My girlfriend says she didn't actually have sex with the other man, so it doesn't count as cheating.
I'm 34, my girlfriend is 29, and we've been dating for over four years.
Our sex life has become very infrequent in the last six months.
Part of the reason is work stress, and another part is that I've started researching investments and often stay up after work looking at data. She feels that I'm focusing all my attention on work and stocks, and that I'm always distracted when we meet.
I admit that's true.
Her sex drive has always been stronger than mine. A few months ago, she often initiated by asking if I wanted to, but I was really tired and couldn't.
Social media promised to connect everyone. Its business model discovered that connection is less profitable than compulsion. So the feed slowly stopped showing what you chose and started showing what keeps you watching. Your attention has a landlord now.
AI is marketed as a tool that will “free people from repetitive work.” Companies hear the same sentence differently: repetitive work was still somebody’s paycheck. Every labor-saving revolution contains an unanswered question about who keeps the savings.
Healthcare bills are one of the few purchases where you can consume the product before learning the price. Complexity weakens comparison shopping, and weak comparison shopping weakens competition. Confusion isn’t always a flaw in a market.
Universities sell education, employers demand experience, and internships promise experience for discounted labor. Young workers spend years purchasing the qualifications required to become eligible for an income. Entry level has acquired an entrance fee
Librarian: Your book is overdue.
Me: By how much?
Librarian: Three months.
Me: Wow.
Librarian: We emailed you.
Me: I know. I was waiting to see how the story ended.
Librarian: It ended in April.
Renting used to mean paying for shelter without owning it. Now tenants increasingly pay application fees, amenity fees, parking fees and processing fees. When housing gets scarce enough, even permission to pay becomes a product.
Inflation gets described as prices “going up,” as though groceries developed ambition. Prices are decisions made throughout supply chains under changing costs, competition and demand. The economy is abstract until someone redesigns your paycheck in the cereal aisle.
Job listings asking for salary expectations are not confused about what the role costs. They’re checking whether you’ll volunteer to be the cheapest qualified option. Information asymmetry is a remarkably effective payroll strategy.
Companies say “we’re a family” when they want loyalty that exceeds the contract. Somehow this family still measures your performance quarterly and eliminates your role by Friday. Family language gets expensive when only one side believes it.
Nurse: Any allergies?
Dad: Cats.
Nurse: I meant medications.
Dad: Then no.
Kid: He's also allergic to cleaning.
Dad: That's not medical.
Kid: Mom says it's chronic.
“Unlimited PTO” sounds like freedom until you notice there’s no number the company owes you. A benefit became a social negotiation with your manager. Remove the limit, remove the liability, keep the guilt.