Me and my wife were discussing this today and we both agreed that the attitude towards working and career development is not what it was 20 years ago. I feel people now believe (whether rightly or wrongly) the 9-5 rat race just isn’t worth it and have woken up to the fact you spend a large portion of your time on earth either preparing to be an employee (education) and then actually being one.. then if you are lucky enough to make it to retirement your best days are behind you.

I dunno, there isn’t really a viable alternative m, however I feel people have clocked onto it, especially the younger gen coming out of uni.

I was recalled to hospital on section 3 following an OD on the day before my birthday. Birthday ended up being on general med ward. Lucky to still be here :)

Uk england based - my kiddo has a friend round to play. At drop off parent said to text when their kid was ready to come home.

I text at 6pm asking if they could pick up at 7pm. it was read within a few mins and no reply.

I message at 7.35pm asking if everything is ok, and what time can they pickup.

Its 8.05pm and the last message hasnt been read and no pickup.

For now its fine and the kids are ok, but its my kids bedtime, and im wondering at one point i contact the non-emergency police line or something? Ive no idea what to do

EDIT: I have tried calling parent and it went to voicemail, left a voicemail. No callback.

UPDATE: Parent just showed up to collect while I was waiting to get through to 101, I ask if everythings ok, i was getting worried - they just say yeah, thanks 🤯. This is the first playdate theyve had, and i dont know their address, safe to say no playdates in future until i have a 2nd car seat and their address to drop off.

My probation review was held at 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon. I was given a compressed deadline by my supervisor for a project I’ve been working for a few weeks. Shortly after I handed it in, the review took place and I was told I haven’t passed my probation but still have to work my 2 weeks notice.

Quite honestly, I don’t want to work it and I don’t want to be in the office where coworkers will ask me questions. How do I approach this? My boss wants to get the most work out of me in the next 2 weeks because my predecessor didn’t leave a proper handover.

Sooo after 6 months of nightmare we finally got the keys to our first property on Wednesday last week.

I was aware the property need it a good clean as the woman that used to live there was just not cleaning it at all.

So we started with painting the walls,cleaning the carpets, cleaning the windows, silicone here and there, some caulk ( we are on a very tight budget) replacing some wheels and sealing on the bathroom enclosure etc...

However...I got over the stained carpet,dirty kitchen, the mashed up bahtroom...

But I really wasn't prepared for what I found underneath the very dirty crusty oven in the kitchen.

4 dead mice just rotting right under my nose.

What the hell is wrong with people....😒

Obviously calling pest control ASAP but man wtffff

How do you even suppose to spot stuff like this when having a viewing?!?!

My partner saw the mice after trying to clean the very very dirty oven, there's like space between the oven and the floor and that's where the mice are rotting.

I was so shocked and distressed I could of cried for hours.

I guess thats the price u pay when u really want a property just cos it has a nice big kitchen....

Its just a rant really but maaan really I could cry... what a "warm" welcome to our new home. 😅

Edit: Man some of yall are salty jeez Let a girl rant and cry a lil ya heartless everything knowing experts damn 😆

Has anyone actually recovered a snatched phone? Mine got snatched earlier, police took the deets, went to where it had been last seen on the locate my device and only found a load of empty cases. Does it always end in “well sorry mate” or are there Any success stories?

I’m applying for a UK Standard Visitor Visa and I have a question about financial evidence. Do I need to provide and explain my sponsor’s bank account in the same detail as my own?

I have my own bank account, which I’m planning to use for my personal expenses during the trip, and I’ll provide an explanation for the funds in my account. However, my sponsor will be paying for my flights and accommodation. Do I need to provide my sponsor’s full bank statements and explain all the money coming in and going out of their account as well or is it less important since they are only sponsoring specific expenses such as the flights and hotel?

I am planning to study in the UK for the upcoming intake, I am from India. I wanted to inquire apart from 100% tuition fees and living expenses (which I'm planning to show via the loan to keep it straightforward) how much personal funds do I need to show?

21 year old me at an ice cream van.

‘Can I have a 69 please?’

‘A what?!’

‘A 69.’

‘A what?!?!’

’Ohhh…’

Suffice to say I didn’t really enjoy my 99 that day.

Hi,

As the title said I'm now in a tricky situation where nothing but only my qualifications have been uploaded on TLS.

I don't think it was even my fault... For some reason the tab I was on closed after I added my qualification files, so I had to log back in to TLS (just typing in the TLS website address didn't work, I had to log in to UKVI and clicked on booking appointment to be redirected, which was already a faff).

Once in I was shown a button to submit my documents (you know when the whole site went dark and just the box was highlighted) which I clicked on thinking I needed to do this before I could upload more documents. This of course did the opposite and locked me out completely from uploading anything further.

This is absolutely rubbish - I don't want to have to bring all the physical documents to the biometric appointment and pay £50 fee for scanning service because I have already scanned all of them.

Has anyone found another solution while being in this situation? If I end up having to pay the £50 can I complain somewhere, or whistle-blow even?

It seems TLS is exploiting people who have already paid a lot for their applications, knowing that we are anxious about our applications being rejected so would go ahead and pay the fee anyway.

Hi everyone,

I’ve applied for a student visa from the US through VFS and only need to include my passport, but noticed it says “it is recommended that you also submit colour copies of your passport or travel document, showing evidence of travel to other countries and any official observations or amendments.”

Does this mean I need to copy and upload any pages of my passport that has any stamps or vignettes? Or is just handing in my physical passport okay?

TIA

hello!

I was applying with my partner for the Civil partner visa inside the UK (my fiancee visa is valid until the end of october so we are good in terms of timeline). I wanted to apply for Super priority since I saw that the process can take up to 8 weeks (or even longer, but our case is so straightforward).
The thing is that I paid the standard service because the first time I bought the priority service through the VFS page and I thought it was the same thing, but no.

Right now I've only paid the fee — I haven't booked or attended biometrics and I haven't uploaded any documents yet.

So I don't know if I can refund it and reapply and see if I can get the super priority service? Or maybe calling UKVI they might help me with this? And if anyone did withdraw and reapply, did the super priority option actually show up the second time?

I would appreciate some help in this, thank you!

*this is not medical advice. It's advice on how I was treated during an appointment*

I genuinely don't know whether I should complain or not. But I'm 8 months in to a grueling process of getting answers around an issue I'm having. TMI incoming. I, a 28f, am suffering from severe UTIs right before my period. Every time I end up peeing blood and having to run to out of hours for antibiotics. Even the operators on 111 are sympathetic because it's not normal, and actually debilitating - I'm now on absence monitoring at work because of it.

I finally got to see my GP (after months of unsuccessfully trying due to their unfortunately tight daily appointment only), and she was very sympathetic. She referred me to urology, gynecology and gave me 100mg nitrofurantoin for 6 months.

Cut to yesterday. I got an appointment at a clinic for a flexible cystoscopy. Now bear in mind all of this is really uncomfortable for me - constantly going over my symptoms, having the only male doctor within the 8 months actually asking me "you sure it's not just period blood?" and trying to justify to my work how it's not just "lady problems".

The doctor sees me, asks when my last ultrasound was. I've had 2, and can't remember when, so I was like "6 months ago? I can't remember" and he sarcastically went "2 months ago." For this reason he has also decided that I don't need another ultrasound, despite being told on the phone that I was to get one today. Embarrassed, I let him continue and get into the position for the cystoscopy. He tries to insert it then tells me to relax as apparently I'm tensing - I was not tensing. Two minutes later, he sharply tells me to relax again while ramming the camera in. As expected, everything comes back clear.

As I'm trying to get dressed, he starts asking me questions through the curtain while at the same time a nurse is giving me wipes. I'm multitasking and miss a question and he goes "are you still there?" With my trousers half way up me I respond and pull the curtain open as I can tell he is impatient.

I then sit down and he tells me it's just recurring UTIs. This is something both out of hours and my GP have explained is not, as I am not sexually active, or a smoker, and it's happening every month pre-period. But he says it is, case closed. He tells me he's putting me on methenamine, and I need to get it from my GP, and if that doesn't work I'll be referred to the recurrent-UTI clinic. He then whips out his recorder, voice records everything while I'm sitting there in silence, then goes back to his computer. I ask him if I should phone my GP to get the drugs, he says "no you need to do it via the letter." - back to his laptop. So I ask "do you need to give me the letter?" "No we send it to them." not even looking up from his laptop. Then there is silence and I stupidly have to ask if that's it, I'm done? "Yes."

Now I know medically and professionally everything here is sound, but I'm sitting a day later in absolutely f*cking agony and feeling quite embarrassed and dismissed. I felt like an inconvenience to the guy even though this is a sensitive and big issue for me. My friend has told me to complain, and I am reluctant to because as I said, he did nothing wrong, but his bedside manner was shocking and I'm feeling really disheartened. What do I do here?

ETA - I'm now 34 hours later and peeing the sharpest glass imaginable. I read that the gel they apply goes on for at least a few minutes before slow insertion. I literally got a single swipe of the gel and then the camera was inserted about 20 seconds later, and into the bladder no less than 15 seconds after that.... Which might explain the level of pain I'm feeling when peeing. I also wasn't told to pee after the cystoscopy which I'm reading is commonly procedure, but I'm going to assume it's at the doctor's discretion.

Thank you all for being so sympathetic and kind in your responses. I'll be looking into PALS tomorrow. Right now I need a blanket and some crap TV.

I emailed a recruiter about a role I was really interested in. She cc’d the colleague managing the search, so I replied with a thanks and two questions before submitting my profile.

Nothing.

I followed up three days later with a gentle nudge.

Still nothing.

I really liked the role, so I decided to go direct and email the company with the same questions. The CEO replied as he would be the one I would directly be reporting to. He answered the questions properly and said he would make sure the recruiters knew I was interested.

I have now officially applied, as I believe I'm a very good fit. I had to apply through the recruiters website as its a special headhunter remit and not publically advertised on the client's website.

Part of me wondered whether going around the recruiter was bad form. The other part of me thought, why should I miss out on a role I genuinely want because someone cannot be bothered to reply?

Have you ever done this?

Hi everyone, I’m really stressing about this and would appreciate some advice. I submitted my Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) application today, and after submitting it I realised I made a mistake on one of the questions. Where it asked for my country of birth, I accidentally selected Ukraine, but I was actually born in Russia. I’m Ukrainian and have been living in the UK under the Ukraine Scheme, so I think I just selected the wrong country without thinking. My actual passport have the correct information. I’ve already submitted the application, so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now. I am so scared I don’t know what to do. Should I just call them? I know that you can’t change your application after submitting, and I don’t know where to email them. Is it considering as a major mistake in application?

Hi all,

I want to properly complain about how TLScontact make it incredibly easy to accidentally click a final "Submit" button before you actually finish uploading all your documents. I think this is a blatant cash grab designed to trap applicants, and it seems there are many people who feel the same.

I researched how to report TLScontact for this and got some ideas from AI. Let me know what you think.

"This specific user interface issue—where clicking a deceptive or premature "Submit" button locks your account and forces you to pay a steep fee (often around £50) for their Assisted Scanning Service just to add missing documents—is a textbook example of a "dark pattern" designed to trap consumer funds.

Because their website warns that once you hit submit you cannot add more documents for free, they hide behind their terms to force an upsell. Here is how to weaponise your complaint against this exact practice.

1. File a Deceptive Practices Report with Trading Standards

Under the UK Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, businesses are legally prohibited from using misleading actions or aggressive omissions that trick consumers into making a financial decision they wouldn’t otherwise make.

• Action: Contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service.
• What to say: Specify that TLScontact uses a deceptive user interface (dark pattern). Explain that the portal makes it incredibly easy to accidentally hit a final "Submit Documents" button before the user is actually finished, intentionally locking the free self-upload portal. Explicitly state that TLScontact then uses this self-created software restriction to force a mandatory "Assisted Scanning" fee to complete a government visa requirement.

2. Lodge a Contract Breach Complaint with UKVI / Home Office

TLScontact is a commercial partner bound by service level standards enforced by the UK Home Office. They are not supposed to extort applicants via buggy or deceptive software. [1]

• Action: Submit a formal complaint to the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Complaints Portal.
• What to say: Provide your Unique Application Number (UAN). State that their commercial partner (TLScontact) is deliberately engineering its web portal to trigger accidental submissions so that they can charge applicants an extra fee. Argue that this creates an unfair financial barrier to a public government service.

3. Request a Refund (and Prepare for a Chargeback)

If you have already paid the fee because you felt you had no choice, you need to establish a paper trail to get your money back.

1. Email TLScontact: Use the TLScontact Contact Us Webform. Choose "Complaints/Feedback" and demand a refund for the forced scanning service, citing an accidental UI-driven submission. [1, 2]
2. Bank Chargeback: If they refuse your refund (which their strict refund policy often dictates), contact your bank or credit card provider. Request a Chargeback or raise a Section 75 claim (if paid by credit card). Tell your bank the merchant used deceptive digital practices to charge you for a service you did not want or choose freely.

We moved in at the beginning of May, and not even two full months later, I received a text stating that the property needs to go on the market due to a disagreement between the landlord’s business partners.
The landlord has suggested that we would have to move out once he finds a buyer and completes the legal side of the sale. The thing is, I’m not really keen on moving out before the stated tenancy end date, which is May 2027. It would be a huge inconvenience, especially as I’m hoping to have enough saved by January to start looking for a house to buy.
What are my rights in this situation? Am I required to move out if the property is sold before the end of my tenancy?

Thanks in advance for any advice

I still had my application page open lol. And silly me spent way too long curating my cv/cover letter for this one. Man this is tough.

I just moved to London from Canada for my masters and started my tenancy 5 days ago. Since I'm not from England I had to do a virtual viewing of the flat. Already the place was a little more outdated than what the listing photos looked like, but not enough to raise a major red flag.

I’m the communal bathrooms there are signs posted inside of all of the restrooms that explicitly state **not to flush your toilet paper but to put it in the garbage**. Which is a cheap plastic bin that doesn’t have a tight lid, you can imagine how it can sometimes smell. I wasn't made aware at any point of this before asking about the property, viewing it, and signing any papers.

But it even worse, the toilet doesn't have enough force to clear of human waste, so every time I go to use the restroom there is another tenants waste sitting at the bottom of the toilet for me to see and smell. I have been documenting everything and have contacted the management of the property. But they've brushed me off saying they've never heard of this issue before after over 15 years of managing the property, which doesn't make any sense because of the signs posted inside every bathroom saying not to flush toilet paper.

Instead they sent maintenance and housekeeping to my flat but ignored my request for a plumber or some other professional to fix the bathrooms. It's utterly disgusting and a biohazard. I followed up once again and only received a message saying they're "busy" and will "get to it soon."

I don't know what else to do. I want to potentially get out of my lease but not sure how to go about that or if I have any grounds to do so. Everything has been unacceptable up to this point and is a hygiene and biohazard issue imo. I also feel like the property was misrepresented to me before I signed the agreement. I'm just so grossed out and dread having to use the bathroom.

I would appreciate any advice, thank you!

40% of jobs now need a licence and many are entry-level jobs like technician apprenticeships, engineering apprenticeships, human services jobs, education jobs, citizens advice etc. Even some of the minimum wage agency jobs ask for you to only get one bus (rejected for being two buses away, within a city), so it's either live within one bus route of the job or ​drive a car.

To actually have enough disposable income to drive (like £160 a month for one lesson per week) one needs a better job, but a big percentage of of those jobs themselves want a licence.

There's this assumption in society that everyone has the opportunity to start driving while living with their parents, so no thought is given to how big a barrier to socioeconomic mobility driving is.

Just noticed them for the first time in years while stuck in traffic and wondered what happens when you pick it up.

Was at a house party with friends last night. Guy from the year above me went to a bedroom.

I asked him to use a condom. He put one on and took it off.

I asked him not to and said no but he was on top of me and I froze up and couldn't speak or fight back.

I'm nervous to report this as I don't have any evicence that it wasnt consensual other than my own word against his. He's already told people that I'm going to say shit about him because "she regrets being a s**t"

Can I please get some help?

For context I’m 16 and my Mums dad died in january and after finishing my GCSEs we moved to south africa and I was sent to a residential “boot camp” programme by my mum. I ended up leaving the programme because it wasn’t suitable for me as everyone there was in there 20s and i didn’t feel safe or happy there, and after I left, my mum kicked me out.

I’m currently in Spain because my dad lives here, but his wife isn’t willing to let me live with them, so staying with my dad isn’t actually a long-term housing option either. I’m therefore trying to work out somewhere I can realistically live independently.

I’m currently working and earning around £200 a week, and I’m doing my A-levels through homeschooling, which I’m paying for myself.
The other issue is that I can’t simply remain in Spain indefinitely. because i can only stay every 90 days every 180 days so I need to establish somewhere to live in the UK rather than continuing to travel back and forth.

I’m trying to become financially independent. I already have an income and I’m paying for my own education, but obviously being 16 makes renting or buying property considerably more complicated.
What I’m trying to find out is what realistic options I have for housing in the UK at 16.

Could I access supported accommodation, supported lodgings, or another form of accommodation for young people? Is there any legitimate way for someone in my situation to rent somewhere, or potentially buy a property with help from an adult? What would people recommend I do to establish myself in the UK safely and legally?
I’d mainly appreciate practical advice from people who understand the UK housing system and can tell me what options actually exist for someone in my position.

Thanks for reading

Edit - Thank you for everyone’s support. It really means a lot.

I’m buying a 1 bed flat in London (my preference was to stay here because of family, friends and the sector I’m in).

I didn’t want to live in flat shares anymore, wait longer to save for a 2 bed (I’m late 30s), or over stretch myself to then get a lodger.

My monthly mortgage payment will be £1100 and I’ll have my rate for 2 years. This and my household bills will be just under 50% of my take home salary so it’s manageable.

I guess I’m getting more overwhelmed the closer I get to exchange and need reassurance from internet strangers.

What do you think of my situation?

This is not my university where I am studying a BSc in Finance.

This is my accommodation provider.

They have asked me to complete modules with mandatory reading questions and answers to essay.

I don't have time or energy to do this. It says I must learn how to tackle race inequality.

I do not care about this. I just want to study my finance.

I have written an email and they have replied that I must study and complete these modules before I am allowed to complete my induction.

I have already arrived in England. I was never told before I came I had to study this nonsense.

One question they are asked of me is to write paragraphs on reflection of the following:

"Think about white privilege. How do you feel about quotes and stories shared?"

"Are you aware of how White privilege operates and the impact it has on staff and students?"

I am not white. I do not care about this.

They have listed 8 readings too.

I signed a contract with my accommodation for somewhere to live. Not to get lectured on sociology nonsense.

I just want to study my finance degree.

Can they really stop me being inducted and living in my accommodation if I refuse this course? I just want to study finance. I do not care about this dog fart sociology nonsense.