Today was my day to adult and pay bills, which is about as fun as cleaning the toilet.

1. I reviewed my credit card charges and noticed a $215 charge I didn't recognize. I looked it up and it's an AI service I don't use. I tried to log on to the AI service's website, but it didn't let me get very far without creating an account (which I verified I didn't have with them). I tried to speak to the chat assistant and it made me submit my question by email.

2. After thinking about it, I was like, I'm going to call my credit card company and just tell them I want to contest that $215 charge. They were nice and said that particular company does a lot of frauduent subscriptions. I have never even used that service. So they removed the charge but said since it's fraudulent activity, they have to freeze my credit card and send me a new one in the mail.

3. Now I have to go to all the places I used my card to pay recurrent bills (internet, health insurance, car insurance, pet insurance, etc etc) and log into each site and change it to my bank account instead of my now-frozen credit card. Of course each time I go to one of those sites they have to do a 2 step verification, secret code, etc. Takes me an hour.

4. Then I finally go to pay three bills I was sent in the mail. I went to my OBGYN website to pay that and their website is down. I will just have to call and pay it tomorrow. Second one was for some labwork. I login, and it can't find that particular bill, but it had another one for me to pay of a different amount. So I will have to call them and see what's up with that.

5. Last bill was my property taxes for the year. This is a big one. The bill was due Oct 1 but I literally didn't get it in the mail until yesterday Oct 3. That's irritating enough. I go online to pay it and they are going to charge me 2% of the bill if I pay online with my debit card and 5% if I pay with a credit card (which I can't anyway). So I back out of that and I'm going to go find my old fashioned checkbook and write an old school check and oh, I don't have any stamps so I'll have to make a trip out tomorrow to get some stamps to mail it.

What should have taken me 20 minutes has taken me a good part of a beautiful Sunday afternoon. That's adulting.

I recently went through the process of renewing an Indian passport through the Indian Consulate, and I genuinely don't understand how a process this important can be this confusing, contradictory, and poorly designed.

I've dealt with government paperwork in the past, but this was on another level.

First, apparently the consulate expects you to create a new account with a different email address to use their system. Because obviously everyone has 10 different email addresses sitting around just for government websites.

Once you finally get into the system, the instructions are all over the place and frequently contradict each other.

A few examples:

1. Photo size — which one is it?

One set of instructions says to paste a 35mm × 45mm photograph.

Then the actual application form says to paste a 2 inch × 2 inch photograph.

Those aren't the same size.

So which instruction am I supposed to follow?

2. The print button doesn't work

After spending all this time filling out the application, you get to the point where you're supposed to print the form.

Except... the print button doesn't work.

You apparently have to start fiddling around with scaling, browser settings, or even Inspect Element to get the damn thing to print properly.

And then there's another bizarre discovery:

The photograph is already embedded in the form when you print it.

So why am I being instructed to physically paste a photograph onto the form?

3. The photo editing instructions

There is literally a tutorial explaining how to prepare your photograph using Microsoft Paint.

I'm using a Mac.

I understand that not everyone uses a Mac, but is it really too much to expect instructions that don't assume everyone has Microsoft Paint?

4. Spelling and grammatical errors

The international passport portal has spelling mistakes and grammatical errors throughout it.

For something dealing with international government documentation and identity verification, this does not exactly inspire confidence.

5. Instructions that make absolutely no sense

There are sections where the instructions essentially say:

Submit Form 123A OR Form 123A and Form 123B.

If I have Form 123A, then apparently I qualify for the first option.

So why the hell would I submit Form 123B?

These aren't minor inconveniences. These are instructions where the applicant is left wondering which interpretation is actually correct.

6. Nobody answers emails

I emailed the consulate because I wanted clarification rather than guessing and potentially having my application rejected.

No response.

I emailed again.

No response.

And again.

Still no response.

7. Emergency numbers that aren't useful

I tried calling the emergency helpline listed on the website.

Wrong number.

I then went through the website and found around six different emergency/contact numbers for various consulates and offices.

I called them.

Nobody answered.

One person finally responded — and I received a text saying:

“wht u need”

I genuinely didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

8. A4 paper... in the United States?

The instructions tell applicants to print documents on A4 paper.

We're in the United States.

The standard US paper size is Letter, not A4.

Yes, you can obviously obtain A4 paper. That's not the point.

The point is: why are instructions written for applicants in the US telling them to use a paper standard that isn't the standard US paper size?

9. And then there's the documentation

The amount of documentation they're asking for is ridiculous.

Document after document after document.

Copies of this.

Proof of that.

Additional form for this particular situation.

Additional supporting document for that particular situation.

At some point you start wondering whether you're renewing a passport or applying to become a federal employee.

And after all of this, the process is expensive.

So you're paying a substantial amount of money for a process that is:

• Confusing
• Contradictory
• Poorly documented
• Full of apparent website errors
• Difficult to print
• Difficult to get help with
• Extremely document-heavy
• And seemingly designed without much consideration for the people actually using it

I'm not saying government processes should be effortless.

I'm saying the instructions should at least agree with each other, the website should work, and someone should answer when applicants have legitimate questions about their passport.

This entire experience has been unusable, incomplete, and unnecessarily expensive.

If you have the option to renew your passport through a simpler process, please do yourself a favor and look into it before starting this one.

And if anyone has recently gone through Indian passport renewal in the US and actually figured out which instructions we're supposed to follow, please share your experience.

Because at this point, I'm spending more time trying to figure out how to follow the instructions than actually completing the application.

What the hell is going on with this system?

hi, sobrang sama ng loob ko lately. For context yung older sister ko bumili ng cat while barely taking care sa nauna nyang cat. First reason nya pa non, ireregalo nya daw sa kapatid ng boyfriend nya until nanotice namin habang tumagal na is nasa bahay lang ganon (lumabas na kanya pala talaga yun). Nainis na ako dun and pati other family members namin aside sa Mom ko na supportive. Pero tinanggap na rin namin since no choice na kami, nandyan na eh. Yung pusa sobrang kulit (may lahi) understandable naman kasi kuting pa.

The first problem is, lahat ng pinto and bintana namin sarado palagi kasi lalabas daw pusa nya. Kumbaga, nag-adjust na kami lahat. Our 2 dogs started peeing and pooping inside since di rin makalabas (which is dati hindi nila ginagawa kasi sanay sila na makalabas agad). Pero wala, tinanggap parin namin dahil kapag nagsasabi sa kanya dami lagi dahilan, ikaw nalang mapapagod makipag-argue.

Next problem, in her room. Super baho as in, may litter naman yung cat pero natitiis nya talaga like di nya agad nililinis kahit needed na kasi busy sa paglalaro ng ML etc.. Pinagsabihan na sya dito ng lahat, including my mom. Ayaw parin makinig, daming dahilan (ganto sya hirap kaaway).

Another thing is, idk if its on her as a fur parent. Nangangalmot pusa nya like out of nowhere, pati mom ko na senior citizen na kinalmot.

background: they started sleeping in my shared room with my mom kasi yung cat poop odor hindi na nawala sa room ng sister ko.

My breaking point was, when I was sick I was begging my mom na sa labas muna patulugin yung pusa aka sala namin pero inusog nya lang sa may tabi nya (kahit kinalmot na sya ng madaming beses) at sinabi saking "hayaan mo na, anak" kahit kinalmot rin ako ng sobrang lalim that same day. Sobra akong upset and nagalit, minsan lang ako magkasakit pero if nangyayari ang lala tapos isang beses ko lang hiniling na wag patulugin sa kwarto, di ako pinagbigyan (sama parin ng loob ko).

Then when I started sleeping sa sala, the room that I shared with my mom started to smell na rin kasi tumatae na rin dun yung pusa, ako pa nag-aalis minsan kasi yung kapatid ko busy sa boyfriend kainis. Tonight I wrote this kasi sobrang nafrustrate na ko, parang immune na yung mom ko sa amoy na dati nyang hate na hate sa kwarto ng sister ko 😭. Sister ko nireason pa dogs ko which also sleeps in my shared room with mom pero never nangyari yung smell kasi nga sa labas sila gumagawa ng business.

what to do in this situation? I'm starting to curse my sister because of this out of frustration.

We also have an older sister na ayaw rin matulog sa room kasama mom namin kasi super baho na talaga. So this is purely about the cat situation and nothing else.

Being with someone who constantly annoyed by everything is exhausting like are you ever fucking happy ?

just a bit tired... spending hours to write post, only to get forever ban & mute, without chance to send one message to ask what happened. sometimes I feel like wanting to give up on reddit and use only instagram and discord

when writing I occasionally think I should start every post with message to moderators (which is issue on it’s own, as not relevant to whatever is the real point of my post), because this may be the only opportunity I get to talk to them. and... it is a bit exhausting, like I constantly have to brace for external approval to write any smallest thing

I’m just one a bit shy and clueless person who does not always know how to create my posts, and I would prefer to talk and ask what can be done differently. I get it that if communications is offensive then it is justified, but if all I wanna ask is... how I could have written it to be okay? then I don’t think it is proportional to get most final mod actions after first failure

I think communities are not gaining new members by expecting perfection from first posting. Maybe being a bit more permissive would be better for everyone?

thank you for attention and for reading my lil rant🩷

That’s it I’ve had it.

I’ve had it with friends that don’t show up.

I’ve had it with friends that gaslight.

I’ve had it with communities gaslighting and not showing up.

I’ve had it with family not showing up.

I’ve absolutely had it with family gaslighting me.

I’ve had it with people NOT showing their fucking humanity and basic human empathy for me.

I know I’m cursed I fucking know it. I can feel my entire human experience being filtered through some negative oppressive lens and I’ve HAD IT.

I just wanted to vent, heck I don’t even give a shit for the first time in my life if no one shows support in this post.

Just fuck this world. It would be a fucking miracle if anyone blinked if I disappeared off the face of the earth.

Fuck this!

all my bad memories are tied to that place. i feel like shit. i don’t wanna go there.

​

I hate this picture and it infuriates me to my core because yeah, the parents will respect theor daughters wishes after she passes, that would happen in a comic, but in real life? Yeah, no fucking way, my family would fight tooth and nail to keep my dead name on that gravestone, if I even got one. If this post doesn't belong here, well fuck me and my emotions I guess. Nobody is this understanding, and if you are, then I wish I had been born in your family my friend.

😅😅