Ask Lemmy

When I was a child I thought everything was run by grown ups, who had the answer to everything. Then I grew up and saw everything as run by children, who made everything up as they go. Now I see everything as run by animals with insatiable appetites.

Kids who came to school in dirty clothes, hair messy, dirt on their hands and faces. I thought they were just gross pigpen types. Not till I was older and less sheltered did I meet families where the adults had other stuff going on and didn’t see to their kids’ well being. I was lucky enough to have had no idea what it meant to be neglected.

Knowing why your parents told you not to turn the cabin lights on in the car while driving at night when I started driving myself. You can't fucking see shit outside the car!

Stoically treating people well when they are terrible to you isn't going to bring them around. DON"T put effort into the problem people in life. "the idiot by fyodor dostoevsky" is a warning not a guide book. Those people will fuck you up and not remember .

Quality was mentioned, but I'll add my view. Most everything is disposable now, whether you go with the upgraded option or not. Everyday items, cars, houses, tools, services...we're surrounded by junk.

At Boeing the bean counters took over, look at them now. Most other corporations are doing the same, just with lower stakes.

It's not just stuff--it's interaction too. People are so hooked on throwaway videos, social media, etc that our collective attention span has severely diminished since the internet took hold. I was reading a book recently, and one of the characters described using a tactic of keeping another character off balance in conversation to gain an advantage over them. I feel like this is being done to all of us on the grand scale, intentionally or not.

What I've learned is that these trends will continue until we do something about it. I try to bring what quality and value I can to those around me, pass on what wisdom I've gained, and be a good influence. Even to strangers when possible. It's up to us to carry and keep the torch lit.

Mostly myself. When I was a teenager, I was an insufferable, arrogant shit person. I got better during college and even better after getting my first job, I started to understand better why I was such an arrogant asshole and why people, especially women, really would not rather interact with me.

When I was am apprentice we were not allowed to use the leaf blower or workshop air to blow out the workshop.

Now I am ac workshop manager they are the most infuriating noises when you're trying to work in the office and get paperwork and phone calls done and someone is using a leaf blowerr

When the argument against an initiative says, "greedy developers" that is just a populist NIMBY smear spoken by even greedier, already-existing landlords.

I actually voted against a housing development one time because I got played by those words. I'm a little wiser now.

I used to not understand how people could spend so much money on a single meal at a really fancy restaurant.

But then, on a special occasion my wife convinced me to go to a Michelin star restaurant. It was amazing, honestly the best "food experience" I've ever had, so many crazy flavours, etc etc.

So now, i can understand why someone might go to a very fancy restaurant once or twice a year. I probably still won't, but I do understand why someone would.

The code stack at my company. At one time, I was confident that I could affect change, add modern features, and make the process form streamlined and user friendly. Now I get to explain our tech debt to our new not yet soulless new hires.

I used to not get why someone would buy a physical DVD/Bluray/CD/whatever. Well, now I get it. I’d much rather own it than “own” it.

People always talk about how much wiser you get with age. I didn't really understand this until I hit my 30s. I can't quite explain it, but it's definitely true. I don't feel smarter, I just have all this life experience that has taught me all sorts of things and made me loads more confident. I feel this will continue to get stronger the older I get with the unfortunate side effect of slowing down a bit mentally.

When I was a kid, my mom would tell me stories about some rich/famous people who ended their own lives, and she asked me what I thought about it, I said it was stupid since they're rich and could just enjoy life

Now I have depression. I totally get it. (I mean I'm not rich, but still, I get it.)

🥲

Why we're choosing to destroy ourselves due to catastrophic climate change. I just...I get it now, but there are too many facets of it for me to want to list them all right now.

But I understand it. It doesn't make it justifiable, just comprehensive.

I thought the worst part of dating was getting my heart broken, but what I remember best are the girls I let down.

I didn’t understand the importance of quality and the true premium you pay for certain things. I often would buy the cheapest thing I could find to serve a certain function. After awhile, you find yourself replacing cheap things because they wear out quickly. Buying quality can mean paying a lot more, but it also usually means you don’t have to replace it much, if at all.

The apartments with pets thing, in my building currently there’s an owner who put their dog out in the balcony at night and it would just bark for hours. I sleep at around midnight with barking in the background. I don’t even know until how late it usually does it

Working fast food jobs versus working a professional job. There's a reason people work in fast food whether that be age, felony status, crap work history, education status (not always), or they are just shitty people.

There is a general unprofessional and childish mentality working at those places that I thought was normal when I worked them. When I moved into corporate culture it was difficult for me for like 3-4 years and it took a long time for me to understand that it's a different culture. You don't say off color shit or fuck around. Which I am okay with. I don't have to deal with casual sexual harassment, childish quitting displays, abuse, high school behavior, etc.

There is still some gossip but it's not hard to isolate yourself from it and people who do that shit typically don't last that long.