does she prowl the forests fighting bandits with her newfound møøse powers?

not sure why they would lie about that considering the other things they were honest about, lol

you also have to understand that this family tended to not hold back about sharing disparaging details, shame was an important lever for behavioral adjustment and even small mistakes were punished

I think it wasn’t her first time getting caught, tbh

lol, glad to hear I’m not the only one - I felt like there was something really wrong with me 😅

weirdly I still feel guilty, but I think part of it is that I also was shocked by not understanding such a fundamental aspect of society, an aspect that is criminalized and carries such serious consequences. I had a step-aunt who was in my life much later, and she served actual jail time for getting caught stealing a Hallmark card for mother’s day from like a Walgreens. Her ability to find a job when she was stuck raising her baby as a single mom was compromised and the legal system really fucks you even for petty stuff like that.

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

When I was a teenager I once started reading a newspaper and walked out of a grocery store, not realizing you had to pay for them. I was distressed and one of my parents called the store and explained the situation and we paid for the newspaper the next time we went in.

When I was a small child, I once ate a gummy between the bulk candy bins. When explained later that you aren’t just allowed to take the candy and you have to pay for it, I panicked.

Neither of these were intentional thefts, but maybe they count.

not sure this counts, but wikipedia always amazes me; I wish we could fashion the world this way, out of voluntary labor that provides commercial or better quality

of course, I assume most Europeans are not like my friend :-)

You take your lööps for granted, Eurøpeans. Your Sïster grows weary.

I know someone who was fired after responding to a Slack message with an emoji that was interpreted as critical of the CEO of the company, lol. The emoji wasn’t offensive or anything, it was just showing support for the message which was if I remember correctly was jokingly criticizing the CEO. I think the employee took up a legal battle after that.

I think it depends on the job and the culture you are in, how replaceable you are, etc. as to how to be instantly fired. I know people who have made mistakes in their job that cost the company lots of money and they weren’t fired. I know people who watched TV all day in the open office environment in full view and who weren’t fired.

How would people who live outside of Europe know what Europeans are not ready to hear? As someone who lives in the U.S. I know only a couple of people IRL who live in Europe.

The thing my European friend was not ready to hear was that all his complaining about the social programs in his home country and the high taxes and so on comes across as entitled and spoiled. Because he’s never lived without the benefits of a state that will provide healthcare and so on, he is free to complain about his privileges and glorify the U.S. as a place where individual citizens fill in the responsibilities that the government should fulfill. He sees this as an unmitigated good, because he thinks it means more civic engagement.

What he doesn’t understand is that this results in most people falling through the cracks, and until he falls through one of those cracks himself it won’t be real to him how bad it is to not be able to afford losing wages because you are sick or injured, or what it’s like when you can’t afford to see a doctor when you break a bone or get so sick you can’t leave your house.

That said, I’m not sure every European needs to hear this, or that they’re not ready to hear it - just this one person seemed to be a little delusional and to have idealized the U.S. as some kind of right-wing libertarian utopia.

For vegetarians & vegans: Happy Cow