Notices by Allie (grissallia@aus.social)

@Infoseepage @molly0xfff The idea hadn't occurred to me. I use Books & Kindle on my iPad, so now I've got a new project :)

@molly0xfff For real??

I tested negative, but I reckon, based on my symptoms, that I won’t in 48 hours.

I woke up feeling rubbish this morning, the first day of my Christmas leave.

My wife said she was feeling rubbish last night, but thought it was side effects from the Zyrtec she took for hayfever yesterday.

Her hayfever has been pretty bad for a couple of days.

We have friends coming over tomorrow, and one of them spent a large chunk of the last couple of years being treated (successfully) for lymphoma.

I went and bought a 5-pack of COVID/Flu A/B RATs, and tested negative.

My wife, however, has COVID for the first time.

Our friends are no longer coming over.

Christmas is (kind-of) cancelled.

It’s not that dental care is unaffordable, it’s just that I prioritised keeping a roof over my family’s head, and food on the table, in a single income household, over getting dental work done. I brought it on myself.

Edit: I did not expect either of these posts to “do numbers”. I would have been a little more careful with typos, and my sarcasm about dental care. It’s ridiculously expensive, and as I said to Ewen earlier today, I’ve spent thousands on my teeth, but the necessary “finalisation” work was always unaffordable. I couldn’t afford one crown, let alone several.

The dentist who crushed the back of my 1-7 & 2-7 while removing my wisdom teeth denied the damage I could *feel* - to my face. Declared that he was the professional, and who was I to question his work?

He left town suddenly a few months later. What was I to do? /le sigh

What’ll really bake your noodle is when you realise how much DARVO is not just weaponised by angry men, but it’s been built into the structure of society.

It’s not that corporations spent decades colluding to bury the evidence of climate change, it’s that you don’t recycle enough.

It’s not that companies have repeatedly cut corners & staff to increase profits, and C-suite salaries, it’s that you don’t work hard enough to justify a salary increase.

It’s not that governments have collectively and consistently preferenced the wealthy landlord “investor” class in their policies, and made housing precarious and unaffordable, it’s that you ate too much avocado toast.

It’s not that the economy is structured around having a permanently unemployed pool of people, it’s that people are lazy and just don’t want to work.

@adamgreenfield oh yeah. I turned 49 this year. I just started transitioning. I started thinking about how I've lived in this house for seven years. I've lived in this city for 18 years.

If I'm lucky, I've got another 20 years. Maybe more. Maybe less.

I've got boxes I've carried from house to house, and only opened to sort through them and close them again... and why?

Do I need the complete set of [TV series] when I've seen it once, and the list of TV shows I haven't seen that I want to watch is longer than I could complete *now*.

FWIW, I responded. It was six pages long.

I told them why they got such a low score.

And yet, oddly enough, I don't want to speak to you.

Why do companies insist on increasing our mental load by sending us useless surveys about every interaction?

I ordered something. You were paid to drop it off. You dropped it off. This is not an invitation to have an ongoing relationship with regards to your ability to do your job.

I have a spreadsheet full of #Steam #game keys (all legit!) and I'm giving away.

I'm *not* doing this to get new followers. You DON'T need to follow me to get a key. This is about generosity when the world could really use some.

The only thing I ask is you follow the Wheaton rule: "Don't be a dick".

10/12/23: Christmas is rolling around again, and the giveaway continues. We've given away 220 games now, and I'm still adding new keys.

To avoid keyfarmers and resellers, I have some guidelines, though.

1. No new accounts. Sorry. You've got to have been here on Mastodon & obviously human; ie. no keyfarmers (If I don't know you, I'm checking profiles).

2. One game per person; please pick your top three preferred games, in case your first preference is already gone. First in, first served, I go through PMs in the order that they're received - see below.

3. *Private Mention* me with the game number *AND* name, in order of preference. (Web: Profile > Three Dots > Privately Mention...), your app may vary.

I cannot reiterate this enough. You *must* -->PM<-- your request (consider this the "Brown M&Ms" clause).

4. "When can I ask for another key?" Minimum of 2 months between requests.

Key sources:

Green: My keys

Donated Keys:
Blue: @McCovican
Orange: @tojosan
Yellow: @miga
Light Magenta 3: @hypolite
Light Red 2: @desiree
Darker Green: @artbol
Lilac: @elfi

Game listed multiple times = multiple keys.

FAQ:
Q: "Can I donate keys?"
A: Yes, provided they're *your* spares. PM me, and I'll go into more details.

If you don't mind boosting this post; this is my small way of trying to make the world & Mastodon a nicer place to be.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17uJVhaUJsFdQDTUbMa_swKiG_yphmhrmRHBB2MYz8V0/

#gaming #giveaway #MastodonGiving #Steam #PCGaming #Games #MastodonGaming

@BethanyBlack I feel this, but for a slightly different reason. It's only just recently that I've started processing that I don't know what my own needs and boundaries are because I spent so much of my adult life adjusting my boundaries for everyone else, that it just felt normal.

Once I kept adapting for other people, they expect that I will continue doing that, and realising that the one of the reasons I'm constantly out of spoons is that I never say "This far, and no further" is massive.

It just sucks that the people in our lives who we most need to respect our boundaries are the people most likely to jack up with us for setting them in the first place.

@BethanyBlack seems like it was the night for nightmares. Woke up from a nightmare that's haunted me all day.

The worst part was that in the dream I couldn't talk and my mouth was like the Sahara, and I couldn't get anyone to give me water, and I woke up gagging for breath...and with my mouth completely dried out. It was surreal.

@inthehands I spent almost a decade living in constant fear of being fired, until the man who'd hired me finally convinced me that he wasn't going to sack me.

I finished high school in 1989, at the end of year 10. I went to work for my father in electronics repair. I have no formal qualifications. As my life changed repeatedly, until I found myself in that particular job, I felt increasingly insecure, in spite of having never been unemployed (except for three days, after one job where the company shut down unexpectedly).

It was in that almost-decade long job that I finally came to understand that one of the things I felt was my biggest weakness was potentially my greatest strength.

I have done multiple jobs, but not only that, I'd followed (and dropped) multiple special interests throughout my life.

The role I ended up in, utilised the skills I'd developed over those preceding decades, not just in the various jobs & roles, but in the special interests I'd embraced.

I never could have worked as a graphic designer, had I not decided on the spur of the moment to publish a webcomic for several years (forcing me to learn Adobe Illustrator), but also a short term obsessions with design principles a few years earlier.

I don't have a formal education, but I have boundless curiosity, and a willingness to say out loud that I don't know something, but I'm going to ask a shedload of questions to try and understand it.

Because what I've learned in life is that everything IS connected to everything, and the odd collection of skills that you pick up in one context can turn out to be wildly useful in a completely different context.

You would think that this has reached peak enshittification.

You would be wrong.

Because it became Kafkaesque at this point (these are quotes!).

Agent: "Actually Seagate has removed all the portal. You can only talk with us in chat"

Me: "Indeed. The chat regularly crashes with an error message, and every time I reach out to chat, I get asked for all of my information again. Even when I have an existing case."

Agent: "We have all the details you can come to chat chat and go a head. Since I have an issue while checking the case you have to explain all I am really sorry for that."

Me: "I literally have NO idea what is going on, why I was emailed, where my replacement hard drive is."

Agent: "Just a minute don't be confused. Do you have any issue in the hard drive."

Me: "I went and bought a brand NEW hard drive this afternoon, because Seagate cannot communicate with me sensibly, and I cannot afford to wait without a hard drive indefinitely!"

Agent: "Let me check with the team and will give you the complete information why this message has been sent."

Me: "Thank you"

[Eons pass. Paul Rudd gets younger.]

Agent: "Do you have any doubt"

---
At this point I am staring at the screen, blinking slowly. Is this what it feels like to have a stroke? Am I dead? Is Johnny Knoxville about to pop up and hit me with a fucking baseball bat?

Well, you could say I doubt that anyone at Seagate knows what's going on, and that I doubt I will ever regain my sanity, but I'll try and work out exactly what in the fuck is happening here.
---
Me: "I'm sorry, I need a more specific question. Doubt with regards to?"

Agent: "Yes please ask?"

[Definitely a stroke]

Me: "I literally have no idea what is going on with my replacement hard drive. Or why I was emailed today. So, yes. I guess you could say I have some doubt at this point."

Agent: "I will check and will update you within 24 hours. Please give some couple of hours I will get an solution for this."

Me: "I've given you 9 days and bought a new hard drive because no-one at Seagate seems to know what's going on. I guess I can wait another indefinite time period before starting all over again.

Do you understand that once this chat ends, I have no way to follow it up, other than to start a new chat, and start this all over again?"

Agent: "No need of explain all this again we have all the details with us. Just you can come to the chat and ask the updated on."

[If they have all the details, why do they make me explain it again EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?!

Ah fuck it.]

Me: "I've had to explain it again *every* *single* *time*"

Agent: "No need that's what i am saying. I have an issue with checking the previous comments so that only I have asked to expalin."

[Agent has ended chat.]

Here's the kicker. I bought a *new* Seagate Firecuda 8Tb drive this afternoon, because what other option is there?

There were no 8Tb WD Blacks in stock.

No consequences for #enshittification.

I'm sitting here trying to process the Seagate "support" experience I've had over the past nine days, and the only word is "enshittification", per @pluralistic

It's as if Seagate management set out to individually enshittify every single step of the support process to making as close to impossible to get support for a consumer level product, without just saying "Fuck you."

There are virtually no consequences for this deliberate enshittification of their support process. What other options are there?

Seagate no longer have a support number.

Seagate no longer have a support email address.

Seagate have a pop-up live chat. That's it.

The live chat will intermittently lose contact with the server and just say "Error" forcing you to reload the entire webpage.

The only way they could enshittify this process further would be to replace the apparent "live agents" with AI chatbots, and that may well be an improvement.

1st August: my less-than two year old Seagate Barracuda drive failed under warranty. After navigating my way through the live chat, and providing all of my information, I asked for an advance warranty replacement, which i was promised (per the chat logs). I receive an RMA form. I wait.

4th August: I put my RMA details into the Seagate RMA lookup to find out what's happening.

"Invalid details."

I reach out by the Live Chat. I have to enter ALL of my details again, in spite of having an RMA number.

The live agent officiously tells me to "be patient" and "you will get your drive", and that sometimes the form is slow to update.

7th August: The form is still reporting invalid. I reach out via Live Chat again. I provide all my information, yet again. The agent insists he has to create a new case, in spite of me having an RMA number. "This is your case number, please note it down for reference."

Him: "Oh, the lab is waiting for your faulty drive."

Me: "This was advance replacement."

Him: "It wasn't."

Me: "Here's a screenshot of the agent telling me it was an ARO."

Him: "Oh, OK. I'll arrange an ARO. You'll get some forms in your email, and a link to provide credit card details in case you don't send the drive back. This is your case number.

Me: "Fine."

ARO form. Nothing else. No link. No details.

9th August (today): An email from another new person at Seagate with my case number. No other information. I reply via email "What's the next step."

"Thank you for your email, this email address is not monitored. Please use Live Chat."

I. Go. To. Live. Chat.

AI bot: "Please enter all of your information:"

Me: "No. Here's my case number. Sort it out."

Live agent: "How can I help?"

Me: "I received an email from Support. I cannot reply via email. I don't know where my replacement hard drive is."

Agent: "Actually, you can reply via email, it's just faster via live chat."

Me: "Here's a screenshot FROM SEAGATE telling me I CANNOT reply via email."

Agent: "Oh. Please wait."

[Eons pass. Glaciers melt. #Enshittification continues.]

safelosing [ seyf-loo-zing ]

noun

1. (ADHD): the act of carefully putting something very important in a safe place so as not to lose it, then forgetting where you put it.

Transphobes demanding I scientifically prove gender identity exists: fuck you.

You’re a meat bag walking around controlled by a ghost. Scientifically prove *you* exist. Show me on an fMRI where your love of chocolate is. Show me in your DNA why you’re attracted to people of the opposite gender. Show me in your blood tests why you’re such a hateful little asshole.

Show me the science that proves your consciousness exists.