kid was happily terrorizing his older sibling like he'd always lived there.

By the time his hooman was moving back to the States, there was no chance this guy was getting left behind. The tiny kitten hiding from the brutal heat was officially family and coming along for the ride.

Now he's a whopping 22 pounds, a little bit of a troublemaker, and apparently a total sweetie when he feels like it.

So much for not taking in another cat.

Is this 'singleness' trend meant to last?

I suppose we can confidently say that nowadays more and more people are choosing to be single. Plenty of new discourse is forming online about new types of relationships.

Right now, there are situationships, low-commitment long-distance relationships, open relationships, 'eyecontactships', and a long list of other types of ships navigating the sea of romantic attachments.

What doesn't seem to appear anymore in the conversation is long-term traditional partnerships. It's not that they don't exist anymore, but right now, it seems that more people are choosing not to engage in that type of commitment.

Some argue this happens because we have a choice now, and people who otherwise would've jumped into relationships can now contemplate other options. In prior generations, being in a committed relationship after a certain age was pretty much  mandatory.

Anyone you'd date in your twenties would be, more or less, someone you'd later have to marry.  Both parties entered relationships with that mandate in mind, regardless of whether they knew it was their own desire or a societal imposition, and things kinda went on from there.

I'm not saying that was necessarily a good thing; in fact, I think it wasn't, but somehow I still think the place we have arrived at now isn't quite the best yet. We tend to be more lonely, and relationships have become more fragile.

Having some form of commitment towards another person or a relationship teaches you a lot about yourself, humanity, solidarity, and love; and I think those lessons are very valuable in life.

To me, it would be great if we landed somewhere in the middle on relationships, and I think we'll eventually get there after so much flexibilization. Hopefully, soon we'll all have a variety of relationship styles to choose from, and commitment will definitely be one of them, possibly chosen by many.

It takes a special kind of purrson to adopt a senior cat. You know you won't have much time left, but what could be more meaningful than making a cat's golden years the most purrfect of their entire lives?

Everybody wants to adopt kittens. We get it - kittens are the most adorable thing to ever walk the planet Earth. But, kittens are also a handful. They're meowtrageously cute for the first 6 months, then for the next 1.5 - 2 years, they're like tiny velociraptors with no off buttons. They will climb and tear down your curtains. You will come home to find them hanging from the living room chandelier. They will stomp across your face and stomach at all hours of the night because of the zoomies. 

Adopting a kitten is not for the faint of heart, but adopting a senior cat is for everyone.

The problem that dissuades most people from adopting a senior cat is the little time you'll have with them. But even if you may not have 12+ years together, wouldn't 3 or 4 years of incredibly heartwarming love be worth it? Senior cats don't have the energy of kittens, they mostly just want to lounge around and snuggle. You don't need to entertain them or stop them from scratching up the furniture - they're purrfectly content just to curl up on your lap and purr all night.

Poe, our cat below from @hookedbythewook's Instagram video, shows us exactly that. Nobody wanted him, until she saw him. From the second she brought him home, he was nothing but grateful for her love, and they had some of the best years together any cat owner could wish for. He played, he took naps in the sunshine, he loved his hooman mom, and he expurrienced his best years towards the end. 

Nobody likes to say goodbye to their pets, but it will happen to all of us eventually. At the very least, you can give a sweet senior a chance to feel love in your arms in their retirement than the fear and isolation of an animal shelter.

Adopt senior cats. It's what Poe would have wanted.

We may be complaining about the heat now, but in a few months, we'll be complaining about the cold. So enjoy these sweaty days with the help of some hissterical kitties before you're all bundled up and wishing for a heat index of 100.

In the great state of Virginia, where I grew up, summers can be… unpredictable. One day, it's as hot and humid as a swamp in Alabama, and the next, it's raining harder than a monsoon in Thailand. The day after that, it can be nice and cool, followed by a day of hailstorms and subsequent sunshine. Even on those cooler days, though, you still woke up with 200% humidity, and just walking outside you'd sweat through your shirt. I used to despise summer for this very reason.

But then, in less than two months, you'd be bundling up in your sweaters and jackets, wishing for those warm, muggy days of summer. The grass is always greener on the other side, huh? Well, now that we're adults, we've learned to appreciate the small things a little bit more. And even though we may still suffer through the sweaty days of summer, we know that they are temporary, and we'll enjoy that glistening feeling caused by the sun before it all goes away. 

How does all of this talk about summer weather connect to cat memes, you ask?

Well, you may or may not have noticed, but cats have a lot of opinions about the weather. Cats truly enjoy the summer sun more than anyone… from the comfort of our homes while the AC is blasting. They love to sunbathe in the windows on sunny days, and watch the torrential downpours that are summer storms from the safety of the couch. Before it ends, we should all aspire to enjoy the last days of summer just like a cat: dry, cool, and purrfectly comfortable. 

Why would the company with millions in revenue be the one paying for one employee's PTO?

When an employee finds themselves having to take time off work while they don't have enough PTO to cover it all, they are basically at the mercy of their company. Whatever the higher-ups decide is what will happen, which can make or break an employee's future with them.

A decent company with empathetic management might offer to help an employee themselves. If a worker has to go on medical leave, the best-case scenario for them would be if their company offers to cover that PTO so that the worker could focus on their health and nothing else. 

A less decent company, like most out there, will pull all kinds of stunts to avoid the responsibility of an employee in need. They would do everything to avoid carrying the weight of someone else, even if they value the employee and want them to stick around. That is the kind of company described below.

One of its employees is going to be out for a while for a medical reason, but unfortunately, she doesn't have enough PTO to cover her leave. Instead of the company covering that time off, HR decided to ask her coworkers to donate some of their own PTO hours to this employee. It's not a great solution, but not horrible either. Employees can decide whether or not they want to donate, and hopefully enough volunteers will get the job done.

However, this is not where the company's stunt ended. In order to pressure employees to donate their time off, HR decided to publish a leaderboard with everyone's names and how much they decided to donate. Those who didn't offer anything were up there too, names highlighted in red. What a nice gesture, right?

The only question left to ask is: where are the company itself and the lovely HR manager on that leaderboard?

As if looking for a job isn't embarrassing enough, they are now putting robots in charge of it.

It turns out that no hiring manager really enjoys the grunt work of sifting through countless samey candidates to find the handful that seem to be worth interviewing, and they aren't even that interested in the initial interview, either. Luckily, they live in a time when artificial intelligence gets used for everything, and they can outsource this annoying part of their job to a computer that is not going to get bored of it.

Needless to say, a lot of people looking for work probably do not find it that encouraging that their experience and skills are regarded as something that a bot can screen. The job search can be a demoralizing slog, so not even getting direct human contact in return for your efforts can be pretty insulting. Still, most applicants have no choice but to play the game if they want a chance to get that (probably insufficient) salary. It isn't fun, but then none of the job-hunting process is, even when it isn't influenced by artificial intelligence. Everybody has to play the game on some level, even if they have an aversion to interacting with robots.

During the interview process, employers put on a brave face as much as the applicants do. Whatever problems the organization has, whatever chaos is going on behind the scenes, won't show. It all lies carefully hidden behind a perfect facade.  

This new hire began a new office job and thought that they'd be receiving some on-the-job training. Instead, they found themselves only with two short onboarding sessions. The two days' worth of company-values videos and tests.

This continued, with no real work assigned to them and no practical instructions being given. They started trying to train themselves, searching around company files for procedure manuals. Their boss still told them to "work more" and to learn by doing. But do what? No one was able to give a certain answer.

What started off as an exciting and hopeful new start quickly dissolved into disillusionment.

If there is one thing that is universal to all lovers of cats, it is that no matter how many we have, there will never be enough.

Oh, you say the space in your house has run out, no problem you can pick up an outdoor cat. Oh, you say you've run out of money and can't get a loan? No problem, run out and grab a family of rats, throw them in your attic and let nature take its course. No matter the problem that might stand in our way there is always a solution to getting more cats into our lives. But seeing as that can likely be very annoying to those around us, we figured we could all keep our minds of getting another cat by looking at this collection of comedic cattos instead.

It might not be quite the same as scheming up ways to afford to bring new felines into your life, but it certainly is a delightful activity that leaves our feline loving emotional cups rather full and even overflowing with cat created joy. So whether you are a fan of felines who have a clawminal side and band together to loot whatever feline friendly products happen to fall off the back of delivery vans. Or you are one of those hoomans who simply has to see a weightlifting cat shatter all expectations and records. This hissterical collection of cats has got everything you are looking for and more. So go forth and try to keep yourself from adopting yet another cat before the day's end eh?
 

We frequently cover cat rescue stories on this page, but we can assure that none come close to the drama and almost catastrophe that went down here. This is the tale of a pair of plucky rescuers who arrived right on time for the rescue that would go on to change their pawception of hooman kind all together.

With most rescues we get to share with you the act of dumping a cat or kitten is a simple one. The feline is left somewhere, usually relatively public and at best with their belongings plonked down next to them. But our story today sadly begins in a much sorrier state. It begins with the faint meows of a littler of kittens that seemed to be coming from inside a bag of trash. But one rescuers rifled through the trash they did not find the kittens scattered throughout it as they had anticipated, they found something far worse.

These merely days old kittens who could not see, could not hear, could not even go to the bathroom by themselves were wrapped in a sandwich bag and knotted shut tightly. Likely in the hopes that much like a discarded sandwich, these kittens would not make any noise nor too much smell after a few days baking in the sun. a horrific thing to come upon and one that we are lucky to be on the rescuer's side for. For it means there is still hope that these kitties will live a life full of love. 
 

How do you train someone who thinks 20 years of experience means they have nothing left to learn?

Multiple things are going wrong in this workplace story shared by u/One_Sell_250. From the start, there's no office manager… and that just sounds completely off. Because of that, when a new employee comes in and someone has to teach them how to do things, another employee is given the task, although it's not their responsibility. And things start to go wrong, and mistakes are made.

The mistakes are not the bad part: we all make mistakes, especially if we're starting at a new job. The problem is the attitude and the way we face the people who are there to teach us what not to do, so that next time we can avoid doing them. This woman, who just joined the company, apparently has 20 years of experience in the field and was not willing to let anyone teach her how to do things. She did what they told her at her past job, thinking it was enough. And, of course, it was not.

The writer said he was with her most of the time, and whenever she did something wrong, she wouldn't listen to him and would defend herself. This leaves no room for improvement, and the employee who's teaching her is very exhausted and not cooperative. And since there's no office manager, he has to complain directly to the owner of the company… 

The worst part of all was when this woman revealed confidential information to a client, something that is never supposed to happen since this is private to the company and their own procedures. If you ask me, after the multiple mistakes and the poor cooperation. I'd have done something to get fired. But that wasn't the case, and she's still working there and doing her own things. If nobody steps in and can stop her, worse things can happen, and more confidential information can be revealed…

What do you do when your children never learn to be responsible? 

Parents feel the need to protect their children even when they are well into adulthood. After all, they will think of them as their kids forever. However, no matter how much they love them, children need to learn to fend for themselves at some point, especially when they are over 30.

Parents may not want to leave them or be too hard on them to spare them suffering, but sometimes they need that tough love as a wake-up call to realize that they need to step up and take control of their own lives. They cannot depend on Mom and Dad forever. Learning to be an adult takes time, but that time cannot be spent being irresponsible and still behaving like a reckless teenager.  

Something like that happened to a mother who has an irresponsible son. He's over thirty and asked to move back home after breaking up with his girlfriend and losing his place to live. The mother lives with her daughter and her family, and loves to have them around, but couldn't bear the thought of having the son back home, with his bad habits, demands, and bad attitude. She ended up telling him no, that he was old enough and had spent too much time being reckless. It was time for him to put on his big-boy pants and figure it out. Of course, he was not happy about his mother setting a boundary for the first time, and he chose to cut contact with her. However, because his mother chose to teach him a lesson, he figured it out: he got a job and a place to live. He may not agree with her methods, but he can't argue with her results. The mother completely understands why her son chose to go no contact and accepts his decision. Still, she still wonders whether that was the right move ot make. We can all agree that it was. Sometimes children need to learn things the hard way. 

The hustle and bustle world we live in doesn't always allow for moments of peace, but it's important that we take them anyway. 

It's easy to go about our days not wanting to be inconvenienced. We already have to work day in and day out, commute, cook, clean, and take care of everything just to exist. Sometimes the burn out is so strong that you don't even notice the world around you, and that's when you know you need a vacation. But sometimes there are those who stop what they're doing just for the sake of another animal or person, like in the story here. This woman was stuck in traffic, and she saw something moving underneath the car in front of her. She followed it with her eyes, and realized it was a little kitten who was running in and out of the traffic. How terrifying it must have been for both the kitten and the woman watching everything go down. She felt like maybe the kitten was trying to get someone's attention, but everyone just continued on like normal and ignored her. This woman took the responsibility herself, and she decided to pull over near the kitten. 

As soon as she got out of the car, the kitten came running towards her and jumped into her arms. She took her home, and noticed she has a peculiar marking on her chin – a heart! The two have been together ever since, and the kitten is now a full grown senior cat, as the story took place 17 years ago. Enjoy the heartwarming tale below. 

It's your house, your rules. Or wasn't that the saying?

Having your own house is a moment to live however you want to. You have the right and the freedom to decorate as you want, have as many pets as you desire, and enforce all the crazy and bizarre rules you can think of. After all, it's your house. It's your time to decide how you want to live and how you want others to behave at your place. It's important that you are fully happy with your way of living, and, unfortunately for others, that can only be achieved by enforcing your house rules onto every visitor that dares to enter your house.

I think that the thread below and I can agree on one thing. This house rule has a meaning for its existence. They were created because they were needed to prevent something. Don't enter the house with shoes started because the floors were always dirty after a few minutes of having them cleaned. The rule of closing the door as soon as you entered the house was created because the dog was always escaping. So I would just encourage you all to create your rules and, more importantly, follow other people's house rules. 

There's something about the number 7…

There's a certain special place in the world for superstitious, spooky, macabre, cat loving people in the world. Superstitions go back thousands of years. Avoiding walking under a ladder, knocking on wood for good luck, carrying a lucky charm, or being afraid of black cats when they cross you are just a few of the many beliefs people have carried over the years that influence their auras. Even making a wish by tossing a coin in a fountain is its own way of being superstitious. Maybe you're really into the number 7 right now and think it holds some sort of value. Whatever is making you feel something in the air, we're here to show you some hilarious spooky cats along the way. They're in full spook, in possession and haunted, scary cats (just kidding). But seriously, cats are inherently superstitious. So no matter if you believe something or not, at least look at the cute cats. 

What a nightmare.

It can be really inconvenient to date when you have roommates. Your roommates might get annoyed that your partner is sleeping over most nights of the week, using up all of the water, and sitting on the communal couch all the time. On the flip side, you might get annoyed that your roommate's partner is taking over your life. You overhear them up to no good every night, and while you're happy they're having a good time, you also want some shuteye! Some people will specifically request single roommates because they hate it when people's partners come over. Others will specifically refrain from dating people with roommates because they don't want to deal with the drama, which is a totally understandable stance, especially when you're in your 30s and tired of roommate debates. 

As far as I'm concerned, I'm all good with my roommates dating and bringing dates over, as long as their boyfriend or girlfriend eventually goes home. I am not cool with adding an extra roommate to the house full-time, unless they're going to pay their share of the rent. If another roommate means that I have to pay $400 less in rent, then I'll definitely consider it, but I cannot deal with my roommate's partner mooching off the rest of the household for months and months on end. That is what happened to the girl in this story, and I do not want her life. 

Nothing makes a cat want to enter a room more than hearing the door click shut.

Cats have a complicated relationship with doors. They want them open, they want them closed, and sometimes they just want their hooman standing beside one while they take several business days to decide. You might think a creature capable of launching itself onto the top of a refrigerator could handle choosing which room to sit in, but apparently not.

It usually starts with a closed door. Kitty scratches at it, sticks a paw underneath, and meows like they've been separated from their family for years. Whatever is happening on the other side is suddenly the most important thing in the world, and access must be granted immediately. Being the well-trained hooman you are, you get up and open it.

That's when the urgency completely disappears. The same cat who was just desperately begging for freedom now stands there staring through the doorway. They sniff. They think. Maybe one paw crosses the line before getting pulled back. You're left holding the door while your feline conducts a full investigation into whether they actually want what they spent the last five minutes demanding.

Eventually, they go through, so you close the door and sit back down. Within moments, the scratching starts again. Apparently, circumstances have changed and kitty would now like to return. Congratulations, you've been promoted to full-time feline doorman, a position with terrible hours and absolutely no pay.

The problem is that cats simply cannot handle knowing there's somewhere they aren't allowed to go. They might have ignored that bathroom, closet, or bedroom all day, but close the door and suddenly it contains secrets that must be uncovered.

Leaving every door open doesn't solve it, either. Your cat will simply sit directly in the doorway instead. Why choose a side when you can block both and inconvenience everyone?