Names are a dime a dozen, and—a bit like an ileum… everyone has one. The first time in your life that you meet another kid with the same name as you is also the first time you realize that you're quite as special as mommy says you are… You're just one in a sea of hundreds of thousands with the same name as you. Heck, as you get older and learn how to search your name on Google, you realize that you aren't even the only one around with the same first and last name combination—queue a lifelong fe…

Everyone knows not to upset a pregnant woman. Even if you don't know, you should be able to deduce from the state that woman is in that you need to be extra careful around her. It's a common thing in many species, not just humans, that a pregnant mama-to-be will mess you up if you cross her. A very real example is this Reddit story . This mom-to-be was pregnant in the height of heat during the summer days. She had a designated parking spot in front of her townhouse so she wouldn't have to walk…

You need to be careful when you sell products online because oftentimes, people will say anything to get what they want. They will make up a whole family to get a discount if they have to. One person was selling some Christmas products (prefilled stockings) on Marketplace when she was contacted by a mother who wanted to make a large order for her kids. At first, the lady asked for a discount, which OP felt was reasonable as it was such a big order. They agreed on the price of $250, and made a p…

Teachers go through a lot. Kids are a tough crowd, and it isn't easy to spend 8 hours with 30 of them. They're loud, they're grumpy, they're energetic. Moody, frustrated, and sometimes, entitled. But I can say the same for teachers… we're all human. This teacher would not let the class forget about his glory days as a college football player and did not really care to teach the class properly. One of the student's parents found out that he had given the class an assignment that would be graded…

Imagine having a smaller you that doesn't speak coherently, breaks everything you own, and is always sticky. And then imagine how much you love that little guy or girl! Yeah, that's what being a dad is like. You always have to run after your smart and courageous little critters, as they are basically pure balls of energy. Curious, fearless, and always there, for better or for worse. When you have kids, you can FEEL your hair getting grey. You definitely grow older a lot faster, or at least, tha…

Family Christmas dinners are either the event you most look forward to OR the event that you are wholeheartedly dreading every day of the year until December, by which time you accept your fate. One daughter-in-law, who for the sake of this story, we will call OP, feared the latter, as she was no longer with her spouse, and did not take a liking to his family at all. The mother-in-law, who we will call Karen, liked to scowl, drink, complain, and do things her way. She never went out of her way…

What does 'being neighborly' mean to you? Does it mean you actually become friends with your neighbors, or is it just a pretend friendship to keep things cordial, as you're forced to live next to each other for the unforeseeable future? I guess it depends on the kind of neighbors you get stuck with. Well, this couple thought they were actually becoming close friends with their new neighbors until they received this unexpected blow right before their annual Christmas party.

People think they deserve charity for simply existing as if that entitles them to free stuff and a pat on the back. This woman reportedly drove '3 hours just for her kids to be disappointed', but the real disappointment here is that she, as a mother, booked a hotel room she knew she couldn't afford. And not by a bit… by a LOT. But before I get ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. OP was working as a front desk clerk at an expensive, high-end resort. A woman who had booked a $600 hotel…

We will always be affected by favoritism. Parents make an effort to convince us that there is no such thing as favoritism and that people evaluate us based on our qualifications or lack thereof. As someone who has worked at over a dozen jobs, attended roughly six different schools during her life, and is one of twenty grandkids, I can vouch for the fact that favorites exist. The story below is of a strong single mother who is having a hard time providing for her kid. OP is a hard-working waitre…

This must've been the craziest day on the job for one group of construction workers . At every job, there will come a day that is so outrageous that it turns into a legend. Maybe someone gets in a public screaming match with the boss and tells them off in front of everyone. Or perhaps the serial food thief finally gets caught. Or maybe one employee flips out on a client. Days like these don't happen all the time, and when they do, it certainly breaks up the monotony. One group of construction w…

'First come, first serve' has been the mantra of many over the decades– in particular, siblings fighting over the shower, kids vying for toys at recess, and cousins loading up their plates at the family buffet. Generally, people tend to respect this little rule we've made for society, but apparently, some folks feel entitled to whatever they want in the world, ignoring the laws that separate humanity from that of the animals.

Families and tradition are synonymous with one another; it might be as simple as some small silly thing that you do together every year during the holidays, or it might be a serious, all-encompassing system of decorum that members must abide by. As most of us aren't part of some pseudo-royalty billionaire trust or vying for the succession of our father's multinational mass media company—chances are, more often than not, that most of our family traditions land towards the sillier end of the spec…

One of the huge downsides of having 8 billion people on the this Earth is that there are only so many 'unique' names to chose from. With 1 out of 25 Americans named 'John', it makes you wonder how many parents feel forced to think of baby names that are out of the box. Well, with the turn of the century, it seems like a lot of people have gotten extremely creative with baby names– and not in a good way.

There's this growing sentiment in modern parenting that we should never lie to our children, that, if we do, they may one day grow up to resent us for giving them an unrealistic view of the world. Maybe, just maybe, that desire for a more realistic and grounded approach stems from the fact that we were raised being told that we could be whatever, whoever, and wherever we wanted to be when the reality is that all of those things cost money and if you don't have enough money to go, be and do ever…

Not everyone is good at giving gifts. Obviously, for some people out there, it's their bread and butter. Their love language, if you will. If that's you, congratulations. However, the rest of us (myself included) were not born with the “good gift-giver” gene. As someone who was once gifted a dictionary and a pencil case holder for my 15th birthday, not to mention a DVD of Inside Out for my 21st birthday, I was not raised to be good at this. That's why when this time of year rolls around, I get…

For childfree couples, the holiday season is usually the time of year you get chased around by all of your aunties and older cousins, pestering you about your life choices, your aging physique, and your inability to (so far) provide your bloodline with an heir. What is it, the 1700's? Is that all we're good for?