i recently started my 88days in the outback at a road house. a day or two before i started kittens got into the roadhouse and a local woman said shed take care of them for my manager. My manager gave them to her and she came back and bragged that she got her SIX YEAR OLD CHILD to stomp on them and shoot them. My manager was disturbed that they not only killed them but also inhumanely.. not to mention a literal child was the one who did it.
the next day the runt found its way into the roadhouse by itself. The same woman came back within days with her son; her husband had spoken to my managers partner who mentioned the kitten so she came back to collect her. After what happened to the last ones my manager didnt have the heart to give the last one up so weve kept it. The lady respected the choice but didnt seem pleased with it and left.

I thought this one family were just sociopaths but since then a few locals have seen our kitten by accident and they literally have the audacity to look at us cuddling her and offer to drown her to our faces. What is their damage about cats? I feel like i must be missing something since not one local has thought it was cute weve adopted her and each one offers to do away with her in some cruel and unusual way. What the hell is that about?

UPDATE-
it has been very.. informative to read the replies and questions. i understand the environmental impact of cats and perhaps this far out it is hard to have access to the resources to "help" and its more pragmatic to euthanize. I suppose being a redneck is different than being bogan as barn cats are well loved as pest control in north America and if they over whelm an area we usually take them to shelters or tnr. Where im from we dont even have kill shelters so it is truly shocking to have a "kill on site" policy for any type of animal.

For those asking: i cannot report the situation. there is very little i can do about it as a worker and one who just arrived at that. Theres no town around us we are literally a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere. The "locals" are industrial farmers, miners and truckers who's routes pass us frequently.

for the curious:
the baby is fine. she is probably 6-8 weeks and shes smaller than your average sweet potato. we hide her from the locals in the staff housing and she has taken residence with my manager in her donger. shes too young to desex but shes seeing the vet soon and will legally belong to my manager after they register her. her appointment to be desexed will be made after they assess her age and calculate when shes eligible.

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I have just been charged $310 at a GP as I moved interstate and was a new patient at a clinic. Have chronic pain and conditions and have recently graduated from a university as an older adult - never have had family support due to socio-economic circumstances.

I'm appalled that to see a doctor for complex management, I (and other people) may need to sacrifice daily essentials and food just to save money for future care as I also need support from allied health and specialists. All I did was spend 35-40 minutes at a GP. The cost was not mentioned on their fees so I could not budget for this, nor did I expect it to take that long. I can't imagine how it is for others.

Unfortunately im in the early stages of management and do not fulfil requirements for disability. How do people survive? It seems that medicare just isn't enough these days. Half my money goes towards medical bills. Though im able to somewhat manage now, its definitely felt hopeless in the past and I can't tell how the future will be like.

Is $310 typical for a GP consultation this long?

Reddit keeps asking me to verify my age through my face, bank or govt ID. I don’t want to do any of these things. I seem to be able to get around this by googling something and getting to Reddit that way, but opening the app it’s making me verify and I can’t see posts. Anyone else? Reddit is attractive because of its anonymity. I know nothing is truly anonymous on the internet but I definitely don’t want to share my face, bank or ID.

Hi, no judgement here but I do want to know why drug use, pub culture, and pokies is so normalised in Australia. You could say that it's 'normal' in most Western places but it seems especially prevalent in the Aussie countryside amongst boys and men. I have a cousin in the countryside who goes to the pub multiple times a week with his friends, and if it's not that he's having friends over and if they're not drinking, they're doing drugs, or both. The last time I was there I think I counted at least five pubs on their one little main street. I (27F) was born and raised in Sydney and am struggling to identify what's considered 'normal' amongst boys in rural areas and what is legitimately a problem. I'm worried about him and know I need to have a serious conversation but at the same time I've already given a lot of advice which he is always grateful for and receptive to but doesn't actually apply it. No judgement but when he comes with his friends they seem like a band of loose people who are suuuper lovely but get onto drugs more than I'm used to being around ( then again I don't go out at all anymore ). Is it a cope? Why do country boys love drugs? Is it normal? And how to be a support when they're stuck in that environment?

What is Christmas beetle smell? Is that smell of a summer night actually from the bugs or is it something else? Do summer nights smell like this in other parts of the world?

It's like petrichor on steroids. I can't get enough and I wish I could buy it in a bottle.

Mate's son has started casual shift work - did some overtime on the weekend and got his pay packet back and was spewing that his penalty rates weren't precisely double his normal hourly.

EG was expecting $40 (base is $20), but only got $38.50 (this is before tax, mind you)

TLDR: Are terms like 'double time' and 'time and a half', etc, actually meant to be true multipliers of your base rate, or are they just accepted 'near enoughs'?

I've been on a FT salary with no OT for the longest time so NFI, and everyone I ask just shrugs and goes 'yeah, that's a bit weird isn't it'.

Edit: I'm asking because apparently he can't be arsed getting a Reddit account, and doesn't want to ask on Facebook for reasons, so here we are. Gonna keep hunting around for an answer in the meantime...

Just moved into a new apartment and I have zero choice over provider of electricity -.- but it doesn't make sense. If a private network company can install meters, track my exact individual usage in my apartment, and bill me based only on what I use... why can't any power company do the exact same thing? Ultimately, the exact same amount of electricity is coming from the grid flowing into the building and into my unit. The technology is already there to measure my personal usage, so why can't a standard power company just use that data to bill me directly?

If the power flows through a central internal hub before being siphoned off into each apartment, why can't a standard meter just at that siphon point send the data directly to the energy provider saying "this unit used this much energy" so consumers actually have a choice?

Why does a private middleman company get to sit in the middle and completely lock us out of a competitive market?

I don't mean to make this a rant against immigration, but anyone who has travelled extensively throughout Asia, even in countries with a lot of immigrants, like Singapore, will notice lost taxi/uber/Didi etc drivers are locals, whereas in Australia taxi or uber drivers are 90% non Australian. I'm not sure if that is the case in say other Anglo or European countries, didn't take them enough to get an idea.

If so why is this? Is there a reason so few Australians are taxi drivers anymore? I feel it was at least more common in the 90s.

Can anyone create a Bogong moth emoji?

Isn’t that the kind of thing the CSIRO would get behind, like a wombat poo cube?

Hello everyone! A friend of mine is moving to SA and it’s her first time. She has to pick between South Plympton and Royal Park. What’s a good/safe suburb for residential between them?

We have young sounding people calling our pharmacy and asking if we have rikodeine, and i can hear their runny nose over the phone, and they really don't sound well.

We also have young people coming into our pharmacy asking for rikodeine and saying that other pharmacies don't have it in stock.

But I checked the suppliers and it's all in stock. Our pharmacy has heaps of them in stock.

I have to say to them that our store policy is we need a prescription for rikodeine. And they say they don't have a prescription. And then I say we have a medical centre next door, so they can see if they can do a walk in appointment. And then they say it's for their mum. And then I say then their mum needs to go to the doctor to get a prescription for it. And then they leave before I get a chance to offer them another alternative like dextromethorphan.

Rikodeine is for dry cough.

The young people look and sound like they're in their 20s.

I feel bad for turning them away but I need to adhere to store policy. And it's a pharmacist only medicine, so i cant supply it without it going through a pharmacist who will then deny supply without a script.

But i dont get how pretty much all the young people say that all other pharmacies are out of stock. There are no supply issues.

Maybe this is mainly my experiences but post COVID people have become extremely intolerant of people and any differences they have.

People are quick to judge and make fun of people. People have become more disrespectful and unhinged.

I personally really enjoyed 'The Secret Lives of Our Urban Birds'. My colleagues are currently digging the ABC + CWA 'Recipe of the Year'

Did you know the Greater Brisbane area has over four hundred species of birds? I can go outside and scan my camera around a suburban garden and capture five different species in one shot. That is *rare*. That is Aussie AF.

And even though 80% of the presenters are annoying as hell, I will always love triple j.

Edit: And SBS too, I love, where my sweaty friend Rick Stein lives.

Will have a day free from kids and don’t want to waste it. Thing like day at the hot springs or something.

People don’t like being told what to do here.

Parenting seems like a very big sore point.

A lot of parents don’t like being told to discipline their kids better too.

I’ve done lots of parent teacher interviews and boy, do lots of parents get defensive. “Oh my son’s an angel”, especially when told directly they’re doing stuff like throwing stuff at the fans.

Hi all!

On a work visa in Sydney and experiencing several health issues. GP referred me to get a blood test (about 10 items listed) so am anticipating it's going to put a dent in my savings.

Asked my insurance on ways to minimise out-of-pocket cost, because mine only covers 85% MBS fee for a blood test. But I was warned that even if I made the switch to a package that covers 100%, visit a provider that's in-network, different locations could charge their own prices above the MBS fee which means I'm still paying???

Wanted to double check if that's true, and in that case how do I even get an estimate on how much it would cost me? Tried calling some locations but no one's on the line, and the nature of my work made it difficult for me to go to the clinics in-person as they close early

Will be staying in CBD, Melbourne for two weeks in February. Would like to visit the Moonlit Sanctuary but the tours offered seem short and public transportation takes up half of the day. Does it make more sense to rent a car and drive? Is it relatively an easy process and which car rentals are best?

Is anyone else irritated by the Australian high rising terminal [looks up]? that makes every comment sound like a question? That finds no resolution often- when often even the last part of the comment does not even hit the downward terminal?

I found this
not uninfuriating,
but then I learned to
care less.

Cheers.

So realised my AirPods got stolen after I lost them
I can track them and they took a trip around north Sydney and now they’re back on a street behind ours
How do I go about this and get my AirPod back 😭 is it worth it knocking and asking

"Does anyone remember an ad that played in the 90s/00s, where there was a shop owner trying to attract people to use his coin-operated car ride?

All I can remember from it is him considering adding a racing stripe and saying "Red is the fastest colour"

My brother and I quoted 'red is the fastest colour' for years but I cannot remember what the ad was for"

Just saw this post on here from 3 years ago because I'm currently doing the same thing, trying to find this advert. No matter what I Google, which images I click or what video I watch I can't seem to find anything to do with it, just some posts here and there that people mention seeing it. Seems like it was to do with the PS2