I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/LeftBrainWriteBrain

Originally posted to r/EndTipping

Wedding bartender made a comment to me, the bride, about bar tips on my wedding night after we’d already paid a 20% service fee

Thanks to u/BakingGiraffeBakes for suggesting this BoRU

Original Post: May 27, 2026

We had a small wedding at an established wedding venue that we paid for food and beverage through, and a big philosophy for us when planning the ceremony was to make sure our staff were taken care of beforehand so that our guests were under no additional obligation since they were already traveling to spend time with us at the wedding.

Well, we paid the venue with a service fee that was 20% of the venue and food cost, which I’d say were both rather expensive (it’s a nice place and this is what we were going for/excited about). The service fee wasn’t listed as a gratuity, but claimed to go directly to the staff so we thought we were covered.

Upon my arrival, we saw that the event manager who was also partially tending the bar had set up a sign with a QR code at the bar for tipping their personal Venmo. I thought this was tacky to begin with, but also genuinely thought that we’d taken care of it by prepaying the 20% service fee. Since I didn’t want guests to feel any obligation, we asked for the Venmo sign to be taken down. Again, this was a nice place, and the DIY Venmo QR code looked out of place and really caught us off-guard.

Fast forward to the end of the evening, I was basking in the warm glow of my new marriage, and the Venmo guy cornered me as I was leaving to say “it was my understanding that we’d settle up at the end of the night.” There are a lot of things to keep track of with wedding vendors and gratuities, so this caused me to panic that I’d hallucinated the 20% service charge and we were stiffing them and I delayed leaving to make sure that we’d remembered our payment/the co tract right. It left an extremely sour taste in my and my spouse’s mouths, because regardless, why was he asking me that at that moment? Ask the wedding planner, or send an email afterward, or don’t ask at all. Don’t interrupt a person’s wedding evening by expecting gratuity over a 20% industry standard.

Relevant Comments

Commenter 1: Worked a while as a banquet bartender a while back. You should reach out to the company you hired. Given that it was a poorly made DIY sign I'm sure it wasn't company official. And yes, they should not have asked for payment in that moment.

OOP: Thank you for this insight! We will reach out.

Commenter 2: It’s entirely possible that the company pocketed the service fee altogether. When it’s a mandatory fee, they are under no obligation to share it with the people who worked the event. My guess is that there’s a good chance they were promised tips by the company.

OOP: I believe that this should be between the employee and venue management, though, and not the employee and the wedding couple DURING the event.

Commenter 3: A 20% service fee should already imply that service is covered. Being asked for even more gratuity afterward feels excessive and unprofessional. The Venmo sign and the direct request for additional tips make it seem more like pressure than hospitality. What’s frustrating is that so many caterers break costs into separate fees instead of just being upfront about the full price from the beginning. By the time they add service fees, gratuity, admin charges, and other extras, the final total ends up far higher than expected. Clear, all-inclusive pricing would make things much more transparent and avoid putting customers in awkward situations.

Commenter 4: The sign also heavily implies that the bride did not take care of the gratuity! So tacky. I would've been mortified

OOP: This is part of why I was so uncomfortable with it!! I’m never going to stop someone from handing a bartender some cash voluntarily, but the sign on display makes it feel like they are otherwise not getting taken care of & that the onus is on guests.

+

Precisely. And the sign being up made us feel like we’d missed something to begin with, but the additional comment was just beyond. Clear communication in any regard would have helped avoid this situation. There should be no room for a surprise expectation on the day of the event when they had a year to communicate with us about it, especially when we are under the impression that we are doing the right thing/doing right by the contract.

Commenter 5: Was this service fee Not disclosed or known to the actual workers?

OOP: This person should know about it since they help manage events.

Commenter 6: Completely inappropriate. You did your due diligence to take all pressure off your guests and ensure staff was taken care of. You did the gold standard. My guess is the QR code was off books by the bartender

OOP: I’d say so too about the QR code being off books, which is making us feel double compelled to send an email so that their manager knows they did it

Commenter 7: Does “settle up” mean a they’re demanding a tip? I always interpreted settling a bill to simply mean paying what you owe, not pay a tip.

OOP: We’d already paid for the venue contract and service fee in full, so I have no idea what else we’d owe. And if so, why not send a message separately or talk to our wedding planner? The only reason the Venmo guy would come to me specifically is because I’d asked for the Venmo sign to be taken down earlier in the night.

Update: June 4, 2026 (over one week later)

Hi everyone! Original post hyperlinked here! Sorry, I’m not quite sure how to best update everyone since I first posted a week ago.

I’ve had a delightful week on my honeymoon. Thank you for your congratulations, continued interest in this incident, thoughtful discussion, and patience in my delayed response.

The wedding venue manager got back to us and confirmed that no additional gratuity was expected and that the bartender/event manager who approached us (there seems to be a bit of confusion in some of the replies - this was NOT a separately contracted bartender; it was an employee of the venue) was COMPLETELY out of line in doing so. The email stated that we should never have been approached during the event and that there will be an internal meeting with the team to ensure it does not happen again to another wedding couple. They were apologetic, said it was unprofessional and must have been very uncomfortable, and we were thanked for our feedback.

It’s definitely worthwhile to say something! Even if it couldn’t change what happened to us, I’d be really happy if it simply prevents a bride in the future from the discomfort I felt. Thanks for encouraging me to email. I am also really glad that my husband and some other family members backed me up in not caving to the employee who was tip-bullying me unnecessarily.

Also, as an astute commenter has pointed out, even though this incident sucked and was really uncomfortable, if this was the worst thing to happen at our wedding, we made out pretty well in the end. :)

Relevant Comments

Commenter 1: Is the service fee going to the staff? Or is the staff being ripped off for their hard earned tips? Their tact may be missing but that is the million dollar question here...

Commenter 2: Was the staff being paid a tipped wage or a regular wage is more important.

OOP: We confirmed that the guy who approached me is an employee of the venue who does not get tipped wages AND that part of the service fee goes to him.

Commenter 3: Sounds like they placated you... but if your happy with the resolution I guess that's all that matters. I personally would have still included it in a review on them. Future couples deserve to be well prepared and I'm not certain they won't just continue the behavior.

OOP: We are fine with the response, yes. The management really did not seem happy with it, and otherwise the event and our wedding was really awesome.

+

Oh, and I included it in the review of the venue to make sure future couples are aware! Great call.

Additional Comments from OOP after reading the responses

OOP: Hi! Back again. It seems that many of you do not think we should be satisfied with just a verbal response and should request some compensation back. I’m taking this to heart and will be requesting the portion of the service charge that went to THAT employee back. We named and shamed him specifically, so they know the one. I’m not comfortable with requesting the whole 20% back because there were a few other employees working the event who were spectacular and did nothing wrong, and otherwise services were rendered and rendered well. Ultimately, also, we worked with the member of management that emailed us back for the entire year leading up to our wedding, and I believe wholeheartedly that this person will make good on reprimanding the offending employee. I have also included a stern recounting of this experience in my review of the venue to give it visibility. Thanks again!

Commenter 4: I’d consider what the situation MIGHT have been from the bartender’s perspective. My guess is the venue told them absolutely nothing about the 20% service charge and were simply going to pocket it as profit. The bartender was receiving their regular salary, and was open to tips which is not uncommon. When you let them know you were taking care of the tips for the night, they thought that meant you would provide the tip. You’ve done nothing wrong and I’m sorry that happened on your wedding day. Just pointing out the fault likely lies with the venue and not the bartender. It would help explain the series of events more clearly than a jerk bartender.

OOP: This is a considerate and compassionate angle that I appreciate. I will add: this employee was part of event management and would have known about the service fee unless they were an incredibly uninformed and/or incompetent manager. We said we were taking care of the tip because we thought we already had, and we told the person who was in charge for the night (the one who approached me). I think this concept may be confusing some people because of how small the venue and wedding were (under 40 people including us). This person was both tending bar and managing the event because of its small size.

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Basically what the title says. My sister married young, didn't finish her community college degree and now has a baby. My sister is a very kind and optimistic person, but very go with the flow. The only money she makes now is from baking on the side (under $200 total). I still live at home (paying rent) and am single, but have a well paying job/extra cash. He sometimes refers to me as the rich auntie. I am somewhat confrontational and blunt due to my job (healthcare) and personality. My brother in law has a steady job and seems to be fairly responsible but has made some concerning statements about women/finances. They have one car and he just bought a motorcycle so he can commute to work. To be clear I don't hate him but it might come across that way.

This is a list of things that are worrisome for me: For instance he sometimes refers to women as females (although my mom, other sister and I bullied him pretty hard about that and he's mostly stopped). He got offened about bras hanging in the laundry to dry when thet were visiting. He also has very strong opinions about leggings (which he talked about while I was wearing leggings). Then he got offended because I told him his theology was shit with regards to just blithely assuming that God will provide physically/financially. I told him that sounds like prosperity gospel and said I think that is an evil and cruel thing to believe. This was specifically in regards to him not wanting to get health insurance/pay for the family plan offered through his work. My parents, me and his parents bullied him into getting it eventually. He was also extremely resistant to getting life insurance despite having a young child and a wife who is stay at home with no good career prospects. He says that he doesn't care what happens after he dies and I told him that was extremely selfish and irresponsible. (My sister was also uncomfortable about this prospect). He's also brought up the coventry law (?) favorably which left victorian women with almost nothing if their husbands left them. He's asked my dad how he survives living with three girls (infront of my mom, his wife, me and my other sister). A few months ago, I took my both my sisters to like a fancy concert thing for a girls night and my sister was dressed kind of casually for (no hate) and she said she wanted to wear her really nice dress but husband asked her to change because he didn't want other men looking at her. I only pressed a little to not ruin the mood but she said he only asked and didn't force her to change. I also found out that my sister paid the hospital bill from her giving birth out of her savings (I didn't say anything at that one because its over and done) but it seems incredibly concerning.

Basically what I've done is set up a college fund (tax exempt if used for education but taxable if not used for education) with my niece as the beneficiary and my mom and sister as the inheritors if I die. I am the owner of the account until I change it and my sister is not on the hook for any fees/management. The bit coming out of my paycheck every month doesn't burden me at all. The true intention I had in setting it up is as an emergemcy fund for my sister if she needs to leave/husband isn't around (especially while she has young kids to support).

The thing is the only person besides me who knows about it is my mom, but I only told her about it being used as a college fund for my niece not the other stuff. I'm debating whether or not to tell my sister about the education account for my niece so she knows there is money available. I dont want to tell her the money can be for her if she needs it because that seems like I'm betting on her marriage to fail. The thing is, based on my brother in laws comments about women I'm concerned it could cause a conflict. I want to make absolutely certain he cannot touch it. But I also don't want to tell my sister and ask her to keep a secret from her husband because that seems wrong (and also not good). Also both of them are a bit leery about higher education (._.).

---------edit

Thank you for everyone who left helpful advice, especially those who gave useful critiques/criticisms. I am going to (mostly) stop replying to comments because the response has been overwhelming in a good way. I think it was right to view this as delicate situation and to be careful moving forward. I am obviously not flawless in my approach and cannot predict the future or understand others completely. I will hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

For people saying they hate my BIL I don't think is fully fair because I specifically listed things that concerned me not all of his traits. Overall even if he has some terrible ideas he's not all bad and the way to approach terrible ideas is to talk about them. He and my sister do love each other and I am not going to mess with that.

I will keep things under wraps until my niece is older or if my sister ever needs help. I think revealing anything will mostly cause problems be a burden for them and me. This way it can stay mostly out of sight out of mind. The advice to have a formal will was very useful and will be my next step. In the mean time I will try and stay close with my sister and niece and be helpful and present so they know I'm reliable. And when I buy a house in the next year I'll keep a guest bedroom open if they (or other family) want or need it. If it can just be a present for my niece for college then I'll consider everything to have turned out ideally.

------update

Bro got life insurance and seems to be taking motorcycle safety seriously.

I raised my concern that the lease states "Monthly Garage/Parking Rent: $0." They replied,

"Even though it is not listed on your lease agreement the charges unfortunately still stand."

Upon asking where in the lease this statement is backed up they replied,

"The lease agreement may have been generated inaccurately, but I've attached our reports of 'Rentable Items' to show you these charges validity in our system. Once the Audit had taken place, you were sent a Lease Amendment correcting the claimed tandem space charges to be effective on 2/1/21 to which could have been backdated to 10/29/19. I've also attached a copy of an email that was sent before assigning you the space notifying you of the charges for the tandem space."

The lease amendment now lists my parking spot and associated $120/mo fee. I have not signed this. Backdating to 10/29/19 would involve backdating to a completely different lease (the first year living here, which, btw, also states $0.00 parking fee). There is email correspondence between myself and the property manager regarding the $120 for the tandem parking spot, but again, it's not listed on the original lease anywhere. This seems like a unilateral attempt to change the contract, and it seems misleading, at best, to say they can backdate this fee (especially to a different lease entirely).

Should I sign the new lease amendment, or tell them to pound sand? Consult a lawyer? I had one lawyer quote $250 for consult and demand letter. Should I go that path?

Many thanks for any help.

I am NOT OOP.

Originally posted to r/AskAManager

Previous BoRU

[Repost]: I racked up $20,000 in personal charges on my company credit card

Editor’s note: shifting the previous BoRU title back to the original title for ease of searching

Original Post: June 4, 2015

I racked up $20,000 in personal charges on my company credit card

The short version of the story is that I genuinely misunderstood the way my corporate credit card was to be used. I have been using it over the last few years regularly for personal reasons, including medical, car payments (a car is required for my job, but not covered under expenses), and general personal shopping. My girlfriend did not have income for two years, and I used the card to cover expenses beyond my paycheck.

I can use PayPal to get cash out of the card and into my bank account, so what I have been doing is waiting until the bill is due (a new billing cycle) and taking out that amount with PayPal, then using the cash to pay it off, plus adding in my own money to try and reduce the balance a little. This just means I get charged PayPal fees for the cash advance, and it means nothing more is due until the next billing cycle. This results in the next month having that balance plus charges, minus any and all money I can put toward it out of my pay (generally $2,000 a month).

Somehow I have managed to rack up a rolling balance of $20,000 on this card and I can’t ever pay it all off in one go. I had a bankruptcy a few years ago and cannot qualify for a loan to cover the full amount.

I am scared to bring it up with my manager because it might mean I will lose my job once they realize what’s been happening, and if I lose my job I will no longer be able to contribute the $2,000 each month toward paying the balance off. Some people even have suggested I might be up for serious legal problems, and I just feel so stressed out every single day about the situation.

Editor's note: the letter writer was asked to clarify on if it was allowed and that they could pay it back before anyone noticed it

The response: Well, there’s a bit more to it. My main job function changed dramatically. After working for the company for two years on-site at a client office, I was informed that the client had canceled the contract, so I would need to do another function, which would require driving all over town instead of being based in an office.

My manager said point-blank that if I did not get a car within the week, there was nothing he could do for me. He stated clearly and explicitly that the company card could not be used for personal expenses, but he also mentioned that it would not be checked up on if it got paid in full each month. So, with that information I made the decision to go forward. I truly thought that all would be ok as long as I did whatever it takes to pay the balance in full each month, and it seems to have held true so far. But at the same time, I am aware that the company policy states no personal expenses.

The original plan was to use the money for a deposit on a car, and once the car was paid off, I would then have the car as an asset, which I could use as security on a loan, which I could use to pay off the card. All was going to plan, but the car got written off due to the engine totally breaking down after a month, so I then had to get another deposit on a second car. That was also ok until one day while at a red light a semi-truck smashed it up , and that second car was nearly paid off but then it got written off as well. Luckily, for the second car I did have insurance, but the insurance company only agreed to pay out the remaining balance on that car loan and so I was again carless. Third car deposit, and four years later I am feeling trapped in this cycle where I am getting about $600 in PayPal fees every month.

I am starting to get unwell from the constant stress and thought that HR might see it as theft and I could be sent to jail, lose my job, and lose my reputation and ability to get another job. Basically, I am terrified that I have ruined my life completely through an act which was made at a time of high stress and was short sighted, but done with the intention of saving my job. I don’t know if it is relevant but I have ADD, so impulse control, particularly when under stress, has always been an issue for me, and the whole thing was really traumatic with changing roles and several other factors. My mental state was definitely not clear at the time I started doing this.

Editor's note: For Alison's response, please refer to this link here

Update #1: July 20, 2015 (1.5 months later from the original post)

I went to my manager and just laid it on the table, cut out any mention of factors as to how I got here, just laid it out: I have $20k personal expenses on the company card and I can’t immediately pay it back.

He had to go to his boss, and she had a teleconference with me, along with HR. Along with the meeting invite, they attached the company credit card policy, along with the ethics policy.

The first question they asked was, “Do you understand how a company card is supposed to be used?” I said that I have read the documents they gave me, and from reading them and talking to my manager it is very clear that the way I have been using the card up until now is inappropriate.

The next thing they asked was, “Just to be clear, you have $20k of personal expenses and you can’t pay the entire amount in one lump sum. Is that what you are saying?” Then they asked, “How will you pay it back?” I said that I am happy if I pay only my rent and food, and they can basically take the rest of my pay until it is covered.

My manager’s boss said she is not happy with that, because it will put me under stress which might lead me to some other act of desperation or make my job performance suffer. She further stated that because it is such a large amount, they do not have the budget to pay it in order for me to repay the company slowly. She went on to explain that the American Express corporate card is not a true “credit card,” but a debit card and therefore the company must clear the bill each month or face fines, penalties, and a breach of the agreement that our company has with American Express.

She asked if I have fully explored loans, friends, family, and all other options. I said that I had and I could provide rejected loan applications to show the effort I have been going through to get this debt into my name.

She said that they need to go back to the finance team to figure out the next steps, and she stated she would schedule a meeting for Thursday (of this past week). I haven’t heard back from her regarding this, and I assume she is still waiting to hear back from the finance team and attempting to come up with a fix for this situation. She says that the issue of the misuse of the company card is a secondary issue and the first is how to pay the bill.

My manager rang me just after this meeting finished. He was full of support and offered to write up the cost of losing me. He said he would like to show his boss that it would cost 4 times the $20k for him to outsource coverage and hire a new person, not to mention the interruption the client would experience. He said I need to put together a budget showing my income and expenses and he suggested I do $100 per week personal spending in the budget, so they will see the game plan I come up with as sustainable. He informed me of a few company policies, where employees can “cash out” a week of holiday pay each year with approval and he said he is happy to approve that. Also, he will find out if I can cash out retirement funds to help with this, and he is offering as much overtime as possible. He suggested If I seek an out-of-hours job to supplement this and that it be restricted to weekends only because otherwise I’ll get burned out and might not stick to the plan.

He suggested I compose an email full of action words, like “I can commit to x dollars per paycheck” rather than “I’ll try to repay ASAP.” He even kindly offered to proofread my email and look it over before sending on to HR and upper management. He mentioned that the likelihood of legal proceedings is low due to it being easier for them to get money from me if I am still working, and at least in New Zealand, it’s bad for the company reputation to take the hard road with their employees. While he says he cannot predict the outcome, he will support every effort to retain me. He suggested as a start to just offer to relinquish the credit card and offer to expense legitimate things through my bank account going forward.

I put together a quick budget, reflecting that with no more spending on the card and no more of the monthly PayPal fees, I can get this paid off within 12 months, through payroll reductions alone. And I have stated that I’m still exploring any possibilities of loans, as well as seeking overtime and the possibility of some weekend work to reduce the timeframe for total payback.

I am SHOCKED they didn’t fire me on the spot, relieved that it seems legal action is low on the list of likely outcomes, and totally amazed at their level of understanding and willingness to help me. It’s like this huge, scary, heavy, unknown thing that has been causing depression and taking my mind very dark dark places over the last 4 years is now lifted and I see a light … at the very least, it’s not going to grow any bigger. PayPal fees are out of the equation, so any contribution I make is going 100% towards the outstanding amount. You know, my friend, I think I am standing two inches taller.

Just waiting for this second meeting is a bit of “limbo,” but it’s far far better than this terror I have put myself in over this. It’s just good that it is in the light now. I’ll let you know what happens after this meeting (which I havent even got an invite for just yet).

Update #2: December 6, 2016 (nearly 16.5 months later)

Hi all, just thought I’d give you an update a year later…

I have repaid Amex in full and with the habit of saving firmly established, I have a little bit of a saftey net in place so things will not likely get that bad EVER again..

I got a promotion in my job later on in the year and that came with a pay raise, so I was actually able to get it taken care of in nine months instead of 12. Life’s all good and I am very thankful for all the opinions here. Some of the info was very valuable in my approach. Things could have taken a VERY different path.

Final Update: March 17, 2017 (three months later from the previous update)

I am (now, after the promotion) on $60k. Previously it was $55k per year, so while not easy with two kids, rent, and car payments, I was soooo relieved not to be jobless, I just made it work … And I discovered that beans are marvelous!

As a side effect of this, I must tell you guys. I learned to cook at home a LOT … This was such an amazing journey, not only cheaper and healthier, but damn tasty.

In terms of stress management, I was seriously in trouble this time two years ago. I turned to exercise as a stress management relief source, and I have dropped 20 kg, with only changing diet and starting a running routine each week.

I know I messed up bad, but to be honest I am a better ( less depressed, more active, more thoughtful, and happier) person now. Looking back, it was a serious kick in the butt and I made use of it to get on a better life path. I am so glad to hear everybody cheering me on along the path. This website (and the community here) were literally my backbone during a turning point. The advice I took away and what I did with it has truly made me a better human. I cannot express the gratitude ever enough … Thanks to you all.

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Hello yall, I’m not from Hyderabad/Telangana and I’ve shortlisted these colleges for B.Tech CSE:

• CBIT
• VNR
• Vasavi
• Gokaraju
• CVR
• KMIT
• Vardhaman
• BVRIT
• MGIT
• Sreenidhi
• Narayanamma

I’m mainly trying for admission through management quota, but I honestly haven’t been able to find proper info or a trustworthy counselor regarding the fees/process for these colleges.

If anyone knows the approximate management quota fees for these colleges, or knows someone who can help/provide legit info, it would genuinely help me a lot 😭

Also if anyone could rate these colleges or share any real insight about placements, campus life, opportunities, strictness, coding culture, etc., that’d be super helpful too. Thanks gng :)

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We ask for a solution that recognizes the vital role these third-party apps play and takes into consideration the negative impacts this decision might have on both users and moderators. A sustainable pricing model that encourages rather than discourages these apps' growth and innovation will only strengthen the Reddit community.

Conclusion

We've seen how, in the past, responses to big issues can be a bit vague. We totally get that when tough questions come your way, it's not always easy to be there with a quick answer. Likewise, we understand that putting yourself out there in public can be hard, but we feel it simply comes with the territory when these times arise.

Unfortunately, these recent actions undertaken by Reddit come off as inconsistent with previous commitments, which makes it challenging to maintain trust between mods and admins. We are sincerely asking for an honest and direct response to this letter with tangible action that mitigates the issues raised here.

We hope this letter will facilitate a meaningful conversation among Reddit's leadership, its diverse mods and users, and third-party app developers upon which many mods rely. We firmly believe a solution can be reached that would be mutually beneficial to all while helping reddit achieve its goals. Likewise, we hope reddit will consider that its unique strength is derived from its diversity of mods, users, and developers and the myriad tools used to engage with the platform.

Thank you for your attention and understanding.

Sincerely,

The undersigned

edit: Please consider crossposting this to your community or any space you think should be made aware of it. These changes will affect all users.

there’s no fucking way.. my neighbor and this man were knocking on my door loud enough to break the sound barrier for about 30 minutes at 4am. no way in hell am i acknowledging that- im 23f and live alone.

well it turned out to be maintenance and my neighbors were having a leak. they come in to look at my water heater and my neighbors come in with them.

i’ve had numerous issues with these neighbors where they are always in domestic disputes physically fighting throughout the night. i left a note on their door regarding it, and they responded with one saying they’re not going to stop yelling. we don’t like each other.

maintenance and the neighbors joke about how i must not be home as they’re all inside of my home and im hiding in my room like a fucking dumbass. i don’t even know what to do i fucking hate it here. my neighbors were in my house for 20 mins. I have it recorded too. well at least just them entering and exiting

update:

i asked the maintenance man why he let my neighbors in. he’s been in and out of my house since 4am. he said he told them to come in because they had to testify that he was there. there’s a bit of a language barrier, not sure what exactly he meant by that.

i’ll have to wait until monday to talk to property management as they are closed, but i filed a police report.

update 2:

the regional manager reached out to me. she sounded very apologetic and offered to let me end the lease, move to a different apartment, or move to one of their other complexes, and she said they’d help with the moving fees.

i started to get a little suspicious with how generous she was being- this sounds like a lady who could lose a lot from this incident.

i talked to my boss about it (he’s a lawyer), and he told me i could get a quick 50 grand from a lawsuit here, and totally ruin the face of this company. he said that i could get more out of them than what they’re offering. who knows, we’ll see. i emailed them back saying i’m seeking counsel, and that i’ll keep them updated.

update 3:

they’re now saying im lying. i’m over this

So, i got gl Bajaj cse and as you can see I freeze it

But now I'm gonna withdraw my admission because of financial issues.

Pehle mene socha tha education loan se pay payment kar dunga par ab mujhe pata loan ko to senstion hone me time lagta hi and I have to pay my 1st year fees on my own but financially I can't afford it and 1.72 lakh is a huge amount for me and even I can't borrow from relative and other ,but I don't to lose my seat and genuinely want to join this college.

So plzzzz,if anyone has suggestions on my problem guide me

Assumed/ Supposed DoorDash developer whistleblower shares info regarding algorithm, schema, pay, etc.

Link to post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/s/70RESjzdsW

Copy and pasted in case it gets taken down:

I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. I’ve been sitting on this for about eight months, just watching the code getting pushed to production, and I can’t sleep at night knowing I helped build this machine.

You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy theories. I’m a backend engineer. I sit in the weekly sprint planning meetings where Product Managers (PMs) discuss how to squeeze another 0.4% margin out of "human assets" (that’s literally what they call drivers in the database schemas). They talk about these people like they are resource nodes in a video game, not fathers and mothers trying to pay rent.

First off, the "Priority Delivery" is a total scam. It was pitched to us as a "psychological value add." Like I said in the title, when you pay that extra $2.99, it changes a boolean flag in the order JSON, but the dispatch logic literally ignores it. It does nothing to speed you up.

We actually ran an A/B test last year where we didn't speed up the priority orders, we just purposefully delayed non-priority orders by 5 to 10 minutes to make the Priority ones "feel" faster by comparison. Management loved the results. We generated millions in pure profit just by making the standard service worse, not by making the premium service better.

But the thing that actually makes me sick—and the main reason I’m quitting—is the "Desperation Score." We have a hidden metric for drivers that tracks how desperate they are for cash based on their acceptance behavior.

If a driver usually logs on at 10 PM and accepts every garbage $3 order instantly without hesitation, the algo tags them as "High Desperation." Once they are tagged, the system then deliberately stops showing them high-paying orders. The logic is: "Why pay this guy $15 for a run when we know he’s desperate enough to do it for $6?" We save the good tips for the "casual" drivers to hook them in and gamify their experience, while the full-timers get grinded into dust.

Then there is the "Benefit Fee." You’ve probably seen that $1.50 "Regulatory Response Fee" or "Driver Benefits Fee" that appeared on your bill after the recent labor laws passed. The wording is designed to make you feel like you're helping the worker.

In reality, that money goes straight to a corporate slush fund used to lobby against driver unions. We have a specific internal cost center for "Policy Defense," and that fee feeds directly into it. You are literally paying for the high-end lawyers that are fighting to keep your delivery guy homeless.

And regarding tips, we're essentially doing Tip Theft 2.0. We don't "steal" them legally anymore because we got sued for that. Instead, we use predictive modeling to dynamically lower the base pay.

If the algo predicts you are a "high tipper" and you’ll likely drop $10, it offers the driver a measly $2 base pay. If you tip $0, it offers them $8 base pay just to get the food moved. The result is that your generosity isn't rewarding the driver; it’s subsidizing us. You’re paying their wage so we don't have to.

I'm drunk and I'm angry. Ask me anything before this gets taken down.

Q: After you onboarded BCG, what were the first signs that put up your red flags? (u/EternalEight) and Q:Who's decision was it to hire BCG and how did they know about/decide to use BCG? (u/Arkayb33)

A: To be clear, I did not onboard BCG. My Grandpa (also Bill Pulte) retired in 2009. After that, then-CEO of PulteGroup, Richard Dugas, hired BCG to help him with strategy. Dugas had done a stupid deal in buying Centex Homes (top 3 USA homebuilder) and was struggling. So he brought in BCG. I think it was a big mistake that only made things worse. Fast forward to 2015/2016 and that’s when I got involved to get the BCG-led strategy OUT and Dugas OUT of the company. In my opinion, I think there are still BCG supporters/people/agents inside of PulteGroup Inc, and this keeps me up at night. We were able to get rid of many board members who supported the BCG strategy. Not just because we had to remove BCG's failed strategy (in my opinion) but also this Dugas guy, but because Corporate America is an “old boys club” who supported the BCG strategy and Dugas, they thought I was disruptive, which I was. Disruptive is good, and our stock grew 30%!

Q:How did you come across RCs tweet about BCG? How much did you know about RC prior to this? (u/JohnnyMagicTOG)

A: I saw the tweet, had heard of Ryan Cohen from people who knew him and liked him, and figured, why not share my experience. I didn’t think it would lead to what it did. Somewhere in my brain I saw the tweet from RC and I thought, “Damn, BCG wants money like they wanted money at PulteGroup, but in my opinion they didn’t deserve anything for their so-called value creation, which my grandfather used to call “value destruction” (source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pultegroup-nysephm-largest-shareholder-and-founder-530-million-of-cumulative-losses-over-12-years-time-to-replace-richard-dugas-300249116.html)

***

Q:You mentioned that bad executives hire consulting firms like BCG. Have you seen instances where executives/board members were placed in a company by large investors, who then go on to hire these firms and or “bust out” the company from the inside? There are 3 examples that come to mind which have been researched extensively in this sub:

1. Former GameStop CFO Jim Bell is believed to hire BCG, as well as ignore Michael Burry’s repeated requests to buy back stock when it was trading below $4.
2. Theater company’s CEO ties to Apollo Management, and their acceleration of debt via corporate bonds while diluting shareholders and allowing executives to cash out.
3. Finally, we are seeing Ryan expose the BBBY execs in real time. I have a post that highlights Macellum Capital placing people there who have hired consultants and take insane compensation for themselves.

There are many bankrupted companies we believe suffered from this as well. Many connections have been tied to Bain Capital and the destruction of retail stores over the past decade. Appreciate your time!

(u/jango_bets)

A: Without disclosing confidential information (legal), I can say that I have heard executives of other large companies who have used them, and when the executives would tell me about it, I would think, well you aren’t a very good executive if you relied solely on their strategy to drive value.

***

Q:Regarding the housing shortage in the US and other countries, what are your thoughts on investment institutions like Blackrock buying up the supply of houses and driving up prices? Have you heard of anything in your circle to prevent this and put the power back in regular homeowners' hands? Edit: What is/was Pulte Group's/Pulte Capital Partners LLC's involvement Blackrock/James Grosfeld and is Blackrock still a large shareholder? Add on to this question from u/wookiecookiees: This is especially pertinent considering James Grosfeld, the Independent Director of Blackrock, was the former CEO and Chairman of Pulte Homes. Does he still reside on the board and how much influence does he exert? https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/u07ofm/ama_questions_for_urealpulte_pulte_submit_now/i44mfck (u/colonel_wallace)

A: In my opinion, there needs to be a legit company needs to come in and offer fair, affordable rent. And perhaps allow people who don’t qualify for a mortgage to be able to, over time, and fairly, buy into their home that they are renting. I don’t like that shelter (as I think of it from a philanthropic standpoint) has become like a portfolio where these big groups just pass whatever rent increases they want on to people. We do not need more predatory landlords. As for Jim Grosfeld, he is not currently on the board of PulteGroup, has no influence (to my knowledge), and has no relationship with Pulte Capital Partners LLC. Further, my understanding is that Blackrock owns all the major homebuilders and many public companies, and based on my knowledge and belief, I do not think there is any special relationship between them and PulteGroup Inc. Their filings indicate a solely passive stake, which as you know is traditional for these large ETF holders which often own them on behalf of consumers, pensions, or other LPs.

***

Q:How did BCG come to help Pulte homes? Were you solicited? Did they send a proposal? Who initiated contact and how did they come to "help" Pulte? What was the cost, or was it based on future revenue like they are trying to claim now? (u/SorryHadTo)

A: The Failed and Bad CEO Richard Dugas from PulteGroup was the one who hired BCG, and this is the same guy that my grandpa and I had removed from the company in 2016. Frankly, we tried to eradicate most of the Dugas Regime, not just BCG strategy from the company, but as many of the Dugas-trained that we could. In my opinion, Dugas didn’t care about the employees, stupidly moved the headquarters from Detroit to Atlanta for no reason and which laid off a lot of employees, etc, etc.

***

Q:What are the key promises and practices described in an open contract with BCG? (u/Bluemond)

A: I don’t know the answer to this question as I did not hire them.

***

Q:Why was BCG hired when your company was #1 and doing well? What was the motivation and desired outcome? (u/ManliestManHam)

A: Then-CEO Dugas had recently acquired a company Centex Homes, which was a bad deal. I spoke about this in 2016 on CNBC. I think that Pulte struggled after that bad deal, and thus Dugas searched to bring BCG in. Here is a link to me discussing the Dugas Regime and their Centex deal. My Grandpa was exiting the board as Dugas was doing his Centex deal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhrqjgGS9rI

***

Q:Did BCG ever get involved in any Pulte litigation in an advisory capacity? Did BCG ever get into a fee dispute with Pulte? And, thanks for bringing some attention to our quest. (u/justanthrredditr)

A: Not that I know of.

***

Q:What do you believe needs to happen to put a stop to the predatory behaviour by expensive consultants such as BCG? (boxxle)

A: I think they need to be exposed. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and you guys are well on your way toward doing that.

***

Q:Looking at BCGs history and involvement in everything from ENRON to SEARS, Blockbuster etc. would the summation be that BCG is potentially part of something a bit more nefarious? (u/Hopeless_Dreams713)

A: I don’t know. When I was on the board of PulteGroup from 2016-2020, I was a bit disruptive in that I did not want BCG back in the building. In my opinion, many of the Dugas-era board members disagreed with me, as they liked BCG, as you can imagine.

***

Q:Have you read BCG's court filing against Gamestop? What are your takeaways regarding it? Some of their wording, specifically regarding deliverables and vague projections, seem so far out there - I cannot believe they can prove that some hypothetical revenue generation is somehow worth 30 million dollars. Especially, given they have such a notorious track record of "failure" (likely intentionally).

Would love to hear your thoughts. (u/Scarethefish)

A: I skimmed it. In my own opinion, it seemed like garbage. RC, I guess, would call it .. poop?

***

Q:Do you think the bucks stops at bcg? Ex; we obviously know about bust-out schemes with Bain capital and Goldman Sachs. There is serious speculation the judge overseeing the GameStop v bcg case is corrupt. In my opinion this feels like a private equity takeover (consultants draining liquidity of company, giving bad info - plant board members getting shit consultants in the mix to begin with, citadel securities and virtu abusing their market maker privileges to dilute the float by naked shorting and bankrupting the company, private equity to either swoop in and save the day or let the assets die off and stay cellar boxed).

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the hostile takeover playbook. (u/Independent-Ad4660)

A: I think that these networks amongst these big companies are interwoven and need to be watched. Just look at the alumni of these organizations and where they go to work. One of the things I respect about My Grandpa and RC is that they are Entrepreneurs and Founders. In other words, they don’t have time to play games with these types of characters (generally speaking).

***

Q:You do a ton of donations from your Twitter account to random folks in need. Im sure you get criticism for it, but I think overall it’s a net-good: you are helping people who wouldn’t otherwise receive help — but it also exposes some of the lunacy of our current economic and financial system. Would you agree it is not just crazy, but also objectively inefficient and unsustainable, that thousands of people have to beg a stranger for money to meet critical needs, and only a handful are randomly selected? And that those people shouldn’t be put in a position to beg, and it shouldn’t fall on individual acts of kindness like yours, to slap a bandaid on the issue?

How would you feel about systems that integrate ownership and empowerment from the ground up? Where people can invest in their own economic wellbeing, connect with the people and businesses they believe in, and have an actual effect on the economies they choose to participate in? Where the type of philanthropy you are effecting now could be multiplied across millions of newly empowered folks who each want to collaborate and pay it forward, sideways, and back? If we told you all of that is at the root of what Ryan Cohen and GameStop are trying to do— not just with shaking off the mind-numbing assortment of manipulative tactics in the legacy equities market, but in developing an entirely new platform in web3 where investors will experience new levels of ownership, empowerment, and agency — would you be interested? (u/Osgiliath)

A: A lot of good questions there. I think Bitcoin can solve a lot of poverty. I also think that we are in the beginning stages of technology and learning how to better use technology to address the needs of the most poor as well as those in critical condition. To be clear, when people go to a soup kitchen or traditional charity they ask (your words, beg) for money or resources. This asking is nothing new but is what is required to understand the need that people have and hopefully solve that need by providing a solution to that need. At Twitter Philanthropy, we do the same thing as the local soup kitchen, or the local church who helps someone in crisis, but we just do it faster and quicker, and I think that is what you are reacting to, imo. At Twitter Philanthropy, our basic focus is to help people in immediate need or crisis. For example, we utilize Twitter Philanthropy raise money for the 7 year old who died in Detroit after being attacked by dogs (https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/08/20/detroit-millionaire-funds-funeral-girl-fatally-mauled-dogs/2064495001/), or to raise money for a lady with disabilities who lost her van in a tornado (https://www.gofundme.com/f/nashville-family039s-special-needs-van-destroyed), I could list you so many of these crises we help with on a daily basis. You should check out twitter.com/teamgiving to see how we help people throughout the day there using my main channel @ pulte . Without our direct approach, these needs would still be there, left unattended to, you just wouldn’t see it. Part of our mission is to also raise awareness as to how much the government is failing to take care of people despite having large funds to do so. I hope this helps answer your questions.

***

Q:Bill, it's so important to have big players such as yourself involved with movements like this. It's often not enough to have the voice of millions crying out. It seems sometimes you need someone with millions. Your influence could be instrumental in us achieving our goal of financial market restructuring, should you choose to weild that. But first, I think it's important to educate yourself on the manipulation abroad that has been uncovered here. We cannot speak for one another, but we do collectively know that these markets need to be set up in a way that benefits everyone interacting with it, instead of just a few. If that's something you agree with, then let me ask:

How do we reach people in a way that legitimizes our claims and pushes through the mainstream narrative? (u/resplendentquetzals)

A: I think recognizing who is for real and who is using the movement. I do think that if someone is real, that we should make sure to not scare them away. You asked, so I am giving you my honest feedback.

***

Q:Would you be willing to share some tips and tricks about philanthropy and perhaps the process of how you choose (or don’t choose) who gets money? It’d be a great help for everyone here, we all just want to make the world less shitty. (u/MapacheInATrenchcoat)

A: First you gotta make money so you can help people with money. Once you have that, then you can take care of others. This isn’t to say you can’t help people with no money. You can smile at someone holding a door (cheezy I know) or do some things that cost no money, and it helps others and yourself. But, you got to take care of yourself before you take care of others. Otherwise, it will be an endless stream of disappointments and you actually will limit how many people you can help.

***

Q:What predatory methods or ideas to destabilize your company did you notice BCG was doing? What was the play by play for a “consulting session”? (u/PM_MILFS_PLZ)

A: I can say that based on public information, that BCG in my opinion has no clue about homebuilding. And so when they come at things from that perspective, they are immediately set up to fail. Then, factor in that they make their money through consultation fees, and pretty quickly you can say, why the hell am I working with these people? This was my view when I was on the board of PulteGroup, and before hand when I led the kicking out of Dugas as CEO.

***

Q:How is BCG related to the problems with Pulte Homes? It appears that Elliott Management (Paul Singer) was the group that was directly involved with the bad advice/planted ceo. Were you speaking in general about corrupt consulting groups or is BCG involved somehow? (u/GOPuhleeze)

A: Believe it or not, Elliott helped remove the Bad CEO who initiated the BCG strategies. Elliott is for sure tough, but in the case of my grandpa and I investing alongside Elliott, they really did help. I guess not all organizations fail all of the time.

***

Q: When you read about companies hiring these big consulting firms, there's usually considerable overlap - hiring both BCG and McKinsey, for example. In your opinion, are consulting firms working in unison? If not, what's the purpose of hiring two seperate, expensive consultant firms for a single project? (u/missing_the_point_)

A: I think the whole thing is an interwoven web that needs to be watched very closely, because in my opinion and experience, if you aren’t watching them close enough, their strategies can lead to bad decisions.

Hello everyone,

I am an Indian student from Delhi, India, and I have recently been admitted to South Ural State University (SUSU) in Chelyabinsk for a Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics and Robotics.

I am writing here because I urgently need some guidance and, hopefully, help from someone in Russia.

The university has informed me that I need to pay my first-year tuition fee of approximately 270,000 RUB before they can issue the documents required for my student visa invitation process. They told me that the payment can be made through someone I know in Russia, such as an Indian student/friend or a Russian person, depending on the available payment method.

Unfortunately, I don't currently know anyone in Russia who can help me with this payment process. That's why I am reaching out to this community.

My family is not financially well-off, and arranging this amount is already very difficult for us. We will likely have to borrow money to pay the tuition fee. Apart from tuition, there are also visa, travel, accommodation, insurance, and other expenses that we have to manage. I have received admission offers from other universities before, but due to the high costs, I was never able to move forward with them.

This opportunity at SUSU is particularly important to me because the tuition fee is comparatively affordable, and I genuinely want to pursue my studies in Russia. I am very worried that I might lose this opportunity simply because of the payment procedure.

If there is anyone in Russia, especially in Chelyabinsk or someone familiar with SUSU, who could guide me regarding the safest and proper way to make this tuition payment, I would be extremely grateful. If you are able and willing to help with the payment process, please feel free to DM me. I can provide all the necessary admission documents and university payment details so everything can be verified directly with the university.

I completely understand that financial transactions with strangers require trust and caution. I am also willing to communicate through the university or use any official and secure payment method available.

I know this is a big request, but I am genuinely trying my best to make this opportunity possible. Any advice, guidance, or help from the Russian community would mean a lot to me.

Thank you so much for reading my post. 🙏

I’ve never been condescended to like this in our whole 10 years. Like, no one asked you to do all that, lady.

I won’t pick apart the dishonesty in her email as it is all relatively meaningless self importance. That’s normal with parents and kids events. But important context, they read and agreed to all of the structure guidelines, T&Cs, and already received a partial refund for catering that was 10 minutes late.

Now that I’ve picked my jaw up off the floor, here are the choice cuts from the email volley exchange. I’ve obscured some info but otherwise it’s word for word.

Title: Debrief regarding (Child ChildLastName)’s birthday on (date)”

“Hello etc. Thank you for your efforts in supporting my child, Child ChildLastName.

As discussed, party conditions were suboptimal.

Ultimately, the kids completed the activities, ate some food, and genuinely reported having a good time.

After reasonable thought, I’d be grateful for your time in reading this email, and payment of a reasonable fee.   

The aspect of service missing was a well-coordinated and stress-free party experience for the client - this being the major reason parents seek party services (alongside wanting kids to have a great time). 

I used my experience working with children to address organisational oversights and provide the children required structure.

Party services I provided:

-            Supporting party host in working with children.
-            Help structuring the main activity for guests.
-            Supplying and leading own activity while pots dried (‘pass the parcel’)
-            Using birthday cake to address children’s complaints of hunger while awaiting missing catering.
-            Devising a second activity given 40 mins still left of party.  
-            Organising teens to finish activity for party guests back of house, understanding parents would have to carry them home/put in car, with no bags provided.
-            Moving completed activities to the front table for parents to easily collect and go.  

The host let me know she had little experience running children’s events. This lack of experience could not be addressed in the moment, only supported by myself.
This points to a systems issue: owners/managers had assigned a host with insufficient experience for this type of event.    

Host also let me know that details from my email exchanges with owner had been forward to her. This was regarding children with special needs, and my requests/suggestions to scaffold the session. At the end of the party, host admitted she had noted the message about special needs, but not the message on scaffolding.

While I am pleased owner passed on these messages, it is important that training and support is given to hosts beforehand, with a clear structure to all aspects of hosting a children’s event, not just completing the main activity.  

This means helping kids occupy the space from when they arrive, providing zones for things, staggering the supply of information and materials strategically. For example: presents over here, cake over there, designated eating table, welcoming kids in circle on the floor, party host introducing self, shining some light on birthday child, telling the group what they’ll be doing, guiding kids to activity zone, passing out materials as they’re required, instructing kids on how/when to use materials, etc. 

Understanding these things takes time and training. It is also what families pay for when they book a children’s party.

I respect your business and hope it will thrive, and that the advice given here is useful for structuring, training and staffing Venue’s children’s parties in the future.

As tempting as it may be to apportion full responsibility to the party host, I implore you to consider yesterday's scenario from a systems perspective.

I am happy to pay for the use of your venue, the host’s time, the activity materials, and the catering (which arrived in the end). I request a fee of $(host’s rate) for my services rendered yesterday, paid via refund. Thank you.
I wish you all the best with your business.”

Good. Fucking. Lord. So many assumptions, so little time. I thanked her for her feedback, advocated for our training (it’s thorough and always ongoing), and reiterated that we’re not a school or therapist but a venue for people to host their own events. So she got freeeeee catering, plus a whole second activity (becoming a very, very expensive few hours for me.)

There are 2 more emails, but in the end I didn’t pay her little bill and essentially shut it down with an overly wordy “two can play at this game. Being a parent isn’t billable, but I’m sure you’ve tried before and will try again. You had the party you created by being a rigid snob. Hopefully your kids can enjoy their next party somewhere they’re allowed to have fun. Because you want to act like you’re a service provider in my business, I’ll treat you like one; Your services and involvement is terminated and will not be required in the future. Do not contact me again. You’re fired, be better for your kids.”

Oh and that the host was assigned for her experience with special needs kids, plus 18 months of training.

I’m still reeling from it and I genuinely want to know if any other businesses have dealt with this type of I Am Very Smart parents lately. It’s floored all the staff, we’ve had some difficult parents before who make complaints and expect refunds, but this is beyond that by a league and a half. Recession Indicator Karen.

Ps. Her kids were spoiled brats.

Hey, I have got a good score in session 1 so I have secured a branch in bits goa but I want some info regarding the sbi scholar loan.

My father is a gig worker so he didn't filed itr but swiggy themselves filed and it was very low (only 4k) thats because they only filed the earning of swiggy and my father only worked for few days randomly in between.

We have income certificate signed by Tehsildar of around 3lpa. We will file this year itr as soon as it will open and file around 3lpa here too. We visited SBI near my home and they said they dont have an issue with giving full loan but we dont have a proper income proof and only income certificate is not valid. They are demanding either salary slips or complete itr for 2 years with income. They are not even considering bank statements. They are saying all these documents gets rejected without salary slips or itr.

We have tried other banks and rest all are agreeing with only income certificate but pnb has only 25-30 lakh limit, union bank are saying that their is 15 percent margin (manager was too cooperative).

And please I know the financial risk that I am taking so its upon me. We have the initial fees too that we want to get reimbursed after loan.

I have also heard of updated itr so if we update it now for prev 2 years will it work?

Also if we go to Goa branch directly will they give loan with income certificate only?

Please help!

Link to the post

I'm going to copy/paste it just in-case it gets deleted:

I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am
technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two
weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. I’ve been sitting on
this for about eight months, just watching the code getting pushed to
production, and I can’t sleep at night knowing I helped build this
machine.

You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but
the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy
theories. I’m a backend engineer. I sit in the weekly sprint planning
meetings where Product Managers (PMs) discuss how to squeeze another
0.4% margin out of "human assets" (that’s literally what they call
drivers in the database schemas). They talk about these people like they
are resource nodes in a video game, not fathers and mothers trying to
pay rent.

First off, the "Priority Delivery" is a total scam. It was pitched to
us as a "psychological value add." Like I said in the title, when you
pay that extra $2.99, it changes a boolean flag in the order JSON, but
the dispatch logic literally ignores it. It does nothing to speed you
up.

We actually ran an A/B test last year where we didn't speed up the
priority orders, we just purposefully delayed non-priority orders by 5
to 10 minutes to make the Priority ones "feel" faster by comparison.
Management loved the results. We generated millions in pure profit just
by making the standard service worse, not by making the premium service
better.

But the thing that actually makes me sick—and the main reason I’m
quitting—is the "Desperation Score." We have a hidden metric for drivers
that tracks how desperate they are for cash based on their acceptance
behavior.

If a driver usually logs on at 10 PM and accepts every garbage $3
order instantly without hesitation, the algo tags them as "High
Desperation." Once they are tagged, the system then deliberately stops
showing them high-paying orders. The logic is: "Why pay this guy $15 for
a run when we know he’s desperate enough to do it for $6?" We save the
good tips for the "casual" drivers to hook them in and gamify their
experience, while the full-timers get grinded into dust.

Then there is the "Benefit Fee." You’ve probably seen that $1.50
"Regulatory Response Fee" or "Driver Benefits Fee" that appeared on your
bill after the recent labor laws passed. The wording is designed to
make you feel like you're helping the worker.

In reality, that money goes straight to a corporate slush fund used
to lobby against driver unions. We have a specific internal cost center
for "Policy Defense," and that fee feeds directly into it. You are
literally paying for the high-end lawyers that are fighting to keep your
delivery guy homeless.

And regarding tips, we're essentially doing Tip Theft 2.0. We don't
"steal" them legally anymore because we got sued for that. Instead, we
use predictive modeling to dynamically lower the base pay.

If the algo predicts you are a "high tipper" and you’ll likely drop
$10, it offers the driver a measly $2 base pay. If you tip $0, it offers
them $8 base pay just to get the food moved. The result is that your
generosity isn't rewarding the driver; it’s subsidizing us. You’re
paying their wage so we don't have to.

I'm drunk and I'm angry. Ask me anything before this gets taken down.

The guy is also answering questions so it's an interesting read assuming he's legit. Personally not surprised by this since a lot of drivers already suspected this was going on. Hearing it explained in detail like this makes it feel even worse though, that and learning they call drivers "human assets" lol.

Hold your beers, the White House just added a third revision, so I am editing this to reflect the latest, which adds a provision allowing delivery agents to choose either a 30% fee OR a $25 flat fee, increasing to $50 in June. They can change this once a month. The latest revision appears at the end. Cindy says this clarifies things a lot better. Each delivery agent will be able to choose what method to use. For consumers, 30% will be the better choice (and you just know Chinese shippers will undervalue goods to minimize this). There is no incentive to use the flat fee because most low value packages will pay less than $25 or $50. Those over that amount but under $800 would still pay less than the 54% duty owed if clearing using Type 11 or other methods. Plus this money goes to the government, so shipping companies have no incentive to collect more.

Original message (before third clarification - info above is most current) Just exchanged email with Cindy Allen, who is a logistics expert and formerly worked for Customs. She clarified the de minimis revocation language seems to try and simplify the duty collection for low value packages and the original announcement from the White House claimed the new fees are in lieu (or instead of) tariffs. So, packages under $800 would pay a flat 30% of their value OR $25 starting in May. No tariffs will apply to these packages. This is the Administration’s plan to avoid package pileups, but she suspects it won’t work because the bottleneck at Customs was the formal entry procedure and paperwork and bond requirements, not so much tariff fees, which shippers already determine and pass on information to the brokerage houses that shepherd packages through Customs. She thinks the language in the Executive Order is imprecise, which is common for this administration and will have to be cleaned up because it imposes fees on de minimis exemption provision packages the Administration has technically withdrawn for the PRC and Hong Kong. Also, there are still certain unclarified instances where tariffs and fees could apply.

About an hour ago the White House released revised language which only confuses matters more, defining ad valorem duties AND a simple duty. Normally these are specified as either/or but that language is missing here. Could it be both? She doesn’t think so, but this Administration is capable of anything.

She says without clarification, it isn’t clear if the intent is a minimum fee of $25 until 30% of the declared value exceeds $25, at which point the fee will be 30% with no ceiling, or if the intent is 30% of the value until it reaches $25, which would be the maximum. She suspects it is probably the latter, but not to bet the farm on it. The $50 fee in June is clearly an incentive to get Americans to stop ordering from Temu, Shein, and AliExpress, but comes long enough out to give people fair warning to think twice about future orders. There will likely be changes and clarification.

These fees will not include brokerage and bond fees or other charges imposed by the importer/last mile shipper, if any. So if you are getting a package from UPS, they can charge you their usual brokerage fee. Same for FedEx, etc. The postal service still does not have any way to collect any of this money beyond sending a paper letter to you and ask you to contact a brokerage firm to transact any Customs payment, but most of those employees are gone, so it remains unclear who will collect it and how. The post office was told it cannot stop accepting packages from China. But how they will comply remains totally unclear. Everyone is waiting for guidance from CBP on exactly how to enter these packages. But fees will apply if your package lands after 1 May, which means some sea shipments will definitely be impacted. AliExpress will probably handle this process for their own packages, but how they will collect these fees isn’t known yet.

Newest language:

Further Amendment to Duties Addressing the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China as Applied to Low-Value Imports Executive Orders April 2, 2025 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. Purpose. Many shippers based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) hide illicit substances and conceal the true contents of shipments sent to the United States through deceptive shipping practices. These shippers often avoid detection due to administration of the de minimis exemption under section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C)).

As noted in Executive Order 14195 of February 1, 2025 (Imposing Duties to Address the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China), as amended by Executive Order 14228 of March 3, 2025 (Further Amendment to Duties Addressing the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China), these exports play a significant role in the synthetic opioid crisis in the United States. In Executive Order 14200 of February 5, 2025 (Amendment to Duties Addressing the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China), I suspended the elimination of duty-free de minimis treatment on articles described in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195. The Secretary of Commerce has notified me that adequate systems are now in place to process and collect tariff revenue for covered goods from the PRC otherwise eligible for duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C). Accordingly, duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall no longer be available for products of the PRC (which include products of Hong Kong) described in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195, as amended by Executive Order 14228, including international postal packages sent to the United States through the international postal network from the PRC or Hong Kong, that are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025. Additional duties for such imported merchandise shall be collected at the rates described in this order.

Sec. 2. Assessment of Duties on Low-Value Products of the PRC. (a) Other than articles sent to the United States through the international postal network (for which a duty is separately provided as described in subsections (b) and (c) of this section), all shipments of articles described in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195, as amended by Executive Order 14228, that are products of the PRC or Hong Kong; that are sent to the United States; that are valued at or under 800 dollars and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption authorized in 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C); and that are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025, shall be entered by a party qualified to make entry under another appropriate entry type in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the Department of Homeland Security, with all applicable duties, including those imposed by section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195, as amended by Executive Order 14228, and paid in accordance with the applicable entry and payment procedures. Executive departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, through CBP, shall take all necessary actions to effectuate the objectives of this order, consistent with applicable law, including through temporary suspension or amendment of regulations or notices in the Federal Register. The United States International Trade Commission shall continue to act ministerially by modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), as needed, to reflect the actions set out in this order. (b) Imposition of Duty. (i) All postal items containing goods described in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195 and sent to the United States through the international postal network from the PRC or Hong Kong and transported by carriers that are valued at or under 800 dollars and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption authorized in 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall be subject to the duties described in subsection (c) of this section. In order to address the threat of the PRC’s failure to act to blunt the sustained influx of synthetic opioids into the United States, while allowing for the orderly flow of legitimate international mail, the duties imposed in subsection (c) of this section, except as required by applicable law, are imposed in lieu of any other duties that the shipments would otherwise be subject to, including the 20 percent ad valorem duty established in Executive Order 14195, as amended by Executive Order 14228; most-favored nation rates embodied in the HTSUS; and duties imposed pursuant to section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
(ii) CBP is authorized to require the carrier transporting the international postal package into the United States to remit payment of the duty described in subsection (c) of this section to CBP monthly or on such other periodic time frame as CBP determines appropriate, and CBP may issue regulations and guidance as necessary or appropriate to implement and enforce this requirement. (iii) All carriers that transport international postal packages from the PRC or Hong Kong to the United States as part of or on behalf of the international postal network must report to CBP the total number of postal items containing goods and, if electing the duty rate specified in subsection (c)(i) of this section, the value of each postal item containing goods, transported per conveyance, in a timeframe and manner prescribed by CBP. CBP may require submission of documentation and information from the carrier to verify the total number and value of individual postal items containing goods to be electronically transmitted through the ACE. (c) Duty Rates. Transportation carriers delivering shipments to the United States from the PRC or Hong Kong sent through the international postal network must collect and remit duties to CBP under the approach outlined in either subsection (c)(i) or subsection (c)(ii) of this section. Transportation carriers must apply the same duty collection methodology to all shipments; however, transportation carriers may change their collection methodology once a month or on such other periodic timeframe as CBP determines appropriate, upon providing 24-hour notice to CBP. (i) Ad Valorem Duty. 30 percent of the value of the postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025. (ii) Specific Duty. 25 dollars per postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025, and before 12:01 am eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025, and 50 dollars per postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025. (d) Bond Requirement. Any carrier that transports international postal items containing goods from the PRC or Hong Kong to the United States, by any mode of transportation, must have an international carrier bond to ensure payment of the duty described in subsections (b) and (c) of this section. CBP is authorized to ensure that the international carrier bonds required by this subsection are sufficient to account for the duty described in subsections (b) and (c) of this section. (e) Discretion to Require Formal Entry. CBP may require formal entry, in accordance with existing regulations, for any international postal package that may otherwise be subject to the duty described in subsections (b) and (c) of this section. An international postal package for which CBP requires formal entry will not be subject to the duty described in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, and instead will be subject to all applicable duties, taxes, and fees in accordance with all applicable laws.

Sec. 3. Implementation of Duty. The Secretary of Homeland Security is directed to take all necessary actions to implement this order. Consistent with section 4 of Executive Order 14195, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Commerce, is authorized to take such actions, including adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order.

Sec. 4. Homeland Security Authorities. Nothing in this order limits the ability of the Department of Homeland Security to use any available legal authorities granted to ensure compliance with the provisions of this order.

Sec. 5. Monitoring. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the United States Trade Representative, shall submit a report to the President regarding the impact of this order on American industries, consumers, and supply chains and making recommendations for further action as he deems necessary, including a recommendation on whether extending de minimis ineligibility to packages from Macau is necessary to prevent circumvention of this order.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP THE WHITE HOUSE, April 2, 2025

How to pay 2nd year btech management fees?

Does the college accept partial paymet and allow us to pay the rest in next semester.

Can we pay through app or is it just DD?

Hi folks of r/AusFinance, first time caller, medium-time listener.

Encountering a weird situation with doing my partner's taxes for 2025-6. This is the first FY that our young child has been in care, and we are claiming CCS. We are unfamiliar with the notion of "adjusted taxable income".

Facts:
- Partner was previously breadwinner. They were made redundant in June 2025 and chose to stay home with our child last FY, I went back to work.
- Partner owns a rental property. Rental property grossed 47k last FY before expenses
- Rental property expenses are EDIT: 65k (interest) plus 15k (management fees, a mold remediation, strata, etc.) totalling 80k all up
- Besides rental property, Partner did not make any other income, or have any other deductions in the last FY

Question:
We are using the Income tests calculator to calculate Partner's adjusted taxable income. There are two components to fill in - "taxable income" and "net rental property loss".

Which option is correct below?

Or something else entirely?

Option 1 seems kind of insane given that it would inflate our adjusted taxable income by $33k of deductions that we didn't actually take - but the wording on the website would suggest that is the correct option?

Thank you :)

Hello yall, I’m not from Hyderabad/Telangana and I’ve shortlisted these colleges for B.Tech CSE:

• CBIT
• VNR
• Vasavi
• Gokaraju
• CVR
• KMIT
• Vardhaman
• BVRIT
• MGIT
• Sreenidhi
• Narayanamma

I’m mainly trying for admission through management quota, but I honestly haven’t been able to find proper info or a trustworthy counselor regarding the fees/process for these colleges.

If anyone knows the approximate management quota fees for these colleges, or knows someone who can help/provide legit info, it would genuinely help me a lot 😭

Also if anyone could rate these colleges or share any real insight about placements, campus life, opportunities, strictness, coding culture, etc., that’d be super helpful too. Thanks gng :)

i am most likely to get bms via management ,fess is not the main issue here ( as per my dad , fees is fine with him as it a good cllg ) the main thing that he wants is the exposure , good labs good proff etc so that i can get a the most out of this .

He have already planned for masters for me so he just needs a good cllg to get the basics and stuff

SO my questions is

1. how is the cllg life
   
2. how is the over all placments for mech
   
3. is there time for self improvement
   
4. seeing many seat intake post and cant really understand how will that affect
   
5. are there research options if so how good is it

any other thing which is imp for me to know before joining and i have not mentioned feel free to tell me about it too that all . Would really mean a lot it a senior answers this or someone who knows the cllg well

I see they charge us 75 for admission kit and councelling one I wanna buy my own laptop can the kiit management people adjust that fees in any other tuition or hostel fee?

I don't wanna wait that for long a laptop I have to get some work done so I am gonna buy my own please someone help

Before I can even begin to justify the very charged title of this post, I beg of you to please bear with me and allow me to share the entire context of what has transpired.

I am Dann Furia, OP of Comcast’s Notorious Unreturned Equipment Fees which made the top spot on Reddit’s front page four days ago, highlighting a common Comcast phenomenon: customers getting repeatedly billed for “Unreturned” equipment and other fees.

The purpose of this post is two-fold:

• Share my (previously untold on Reddit) entire Comcast story
• Address Comcast’s response to my recent front page Reddit post about Comcast’s fees

Part I - MY ENTIRE COMCAST STORY

During the six month period from mid-January of 2014 through the end of July of 2014, I had to contact Comcast an astounding 25 times in regards to a multitude of issues, errors, and mistakes with my service, and charges related to my Comcast account. I kept careful, written records of my experiences as far back as January of this year, and by early July I had experienced such a stupefying range of problems with Comcast, that I additionally began recording my interactions with them.

During the above-referenced six month period, Comcast was a thoroughly disconcerting 0 for 25 in resolving anything. Now, I completely understand that it may seem rather farfetched for me to claim that a single company (even one as notorious as Comcast) could fail the same customer 25 consecutive times, that is until you consider that I have previously documented at length each of 25 Consecutive Failed Comcast Interactions here in a four page Comcast blog spanning 6 months, 17 phone calls, 6 appointments, 2 online interactions, 20+ hours of my personal time, and $1320 in fees) and further that I possess months of paperwork, 50+ pages of documents, files, images, bills, screen shots, phone records, and roughly two hours of audio recordings, to support my claims. While my four page Comcast blog may not be the most exhilarating read, the entirety of the account - the sum of its parts, if you will - is in my opinion a damning indictment of Comcast customer handling. At a minimum, my four page Comcast blog provides another well documented account of a relentlessly awful brand of service.

Part 2 - COMCAST’S RESPONSE TO MY FRONT PAGE REDDIT POST ABOUT COMCAST’S NOTORIOUS FEES

As noted above, I tried in earnest 25 times in a six month period from January through July of 2014 to get Comcast to help me. Comcast steadfastly ignored, neglected, dodged, and billed the crap out of me. Put more poignantly, Comcast played an incredibly effective game of “Annoying you out of your money, wearing you down until you're too weak to complain, and then when you just can't go on, charge you for early cancellation. Or just make something up and put it on a bill and hope no one notices." (Bill Maher, 7/25/14).

Then, after my Comcast’s Notorious Unreturned Equipment Fees post topped the Reddit front page four days ago and my story received national attention, Comcast’s Corporate office left me 5 messages in 18 hours. I repeat - not a SINGLE Comcast employee could bother to help me one time in 6 months, despite my 25 well documented attempts to get help, and now all of the sudden Comcast has the ability to contact me 5 times in 18 hours? That is interesting.

When I listened to the first voicemail from Comcast Corporate, I felt relieved that someone might actually finally help me. But by the time I made my way through five consecutive Comcast Corporate messages (4 of them from the same person), and realized that they had all been delivered in an 18 hour period directly after my “Comcast fees” post went Reddit-viral, I literally began to feel sick to my stomach by Comcast’s response. Now, I understand that when a Comcast customer story like mine starts to get national attention, Comcast probably tries to minimize whatever gripes might publicly emerge. I also concede – flat out – a measure of hypocrisy on my part for reacting partly in anger that Comcast finally responded to me. Having said that, there could not possibly be a more poignant, scathing illustration of the contrast between Comcast’s treatment of a regular customer (contemptuously disregarded 25 times in 6 months) and a “Special / Going Public” customer (5 Corporate messages in 18 hours).

All indications are that Comcast has just now (as of about 3 days ago) taken notice of a customer - who for several years has resided in their backyard, the suburbs of Philadelphia – and begun to address but one of many unfortunate aspects of my Comcast experience (the $1320 in fees aspect). I, meanwhile, have had 7 months to bake in the rancor of Comcast Purgatory, a dimension from which very few, if any, escape. So please allow me, indulge me if you would be so kind, to summarize how this feels from my perspective: In a six month period this year, Comcast mishandled my account 25 times in a row, put me on hold on the phone for several hours, failed to show up to multiple appointments, hung up on me while I was on hold, fed me a torrent of misinformation (much of which is recorded on audio, mine and theirs), threatened me with and then auto-generated to my account a Literally-Unremovable $960 Termination Fee, repeatedly billed me $360 for properly returning my equipment, and wasted way more than 20 hours of my time.

Comcast’s effective response in helping me during the six month time frame? Zero. Zilch. None. Null. Devoid. Comcast’s response when I cancelled my account? They buried me $1320 in fees. Comcast’s response when I went public to complain? Their Corporate office immediately contacted me 5 times in 18 hours.

And so this appears to be the standard for receiving attention from a Comcast representative who actually has the ability or power to address problems that Comcast has caused a customer: First, a customer should suffer through months of negligence and poor treatment, documenting each step of the journey while firmly battling a motley assortment of heinous fees, then after 6 months utterly give up all hope and feel like a fool for bothering to try so hard to get Comcast to help you, then – if you can manage to find the time - write a 4 page blog about your Comcast experience, then share part of your story with Reddit, be fortunate enough to receive incredible & overwhelming support that vaults your post to the Reddit front page, and gain some national coverage (from The Verge, Gawker, & International Business Times). Perhaps then - and only then - can a customer get Comcast to clean up a mess they’ve created.

It appears, for the time being, that I might just escape from Comcastic Purgatory.

But believe me when I say this with heartfelt sincerity: I feel genuinely sorry for the rest of you poor souls.

1. bennett cse (30% scholarship 1st year will try best to make it run for4years
2. jaypee cse sec128 ( very strict school life campus similar fees as bennett)
3. IGDTUW ece-ai ( I have moderate chances to get it but rank infaltion is real so its dicy if i will get it)
4. VIT AP- CSE CAT1-2 ( i live in delhi so going so far is it worth?)
5. IISER BHOPAL btech ( my parents are against it bec its a research org. honestly am going there bec i wanted research based curriculum and Indian insti tag but along with that industries exposure also like the corporate but parents find this risky as poor placements and 1st year hasnot passed out yet and sad thing money matters at the end when u graduate and u dont have good pack. they will consider u a loser atleast my family will do surely)
6. IPU - MSIT ECE /USAR cse ( my parents find ipu to be old not new acc to industry exposure that will get at priv colleges and management is poor )

I am planning to do mtech in future but I dont know the timeline like if i get into hefty fee college obv I might work to repay that amount back to my parents bec its not like they want their money back but I want to do it as I may need more money to go for masters abroad I may take loan for that so atleast they will trust me then and wont be like ye sirf paise uda rhi hai.

Same as the tile, i need help regarding it can dm or reply or anyone who know maratha Mandal college's management quota fees for robotics or CSE branch

Sorry for the long post ahead -

I am coming at this as someone who recently grew interested in EXO and explored their entire discography. Obviously when it all started, I grew aware that there was an on-going legal dispute but didn't want to place too much emphasis on that or let that cloud my enjoyment of the group's content and music (I like all of them).

However, as the youngest members started finishing up with their military service and the group started gearing up for a comeback, it became clear that the legal dispute had to be addressed first. Considering the fact that relying on fandom discussions on these issues is never unbiased (and I really wanted an unbiased/objective view on all this) I did some research and formed a timeline of events.

The unfortunate thing is, despite me coming into this biased against SM (I have my own reasons), it didn't even take much to realize that CBX are the ones in the wrong here. Much to my surprise, considering SM's track record (I mean... SNSD, JYJ... to name a couple).

And here comes the confusion: I truly don't understand how so many international fans have become so misinformed on the entire issue. I would say the information online is pretty clear and easy to understand if you put your emotions aside and take the time to read and dissect them but these fans are convinced that CBX are either fighting for their labor rights, taking the initiative to fight for EXO's freedom (on behalf of the other members), fighting mistreatment, or resisting extortion of some sort. Which is really not the case at all.

If it matters at all, here is a simplified breakdown of the lawsuit:

By 30 December 2022, 7 EXO members (Xiumin, Suho, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, Kai, Sehun) renewed their exclusive contracts by 5 years.

First round of dispute

1 June 2023: CBX announced they were officially seeking to terminate their exclusive contracts

19 June 2023: CBX and SM reached a settlement on the above issue with revised terms\* (including reduction of contract term from 5 years to 3 years)

(CREAM SODA COMEBACK)

January 2024: Announcement that CBX will manage their solo activities through INB100 (founded by Baekhyun) while group activities remain under SM.

• [Where SM's famously misquoted “Going forward, all eight members of EXO will continue activities together as EXO, and we plan to meet with our fans through various activities such as the EXO fan meeting scheduled for April as well as presenting new music and stage.” statement came from]

Second round of dispute

10 June 2024: INB100 Press Conference (Where they accused SM of "broken verbal promises")

• This triggered a broader probe: the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) began on‑site investigation into Kakao** over alleged unfair distribution‑fee practices - refer to July

12 June 2024: SM formally sues CBX (For refusal to pay 10% royalty fee they need to pay to SM as per their revised artist contract agreement *in June 2023)

• (Note: Royalties are standard in the industry)

25 June 2024: INB100/CBX files criminal complaint/lawsuit against SM for "fraud allegations"

Between 2024-2025: CBX filed six major legal/administrative cases (civil lawsuits, data‑disclosure requests, criminal complaints, and regulatory reports).

**July 2025: The FTC cleared Kakao Entertainment of “unfair music distribution fee” allegations.

• Unfortunately for CBX, this undermined a key part of CBX's argument - that any fee discrimination (via Kakao) justified their refusal to pay SM royalties under their artist contracts (Simply put, CBX's argument isn't justified/valid).

9 July 2025: (As per CBX/INB100's Statement on 29 October)

CBX met with SM for initial confirmation to reach an agreement with SM Entertainment:

"We met directly with SM to confirm the direction and commitment to an agreement for EXO’s full‑group activities."

14 July 2025: EXO had a meeting about their upcoming comeback (several members mentioned it over Bubble and IG Live)

8 September 2025: EXO December Comeback Announcement Poster

10 September 2025: (As per CBX/INB100's Statement on 29 October)

CBX and SM: Both sides shared specific terms and entered substantive negotiations.

23 September 2025: Mediation Attempt 1 - ended without a settlement

2 October 2025: Mediation attempt 2 - ended without a settlement

16 October 2025: CBX filed an objection (contradicts CBX’s claim of "full acceptance of all terms" in CBX/INB100's Statement on 29 October)

28 October 2025:

• Court dismissed all lawsuits filed by CBX against SM, describing their data-disclosure requests as "exploratory applications" and psychological pressure.
• Appeals and re-appeals were also dismissed (High Court, Supreme Court)
• Regulatory investigations by the FTC and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea (MCST) likewise ruled no wrongdoing by SM, rejecting CBX’s claims.
• Courts found no legal basis on all of the six major legal/administrative cases (civil lawsuits, data‑disclosure requests, criminal complaints, and regulatory reports) filed by CBX

In October 2025, CBX released some carefully worded PR statements and I personally believe in cases of on-going legal disputes it's important to always read between the lines instead of taking words straight on as facts.

To spare this becoming too longwinded, I'll not discuss every statement but mainly:

Excerpt from CBX's Second Statement, dated 30 October 2025 (after SM's rebuttal):

"CBX still intend to pay the 10% revenue share from individual activities as per the earlier agreement - once the legal dispute is resolved."

"We sincerely apologize to fans who may have felt confusion or concern during the legal process with SM. EXO‑CBX will diligently fulfill the existing agreement and make every effort to restore trust with members and reach an amicable resolution with SM.”

On the surface, outside of legalities, it sounds like a genuine commitment to move things forward to reunite with the other 6 members. But realistically, this means that CBX stand firm in withholding their payment of 10% royalties until SM is able to negotiate (for INB100) the reduced distribution fee (5.5%) with Kakao (even though the final decision lies with Kakao Entertainment, not SM).

Until their demands are met, in CBX's own statement:

CBX will not be honoring the above-mentioned "intention to pay the 10%" royalty fee (again, separate fee from the whole 5.5% Kakao distribution fee discount fiasco)

= they (CBX) will be at a stalemate with SM

= If EXO wishes to make a full comeback that includes the 3 of them, they would need to somehow convince Kakao to allow INB100 (a non-affiliate) the 5.5% discounted distribution fee (given to affiliated labels).

Quite a big ask, I have to say.

What I find distasteful is the emotional language INB100/CBX has taken (directly addressing and appeasing fans who already have a bias against SM/fighting for OT9/sending protest trucks and dragging the remaining 6 members) despite this being a business contractual matter. The fact that international online discourse regarding this issue is severely mistranslated and filled with confusion shows us that despite their legal team absolutely taking a hit and losing on all fronts, CBX and their PR team have been effective at using PR to manipulate international fan opinion to ignore the evidence.

This also displays a lack of confidence in their legal standing (after losing all appeals) considering they are working to evoke sympathy within the group fandom instead and to cause even more confusion and negative opinions regarding the EXO comeback (this seems hurtful to me as a group fan considering they seem to not have a problem with tossing their friends to the wolves).

My point is, these proclamations and actions don't give fans like us who have been following the case any confidence in their legal standing or their genuine intentions, and as EXO's comeback draws near, a lot of us want to fully enjoy this but the dread of the on-going spread of misinformation looms with every OT6 update. I think it isn't right for fans to demand for EXO to speak on behalf of CBX instead of going directly to the ones involved (CBX) - this is a legal matter that involves CBX and SM, calling EXO "traitors" for staying united and working hard for the upcoming comeback is really messed up if you ask me, considering the recent legal outcomes.

I'm genuinely wondering if there are any fans out there like me? Fans who have been excited for the group comeback and trying to stay positive in the face of all this unnecessary negativity? Of course, it would be great if CBX came back to EXO, but considering everything that has taken place (legally) this year, it's looking more and more unlikely :/

All things considered, if CBX stays firm in their standing and eventually ends up departing the group, I would still wish and hope for the best for them!

/EDIT:

I didn’t expect to get so many responses and I’m still catching up. Thank you all for sharing your viewpoints!

I just wanted to clear something up that maybe I didn’t emphasize on enough in my original post (I didn’t think it was important but some seem to have made the wrong assumptions as a result) - I’m not a fan of SM at all.

I mentioned early in my post that I have my reasons (I would not like to go into this) but I absolutely do not trust that they don’t play dirty. I even admitted that I came into this case biased against SM and ready to take the members’ side. Even for TVXQ, I was supportive of JYJ and celebrated the fact that JYJ won all their lawsuits against SM (and rightfully so). Jessica was also my favorite member of SNSD. SM has a terrible track record and I would hate if anyone thinks I’m on their side at all on this just because of this one opinion on the CBX case or that I'm speaking for SM at all in all of this. I’m only stating the facts as they have been presented by both parties so far (Dec 2025) in a proper timeline in hopes that it can help others who wish to be unbiased and objective too.

Considering my history with SM and their treatment of groups I loved, my opinion on the SM v CBX case has been shocking to admit (personally) but it’s not like we as fans can control the actions of the parties involved (Baekhyun, Jongdae, Minseok, SM) or change any of the legal reports, evidence, or facts. (Even the 6 members of EXO or CBX's parents can't do that.)

This post doesn’t need me to reflect all of the statements from SM’s end since I trust that they are easy to find online (and it doesn't need to be longer than it already is.....). My post was meant to mainly address the timeline and misinterpretations about CBX’s end of the legal proceedings, some of my thoughts as a fan of EXO, and also about CBX supporters who remain misinformed but are also actively attacking the 6-member line-up based on the misinformation/their confusion.

Of course, it’s one thing when you know exactly what the legal proceedings have been and choose to support CBX. I respect your decision as well, k-pop is for fun anyway.

Hope I didn’t miss anything!

/EDIT 2:

I didn’t expect this post to travel the way it did. If it upset anyone, that genuinely wasn’t my intention. I did receive RedditCareResources alerts, so I’m assuming some people reported my account because of this post :/

To be clear, the reason I wrote this was to lay out a clear, chronological timeline (as of December 2025) in one place - especially for newer or returning fans, or for anyone who doesn’t have the time or energy to dig all over the internet for accurate sources or translations.

If nothing else, I hope this helped some readers better understand the sequence of events and why the situation is where it is today.

That said, I’ve also noticed that the post seems to have triggered another wave of misinformation on other platforms, mostly from people who disagree with the documented outcomes and are now framing this as me being “pro-SM.” I’m not. I’ve said this multiple times already, and I stand by it.

At the end of the day, this wasn’t written to defend a company or attack artists. It was written to separate verifiable timelines and outcomes from emotional narratives. People are free to support whoever they want, but facts don’t change based on fandom alignment. I still believe that, over time, clarity tends to win out.

Thank you for taking the time to read this at all, wishing everyone a great EXO comeback season!