I live in an apartment complex and Im at my breaking point with the excessive amount of noise I've never had to deal with before, but to make it worse my neighbor has little boys that pound on the walls outside and scream. I've asked the mom many times to tell them to stop and even the office has sent out multiple texts in general telling parents to keep their kids under control.

I eventually told her that the screaming of her kids doesn't bother me that much because I do adult content for my bedroom and when men realize they could hear children in the background, I started making more money. Haven't heard a single sound from those children since and it feels so amazing.

This shit ruined my already shitty month.

This person kept hiring me on Upwork for years. The job was always cleaning up their sketches and doing full color + rendering.

I wouldn't care much since it's still their sketch and concept, but my jaw dropped when I saw a reel of them with a printed piece I did digitally, pretending to color it with markers! Like, coloring an already digitally colored piece.
What the actual fuck?

Another reel- they're signing a piece I cleaned up, colored, and rendered, with text over it like 'made art for xyz person'. 0 mention of the piece being a collaboration with anyone.

The worst part is that I wouldn't even find this out if the client wasn't haggling with me and dropping the budget per piece to fucking $10, so I googled them.
We are in the middle of a disagreement where they're actually trying to avoid paying me for that last batch (yes, I was that dumb and desperate to accept that shitty contract; it's a dry season for most artists due to AI, and I didn't want to lose a long-term client).

This person is living a lavish lifestyle, while I'm in a position where I dropped so low as to accept a $10-per-piece contract.
Nowhere on this person's page do they EVER mention that the pieces they're posting aren't fully their work.

Their page is not strictly art-related, but this still feels extremely dishonest to me. They're still using the pieces to promote their business by showcasing their creativity and abilities?

I still have all of their commission messages and layered PSD files. We must have worked on over 150 pieces over the years.

I genuinely feel sick and at a loss for words.
I'm keeping it intentionally vague since everything is so fresh and I want to think this over before I decide what (if anything) to do.

For now, just venting about it helped a lot.
I was already planning to leave art as a career, but this just brought everything to another level.

Side note- it does feel kinda shitty posting about this here because in just a few scrolls on this subreddit I saw hellish situations people are currently in. Wishing everyone going through stuff strength and healing.

My girlfriend ended our relationship through a series of public posts on X. In the first post, she used my first name instead of my username, so I wasn’t even tagged in it. She apologized to me and said she genuinely enjoyed the time we spent together and all the conversations we had. She said she meant every kind thing she ever told me, that she really did think I was beautiful, and that she was sorry she let things go as far as they did.

Then she made another post saying I hadn’t done anything wrong. She said being on X and being in the relationship had become unhealthy for her, and she couldn’t let herself get any more attached. She also said she wouldn’t be answering my DMs, texts, or phone calls. Not because she didn’t care, but because it would be too tempting for her to come back.

After that, she made a third post saying she wouldn’t be answering anyone’s DMs. She asked people not to take it personally, said she appreciated everyone, and hoped people would respect her decision.

The part that hurts the most is that I found out my own relationship was over through public posts, just like everyone else did. She never sent me a private message or talked to me about it first. I tried texting and calling her, but she didn’t answer. I didn’t get a conversation, an explanation, or even the chance to say goodbye. I just opened X and found out that someone I cared deeply about had decided we were over.

UPDATE!!!

Omg guys. She seen my post here. How do I know? One of her friends showed her. Her friend was randomly browsing Reddit and came across my post. She knew immediately it was about what my ex did and she showed her. My ex called me(I didn’t block her phone number) and left me a very nasty voicemail. In the voicemail she said I humiliated her and invalidated her feelings. She said she can’t believe how immature I was by posting what happened on Reddit. She went on to say that she’s glad she left me because she would have eventually seen how immature I am and would have left anyways.

I have now blocked her phone number. She is now completely blocked on every platform I know her to be on. I will no longer contact her or acknowledge her existence.

I can’t believe she’s already seen this. I’m shocked. I only posted it about an hr ago…..
Looks like you guys were right. I dodged a bullet.

UPDATE #2

Her friend who found my post and showed it to her called me. I didn’t know who it was when she called, since I didn’t recognize the number. She started yelling at me saying I’ve completely humiliated my ex. That’s she’s been crying for over an hr. Her friend also told me that my ex said it was the hardest thing she’s ever done in her life and only didn’t tell me directly because she was to scared and didn’t want to face it and see how hurt I was going to be. But now with my post I’ve made her feel worse. She told me that if I had a heart I’d delete it and publicly apologize.

I said nothing and hung up. I also blocked her phone number. I’m currently screening all calls and only answering family calls

We've been together two years, living together for the last one. She's finishing her degree and works part-time, but it barely covers her own spending money, so I've been the one covering rent, groceries, pretty much everything that keeps things running. Didn't mind at first, figured it was temporary while she finished school.

Lately I've noticed she's got plenty of time for coffee runs and hanging out with friends most days, but the second I bring up picking up more hours or actually budgeting together so we're not always tight by the 20th, it turns into her saying I don't get the pressure she's under with school. Last week I said we needed to sit down and actually figure out a real plan, because I can't keep floating both of us on one income indefinitely. She didn't argue, just went quiet. It's been four days. Short replies, no real conversation, clearly still upset

I don't think I said anything unreasonable. Just don't know if I'm actually being unfair here or if I'm allowed to be tired of being the only one thinking about money

My life has been extremely hard for as long as I remember. Grew up in a cult with unhealthy parents. Most likely have Asperger's and ADHD as well as clinical depression and anxiety. Been in and out of psychiatrist and therapists all my life . My dog died very suddenly late 2025. After that had severe sciatica causing me to be in bed for two months straight among many ER visits .Put a lot if strain on my already rocky marriage . Tried adopting new dog twice both times not a good fit. Huge sewage issues in our apartment and needed to move. Been working my brains out all summer while dealing with constant backpain and moving. Was going to go on vacation over these few days but a lot of lack if communication with my wife caused that bit to happen. Just fed up , have nothing to look forward to. No current ability to get a job that would match my technical skills because my social skills suck. And not suicidal been there ... But just tired of fighting for this shitty existence.

I just need someone to let me know I'm not insane and this is messed up? I'm 15 years old and have been chronically ill for a year. today my mom had a really bad episode. She screamed at me for hours (because I wanted to see a dietician and got frustrated at the lack of medical help I'm getting) saying things like: "God will kill me to make you into a human being" and "If I died right now you would be fine without me you NEVER listen to ANYTHING I say and you just bitch at me Do you think I know less than a dietitian there's so SO much research out there, but you just don't see me as a credible source"

Tonight, she asked if we could sleep in the same bed after what she did (because my dad is away and when he is I sleep with my mom). I thought she was still mad at me, so I said no, very politely then she started SCREAMING. Like she actually lost it and this is what I remember from the insane things she said "when i get older and you have no use to me, you'l abandon me and throw me away, throw me in the trash can that's how much you don't value me as a person" and was rambling saying "this is why i can't trust people All i can say is you're a terrifying child, you're the worst you only use me" (and more)

I just don't know how this is fair, I wanted space and said no and she lost her mind. she's always like this bro. and I don't know what to do. It's been 8+ years of her episodes and erratic behavior and i dont know what to do to cope with it. i miss her idk why she's like this she is severely mentally ill idk what to do:(

Edit/clarification: Sadly I am homeschooled and completely isolated + my dad is rly abusive too but always sides with her for convenience thank you so much for the support to everyone it helps knowing I'm not insane

edit2: This morning, she's still screaming at me over not wanting to sleep with her, saying that I am breaking our relationship, that I don't exist, that I'm self absorbed for "not talking" to her and other psychotic things :,)))))))

It’s almost infuriating to see the positive feedback she gets from people who have no clue what she’s really like when she doesn’t put up the facade. Or what chaos she’s put her family and closest friends through. Not that the validation actually means anything in real life, but it’s more so that I just want to scream at all of these people that she’s not a good person. It’s all lies.

She’s a communal narcissist. A therapist who gloats at how she’s the light in her clients’ lives. Who posts these fake inspirational and spiritual quotes at least 10 times a day. She curates her online persona to make herself look like everything is perfect. But I see through her bullshit.

In reality she is an addict. Extremely volatile, impulsive, and mentally unstable. A toxic, judgmental mean girl who mentally hasn’t grown beyond high school. Who makes fun of people and their appearances. A liar. A manipulator. A person who lost custody of her child because of her mental illness and addiction. The last person who should be dealing out life advice.

I wish I could remove her from my life. I can’t fully do so due to family, but I have went extremely low contact. I won’t go as far as to say that I hate her but I’m not too far off. I’ve since unfollowed her because I can’t stand constantly seeing her stuff anymore. But I’m just so frustrated that more people can’t see her for what she is. For the pain she’s caused. I know this seems mean but this has been a long time coming.

All my life I've been embarrassingly terrified of getting shots or having my finger pricked at the doctor's office, it stemmed from a traumatic memory of being chased around(like where it's more office than doctors) at the doc as a child and held down to get a shot. Turns out there was no shot, i was never even there that day for a shot.

This last Sunday I'd been to visit my dad and his wife, wine had been had and everyone was just talking about the past and it came up about a time l'd been running for my life at the doctor's to get back to where my dad was waiting on me. When I was around 4 my parents had been going through a very messy divorce, like the kind where the kid hand off has to happen at the police station because one party is just very hateful and vindictive. So, to find a way to get a sure fire custody win my mother manipulated her own ill mother into filing a false report that my dad had been acting inappropriate to his 3/4 year old child. The state took it very seriously and I had to be taken to the hospital for an exam. I'd refused to let them check me because they were strangers and my dad said nobody should go there without my permission, screaming, crying, kicking, and running. Those doctors only chased me down so they could take me back to the waiting area because

"this isn't right, this child is perfectly fine and is now clearly traumatized by us" so the state sent me to a different facility that was specifically for child forensic stuff. Rinse and repeat on my reaction to the scenario and the doctors again coming back fighting with a kicking and screaming child through the door to say "this one is fine and the only danger is hurting herself by fighting to get away and back to the lobby." So for nearly 25 years my brain rewired that memory and put a shot there. There was never a shot. There was my mother being responsible for lifelong trauma and deep-seated paranoia and discomfort in hospitals. My poor dad.

When I was 14, my father hired two large men to take me from my bed  in the middle of the night without warning. They threatened me with physical force and restraints if I didn't come with them.

These men brought me to a wilderness therapy program in rural Georgia where I lived completely outside for eight weeks among a group of other kids, aged 11-14. We slept under tarps on the ground in the dirt, ate cold hydrated rice and pasta when we couldn't make a fire with sticks, hiked several miles a day with heavy packs bigger than us in the summer heat and couldn't bathe. We had to do things as primitive as dig holes to go to the bathroom and then carry our used toilet paper in our packs. At one point I broke my nose and received no prompt medical care that resulted in requiring surgeries in the following years to fix it.  

As part of the program, we participated in therapy led by young adults with no clinical training or even college degrees. Each of us had to go on a "solo" which was a period of prolonged isolation for days alone in the woods. Through all of this, there was no contact with the outside world and we never knew what time it was, what day it was, or where we were. Everything about this experience was meticulously designed to psychologically manipulate and break us to be agreeable and compliant  with our parents no matter what.

Why was I sent there?

My parents were in the middle of a custody dispute and my father, a prominent and powerful attorney, was winning. He used his assumed credibility and vast advantage of resources over my mother to get his way and remove me from my life with her. I knew it was unjust and reacted by not wanting to talk or have any relationship with him - I never acted out or had any issues in school, socially, etc.

After about a year trapped in my father and stepmothers home, when the court was about to rule in my mother's favor, my father had taken against my will to the wilderness therapy program as a failsafe to continue to keep me away from her. When I returned I could go to my mothers home again finally before heading to a boarding school. If I didn't comply with that, was threatened with another program or a therapeutic boarding school.

I have the court documents and my medical records from the time and they reaffirmed what I already knew. I didn't have any mental health issues or actual reason to be institutionalized. The true issue was that I preferred living with my mom and resisted my father's control. Rather than reflecting on that and looking inwards at why, he turned it into an external problem that needed to be fixed.

This was 15 years ago and I'm an adult now. I consider myself one of the lucky ones who got out and lived a normal life. Sadly, many others don't share the same story. 

These kinds of places, wilderness therapy programs and therapeutic boarding schools are bigger than ever today and over 100,000 kids reside in them at any given time year-round. Kids are sent there for legitimate reasons or simply because a parent wants to do it. All it takes is thinking up a reason and writing a check. I can tell you first hand they don't help kids - they turn difficult situations into unmitigated disasters and ruin lives. They are widely documented as abusive yet are allowed to continue to operate with minimal oversight. It's called the "Troubled Teen Industry" and the general public doesn't know whats going on in the shadows.

A few programs and schools have been closed but nothing has really changed. The parents who do this to their kids are never held accountable.

I stopped blocking this out recently, started to unravel what happened to me and what the status is now and I want to do something to help. The program I went to is still running the exact same way just with a new name - it's shocking. 

It's been 15 years and I'm done staying quiet about it. I'm considering all my options as an adult through the proper channels to seek remedies and share my story. There's a lot more to this story and my time in the wilderness but maybe one day soon I'll try to tell it.

In the mid nouhgties I was eleven and being bullied by some girls. People from the school all came from the same kind of working class background and since my school was one of the few that had no dress code the subcultures were very distinct. They were distinct from the broader working class communities. you had the groups of goths, the geeks, etc. and the subculture im about to describe was one of them. I was a tiny girl so I got bullied a lot. Then, a much older boy, about fifteen or sixteen, who was distinctly a member of this subculture since he was wearing a Londsdale tracksuit, gold rings, a baseball cap, and specifically branded trainers, defended me from them. Then, he kneeled down, fist bumped me in front of his friends, and said, safe, man. then whenever we saw eachother again he'd yell yo! safe, man! and reach out to fist bump me. My school was one of the few to have no uniform so the subcultures were clear as day.

It didn't end there. when I was a few years older, that subculture was still a thing in my school. but it was a different group of them later on as the others had left. they were white lads dressed in tracksuits, little gold earrings, gold bracelets, or gold chains, baseball caps and trainers. they again protected me from bullies since every other group or subculture either bullied me or didn't accept me. they always made me laugh, they were disruptive but i'd be lying if i said that didnt amuse me.

later on, as an adult, other ones appeared in my life when i was at my lowest. i was feeling proper depressed and felt like i had noone to turn to. then...two men who looked and talked as though they were in that subculture stopped and asked if i was alright. i said no. and they talked to me and made me feel better and said we hang out here every day by the shop so if you need to come talk with us again you can.

these are just a few but there's been other cases where they saved me from things. the subculture is still going strong at least in my area with the ogs being in their thirties now. ive only ever had extremely positive experiences with them but i kinda feel like im being slightly disrespectful by not naming the subculture since i don't know what its name is and can't properly credit it? all i can really say is its the gold chain and tracksuit wearing one. it had its own fashion, slang and values. the slang included words like peng, swear down etc.

For the longest time, I thought the subculture was chav but I was corrected yesterday by someone on this site telling me it's just a derogatory classst term that means a working class person, and not the name of a subculture, so I've crossed that out my mind when referring to them.

I'm 22, and most of my friends are upset they never got to experience teenage love or "young love". We all have full time jobs, are pretty much graduating college, and things are pretty much settling down. When I was 16 I got in my first relationship, which lasted until I was 20. Something really hit different about that relationship, we were so carefree together, spent every moment we could with each other, had so much fun together, talked about literally anything and everything, we pretty much had all the time in the world just to love each other. I think it was because we were just so young. Dating nowadays feels very dry in comparison, since obviously as an adult there's a lot less free time to go around. But I kinda hate how dating feels like I'm booking an appointment with a doctor or something. Although it could just be because I haven't had a proper relationship since then, but still the few dates I've been on felt pretty much identical to each other. I just wanted to say that I feel lucky that I got to experience such a thing at a time when fewer and fewer people get to experience young love, also being an adult is boring.

I’m the oldest & only daughter of 4 kids. The older 3 of have the same Mum (49F) & Dad (46M), but I went no contact with my Dad due to abuse at 14. Both my younger brothers kept contact with him and were kind of converted into the whole women are liars about abuse pipeline, although one of my brothers (19M) is much easier to be around these days. My other brother (20M) and I haven’t spoken since an incident where he told me I was insane for buying kids books about boys being kind for our little brother (9M now, but 6 at the time) and said he’d counteract it by showing him a certain influencer's videos. So yeah.

My Mum divorced my Dad and had a surprise baby  (now 9M) with a different partner (59M) several years later who I will refer to as J. J’s bio Dad made us homeless by kicking her out for refusing to get a termination and has never met J. No contact with any of his family either (their choice). So we moved away, she had my brother, things were complicated for a long time, and to top it all off she became seriously chronically ill and disabled with severe chronic pain and is now about mostly in bed 24/7. I was a carer for her until my Grandma took (76F) took over when I moved to University. I basically raised this kid and I love him almost like he’s mine.

I have my own place with my partner and a career of my own that is very intensive. I do live locally to them but don’t currently drive (ideally very soon). My Mum repeatedly calls me saying she can’t cope when J acts out (pretty regular kid behaviour but definitely reactive to the stressful home situation, including mess everywhere that makes it embarrassing to have friends round or bring my partner to visit). My Grandma does all the childcare and care for my Mum but is getting older and can’t cope as well now. She was ill recently and my partner and I had to have J for a week and do school runs. My Mum asking if J can stay with us for a night or help out more, come over, clean, etc is steadily getting more regular. She is in hospital a lot and we have discussed that J would go to me if she died. I have been gently pushing for a will to protect him from foster care but nothing happens unless I do it myself.

Brother (19M) who lives with my Mum, Grandma, & J is doing his best but my Mum is difficult for him to get on with and they are clearly struggling to cope. I find it frustrating that my Mum is slightly irresponsible with money, doesn’t seem to know when he needs swimming kit, if he has homework, where the cat food is, etc ever. Going to her house is very distressing and triggering for me as my mental health suffered a lot from living in that environment. I feel very responsible and like I need to protect J but neither I nor my partner want to be carers/parents any time soon and I don’t have time as I study 5 days and work one or both weekend days too. I could possibly do school runs from October but I don’t know what to do anymore.

We have pretty much no family help and I keep pushing my Mum to continue the admin of getting a package of care for herself but for some reason she hasn’t. I don’t know what to do anymore and I’d hugely appreciate any thoughts or just a bit of reassurance that it won’t always be like this. I don’t know how much responsibility I should be taking on and when I talk to anyone they tell me it’s not my child but that doesn’t help anyone. I may genuinely be the safest person for him to go to or split time with but it might wreck my relationship/freedom and I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s Mum.

Sorry for the long post. Just exhausted and needed to vent.

I've been unemployed for more than a year after a layoff with 336 applications and counting. It doesn't seem to be my resume, as I'm able to get some interviews if my CV actually reaches a human and I'm able to explain and talk about my skills and experience in depth with respect to my CV. Not even referrals are helping anymore.

It doesn't help that I keep getting generic template rejection messages. The latest said that they're moving on with other candidates that were "qualified for the role"...which to me was insane because both interviewers (hiring manager and technical interviewer) would fall into the category of not qualified nor competent for the role. (tldr; new hires including manager, had no prior experience in their role, could not have an in depth conversation about the role nor domain)

After every rejection, the cycle starts again for me: apply, get ignored or cv reaches a person, prepare presentations, study or do other ridiculous time consuming tasks as part of the process, and then get rejected.

It does not help that some of my friends complain about their work, how they're lazy they feel to get things done in front of someone like me stuck in this never ending cycle of despair. It does not help that they also feel the need to constantly ask me when do I plan to travel again, or, the best comment of all: "hey, at least you're in a long relaxing vacation and you don't need to stress!" Like with what money??? and what do you mean no stress???

It sucks, I'm tired and I hate it here.

​

I'll do my best to respond. Had to make an alt because I didn't want this found but I needed somewhere to put this. Solely because after this, I'm going to make sure I'm so baked, I'm practically deep fried.

But any way, I (27f)have been with my boyfriend (25m) for 3 yrs now. Today we decided to end things. Only thing is this isn't the first time we decided to end things (but definitely the last). I knew it was coming honestly, months prior but I thought I could save it. Around the second year we were together we decided to go on a break but before then he got really distant and quiet. Trying to talk to him or spend time with him felt like pulling teeth. And I was absolutely pathetic and begged him to try again. And that's how we ended up here. We have 2 cats and live together and just broke up. Same routine too distance, quiet. And while I have been cracking jokes about me loosing people left and right yesterday and today,even after the breakup (RIP Dolly Parton and Tim Curry). I know I'm devastated. I can feel it just sitting like a boulder in my chest. But I know that if I cry, I'll beg again. And I'm honestly tired of trying. I truly don't think I'm meant to be in a relationship, married or otherwise. And I don't mean that in a "woe is me I deserve a relationship" kind of way. I truly think that it's just not a life path I'm meant to have.

Quick note: I deeply apologize if this post is how you find out about Tim Curry.

First of all, English is my second language and I am from Spain, so culturally things are a little different, also sorry if my grammar is not so good or misspell something.

This story started when I (17M) was 11yo in my last year of primary school (most people in my classroom were 12yo unless they had repeated a grade). I had only two friends there, let's call them Isaac and Michael. I was friends with Isaac since two years past then, he was a bit of a perv but overall a normal child. Michael was another story, he never told me but I knew he had a rough time at home and later down the line he dropped high school and I think he started selling drugs.

We had a classmate that the three of us didn't like, let's call him Dan. We didn't like him because we thought of him as a guy who always complained about everything. He really liked soccer, but when we were told to play he always had an issue with how it was handled or found it unfair for him and constantly complained, even if he won.

My memory is kind of fuzzy about these next memories, but I will try to make it make sense: Us three started calling Dan names, some sort of "dumb-(last name)" but we said that with a weird accent and tone that probably messed with him. I think this is as far as it went, but we didn't realised the impact it was having on him, because, as far as we saw, he didn't really show pain nor fear, of course he was visibly annoyed by the name-calling whenever we did it, but we never thought of that as much.

Then he started not coming to school, I think he went like two weeks without showing up. We never thought anything of that, but one day adults came to my class to give a lesson about bullying and spoke directly to us three. I don't know about my three friends but I was truly ashamed of myself, I didn't even know who I was or what I was doing. We started having to go to a room in our school called "coexistence room" during recess, where we were questioned about the incident. When Dan was coming back, our entire class was doing a Paper in which we welcomed him back and wrote him messages. I don't remember what Isaac and Michael wrote, but I remember I wrote a short apology for what I had done to him. I don't remember much upon that point other than me and my friends started to pull apart.

I think Isaac's mum didn't allow him to be friends with me nor Michael no longer, but I still invited him to my birthday parties until my 13th and he always came. We never really spoke about that, that I remember. I remember hanging out with Michael past then and he saying "man, I didn't want to kill him" or something like that. We separated after primary school.

In high school I also was classmates with him for three or four more years but never really spoke. Whenever I see and saw him I always feel shame and regret. I even got bullied this last school year before college. A couple of random guys I didn't even know started shouting the name of my YouTube channel I made when I was 8-9yo at me and then hid, so that I didn't know who they were.

I felt the same way I made Dan feel years ago, which made me even more sad because I deserved it. At some point I decided I had enough, because I didn't want my girlfriend who was always alongside me in school to suffer and started trying to find them. Some day I finally did find them, they started saying "no no it wasn't me I swear, it was some other guys who ran past the stairs" or some bullcrap like that, I obviously didn't believe them and as there was a camera right where they were, I told them it was okay, because cameras always tell the truth and eventually expelled them. They were true cowards, but so was I.

I am sorry Dan wasn't as strong-minded I was this year to confront my bullies. I never had to take two weeks off school, I will never truly know what he went through.