For the big holidays, my grandma’s signature most beloved dish is her homemade noodles. Everyone loves them and they are an absolute staple. We are driving to our uncle’s house for Thanksgiving.
Me: Honestly I could not give a shit about any of the Thanksgiving food, all I really want is the noodles.
Mom: Do you wanna hear what I just learned last week about her noodles?
Sister: Please tell me you finally learned the recipe.
Mom: No, I know the recipe already but I don’t have the right tools to make it which is why mine are always a little thicker/lumpier. However, I could have been buying them from the store the whole time.
Me: Wait they’re not homemade?
Mom: Yes and no. Mostly yes but she admitted last week when we were shopping she was gonna be lazy and just buy the noodles at the store. She’s been hiding it for years that they’re not always homemade.
Later at dinner we spilled the beans to our cousins and they were equally as shocked. At the exact moment we could hear my cousins’ aunt tell her sons how much love and hard work went into the noodles and one day she needs to get the recipe.

*I recently bought tickets to go to my cousin’s high school graduation. Prices have been insane lately and honestly I should have bought them about 6 weeks earlier than I did (I bought them about 6 weeks out as it was) because they were dirt cheap–think $550 for first class and $200ish for their non-refundable basic seating–at that time but I waited because all the sites swore they were going to go lower. They did not drop at all, they actually went up about $500, so I ended up purchasing when I did because I couldn’t risk them getting higher. About a week after I bought them, I got an alert that they’d dropped over $200 (I’d been following the prices and had forgotten to stop following). They were pretty expensive as it was, so I thought I’d call and see if anything could happen (I wasn’t expecting anything but it never hurts to ask and honestly even getting the difference back would have helped). So I called their support line and finally get through to a rep.*

Rep: Can I please have your name and reservation number?

Me: It’s [name] and [reservation number].

Rep: Thank you. So it looks like this is a flight to Texas on [dates]?

Me: That’s correct.

Rep: Wonderful, how can I help?

Me: Well, I bought these tickets when I did because it seemed like your prices were going nowhere but up. But I got an alert this morning that the prices had dropped $200 and I’m wondering if anything can be done? Like a credit or refund for the difference, an upgrade or something?

Rep: Well let me look. *She goes quiet and I can hear a keyboard in the background* Well it doesn’t look like there’s anything I can do. This flight isn’t even available any longer.

Me: Um, what does that mean? I’m looking at the flight right now on the website and there’s still several seats available. It looks like it’s only at like 75% capacity.

Rep: Well the flight’s no longer available.

Me: But what does that mean? *Really, I’m just trying to figure out what she’s talking about because there are clearly seats available. I was worried that meant there’d been some change to my flight that I hadn’t been notified about.*

Rep: The flight’s no longer available. And I’ll admit that prices can change rapidly. I was assisting a customer earlier and one of her flights went up $20 while we were trying to check out. We have no control over the prices.

Me: *thinking: well you might not have control, but your company does* I understand that prices change, but your website was mentioning that prices might drop which is why I waited as long as I did but then ended up purchasing when I did, because they actually weren’t dropping. And I’m still confused on the flight no longer being available. Does that mean that my flight’s been changed?

Rep: It’s no longer available.

Me: *Realizing that I’m getting nowhere anymore.* Thank you for your time.

Rep: Have a safe flight and thank you for calling!

*Thankfully there were no changes to my flight and I got in on time. I kept an eye on tickets and they ended up going back up and by the time of my trip they were about $400 more than what I’d paid. But, I’d still love to know what she meant by “the flight is no longer available”. Was it supposed to be that they had no more upgrades? No more seats to give out because they were all held by third party sites? What was the meaning of those words in this context?*

(I’m about to leave my job, I work outdoors in a truck picking up garbage from parks. My coworker likes to talk on the phone with his baby mama for all eight hours. Well, by talk I mean scream at her. It’s very dramatic and I feel uncomfortable. He apologizes to me, but continues to scream while driving. One day, he’s arguing back and forth with her, and instead of taking eight hours we take ten hours, and when arrive at the landfill, it is closed. My coworker is forced to admit it to the supervisor, who gives h a chewing out for not managing his time better. Which I think he deserves because work is for work, not personal business. Later, though I learn that my coworker has been telling everyone that I was the reason, that I was just sitting around! Can’t say I will miss that crazy guy. On the last time that I saw him, he was telling everyone that the end was near and to build a bunker with supplies! Yeah weird. What a nutbag.)

I was exiting an old building, the aisle was narrow and there were two ladies chattering near the entrance. One of them stuck out her elbow just as I was passing, and I unwillingly struck it.
—Be careful, you fatso..! —she muttered.
That afternoon, I was pushing my cart thru the parking lot and saw her trying to reverse her car, but it was slightly stuck against a shade pole. I hurried to stop her from doing it, cause she was going to scratch the mudguard’s surface. With a couple directions, she backed the car cleanly, and was going to thank me, when she suddenly stopped and opened her eyes very wide. I smiled as I nodded silently. She didn’t know what to say, so I told her:
—Look, no problem. I have said worse things than that many times. No big deal…
She laughed and waved me goodbye as she drove away.

When I was an infant/toddler, people thought I was Chinese or Italian, due to my features and dark hair. I am Inuk, and my husband is White. Our son looks like a pale-skinned Native, with blondish dark hair.
This evening (Early September 2022), at the end of Son’s shift at the amusement park at which he works, he and his shift-mates were rushing to the tram that takes them to the employee gate. Son was lagging behind a little. When they saw the tram was already waiting, Son picked up his pace, and was just booking it.
One of his coworkers laughed, “How’s he running so fast?”
Second Coworker quipped, “Immigrant.” He then tried to justify it by remarking that everyone is an immigrant to the US, “Well, except the Native Americans…”
My son took glee in pointing out that <i>he</i> is Native American.
Second Coworker was agog, “Dude! I thought you were Chinese!”