Ask Ditzy Ghoul

Not being able to talk is something I've gotten used to, but then Littlepip started teaching me about all the amazing things you can do with terminals (and my new golden Pipbuck)! Now I can provide wasteland survival tips to everypony, even if you...

[exmellivorinae]

OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???

“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”

I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT

[a-windsor]

NO ONE TOLD YOU???? WTF! I HAVE FAILED YOU. Also: Dear ______: Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit down with you (&________) to discuss the [insert job position]. I am grateful to be considered for the position. I think I will be a great fit at [company name], especially given my experience in __________. [insert possible reference to something you talked about, something that excited you.] I look forward to hearing from you [and if you are feeling super confident: and working together in the future]. Sincerely, @mellivorinae

[exmellivorinae]

THIS IS A LIFESAVING TEMPLATE

[a-windsor]

YOU ARE WELCOME

[emeraldboreas-deactivated201809]

My brother got a really great paid internship one summer. The guy who hired him said the deciding factor was the professional thank you letter my brother sent after the interview.

[suaimhneas-peace-deactivated202]

should it be an email? or like a physical letter?

[daminwayne]

email, you want to send it within a few hours at max after the interview if you can so it’s fresh in their mind who you are. 

[khirsahle]

Confirmed! I interviewed for a job right after arriving in NY. The interview went incredibly well, and I went home and immediately wrote a thank you letter and put it in the mail. I had a super good feeling about this interview.

I didn’t get the job.

However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.

So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.

Either way, those letters are important.

[neurofancier-deactivated]

Pro tip: If you really want HR to develop a personal interest in your application, publicly thank them on linkedin. Just make a short post telling your network about how X recruiter really went above and beyond to make you feel welcome, or about how be accommodating and professional they were, or whatever. Make sure to use the mention feature so they’ll get a notification and see it. 

Flattery will get you everywhere… and public flattery that might make its way back to their manager, doubly so.

[oaky-dokey]

Obligatory plug for one of FreePrintable.net’s sites: ThankYouLetter.ws. They have a whole section with interview thank you letter templates, and a page with specific tips for interview thank you letters. (There are also tons of other letter templates if you browse around a bit.)

[cricketcat9]

As a former professional recruiter and recruiting manager, I confirm, especially for entry-level positions, where you are competing with oodles of people. This little thing can make a difference. Also the fact that, maybe, you took time to google the “interview etiquette”.

[boogiewoogiebuglegal]

SIGNAL BOOST

[askditzyghoul]

Being in the midst of a job hunt myself, I knew about thank you letters, but had been neglecting them. Clearly I need to fix that. Signal boost out of gratitude.

[veganvenom]

This graffiti appeared overnight at 5 different job centres in Birmingham.

It’s referencing the increasingly harsh benefit sanctions in the UK which are punishing disabled people in particular.

Claimants who cannot work due to severe disabilities or chronic illnesses are being categorised as “fit to work” in order to meet targets and are not being given enough money to survive.

The majority of people who legally challenge their benefits sanctions or ‘fit to work’ decision have them overturned, but only after months without the money they need.

Estimates generally put the number of people who have died in the last few years directly due to benefit sanctions in the thousands. These include people who have died of starvation, exposure, because they couldn’t afford electricity to keep their insulin cold, or because they couldn’t afford treatment, among other things.

The DWP has even sent letters to people declaring them fit to work when in fact they have already died from their illness.

Fuck the DWP and job centres.

Good job, whoever painted these!

[askditzyghoul]

Rebloging this for the sake of a friend across the pond who is genuinely disabled, and brought this to my attention. Not sure if i have any followers in the UK, but i still felt this was something worth signal boosting.

[askthewastelandponies]

Net Neutrality is *not* dead yet. Call Congress to overrule the FCC vote.

Congress can use a Resolution of Disapproval to overrule the FCC. We have to make them.

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines when it comes to Net Neutrality i cannot stress enough that now is the time to get involved. Today congress will vote for whats called a Congressional Review Act which can overturn the FCC’s decision to repeal Net Neutrality and we’ve been struggling to get the last vote we need. Head over to the site provided to help out

and you don’t have to donate your hard earned money if you don’t wish to. In fact at this point it wont help. All we can do is reach out. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it only takes a minute.

[askditzyghoul]

More signal boosting to avoid dangerous precedents that might follow us up here to the north.

[askthewastelandponies]

[askditzyghoul]

Another signal boost for my friends from your neighbor to the north.

[feigenbaumsworld]

The internet just changed: Net Neutrality is dead.

The FCC sided with Comcast and decided to let ISPs censor the internet. The Internet needs to stop this from happening: http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/tellfcc/

Last Wednesday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced a proposal for new rules that would allow for a “ fast lane” of Internet traffic for content providers who are willing (and able) to pay a fee. [1] The proposal reverses the FCC’s previous commitment to net neutrality and open internet and allows ISP’s like Comcast or Verizon to slow down and censor services that don’t pay the toll.

We have to be totally honest, this situation is seriously grim. But there is still hope. The FCC already knows that the Internet community wants net neutrality, but they think they can put their spin on these new rules and sneak them through. If we can prove them wrong right now with a massive public outcry, we can literally save the Internet once again.

We need to stop the FCC now. Big business groups are already ramping up lobbying efforts with the FCC in swarms since Wednesday’s announcement in support of censoring the open Internet and to ensure this dangerous proposal moves forward. [2]

This is a critical moment. In the last few weeks more than 65,000 people have taken action with us. Can you help us get to 80,000 by the end of the day today?

[1] Gautham Nagesh. “FCC to Propose New ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules”. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304518704579519963416350296

[2] Edward Wyatt. Edward Wyatt. “Lobbying Efforts Intensify After F.C.C. Tries 3rd Time on Net Neutrality” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/business/lobbying-efforts-intensify-after-fcc-tries-3rd-time-on-net-neutrality.html?hpw&rref=politics

  - Fight For The Future

[bpd-maribelle-blog]

we’re almost ¾ of the way there!! c’mon guys, every bit counts!

[cthulhu]

will it ever stop

[nerdfaceangst]

fucking signal boost

[nerdfaceangst]

IF YOU ARE NOT SIGNAL BOOSTING THIS YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

IF THE U.S. FALLS TO THIS IT WILL OPEN OTHER DANGEROUS DOORS INTERNATIONALLY.

[jestre]

Start a civil war against the US government.

[nicterhorst]

Signal boost for my us followers

[gentlesoulfoxy]

I try to keep the things I reblog as blog/mun-centric as possible, but this is something I just can’t let slide.

I’ve been following this cause since last year.  I’ve signed petitions, I’ve called representatives, I’ve been to protests, the whole nine yards.

This right here?  This is not a joke.  This is seriously happening, guys.

Remember the Wikipedia shutdown?  That was to protest this right here.  If you haven’t taken action against this yet, frankly, what is wrong with you?  If this doesn’t get stopped, we’re going to lose the thing that brings us all together unless we shell out huge sums of cash to these corrupt bastards.

Do not just sit there and keep browsing.

Do not scroll past this.

Fight.

[dateapunk]

pls pay attention to this! take action!

[askditzyghoul]

Reposting to help my neighbors to the south.

[askditzyghoul]

Did you get lost in the store room doing inventory? Do we need to send a search party? Clop twice if you are ok.

I’m okay! Regardless of the clutter in my storage room, I am quite alright, though Absolutely Everything is clearly in need of some better inventory management. I thought I could handle it myself, but now that I’m running two locations it’s kind of gotten away from me. Perhaps I should start paying Silver Bell some caps to help tidy up around here… though I wouldn’t want to get in the way of her art skills and lessons with Palette. Perhaps I should hire somepony.

[askditzyghoul]

Whatever happened to the griffons? Did they ALL join the Talon Mercenaries?

No, but a great many of them did. Griffonstone, the Griffon’s homeland, was impoverished for a long time, and the griffons had no leader like the Princesses of Equestria or the Caesar of Roam. The lack of infrastructure and leadership led griffons to hoard what they could for themselves or their immediate family, which led to a near permanent recession because no one was willing to spend their hoarded bits unless absolutely necessary.

Gawd liked to tout how the Talons didn’t play politics or take sides, working for whoever payed, but during the great war that unilaterally became the zebras. Equestria could certainly afford to hire Talon Mercenaries, but with pegasus ponies and unicorn magic, no one on our side felt like they needed them. Since the zebras were willing to pay and the griffons were poor, they were willing to take on dangerous, violent, and unsavory work.

The sad part is that, in spite of casualties, the influx of wealth from the mercenary work actually did benefit Griffonstone as a state. The griffons who weren’t actively taking mercenary work still saw improvements because those who survived brought back their earnings and were more willing to spend, in part because they knew they might not come back from the next mission. It wasn’t just the new money, but rather the willingness to spend it that re-ignited the Griffonstone economy. As a result, the Talon Mercenaries were glorified even among the griffons who stayed home.

[dstears]

Horse taxes

[askditzyghoul]

OOC: I actually prepare income tax returns for a living, and finds this endlessly amusing. Maybe not everypony out there agrees with me, but I’ll share it nonetheless.

[askditzyghoul]

What do you think opposite Ditzy Doo would be like?

You mean if I had been influenced by Discord or the like? Well, I suspect I would be rather unpleasant to be around. I would be stingy, angry, and probably excessively loud and vulgar. I also think, with my eyes, that I would just constantly stare straight at other ponies, to the point of making them uncomfortable. Although I admit that last bit is more of an amusing mental image for me to soften up the notion, which I suspect is actually quite awful given what the Ministry Mares experienced.

[askditzyghoul]

Hey Ditzy, want to close the shop for an hour and play hockey on the roof?

That would be kinda dangerous for anyone who wasn’t a pegasus (or a griffon). There’s plenty of ice on the ground when winter comes around, that’d be much safer. I’d hate to set a dangerous example for my daughter after all. That said, I don’t mind occasionally taking a break from work for some fun.

[askditzyghoul]

My family and I want to wish all you wonderful wastelanders out there a Happy Hearth’s Warming. Remember to tell your friends and family how much you love them and show your fellow equines good tidings and best wishes.

[askditzyghoul]

Ditzy, gather the rest of the elements and summon a big screen T.V.

I believe that would be a grievous misuse of their power.

[askditzyghoul]

Hay Silverbell, how's your horn coming any magic yet?

I’ve been able to successfully do magic ever since I helped catch mommy when she was falling after her Rainboom over New Appleoosa. I don’t like to think too hard about the time back when I had cut it off, I was really messed up, but momma helped me get better, as did Miss Remedy and Pyrelight and all the good ponies of New Appleoosa. I can levitate things, make the sound of bells ringing, and Palette has been teaching me me to make other really cool art too. It took me a while to be okay with the bell sounds after what happened to my parents, but once in a while Momma takes me back to the farm and I play it at their graves. They were always so proud of it, and I wanted them to know that I wasn’t blaming myself anymore.

[askditzyghoul]

Have you encountered a few of those old food dispensers out in the wasteland. I don't know what magic the M.O.M. used on them but a lot of whats inside is a fresh as the day it was made or at least not the typical 200 year old stale kind. Heck not to far away is one that has an assortment of doughnuts, cookies and muffins in it, even the bright yellow one with a candied lemon slice of top.

Well, the thing about MoM food stockpiles is that Pinkie’s instincts seemed to know there was a chance she might fail to save Manehattan, and after that the rest of Equestria would follow. Though I don’t think anyone else in her ministry considered the possibility the way she did. Everything her ministry produced was loaded with enough alchemical preservatives to keep it edible even two centuries later, which MoM cooks likely just chalked up to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, or perhaps experimenting a little. It’s a little stale now, but nothing that her Ministry made will ever be rotten or decayed.

[askditzyghoul]

By Popular Demand

I would like to take this opportunity to announce that, after a few unsuccessful attempts, we were able to upgrade my terminal so as to not break when my husband’s Necromantic Pipbuck is nearby. As such, he will now be joining me in answering your questions about the Equestrian Wasteland. Say hello honey.

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS EQUESTRIAN WASTELAND. I AM VERY PLEASED TO BE JOINING MY WIFE IN TAKING YOUR QUESTIONS AND PROVIDING SURVIVAL ADVICE.

Um, honey, you don’t have to put everything in capitals.

I CANNOT HELP IT, MY ARMOR’S SHOE IS SNAGGED ON THE KEY.

Oh well, at least they’ll know it’s you.

Oooh, mommy, can I say hi too? 

Of course you can sweetie, so long as you don’t expect me to let you stay up past your bedtime to answer questions. 

Awww... Okay. Hi everypony! 

((Edit: Had a little oopsie with the new pic. Silver Bell is the right size now))

[askditzyghoul]

Can you put your mane in a ponytail? I'd think it would look good on you.

I don’t really have enough of a mane left to manage that unfortunately. Perhaps I should get a wig.

[imagineyouroc]

spoil your OC's storyline/character arc with no context

(inspired by those “spoil the ending of your favorite game/movie/book but with no context” posts)

[serpenking]

arrggg me matey 

[whynotzoidbergdotorg]

She never gets cured

[eudaemaniacal]

profound alienation, irreconcilable differences, liz wears pants now

[theoldaeroplane]

everything happens again but in reverse

[mls-classics]

Dell comes back from the dead, gives The Arsonist a robot brain to let her think clearly again, then shoots her?

[askfrostwindchill]

Trust issues.

[askditzyghoul]

Undead mute explodes twice, helps saves the world.