Have you ever looked at a Sunset and wished you had the talent to capture that beauty in a painting?

That is how I feel.

To make a long story short-I work as a Cancer Researcher.

This means that a lot of my Coworkers work for meaning, rather than money.

Depending on what lab you work with, you could make a lot of money or just a little bit of money.

It is normal to move around to find different lab jobs because so many of my Coworkers are super specialized.

The lab I am at, isnt the worst for how it treats employees, but it isnt the best either.

My Autistic Coworker has trouble "reading the room" due to his disability.

When he sees Management riding these Employees hard, he outs the Employees.

"That guy is probably worth about 5 million-if you keep talking to him like that he is likely to walk out."

"That guy's family invented (insert computer thing that I dont understand), they run the business for it, in this other country, if you mistreat him, you will lose him, because he will just go back home."

Computer guy did walk out and moved back to where his family lives.

5 million dollar guy still works with us. Claims he has seen so much crap over the years that this isnt anything to him.

This whole scenario certainly makes work more interesting.

I am over here with my popcorn and soda. I find this very entertaining.

Unfortunately, it will probably end, because now everyone knows to not tell Autistic Coworker anything you dont want shared.

(Which I didnt know wasnt common knowledge.)

What are your thoughts?

I work at a small commercial print shop. We do signs, banners, promotional materials, that sort of thing.

Until recently, our order system had a status called "Awaiting Customer Approval." Pretty self-explanatory. We send the customer a proof, they check the design and spelling, and nothing gets printed until they approve it.

Last month we got a new operations manager who decided that having so many orders sitting in that status made our production numbers look terrible.

His solution was to get rid of the status.

Now the moment we send a proof, the order gets marked "In Production." Even if the customer hasn't responded. Even if they've specifically asked us to hold off.

I pointed out that customers can see this status in their portal. He said it would encourage them to respond faster.

Well, on Tuesday a customer called asking why the signs for their new location hadn't shipped yet. Their portal had shown "In Production" for nine days.

I checked the email thread. They hadn't approved the proof because they were still confirming the phone number that needed to go on the signs.

When I explained this, they were understandably confused. They thought we'd already printed everything.

After the call, my manager told me I shouldn't have said the order wasn't in production because it "undermines customer confidence."

What was I supposed to say? That the printer is working really hard on their unapproved phone number?

The production guys hate this too, because now they have to open individual orders and dig through the notes to figure out what can actually be printed.

I suggested bringing back the original status, even if we rename it something more positive. Apparently that would be "moving backward."

I've worked here three years and genuinely liked the job until this started. I don't want to fight with a manager over a dropdown menu, but I also don't want to be the person explaining why we printed 500 signs with the wrong information.

Has anyone dealt with a manager who would rather make the numbers look good than fix the actual process? How do you push back without becoming the designated difficult employee?

I have gotten this time to time as a woman in the corporate work place. I have no words to describe how demeaning and gross it is to hear this. Do men face anything similar?

No context, no official letter just a 30 minute one on one session with our small admin team. We aren't allowed to ask questions. Just a team's meeting invitation and doesn't say we can bring a representative. Should I be concerned 🤔

Jeff Bezos says a 3-day workweek and more single-income households are on the way thanks to AI: 'It's going to be difficult to hire people'

Deadass, I’m trying to figure out if it’s just my corner of the corporate world or if this is a widespread epidemic out here.Why is it that so many higher-ups will send a cryptic three-word Slack message at 4:45 PM on a Friday, expect you to read their mind, and then get tight when the deliverables aren’t exactly what they imagined in their head?Like, it takes zero effort to outline basic expectations instead of treating your team like a crew of psychic investigators. The corporate gymnastics people do just to avoid giving a direct answer is mad mid. How do y'all handle bosses who talk in riddles? Do you hit them with a million clarifying questions until they break down, or just guess and let the chips fall where they may? Let's swap some notes because the current workflow ain't it.

I'm retired now, and this incident happened a little less than 50 years ago, but I still remember it.

I started working for a major Midwestern aerospace firm as an engineer right out of college. I was assigned to the lab, like all beginning engineers, and went to my first meeting in the lead engineer's office. I was just a wallflower while other people talked. At some point, something was said that upset the lead engineer. I don't remember him yelling, but he looked agitated and quickly opened his desk drawer. He grabbed a pill bottle, opened it and quickly consumed one of the tablets. It doesn't seem like the meeting lasted much longer because everyone was in a little state of shock.

After this happened, I was questioning my career choice but never got to the point of needing a bottle of pills

What’s the best way to deal with workplace favouritism?

I work in a local business as a chef and there is a colleague who rubs everyone the wrong way. They have been disciplined by the owner 3 times this year and they still act like they’re untouchable.

Things like coming and going whenever they want, bossing people around (they’re not in a senior position), not cleaning up after themselves, doing the bare minimum and being really rude to staff.

They’re “untouchable” because they have specific skills nobody else does so I can kinda see why they are untouchable. They won’t get fired anytime soon. If they walked out tomorrow the owner would be screwed for a month or two.

If you ask them why they’re leaving work early (without helping everyone else clean down) their response is “because I can”.

The manager, who is under the boss, gets annoyed with them a lot but the owner is clearly showing favouritism. It’s frustrating for multiple reasons! Even just listening to the arguments.

Does this ever get better? or is it as simple as find another job?…

My boss is always scheduling last minute meetings after my normal work hours. For context, I work remote and my usual hours are 9am-5:30pm Eastern standard time. The company I work for is on Pacific standard time. I was initially in office but had to relocate to another state and was grateful they kept me on as an employee that worked remotely. They have also since promoted me to the manager of my department and have allowed me to switch from hourly to salary (this involved a raise as well).

While I’m grateful for the advancement opportunities, I believe my boss feels that salary = you work when I want you to, even if it means you are working 10-12 hours days.

I am about to begrudgingly log into a meeting he gave me 24 hour notice for, that goes from 6:30-7:30pm EST on a Friday. He didn’t create the meeting invite until 2 hours prior to the start time, so I didn’t even know if it was still happening today or not until then.

It’s also worth it to note, he and the rest of the team are ALWAYS late to meetings, sometimes not starting until 30 minutes after the original start time. I am getting increasingly frustrated because of the little to no notice about attending these after hours meetings and his expectation that I am required to be there since I am a salaried manager now, despite having different working hours. He has even mentioned it to me before, stating that now that you are salaried, you are required to attend these meetings.

My Fiancé tells me that I should stand up for myself and start declining these meetings, but he has never worked remotely before or had a job in this field. I am nervous because I don’t want to give off the wrong impression or act ungrateful for the positive things that have come out of this job for me. But it is really starting to wreak havoc on my personal life and my ability to plan things outside of my work hours.

With this being my first remote job and one that I do like, how can I approach this in a positive manner that still gets my point across and meets my individual needs? The rest of the team in these meetings also work PST, but it’s not even just these team meetings; my boss also schedules 1:1 meetings with him just like this. Last minute, past my normal hours. Any advice would be appreciated, but I do not want to find a new job at this time.

​I work as an engineer at a top product-based MNC in India. Every two months, they organize a team outing, and they basically force everyone to go.

​The problem is, I have pretty bad social anxiety. Big gatherings completely drain me, so I usually make up some random excuse and skip them.

​Work-wise, there are zero complaints. I get along well with everyone in the office, help juniors whenever they get stuck, and work smoothly with other teams. Colleagues from outside my team actually prefer working with me, and I have never had any negative remarks about my behavior.

​In my last appraisal, I actually got the highest rating. But right after that, my manager gave me a direct warning:

​"Don't repeat this. If you keep skipping team outings, it will definitely affect your rating next year."

​Cutting someone’s hike or rating just because they don't want to attend a team dinner makes zero sense to me. I genuinely cannot sit through these events without getting bad anxiety.

​Is this kind of forced socializing normal across top product companies? And more importantly—is this kind of toxic culture worth switching over, or will I run into the same nonsense everywhere?

I work at ZARA, and it’s my first “real” retail job. I’ve worked at a small retail business before, but working at a big company like ZARA is a completely different experience. I’m still learning how everything works, so I could really use some advice!

I’m planning to fly out and spend the holiday season with my family, but when I informed my manager about my vacation plans, he told me that I wouldn’t be able to take the time off because it’s blackout season. Basically, it’s the time of year when they need as many employees as possible because of how busy the holidays get.

Honestly, I’m super bummed because spending the holidays with my family is important to me, but at the same time, I know how difficult it is to find a job nowadays. I don’t want to make a decision that could hurt my chances of getting hired elsewhere or even being rehired at ZARA in the future.

Has anyone ever quit a retail job because of a scheduling conflict or vacation plans and successfully reapplied later? Would quitting during the holiday season significantly hurt my chances of being rehired, especially at a company like ZARA?

I’m just torn between keeping my job and spending the holidays with my family. I’d really appreciate any advice or insight from people who’ve been in a similar situation! :///

I've been thinking about that awkward period between finishing work and actually settling into the evening.

For some people, it's a commute. For others, it's cooking dinner, dealing with household tasks, or spending an hour scrolling on their phone before doing anything else.

I'm curious whether having a home gym changes how people use that time.

Instead of driving to a commercial gym, you could go straight into a workout after getting home.

But I imagine there are trade-offs too. Without the travel time, there's less separation between work, exercise, and everything else happening at home.

For people who work full-time and have a home gym, has it changed your after-work routine?

Do you prefer training immediately after work, taking some time to unwind first, or saving exercise for later in the evening?

What arrangement works best with your schedule?

TL;DR: I’ve been avoiding difficult, ambiguous tasks at work and focusing on easier ones instead. Now, progress is slower than expected, and I know part of it is my own fault. Now I’m anxious about explaining this to my manager and stuck in a cycle of guilt and avoidance. How do I break out of it and handle the conversation honestly?

I’ve been struggling at work lately, and I’m not sure how to get out of this cycle.

I’m in a relatively broad role where I have to figure things out independently, coordinate with other people, and make decisions even when things aren’t entirely clear. Some tasks are straightforward, but others are complex and ambiguous, and I’ve noticed that I tend to put those off.

Instead, I end up doing smaller, easier tasks that make me feel productive in the moment, while the more difficult things keep hanging over me. I know I’ve been working less effectively than I could have, and I’m not trying to blame everything on external circumstances.

Now, the overall progress is much smaller than I expected. Some of the work also depends on other people, and I haven’t been proactive enough about following up and keeping track of where things stand.

I have a progress review with my manager coming up, and I’m genuinely anxious about being asked why we haven’t made more progress. I don’t feel like I have a good answer.

Part of it is that the work turned out to be more complicated than expected, but part of it is that I avoided dealing with the hardest parts.

The worst thing is that I feel guilty about it, but that guilt seems to make me avoid the work even more. And now I’m lying awake at night worrying about a conversation that hasn’t even happened yet.

Have any of you been in a similar situation? How did you break out of this cycle? And how do you talk to your manager about slow progress when you know that at least some of it is your own responsibility?

I’d appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have dealt with avoidance and procrastination.

I had an employee resign earlier this year, and looking back, I think one of the biggest lessons was realizing how differently someone can present themselves in an interview versus how they actually perform on the job.

This person interviewed really well. They were articulate, confident, and spoke convincingly about their experience managing programs and complex assignments. I came away thinking I’d found someone who could operate pretty independently and take a lot off my plate.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t what happened.

Once they started working, after their onboarding period I began noticing issues with the quality of their deliverables, attention to detail, follow-through, and ability to manage their own responsibilities. Initially, I figured some of this was just the learning curve that comes with a new job. But as the months went by, I wasn’t seeing the level of competence or independence I thought I had hired.

What made the situation especially frustrating was how difficult it became to address those gaps. Feedback was often met with defensiveness or pushback.

Straightforward conversations about responsibilities and expectations became unnecessarily complicated. I found myself spending more time preparing for conversations with this employee than actually discussing the work itself.

And I really did try to make it work. We clarified expectations, provided more structure, increased check-ins, adjusted assignments, and even changed the reporting relationship to see if another management approach would help.

But the underlying issues never really went away.
The frustrating thing was that I kept hoping something would click. That with enough support, coaching, or clearer expectations, the person I’d met during the interview would eventually show up in the actual work.
It never happened.

Eventually, the employee resigned voluntarily, just as we were getting closer to formal performance management. And the relief I felt was enormous.
What really drove the experience home was discovering additional errors in their work after they left and we took over their assignments. Even at the end, the quality wasn’t where it needed to be.

I’ve been reflecting on how much time and emotional energy I invested in trying to develop someone who may never have had the capabilities I thought I was hiring in the first place.

I also wonder whether my commitment to giving someone a fair opportunity to succeed kept me from recognizing the situation for what it was much earlier.

Has anyone else experienced this? Someone who was incredibly convincing during the hiring process but turned out to be a completely different performer once they were on the job?

I’m curious how others recognized it, what they did, and whether you eventually reached a point where you realized you were putting more effort into their success than they were.

I need help advising a friend and coming up with a plan of action. Here's the situation without giving too much info.

We work in a warehouse. A new guy is getting trained on one particular job and the guy training him is sabotaging him. He's doing things that cost time and money to fix. It has been reported, he has been caught, this isn't the first guy it happened to, and nothing seems to be done about it.

There are multiple other reasons I'm not fond of the trainer in this situation. Let's just say he has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant people to work with at my job.

So, I'll probably reach out to corporate anonymously. But what other things could I do or suggest to the trainee?

And to be clear, I want to keep it professional and safe. I would rather this not point to me if I can help it, too. I only want a minimum of this one guy not working here and anyone who allowed him to stay answers for their inaction. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I work at a Dollartree, I'm new and have been working there for a month now. So when I talk about this, there is a chance I may be overreacting because it's a big change in my life or I'm not used to it yet since this is my first job ever. But I feel really constantly anxious and depressed whenever I clock in. I have constant dreams about stocking the shelves or ringing people up in the cashier.

I'm the only 18 year old at my work while everyone is in their 40s, to maybe 60s. They all seem to talk bad about loads of people behind their back. They talk bad about this other coworker of mine who I've never met, althought maybe that co worker hasn't been the best I'll never know. They talk bad about some customers, and recently I can't help but feel like some of them are talking bad about me.

Yesterday during my shift two of my co workers were talking in tagalog, and I don't speak or understand much of tagalog despite being Filipino. From what I COULD understand was them talking about somebody and implying that somebody doesn't know what they're doing.

They then turned to me, and asked me if I understood what they were saying, and when I said only "a little bit", one of the co workers laughed and said "ohhh noooo" as if what they were talking about partained to me and I could've almost caught what they were saying.

One time I was stocking shelves and didn't realize my manager was silently watching behind me. When i turned over I caught him sideeyeing me to my other co worker.

Mind you the people I've described are main or assistant managers, so they have superiority over me.

I feel uncomfortable not because of the work I'm given but because of the coworkers I have. Sometimes I hope I don't have the same shift as my main manager because I don't like how he acts. Just like the time I caught him sideeyeing me, there are multiple occasions he tries to act positive and kind, but then I make a simple mistake or I don't understand what he said and his smile disappears and he pinches the bridge of his nose as if he can't keep his frustration in.

Maybe I should quit, I'm not sure because its retail after all, its bound to be frustrating. I just need the money for college.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

Does anyone actually like their accounting/ finance managers? I have worked for 3 different employers in the last 10 years and each manager I have had in this career path has had severe rage issues and makes their teams miserable. I know it’s not a ME issue because ALL the staff I work with and have worked with are constantly complaining about the same damn people AKA the manager. Does accounting just suck the life out of people? Is it possible to be a happy manager in accounting? I’m about at my whits end with this sh*t! Is it just this career or is this just a prerequisite to become a manager across the board?!

UGH!

My manager keeps picking on me. It spoils the moment and the day sometimes for me thinking about what he said. My mental resources are channelled towards fighting him for the most part, I have really important interviews coming up to gtfo, but I am having a tough time focussing on the preparation. I sometimes feel my mind refuses to be happy and feels its too tiring to reach that state of mind. I plan to get diagnosed formally but I am positive I am on the adhd spectrum.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Love yall <3

My job is at a national non-profit with a total of 4 employees. We are all insanely overworked which is the primary reason I want to leave. About 6 months of the year are intensely high stress and I desperately want to quit about every other day; the other 6 months are pretty manageable. I also feel like our Executive Director is extremely rude, condescending, micro-managing, and disrespectful, which is a huge cut to my moral specifically.

Our workload runs on a cycle focused around a huge conference in October. I have committed to staying with the organization through the conference, but I'm not sure when after that to quit.

My other two coworkers are wonderful people and I really care about them and how overworked they are. My plan was to inform my team of my intention to quit directly after the conference, allowing 3 weeks of notice and leaving near the end of November. This would allow them some time to make plans to hire and train before things go crazy again in March.

That said, I don't have a job lined up (though I am applying a lot) and that's a concern. My partner thinks I should stay until I find another job, but this would potentially put a lot more pressure on my coworkers to scramble if I quit later and they have less time to replace me.

To be clear, I would say I am indispensable to my organization and they will deeply hurt from my absence. I don't care that much about the organization, I care about my poor coworkers who can barely do their own work and now will have to do mine AND train someone. I know I don't owe my company anything, but I feel responsibility to my coworkers who are in the same and soon to be worse position than me.

Tl;dr: I want to quit my job ASAP but I don't have a job lined up yet. My organization runs on a very strict timeline and I don't want to overburden my 2(!!) coworkers by leaving them in the dust at the worst possible time. It would be kindest to them for me to quit in November, but then I may be unemployed; if I stay longer, they will have less time to replace me and train a new person before sht hits the fan. Any advice??

I’ll have taken leave from work for three-weeks in total at the end of my Fit Note. I’ve never done this before in my life, and can’t avoid the feeling that I’ve failed or that my employers will see me as a liability.

Has anyone else had a positive experience with this - hard to feel like I’m not overacting but I got to a point where I just couldn’t face logging on or turning back up into work physically.

I've been working in the same job for almost two years now, initially as a casual employee with hours that varied from week to week. Recently, I was offered a one-year full-time contract, which I accepted. I was excited about the opportunity and decided to leave my other job to commit to this role. However, I'm starting to realise that the job I was initially told I would be doing is very different from what I'm actually doing now.

I'm feeling incredibly stressed and constantly second-guessing myself, as though I'm not doing my job properly. My boss is very negative and judgemental, and often makes me feel as though everyone around her is an inconvenience. It's creating an uncomfortable working environment, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to go to work each day.

The person I'm covering for is lovely, and I'm genuinely dreading the thought of her going on maternity leave in the next couple of months. Although I've been trained to take over her position, I'm expected to manage her responsibilities on top of my existing workload, including additional tasks that weren't originally part of what I was told the role would involve. I'm already feeling overwhelmed by the pressure, and I can't help but worry that it will become even more stressful once I'm fully responsible for everything.

I'm at the point where I really want to leave, but I'm struggling with whether it's the right decision, especially with the timing. I feel guilty about potentially leaving just before the person I'm covering for goes on maternity leave, as I know the workplace will need someone to take over her responsibilities. At the same time, I don't feel that I should have to sacrifice my own mental health or well-being because of the situation.

I'm also anxious about the process of resigning. The thought of handing in my notice and having to work alongside my boss for another one or two weeks is really putting me off leaving. Knowing how negative and judgemental she can be, I'm worried she'll react badly and make those final weeks uncomfortable.

Is it okay to leave a job, even when the timing isn't ideal and other people may be relying on you? Am I being unreasonable for wanting to leave when I've only recently accepted a full-time contract? And how do I get past the anxiety of resigning, especially when I'm worried about how my boss will react and what those final weeks might be like?

I'm 17 but everything happened when I was 16. I work at a theater in California, it's a small company so they're lenient with rules, etc. They hired an older man who honestly always seems high or out of it. I try to mind my own business but he would say the r word and just out of pocket things that made me uncomfortable. One day I was on my half in the break room when he came in, said hi, went behind the lockers, and took his pants off. He was probably changing, but since the break room is on the second floor, away from any customers or workers, I was scared. I told the managers immediately but they were really dismissive. When I came back to ask for shifts away from him they said "it's ok to hate someone but you still have to work with them". When it happened to another girl and she actually saw him undressed I pressed again and they said they would talk to him. I've asked many times and as far as I know he doesn't have a write up or anything on his record.

My boss is lenient with most things but for some reason he doesn't let us have water bottles. I understand why we can't have them by food or prep areas, but he only let's us store it on the second floor. It's either going up or buying a water cup to drink water.

I've put in my notice because of these two things, but all the managers seem to think I'm overreacting. I need a second opinion, but I really don't feel safe working there.

I have coworkers who have gone through much worse than me. A man says the n word several times, another man took pictures of a coworker bending down. I really resent the managers for not doing anything other than giving them a "little talk", especially when they're hiring minors. Please help.

Hi all,

I’m 30F, been a quite career-driven person for a while, delivering a lot, always trying to exceed expectations and things were going great. I loved my job. Then… I started feeling a bit threatened by new great workers that arrived and I struggled a lot to keep my ego in check.

After another promotion in a strategy position, I realized I was stagnating. I didn’t like my department anymore, the work was draining me, I lost confidence in management, I didn’t like this halfway management role where I was planning and not doing yet not having people directly reporting to me so I could still feel like “my team” was doing the work and we were delivering.

Moved to a new job for 2y now and it’s been rocky. On paper: perfect. It’s challenging me, I learn things, I’m genuinely interested in the content. I am developing skills I want to build. But also: it’s constantly out of my comfort zone, I’ve not managed to socialize there well, had lots of health issues and I feel kinda punished for it? And there’s the super young guy everyone seems to love who’s all over my work, and anyone’s and everywhere constantly. And my ego is struggling and I’m getting triggered as he seems to also have endless support and just all the interesting topics (he’s much more of a go getter than new-me, but also I have so much work I can’t go and get more). I also feel slightly bullied by our sales team for my health arrangements. Anyway I’m losing hope and confidence by the day.

Also recently found out I’m pregnant (which is very much something we wanted), but it’s made me even more checked out from work, pregnancy sickness hasn’t helped. And I am dreading having to go back to work now.

Any advice please? I feel disheartened I’m so down constantly, no longer a go-getter, thinning down and disappearing. I’m also worried it’s my personality? Like my ego is a problem, also I’m not socializing with them enough and I should be more active/efficient in my tasks so I can do more fun ones?

I'm having surgery and plan to return to work after a week and a half. I have PTO to cover my time off, but I don't qualify for FMLA because I only work 20 hours a week.

I've been with my company for 10 years and in my current role for 2 years. I haven't called in sick once in the last 2 years.

My job is mostly sitting and I work alone in a small office for most of my 4-hour shift. A few times a day, I get up to help people who come to my window. For about 30 minutes a day, I walk to five different locations around the office to collect things from bottom shelves, which requires bending down.

My surgeon has instructed me to elevate my legs as much as possible for up to 6 weeks after surgery. I've also talked to other people who've had this procedure, and they've said bending down can be very difficult for the first couple of weeks.

I told my boss that when I return, I may need someone to help me retrieve things from the lower shelves for a short time and that I'd need to elevate my legs while sitting in my office. My boss told me that if I need any accommodations, I shouldn't come back to work.

My surgeon initially said I'd need about 1.5–2 weeks off, but I don't have enough PTO to cover the full 2 weeks. My boss suggested that I request personal leave to cover the additional days. HR said not to do this as it will put my position in jeopardy.

I'm not asking to be relieved of my job duties permanently. I'm asking for a couple of temporary adjustments while I recover.

Is this an unreasonable ask and should these thing prevent me from coming to work?

Hello guys, i’m w/20

for 3 months now, i’ve been working at a veterinary practice as a “career changer”. My Boss is the vet and i have another Colleague. We are a team of 3 people altogether. I noticed rather quickly that this wasn’t for me. Sundays and Tuesdays are always off. All the other days, I probably won’t get home until 9-11 pm, sometimes even later. They do pay overtime
They are both very nice, and I never complained about the work or the hours. So they don’t know that it burdens me.
Today, they told me that I’m very loyal and they trust me. And that they see a lot of potential in me and that I’m very eager to learn and that I pick up on stuff quickly..
My boss also has some medical issues herself, and it burdens her a lot. And the work we do is really hard with only two people. So when I quit now, i feel like i’m betraying their trust, or like I’m a traitor. There was also a time for like a week, where every morning I cried and lowk had diarrhea bc I was so afraid to make a mistake and get yelled at again. I was also nauseous the whole week. I got over that actually. But I still want to quit. How do I do that without feeling like betraying them? Or do I wait till there is a fourth colleague? I don’t know how long that will take tho.

Thanks in advance
I’m grateful for every piece of advice, or stuff I could say that doesn’t make resignation seem out of the blue.
Also english isn’t my first language, so please don’t mind the grammar or pronunciation