Words in the heart cannot be taken

Citrus trio! 🍋‍🟩🍋🍊

Pose ref under cut

So may I present my own casting choice for Odysseus:

I will also say that I think the problems with the movie's casting, costuming, and color grading are all related. Like, Nolan went with the Hollywood Viking aesthetic because he thought Odysseus would look silly in a slutty little bedsheet. And it's like, no, you don't understand: Matt Damon would look silly in a slutty little bedsheet. 40ish Jason Mantzoukas in a thigh-length, rust-colored chiton, olive limbs shining in the Mediterranean sun, would send male-attracted folks everywhere into the stratosphere.

And then if you go to college, there aren't quite so many people making things fun for you--although there are RAs, and the student life office, and various clubs and organizations doing activities, etc.--but you're in an environment where your friends are nearby and you all have similar schedules and responsibilities, so a lot fun just kind of arises spontaneously.

But once you're out on your own, in the workforce and whatnot, all that just drops of a cliff. Planned activities for adults exist, but you generally have to seek them out, rather than having them relentlessly advertised to you and/or taking place in locations where you will bump into them on the way to breakfast. And your friends are all spread out, and everyone's busy at different times, so you aren't just bumping into people and getting sucked into whatever adventure they have going on, you have to make arrangements.

It's a big shift! If you have kids, you generally figure out pretty quick that your role is now the Planner Of Fun, but without that big obvious signpost, it can feel like the world just gradually stopped having fun things in it.

But it hasn't; you just have to plan and seek out opportunities for fun yourself, because it's no longer anyone else's job to put them in front of you--it's yours!

You'll spend less time on hold and reach more people with the time and patience to hear you out.

2. Take notes for phone calls. You can literally make a numbered check list of what you definitely want to bring up, and then during the call take down who you spoke to, at what date and what solutions/deadlines were promised.

pre call: find out what governing body deals with the type of complaint you are making. They ALWAYS have rules. For example, in the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Services have a 7 day acknowledgement stipulation AND if the complaint goes over 8 weeks they need to be advised. If you disagree with the outcome of your complaint you can then take it to them and they look into it for you. It costs the company money to have a decision go to FOS. Normally its around £500-ish.

1: Make a list of things you are unhappy about with the service/situation. Ask if all calls are recorded. Get names and times of your call too. As person above said - NOTES!

2: Tell the person that you would like to make a FORMAL complaint. Not just a complaint, but FORMAL. This will normally get you transferred through to the dedicated complaints team rather than the regular call handlers.

3: List your complaint points. If they try to explain away your points, write those down, but you need to make sure that they have ALL your points.

4: At the end of the call - ask them to read what they have written. It's annoying as hell but it will help you in the long run. Make sure you check you have the name of the agent taking the complaint. They might not be the one who DEALS with it, but names are gold.

5: Ask WHEN you will receive a written acknowledgement of your complaint. Ask for your complaint reference number. If they don't have either of those, ask who the governing body is for your specific type of complaint. If you are calling about an energy bill for example, it should be OFGEM. If its bank charges it should be FOS. If they don't know, then ask to be put through to someone who does.

6: When you get your letter/email of acknowledgement, there should be contact information on there, and a return email/address. Send an email/letter BACK, with your points on there as well. It's a good idea to list them - bullet points or date order or numbered. Attach any relevent paperwork or images (screenshots work really well for phone calls and so on) that support your complaint.

7: They should keep you updated with progress reports on your complaint, but they might not. That's okay - keep ANYTHING they send to you in a dedicated place. Try to respond to requests for evidence or information within 24 hours. They may try to use YOUR delay in getting that information as to why its taking so long.

8: They have a certain amount of time to resolve your complaint. Check online cause it can vary, but with FOS and the FCA its 8 weeks - FROM THE FIRST POINT OF CONTACT i.e: your initial call to complain. If its longer than that they MUST tell you the reason why. At that point you can take the complaint to the higher body, but its normally a good idea to hold off till they uphold or decline the complaint.

9: You CAN dispute the decision and you CAN ask for more money if they offer something too low. Don't accept store credit or a discount on the next bill. Cash Only. If you are cancelling your contract, make sure they are waiving the cancellation fees ON TOP OF your compensation. If they say they can't do that, remind them they are at fault and (if they upheld your complaint) have accepted liability. PUSH BACK on anything you don't agree with. Ask for SPECIFIC terms and conditions. Ask what steps they have taken to stop this happening again.

10: Get your decision in writing, with the T&C's listed. I always check my paperwork and contract I was sent last (if your policy renews they can change the T&C's so always use the most recent one) and check the T&C's match. if they don't - even if its the page number that is wrong - go back to them and dispute it. If they are working from a copy of the T&C's you DONT have, ask when they sent those to you, and ask for proof of sending it. If they are working of a set they never sent you - this is a breach of the contract YOU have, and it WILL be accepted by FOS or whatever.

Now I know this seems like a lot of things, but if you feel strongly enough to complain, you should be treated fairly and lawfully. Learning how to complain is a skill, and you cannot let your concern for being 'that person' override your rights as a consumer. LOTS of companies are getting away with shit because its 'too much work' to go through the process.

PRO MOVES: Be polite. Be respectful. Keeping a log of who you talked to and when. If they say that they don't have notes, advise them that you were told calls are recorded, so they can pull that call and listen to it. If the calls aren't recorded, tell them you'd like to add the lack of correct notes to the complaint - give them the time, date and name of who you spoke to, and what you said. NOTES NOTES NOTES.

Here comes the sun

The request is so urgent my boss needs it by the end of the work week. Which, y'know, is 5 PM on a Friday. So I have four hours to do it.

It's a forwarded request. Somebody contacted a member of the donation team asking for help, "I need a map from the Vietnam War to use for a presentation." It's somebody she's trying to coax into giving a five figure donation to the museum.

The request was asked to the donation team member, who then emailed my boss, who then emailed and called me urgently.

This map required:

North and South Vietnam in it

All four areas that South Vietnam was divided into for military purposes ('Corps') clearly delineated

Four cities, all of them horrifically misspelled, and only identifiable because I know what battle the requester is asking about (it’s in III Corps on the border with Cambodia) (the requester danced around the battle but I’m knowledgeable enough to identify it)

Has Laos and Cambodia in it

Has the Ho Chi Minh Trail in it

So. I was mad about the 'you have literally four hours to find a map with a lot of requirements.'

I was then mad at myself about finding a copyright free map from Texas Tech University within half an hour, proving her right for asking me to do it.

Then, after I found a map that perfectly met the requirements, I was equally amazed, baffled, and horrified when I read further into the forwarded email chain.

The donation team team member they were speaking to used AI to generate a map.

The above put half of North Vietnam in South Vietnam, made the Ho Chi Minh Trail a country, made 60% of Cambodia part of South Vietnam, put the DMZ extremely high up in North Vietnam, completely disconnected the southern tip of Vietnam, misplaced all of the Corps zones, etc etc

At the very last second the donation team member had a moment of divine clarity, remembering there's three historians on payroll to ask for this kind of thing from. So she contacted my boss while saying, "I had fun with this, but I decided I should check for accuracy before I send it to the donor! I need a fact check by the end of the day, then I send it"

My boss, while not the most knowledgeable on the Vietnam War, does know her geography. She took one look, and knew it was so off she called me to tell me how urgent it is that I look at the email and respond