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I hate it when other people believe to know what I "have to do" and want to change me to fit in their construct of beliefs. I am an individual person, why can´t you just leave things to my own responsibility? Maybe I have other priorities and am not like you?

To whom it may concern,

Contrary to popular belief, you are not entitled to your so-called opinion on how I manage my lifestyle as you insist on calling it because it?s entirely none of your business. You don?t get to have an opinion on how I define myself because you don?t know me, what I do, and what I have been through. I don?t care if you are a blind church pastor leading the blind, a fake news reporter, some bigwig CEO, a poorly assigned school teacher, senator, or even governor or some other paranoid official, another misguided student, or a washed up entertainer. You have your lives and I have mine, and as long as it is not with any of you it doesn't affect you one single bit. The cold hard truth is that it doesn't matter if your ?opinion? is your own and different from mine but how well it stacks up in the present, and once the scales have been weighed against you, it?s time for you to shut up and sit back down.

You have no right to tell me that I am going to hell or deny my ability to marry or adopt because I don?t follow the religion or traditions that you chose for yourself and yourself alone. I?m not obligated to respect your cruddy religious beliefs just because I refuse to conform to them and it is not bigoted for me to harshly criticize you for allowing yourself to be collected into your selectively unmitigated ?truths? and to become just another cultural stereotype. Believe it or not, it is entirely possible to find God without being absorbed into your organizations and you should try it sometime. Personally, I don?t care if God exists or not because I won?t be a hundred percent sure until I die; nobody will.

Let me ask you something; how do you know that every single LGBT matches with their stereotypes and that every single child actually wants a mother and father? How can you be so sure that being in a ?traditional? marriage has the best results and you do know that not everyone conforms to gender roles? I?ll say this as many times as it takes, not everyone follows the same idea of tradition that you do! Some kids are raised by people who are not married or seeing anyone, people of two completely different races, people of the same sex, and people who are of the opposite or neutral gender. This ultimately means that not just yours, but everyone?s definition of marriage is pointless because no one owns it and there are families who ignore that and get along just fine without your approval or ?support,? and the sooner we all realize that the better.

Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body and who I share it with just because you find it unnatural, self-destructive, icky, or whatever? If you are that adamant into believing that I am going to make the sky fall one day, you do that on the privacy of your own property and away from the people who are making better progress into what makes humans and their bodies and interactions really tick. You can practice your religion, just don?t get your tights in a wad and cry ?intolerance,? ?bully,? or ?political correctness? because not everyone follows them. You can raise your perfect family and have nothing to do with us as long as you back off and leave others to raise theirs.

That?s right, over my preference for people of my same sex is a human being who is just as capable of the same things you can, sometimes even better and that?s what has you so afraid, isn?t it? You?re afraid of someone finally proving you?re supposed undisputed facts wrong and being able to raise children who live almost twice as fulfilling lives as yours, thus causing your whole world to come crashing down around you. Well, I am here to tell you that it?s alright because this was never a competition over who was better at raising families and I?m no boogeyman. I have no interest whatsoever in climbing in your window and snatching your people up trying to rape them. You don?t have to hide your kids and hide your wife and hide your husband because I won?t be raping anybody out here or anywhere else.

If you think I am forcing some political agenda, here is a newsflash: Some people have no political affiliation! I don?t care about the left or the right or their dirty schemes for this country and its economy, market, healthcare, education, media, military, or guns you own or whatever. Heck, I don?t even care about the country itself; it?s just a piece of land to me! I just want to write comics while being able to freely explore what makes me me on the side without your propaganda and I have no interest in raising a kid. I admit that I am a hedonist as I live for material pleasures and aesthetics for I believe that life is all about finding pleasure.

I could probably say the same for you as I am kind of ashamed that you would let yourself become so paranoid that you would politicize yourself and actively force everyone to comply with it. I am not asking to be friends because you?re already way out of style for my tastes. I just want you to leave me and everyone else who doesn?t want to be a part of your congregation alone. You?ve found your spot in life, now let us find ours. I am not an idea, I am a human being with desires, feelings, and abilities, and if you decide to act against us when by no means have ever wanted to act against you, then I will fight you until I get what I want.

You can reject me, but you will not oppose me.

?And don?t think that this marginalized social group that once filled me inspiration until it suddenly copped out and dashed them into bits is off the hook, either. Something has been telling me that you people have never really put all of your heart into your struggles even after all of the suffering done to you and your youths and all of the strides you made into finding your place in life, and it has left a majorly desensitizing effect to say the least. Has it all been a sham, do you not want to be free from social discrimination so you can express yourself in your own unique way or do you want to outright assimilate your very being into the exact political collective that is oppressing you so you can do the same? Some of you have actually allowed yourselves to be bought out by these groundless assumptions that what you do is merely a choice and that you are twice as bigoted for refuting them all so everyone can keep hugging the giant double-edged, blood-soaked, , and forbiddingly unchallenged teddy bear of ?free speech? that they so adore. Are some of you even satisfied with being kicked around like dirt simply because you are different from the norm?

Feel free to call this radically anti-American if you want, but patriotism and nationalism are all overrated for me because I don?t need to worship some piece of land to make my own destiny.

Do you pay no mind to letting corrupt corporate honchos donate to horrible and unscrupulous groups that expressly want you put in chains and shipped out of the country like your wild animals? Do you think nothing of the people who would dare call themselves teachers to kick your confused children to curb and tell them that they will never have a purpose in life unless they turn to religion? Are you that lenient to allow important school events that are held to spread awareness of bullying to be disrespectfully interrupted by the same hatred that puts dozens more of them under and to be wildly misconstrued as a celebration of your ?unnatural lifestyle?? Are you happy to compromise what has naturally made you and you alone up for the sake of finding some mythical ?middle ground?? Please tell me that deep down that this was never how you wanted your life to go, to throw it all away or to have it politicized it for our parties? materialistic desires to obliterate each other for their own selfish designs for domination?

If that is true, that you have no qualms with exchanging your own personal life goals that you probably had for your selfish political beliefs, then you go right ahead. Go ahead and let yourself and everyone else to let their very bodies to be contested over and be sucked into our political gladiator games that deep down never mattered to you? because you don?t deserve it.

You don?t deserve to define yourself!
You don?t deserve to be unique!
You don?t deserve to be an individual!
You don?t deserve to be free!

And you don?t deserve my empathy?

I know full well that our modus has always been to protect and not to destroy, but do you not owe it to yourself and those like you who have so far as to be left on the streets for who you are to erase these venomous falsities? And do not tell me that we should give our opponents some semblance of a chance to justify their irrational fears that are grounded in stereotypical superstition for that is the ultimate form of dishonesty and halfheartedness. They have had all the time in the world to reflect and study upon their actions and I have tried to see things from their point of view, but they bungled it and it is impossible. Why should anyone concede to someone else?s prosaic life choice just to sacrifice the individuality that we were born with, that all of humanity was born with?! There is nothing ?free? about submitting to someone else?s intrusion in the name of a double-ended idea.

When someone is attacking you for who you are for either not coinciding with their traditions and religions or being just plain nuts and or trying to prevent you from living your life the way you want to, YOU DO NOT ROOT FOR THEM!! Like I said before, if you are actually willing to surrender what that is totally subjective to your person and let it be placed on center stage instead of your capabilities as a caretaker for someone else?s absolutism or superstition because ?everyone?s entitled to their opinion?, then you deserve to feel like a burden and you've earned your place as a robot.

I don?t know if you have noticed, but there will always be those who do not have the same thick skin that you do! There will always be someone who will be hurt whenever someone tells them that they will burn in hell for following their natural instincts until they take their own life as millions have before us, so you shouldn?t be so arrogant and tell them to get over it. Wasn't that why we were all in this together in the first place, to address the suicide epidemic because our kids were dropping like flies because they had nowhere to turn in their time of need? I guess it doesn't matter after all that words have killed millions of confused youths in the name of religion. I suppose it wasn't the war that certain peoples have waged on our curious children that united us, or have they already been indoctrinated, too?

Well, I don?t know what to do now that you people have now decided to be assimilated into our politics. I stood by you because I thought that your interests in self-discovery were incredibly unique even though I understood that some of you were not. I was planning on something special as a tribute to you and your plight but I suppose that won?t be necessary anymore. I guess it wouldn't be worth it anyway since I was already beaten to the punch by ?Northstar? and other comic book characters like him. It was going to be heartwarming, funny, and slightly adrenal, but if you are now satisfied with people ?disagreeing with your unnatural lifestyle? for everyone?s stupid ?free speech? then all I can say is adios.

I have been by your side so long that I can hardly even remember, but after sitting back for awhile and looking back on everything that has happened and reflecting on what we were fighting for in the first place, I have begun to think that everything has been a lie. I think that I have come realize a number of things about are supposed struggles. I think I have finally figured how totally pointless all of this fighting is!

All of our debates have been completely pointless!
It was never about opinions or beliefs!
It was never about free speech!
And it was never about tolerance!

Everything that has been said about marriage and parenting is totally irrelevant because it is an entirely private matter that does not affect anyone except those who take part in it! Yet, for some reason you still coddle those who you do not relate to and want to condemn and prevent you from obtaining happiness because you don?t fit into the traditions that they chose for themselves and themselves alone! It was never about supporting one lifestyle or the other because everyone chooses their own path in life, but here we are and look at the ?culture war? that has resulted! You were never obligated to bend over for someone else because you don?t follow their traditions and beliefs and yet you do it anyway because ?Hey, everyone?s entitled to their opinion.?

You have your family and I have mine so ultimately you can take your ?opinion? and ?beliefs? and shove them because I have nothing to do with you! Your beliefs do not dictate me, you have no right to have a say in what I do, and if you do then there is going to be big trouble! This is my life, this is who I am, and you don?t get to have an opinion for it!

Whatever you self-righteously say or think about me is pointless because I'm not you and I am happy with myself. Screw what you believe and screw what you think is right. I don't care who you are; Senator, CEO, pastor, washed up entertainer, random nobody or idiot, or what. You don't get to have your say and you don't get to feel how you feel about me.

This is my life, this is my choice, and you're not a part of it.

You think you're carrying out justice or upholding the law, but let me tell you, you all could not further from the truth. If anyone is forcing an agenda down everyone's throats, it's you lot! In fact, I would say that I am forcing your agenda back down your throats! Yeah, turns out that I'm not as weak-spirited as you like to make out everyone else who is like me, am I?

If you think that you can think or say whatever you want about me, then I'm sorry to tell you that contrary to popular belief, you don't. I don't follow you're click and whatever system or code that comes with it, so therefore the only thing your accomplishing is sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. What you say or think about me and others like me is ultimately pointless because it has nothing to do with me.

I'm not obligated in any way shape or form to bow down to your little congregation. You chose that route for yourself and yourself alone so it doesn't matter to me one bit. If I think something is stupid, you bet I'm going to let you know. I may even insult you because, honestly, being considered a lesser or denied something just because I'm different is insulting enough. If I am ever restricted because I don't conform to whatever made up norm that you and only you are a part of, I will proudly shout that I do not believe in those norms.

It's not about opinions or beliefs because it has nothing to do with what is what's true or false or right or wrong. Nothing that you hold as either sacred or normal ultimately doesn't matter because you're looking at someone who doesn't believe in it. Everyone besides you is off doing there own thing, living their own life, forming their own families, and spending time with people they love, all without a care of what is "right" or "natural" or "traditional." But then again, you all probably wouldn't know that because you're so hell bent on putting your way preciously up on a pedestal where it can be worshiped where everyone has to see it even if they don't want to.

Let me repeat again.

You don't get to have an opinion because I'm not you.
You don't get to have your say unless your looking for recognition and nothing else.
You don't get to defend anything except your pathetically fragile sense of security.
And you don't get to pick a side except your own

It's never been about any of these things and you have never had the right to any of these things. People like me have been getting together and living life the way they want to ever since the beginning of time.

Oh, and let me tell you that I never asked for their "support," anyone's "support," because the only thing they're interested in is fulfilling their own sense of "change."

Personally, I don't give a damn whether the god you praise exists or not.

Left or right, conservative or liberal, they're both one and the same.
You guys think I'm nothing without your god and they think I'm nothing without them.
To you, I'm a sinner.
To them, I'm a tool.
I don't need them babying me because I'm smart enough to learn and think and feel and decide what's best for myself.

I can take care of myself.

That's the problem with you all.

You seem to only care about what's popular or not. You seem so interested in appealing to some other collective if it means feeling all the more secure. And you are all so busy worrying about what other people are doing instead of worrying about yourselves.

It's never been about you.

Unless your asking for something as small as a phone call or a bit wider in scale, say a coup d' e'tat, you better watch who you talk down to. You can take all of your beliefs and morals and whatever you think you have the right to, and shove 'em all up your ass.

I'm not like everyone else.

I'm not some blind idiot who goes around bowing down to other people.

If you think that the way I live is immoral or disgusting and that I shouldn't be allowed to live the way I want to, you can bet your sweet ass that I will go on the attack!

I don't care about your beliefs or your feelings because I'm not you!

This who I am and you don't get to have your say in it!

You've never had the right to have your say in it and you've never had the right to defend yourself!

Why?

BECAUSE THIS IS MY LIFE, GOD DAMMIT!!

Now back to the group that I thought had my back.

I have never felt so manipulated, so used, and so betrayed in all my life...

I thought you people wanted to be free.
I thought you people wanted to stand up for yourselves.
I thought you people wanted to live the lives that each of you wanted to live.

But was I wrong.
Boy, was I dead wrong.

None of you care about defining yourselves at all.
You care about appeasing your haters and tormentors just to save face in the name of "tolerance."

You don't care about being yourself.
You care about following someone else's ideals like "freedom" until you become a slave to it.

You don't care about self-respect.
You care about giving into the demands of parties that think they can tell you what to do because of their stupid "beliefs."

Well, guess what?
I'm not falling for it!

I'm not you.
I'm me.

You don't define me.
I define me.

I don't care about you or what you say or believe.

If you want to follow those types of crowds, go right ahead.

Less of you.
More for me.

I'm just a means to an end, is that it?

I'm a necessary tool for some grand ideal, right?

I'm not someone who can think and feel for himself, right?

This is my lot in life, right?

Well, what if I told you that's all a huge load?

What if I told you that you are gear?

What if I told you that the "common good" isn't my good?

What if I told that I'm smarter than you think I am?

And what if I told you that both you and I can make are own destinies?

What then?

Tell me.

No, instead let me ask one more.

What are you fighting for?

Anyone who wants to prevent me from living my life the way I want to doesn't deserve to be themselves.

Nobody has ever had that "right" and nobody ever will.

I really need to learn to collect all of thoughts together before writing them down.

Anyway, I have something to say to everyone who either says or thinks the following of me:
I'm sinful
I'm unnatural
I'm threatening your traditions
I'm disgusting
I'm worthless
I'm radical
and I'm intolerant

Shut your trap and go die in a million fires.
All of you.

I will never compromise and I will never tolerate you viewing me as a lesser for who I am and I will never value you as the same in return.

So, to hell with tolerance and to hell with dialogue and to hell with you lot, your feelings, and your beliefs.

I don't have to and I don't want to...and you can't make me.

Now, why don't you all kindly BACK OFF AND GET YOUR OWN LIFE!

?Man, I wonder if the Neanderthals had it easier compared to the humans of today. Yeah, they were dumb, but they only had to worry about their instincts and not any morals or social structures. If people are going to do whatever they want without taking the consequences into account, then what is the point of anything? Well, they?re gone now, and I guess there is no point in worrying about anything.

Like I said, you people are absolutely worthless.

I don't know what twisted sense of logic you all follow, but it needs to end.

For instance, there is a world of a difference between loving thy enemy and straight up being a traitor.

When this group gets attacked, they don't take crap.
They fight back until they're given a just apology and what is wrong is corrected again.

When this group is lied about, they don't take crap either.
In fact, they work nonstop to expose those lies and to tell the truth about themselves, like real humans.

Unlike what some other people may believe, they fight to protect and not to destroy.

Go ahead and call them defensive or paranoid, but they know how to stand up for themselves.

You?
You guys roll over!

You people put on a mask and let the other side have their way with you!

You people need to step up and make it clear that these people have no right to mess with you.
They never had and they never will.

You people have allowed a whole millennium's worth of lies to blind you and keep you in a place that is not meant for you.

Wake up and take your true place!

we supposedly are gonna support one another, but we certainly don't.

I was supposed to have movie night with my boyfriend last night, but he showed up late, drunk, and then passed out. Apparently his coworkers got him drunk, despite the fact that he's 28 years old. I was happy he was having such a good time with people at his new job until this.

Tonight we'll have to have a talk, and this has to never, ever happen again if things are to continue. I never want him coming to me drunk again or at a bar when he has plans with me later.

Show up late... it happens.
Show up drunk... you're downright disrespectful.
Show up drunk and pass out... which is more important to you, your coworkers or your significant other?
Drink too much at the urging of other people when you have plans with someone later... are you becoming an alcoholic?

Had a minutes long discussion with my mother today about my need for time to myself. I've been living with her for over 5 years now -- I had some seriously gnarly financial problems that forced the issue. It's benefitting us both that I live here. But because of differing goals and needs, we have been spending parts of the last two years remodeling a workshop on the property into a cottage for me. It's almost finished. And it's ALREADY a problem, and I haven't even moved in yet.

To begin with, every time I go over there to unpack and set up some things, she follows me. I'm trying to get things done and she's sitting right there, saying things like "Aren't you going to work? Don't let me stop you. Why are you looking through that magazine when you have so much to do? Where are you going to hang that picture? What have you decided about the shelving in your kitchen? That music is kind of loud. Why not turn it down so we can talk. If you get bored with this, I have some other things you could be doing" It goes on and on....

Today, she started talking about how once the place gets finished, people are going to want to come over to see it. I told her that's fine, but I'm not planning on having anybody over otherwise. I told her that the place is going to be like a sanctuary for me -- a place where I don't have to worry about whether I'm behaving properly or whether people are off put by something I've done or said or feeling anxious because I don't know what expected of me, a place where I can listen to my own music, eat my own food, sleep or not sleep however long I want to, where I can watch movies or read or whatever, in my own time and own schedule. Know what she said?

'You're just going to sit over here all the time by yourself? And never have anybody over? You're just going to become a hermit? That's CRAZY!"

Yep. She called my behavior "crazy". After all she and I have talked about, after all she has learned about ASD from me, her own research, and the doctor handling my diagnosis -- she still doesn't get that I need time to be alone, recharge and be able to relax and be myself, without any judgment from anyone. Frickin' amazing...

She apparently believes that once I got my own place again -- I lived alone for most of 22 years before I moved back home -- I'll suddenly decide to become a party animal and a social butterfly. I never did that before. Why would I start now? I lived a mostly solitary life before (with the exception of going to work, having a part-time boyfriend, and one good friend), and was happy with it. She doesn't understand how I don't seem to want any friends. I told her that I wanted friends for years, and few took the bait, so I've become content to be alone. I told her that no one seems interested in anything I like anyway (I live in a very small town in SE Texas, and if you don't hunt, fish, go to church or get wasted on some mood-altering substance, you don't fit in). So THEN she starts ragging on me about how she's told me to get involved with local groups with the same interests as me and I refused. It's not a case of refusing -- it's a case of being uncomfortable with the idea of walking alone into an already-established group. THEN she suggests that I start a Asperger's group here. Knowing the area we live in, I would bet $100 there aren't a dozen people within a 50-mile radius who even know what AS is, let alone admit to having it.

I don't know what to do now. Things are going down now just like I figured. I'll never get the time to myself I so desperately need. But if I tell her that, it will hurt her feelings, which will upset me as well. She's (not) getting over a painful breakup, and I think she's using me as a crutch. If I cut her loose, she will be heartbroken. But I just can't allow her to think my behavior is "crazy" just because it's different from hers. I've already been down this road with my brother, who's anxious for me to get my papers to show that I'm officially crazy (I posted about that earlier). I love my family, but I wish they would either accept me or leave me be.

Thanks for the rant space....

christian bashers

Are you not different then nt? do we not as apsies generally want to be accepted and not hated. yet when it comes to christians being different then you , you treat them different and bash them. I don't get this, how can one want openness for aspies, gays, races, women, but then do what they are against to Christians or other regions. I am open minded and kind to all people regardless of who they are or what they think and believe. I may disagree with people on somethings, I might argue about it, but i don't bash them I don't hate them, I don't want to convert them to my thoughts.

I don't want to argue, just frustrated.

I hate any kind of bashes, but it does seem most aspie are atheist, which is find, but I can't understand or take the attacks. I don't get being so hurtful to others just cause they disagree.

why can't they just be like hmm, they don't believe in all science, and i think they wrong. oh well, move on that's their choice.

I hate smoking and reptiles. I don't try attack smokers and tell them they should stop and I won't stop bugging them til they do. I say i don't like smoking please don't smoke around me other wise whatever.

I have mostly atheist friends, and they never attack religion unless someone pushes it on them. I haven't met other Religious people that push either, be them Jewish, Islamic, catholic. etc. I have heard of some that push it or think they have to convert others, but by far, I've seen way more enlightened atheist that push other people to think their way. To convert them to atheism, then claim others are bad to convert to religion.

that's what you are doing trying to forcefully convert people to your ideals cause only your ideals can be right. to be honest by how some atheist go on about it (not so much here) I fear some kind of religious genocide purging in the future as part of the follow science or die plan.

if you want to believe in evolution and big bang go ahead I don't want any part of it.

I believe in god and i believe in most science, gravity, how old the earth is, life on other planets etc.

Thats my rant and frustration. I just wish more people could just live and let live.

I guess repeatedly asking you not to forward me emails didn't get the point across that I don't want you to forward me any emails? It really bothers me that you consider the stupid content of these asinine emails more important than my simple request.

Finding it difficult to understand when I get angry at your hateful, ignorant politics? Well, if you can't understand why I get angry at your refusal to comply with the simple request above, then I guess you just don't understand much of anything any more.

I work at Walmart Part time as a Cashier and today I was told by a CSS that I could not use the restroom because there was no one to take over for me. I told her I had not had a break and was scheduled to leave in 30 min. I really had to go to the restroom or I was going to urinate on my self and I would have to leave for the day if this where to happen. She said sorry hun you will have to wait I don't know what else to do. I went back to my area and then a customer walked up to me and said that there are laws against what she said to me. Now another CSS that was off the clock heard what the woman said and called the Assistant Manager. She came over and relieved me and told me to go to break. I did and came back and she said I could go home if I wanted to because of what happened to me. So that's what I did..... How can someone stand face to face with someone and tell them they can not use the restroom? I can understand if I were in a car or in a place where the restroom was closed or full but to be told by someone that is in charge of your break times and is not able to manage things well enough to allow staff restroom breaks. I'm so pissed OFF!

I'm severely depressed.
tortured. abused.
So many horrible things have happened to me the past few months (robbery along with a violent rape) and I've been hanging in there. I went to the hospital after I was raped and the doctors and police treated me like i was a piece of crap, like a piece of evidence. I had fought for my life and then I try to get help and then I realize how MESSED up the state that I live in treats rape victims. I didnt have health insurance at the time, so I'm stuck paying a huge hospital bill that has put me deep into more dept. I have to pay for treatment to a crime that was committed upon me. It is the only crime where the victim is actually responsible for the bills of the rape kit, hospital visit.
Unfortunately, I don't have a safety net. I have no family that cares to listen. I have been fighting through this all on my own.
Nervous to be homeless. Don't know how to fix my life. Don't want to get up to go to work in the morning. I can't sleep. Nothing helps. Can't afford a psychologist. I just need someone to talk to.
I am just new to this awareness of the aspergers thing, as well.

Too much happening at once... Only one messed up head to take care of these massive issues.

I used to come to Wrongplanet to escape the s**t in the rest of my life, because this was one of the few places I could be myself with like-minded people, who could understand my experiences and point of view, and neuorological quirks. But lately Wrongplanet has become the Wrongplanet, because you can't fart without some wet behind the ears pipsqueak accusing you of sh*****g yourself. You can't vent, or ask for help, or anything because certain people forget this is a support site for aspies and heaven forbid someone might mention that we are different from neurotypicals: and this causes frustration , pain and outright discrimination to aspies. Because we have to accommodate these wonderful normal people who have so much theory of mind and empathy that they refuse to accommodate us.

I have a bad habit of having friends-with-benefits and starting to want a real relationship with them. It's getting quite distressing.

I think we're getting a lot closer, but I don't think she's nearly ready for me to ask for a proper relationship. There are a few other factors that would make it very difficult, too, but... eh. I don't know.

This keeps happening, and I'm not about to do anything to prevent it, because I'm a moron.

RULES FOR HOW TO BEHAVE IN LINE AT THE GROCERY STORE

I'm tired of being treated like a turd on your shoe --

1) Get off your phone. Unless someone is bleeding, burning or drowning at your house, your phone call can wait the two minutes it will take for me to ring up your purchases and complete your transaction. In 5 years of cashier work, having to talk through 100s of phone calls, I have only heard ONE phone call that sounded like it couldn't wait. It was a doctor giving instructions for a patient.

2) Please have your card, money or check ready to be presented when I give you your total. It's inconsiderate for others in line to have to wait on you because you had your head up your butt and forgot you needed to pay for your items. Oh, and please make sure you have payment BEFORE you get in line. Every day I have to wait on people because they left their wallet, card or checkbook in the car, or even worse, at home. And BRING YOUR GLASSES if you're going to need to read the card machine to complete your transaction.

3) Don't tell me the prices. I know you're trying to help, but it doesn't. Everything is on a bar-code system and has already been loaded into the computer. I don't put in prices, I merely scan the item.

4) Get off your phone, PLEASE.

5) If you see something ring up incorrectly, please calmly let me know and I'll do everything I can to rectify it. Do not take it personally. The store is NOT trying to rip you off. What likely happened was that it was either 1) entered incorrectly into the computer, or 2) the sale sign wasn't removed when the sale was over. We are human. Humans make mistakes. Deal with it.

6) Please be sure to read all ads and sale papers closely. If Hellman's Mayonnaise is on sale for $2.99, you can't substitute Kraft just because it's the one you picked up first. Some items have purchase limits (must buy 3 to get the sale price) or minimum purchase ($10 or $20). We're not going to let you slide on that just because you only need one box of detergent instead of two.

7) Coupons are for specific items for a reason. We WILL NOT substitute another brand just because you don't like the brand on the coupon. And the coupon will not work if you didn't buy the product in question. We can't fake it and give it to you anyway.

8.) GET.OFF.YOUR.PHONE.

9) If you are expecting a Senior Citizen discount, tell me ahead of time. Don't make me guess if you're over 62. I won't, and you won't get your discount.

10) If you pick up an item and then later decide you don't want it, don't just sit it down in some random spot in the store. Please put it back where you got it -- not NEARBY where you got it, WHERE you got it. If it's too far for you to go back, please give it to me and I'll make sure it's put back in the right place. We do not consider it job security to pick up after you.

11) Don't get mad when I ask for ID when you write a check. I'm not accusing you of anything (What...you got a guilty conscience?) It's to protect you. Or maybe you'd rather we not check IDs and someone who's not you goes around writing checks for cash at stores around town -- on your account. And it's not helpful for you to merely write your driver's license number on your check. The only reason we write the number on the check to begin with is to prove to the management that we did indeed look at the ID. We don't use that number for any other reason.

12) GET OFF YOUR G*DD*MN PHONE!! !

I keep having horrible, illogical, terrifying thoughts this morning, and I feel unhappy about my inability to make myself stop thinking that way. It probably comes from getting poor nutrition, insufficient exercise, and not enough sleep over the past few days. I set myself up to have this freak-out, but of course I didn't see it that way at the time..

Sounds like a panic attack to me. I have them all the time. And you're right -- not taking care of yourself can bring them on, especially lack of sleep. It is very difficult to get past the disruptive thoughts once they get started. A couple of things to do that might help -- deep slow concentrated breathing, and directed your thoughts elsewhere -- special interest or whatever. Dwelling on it makes it worse, so you need to break that thought thread.

F___ people, and f_#_ this world. I wish I could save my kids at least, but doesn't look like it.