good evening !bookworms! so The Idiot and Culture of Narcissism were tied, and I have decided that we will follow @neoconshill's protocol and read The Idiot first, and Lasch will be the book we read next unless y'all complain about it, in which case we will not lolz. I am excited and I hope you are too!

tentative chapter breakdown!

so this book has four parts. we will do our best to get through one part per week, which might be a little intense so we can play that by ear. i'm a little concerned for those of us non-NEETs, so we may need to persevere and extend bookclub may through to june, as this is probably going to be a LOT of material considering we're dealing w/ russian lit i am stupid for nominating this book, i never said i was bright. for now, this is how we will break this down:

Week 1: read Part 1 (Ch 1-16): read 2ish ch/day if you can, if not that's fine lol

Week 2: read Part 2 (Ch 1-12): read 2ish ch/day

Week 3: read Part 3 (Ch 1-10): read 2ish ch/day

Week 4: read Part 4 (Ch 1-12): read 2ish ch/day

i am mildly concerned that those of us who are not !verifiedhot will have a tough time w/ this schedule so I will leave it up to y'all to dive in and decide if this schedule/book works. this is a club and i am not your mother. vote/complain/discuss below. i lowkey would be fine w/ reading Atomised or one of the Mishima books instead, but that's your call. have a great night/day, sorry this is lazy i'm high i love you

A flower lady's daughter

As sweet as holy water

Said: "I'm a school reporter

Please teach me," mmm, I taught her

Two-fingered Levi'd sister

Said, "Peace," I stopped I kissed her

Said, "I'm a male resister,"

I smiled and just unzipped her

High-diving Chinese trender

Black hair and black suspender

Said, "Please, me no surrender

Just love to feel your Fender."

All of you know that the girls of the road

Are like apples we stole in our youth

All of you know that the girls of the road

Been around and are versed in the truth

Stone-headed Frisco spacer

Ate all the meat I gave her

Said would I like to taste hers

And even craved the flavour

Like marron-glacéed fish bones

"Oh lady hit the road!"

All of you know that the girls of the road

Are like apples we stole in our youth

All of you know that the girls of the road

Been around and are versed in the truth

It's funny that the psych response to BPD's in our hospital who threaten to kill themselves is "do it you won't" and they are right every time

This is a "Harry Potter" castle?

It's funny - i can tell many of y'all have never worked in retail and it shows - i wish everyone was forced to have a general public customer service job, it would humble the shit out of you.

So if it sucks so much why don't these people leave retail?

“you're homeless? just like…buy a house bro”

Could you explain why they are unable to move on from the job they hate? The only reason they would be unable to is if they are lazy or stupid.

Edit once again nobody here has two braincells to explain why these retail workers are precious and helpless little snowflakes who can't possibly get a different job.

This specific store has serious management issues. It is way worse than other Apple stores.

Apple needs to look into the management here.

People don't quit jobs they quit managers. I know someone that went from $120k a year to $60k a year because of hating a manager.

I opened that store in Maryland. I worked in the smaller one they had before that one opened and was there on the first day. I quit in May 2013 to ultimately start my own business but I can say that there were good managers and bad managers. The general manager was never around and had no idea what was going on and wanted me to rat on the lazy workers when I did my “anonymous” exit interview which went straight to his inbox. I made less than $40K working full time and that was after receiving a cost of living wage bump. The benefits were good with steep discounts on products and stock purchasing options. But management would constantly implement new strategies for the workflow of the room and how you handled support appointments, where people were positioned and the software we used to “check in” customers. They never gave it long enough to sink in before trying a new strategy. They were always busy and if someone called out I might find myself going 4 hours straight assisting people with tech issues before getting a bathroom break. We used to drink on our breaks just to ease the stress. But in the end you were a glorified customer service rep. From crazy customers on a daily basis being mad that they didn't backup their info or iCloud was full to constantly standing there as city kids walked through the store stealing phones and getting away with it. To the inability of Apple to be willing to promote the right people within the store. I'm so glad I left and never looked back. They deserve so much more. That store covers all of Baltimore City and County. There isn't another option even remotely close. They all should get a raise.

I worked in Apple retail for 7 years, and while there is a lot to dislike about the job, it's easily one of the best retail jobs you can get. Stupidly excellent health insurance, stock discounts, 401k matching, RSUs, education contributions…I challenge anyone to find those same benefits at a job where you walk by a fricking Auntie Anne's Pretzel shop every day.

Yes, the job is draining, the corporate kool aid is eye rolling, the customers irritating…but to suggest these things constitute “poor working conditions” is patently absurd.

I worked at this specific store for five years and I can completely understand their points. It was common that I would end up working 14+ days straight there due to shitty scheduling, often being there until 10:30 or 11 at night before having to be back there at 7 am the following morning for repairs. The store has been notorious for chewing employees up and spitting them out. It's entirely natural that the workers there would fight for change and would want a seat at the table — and after over a year of Apple negotiating in bad faith, the union has to utilize the tools at its disposal to achieve its goals.

Workers of any industry fighting for their rights in an era where ownership is further and further consolidating amongst an unaccountable class of the hyper rich is good for all of us.

And just because Apple retail is “better” than other retail jobs, like what do employees just go ok well we shouldn't complain then. Let Tim Apple and his $$$ executives treat us however

Fricking 🥾👅

These people wouldn't support the fricking weekend if we were discussing working conditions in the 1880s.

Ya, sounds like you and them should quit if it is that bad.

Every worker should have a union. We should be supportive of employees realizing they hold power over a trillion dollar company.

I wasn't surprised that the essence of the top comment here was, “they should be grateful”

Oh give me a break. It's a cushy retail job, it's not like they're tarring a roof in August or pulling a double at a hospital.

Instead of complaining because they have it good and others dont, help the roofers and nurses instead as well. Help them get unions and better conditions. We should be working towards making it better for everyone, not dragging people down to the worst industry imaginable.

These mfs have never done hard labor in their life.

Unions aren't just for hard labor jobs?

what exactly are their working conditions and what exactly are their demands? lay it all out as precisely as possible and I'll personally tell you who I think is right

From the article:

“The issues at the forefront of this action include concerns over work-life balance, unpredictable scheduling practices disrupting personal lives, and wages failing to align with the area's cost of living.

For further context (based on discussions with friends that used to work for Apple retail), Apple uses a scheduling service called Kronos to generate the work schedule. It's intended to distribute hours fairly, accounting for PTO/sick days/etc. However, the schedule it generates is erratic and unpredictable, and you don't get it with much advance notice, making it difficult to schedule things outside of work.”

And before anyone says some nonsense like “sorry you can't hang out with your friends”, this mostly impacts people with college classes, kids (especially those with extra curricular activities), second jobs, and medical appointments that ask for consistency.

Darn sounds just like working on an oil rig or in a sweat shop

So no one should fight for better working conditions because oil rigs and sweatshops exist?

It's an Apple Store. How thought of a job can it really be? Go work construction - those people need a union.

Why can't retail employees have a union, too? Have you ever worked retail? It absolutely sucks.

Family member of mine left construction for Uber because he thought it would be easier, turns out construction was easier. Construction is physically demanding but it's not a difficult job otherwise.

People are so fricking soft these days. World is screwed

“we refuse to bend to the whims of trillion dollar corporations so we're taking a stand!!”

“YOURE SOFT!!”

who are the soft ones here? people fighting for better lives or the ones taking it in the a** by a corporation like a good little worker?

😂 generations fought in wars but you fricking pillow huggers can't get out of moms basement safely enough to work

!neolibs !chuds !anticommunists

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

(Kept in shorthand.)

15 May.—Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without avail—the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere "modernity" cannot kill.

I fricking hate this platform so much

I bought this banana 🍌 boba milk tea and it's amazing

How's your Sunday going r-slurs?

In order to download the full text of private newsletters you need to provide the cookie name and value of your session. The cookie name is either substack.sid or connect.sid, based on your cookie. To get the cookie value you can use the developer tools of your browser. Once you have the cookie name and value, you can pass them to the downloader using the --cookie_name and --cookie_val flags.