Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/23/the-contentedness-is-off-the-charts

Via Alaska SeaLife Center, which writes, “May you locate your perfect nap position and sink into the comfort. Cali has already claimed hers 🦦💤”

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/23/the-contentedness-is-off-the-charts

Not only was Romantasy Rebels unavailable a second time, but my good friend Vela Roth, who had volunteered to host the anthology on her account, lost her entire livelihood between one moment and the next.

Between you and me -- I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life.

The upside is that, as always, the bookish community stands up for each other! Thanks to friends with helpful connections, from Amazon reps to legal advice, we've managed to reverse the (unfounded) decision on their end and get Vela's books and our anthology back 🔥 (But my goodness, it was a long, long 24 hours that I hope to never experience again.)

Amazon fuckery took down our charity anthology twice, and almost ended a wonderful author's career in the process. In addition to all else, the experience has been a frightening reminder of just how dependent indie authors are on a very small number of tech companies who don't particularly like spice, or marginalised people, or, you know, democracy.

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/02/cover-snark-community-submissions/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=166825

Welcome back to Cover Snark! These covers were all sent in by the community!

From Jane Buehler: At first glance (small thumbnail) I thought he was shooting out a laser beam from his chest!

Sarah: That’s an interesting place for a stigmata.

Amanda: Why is he so grainy, like his skin is the texture of a basketball.

Sarah: Wait. WAIT. Whatever this cheetah-print thing is, it is both above and below his pec. What IS that?! Why is it partially encircling his pec? Why is it shooting out pink silly string? WHAT IS THIS.

And this is only the first cover. God help me with this set.

From Jen: My cousin introduced me to you guys a while back. We have a regular cousin chat about your Cover Snark because it cracks us up.

Recently I was at a gift shop and saw this gem. I immediately shared it to the cousin chat and they encouraged me to submit it!

Thanks for giving us all so many laughs.

Sarah: At first glance this looks unremarkable, but the more I looked the tiltier my head got. Why does his chest hair patch match the small patch of hair on his arm? I’m presuming the Yankee’s logo is backwards on purpose but also ????

And her boobs are going in very different directions – unless she’s got one of those bathing suit tops that only holds in one tit and the other is free to roam. I Hate suits like that. Also she’s reading a book called HOWL and that’s very funny.

There are a lot of stylistic choices that I really like, and also some details that I do not get.

Claudia: I have one question — why he doesn’t seem to have eyes?

Sarah: I was wondering that, too! It looks like they got blurred or something? Why does she have features while he does not?

Amanda: Why are we not talking about the fact that he’s a satyr?!

Sarah: A satyr in that shirt!

From Marianne: This popped up in my edelweiss+ pre-approved and I had to embiggen because what was I even looking at? Who wears light beige jeans with their chaps???

Sarah: WHAT is WITH the cowboy-hat-hides-the-faces trend? Do people not like drawing faces? Or is kissing difficult (I imagine it is) to draw?

And WHY would anyone wear light jeans with chaps. I get that it’s a Look, but also it’s a Laundry.

Amanda: It reminds me of when you’re in middle school and you draw people with their hands in their pockets or behind their back so you can avoid it.

Sarah: “Where’s your teal and white cow print cowboy hat?”

“Why?”

“I need it for reasons.”

From Deborah: Is he giving himself a simultaneous breast and pelvic exam under the watchful eyes of Dr Giant Tree Wolf?

Sarah: That’s a very intimidating way to do a breast exam.

Amanda: It also looks like he’s checking his crotch. Perhaps he’s just making sure everything is where it should be.

Sarah: So many cover models do that. Should we be worried?

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/02/cover-snark-community-submissions/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=166825

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
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Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/02/employee-was-upset-they-had-to-use-pto-for-bereavement-boss-is-friends-with-my-husband-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=36360

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Employee was upset they had to use PTO for bereavement leave

A few years ago, I worked at a large nonprofit that had generous PTO, but no other “buckets” of time. Sick, vacation, family care, all time off fell under PTO.

One of my reports was caring for a terminally ill relative. Our working relationship was a bit tense as I was having productivity issues from this person, but I tried to separate those conversations and be supportive and offered them any time off they needed (though minimal to none was taken that I can remember.) Unfortunately, the family member passed. I told them to take all the time they needed. I remember them saying X days and then calling back for more time. Each time, I told them, “Of course, take what you need.” We sent flowers and a fruit basket.

This was during a major project due date and the December holidays, and I had to take up the slack and also cover holes in the staff member’s work that I discovered along the way. I said nothing to them about having to do this.

After two weeks, they called to check in again and said they would come back on Monday. Monday morning came and we had our normal 1:1 scheduled. From go, they were hostile. They said they were very upset that they had to use so much PTO (two weeks) for their bereavement and that staff shouldn’t have to use PTO at all for bereavement. I was shocked. Here I was thinking I was being supportive by encouraging this amount (and more) and covering both positions and they were mad. I think I said something about being sorry the PTO system didn’t have buckets but that they were free to take as much time as needed.

I suspect this person was saving all their PTO to be paid out when they leave. They had oodles of time available (over 200 hours?) even after the two weeks.

I was pretty offended, but in hindsight, could I have handled this differently?

Were they clear ahead of time that the leave you were encouraging them to take would come out of their PTO or did they assume the company offered separate bereavement leave? If they assumed the latter and then discovered after the fact that it was being deducted from their PTO balance, I can see them being upset and feeling like while you were encouraging them to take all that time, you should have made sure they understood that it wasn’t separate bereavement leave. “Take all the time you need” doesn’t necessarily mean “and we will subtract it from your PTO”; in some companies it means “this is an unusual situation, someone died, and we are handling it separately from our normal policies.” It’s pretty normal for companies to offer separate bereavement leave so it’s not surprising that your employee didn’t know that. (That said, it’s also true that bereavement leave is usually only a few days, not two weeks. The idea isn’t to provide enough time for full grieving — that would be months/years! — but to provide time for some of the logistical things that come up around a family death.)

On the other hand, if they definitely knew it was coming out of their PTO the whole time and were just expressing that they disagreed with that policy, the hostility was misplaced — but they were grieving, grieving people often have strong emotions come up around all sorts of things, and it makes sense to cut them some slack on that (within reason).

2. My boss socializes with my husband and leaves me out

My boss texts my husband, who they met through me, to make weekend plans (for example, to watch movies at my boss’s house). Not only am I not copied on the text, I’m also not invited . I’m keeping this gender-neutral because I suspect the answer is different for men vs women. I’m not worried they’re having sex but my relationship with my boss isn’t great, and I need my marriage to not overlap with work. I wish I could stop this but I can’t afford to piss off my boss and don’t want to lose my marriage.

This is something to address with your husband! If you don’t want your marriage to overlap with your work life — which is very reasonable — you’ve got to talk to your husband and explain that. If your husband disregards that, it’s squarely a marriage issue.

To be clear, your boss is being weird too — why on earth are they pursuing a social relationship with an employee’s spouse, particularly an employee who they have a a strained relationship with? — but the best person to resolve it with is your husband.

3. I’m doing most of the work on my volunteer team

I’m in a voluntary role in a team of five for a national nonprofit. Three members joined a couple of months ago and two (including me) have been here for almost a year.

We do not have a dedicated leadership role and are expected to share equally in the work. We are familiar with our tasks and duties. As the person who has volunteered to do most of the systems and communications problem-solving, it seems I have inadvertently become the “leader.”

The goal for this team is for us to share equally in task allocation, but this is not happening and, so far, I have done most of the work. I’m keen to make the three new staff members welcome and show them the ropes, but I’m not available to do everything (this is voluntary). I am expecting everyone to engage and respond to calls-out for tasks, but I’m not seeing this. I do have an annoying habit of being the first to respond to tasks that come through, and I think this is reinforcing my leadership role.

The point of this voluntary work is to allow those who are interested to gain some relevant experience and make a positive contribution to this area of service. If I am taking on most of the tasks, I am blocking the opportunities of others to achieve their goals in this area. I’m also starting to feel like I dominate and this seems to be actively deterring engagement. How can I change my behavior to encourage my other team mates to get involved in upcoming tasks and contribute equally?

Make a point of not responding first. Hang back and wait to see if others step up if given the room to. If you let some time go by and no one has responded to claim a task, then instead of claiming it yourself, ask, “Is anyone up for taking this?” or “We still need someone to claim this — does anyone want to?”

I have the same tendency to just see stuff and do it, but people work at different paces and you may be claiming the work before they’ve even seen it needs to be done. If you don’t force yourself to hang back and give your teammates room to take things themselves, you’re absolutely going to reinforce (and probably worsen) the existing dynamics.

If you do this for a while and nothing changes, then you need to talk to whoever above you organizes your team (unless you’re happy just handling everything yourself or leaving things undone) — but step one is to give people more room to participate, because right now you don’t know whether they will or not.

4. I’m concerned about my safety working alone on weekends

My office just moved to a new space that does not have a security presence on my weekend work hours. That means I will be alone in an approximately 30,000 square feet building, with security cameras and badge readers as my sole protection. The office is located in an office park surrounded by a densely wooded area.

I want to draft a letter expressing my concern for safety. I do wear an electronic device that reads my heart activity, so if there is an emergency situation, it would alert Emergency Services, but what good would that do if they cannot enter the building, utilize the elevator, or access my office suite? What do you think? Am I overthinking this?

I don’t think you’re wrong to have concerns, but I think you need to figure out specifically what you want to ask for, and then have a conversation with your boss rather than writing a letter. Do you want to work from home or a different location on the weekends? Have a panic button that alerts someone who can access the building? Be assured that emergency responders can access the building when needed? Something else? Start there, and then talk to your boss.

5. Writing my own job description when interviewing for an undefined role

I am in the middle of a job search after a layoff due to restructuring. It’s been rough! Luckily, I’ve build an amazing network over the last several years, and many people have been willing to chat or connect me with other contacts.

I was recently connected with an organization that is building a team that aligns really well with my skillset. I’ve had several interviews and believe they went well, but I’ve been interviewing without job descriptions for positions that still haven’t fully been defined. It would be a higher level role and, while the specifics haven’t been written out, it’s clear that this organization is ready to grow. This has made the interviews conversational but also difficult since I can’t speak to specific skills or requirements.

It’s been a while since my last interview with this group, and I was chatting with a former boss who mentioned they actually wrote and submitted a proposed position to a potential employer to see if the role resonated with them. I really like this idea, as it can show that you’re listening to what they need as an organization and maybe move things along in the process if role is new. I think if it’s well written, this would be a great way to reconnect and show initiative. Is this a good idea?

Yes! If the job hasn’t been clearly defined but through your conversations with them you’ve developed a good sense of what they need and how a role could be structured, it can be helpful to write that up and say something like, “From our conversations, my sense is that the role could look like this.” It demonstrates your takeaways from those conversations, and it gives them something concrete to consider and respond to (and if done well, ideally can elicit a response of, “Yes! This person gets what we need”).

The post employee was upset they had to use PTO for bereavement, boss is friends with my husband, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/02/employee-was-upset-they-had-to-use-pto-for-bereavement-boss-is-friends-with-my-husband-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=36360

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260222.html

What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260222.html

Darren sells Geoffrey on a production. This is inspired by Petra's "Grace and a Cod-piece."