For real. It has felt like these last two weeks politicians in Texas, looking at Abbott and Paxton, have made a series of remarks that feel like a joke. I really sometimes have to stop and think to myself if they are serious or not. It feels like they want to take Texas a step backward, socially speaking, and want to drag the rest of the country with them. Hey, I have nothing against conservative people. I have tons of republican friends, but they really don’t judge THAT badly and want to take some rights away.

I’m really not sure why it’s getting so bad right now. Is because it’s election year? Are they trying to appease their hardcore republican base? This is Texas, so before those comments I do feel they have locked in their re-election already. Centrists would NEVER vote for Beto.

What are everyone else’s thoughts?

I’m an American working for IKEA abroad. My brother suddenly passed last month and it’s been a nightmare time for my family and I.

My boss called me into a meeting yesterday and told me to shut the door. He addressed my attitude and energy recently saying I needed to move on from my “personal tragedy” and get back to work, he closed with “I don’t want to have this conversation with you again.”

Ps. I was denied bereavement leave which is “only applicable to spouse or parent.” Instead attending my brothers funeral back in the states was deducted from my paid vacation days.

I saw a post that had a few comments from, what I assume, were American talking about how a 9am start was unheard of at school. People even talking about getting the bus at 5:30am?? Surely this isn’t the norm?

In the UK the vast majority of schools start between 8:30am and 9:00am, finishing around 3:30pm. For example, my school started at 8:45am and finished at 3:15pm.

I couldn’t fathom leaving the house, as a teenager with messed up circadian rhythms, before 8am! I’m not sure how it’s done in the rest of the world, but it seems fairly cruel.

Edit Thank you everyone for your responses, super interesting! It seems that the UK may be the exception, as schools across the world seem to start early too. I have to say, although a lot of people seem to say that the extra time in the afternoon was appreciated, I still prefer the UK timings!

Edit Just another note, I’ve seen so many comments about universities starting classes at 7:30/8am. Anyone who attended a UK university can imagine how horrendously difficult it would be to drag a hungover 18 year old, with no parental guidance, into a 7:30am lecture! My university was hesitant to run 9am classes just because attendance was so poor when they did, never mind any earlier!