I was at the vet with my cat when a guy brought in a fish in a ziplock bag.
Receptionist: Sir, we don't treat fish.
Him: It's an emergency.
Receptionist: We're a cat and dog clinic.
Him: Please just look at him.
He held up the bag. The fish was barely moving.
Receptionist: I'm sorry, you need an aquatic vet.
Him: The aquatic vet is two hours away. He'll be dead by then.
Receptionist: We're not trained for fish.
Him: (his voice cracked) Please.
The receptionist looked at the fish, then at him.
Receptionist: Let me ask Dr. Patel.
She went to the back. The guy sat down next to me, holding the bag like it was made of glass.
Me: That's a really nice fish.
Him: His name is Steve.
Me: How long have you had Steve?
Him: Eight years.
Me: That's a long time for a goldfish.
Him: He's gotten me through a lot.
The way he said it made me not ask any follow up questions.
Dr. Patel came out looking confused.
Dr. Patel: I've never treated a fish before.
Him: I know.
Dr. Patel: I don't even know where to start.
Him: Could you try?
Dr. Patel looked at the fish for a long time.
Dr. Patel: Bring him back.
They disappeared into an exam room. I waited for my cat's appointment. Twenty minutes passed.
The guy came out without the bag.
He was crying.
Receptionist: I'm so sorry.
Him: You tried. Thank you for trying.
He paid and left.
My cat got her shots. As I was checking out, I asked what happened.
Receptionist: Fish didn't make it. Dr. Patel felt terrible.
Me: That guy seemed really attached.
Receptionist: He told Dr. Patel that fish was the only thing he had left from before his divorce. His ex took everything else but didn't want the fish.
Me: That's heartbreaking.
Receptionist: Dr. Patel didn't charge him.
I went home and couldn't stop thinking about it.
A guy loving a fish that much. A vet trying to save something she'd never treated before.
The next week I was back for my cat's follow up. Different receptionist.
Me: Whatever happened with the fish guy?
Her: Oh, Steve?
Me: The fish died.
Her: Yeah, but the guy came back two days later.
Me: Why?
Her: Dr. Patel felt so bad she called every aquarium specialist she could find. Asked them what went wrong. Turns out Steve had a bacterial infection. Nothing she could've done.
Me: That's sad.
Her: She wrote the guy a letter explaining everything. Told him he gave Steve a good life.
Me: He came back to say thank you?
Her: He came back with a new fish. Asked Dr. Patel to do a wellness check.
Me: She did it?
Her: She's been seeing the new fish for regular appointments. Says she's learning.
Me: What's the new fish's name?
Her: Steve Two.
Me: Of course it is.
Her: Guy seems happier now. Talks to Dr. Patel about regular stuff. Not just the fish.
I paid for my cat's appointment and left.
Sometimes people don't need you to save the thing they love.
They just need you to try.
During the filming of Gone With the Wind in 1939, Clark Gable noticed that the restrooms on set had signs saying “White” and “Colored.” This meant Hattie McDaniel and other Black actors were not allowed to use the same restrooms as white actors. Gable was very upset. He told the director that if the signs were not taken down, he would quit the movie. The studio, afraid of losing him, removed the signs.
Clark Gable also showed kindness to Hattie McDaniel in other ways. He sat with her, ate with her, and treated her with respect when many people at the time did not. Their friendship stood out in a world full of unfair rules. Later, McDaniel made history as the first Black actor to win an Oscar, a moment that opened doors for many others after her.
had a massive dispute trying to cancel my internet service yesterday, but
i’m moving to an area they don’t cover, so i called to close the account.
"i need to cancel my service."
"certainly, but you have to return the router in its original box to an authorized service center first."
"i threw that cardboard box away three years ago. can i just bring the router?"
"no, our system requires the original barcode on the packaging to process a termination."
"so if i don't have a piece of trash from 2023, i have to pay you forever?"
"it's our standard equipment return policy."
i pulled up the original PDF agreement on my phone while holding.
"i'm looking at section 4 of the terms right now. it says 'equipment must be returned in good working condition.' it doesn't say anything about the original cardboard box."
"uh... let me check with a supervisor."
she put me on hold for ten minutes. when she came back, her entire tone changed.
"Ma’am, we can waive the box requirement this once. just bring the router to the store."
they try to lock you into billing cycles using fake rules they make up on the spot, hoping you’ll just get tired and give up.
if it’s not in the contract you signed, it’s not a rule. don't let corporations bully you with imaginary policies.
Cancer surgeon here. People like to point out that childfree women have a slightly increased risk for breast cancer without mentioning they have ZERO risk for:
- Perineal tears + fecal incontinence
- Preeclampsia
- Amniotic fluid embolism 
- Bladder, uterine, or rectal prolapse
- Diastasis recti
- Peripartum cardiomyopathy
- Postpartum depression
- Chronic pain from pelvic nerve damage
Stop shaming childfree women and start appreciating that families come in many flavors.
“why are people obsessed with them” a girl raised by circus performers found her own extreme sport, met up with a guy she saw as a competition for a sponsored climb, and she gradually learned she could trust him and they fell in love. they’ve been romance novel material
겁나 귀여운 사실을 알게됨ㅠㅠ
고양이 정수리에 뭐가 붙으면 고양이들은 본능적으로 손을 올려서 떼려하는데
손을 올릴때 마침 수염을 스치게되면 자기도 모르게 세수본능 스위치가 켜진다함ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
그래서 머리위에 붙은거는 까먹고 열심히 앞발 핥는다고ㅋㅋㅋ
그러다 또 갑자기 생각나서 떼려하고 그러다 또 앞발핥고 무한반복ㅋㅋㅋ
btw korean media recently highlighted jongin as an example of an idol who completed his military service with dedication, mentioning that he received a 5-day special leave (an award given to exemplary public service workers) and cited the heartfelt comments shared by his former coworkers under his salon drip video, who described him as kind, sincere, dependable, and someone who always treated everyone with warmth and respect toward both staff and elderly visitors. they even shared how many netizens praised his humility and said these stories reflect how diligently he carried out his service. so here i am crying because i'm reminded i've never seen a better man omg
Seven men were sentenced to De*th after being convicted of gang rape.
Before the executions, they asked the woman they had violated to forgive them.
Suddenly, everyone wanted mercy.
She refused.
The same people who had no mercy when they destroyed her life expected compassion when it was theirs on the line.
Some called her heartless. Meanwhile these are THE MEN WHO DO THIS R*PE.
NO HUMANITY...
Others called her the only person in the story who owed them absolutely nothing.
It's strange how victims are so often expected to be saints, while perpetrators are remembered as human only when they're about to die.
Look how they have romanticised this headline. Woman dies days after her partner is found dead.
Only when you read the article does it tell you Zoe Marie Dixon was bludgeoned with a hammer by her partner and it took her 6 days to die in hospital
He ran off and killed himself
My aunt was married for nineteen years.
Every Saturday morning she would ask her husband if he wanted to go to the farmers market with her.
His answer was almost always the same.
��Maybe next time.”
So she would go alone.
Pick up flowers nobody asked for.
Come home to a man already on the couch who would say “oh nice” and go back to whatever he was watching.
One Saturday she didn’t ask.
She went to the farmers market.
Bought herself flowers like always.
Then she sat at the little cafe on the corner she had walked past for eleven years without ever going inside.
Ordered a full breakfast.
Talked to the woman at the next table about nothing important for forty minutes.
Walked home a different route just to see what was there.
There was a bookstore she had never noticed.
She went in.
Stayed for an hour.
Bought two books.
Came home at noon feeling something she couldn’t immediately name.
Her husband looked up and said “You were gone a while.”
She said “I was.”
He waited for more.
She didn’t give him more.
The following Saturday she didn’t ask again.
Just went.
He noticed the third week.
Said “You used to ask me to come.”
She said “You used to say maybe next time.”
He said “I might want to come sometime.”
She nodded and said “I leave at nine.”
He wasn’t ready at nine.
She went anyway.
But something had shifted in the house.
Not loud. Not dramatic.
Just a quiet rearrangement of who was waiting for whom.
He came with her eventually.
About two months later.
Stood slightly awkwardly at the flower stall while she talked to vendors she now knew by name.
Ate breakfast at the corner cafe with her.
On the walk home he said “You seem different lately.”
She said “I’m the same. I just stopped shrinking while I waited for you to show up.”
He didn’t say anything.
But the following Saturday he was ready at five to nine.
She bought him coffee from the corner cafe and didn’t make a big thing of it.
Some people just need to see you choose yourself first before they remember you were worth choosing all along.
The act itself does not move me, but In a world of 8 billion finding the other person who is the same sort of insane to do with with you is terribly romantic