sbv

joined 2 years ago
[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Hey, thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm enjoying this because it gives me a chance to understand my own beliefs. And it's fun to spout off.

Some people believe I shouldn't speak and should only work all day, while others seem to prefer to chat once in a while. For me, it's difficult for me to know the most correct way to act in terms of these two philosophies.

There's no correct answer here. You've expressed a preference for chatting, so let's support that.

We have different [beliefs] and usually that's perfectly ok and I we don't really argue or anything. But sometimes I still do it wrong or say something with too much emotion in my voice or something.

Occasional or friendly disagreement is fine, so long as it doesn't poison the relationship.

Could you pause before replying to sort out your feelings? If you're concerned that you have too much emotion in your voice, that could give you time to notice your emotional state and dial it down. You could even turn the disagreement into more of a joke or quip rather than something heartfelt.

You can use your pause as part of the conversation. Give a thoughtful "huh" or maybe start with a throw away phrase of "I hadn't thought about that" and then pause.

Some people are in a hurry to say their piece - they really wanna get their thought or idea in. In my experience, it's helpful not to do that. It's difficult though.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

That's a fine cat, my dude. He sounds like a treasure.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 15 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

woah woah woah this is the internet, we don't do nuance here

/uj thanks for mentioning the self promotion thing. That's a really good point.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

Delicious scented shampoo flavour!

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 hours ago

I try to pick the most popular one. Posting to all just reinforces the fragmentation and spams anyone reading all our subscribed to all of them.

Lemmy's overlapping communities are a pain in the butt.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 hours ago

This is a well written call to action: bullet points, concise headings, simple language, links to examples and reasoning.

It beats the usual manifestos that get posted.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

I had considered coworker 3 to be my friend a bit tbh. But that is not supposed to be the case, right? We are not supposed to be friends or anything. I am supposed to find friends elsewhere and not think of them that way, right?

I can't tell if this is sarcastic or genuine.

If it's genuine: congrats on finding a new friend. Don't cut them off because an internet rando said something.

If it's sarcastic: it's inappropriate to react to advice that you solicited in that manner. Since I'm being honest, it's more appropriate to honestly state where you disagree, and why the advice doesn't work for you. That way I can better understand your situation.

Coworker 2: Yeah, running a 10 minute mile is easy. Anyone can do it. ...

If someone is full of shit at work, I'd just nod and smile. Unless there's something to be gained by calling them out, I'd just note that they are uninformed on that topic and move on.

If people want to discuss serious topics with me then I'm just not supposed to contribute, right??

Again, I'm not sure if this is sarcastic or genuine. The two question marks, and the "right" make me think it's sarcastic, but I could be wrong.

Either way: talk about what you want. However, if you want to keep things civil with your coworkers, it's easier if you avoid divisive topics.

  • Keep conversation away from your beliefs until you know where the other person stands.

  • Ask questions. People like talking about themselves, so that's an easy way to keep things moving.

  • Make noncommittal statements.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Canadaland mentioned it in an episode a while back. I think it's this one: https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/1059-substacks-founder-on-news-money-and-musk/

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 10 points 14 hours ago (9 children)

I think you might be pretty close to the answer here: small talk. Conversation about stuff that isn't going to make anyone uncomfortable. People at work aren't friends, but you're stuck spending lots of time with them, so try to find topics you're all happy discussing.

So:

speech that shows mental weakness (esp anxiety)

It depends how you phrase this. Generally, admitting weakness isn't something I'd do around coworkers, unless you're putting limits on what you'll do ("I don't like closing up, I'd prefer not to") or looking for help ("I want to get better at X, can you tell me how?"). But that depends on the person.

statements that are too negative

Yeah. At work, be positive or don't go into the topic. If you think a coworker dislikes a thing and you want to bond over hating it, don't go first, get them to show you how far they're willing to go, then don't go further.

making a workplace error

I dunno what to say about this. Ask for help at getting better? Apologize for screwing up? Otherwise I wouldn't mention it again.

mentioning my dad

Again, keep conversation positive and light. If you're bitching about your dad, don't. If you're saying what a great guy he is and they still get uncomfortable, just avoid the topic.

talking about coworker 1 too much in a negative way

Don't do this. In the best case scenario, you bond over hating a coworker. In the worst case, the workplace becomes toxic. Accept that you're stuck dealing with coworker 1 and move on. At most, acknowledge that coworker 1 can be difficult, but move on.

So. Smalltalk. Find stuff to talk about that nobody is gonna have strong negative reactions to: TV, streamers, sports, weather, traffic/transit, local events, weekend activities, happy family events. Avoid stuff that people have strong negative reactions to: politics, religion, painful topics, suffering, etc.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 67 points 15 hours ago (13 children)

I thought we were all bots.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 2 points 15 hours ago

I get what you're saying, but exports to the US are close to 20% of Canada's GDP, so it'd be more like chopping off an arm or two.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 12 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, but what about second PTO?

 

I thought I was being clever, putting the litter box on wheels so I could slide it out from under the stairs, but I have inadvertently created a Mad Max-esque vehicle which my cat uses to roll around the house, dragging himself with his front paws, the entire time shitting.

 

I got suckered. I saw some posts about how men don't take care of their skin, and how it has more of an effect as we age. So I thought, what's the harm? Let's give it a try!

Welp, after five days of putting a tiny bit of moisturiser on my face, I have a couple of tiny pimples on my nose. I haven't had zits in decades, and here we are. I stopped applying the moisturiser a couple of weeks ago and I'm still getting those zits.

Thanks skincare.

 

I was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful motorway. Six months into my incarceration, this is what I have learned

Not directly related to climate change, but Just Stop Oil has been in the news a lot.

 

Briefly describes why:

as a rule, the older you are in Canada, the more likely your income is higher than the previous generation’s at that age; and the younger you are, the more likely your income is lower than the previous generation’s at that age. Therefore, it’s just as reasonable for a young Canadian today to believe they’ll end up poorer than their parents’ generation as it is for their parents to believe they’re entitled to live better than their predecessors did

Which leads to

young Canadians, are gloomier than ever, with so many feeling so down about their economic future that they’re turning against democracy. Surveys reveal that increasingly, young people are showing greater openness to authoritarian leaders who threaten to break a system they already see as failing them. This echoes research in many developed democracies, revealing a growing radicalism and anti-system sentiment among young voters.

Original: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-why-youre-miserable-weve-grown-too-comfortable-on-the-booming-riches/

 

Money laundering has been an embarrassing part of the Canadian economy for decades, and contributed to the Vancouver housing bubble (at least). Weirdly, we seem to be making money laundering one of our exports.

Here's a quote:

Canada’s role in the international narcotics trade has been a subject of intense domestic scrutiny over the past decade. In 2022, the Cullen Commission warned about the “enormous volume of illicit funds” being filtered through the British Columbia economy, an amount estimated in the billions of dollars. Yet money laundering charges are rare, the commission found, because “police conducting investigations into profit-oriented criminal activity, such as drug dealing, are not investigating these offences.”

Original link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-canada-border-trump-drug-crime/

 

I'm looking for an electric heater for my office. Ideally it'd be really quiet. The office is well insulated, so it doesn't need to get too hot.

Can you recommend a brand and model?

16
Recipe app (sh.itjust.works)
 

I remember someone posting a great Android recipe app a while ago, but I can't remember the name of it.

The feature that caught my interest was being able to download a recipe from free form pages.

Anyone got a suggestion?

 

A motion from the Bloc will increase benefits for affluent retirees, to be paid for by younger (and poorer) Canadians. The advocacy group for Canadian seniors has proposed a much fairer alternative;

[Canadian Association of Retired Persons's proposal] would strengthen OAS, help younger Canadians, reduce the deficit and save Parliament. This would enable MPs to make the most significant improvement to generational fairness in the federal budget in my professional lifetime – rather than play political games by proroguing Parliament or launching an early election.

...

In my previous column, I costed out some options. The government could start to claw back OAS at an individual income threshold of $70,000 or a household income of $90,000. These alternatives would free up $12-billion and $48-billion, respectively, over the next five years.

Original link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-a-plan-to-strengthen-oas-help-younger-canadians-and-reduce-the-deficit/

 

The federal Liberals and Conservatives want to "solve" the housing crisis by making it easier for builders to build new units.

Sadly, with interest rates and construction prices at current levels, it seems unlikely that private companies will be able to provide the 3.5 million houses we need to restore affordability.

We need all levels of government to start building housing, not just wait for white knights from the private sector to ride in and save our middle class dreams.

Residential property developers are facing rising insolvencies as they struggle with higher borrowing and construction costs – and industry experts warn the trend is likely to worsen as interest expenses remain elevated.

...

At this pace, Canada is on track to reach about 240 real estate insolvencies this year, which would be 57-per-cent higher than 2023 and 13-per-cent higher than 2009, when a wide swath of businesses ran into problems owing to the financial crisis and global recession.

...

And that does not include the number of developers and projects that have been forced into receivership for not paying bills. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy does not include receiverships with its publicly available bankruptcy statistics. However, insolvency experts say they are seeing more projects go into receivership.

So far this year, the real estate sector accounts for 55 per cent of the receiverships recorded by Insolvency Insider Canada, a website that tracks the largest insolvencies in the country. That compares to 30 per cent last year and 33 per cent in 2022.

...

Today, the cost of residential construction is 81-per-cent higher across Canada’s major cities compared to 2017 and more than double – up 107 per cent – in the Toronto region, according to Statscan data.

 

I try to collect conversation starters so I have things to talk about with people I like.

Some of them are general and work on anyone, like: "I'm moving soon!" or "how was your weekend?" or "did you see that ludicrous display last night?". Others deal with shared interests or common friends, so they're person specific.

What's a word to describe collecting conversation starters? Borrowing from other languages is legit.

 

... some kid in the daycare has lice.

We went through this a couple of years ago: one kid had a tonne of lice in his hair, my wife got infested and ended up shaving her head. The other kid and I lucked out.

Regardless of what happens, we've got some short summer haircuts in our future.

 
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