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Remember: The "'E" in email stands for evidence.

That cuts both ways. Be careful what you put into an email. It never really goes away and can be used against you.

But can also be a powerful tool for workplace fairness.

Case 1: Your supervisor asks you to do something you know is either illegal or against company policy. A verbal request. If things go wrong, you can count on them denying that they ever told you to do that. You go back to your desk, or wherever and you send them an email: "I just want to make sure that I understood correctly that you want me to do xxxxx" Quite often, once they see it in writing, they will change their mind about having you do it. If not, you have documentation.

Me; That's illegal.

Them: (start italics) three slow, long seconds of staring at me blankly (end italics) Uh...

Me: That's an illegal policy to have. The right to discuss wages is a right protected by the National Labor Relations board. I used to be in a union. I know this.

HR: Oh, this is news to me! I have been working HR for 18 years and I never knew that. Haha. Well try not do do it anyway, it makes people upset, haha.

Me: people are entitled to their opinions about what their work is worth. Bye.

I then left, and sent her several texts and emails saying I would like a copy of their company policy to see where this wage discussion policy was kept. She quickly called me back in to her office.

HR: You know what, there is no policy like that in the handbook! I double check. Sorry about the confusion, my apologies.

Me: You still haven't given me the paper saying that we had this discussion. I am going to need some protection against retaliation.

HR: Oh haha yes here you go.

The woman would then storm back into my office screaming at me for putting the discussion in writing and arguing about pushing back the other project or whatever. At which point I would summarize that conversation in email as well. Which would bring her storming back in, rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Anyway I cannot imagine how badly that job would have gone if I hadn’t put all her wildly unreasonable demands in writing. Bitch still hated me but she could never hang me for “missing deadlines” because I always had in writing that she’d pushed the project back because she wanted something else done first.

I don’t have the fortitude to check out the comments today, but the post is here.

Eliya

I met Ziv in 2011 while growing up near Tel Aviv. We were both 14 and I saw her crying because her boyfriend had left her. Trying to help, I said, “Don’t cry. You are young, pretty and you will have a good life ahead of you.” She eventually messaged me on Instagram and we started hanging out together. I learnt quickly that she has the most beautiful soul and her love for me was like nothing I had ever experienced. Later we moved in together and we were together every day until October 7, 2023.

Part of my job was organising festivals and we spent many weekends with our friends, listening to music, drinking and having fun. The Nova festival, held in the Negev desert in southern Israel, was something we were all looking forward to. Even after we saw the missiles in the sky that day, we thought, “Ah, this is Israel. It is a normal day.” So we carried on dancing. It was only when I got a call from my aunt, who was also at the festival, that we realised something was not right. She was screaming, saying that someone in her car had been shot. I said to Ziv, “We should get out of here.”

We drove with Ziv’s nephew and his girlfriend, heading for the main road, but there was a police roadblock. We turned the car around and drove maybe five minutes until we saw a bomb shelter — a common sight near the border. More people joined us in the shelter, but we were all talking and joking. Although it was scary, we had seen it before.

Then suddenly the terrorists were outside the shelter and they were going to kill us. A grenade rolled into the shelter and exploded. Another grenade and we are fighting, picking up the grenades and throwing them out of the door. It was like this for 40 minutes until the terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade.

I don’t know how, but my mind was still working. Ziv fainted and I knew the only chance to save her was to bury her underneath the dead bodies. Two of those bodies were her nephew and his girlfriend.

The bullets were still coming into the shelter and I was shot in the leg, but then I was dragged out and loaded onto a truck. The last thing I saw was a terrorist pointing his gun into the shelter and firing a hundred bullets. I was sure Ziv was dead.

I was driven to Gaza and thousands of people were on the streets celebrating. I was more scared of these people than I was of the terrorists. The terrorists wanted to keep me alive, a hostage for negotiation. Those ordinary people wanted to kill me. They wanted the respect that would come from killing a Jew.

I was held for 505 days. In the tunnels was the worst — no light, no sleep, beatings, being stripped naked so they could laugh at us, no food, no water. There was a wonderful day when we realised we were so far underground that there was damp on the walls. We would lick the walls. At least we had a drop of water. I put my trust in God. I knew they would not break me.

The days blurred into one, but when we heard a rumour that Donald Trump had been elected it made my group of four hostages very excited. Two weeks later our captors told us three of us would be released. Just three, not four. I was lucky enough to be one of them but knowing one of us was still in captivity filled me with guilt. Alon Ohel was freed eight months later.

Then I saw my family. And Ziv. She was alive. It wasn’t real, but it was. Of course then I found out what had been happening in the world. The marches celebrating the murders and rapes, babies being slaughtered. The only reason people can mock is because we are Jewish. If it happened to other people they wouldn’t.

Even after I was released I didn’t allow myself to continue with life. How could I see a doctor or start my therapy when the other hostages weren’t free? The 20 remaining living hostages were released last October.

It has taken a long time but Ziv and I now try to think about the future. I bought an engagement ring before October 7 and have now had the chance to propose. We will marry this summer and build a family with many children in Israel, in the land where they tried to kill us. For me, that’s the biggest victory of all.

Ziv

The bomb shelter we were in on that day in 2023 — on Route 232 near the Kibbutz Re’im — is now known as the shelter of death. The first grenade exploded and the sound, the smell, the dead bodies… not even bodies, arms and legs and blood. I was scared like I have never been scared before. I peed myself three or four times.

The last thing I remember is holding Eliya’s hand and him covering me with dead bodies. I think I heard him scream, saying he’d been shot. Then one of the terrorists began shooting into the shelter — a machinegun. So many bullets. I could feel them hitting the bodies on top of me — thum-thum-thum — making the bodies shudder and move. And then nothing.

I woke up at 11am and the attack had started at eight. There was me and six other survivors in the shelter, and we had no idea what was going to happen. Would the terrorists come back? We sat with our dead friends for seven hours until we were rescued and taken to a hospital. I tried to call my sisters and they said they had seen a picture of Eliya. I thought they were lying, trying to make me happy, but then I saw the picture on the news. He was alive but he was in Gaza — a hostage.

I cried myself to sleep every night but each morning I would tell myself that I would make sure Eliya came home. I was part of the delegations travelling around the world, telling people about October 7. When he was finally released and I saw him again, after 16 months, he was so thin, my Eliya, and like a ghost.

When I was a child I heard people talk about the Holocaust and how much people hated Jews, but I thought that people had changed. Then I saw marches all over Europe, defending what had happened. People would stop me in the street and say Hamas is not a terrorist group, they are fighting for human rights.

Of the people who were murdered, we knew 48 of them. [Official figures put the death toll of the October 7 attacks at 1,200.] My nephew and his girlfriend are gone. I suffer from PTSD and still have nightmares. When I tried on my wedding dress, there was nothing, no happy tears. October 7 changed us, it changed everything, but we have hope. Our wedding is going to be our moment. It is our present from God.

Like I said, I'm sorry my experience isn't typical, but it's real. My heart goes out to people in worse situations. I just don't want any of my family erased, Jew or goy.

here's official reports:

The-Dinah-Project-full-report-A4-pages_web.pdf

The Civil Commission’s Report on Oct 7th Sexual Violence - Silenced NO More

human rights council - a-hrc-56-crp-3.pdf

Targeting Civilians: Murder, Hostage-taking and Other Violations by Palestinian Armed Groups in Israel and Gaza | Amnesty International USA

5771_Sexual_Violence_paper_Eng-FINAL.pdf

“I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind”: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel | HRW

The_7_October_Parliamentary_Commission_Report___The_Roberts_Report_.pdf

here's articles from a variety of sources (including ones i do not personally agree with generally):

Israeli Report Finds That Sexual Violence by Hamas Was Widespread - The New York Times

Hamas 'weaponised' sexual violence in 7 October attacks, Israeli investigation says

Sexual crimes committed during October 7 attack documented in extensive report | The Jerusalem Post

New report details ‘systematic’ rape and sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel | CNN

Report: Sexual violence was systematic and integral to Oct. 7 attacks | AP News

New report reveals Hamas’ campaign of sexual violence on October 7 - The Jewish Chronicle

UN finds ‘convincing information’ that Hamas raped and tortured Israeli hostages | Hamas | The Guardian

Full depravity of Hamas sexual brutality laid bare in damning new report: 'It was done for fun'

Reasonable Grounds to Believe Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Occurred in Israel During 7 October Attacks, Senior UN Official Tells Security Council | UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

Blinken calls sexual violence inflicted by Hamas ‘beyond anything I’ve seen’ | CNN Politics

Israel Gaza: Hamas raped and mutilated women on 7 October, BBC hears

Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian

Their bodies tell their stories. They’re not alive to speak for themselves.

Israeli rape crisis centres demand UN action over Oct. 7 attacks | Reuters

Israeli women were raped by Hamas and ignored by the world – The Forward

How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 - The New York Times

here's first-hand accounts of survivors and witnesses:

Doctor who treated freed Hamas hostages describes physical, sexual and psychological abuse - CBS News

In first, male October 7 survivor recounts rape at hands of Hamas terrorists

First Hamas fighters raped her. Then they shot her in the head

Israel witness says woman shot by Hamas during rape; police probe Oct 7 sexual assault cases | World News

Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Music Festival Massacre - Tablet Magazine

15 Witnesses, Three Confessions, a Pattern of Naked Dead Bodies. All the Evidence of Hamas Rape on October 7 - Israel News

Israeli doctors: Many of 30 released female hostages were assaulted in Gaza

Released hostage Amit Soussana tells NYT she was sexually assaulted by Hamas captor in Gaza

Rom Braslavski: Newly freed Israeli hostage says he was sexually assaulted in captivity | CNN

‘This is forbidden in Islam,’ I said—‘Tell anyone and I’ll kill you,’ he replied

Former hostage Guy Gilboa Dalal details repeated sexual abuse by Hamas captors

'One of the girls was handcuffed and beaten with a stick,' released hostage says

Israeli Hostage Says She Was Sexually Assaulted and Tortured in Gaza - The New York Times

Freed Hostage Arbel Yehoud was sexually abused 'almost every day in captivity'

Former hostage tells 'Times' about being sexually assaulted in Gaza - Israel & Jewish News - JNS

Former hostage Romi Gonen recounts repeated sexual assaults by captors in Gaza

Freed captive Sasha Troufanov reveals sexual harassment during Gaza captivity

'You're an animal': Ex-hostage Alon Ohel says he was chained for year and a half, starved

Former hostage Dafna Elaykim says she was sexually assaulted in captivity

'They're going to rape me,' Gaza hostage told mother on Hamas captivity

Sexually assaulted, nearly killed in an airstrike: Rescued hostage Ori Megidish speaks

Teens forced to perform sexual acts on each other: Report to UN details Hamas torture

reading comprehension questions:

did i ever deny atrocities done towards Palestinians?

did i ever show support for right wing Israeli politicians?

did i ever deny that Palestinian prisoners have been abused by Israeli forces?

did i group all Palestinians in with Hamas?

Ruined building in Charleroi during the First World War, Belgium

Shavua Tov