saravskatrina's Profile

I'm a downstairs "neighbor" and my problem is not with my upstairs neighbors themselves (I can really only hear their voices and footsteps loudly in the stairwell which runs along the side of my living room) but with their enormous dog!! When he jumps off the couch or runs around the house it is very loud. I would complain, but they're very nice and I'm an animal person so I try to be understanding (most of the time).

I'm vegetarian, transitioning to vegan, and I usually just offer to bring something -- it's easier for me, though, because most of my friends know. Practically every time I go over to someone's house they'll say something like, "And I made sure I had something you could eat!" Which makes me feel appreciated, and also kind of guilty, because I never ask people to go out of their way to make something for me. I mean, I wouldn't "go out of my way" to cook meat dishes if I had people over.

I adamantly disagree with the notion that you should set your personal choices aside and eat whatever is put in front of you, regardless. I would never, ever expect anyone to compromise their personal choices in my house, and therefore do not believe I am obliged to eat meat in other people's houses. I am there for the company, not the food. There is a polite way to deal with these situations, and if they are someone who doesn't know already, I usually just say something like, "Thank you so much, it really does look delicious, but I can't eat meat." and just leave it at that. I find saying that I "can't" keeps the conversation short rather than saying I "don't" which usually invites questions. I try to keep the conversations as concise as possible for fear of being labelled "one of those preachy vegetarians."

I think it's odd the seller didn't offer ANY kind of help, but I would never expect her to offer a full refund for cookies. Pottery, perhaps.

If the cookies were clearly not packaged correctly, that is one thing. But there is honestly only so much one can do - once the package goes out, it is truly out of their hands. I feel like completely blaming the seller is extremely unfair. You, nor I, nor the seller knows what happens during shipment. It's impossible to predict. Perhaps the buyer should have asked specifically what the seller's packaging methods were and even requested their own preferred methods.

This seems really wasteful to me. I understand the value in saving time but there is just so much "disposable" plastic involved... and especially with the individually wrapped potatoes then placed in MORE plastic bags... I don't think I could stomach doing this unless I religiously washed and re-used all the bags.