Zoozoostudio

Knitting, weaving, spinning, drawing, painting and sewing. Always original work - no copying is my philosophy. Feeding those I love with the produce of my garden. Pontificating on the world, things that irk me, things that irk you, sharing what I know and learning from you.

[high-unicorn-tolerance-deactiva]

people have so little appreciation for craftsmanship and it’s frustrating and sad. like i saw this video on facebook of a guy making a small throwing axe by hand, from start to finish, and half the comments were like “or just buy an axe for $15”

the dude didnt just want an axe! he wanted the experience of handwork, he wanted to engage in a tradition of craftsmanship, he wanted to practice skills. the process of making things is about so much more than the thing you make

if i knit a hat, the fact that i’ll have a hat at some point is tertiary to everything else i get out of the experience. it’s meditation, it’s how i interact with a community, it connects me to a history, it mediates my anxiety, it’s a sensory experience, it’s me engaging with my body in a way that is careful and thoughtful and elegant and beautiful

handwork is so devalued for a lot of reasons, and those reasons are almost always socially complex – there’s a lot to be said about how class and gender play out in different hobbies; how cost can become prohibitive in learning skills that were once vital to the poor, how certain kinds of labor have become a luxury, how histories of gendered labor cause that labor to become mocked. all of those things and so many more are difficult to grapple with

automation tends to lead us to believe that making is all about things, but when you practice handwork, you give the process its own kind of value and reap all its intangible rewards. if i could explain one simple thing to anyone who has ever asked me why i don’t just buy a hat, it’s that there’s a lot more involved in a process than just its product.

[knitfreakcosplay]

This.

THIS.

[zoozoostudio]

This is so important and well put - please read

[branda]

(vía Estudio V. – C L O T A)

[zoozoostudio]

This looks incredibly uncomfortable and it's all off centre - the chair back isn't even level. The deep-buttoning is all over the place. Not to mention those nasty folds on the arms and all the uneven puckering around the rail. When did we start promoting crap upholstery?

[zoozoostudio]

Progress in the baby-sock factory #sockknitting #loveknit #lovesocks #babyknits #sweetbabies #instaknit #indiedyer

[zoozoostudio]

Yay!!!! I am beyond thrilled to have been accepted into Drawn Volume II! Now begins the fun task of choosing images ... i may have to canvas opinions ... #interiordesignideas #artdirectory #crookscreative #artpromoter #illustratorsofig #lovedrawing #drawn #drawnv2 #capsulebooks

[ithelpstodream]

“feminists reacted with outrage”

no. TERFs did.

[phoneticwisdom-deactivated20171]

As a bisexual woman, I can confidently say that the LGBTQ community has and is going too far, their agenda is erasing the concept of identity and soon their will be a generation of children totally confused about what they are. Be mad if you want, I don’t support this shit. People DON’T get pregnant, WOMEN do!

[ithelpstodream]

including others doesn’t erase identity. your identity is yours and it always will be and our children can be whoever they want to be.

“the only way to liberate others is to liberate yourself first”

you’ve got these words in your description, maybe one day you can rid yourself of your transphobia and live by them.

[darthvatrix]

If the trans ideology wasn’t so woman hating and determined to erase the female lived experience, OP wouldn’t be so corrosively hypocritical. We can’t help it that TW are only carrying a prostate gland. Women have 99.9999% of the live births. We’re going to get the language of female biology back. The administration is cutting funding on all programs for contraception both foreign and domestic. Abortion rights and bodily autonomy is in the balance. Afab spectrum we retain gender neutral language for their themselves. But the reproductive justice movement will have to use the language of female biology. THAT’S CHECKMATE!

[ithelpstodream]

get that checkmate bullshit out of here. when it comes to the reproductive justice movement it is imperative that we use gender neutral language because laws work best when they are as specific as possible. if we use the phrasing “pregnant women” this would exclude trans folk from having reproductive rights. by using the phrasing “pregnant people” we do not only include women, but also intersex people, trans men and non-binary and genderfluid folk. this has got nothing to do with hating women and everything to do with protecting our trans siblings.

[zoozoostudio]

I have clearly missed something in the news.

Can someone please explain to me, without going off on a rant, how it is possible to fall pregnant and carry a baby to term without a functioning uterus? And if you have a functionig uterus and wish to use it to have a child of your own, how you can regard yourself as "male" while doing this?

I submit that being pregnant and giving birth are exclusively female activities and also that trans-folk who have fought hard to be recognised as their chosen gender would not like to be suddenly given a neutral apellation not to mention what it says to the billions of heterosexual and gay women who have actually given birth.

Everybody loses their identity through this and that's wrong.

[pr1nceshawn]

The evolution of Halloween costumes for girls…

[castielsteenwolf]

this is really important

[seananmcguire]

This is why I get upset about the sexy costumes at Halloween.  Not because you don’t have the right to be sexy—you absolutely, absolutely do.  But because while you might be able to find costume #3 in a tween size in each of these rows, I can guarantee that in almost all cases, you will not find costume #2 in a teen or adult size.

Babies/toddlers get to be cute.  Kids/tweens get to be fun and spooky and still have modesty, if they want it.  Teens who aren’t on the small end are already getting the sexy, even if they really just want fun, spooky, and a skirt that goes below mid-thigh.  And adults?  LOL nope it’s sexy or nothing.

Everyone who is of an age to want sexy should be allowed to have sexy.  But “not sexy” should always be on the table as well, because sometimes you just want to be warm and cozy and filling a pillowcase with strangercandy.

[fucknosexistcostumes]

Very relevant to this blog. 

[unexpectedyarns]

Keep in mind that the columns are, left - right, Baby, Child through about age 8-9, TWEEN (ages 9-14) and adult.  To foist even the Tween costume choices on a 9 to 14 year old girl is disgusting, at best.

Not only all this, but in most places, isn’t it COLD at halloween?  

What if you just aren’t going to a halloween party in a heated building?  What if you just want to dress up as something while you go around taking your kids trick-or-treating?  Are you really going to do it in a sleeveless mini-skirt dress and 5″ heels when it’s 40F outside?

[zoozoostudio]

Why don't you all just make your own costumes and ignore the commercial crap? They only make these costumes because people buy them, after all.

[quiet--dominance-deactivated201]

Stop teaching children that there is only one person out there meant for them. Let it be easier for people to let their toxic relationships go without fear of losing “The One”.

[pythius-deactivated20171128]

Its so fucked up and weird that we don’t tell people that there will be multiple important people in their lives

[callmebliss]

If I had realized this I probably never would have even gotten married let alone stayed as long as I did

[zoozoostudio]

I could have saved myself two painful marriages if I had understood this sooner. Sigh.

[itscolossal]

An 80-Foot Steel Kraken Will Create an Artificial Coral Reef Near the British Virgin Islands

[zoozoostudio]

Personally, I would rather see a real, live, healthy coral reef in healthy waters.

Haven't we put enough crap in the ocean already?

[toadistic]

I honestly think that we would eliminate one of the major causes of ableism if we stopped basing people’s worth off how much revenue they generate.

[space-pikachu]

This measure is worthless. Actually, it is worth less than nothing.

I used to be a programmer for a spammer. Being rather young, naive, and also desperate for some kind of income, I had no idea what “lead generation” meant and had no idea that the fact that they didn’t talk about how their nebulous product actually helped anyone was a huge red flag. I took the job, slowly learned the codebase, and it took me months to figure out what kind of practices this place actually employed.

I was asked to put in obnoxious popups, but hide the popups for traffic coming in from Google so that Google wouldn’t cut off their sponsored traffic because the site violated their standards, a few months into my time there. That was when I began to realize the kind of place I was working at. Then I was asked to create a throwaway email account to test something, and I found out what actually happened to the poor people who put their information in for Free Insurance Quotes. They were inundated with spam. I found out the company had no site of its own, just hundreds of these “Free Insurance Quotes” sites all with slightly different stock photos and slightly different forms and a “complaints” page that was very hard to find with an email that was never checked.

I was a Hardworking Taxpaying American when I worked at that job. I was, according to this capitalist logic, contributing to society and of much more value than a disabled person who supposedly is a leech on society.

I was making the world worse by working at that job. I would have been making the world better if I did absolutely nothing but stare at the wall all day rather than work that job.

Many jobs are like this. Anyone who works at an oil company is making the world worse. Anyone who works at a tobacco company is making the world worse. People in various abusive therapy industries are making the world worse. I’m sure you can name plenty of other jobs in this category. The world would be better if those jobs did not exist.

Now, I am disabled. I am chronically ill, and I cannot even work a sedentary job because having to sit up for eight hours at a time would make me have to lie in bed for days.

I am making the world much better now by replacing the invasive grasses on my front lawn with strawberries that attract native bees, by sealing my house to increase its energy efficiency, by taking care of a flock of chickens and doing my best to ensure that they have a good happy life, by replenishing the soil in the yard with compost and chicken manure, than I was at that job. And I don’t do very much - I can’t.

Equating the arbitrary numbers one accumulates for oneself to one’s actual value or contribution is a dangerous lie, and it is poisoning the planet.

[thesylverlining]

This is so incredibly important. Thank you for this.

[zoozoostudio]

Yes

[daily-showerthoughts]

I would gladly pay more in taxes if every child in the public school system was guaranteed a healthy lunch.

[zoozoostudio]

Instead of paying more taxes, why don't you just send your kids to school with a healthy lunch of their own? Plenty of countries expect parents to provide, not schools or the state.

[black-to-the-bones-deactivated2]

Three years into the water crisis

And nobody gives a sh*t

[bikonciousnessa]

i only heard about this 2 months ago. its been 3 years????

[daggers-drawn]

Remember this started because Snyder switched Flint from a freshwater mountain lake to the polluted Flint River simply to allow his wife’s company to use the lake for bottling instead. This is a manufactured crisis of corruption and capitalism.

[fruitprom]

Also remember that the pipes corroded because they refused to pay for the chemical used to make the water less acidic.

Remember that when the first E. coli outbreak from the water popped up, the city hall was given water coolers by the state, free of charge, all while denying that the water could be unsafe to drink.

Remember that, despite having a huge budget surplus and a “rainy day fund,” set aside that could easily cover the cost of relocating the residents by buying their houses/paying their debt, or could cover a large chunk of the cost of replacing the pipes, the state has decided to continue to only put in the minimal amount of effort.

Remember that flint is majority POC, majority impoverished, and is still being faced with crippling water bills from the Detroit water supply company, where they are often charged $50 a month just to use the service, on top of the cost of their water bill.

Remember that there will now be an entire generation of children who will now be damaged by lead poisoning and damage from the multitude of neurotoxins.

Remember that this is what privatized natural resources looks like. Remember that these people are being punished for having the audacity to dare to be poor in an economy that won’t let them be anything but.

[daggers-drawn]

At every level, this has not been a mistake.

The State and City are most upset that people know its happening and are resisting nation-wide.

But if we lose focus they lose even the small amount of aid they’ve managed to get.

This is how they do it. It’s a siege on the public empathy. Eventually we become numb to the problem and despair. Or something bigger happens.

Then its business as usual again.

[xh0nia]

Don’t forget Flint

[zoozoostudio]

Water is not a commodity to be traded. If you buy bottled water willingly, stop now. You are just consolidating the trade of an essential human requirement.

Isn't everyone entitled to free clean drinking water?

[bogleech]

this weird anime monster is named El Rey Magnum and his breeders claim he’s “as close to perfection as possible” and this is his official page:

http://www.orrionfarms.com/our-horses/el-rey-magnum-rcf

[specimen-jar]

i didn’t think this was real but there’s a video of it in the link

[psshaw]

Perfection at WHAT. Were they trying to breed a mount for the Antichrist?

[callmebliss]

Frikkin anime horse

[zoozoostudio]

Why are these people breeding freaks? Why?????

[cruzfucker]

i hate when the teacher’s like “write about a bad time in your life” like i ain’t tryna get a social worker up my ass, thanks tho fam

[skary-child]

This ain’t no joke I had to write a essay about what your scared of so I did it (I was scared of growing up and where my life was going) it was great got a 100 but then I got sent to councilors office and was sent to therapy cause they thought I was suicidal and on the verge of breaking…Apparently they ment like spiders or some shit…

[xzienne]

Also like, not everyone finds that at all useful or cathartic.

“Write about some difficulty you’ve experienced personally.” “Aight fam let me just break down into tears and skip the rest of my classes.”

[chronicreality]

Yes! I had a psych professor ask us to discuss outloud the hardest thing that ever happened to us literally two days ago and I said “you realize the position you’re putting us in? I feel obligated to lie to not only save my peers the awkwardness but also because I will find no relief in answering honestly but rather anxiety. The hardest thing in my life is having people repeatedly tell me I should find some sort of catharsis in reliving my trauma so someone else can feel pity for me!”

The whole class backed me up because they didn’t want to either! Those kind of exercises are only helpful for people who don’t have any real past/current issues– which is no one btw.

[inqorporeal]

On par with this are those fucking self-assessments where they want to to be optimistic and positive about the future. You’re sitting there drowning in college stress and anxiety so bad you can’t look another human in the eye, fighting depression so that you can eventually achieve a piece of paper that might get you a better job if the economy doesn’t tank itself (guess what, it did), and the most optimistic thing you can think of is that the class ends in 20 minutes.

[lierdumoa]

#why do they do this though ~ @inqorporeal​

OH! I KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS!

There’s a WIRED article that explains the history behind this practice. 

Basically, this guy named Jeffrey Mitchell had a traumatic experience, then after months of PTSD, he told a confidant about the event that traumatized him. Retelling the event to a confidant was so cathartic for Mitchell that his PTSD went away after. He did a bunch of research to see if his personal experience of catharsis and relief could be replicated in other people suffering from PTSD. Years later he published a paper proposing a formalized psychiatric treatment revolving around this idea that expressing a traumatic experience helps relieve it. The paper was so influential that the whole psychiatric community adopted “critical incident stress debriefing” (CISD) as a standard treatment for PTSD.

Unfortunately … it’s bullshit.

Not only does the CISD treatment program Mitchell came up with not help the majority of patients who try it, but it actually makes PTSD worse in the majority of patients who try it.

The WIRED article explains why:

CISD misapprehends how memory works…. Once a memory is formed, we assume that it will stay the same. This, in fact, is why we trust our recollections. They feel like indelible portraits of the past.

None of this is true. In the past decade, scientists have come to realize that our memories are not inert packets of data and they don’t remain constant. 

…the very act of remembering changes the memory itself. New research is showing that every time we recall an event, the structure of that memory in the brain is altered in light of the present moment, warped by our current feelings and knowledge. 

Basically, Mitchell waited until he had some emotional distance before trying to recall the memory, and he had full control of the situation. It was fully his decision. Nobody was pressuring him to talk about it. So he felt safe. Thinking about the memory from a place of safety allowed his brain to re-contextualize the memory as harmless.

Conversely, pressuring a patient to recall a traumatic memory, particularly when it’s still fresh in their minds, makes the patient feel very unsafe. Recalling a bad memory in this unsafe context only serves to re-traumatize the patient. 

[link to the whole article]

[zoozoostudio]

Can I sue Mitchell for increasing my stress and trauma through being forced to relive terrible events in the name of "therapy"?

I actually cancelled a psych appointment yesterday because I couldn't handle the thought of going through everything with a stranger, yet again. Telling a man I don't know about all the awful things men have done to me, just didn't seem like a very logical or helpful thing to do.

If Mitchell got through his PTSD so quickly, the actual event can't have been all that traumatic in the first place.

[the-real-eye-to-see]

Didn’t even know people are not allowed to give blood if they are gay

[zamneyfandom]

MLM are not allowed to give blood. That includes gay men; bisexual and pansexual men; gay, bi, and pan trans men; and possibly even straight trans women.

The day my friends and I signed up to donate blood, I was SO happy to be helping someone in the world with what little efforts I could attribute but the lady doing the paperwork was like, “Ooo. Soorryyyy. Times are changing fast so hopefully you will be able to donate someday” and it broke my little heart that I couldn’t meaningfully contributing to society with my friends as they light-headedly regrouped with me and asked “Why didn’t you get your blood taken?”

[colt-kun]

Also if you had sex in the last 12 months with a man who had anal or oral sex with another man.

Or if you’ve had any blood transfusions since 1980.

Or if you have had sex with a “drug user” in the last 12 months (the definition on this ranges.)

or if you have had sex with a sex worker or had sex with someone who has had sex with a sex worker in the last 12 months.

Piercings or tattoos in the last 12 months.

EVER done intravenous drugs.

Been incarcerated for 72+ hours in the last 12 months.

Certain medications and medical conditions. (An understandable one.)

Oh and if you’re trans? You are supposed to self-identify and “self report” if you want to donate.

Which is ridiculous since ALL BLOOD IS TESTED AFTER DONATION. And they will toss the blood and contact the donor if it tests positive for any diseases. I know someone who couldn’t afford a blood test so they donated JUST to see if they got a call back that their blood was unusable.

And all these stipulations can (and have) been LIFTED in times of great crisis, so you gotta ask… how important are these especially since its tested anyways…? Definitely donate responsibly. But the stipulations are ridiculous.

Our generation can’t donate as easily. And we’re blamed for it. I had chemotherapy treatments and am unable to donate and have still gotten shamed when pushy attendants try to ask “don’t you WANT to help?”

[scifinut]

Coworker of mine used to not be able to donate because a medication he takes was on the not approved list. Now it’s on the approved list. He has not changed medications in years. Rules for tattoos/piercings change depending on the donation site (Red Cross vs. local places), so always call and ask. Some of the rules are reasonable. Most probably have all sorts of reasons mired in red tape so far back in history that it shouldn’t matter any more. I’d love to donate more often, but my veins are shit and when it’s warm out my heart races and I’m disqualified. Check the rules at local places. Ask them. There may still be ways.

[callmebliss]

I need this friggin infection to go away so I can donate again

[zoozoostudio]

Maybe we could try looking at this from the perspective of those who take the blood and the significant costs involved when you take blood that has to be tested and then discarded? Every person who "donates" but whose blood has to be thrown away has cost the same amount as every donation that could actually be kept and used. Protocols are put in place to protect public health - starting with the person who takes the blood (they have a right to protect their health) and ending with the final recipient (who also has a right to protect their health). When blood donation facilities ask screening questions, they're not discriminating against you; they're just trying to minimise the number of donations they have to take and throw away in order to protect the public interest.

If you really want to donate blood, think about what factors in your lifestyle might affect your ability to give blood and don't take it personally if they knock you back because it isn't intended that way. Instead, be grateful for all the safety protocols that make it possible to provide safe donor blood to anyone who needs it.

[opposite-of-batman]

18 years ago a man walked into a school in Dunblane, Scotland with four handguns and killed 16 students all under 6 years old, a teacher and then himself.

This led to a debate on gun control and in 1997 2 firearms amendment acts were passed making it illegal to own a handgun for personal use in the United Kingdom.  We have had no shooting on a similar scale to this since.

6 weeks later in Australia was the massacre in Port Arthur when 35 people were killed and 23 wounded, which led to the imposing strict gun control. There have been no shootings on a similar scale to this since, either.

If I hear one more person tell me that there’s nothing that can be done in the US when there are massacres after massacre I will scream because it is so clear and people are pretending to be blind.

[zoozoostudio]

Thank you voice of sanity. I was roundly attacked on another forum today for suggesting this. It is a relief to know that others also understand that not being allowed to carry a personal firearm is not the end of the world.

It is merely the end of mass-shootings by ordinary citizens.

[labrasmore]

Show me working line vs show line dogs

or any other lines a breed may have

[northernirishsetter]

American Show Line Irish Setter

UK Show Line Irish Setter (this dog is from Northern Irish lines)

American Working Line Irish Setter

Working Line Irish Setter from Ireland

All photo credit to owners

[labrasmore]

The differences in the coats!!!

[run-your-dogs-not-your-mouth-de]

Show line Lab.

Working line Lab.

Show line GSD.

Working line GSD.

All photo credit edit to owners!

[canisitsnotlupus]

Show Line BC

Working BC

Show Line Golden Retriever:

Working Lined GR:

[accidentallyadoptedazoo]

Can we talk about that show BC though? What is even happening there?

[canisitsnotlupus]

a separate breed that generally cannot do the work it was meant to do

[malsquad]

The stop on that show BC is scaring me… Is that normal in the show line of that breed? (I’m not well versed in the BC standard and haven’t seen many show line BC’s)

Also

Show line Malinois:

vs. Working Line Malinois:

[canisitsnotlupus]

yes, sadly, it is normal.

[books-and-barns-deactivated2017]

Show Line Australian Cattle Dog:

Working Line Australian Cattle Dog:

The ‘working line’ is not representative of every working line ACD, but the general trend is they are less conditioned (read: tubby) and slightly narrower than their show line counterparts. The other key difference? Some show line Australian Cattle Dogs have had the herding instinct bred out of their line. To me, this is the greatest difference between the two, and perhaps the most offensive.

There’s also a lot of variability in size/weight, ranging from 25lbs to 45lbs. This is very similar to the working line Border Collies, who can range as well in my experience (welcome to working lines, if it works and it’s healthy it should be bred.)

[geardaemon]

Cause i never get tired of them

Showline Bouvier

Working Line Bouvier 

[cynological]

I think it is relevant to note that there is an idea that working lines are inherently “better” dogs, which is definitely the case if you want a dog to work or as an incredibly active companion, but not so much if you want just a house pet.

Most working and show lines are genetically separate enough from each other that they are essentially separate breeds.

My personal preference is towards working lines, but if someone wants the watered down conformation bred version of a breed, by all means, have it. I’d rather let people have that than to get a working dog and be way over their heads.

Which isn’t to say that there’s not things I disagree with in conformation dogs, because whoo boy, there is a LONG list. I definitely do find it offensive that people don’t respect the dogs and their heritage, but again, I’d rather that happen than a bunch of dogs die because they are Too Much.

I also really like that working line Irish setter. I didn’t know there were still lines that worked.

[alittleblackdogblog]

There’s not really a “working line” chihuahua but the chihuahua breed has a bit of a split and a lot of variation to it. Some people will call them “Apple Heads” and “Deer Heads” to quickly term them. “Pear Head” is also a term for a blockier looking deer head. 

“Apple head” is also the AKC standards look. It calls for a chihuahua to have a dome like, apple shaped head. 

They have a bulbous head, a short but slightly pointed muzzle, a short compact body and wide set eyes. Their skulls also can have a molera (soft spot). Standard calls for them to be 6lb and under (anything more is a disqualification). My step sister owns an apple head who last I saw, was 3-4 lbs, and she’s a very sweet dog, but gets cold easily. 

  Chihuahua show standard can be read here.

Deer Head is typically an off standard chihuahua, or sometimes called a “Throw Back”, (this is the one I personally much prefer). They tend to have leaner bodies, and weigh more. 7lbs - 12lbs is usual. They also usually have a solid skull, no molera. Some people call them “BYB Chihuahuas” but plenty of BYBs also breed “Apple Heads” too. Actually, I see Apple Head used a ton as a marketing term. 

I like deer heads more because they’re heavier and more sturdy. They also handle cold and heat better than the smaller type. Both are supposed to be feisty and confident dogs. 

My gripe about the showline would be, I am not a fan of this peke-face that’s been developing. I also don’t like the teeth issues they’re prone to and their weather intolerance. 

Here’s a vintage chihuahua from back in the day :) That would be a deer head in today’s terms. 

[theweldinglynx-deactivated20180]

NGL those showline BCs are fucking adorable and I wanna bury my face in their coats.

[falseprophet]

Ugh I love love love posts like this. I adore show and working line shit, so good! I agree with @cynological on pretty much everything. Some show lines are just fucking horrible but my dream dog is an Airedale. In no way whatsoever could I handle a working line ‘dale and they aren’t nearly as drastically different as some of these.

[zoozoostudio]

As someone with a champion show and working border collie, I have to say that most of the BCs featured here would not be considered good examples of either show or working dogs (at least not in Australia). And if you think it's possible to "breed" herding behaviours out of a dog in just a few generations, well, you don't understand dogs or genetics. "Best in Show" is rarely about being the best example, and is more often about meeting the personal aesthetic of the judge/s. And for the record, "show line" has a lot to do with how you train your dog to stand as opposed to its permanent conformation.

I love dogs. I hate dog-show people (sorry) and all their snobbery, which is why Mack and I aren't doing any more dog shows.

[lilbetsywetsy]

How to be a courteous hotel guest

Hello! My name is Claude and I am a Texas cosplayer who also workers as a hotel housekeeper. I haven’t been working in housekeeping for very long but I’ve seen the impact of all sorts of guest and I have to say that Anime/Comic Con attendees are honestly some of the messiest guests and it puts a lot of strain on the housekeeping staff. Did you know we are warned in advance about you guys? I even have horror stories about con guest. This job is very physically demanding and we’re under a lot of pressure to meet our room cleaning times. Below are some tips about being a more helpful and respectful guest. These are only a suggestion. Not rules. Courtesy is a choice.

1.) Before leaving don’t make the bed. We understand you mean well, but all sheets need to be washed and therefore the beds stripped. The best way to leave the bed? Place all the sheets on top of the bed and remove the pillowcases from the pillows. You can leave them bunched up, that’s fine.

2.) Place all your trash into trash bags, tie it up, and leave the trash next to the door before leaving.That way we can just toss it in the trash cart and move on. Leave anything that we can vacuum. You can also leave the dirty towels next to the door before leaving.

3.) Please check all the drawers, cabinets, and closets to make sure you have all your things. Anything found will be placed into lost and found for 90 days. If you’ve left something, just call the hotel and tell them what you’ve lost and in what room.

4.) If you place a DND sign on your door we CANNOT ENTER at all. We mark it down and move on. If you later remove it and decide that you want service call the front desk and let them know because housekeeping usually end up leaving anywhere from 3pm-5pm.

5.) When housekeeping refreshes your room we make the bed, refill amenities, place fresh towels, take out trash, and do a quick wipedown. Don’t want your bed made? Need extra amenities? Need extra trash bags? Etc? Let us know! We leave notepads and pens in every room and you can write down any instructions for us. Ex: “No need to make the bed, just fresh towels and extra shampoos please.” “Extra trash bags and bath towels please, no more shampoos please.”

6.) Housekeeping cannot make the beds when you have personal belongings on the bed. Simple things like clothes and towels we move while making the bed then put back but anything else we DO NOT TOUCH. Laptops, jewels, suitcases, etc. Please keep this in mind if you want your bed made.

7.) Please do not leave your hair curlers and straighteners plugged in the bathroom. Guest always leave them connected usually next to the sink with water all over and it’s a safety hazard. Housekeeping will usually unplug them but I, personally, fear that maybe one day we won’t reach the room in time.

8.) If a hotel is Pet friendly, you still have to let the hotel know that you are bringing a furry friend along. We need to know what rooms need the pet treatment. What if the next guest is allergic and we weren’t notified about the previous guest?

9.) Try and bring some supplies to clean up after your pet. We’ve had guest allow their pets to pee and poop on the carpets and it not only affects the housekeeping staff but maintenance staff as well.

10.) Most hotels are non-smoking and we ask that you please respect that. We are trained to find out if a guest has been smoking and when we catch it, you get a $250 charge. Don’t risk it!! There are smoking areas that you can ask about.

11.) Have left over alcohol that you can’t take with you when you leave? You don’t have to throw it away. It’s very common for guest to leave them as a tip for housekeeping staff.

12.) Yes! You can tip housekeeping! It’s not required. But we constantly get tips and little notes to thank us for our work and we deeply appriciate it. (I actually have all my thank you notes!) How much you tip is up to you. Ive gotten anywhere from change to 25$.

13.) If you’re sick (like influenza, strep throat, cold, etc.) let the hotel staff know. That way we can notify the housekeepers to take extra precautions. (mask, gloves, etc) and provide a deeper clean. (I actually got Influenza B and ended up in the hospital from this one!)

14.) You don’t have to leave your room if housekeeping comes by to refresh it.  You can stay and tell us how to make your stay more comfortable. Plus, we appreciate the conversation.

15.) Please notify ANY of the hotel staff when you encounter a problem. (bedbugs, clogged toilet, broken lamps, etc) We are committed to make your stay as perfect as possible and can be reached at anytime for help.

16.) If you throw up or bleed (excessively)  in the room please notify us as soon as possible and we can have maintenance come clean up. Please do not leave it for us to clean until after your stay. It causes stains that won’t come out and a deeply embedded smell in the room.

17.) Things you can ask for that guest don’t usually know about (can vary by hotel. Some hotels require purchase.): cribs, extra blankets, shower caps, slippers, toothpaste, toothbrush, tampons, pads, razors.

That’s about all I can think of so far. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about how to be a more courteous guest or anything about hotel service. I’ll be happy to help to the best of my ability. I cant wait to see you all at San Japan! :) Any questions?  @etoile-ami-cosplay (Tumblr)  @etoile_ami (instagram) 

[postcardsfromspace]

USEFUL INFORMATION!

[cosplay101tips]

I work for a hotel. This is good advice for everyone not just cosplayers. This is great!

[zoozoostudio]

I was born and raised in hotels and have worked in housekeeping in what now seems like the distant past.

We were trained to notice things and make the room nice discretely, without requiring the guest to leave us written instructions (up to and including cleaning around and under discarded items and carefully replacing them so it looked like noone had been in the room, it was just cleaner and smelt nicer).

We did it because we were paid to do it.

We never expected the guests to do our jobs for us.

We paid attention to our work and if we didn't, we got fired (we sure as hell didn't just pick up the trash bags and move on without a backward glance).

I, for one, am glad I am not staying in a hotel where I have to pay to clean up after myself.

Feeling like a grumpy old lady.