A particularly spooky cephalopod

'We have Enough Dead Friends --- Lena Oleanderson' thank you @lena-oleanderson for making this poem, was a good read!

I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.

Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:

Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.

No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.

So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:

Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:

Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.

Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.

POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.

When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)

If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.

In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.

Another!

This time featuring my favorite ship from the lovely indie show Murder Drones: Nuzi!

And I remember being perfectly okay with that, they fought, constantly, about everything. Riiight up until the moment my mother said I'd be living with her instead of him.

Instantly began crying, and it wasn't because "You'll see your dad less." No, I knew where he was and the number to call him, that wasn't the problem.

He was safer. He actually hugged and cared for me, took me places and shared a lot of my interests. My mother? Even at 12 I knew that would be absolute hell on Earth. All the vitriol she'd been throwing at my dad she'd had already turned on me in the weeks he was gone, only, I didn't fight back then, I just sat and cried for hours on end, even in public (Which, made her look bad, so of course... she had to kurb her worst tendencies)

But I knew life was about to get significantly worse. At first, I just tried to go with my dad, but mom shut that down hard, "No No, I'm your mom, you stay with me."

Then I started begging Dad to come back.

Literally, in tears, I'd tell him everything that was happening and I could see the conflict on his face of "I want to get away from this woman." Meeting the realization, "If this happens, she'll just switch targets to her."

And I feel bad. Because he decided to stay. I'm grateful, of course, while it didn't make home easy, at all, it did get my mother off my back enough to get out and escape.

But. That's how bad it was wasn't it? At 12 I knew she wasn't safe, and I didn't want to be alone with her.

I feel like a normal kid would just be upset at thier parents splitting because it's a change. I remember first thinking "Thank God, you'll stop fighting." and then "Oh God. No, then I'll be stuck here..."

At 12!

That sucks.

I'm so sorry you went through that.

So I don't remember quite when my parents split up (I swear it was when I was 10 but I'm not sure). It ended up with split custody. My mom had me for one half of the week, my dad had me for the other.

Should also note I have a little brother, cause that's important.

My dad's partner at the time this happened was abusive. Not physically, but emotionally and verbally, meanwhile my dad allowed it, ignored it, and sometimes did it himself. It led to me only ever being in my room (and is also the reason I need my door to be visible at my desk so I can close it if I hear someone), and also me learning to completely mask any and all emotions, positive and negative.

There were also a lot of moments where my brother would have one of them shouting or berating him, and I would step in and find a way to make them target me instead.

Now flash forward to the day it all happened, Christmas of 2019.

My dad's girlfriend at the time also had her son live with us. Something with him happened, and a towel on the towel rack fell to the ground.

My dad saw this, and demanded my brother and I apologize. We had nothing to do with it. We never so much as touched the damn towel. And yet as much as we said we didn't do anything and wouldn't apologize, he and his girlfriend demanded we do.

After a bit, I decided enough was enough. My brother and I were sobbing from everything, and that when I called my mom and asked her to get us. It wasn't her day to have custody, but she said she would. My brother and I put our shoes on, during which we were still being told to apologize or that we were being dramatic. I think he believed we were just going to run away somewhere and come back later after realizing we needed a place to be.

My brother and I left the house and walked down the street, still sobbing, and waited at the neighborhood mailbox until my mom arrived.

I'm realizing as I write this that exact details are getting harder to remember. All I clearly remember was that it was because of a towel we didn't touch, there was a ton of sobbing and shouting, and we got picked up by my mom and her girlfriend. Thinking about it, that's probably for the best.

And now here's the big consequence of it all. Leading up to it, I had not been taking medications. I hadn't needed them for a long time. After Christmas in 2019, I had to go on a ton of them, prescriptions changing and all that.

I didn't need medications anymore. I used to, but I'd gotten to a point where I didn't need them anymore. And after that day, I needed them again, and still need them now.

And I remember being perfectly okay with that, they fought, constantly, about everything. Riiight up until the moment my mother said I'd be living with her instead of him.

Instantly began crying, and it wasn't because "You'll see your dad less." No, I knew where he was and the number to call him, that wasn't the problem.

He was safer. He actually hugged and cared for me, took me places and shared a lot of my interests. My mother? Even at 12 I knew that would be absolute hell on Earth. All the vitriol she'd been throwing at my dad she'd had already turned on me in the weeks he was gone, only, I didn't fight back then, I just sat and cried for hours on end, even in public (Which, made her look bad, so of course... she had to kurb her worst tendencies)

But I knew life was about to get significantly worse. At first, I just tried to go with my dad, but mom shut that down hard, "No No, I'm your mom, you stay with me."

Then I started begging Dad to come back.

Literally, in tears, I'd tell him everything that was happening and I could see the conflict on his face of "I want to get away from this woman." Meeting the realization, "If this happens, she'll just switch targets to her."

And I feel bad. Because he decided to stay. I'm grateful, of course, while it didn't make home easy, at all, it did get my mother off my back enough to get out and escape.

But. That's how bad it was wasn't it? At 12 I knew she wasn't safe, and I didn't want to be alone with her.

I feel like a normal kid would just be upset at thier parents splitting because it's a change. I remember first thinking "Thank God, you'll stop fighting." and then "Oh God. No, then I'll be stuck here..."

At 12!

That sucks.

I'm so sorry you went through that.

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

Loid Aman Halko

5'4

A year and a half older than Tina

Absolutely loves the ocean. Will get upset at you if you call a squid an octopus

Freaking loves jellyfish and octopus

He carries a pocket knife going to the Den

His side of the den is much smaller than Tina's and its a freaking MESS

He refuses to let Tina near his beanbag

Has naturally fluffy hair but holds it slicked back (but alas, the front of his hair refuses thus the signature look)

His chipped tooth came from chasing Tina. Ate shit