Whether or not you work with kids, you've had that moment of "did I just say that?" when talking to children. I get the privilege of working with kids every day and getting plenty of opportunities to say things that just wouldn't be acceptable to say to adults.
*The following are actual things I've said to my campers this summer*
1. No barking.
2. Come back and clean that up.
3. We don't bite people.
4. I've got the tickle monster on speed dial.
5. Stop picking your nose.
6. Don't eat that.
7. Why are you sticky?
8. Let's go slow poke.
9. *child*: "Look it's a finger bracelet!"
*me*: "You mean a ring?"
10. Why are you carrying a cup of dirt?
11. Did you just lick your fingers and then wipe them on me?
12. Where is your shirt?
13. You want to be a hobo when you're older?... At least you're following your dreams.
14. *looking up their nose* No there's no bats in the cave. What about me?
15. Throw this away for me please.. I'll time you.
"So, usually I would never go on a Tinder date but when you are out with girlfriends and a hot Bosnian guy says he wants to hang with you and his friends, you oblige. We head to their apartment and when I realized I may pee my pants if I don't find a bathroom soon. I ask for the bathroom and a friend of my tinder date shows me to it and said in all seriousness that I was not allowed to flush the toilet under ANY circumstances. Having a few drinks--or five--I relieved myself to, nevertheless, flush the toilet. Within seconds, his bathroom was flooded and towels were laid out everywhere to catch the toilet water. To say the least, we were not invited back"
Buckaroo
"In freshman year of college, after a breakup, I decided to get a Tinder. After talking to this guy for a like week, he asked me to come to his rodeo where he was a bronco rider, a couple hours away. After making the distance, I found myself in a small town in Nebraska sitting in some dirty bleachers, thinking, 'Whatever. He could totally still be cool.' Then he walks up to me and in the thickest southern twang I have ever heard, says 'Hey Sweetheart, so glad ya made yer way down!" That is when I decided I would never go on a Tinder date without making a phone call first."
"Wing Woman"
"A couple weeks ago, I went on a Tinder date and brought along my best friend to be my "wing woman." My date decided he wanted my best friend over me so I third wheeled on my own date."
The Overeager Matcher
"I matched with this guy and we talked for a couple of days. Then, without warning, he showed up to my residence hall and told me once he was there. I didn't tell him where I lived. I told him I was out of town at the moment and proceeded to unmatch him."
"The guy bragged about how many beers he could drink when, clearly, he had never had alcohol in his life. Oh, and he was thirty minutes late. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he took me to a Taco Bell drive thru since we missed our dinner reservations, where he spilled his drink all over my dress, blamed ME for being in the way (which I wasn't) and didn't apologize! Needless to say, there was no second date, but he still watches all my snap stories."
Coffin Factory
"I drove half an hour away to meet this boy at 2 am out of boredom and he said he smoked weed so I was like cool. The address he gave me turned out to be a factory on an empty road. I got there and he was like, oh it's my dad's factory and I was sleeping in the office. Then asked if I wanted to go inside. I should mention it was a coffin factory at this point. I never got out of my car."
The Teacher's Assistant
"I was swiping through Tinder and matched with this guy. We talked for a few days and I knew he was a little older than me as his Tinder said 24 and I was 18. He asked if I wanted to get milkshakes and take a break from finals studying and I said yes. I got milkshakes and fries with him so we went back to his place and hooked up. I was telling my friends later and one of them said, wait, was his name Jake*? Apparently, he sounded like her hot interpretations of literature TA. I showed her some pictures and it was the SAME GUY. He was actually 34 with an ex wife and two kids."
I can confidently say that about 90 percent of all the friends I have are male. It's just always been that way since I was a kid. Over the years, I've heard a lot of things and I've learned a lot of things, and here it all is. Enjoy!
If you're a girl with a guy best friend you know that...
They talk to you like you're one of the guys, but you will NEVER EVER be included in "Bro" things
Because even though you were "one of the guys" just moments before, suddenly there is some sort of top secret information that would require some serious breaching of the "bro code" to let you in on, and we can't have that can we.
Even though you've heard the words, "Not you, a real girl" more times than you can count.
Here's just one example of this from my life:
Friend: I wish a girl would wear a dress for me.
Me: I can wear a dress next time we hang out.
Friend: Not you, a REAL girl.
You need to caption almost every picture with a disclaimer that you aren't dating...
However, almost every single comment will still be, "Are you two dating or something?"
But at the same time, you never know whether or not to be offended when they say they'd never date you...
Really, I will never know whether or not I'm offended every time they tell me this, but at the same time I don't want to date them either. You get it.
And your other friends are constantly telling you you were destined to be with each other.
They'll go as far as to write you a list of reasons if you don't believe them. It'll be a long, never ending list. Don't be fooled by this list though. YOU KNOW THE TRUTH.
You'd get all the girls if you were a boy because you walk them through how to get girls almost daily...
I'm not going to lie, I feel like I deserve all the credit for any girl any of my friends have successfully talked to.
That being said, you have an opinion on EVERY girl they show you, and you aren't afraid to share it...
These opinions are usually not good opinions, but it's OK, because it isn't like he's going to listen anyway.
But they have opinions too, and that's why they'll be the first to tell you when a guy isn't treating you right... and then they'll do exactly the same thing to some girl a few days later...
However, they will deny this a million times and they will never admit that it's anything like what said boy did to you.
And if they do happen to have a girl in their lives, she most likely hates you, because you know him better than she ever will...
This doesn't require anything more. It's just true.
But even after all that, you wouldn't trade them for the world.
You guys know who you are.
Share this with your guy best friend to show them how much you love them (:
With being a member of Greek life, you are going to come across people who HATE Greek life and who always want to say something negative towards it. If you're not a part of Greek life, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But maybe try and keep some of the not-so-nice comments to yourself.
1. "You pay for your friends."
If I “pay for my friends”, I sure as hell don’t pay enough. There is no price you can put on the friendships and bonds you form through Greek life.
2. "All you do is party."
Do you think I have time to just party when my schedule is jammed packed with extracurriculars, classes, and work? Think again.
3. "You guys all look the same."
Actually we don’t. We pride ourselves on being diverse, caring more about character rather than physical appearances.
4. "You don't actually care about your Philanthropy."
This one honestly might make me the most annoyed. Philanthropy is actually one of the main reasons some of us wanted to join, to begin with, and our events we host raise a ton of money to give back to those causes.
5. "Bigs and littles are stupid/annoying."
I'm sorry close friendships and happiness irritate you? Maybe focus on yourself some more.
6. "I would never want to be a part of that."
Once again, totally fine if you have no interest in joining Greek life whatsoever. But it's always kind of rude when you have someone reiterating over and over how much they would never ever associate with anything Greek life.
7. "You're wasting your money."
Just like how it's none of my business how you spend your money, it's not any of yours how I am spending mine.
I'm sure, like me, many of you received lots of gift cards over the holidays. After working retail seasonally, here are a few tips that I learned in order to make the employees at your favorite store just a little happier and not want to charge you extra on your purchase for being awful. Here are some times when you should be nicer to retail workers than you actually are!
1. When they go out of their way to help you.
Believe it or not, retail workers have more to do than just help customers. They have to fold tables, scan things into inventory, clean up sections, make sure everything is in the right place in the store, manage returns...you get the picture. So be grateful when an employee asks you if you need help finding anything, and reallybe grateful if they actually help you find it!
2. When they are cleaning up a section of the store.
Yes, they know the store is a mess. Yes, they are trying to work on it. No, they don't want you to complain about it. It's a never-ending job, and they are doing their best!
3. When they deal with your children being heathens.
There is nothing more irritating than screaming children tearing up and down aisles and knocking things off of shelves and racks, so please, be grateful that retail workers don't lose their minds over it, and don't complain to them that the store is a mess!
4. When they listen intently to your coupon problems.
Sorry, but I don't particularly care much if your Great Aunt Mary gave you that coupon and it's expired because your brother Charlie had a doctor's appointment and your kid Michelle had a soccer game so you couldn't make it to the store to go shopping in time. I can't do anything about it, I'm sorry about that.
5. When they ask you about opening a credit card or rewards card.
They know, not everyone wants one. It's OK. But they have to ask. You don't have to be mean about it! A simple "no, thank you" works just fine.
6. When you have to wait to get an item number or to talk to a manager.
Yes, I know you're irritated about it, but I can't help it if a tag was torn off of something and you have to wait a hot minute for someone to leave what they are doing, most likely walk across the store in search of your item, and then actually find it and bring it to me to scan. And I can't help that our register system has certain restrictions that only managers can access for what you want me to do (like take your expired coupons!).
All in all, I know some things about shopping are frustrating, but please remember, we understand too, and we have been on the other side of it. So I leave you with this lovely quote to remember the next time you are shopping:
"Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind." — Henry James
I'm the Short Friend. I've been the Short Friend since about the seventh grade. I'm the one who stands in the front of the photos, gets made fun of for their height, and still shops in the kids department.
This article is not for the Almost Short Friends, i.e. the 5'3" and 5'4" Friends. No no, this is for the Actually Short Friends, i.e. the Barely Scraping 5'1" and shorter Short Friends.
1. Not wearing makeup is like stepping in a time machine
Overslept and didn't get a chance to put on makeup? Or just didn't feel like it? Or, you're not wearing makeup and you're wearing a plain shorts and t-shirt combo?
Yeah, good luck passing for your age.
The only time I was ever carded when ordering alcohol in Spain, where the legal drinking age is 18, and I am a 20 year old 5' gal, was when I filled in my eyebrows, wore a baseball cap, a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. The waitress asked for my ID and I was almost offended, because no one is carded in Spain unless they look like they're teetering the line of 15 or 16. I get it, I'm short, but I had bought alcohol at the grocery store in less makeup and no one batted an eye.
However, getting carded until you're 30-something is a common practice in the US, so I can't say this example applies to everyone ordering alcohol, but some people will question whether you're old enough to drive or work if you have a bare face.
2. "Wow, how tall are you?!"
I don't understand this. I don't walk up to girls with big boobs and ask them for their bra size, nor do I walk up to guys with small feet and ask what size shoes they wear. Again, I get it, I'm short, but it's not that big of a deal to me, so it shouldn't be a big deal to you. Chances are, you're taller than me, so why do you really need to know my exact height?
3. You don't realize how much you're craning your neck until you talk to someone as short as you.
Seriously, you get so used to looking up at people! And then you meet a fellow Short Friend or a 12 year old and think, "Wow, this is how average height people live."
4. Hugging your friends is just asking for a face full of boob for you and makeup on their shirt for them. Awkward.
I wind up being face-to-chest with most of my friends, so hugging them ends up with either me going for the side hug or trying to climb them like they're a tree so I don't have to smush my face into their boobs and/or get my makeup all over their shirt. Does anyone else think about this?! It's just an awkward scenario, in my opinion, but it's why I almost always try to be the one wrapping my arms around the other person's neck when I go in for a hug--that way they have to bend down so my head can look over their shoulder.
Life hack, yo.
5. You face retail discrimination
Jeans are sold at most places in four lengths. Short, regular, long, and extra long.
Yes, tall girls often struggle to find clothes/pants long enough for their legs, and I get that, and understand why extra long lengths are a thing and should be a thing. But why doesn't anyone sell extra short, huh?
Now, you non-Short Friends reading this might just think, "Can't you just cuff/hem your pants?" I'm glad you asked. Not all pants can be cuffed and not all pants need to be cuffed and sometimes you just don't want to have to cuff/hem EVERY SINGLE PAIR OF PANTS YOU OWN!?
And, you're also probably thinking, "What's an extra inch of fabric really doing for you? It's not that big of a deal!"
HA!
Wrong!
Those short jeans you see in the stores? You know them? Yeah?
Well, they're usually about 4-5" too long for my little legs, still. And no, that's not because I'm buying, for example, a size 12 short, which in theory would have a fairly long inseam due to the larger waist size. Nope. I wear a 0 or a 2, which is generally the smallest size in length and waist. If that small size is still too long for me, imagine what a bigger Short Friend deals with when they buy jeans! It's madness, I tell you! Madness!
Short girls also have the option of buying clothes from the petite section, yet most stores that even have a petite section only cater to elderly petite women. Short consumers aren't all elderly! C'mon, man! I want cute clothes that fit!