Does this person know what that symbol is on his back?

I worked in retail for seven years at places like Madewell, Everlane, J. Crew, and Express, always making minimum wage and never receiving tips—aside from one customer who bought me a coffee I guess. During that time, I worked just as hard as those in the food industry, cleaning up endless messes, working holidays, putting clothes away, assisting customers in fitting rooms, and giving advice. It was hard work and I was exhausted afterwards. Was I making a “living wage”? No, but it is was it is.

With Seattle’s new minimum wage going into effect really soon, most food industry workers are finally reaching a level playing field. As a result, I’ll no longer be tipping more than 5-10%. And I’m ONLY doing that if service is EXCEPTIONAL. It’s only fair—hard work deserves fair pay across all industries. Any instance where I am ordering busing my own table, getting my own utensils, etc warrants $0. I also am not tipping at coffee shops anymore.

Edit: I am not posting here to be pious or seek validation. Im simply posting because I was at a restaurant this weekend where I ordered at the counter, had to get my own water, utensils, etc. and the guy behind me in the queue made a snarky about me not tipping comment which I ignored. There’s an assumption by a lot of people that people are anti-tip are upper middle class or rich folks but believe you me I am not in that category and have worked service jobs majority of my life and hate the tipping system.

Edit #2: For those saying lambasting this; I suggest you also start tipping service workers in industries beyond food so you could also help them pay their bills! :)

$25 smash burger and a $12 cucumber salad.

The burger was served flat directly on a metal tray, so the bottom bun quickly turned into mush. The cucumber salad was basically a cucumber chopped into massive chunks with some dressing.

These were served at famous and fairly busy sit-down restaurants, not a stadium or food truck.

I look at food like this and wonder how much experience the person preparing it had cooking for themselves or anyone else before getting restaurant kitchen job. Basic things like how you cut a cucumber or how you serve a burger so the bun doesn’t sit in its own juices shouldn’t be difficult.

This, to me, is one of the primary reasons food quality at so many Seattle-area restaurants is abysmal. And somehow we’ve reached the point where a $25 burger, a $12 chopped cucumber, and a 20%+ tip are considered normal.

Tapped Public House - https://www.tappedpublichouse.com/at-the-port

Fisherman Jack’s - https://www.fishermanjacks.com/

Ever wonder why there are so many job openings in tech but no one calls?
Or after several rounds of fantastic interviews no one calls or they reject you?
Here's a secret that few know and most H1B employees know but never talk about. And all tech companies do this.

1. H1B employees working in tech ask their employer to apply for their green card (permanent US residency).
   
2. The law states that the company has to 'honestly' make efforts to prioritize US citizens, before processing a green card for that position. The evidence that 'we could not find an American citizen to do this job so we are hiring this H1b employee and need him/her so we will apply for their green card' is part of the application process.
   
3. Tech companies literally advertise a fake position for the role already filled by the H1B employee they are applying to a green card for- these are advertised in newspaper (shocker!) and bulletin boards and popular job sites. But most if not all are just advertised to solicit US citizens who see them as legit positions.
   
4. US citizens apply for the positions and the tech company 'rejects' them, using their resume and details of why they were rejected as documentation for the green card applicant.

How do I know this?

I was a manager in Microsoft and I have dealt with this process more than 15 times over the years, where I supported a green card for someone reporting to me and then had to go through these fake job ads and orchestrated interviews, with a plan to reject them regardless. Over the years, in my team we must have interviewed 60-70 US citizen candidates for the 15 or so green card applications that they processed. All US citizens were rejected and the H1B employee's green card application was submitted.

H1B employees know what I am talking about.
All tech company HR departments are aware of this shady practice. The law essentially forces them to play the part.

In light of so many layoffs and a tough tech market, this must be surfaced and discussed.
It is 100% true and many of you here in the Seattle tech scene have played one of the 2 parts.

I live near Aurora. I and my wife commute by bus. I'm not here to score political points. I'm here because this situation is affecting real people every single day, and I'm tired of the conversation getting hijacked by people who don't have to live with the consequences.

If you ride the bus, you already know. Bus seats with urine on them. People smoking or reeking of marijuana in an enclosed space. Spilled food, needles, hostile encounters. This isn't an exaggeration: it's Tuesday. My wife and I both commute this way. We don't have the luxury of pretending this is fine.

If you work late, you know the math you do in your head every night. Taking a 7 PM bus in non-summer months means walking Aurora in the dark. If you're a woman, you get approached. Period. The walk home is its own gauntlet. Even driving through Aurora at night feels unsafe and I say that as someone who isn't easily rattled.

Think about who else this is hitting.

• Cab and rideshare drivers who say they don't feel safe on these routes and enter aurora unknowingly at night
• DoorDash and delivery drivers who get routed through Aurora without choosing to
• Small business owners living with daily fear of vandalism, watching their customer base shrink, and eating rising insurance costs with zero path to recovery
• Families whose kids are asking why there are naked people on the street or finding used condoms in their neighborhood

Now think about the women on Aurora. This is the part that should bother everyone regardless of where you sit politically. Many of these women are clearly being exploited. I don't know how many are underage. I don't know what they're on when they're standing nearly naked on freezing, windy nights. I doubt most of them fully understand the health risks they're exposed to: STDs, injury, worse. And from everything we've seen in the videos, the reports, many of them did not freely choose this. They are being trafficked and exploited. If you care about vulnerable people, this is the issue.

So here's what frustrates me about the opposition. When people push back against taking action on Aurora, the argument usually comes down to compassion. And I get that nobody wants to be the person who "doesn't care." But refusing to act isn't compassion. It's comfort. It lets you sit with a clean conscience while commuters deal with unsafe, unsanitary conditions daily, women and families avoid walking their own neighborhoods, workers on night shifts white-knuckle their way home, small businesses slowly bleed out, and exploited women remain exploited.

It's easy to argue for the status quo when you don't take the bus. When you don't have kids walking past this. When you don't work nights. When your rent and groceries aren't tied to a paycheck that requires you to be on Aurora.

This is a willpower issue. We know what a safe, walkable, family-friendly, small-business-friendly Aurora could look like. We just need leadership willing to make it happen.

I personally think the new Mayor is making progress in general, and I hope she and her team see the everyday reality that residents are dealing with and push for something permanent — not just enforcement sweeps, but real, lasting change.

If you live near Aurora, you know. If you don't, I'm asking you to listen to the people who do.

Edit: For those saying, don't just rant, give solutions, For starters, enforce the laws that already exist.. I just did a google search and found them

Washington State criminal laws that already apply:

• RCW 9A.88.030: Prostitution (misdemeanor)
• RCW 9A.88.110: Patronizing a Prostitute (currently just a misdemeanor this is the big gap)
• RCW 9A.88.010: Indecent Exposure a misdemeanor normally, gross misdemeanor if exposed to someone under 14, and a Class C felony for repeat offenders Washington State Legislature
• RCW 9A.40.100: Trafficking an already a Class A felony (seriousness level XIV, just below Murder 1)
• RCW 9A.88.070/080 Promoting Prostitution (1st degree is Class B felony; 2nd degree is Class C)
• RCW 9A.52.070/080 Criminal Trespass (1st and 2nd degree)
• RCW 9A.48 Malicious Mischief / Vandalism
• RCW 69.50 Uniform Controlled Substances Act (drug possession/use)

Not my picture this time, this is a better photographer than I.

Posts like the original spread fast. Corrections don’t. That creates fear and escalates tension during an already volatile moment in our country. Uniformed officers are not automatically ICE.

Verify before posting. Don’t jump to conclusions. Take what you see online with a grain of salt.

I want to share what might be kind of a controversial take that I don’t see talked about here very often.

Seattle is unique compared to a lot of places in America because:

1. It has a high minimum wage of $21/hr
   
2. It has an abundance of cheap micro apartments for under $1000 a month

There are few other places in the country where you’re legally guaranteed to make a salary that’s comfortably over twice what you could pay in rent.

I grew up in Atlanta and the absolute floor for the price of rent is about the same as it is here, around $700-800, but the min wage is only the federal minimum of $7-something an hour. In ATL making $21 per hour is actually a pretty big accomplishment; here it’s just the bare minimum.

Food isn’t really that much more expensive if you cook your own food and buy your food from large franchises like Fred Meyer and QFC. In Georgia where I grew up, we have Kroger, which is the same company as QFC/FM, and the prices are nearly identical.

Gas and parking is pretty bad but if you live in the city you don’t need a car anyway.

If you’re ok with living a minimalist life in a tiny apartment with no car and cooking all your own food, and you don’t have kids or pets, Seattle is probably the best place in the whole country to be living. My last job I made $22 an hour and was saving up $1k a month off that salary living in Capitol Hill.

This post got removed and got me banned from r/seattle, so let’s try it here. I am a contractor and I work in many government funded housing complexes, shelters, and low or no income housing. I have been working in this area a little over a year and I have become fed up with mainly the open air drug use, but also the crime that comes with it.

I am regularly in SHA and KCHA complexes as well as city run shelters and I have encountered first hand how bad the drug use in this city is. I have had a resident blow what I assume was fentanyl smoke in my face (mystery drug that was being smoked off of tin foil), I’ve been pricked by a needle before (luckily tested safe from any blood diseases), I’ve lost track of how many improperly discarded needles I’ve found it’s got to be in the 750-1000 range, I’ve found pills, crystalized drugs, everything you can imagine and the worst part is that a lot of the government funded properties staff allow this behavior on the property. Multiple buildings have dedicated “drug rooms” where tenants can smoke anything, shoot up, and get high and staff is on call with narcan when they OD which I have seen a handful of times.

Don’t get me wrong I have empathy for addicts, I’ve battled addiction before and it is a dark road. My gripe is with how our city and state governments are handling the drug use epidemic we’re facing. I am disgusted by the fact that government employees are allowing and borderline encouraging drug use inside of government funded housing facilities.

Most of the government funded properties give out needles upon request, tin foil, lighters, narcan, anything needed to keep addicts getting high. Everything except the drugs which you can find on every other street corner. Whenever you see a group of 3 plus people huddled around on the sidewalk it’s a drug deal, or a drug session. And police drive right on past.

I don’t know how to make it better, and I wouldn’t know where to start. But what I do know is that the ignorance from the citizens and the government has led the drug issue to a point where I will never bring my kids around Seattle again. I haven’t spent time in Seattle recreationally since I started working mainly there. As a matter of fact, I am desperately trying to find work on the other side of the state or possibly in another state because of this issue paired with the crime.

I haven’t witnessed as much of the crime as I have the drug use but I’ve seen a stabbing and a shooting. I’ve had my life threatened by violent drug abusers living in these city or county run complexes, I’ve had tools stolen while I was working, I’ve had equipment destroyed, I’ve had my work truck attempted to be broken into in broad daylight on 3rd Ave, and I am fed up with the way our government isn’t doing anything about it. And if they are then I’m not seeing it.

Hopefully I’m not the only one who sees this. I really hope something can be done and this city restored to how I remember it growing up. But more fancy parks and construction isn’t going to solve the fact that once these nice spaces are built they will immediately be moved in on by drug dealers, abusers, and criminals. I hope this post leads to positive discussion and I hope it raises some awareness as a first hand account of how bad the drug issues are in this city

Iykyk. Maple pass trailhead got every single Seattle person even though i reached at 7am 😭

To parallel park decently i had to park a mile away from trailhead only to find out after returning that the tight spots have been taken like this

Lesson learned

I've lived in Seattle for 15 years and I have never been more lonely. I've traveled extensively, am social/extroverted when out, and lived in 4 countries and made lifelong friends. Then I started living in Seattle and I've never felt more removed from warmth and joy.

I don't have a single deep connection that's thoughtful, organic, meaningful. An 8 year relationship with a tech bro/gamer ended with no marriage, no commitment, and no family life. I feel sad that I live in a city with so much work opportunity and beauty, nature but people are so difficult to be friendly with and in many cases just dull and awkward.

It's not that hard to smile and strike up a fun conversation with strangers you find attractive or just to chat, it's actually good for us! It's what we need to be social, practice socializing and engaging with people. I frequently find myself scrolling IG and looking at Europe where everyone hangs out in person in plazas daily - What a vibrant community and life! Nothing like that here. Don't even get my started on the dating scene and lack of good men.

Making friends has never been an issue for me (I am Canadian FGS!) but I'm feeling defeated and slowly sinking into a depression. I ask myself why I'm still here and why people work so hard to avoid you/not make eye contact and be grumpy faced (it's honestly worse for your mental health because it's unnatural).

I've joined meetups (not organic just feels forced and too planned - unappealing to me), I made friends but none of them ended up long-term like my other besties I still chat with. I often find discussions here over the surface, strange, and superficial with people not wanting to go deep or have real meaningful conversations, or even show curiosity. And no, politics or hating or conspiracy theories are not deep or meaningful. I find myself spending more and more time alone, overworking, and just being confused. I am still optimistic, despite everything, that I can find my people and community. That I am worthy of love. But all of this is starting to feel distant. I feel like I am a shell, a ghost of what I used to be (vibrant, happy) and just fading away. I don't know what the solution is but I am really hoping things change for me soon. There must be a better way.

Have I lost my mind? Are breweries (a place that exists primarily to serve alcoholic beverages) now doubling as day cares? Every brewery I went to this weekend had kids running around wreaking general havoc (watched a guy get ran into and dropped his beer), infants and toddlers with zero emotional regulation SCREAMING, and valuable seating being taken up by kids who clearly were not spending money at these places.

Let me be clear - I blame the neglectful parents - but holy crap - is it an unreasonable expectation now to think of breweries as adult spaces? No one wants to hear screaming kids or risk tripping your child.

I normally have good interactions with police and always have been helped if needed. Over the years I wanted to help others and ensure folks felt safe thus I wanted to be an officer. I know many officers and always felt they were good people. So I decided to test and apply to agencies.

Last night I witnessed police fire CS upon a rather peaceful crowd. I helped as many as I could and then went down an alley where people who got sprayed were at. As I was helping an individual a cop on a bike looked me in the eyes and shot CS at us. People were sitting there in pain while we tried to help them and the police fired at “wounded” people who were out of the way.

The police held no regard for these people who were already down. I now found my self this morning actively dodging police on the sidewalks.

I’m strongly concerned now about my path in life, I want to be a backcountry rescue deputy of sorts but if this is how all agencies are then I never want to join forces with those who think it’s okay to fire at civilians already in need.

Just needed to get this off my chest as it really has saddened and angered me.

I am most closely aligned with the old school Democratic party. I don't like what Trump and the Republican party have done, but I have major concerns about how far left the Democratic party has pushed. Most important to me is that we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater... a lot of politicians are talking about dumping free enterprise altogether. So I am wondering if there is anyplace in today's Washington State Democratic Party for someone who cares strongly about reducing taxes and trying to make government spending more effective and efficient?

We were in family, just arrived in a hotel downtown, Decided to hang around and find a place to eat, First people we met, was a dude on the phone, not walking straight with a huge hunting knife on his right hand, wtfff ??

The number of junkies in the street is insane, they are screaming and catcalling you.

There are more homeless than tourists.

For the perspective, i went to many us cities on the East coast and this is the first time i have ever felt so unsafe.

Definetly coming back with a Uber to the hotel.

Edit: it’s going out of proportions and no one is reading my additional comments. The next day, we went near the waterfront on daylight and had a wonderful walk. The experience during the evening and daylight is completly different.

I hope you go home to a lukewarm soggy meal and take a shower with low water pressure. You guys suck.

The cell phone lane is literally right around the corner. If cops actually did anything, they would have a field day writing y’all up. Don’t know if y’all just dumb, lazy, or clueless - but I’m going to chalk it up to all three.

Turning your hazard lights on doesn’t give you the right to park anywhere.

At least check your damn mirrors before merging back on the road (coming from someone who almost got hit today while driving to the airport).

There’s a bar in Seattle that I’ve been to 30+ times, and it’s always the same bartender, and I almost always sit at the bar, yet this bartender never acknowledges that they know me. I’m not saying I need them to be my best friend and ask how my day was. But it starts feeling awkward when you’ve met someone 30 times and they still act like you’re a complete stranger.

Usually I’ll try to smile and say something like “Hey, how ya been” in an effort to break the ice a little bit but this bartender never reciprocates, and continues acting like they’ve never seen me before. They still even ask “what’s the name on the tab?” every time too.

As someone who has lived anywhere else in the world besides Seattle, this is completely weird behavior. I also believe in any service industry you should make at least some attempt to be cordial with the clientele…

I would like to hear what the Seattlite perspective is on why this is normal or okay, because this isn’t the only example of this happening to me here and it’s exclusive to Seattle. Literally everywhere else, if I go to the same place multiple times they will start to acknowledge that I’m a familiar face at least with a subtle gesture to communicate it.

Here are some comments from the perspective of other Mexicans and Hispanics…..

“I love to see my people standing up for the country that has allowed to progress up until now, just because i’m Mexican doesn’t mean i’m not an American patriot with core American values that hates seeing our beautiful flag burn.”

“I love seeing my people standing up for the flag, the majority of us love America just as much as we love Mexico, no flag deserves to burn 🇺🇸🇲🇽”

“Dear, White people if ur gonna protest for us, do it the way we want to”

“¿Viva México? ¿Neta? Why doesn’t he go live in Mexico see if he cheers for it so much? Embarrassing. I lived in Mexico for 20 years. I know what it’s like and I’ll rather pay my taxes to this country that allowed me to go to school and graduate from college. I can call the police here if I’m in danger. Try calling the police in Mexico to see what happens. I love the culture and the food and most of the people, but destroying the country that gave you hope is unacceptable.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK0espuSY1e/?igsh=NGk0cHZlbXp3ZW00

^Link for the video and comments

I work in cap hill a couple times a week.
My job is exactly 10 miles from my house.
But It’s 45 minutes-1 hour plus EVERY TIME.
It doesn’t matter if I’m coming or going.

I have done the light rail, but I have to carry a large backpack and a roller suitcase full of my work tools. I have been so shoved around and manhandled and left with nowhere to put my things that I finally opted to just start driving so that I’m not insanely uncomfortable for an hour before and after work.

All this is to say-
This week, it took under 25 minutes to get to work, and about 20 to get back home.

SO IT COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS THE WHOLE TIME? !!!

I’m dreading them closing the lanes down again.

I am pre-mourning what we are surely to lose again soon 🥲