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Updated: Oct 31, 2018 101 Comments · by

Coffee Break: Coil Threader Earring

Coffee Break |

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modern earrings for workIf you hate posts as much as I do, you may like these affordable “threader” earrings from Urban Outfitters. (In the picture they're the one in the bottom part of the model's earlobe, not the top.) They look comfortable, elegant in a really modern way. They're $45. Luv Aj Vertigo Coil Threader Earring Psst: Bloomingdale's just started their Friends & Family sale — use code FRIENDS at checkout and take 25% off select regular, and sale-price items. In other sale news, J.Crew is offering 50% off final sale with code SHOPSALE. (L-all)

Sales of note for 10.10.24

  • Nordstrom – Extra 25% off clearance (through 10/14); there's a lot from reader favorites like Boss, FARM Rio, Marc Fisher LTD, AGL, and more. Plus: free 2-day shipping, and cardmembers earn 6x points per dollar (3X the points on beauty).
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale (ends 10/12)
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything plus extra 25% off your $125+ purchase
  • Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
  • Eloquii – Extra 50% off a lot of sale items, with code
  • J.Crew – 40% off sitewide
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site, plus extra 25% off orders $150+
  • Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
  • M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
  • Neiman Marcus – Sale on sale, up to 85% off
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 50% off 2+ markdowns
  • Target – Circle week, deals on 1000s of items
  • White House Black Market – Buy one, get one – 50% off full price styles

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

About Kat

Kat Griffin is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Corporette. You can read more about her here.

Comments

  1. Kel

    For anyone who has the slip-on Supergas— I got a pair from Zappos and they are SO WIDE. My feet are on the slightly narrow side of medium, but these are crazy wide on me. Is this a fluke pair, or does this style run wide? (I don’t have this problem with the lace-up Supergas). Just want to see if it’s worth it to trade them for another pair.

    • lucy stone

      I think they might run wide and also large. I’m usually a 40 but have a pair in 39, and I have wider feet.

  2. hoola hoopa

    Favorite home design blogs?

    I’m looking for something with more color than Apartment Therapy etc. I’m getting tired of all the white walls with hipster stuff. I’m already following Design Sponge, Manhattan Nest, How About Orange, and a few others; Great blogs, but they either focus on the same style or don’t post often. I don’t care about cooking, fashion, travel, etc.

    My ideal blog would be daily home tours with homes of a wide variety of styles.

    • Anonymous

      Is there anything that does good before / after pictures? Something like the home shows where they de-clutter (major help #1), paint / light adjustments (also good), and non-clutter minor restaging to sell houses?

      I would like a home site focused on what you can do with a little effort (and not what you can do with Major Dollaz and a staff of contractors and tradesppl). Are there any?

    • trefoil

      I miss How About Orange!

      No suggestions, though, as I have a similar list as you do, and I’ve largely cutoff my design/decor blogs because we’re not moving in the foreseeable future.

      • hoola hoopa

        Seriously! Not that I blame bloggers from stopping, but I am really feeling the loss of some of my standbys.

    • Blogger

      I also like house tweaking, doorsixteen (she just moved into a standard rental place in NM and i find what she’s doing now very realistic in terms of my own skills/budget), yellowbrick home, and making it lovely.

      I also moved into a fixer upper with my SO recently who has more of a farmhouse/traditional aesthetic and we’ve found houzz to be very helpful to find designs that merge our two styles. They have absolutely tons of pictures of all sorts of rooms sorted by room and style so you can search for say”bookcase” in the living room and then click through lots of images in different styles. It’s been really good to visually sort out what direction we want to take with things.

      • hoola hoopa

        Thanks for all suggestions. (and to other posters who recommended Houzz).

        So, here’s where I admit that I can’t really figure out what Houzz is. It’s part shopping, part contractor ads, part blog, part forum… If I get the app, is it basically like pinterest for houses? Can I pin to pinterest from the app? It does seem like what I’m looking for, and I see that you can filter kitchens by cabinet color AND style, so I’m invested in making it work. ;)

        • Senior Attorney

          I haven’t been able to figure out how to pin from Houzz to Pinterest. But Houzz lets you save photos to “ideabooks” of your own within the Houzz site/app.

    • Anonymous

      Housz (best viewed on the app) is pretty good. They have new articles every few days and the forums can be okay.

    • Senior Attorney

      Second Houzz.com.

      I love House of Turquoise dot com, too, although it doesn’t have all that much variety.

    • Tigermom

      Might be too hipster but I really like Emily Henderson and LittleGreen Notebook (Jenny Komenda)

      • Babette

        I hate spell check. Correct blog name is jungalow, as in jungle. Lotts of blues, greens and plants. Something like Paris apartment meets Miami.

    • SA

      I like the Facebook groups Decorating Love and At Home. They both have spinoffs (Organizing At Home, Gardening Love, etc. )

  3. TBK

    We just joined a club that has tennis courts. I had a handful of lessons when I was about 11 years old. I played a little squash (badly) in law school and just after. I really think I’d like tennis and would like to learn. The club has clinics but you have to have some of the basics for that to be feasible. How many lessons do you think I’d need just to get to the point that I could play recreationally, participate in beginner clinics, and just sort of have fun with it? I would be willing to put some money into learning, but lessons are expensive and I’m not looking to spend huge amounts on them.

    • OP

      I would check with the club pros, but odds are if you have any basic understanding of how to hold the racket/hit the ball, you’d be fine in a beginner clinic. As far as playing recreationally, it’s just about finding people who are at your same skill level to play with. And the best way to do that is to be in group lessons! If it were me, I wouldn’t invest in private lessons until you get out there a couple times and see if it’s even worth it.

      • TBK

        I don’t remember any of the rules anymore. I had probably a total of eight lessons while at summer camp when I was younger and that’s it. It’s been at least 25 years since I held a tennis racket.

      • Jelly

        +1. If you can make contact with the ball and get it over the net somewhat regularly you’ll probably do fine in a beginner clinic. If you’re a visual learner at all, watching instructional videos on youtube could be helpful, especially since you have a bit of prior experience with racket sports.

        If you’re nervous to attend a clinic right out of the gate since it’s been a while, you could check whether the club has any hitters or hitting partners. Often times clubs have high level players that you can pay per hour to hit with you. Hitting with someone high level can be a great way to find your groove. If it’s not going well (ie: you can’t manage any kind of rally), the hitter will likely end up feeding you balls from a basket and giving you some tips.

    • Anonymous

      Like 5 lessons and then start on clinics. It’s like riding a bike — it will come back to you and as a person who has mastered work + twins, this will be easy.

      Someone else already knows the rules for tiebreakers in doubles — defer to that person; the rest is easy to do.

    • Cat

      I had two seasons’ worth of lessons as a middle schooler (so probably 16-20 lessons total) and was a competent, know-the-basics player as a result. Like you, my skills have grown dormant, though I still know the vocabulary and many rules from watching the majors on TV.

      Of course, my middle school lessons involved a pack (10 or so?) other middle schoolers, so I’d assume that you could accomplish the same amount of learning in about half the time as an adult.

    • Maddie Ross

      If it’s mostly a rules refresher, can you find a friend who plays who would go hit around with you and go over scoring, etc. a couple of times? Pay her in a cold beverage afterward if necessary. (If I lived in DC, I’d do this for you!)

    • cbackson

      USTA has a program called Tennis Apprentice that provides 5 weeks of group lessons and a racket for, like $90. It’s how I started playing 3 years ago, and it sounds like exactly what you need. I’d check and see if any facilities near you offer that.

  4. Solo in NYC

    I’m sure it’s been asked in the past, but looking for current ideas: what would you do if you had two days alone in Manhattan? (Specifically, this Friday and Saturday if anyone knows of anything specific to see or do those days). Hotel is a few blocks from Central Park and prefer to walk. Any great art installations? Specific matinee shows to see? Where should I go to check out local shops that are attainable (e.g. – not a $300 t-shirt but something along the lines of Anthro, etc.?) I haven’t been to Manhattan in nearly 10 years!

    • Ellen

      Yay! I can help. If you are interested in Art, you can go to the MOMA on 53rd street. They have nice food there, and exhibit’s and movie’s. You can also walk up to the METROPOLITAN ART MUSEUM on 5th, and the Jewish Museum around 92nd Street and they have good food there also. If you want, there are so many Broadway shows. Go early to TKTS on Broadway and about 45th Street to get ticket’s at 1/2 price. You can also ask your hotel MATER DEE to recomend, but watch it b/c he get’s some money on the side for makeing recomendation’s. Finaly, go to Lord and Taylor on 39th and 5th for great shoppeing. There’s also the library on 42nd and 5th, which is worth walkeing thru even tho they will NOT loan out book’s. FOOEY!

    • Anonymous

      I really loved Flying Tiger – it’s a Danish (I think) store which has the cutest stationery and accessories. Also, I can’t remember where it is in relation to you, but Saravana Bhavan on Lexington, I think, has great South Indian food.

    • Clementine

      This sounds like heaven. I would wake up and go for a run through central park, followed by coffee and a bagel from H&H Bagels which I would eat while people watching. I would go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and mosey through, looking at whatever I please, and at about 2 I would go and have their afternoon high tea with a flute of champagne. I’d walk back through the park, stopping at the LK Bennett store near Columbus Circle and then probably just walk around a bit, enjoying the town. For dinner, I’d probably go to Shake Shack and have a delicious burger and a shake.

      Saturday, I’d go and drink my coffee in Bryant Park while people watching (assuming the weather is decent) and then go for a stroll up Fifth Avenue, stopping to shop and/or window shop to your heart’s desire. I’d go inside St. Thomas’ and St. Patrick’s to see some beautiful churches. Lunch at Eataly. For your afternoon/evening activity, I suggest heading down to Greenwich Village and having dinner at Amelie (they have a really fab happy hour too).

      Other ideas: Red Door Spa, TKTS for cheap tickets to a show, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.

      • Solo in NYC

        Thank you so much! That sounds like a heavenly itinerary!! I may just adopt the whole thing! I had no idea about high tea at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

        • Clementine

          Yay! Also, I just looked it up- high tea goes from 2:30-4:30. There can be a wait, but it moves quickly and is totally worth it (to me, at least!).

          I really tried to think of places where I either have eaten solo or would be comfortable doing so. The other itinerary you could do would be the High Line and Chelsea Market, but IME the High Line on a Friday or Saturday during nice weather is PACKED.

          • Solo in NYC

            Thank you so much for these suggestions! Would you alter your attire if you were going to the high tea?

      • Solo in NYC

        One more question: how does TKTS work? Is it all just same day availability? So I would need to just, say – wait until Friday, and see what was available?

        • Clementine

          Their website is https://www.tdf.org/nyc/7/TKTS-ticket-booths and has a pretty good explanation.

          The South Street Seaport location isn’t as busy, but the Times Square location will be closer to you. I think you’ll have pretty good luck because they frequently have single tickets available to fairly high demand shows.

    • Catlady

      This may sound like a joke, but if you are feeling adventurous check out the street food cart at 53rd and 6th (southwest corner any time of day, southeast after 6pm). Get a chicken over rice platter (or a sandwich, but I’ve never actually gotten one). Back in college, when gas was cheap and the tunnels weren’t $75, my friends and I would drive into Manhattan from NJ once a week to get these platters. Best meal you can get for $7 anywhere in NYC.

    • Shopping challenged.

      I loved the boat tour we did with Classic Harbor Line, because it was a small boat and all very personal. The food was not outrageous or new, but it was plentiful and good. We found coupons online and paid half price. We did the brunch cruise; next time I’d do the architecture tour.

  5. anon

    For those of you who have moved intentionally from a higher paid position to a lower paid one, how have you convinced employers to believe you when you say you know the salary is lower and you still want the job? I am moving across the country to a lower cost of living area while simultaneously trying to change fields a bit within law, and am getting the question about how I would manage on a lower salary. (Ha, not THAT much lower — I guess my job sounds fancier than it is.) I think I handled this pretty well in a recent interview, but would expect to hear it more and more as I get further into my job search.

    • Susie

      I think if you’re moving to a lower COL area it shouldn’t be a big deal. Do some research on average salaries in the new city. I am in a very high COL area and interviewed for a few out of state opportunities. I said I make $XX currently in [high COL city] and would expect to receive $YY in [low COL city] and in each instance the recruiter said that was pretty much the number they were budgeting.

    • TBK

      I’ve just pointed to the reasons I want the lower-paid job. Being more interested in the work and preferring the lower cost of living area seem like winners to me. Especially in law everyone knows it’s not just the money.

    • TK

      I never tell the hiring company what my current salary is. When interviewers ask about in a round about way(‘how would you handle a slower-pace,’ or, ‘how would you feel about less prestigious job’) I emphasize that while I know that the new job is different than old/current job, but I am excited to use my skills in a different way / with more reasonable hours / to a different audience, etc.

      • anon

        Thanks. I actually haven’t said anything — in this past interview, they were just making assumptions. I have tried to emphasize the reasons I want to work at that place and make this career change generally as well.

  6. Anon for This

    Reposting from the morning thread as I didn’t post there until late-

    Advice needed! And I understand that most of you are not medical professionals and I won’t be able to accurately articulate all the symptoms. However, we are in desperate need of other thoughts/opinions.

    For around a year now, my husband has been waking up everyday with stomach pains – upper abdominal mostly. These pains vary in intensity, but twice in the last three months, we’ve gone to the emergency room because he is in THAT much pain. For the last three months, he no longer eats any meal besides a nightly dinner in which he has small portions. He has multiple bowel movements each morning, after which he is no longer in much pain.

    Over the last three months, he’s been exercising daily to lose weight, thinking initially that his body being overweight was all or part of the cause of the pain. He’s lost approx. 30 pounds since doing this. Still no pain relief. He’s seen a GI specialist who performed a colonoscopy, upper/lower endoscopy and taken biopsies of the stomach and intestine tissue. He’s had an allergy test, ultrasound, and blood tests. ALL have found absolutely nothing. We’ve tried medications to coat the stomach to prevent pain, acid reflux meds, and natural methods (oils and a limited diet of only organic chicken and eggs). They have found no traces of cancer, gluten allergy, or other diagnoses of these symptoms. We are seeking a second opinion, but after the second ER episode this morning, we are at a loss as to what to try next. We are both exhausted and he is sick and tired of being sick and tired!

    Anyone have any things they’ve also tried?

      • Anon

        Or even low gallbladder function. I had low gallbladder function and had many of these symptoms, including fatigue if you were serious about his being exhausted. Additionally, gallbladder problems can be caused by weight loss and stress. My GI ran the function test as a last resort because he couldn’t find anything else, and it was way low.

        • OP

          The ER visit today is resulting in a HIDA scan for tomorrow morning. I’m not entirely sure what that involves other than it is supposed to show a sluggish gallbladder, if there is one. So we are hoping this may be the answer!

          • Diana Barry

            You should get them to do an abdominal ultrasound and that should show the gallstones clearly, if there are any.

    • Bewitched

      Was your GI provider on the faculty at an academic medical center? I don’t have any specific recommendations for you other than to see someone affiliated with a teaching hospital. Sounds awful so I wish you the best of luck.

    • Lactose?

      I had a very similar thing happen to me. Shooting pains that would leave my out of breath and doubled over. Got a ultra sound and GI scope done…nothing. So I started playing with my diet, and found when I cut dairy out my stomach pains went away entirely. I no longer was throwing up after eating or nauseous in the mornings. Plus, my skin got 1000x times better. For reference, I didn’t test for any food or gluten allergies, but the proof was there when I stopped the dairy.

      Maybe worth a try?

      • APC

        haha this is funny because EVERYONE told me dairy, which was not at all my issue. See below.

    • Anonymous

      My husband is, I think, fat intolerant. Esp. if it is any sort of dairy-related fat.

      Food sensitivities are not allergies and I don’t think an allergy test would catch that. I have a weird lentil sensitivity ( = projectile vomiting will ensue) but it’s thankfully not a peanut allergy (both lentils and peanuts are legumes; who ever heard of a lentil sensitivity though).

    • APC

      This may be obvious but have you gotten a second opinion (other than ER docs)? I have a form of IBS and had to go through 2 PCPs and 2-3 gastroenterologists before I found one who was able to work with me to treat my symptoms (seriously if one more person told me to avoid dairy I was going to scream). FWIW if you’re in NY, I highly recommend Dr Maser at Mount Sinai. Also, not understanding his pain, I’ve come close to needing the ER for severe pain and upper GI cramps. There exist muscle relaxants that target the stomach muscles/GI processes. Maybe that would help phophylactically? Good luck… hope you figure this out soon.

    • Stress?

      Could it be stress? My sister used to vomit every weekday morning before going to her (toxic) job. Your situation is more extreme but it’s worth a thought.

      • Runner 5

        +1. During my Worst Time I was retching and needing to run to the loo an awful lot. I now know that my stomach being wonky is the first sign of my stress being too much.

      • Anxiety

        +1. I was tested for appendicitis, gall bladder, kidney stones, ulcers etc. I wish someone had just given me a Xanax at the time. It was clearly anxiety based in hindsight and then became a cycle I couldn’t break being MORE stressed by being shuffled from one doctor to the next.

    • Meg Murry

      With the daily exercise, any chance he has strained or sprained something (muscle in his abs/chest/ribs area?) and the daily exercise is re-injuring it?

      Not a medical professional, but it sounds otherwise an awful lot like what one of my coworkers has, which is gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying) combined with damage to the esophageal sphincter. Unfortunately, from what she (and the google) tell me, although there are some meds that can help some people, it is often a case of making it less bad, not of fixing the problem altogether. But again, not a doctor, so I can’t offer too much useful advice.

      As another “have you tried this” option – has he tried sleeping in an elevated position, like in a recliner, instead of flat in a bed?

      I’m so sorry to hear he is in such pain. I had similar sounding (but far less severe) attacks after my son was born, and they seem to have been either gall bladder or ulcer (or both) but eventually healed before I was able to find a real answer – but my attacks were far less frequent, certainly not daily.

    • AZCPA

      I will second an elimination diet. You mentioned that he’d been tested for a multitude of things, but I know at least in my illness (Celiac) the testing isn’t super reliable, not to mention that gluten allergy, Celiac, and gluten intolerance are all very different medical issues and the testing will only pick up certain varieties of Celiac, not the others. Not that this is necessarily the case, but it was only by elimination diet that my issue was determined (after 3 years of being miserable and numerous doctors).

    • Anon

      I am not going to go into my individual surgeries here but believe me I have a ton of experience in this area:

      1) Make sure you are recording all the data. Have him write down what he eats, drinks, when he has bowel movements, what type, when he goes to sleep, level of pain throughout day etc. This will be key in finding out solutions.

      2) Do not settle on doctors. Find a doctor that is invested in figuring out what is wrong.

      3) Make sure he takes an advocate with him to the doctor appts. Like you. The doctor needs to hear that someone else thinks this situation is wrong, and explain the level of pain. It helps so much!

      4) Be careful about cutting things out without being very specific about it. like don’t cut out coffee and dairy at once. And if you cut something out, pick just one thing and cut it out for a month and then add it back in.

    • Anon in NYC

      Not a doctor, so no real advice, but sympathy. That sounds really really awful.

      This is a strange recommendation, but I enjoy the Think Like a Doctor column in the NYT. They describe a patient’s symptoms and then later post the diagnosis. Some of them have been related to severe abdominal pain. I’m thinking of one in particular – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/think-like-a-doctor-doubled-over-in-pain-solved/. It describes a genetic disorder (Acute Intermittent Porphyria) where the majority of people don’t display symptoms, so it’s really hard to diagnose. In this case, the patient’s illness was triggered by a low-carb diet.

      If you google “new york times” “think like a doctor” and stomach or abdominal, you’ll find a number of columns that reference abdominal pain. Perhaps that might help point you in the right direction? Good luck.

    • Anonymous

      That sounds like a gallstone issue based on a family member who went through it. Get a second (or more) opinion!

    • hoola hoopa

      My mother went through similar symptoms and a similar ‘lack of diagnosis’ process. In the end, she has had great success with a low-residue diet. In essence, her GI tract is physiologically fine, but it’s kinked to the point where the fiber simply cannot pass. (In the mean time, she also found that she has dairy issues, and she has long standing fat issues due to a gallbladder issue).

      Keep trying doctors and facilities. She finally started to get somewhere with a GI specialist at a teaching/research hospital.

    • Jen

      This sounds like it could be gastroenteritis (very rare, but occurs in men, and comes on suddenly)or gastroparesis (similar symptoms but different). I have two friends who have had these, and they describe basically exactly the same frustrating process and symptoms as you are describing. Get him to a very good gastro doctor ASAP.

  7. AnonMD

    Has he had a CT or small bowel series? What happens if he only has liquid?
    If not suggested previously, get another GI or goto an academic center.

    • Anonymous

      Do people with short hair wear these? I think that these would be just murder getting tangled in my hair. I always worry about anything dangling.

      • Senior Attorney

        I have been wearing dangly earrings my whole life, with my hair every length under the sun, and have never once gotten my earrings tangled in my hair. FWIW…

  9. Anonymous

    This photo reminds me of something I wanted to ask the hive…how do we feel about multiple ear piercings in the workplace? Is it completely unprofessional to wear more than one earring (basic lobe piercing)?

    • anon-oh-no

      I have two small diamond studs in the top cartilage of my left ear (I’ve worn these since HS, so more than 20 years). I also have an uneven number of piercings on my lobes — 2 on my right ear, 3 on my left. I often just wear earrings in the bottom “normal” piercing (in addition to the 2 cartilage piercings), but put small diamond studs in the rest from time to time as well. I used to wear them all the time, but for no real reason, I stopped wearing them as often.

      I’ve honestly never thought they were inappropriate, even in court, but they are all pretty small and often covered by my hair.

      • Anonymous

        I just got my ears pierced (I was the only person at the Spencers who was old enough to sign her own waiver form). What do you do with the other holes? Just random tiny studs? I don’t feel like I have a design sense for this space.

      • aby

        Finance, have cartilage pierced. usually just wear a small (1/10 carat) diamond/white gold stud. sometimes other earrings on my earlobes in conjunction- I don’t think it’s noticeable at all and would never notice on someone else. I think 4+ is my threshold for what I’d notice or think was a high amount for the office.

  10. Shopaholic

    I recently bought a couple of Joie silk tops but not entirely sure if I’m going to keep them. Anyone have these and have thoughts about them?

    TIA!

  11. Anonymous

    When traveling to countries where it’s recommended that you don’t drink the tap water, how carefully do you watch your diet to ensure you don’t eat food that might be contaminated? Does it depend on how fancy the place you’re eating in is? I’m going to SE Asia soon and I had planned to brush my teeth with bottled water and to try to avoid ice, but when I went to get my shots my doctor really put the fear of G-d in me and told me I should eat only steaming hot food and avoid fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, etc. except as part of a hot dish. That sounds a little extreme, and I’m curious if other people even try to follow that advice, let alone succeed.

    • Diplomat

      When I lived in India, our general rule was cook it or peel it. So: a banana was fine, but an apple needed to be properly cleaned in bleach solution. Salads are often the culprit of food-borne illness. It’s hard to clean the nooks and crannies.

    • Anonymous

      I’ve been to Taipei and Hong Kong, and I was fine drinking tap water/eating fruit/vegetables/street food. My husband, who has a much more sensitive stomach, took probiotics for the duration of the trip and was fine. I think I would be more cautious in India or Thailand (only because I’ve heard horror stories), or someplace that wasn’t as large of a city as the two I mentioned above.

      • HnH

        Taipei is way clean. Street foods there are very safe. But that’s not SEA :-P
        Singapore is probably the cleanest SEA country, and shouldn’t have any problems there. For other countries, just wash fruits and drink out of bottles. I can never say no to the yummy street foods, which are representative of Asian experience, so I’ve had some cases of diarrhea, but nothing that I couldn’t recover from, and I think I built immunity that way. Hadn’t had issues the last couple of times.

    • Gail the Goldfish

      I’ve only been a couple of places where you shouldn’t drink the tap water, but I didn’t worry much about it. I’ll brush my teeth with bottled water, and avoiding ice is never hard (ice being a pretty American thing), but didn’t pay too much attention to anything else. My doctor did give me a short course of antibiotics to take with me in case I needed them (I didn’t), and obviously make sure you have the recommended vaccines and avoid sketchy street food, but other than that, I didn’t stress it and haven’t had problems.

    • Anon

      In the past month I have been in Uganda and Morocco, I do tend to follow the rules your doctor listed, with the following thoughts

      1) If i want raw veggies, I wash them in bottled or boiled and then cooled water first and then peel, but I only eat raw things that I know how they have been prepared.
      2) Fruit with a peel you remove is fine – mango, pineapple, banana. If you want like an apple, wash it with your bottled water first.
      3) Be very careful with fruit juice, because its often mixed with non bottled water
      4) I don’t order salads or raw veggies from restaurants, only cooked veggies

      • Godzilla

        I made the super rookie mistake of having salad in Morocco. Silly me. My digestive system was NOT happy with me.

      • SC

        I followed similar rules during 6 weeks in Mali. The only vegetables I had were steamed, washed in a home or restaurant that we knew had a water filtration system, or canned and shipped from France. The only fruit I had were bananas and mangoes, and we were told not to touch the flesh once we handled the outside–which is a hilarious way to eat a mango. Mostly, we ate charred meat, white rice, and mangoes for 6 weeks. Then again, “SE Asia” could mean a lot of things, and the tap water in most of SE Asia is probably better than the tap water in Mali, so YMMV.

    • Anonymous traveler

      I’ve never worried about steaming hot, necessarily, but have consistently been careful to eat only peeled or cooked fruits and veggies. I’ll eat raw or unpeeled items when I’m in my family’s home (I know and trust how they handle their food).

      FWIW, I find those precautions to be generally non-oneous.

    • Constant Reader

      Two years in SE Asia here — I took the “no ice, only bottled or boiled water, no salad, no raw vegetables” prohibition very seriously. Anonymous Traveler pretty much laid out my rules — I only broke them with my family (or in big chain hotels in major cities) because they understood safe food handling. Had very few gastric episodes compared to many colleagues that were more cavalier. There’s a trick I learned from an old hand — if you are worried about a place you are going to eat but need to eat the food anyway (if you are a guest, for example), take two chewable Pepto Bismol tablets 30 minutes before the meal. It’s bacteriocidal and is supposed to work as a prophylactic. I still was careful, though. Be careful if you buy bottled water on the street in remoter locations or from small market vendors — they’ve been known to refill bottles with tap water. Check for a factory seal.

      Have fun, I had a great time! And I agree with Anonymous Traveler — these were non-onerous restrictions.

      • Senior Attorney

        A friend of mine only buys carbonated bottled water in remote locations on the theory that it can’t have been replaced by tap water.

  12. AnonForThis

    Hopefully it isn’t too late in the day for an answer, but I recently found out that my firm-assigned mentor is leaving to go in-house. I thought about writing her a note and/or getting her a small, thoughtful gift to show her my appreciation for everything she has done for me. Is a small gift appropriate? Suggestions?

    Also, any tips on keeping in touch with colleagues after they leave for other jobs?

    • Lorelai Gilmore

      Definitely write her a note. I think a small gift is appropriate, but definitely not necessary. I’d keep it very small – a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, a nice mug for her new office. The key is to give her something that is thoughtful, but not expensive or lavish. But mostly, write that note. She will really appreciate it.

    • Another anonymous judge

      I keep saying this – please do NOT buy gifts for your mentor. She will love a note. She does not need, or want, you to spend one dime of your money on a gift, no matter how thoughtful. Her greatest delight is your success, and your gratitude is just a bonus. Don’t get her a gift, but if you are able, DO write that note. It will mean more to her than you will know until you are in the same position yourself.

  13. Josie Pye

    Also beware of tea in restaurants, especially restaurants that aren’t frequented by foreigners. I had tea at a local cafe in Tanzania and figured that since tea was hot it was fine, but it was lukewarm and in retrospect was definitely not boiled. I’d avoided gastro for 2.5 weeks, but the runs hit on the flight home and stuck around for 3 weeks! I also accidentally took a pill w tap water my first night in Mexico (habit, I drank it before I realized what I’d done) and I got giardia–I have never been so sick in my life.

    A case of gastro can really interfere with how much fun you have, especially if toilet facilities are limited. I adore food and food markets and trying new things, but I’m pretty careful about food safety when traveling, and I’ve never felt like I was truly missing out by not tasting something. Especially in Asia, in my experience, many vegetables are cooked or pickled so it’s a non-issue. Trips abroad are too short and too infrequent to spend them in the bathroom.

  14. Ri

    Can I borrow the brain power of the hive? My dad has been in sales for 30 years. He is 57 and for a variety of reasons, is thinking about a career change. He has always been interested in teaching but I think the pay cut is too great right now. He is an amazing people person, the most honest ethical human you will ever meet ( my goal every day is to be just half a good as a person he is) and is the hardest worker I know. It’s killing me watching him give so so much to his company and I feel like he is getting nothing back. He has a killer commute too from the south shore of boston to the north shore. I want nothing more that to see him in a place where he can make a living (I think he would need at least 50k) can use his immense skills (he has done many many million dollar deals in his industry) at the type of place where coworkers care about you and he can have a nice little second career for the next ten years or so and they will throw him a little party when he leaves. He is in good physical shape (only mention it if someone is thinking something with a walking/physical component- he runs and lifts almost everyday), good at math, and like I said he is a good talker/people person. He has always been a mentor to younger women and men that he has worked with. Can anyone think of a career where that kind of skill set would be valued? He is worried about applying at his age too because he knows age bias can be a thing. Thanks in advance- even if its just for listening!

    • Carrie...

      It sounds like he could be an absolutely fantastic math teacher. It can be an excellent 2nd career, can be incredibly rewarding and good math teachers are very much needed. He may even enjoy it so much he may continue teaching past retirement age.

      Big money should not always be the goal. If he has always been interested in teaching…. why not?

      He can teach in a high school, in a prison, in a GED prep program, at community colleges at a private school, at an inner city needy school, at a charter school, as a tutor, as a sub…

      There are many programs out there for retraining people exactly like your father to become teachers. My brother used to teach at one, and met folks exactly like your Dad. They often did very well.

      • Ri

        Thank you all- big money is certainly not the goal for him but he is the income for him and my mother and he wants to be sure he is ok for retirement. I am going to look into these official programs though, it is a great starting point to look into.

    • Anonymous

      Teachers in a lot of urban or more-affluent areas make 50k, and there are a lot of career-changing teaching certification programs around, too, so it’s worth him looking into. Or training in his current industry. Corporate trainers are always in demand in my area. This seems obvious, but what about just a slower-pace sales/management job in a smaller company? I feel like his soft skills are ridiculously transferrable, but age bias sucks. My mom is in a similar position, and feels totally trapped in her current job because no one wants to hire a 57-year old at the lower, non-executive level she wants to work.

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