humanity

The real lives of businessmen, professionals, the everyday man, stay at home parent, healthy lifestyle influencers, and general feel good human stories.

Never Kill The Dog
*Warning: This article is about trigger warnings vs spoiler prevention in literary works. It contains spoilers for my recently published novel.
By Kathryn Susanne Sterling5 years ago in Journal
New Initiative Launched To Help Taxi Drivers Report Hate Crime
In the year ending March 2020, there were 105,090 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, excluding Greater Manchester police, an increase of 8 per cent compared with year ending March 2019 (97,446 offences)
By Ashish Prabhu5 years ago in Journal
Chicken soothes The Savage Beast
Our shift was not scheduled to begin for another 35 minutes, but we were getting prepared. We were preparing earlier than usual and with more intensity because we knew exactly what was about to go on when the shift started. We knew who was on their way to our floor.
By The Smart Girl Group5 years ago in Journal
Starting at the End
My story begins much like anyone else, I begrudgingly worked a 9 to 5 stuck in the monotony that is a Monday - Friday routine. I hated it! Every second I felt myself slowly suffocating. It was like being killed in a crockpot set on low. I wanted so badly to leave but I had to stay because, like most, I have a wife, 2 children (ages 6 and 11) and a house to pay for; so I stayed. I stayed through all of the bullshit, through all of the painful mornings contemplating suicide as I drive down the 2 lane road I take to work. "I just need to turn the wheel the slightest bit to the left and BAM! An entire month off of work." I would say to myself as I chew back a belch that reminds me how hungover I am. Most days my coworkers found joy in our interactions, we would speak of shenanigans of the past or things we've got planned for the weekend, maybe even a joke or two. Then there were days when I would go of on tangents asking questions like "Doesn't a coma sound good for a little while? Not like a serious one, just a month or so?" I just wanted to do nothing! Absolutely nothing. I was tired of the constant sales goals and customer retention and the blatant disrespect. In 2013 I took a standup comedy class. In this class I was under the impression I would learn how to become a standup comedian. I should have known that wasn't true immediately because in the first class the teacher tried to sell us his book on real estate. He dropped a stack in the center of the giant table we were all sitting around and grumbled "$20 each, and its only that price because you're my students." I will go ahead and say I didn't learn much about how to be a comic from that class, but if you need a good deal on a house, I know a guy. I did learn one thing from that class, and that is the fact that there is a 350 homosexual ginger man out there who is obsessed with Lucille Ball, and that he and his, equally as large, partner reenact scenes from "I Love Lucy" every Friday night in an apartment they rent from his mothers wealthy boy toy. I digress, with the help of this class I entered into the world of standup comedy and I was hooked. I'd always told people I have an addictive personality, and there is no better drug than pure, uncut laughter. Creating those moments where people are falling over in there seats, or shaking their heads and bending over forwards and as they lean back up they clap their hands. Literally undescribable. To put it into words wouldn't do it justice. At best, sex is a close second. I love comedy so much that as of January 29, 2021 I will no longer have that job I spoke so highly of earlier. I QUIT! I am now devoting 100 percent of my time to becoming a professional standup comedian. This is more than just a fresh start, its the end of a grueling journey. I am done with painful life line. I am leaving behind $70,000 a year, and walking out into this sick sad world and I am going to make a name for myself. This is my first official submission on this platform and I am not even really sure I did this write. I just figured the timing couldn't be any better. I have a Youtube channel where you can follow my progress. I will be uploading a video every 2 days to show my progress. Thank you for reading, and I also hope I uploaded my video correctly. Search Tyrell Shackleford and you will find me.
By Tyrell Shackleford5 years ago in Journal
The Smaller the Bigger
If you’re looking for a way to give back to your community and don’t know where to start, then I have a suggestion for you!
By Amorette Lopez5 years ago in Journal
America's Place to Give
Doctors, parents, and pretty much everyone agrees that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you are from or have ever visited any of the southern states, chances are you have dined under an infamous yellow sign. Millions of people have enjoyed and can attest to the delicious waffles, bacon, and iconic scattered, smothered, and covered hash browns of the adored breakfast staple. Be that as it may, the true allurement of the classic breakfast establishment, Waffle House, remains in obscurity to most.
By Alisha Jones5 years ago in Journal
Dissent With Good Deeds
Have you ever been stuck in traffic that makes you wait for hours? How long can it possibly take? I heard of traffic where people have to wait from mornings to evenings. Maybe because someone messed up the rules or an unfortunate accident happened, or the construction job was way behind schedule.
By Ashfia A.5 years ago in Journal
The True Meaning of Care
The Beginning As someone suffering from Autism, I have had to support myself since I was 18 years old because of my mother’s death at age 49. Job opportunities have been difficult to come by because of my disability.
By Jacob5 years ago in Journal
Sunday brunch
There we were, a group of young women all out together for a Sunday brunch. It had been quite the weekend. We had all gotten together from various places to go dancing, sit on patios and have a general good time. But the weekend was in its golden hour and we were all sitting outside in the sunshine, having a mamosa and ordering our meals. At the time I was just totally in the moment, we were laughing and reliving parts of the previous evening. I remember feeling quite at ease amongst my friends as we chattered on, eating and drawing out the afternoon. It wasn’t untill later on when our server came over to our table and told us that all of our meals had been paid for. This was so unexpected, there were 6 or so of us and it wasn’t the cheapest place in town. We asked who had paid! She told us it had been an older gentleman, she said he had asked her to wait untill he had left to tell us what he did. He told her that he had been watching us and was given hope for the future generations. That’s why he paid. That was over ten years ago now, I’ll never forget it, his act of kindness. It touched me knowing we could all inspire each other just by living, and laughing.
By Jeni Dowding5 years ago in Journal
Enjoy the Little Things
Picture this: you have been working at a dead-end retail job for the past 3 years. But you were just thankful to have this job after your life fell into shambles. Even with a wife and a newborn, you had to reset your life after having the biggest financial troubles you have ever had to deal with. You spent the past few years working your tail off climbing up the store ladder so that your family’s life can get back on track. You are now the Shoes manager at the store, but since you had to work hard to get where you are now, you had to sacrifice less time with your family. Look at the picture: you are my manager Nick.
By Stephen Reilly5 years ago in Journal
Reaching a Million Pt. 2
December 25th 2020. I had the startling realization that I had not bought a single Christmas gift for anyone. Not my mom, step dad, wife or even my 7 month old son. I just couldn’t afford to buy anyone a gift. No one made me feel bad about this, my wife understood and I was young enough to not be obligated to give gifts to my parents yet but I still wanted to.
By One of Few5 years ago in Journal
My experience as a Fed Ex driver
I was a package handler at Fed Ex for roughly two months. The process started like this, my dad took a picture of a Fed Ex truck with a sign that said great hours, great pay! Yeah... so at one point I decided to give them a call. Some guy picked up, said being a Fed Ex driver involves knowing how to drive, and being able to stick to your route, what you'd expect right. He said you come in at around 9 I think and work until 1 or so. Seemed pretty easy. Asked what the pay was, he said around 1k per week, that's a ton for a 20 year old. I was understandably excited! Skip forward a day, I arrive at the warehouse, took me time and a lot of effort just to get in, couldn't figure that out. They had me complete a bunch of forms, boring and timely of course. They had me get a physical at some random place a few hours later. Went back to the warehouse, they said you have to be at least 21 to be a Fed Ex driver, at the time I was 19 but as I type this story, that happened around 2 months ago as I remember. You'd think they'd tell you on the phone you have to be at least 21 to drive. No... they had me fill out a bunch of paperwork and contracts, as well as do a physical for nothing, bad start. You'd think they'd ask for my age since I look young. People say I look a few years younger than I am, which I agree and understand, I try to take it as a compliment often, doesn't always sound like one though. So, yeah. Why they didn't ask for my age is questionable. And I think I gave them my basic info at the time as well that your not old enough to be a driver making roughly 1k per week. You can probably figure out how I felt after doing all that annoying work for almost nothing.
By Josh 5 years ago in Journal