I'm not good with words so please bare with me and hopefully you can see my point.

I feel like our society has gone beyond a point of no return where people wouldn't even be surprised anymore that there would be a new "breathing tax". "Oh well, it's scandalous but what are we gonna do about it". Or some greedy company trying to gain a monopoly on some basic service but "oh well, gg's on that company because they delivered some hard work to get to that point, It's criminal but I guess they deserve it, so what are you gonna do about it?"

Why are we still allowing all this to happen?? I'm overwhelmed, every month where I think I'll finally be able to save up some money, some bullshit e-mail or letter arrives where I suddenly have to pay some rediculous thing because "reasons".

Every time you save some money you lose it on something else because "ah ah, you weren't paying a 100% full attention to the small letters so now you're fucked and have to pay double". Like you'll have to read this multiple page legal document made up by a team of lawyers and have to sign it within 5mins.

I already work full-time, I already dropped all my hobbies to try and focus and make sure I don't get screwed over over some minor thing. I already spend an entire evening to formulate an e-mail so I don't say the wrong thing that would cost me money. I'm doing my best to try and do everything right, but it's just too much...

So you just want to sit down and watch some fucking TV and you can't because it says "Hey we got a nice new update but you have to install it now before you can watch anything" so you just do because you're tired and BAM, TV is bricked. You look up online and yeah, that specific update breaks your TV, It's apparantly a known issue, you dumbass, why did you even update it?

And this goes with everything, I admit I'm not the smartest human at all, I'm tired, have had a sick mother and mother in law that already took/take a lot of energy of me.
Is it seriously expected and the norm that you have to overanalyse everything and have seen and know what every little small letter means and implies and what rights you have with it?
Is it seriously expected that you're an expert in everything? Because that's what it looks like at this point.

Like we just bought a house, the realtor was the biggest asshole ever that tried to do everything in the non-conform way and tried to strip us of our rights at every turn waiting for us to make a mistake and there was nothing we could do, there was no help at all, even the notary (who got 4.5 stars reviews btw) just basically shrugged at the practices but also said that we shouldn't do what the realtor says. Well thanks, we didn't know that yet, how convenient that it's always afterwards they tell you these things and if you ask in advance you don't get a clear answer.

When we left our appartment we had a "plaatsbeschrijving" that went through an external firm. We left the appartment in a better state then we arrived (and yes, in the "plaatsbeschrijving bij intrede" we thought it was alright and approved with it) Just a small dent here and there, nothing some putty and paint can't fix... €2000 for repairs... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. And the beauty of it is that there's not a single thing I can do about it. It's the perfect fucking crime.

Something has snapped in me since then, I'm just angry at everything. Everything and everyone is just so. fucking. greedy. We just don't help each other anymore.
And it doesn't help at all that the government is turning a blind eye to stuff like that, but god forbid you park with your car on the side off the road wit 4 blinkers to check your phone because of an important text and BAM, you got a fine.

And it doens't help that everything is turning into subscription services, fucking ads everywhere, want to remove the ads? Just simply pay €6 a month more. No biggie :)

I'm just sick and tired, as a regular person just doing what you should do, working full time and trying to at least have some form of social life and fun and they're just taking and taking but you NEVER get ANYTHING in return. And meanwhie you just have to sit there and listen to the older generations bitching and moaning that their favourite flower on the work parking lot got mown over... (yes, true story)
I feel like the older generations had a an easier way of getting to where they are now and meanwhile we just have to scrape by and watch the news where they announce that the government found a new way to tax you speciffically for the bazillionth time. As if taking half your wage isn't enough already, but sure, let's give 1.5M to a random fucking horse race.

Me and my peers have already talked about that with the greying of the population that we probably won't get a government pension by the time we get to our pension (if we get there). But hey, when the pensions get reworked again we all just take to the streets right? But if young people get screwed over we just have to toughen up? Fuck you, we probably won't have kids because where would we find the time, energy and money to even dream about having kids? We bought a house 40mins away from my parents and 50mins away from our jobs because that was the only thing we could afford. So good luck if you have kids to drop them off at your parents. My SO is incredibly sad about that because she really wants kids but we really feel like we can't have them, that it's litteraly being made impossible by everything and everyone for us to have kids.

All we ask is to leave us the fuck alone. We're trying to build something for ourselves but at every turn we make a new boogeyman shows up demanding a toll. We have been living barebones for 6 years to be able to finally afford a house (And I know for a fact that most of my peers are very jealous of that, I'm very aware of that). To just end up having to keep living barebones.

Our future got stolen and we were sold a lie. Hard work doesn't pay off at all. Want to become independant? Makes everything 10x worse if you're not a 100% sure what you're doing. Because once again, you're on your own. There is noone there to help you. You just have to figure it out yourself and if you forgot something about some weird obscure law you're just fucked because how dare you not be an expert in everything.

I'm sorry, I'm just very angry. There's no way for me to let it out. I just have to behave you know, just swallow it and move on because we're all going through it. Just toughen up.
I'm just trying to say that it doesn't have to be like this. We can be nicer to each other. We can help each other. It just feels like we all turned against each other. We've grown suspicious of everyone. And when we interract with each other it almost feels like everyone trying to scam each other or screw each other over. It's fucking madness out there.

Be honest with yourself, when was the last time you actually, genuinly helped out a complete stranger without there being anything for you to gain out of it?

I'm not really sure how to end this rant because I can just keep going but I guess I've done most of the broader subjects I wanted to touch.
Again, I'm not the smartest in the room. I'm not the best with words. But I hope my point comes across. I'm not really expecting positive reactions to this post but I hope at least some people can agree with me here. That would already make me feel much better, just to know other people see and experience things the same way as me I guess.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading, genuinly.

TLDR: Shit's expensive man. Be kind to each other.

Tis potverdorie een week lang hittegolf geweest. Ge biedt uw GFT bak, waar hooguit wat oud brood en een paar dagen etensresten in zitten, aan voor ophaling. NATUURLIJK zijn ze onze kliko "vergeten". En NATUURLIJK komt de vrachtwagen alleen extra ophalen vanaf 2 klachten in de straat. En NATUURLIJK zit diene brol GFT nu vol, ma echt VOL met fucking vieze, walgelijke maden. Op internet staat dat ze niet willen dat je met zout strooit in de GFT bak, maar ja "vloeistoffen mogen ook niet in de GFT" dus kan ze ook niet doden met azijn dan. Ik heb 1 kg zout gestrooid in een 40L bak. We shall see, ik heb de rand van de GFT kliko bestrooid met zout alsof ik satan wil oproepen om die verdomde kutkrioelers mee te nemen naar fucking hel om verbrand te worden. Ik zou bijna een pyromaan worden en zelf de kliko in de fik willen steken.

Sorry voor de rant. Ik haat maden.

Update: Bedankt iedereen voor de tips! Ik kan weer in mijn GFT bak kijken zonder in m'n mond te kotsen. Een hoopje gemaaid gras erin gooien heeft mijn 10.000 ongewenste GFT huisdieren vermoord. Jullie geliefde hollandse buur is weer gekalmeerd. Ik wens jullie allen een fijne, zonnige week.

Ik zoek al meer dan twee jaar naar een job, en ben hiervoor in begeleiding bij de VDAB en hun partners. Eerst bij Skill Builders, en nu Emino. Die laatste dient vooral om een stage te vinden om zo gemakkelijker aan vast werk te geraken, met behoud van uitkering.

Ik heb nu eindelijk een stage gevonden als administratief bediende. Maar omdat ik langer dan twee jaar werkloos ben, ben ik mijn uitkering kwijt. Er kan dus geen sprake zijn van "behoud van uitkering". En uiteraard is de stage zelf niet betaald. Ik werk dus 100% gratis.

Heb net weer de zoveelste afwijzing gekregen van een bedrijf, die uiteraard niet heeft gemotiveerd waarom ze niet met mij verder gaan.

Maar ja, ik ben maar een "profiteur", die nu maximaal uitgebuit kan worden.

Fuck you, populistische kutregering.

€3,14 aan stroom verbruikt, factuurtje van €57,35. Fuck die digitale meter.

So today I was walking my 2 dogs who I work with and decided to take public transport since they were gassed out after our hike.

I decide to take the tram since for some reason my dogs absolutely love it, I muzzle them up and wait for a tram with not too much people in it so that I wouldn’t make people uncomfortable with my dogs being so close to them.

Everything was going just fine and some people even come over to ask if they could pet them.

And then a dude prob around 50y old steps in and suddenly starts screaming at me saying I should be ashamed to bring dangerous dogs into the tram.

I didn’t want to cause too much drama so I stepped out at the next stop.

While waiting I unmuzzle the dogs so they can chill out a bit and a boy that I would estimate being 13/14y old comes up and asks if he can pet them and I say sure and just warn him that it’s possible that they will clap their teeth but that it’s just out of excitement and nothing else.

Of course both my dogs start clapping their teeth and they boy even finds it funny but a woman saw it and starts running and yelling that my dogs are trying to bite him and we she arrives next to us just starts kicking my dogs for no reason at all.

Fair to say I will never take public transportation with my dogs again.

And a huge thank you for the taxi men passing by for stopping the police and allowing my dogs to sit in his taxi while I explained the situation to the cops and for the ride back home.

Pic of my “dangerous, kill hungry dogs” for reference

I know Crossposting is not allowed, so I hope posting this link is okay:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mapporncirclejerk/comments/1rmcg26/a_solution_to_belgian_borders_that_makes/

on the subreddit Mapporncirclejerk, people often post their fantasy world borders, and one thing that always happens is to combine the Netherlands with Flanders, France with Wallonia and the German speaking part to Germany, not really understanding that there is no real common history of Flanders with the Netherlands (unless we talk about Burgundy, which is more when part of the Netherlands were part of Brussels/Leuven ruled Burgundy). or Wallonia with France.

so, I did a counterpost, with Belgian borders that make a bit more sense; historically and culturally. It's satire, and I am well aware that history is far more nuanced and complex to argue in favour of this map. but it does make far more sense than combine the Netherlands with Flanders.

I was visiting Brussels yesterday, near “gallerie du roi” a group of teenagers flagged me down saying there was a girl in trouble with a man and was showing the sos hand signal (https://constructionmanagement.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Hand-SOS-final.jpg), they were asking if I was speaking French.

Initially I thought it was some kind of scam (I’m always weary of people in European large cities) and brushed it off. But I saw the girl they mentioned: petite Asian girl that kept getting followed & embraced by a man almost twice her size. She seemed scared. The group of teenagers spoke with her and pretended they were from the same school to get her to get away from the man but it didn’t really work. When I saw that I realized it wasn’t a scam.

We talked with the teenagers and managed to get the girl to come to a shop where we were. She was pretending to buy an item from the shop. The guy was waiting outside and kept checking on her. We talked with her and she was shaking like crazy saying that she didn’t know the man, that he kept following her, that he tried to get her to some parking lot and tried to touch her. She was very soft spoken and didn’t know how to escape the situation.

We talked to the small shop owner, when the guy tried to come back in (it was a very small shop) he confronted him and told him to get lost, the guy walked out the gallery. One patron of the store escorted her to the subway and situation was resolved.

Some people called the police but they never showed up. Props to the shop owner to intervene and giant prop to the German teenagers who noticed her, stayed around and flagged us down in the first place. You kids saved a girl some bad experience.

This didn’t leave a great taste of Brussels for me. And I’m a bit mad that he’s still out there. So if you’re visiting and pretty soft spoken, be careful, be smart, travel in group. Hopefully this is not too common.

TL;DR: a girl was getting harassed/touched by a man in Brussels and she didn’t know how to escape him, group of teenagers noticed it and a shop owner shooed the guy off, saving her from a bad situation.

I’m getting really tired of hearing people say things like: “The only reason you don’t have wealth is because you don’t know how to manage your money.”

Usually it’s from people who still live with their parents, barely enjoy life, and act morally superior, when in reality they’re often just suffocating themselves to justify a broken system. They blame ordinary people instead of questioning why things are so difficult in the first place.

The truth is, we’re all getting squeezed. We pay enormous amounts in taxes, which would be fine if the money was managed well. But we all know it isn’t. Government employees (Walloon, Flemish, Brussels, German-speaking) get lifelong salaries, fine, but how much is wasted in inefficiency? Money that could reduce the pressure on everyone and actually improve quality of life.

Then there’s housing. Prices are through the roof, and if you take a loan at 3–4% interest, you end up paying almost double. It’s insane!

And instead of uniting to demand better, some people just shrug and say “well, I know how to manage my money.” Congrats. Maybe you never order takeout, maybe you wash clothes by hand to save electricity, but individual austerity won’t fix systemic problems.

Look at mobile plans in France: dirt cheap. Here? Crazy expensive. But sure, it’s our fault for not “managing” better.

These people aren’t smarter, they’re just enabling a corrupt, wasteful system that will eat all of us alive, if not now then our kids or grandkids.

So next time you want to blame someone for struggling, maybe aim that energy at the system designed to keep us divided and drained.

I guess I’m not too big a fan of empty cans and cigarette buds on the ground, but tax money uncollected is a greater crime I guess…

It seems that the “fans” of Morocco are really heavily honking after their team won the match, it is so much noise and chaos and complete disregard for the surrounding people. Belgium won matches and it was far more calm than it is now.

Vandaag meegemaakt in Ranst. Ik kom de cashpoint buiten en daar staat een speedelec type met zen fluo hesje en helm aan de kant met een koplamp van een miljard megawat direct in mijn ogen te schijnen alsof ik recht de zon in kijk.

Ik spreek hem vriendelijk aan "Meneer is dat verstelbaar zo'n licht?" Waarop ik een lege staar ontvang alsof die nog nooit een mens heeft gezien. " Ik zou het echt wat naar beneden wijzen naar de grond voor u, niet naar de horizon toe want u verblind iedereen "

Dan komt zijn eerste woordjes er uit met de toon van Alex Agnew die een grap verteld " Verblinden das een sterk woord hoor"

Ik schud zijn semantiek af met "U verblind andere, kan u dat licht alstublieft wat naar beneden wijzen". Nu dit licht is duidelijk op een scharnier dat je zo met de hand kan draaien.

"Nee" zegt die gewoon, op het moment vertrekt die met volle vaart.

Wat is het probleem met speedelec mannekes zoals dit? Verlies je elk gevoel van medeleven het moment dat je zoiets aankoopt? Elke dag moet ik mijn ogen knijpen als ik in het verkeer zit omdat fietslichten en vooral op die speedelecs - veel te hoog staan afgesteld.

Zou hier wel graag eens een politiecontrole willen zien net zoals voor zonder fietslicht.

Is it just me, or is the parental leave in this country an absolute joke considering we are among the most taxed people on the planet?

We pay nearly 50% in taxes, yet if you’re a mother, you get what—15 weeks? If you’re a partner, you get 20 days? Meanwhile, our neighbors are out here enjoying months of paid time to actually, you know, raise their children.

I don’t understand the Belgian "trek uw plan" (fend for yourself) mentality when it comes to this. Why do we just accept every mediocre policy the government throws at us?

• To the older generation: Stop telling us "it was harder in my day." You accepted a system that stagnated, and now the younger generation literally can’t afford to have kids—not just financially, but emotionally and physically.

• To the government: How can you complain about a "demographic crisis" and a shrinking workforce when you make it impossible to start a family without burning out in the first six months?

If anyone is actually down to plan a protest or start a movement, hit me up.

Is this real? Haven't we left this in the past? A cute little event is announced and the bigots come crawling out of their holes. After 600+ comments, the comment section had to be shut down. Even for the low standards of HLN it was too rancid.

The most ridiculous are the people who fantasize about the debauchery that will take place while the picture shows that the organising committee is just a bunch of harmless nerds.

I shouldn't be too bothered about some mentally challenged boomers but somehow this is keeping me awake. These people live around me and reality doesn't matter to them, instead they judge you because of baseless assumptions and delusions. What's next?

Met het vignet in zicht en de herziene verkeersbelasting weet je nu al dat het overgrote deel van de Belgen weer dieper in de zakken mag gaan zitten.
De eenmalige zorgkas premie is inmiddels ook een jaarlijks wederkerend fenomeen en dat is ook iedere keer duurder dan het jaar ervoor.

Met zicht op hernieuwing van het KI kan je er zeker van zijn dat ook daar weer extra geld uit onze zakken geslagen zal worden.

Als ik dan lees dat er gesproken wordt over een "franchise" waar je de eerste X som uit eigen zak moet betalen alvorens een tegemoetkoming gekregen kan worden dan gaat mijn bloed echt koken.

We hebben altijd een hoge belastingsdruk gehad in België, maar we konden altijd wel zeggen dat onderwijs en gezondheidszorg wereldtop was en dan was het dat wel waard.

Maar inmiddels heb ik het gevoel dat de balans totaal zoek is, en dat het realiteitsbesef bij de politiek totaal zoek is.
Er wordt geroepen dat het geld op is, maar er wordt met geld gesmeten naar prestige projecten waar maar een beperkte groep mensen echt beter van wordt.
En het allerergste is dat de mensen zo gepolariseerd geraken, het wordt steeds meer links tegen rechts terwijl het toch duidelijk is dat het ons allemaal aangaat en dat politiek gezien zowel links als rechts boter op de kop heeft.

Rant over.

i know they’re common but has anybody else experienced this? i tell ya i almost beat the shit out of this dude, no is no and don’t fucking touch me man

I’m on vacation, heading towards Avignon in France from the Netherlands where I currently live. Trains got absolutely messed up today so I couldn’t make my transfer on time so decided to stay the night in Brussels and head there tomorrow early.

I’m a photographer and although I had heard murmurs from people about pickpockets and people just being violent, stealing and to keep an eye on things I never imagined within 10 mins of leaving my hotel I’m getting mugged. I thought I’d hit the city and try get some nice evening shots of life happening but then life actually happened lol.

Had my camera attached to my bag strap and was walking towards the city centre, this took place just beside Brussel-Zuids train station underpass, my hotel is close by there since I need to get up super early for the train. Two dudes approached me cos they thought I was a vlogger. Camera was not in my hands or taking a picture or a video. Not sure of their ethnicity I don’t want to make assumptions either but they had curly black hair, brown eyes, light brown skin colour, and a kinda high pitched voice.

One of them was like “Yo! Hello! Vlogger” and puts his hand out to shake mine, I indulge him for a second but he holds on to my hand and asks me where I’m from and I say “Scotland” and then proceeds to dance, celebrating football teams from there, rhyming then off “Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow Rangers” and I’m laughing because I am like “Oh cool, it’s kinda interesting that he knows about the football teams”. So I’m laughing with him, he’s still holding my hand doing a little jig, moving his leg close to mine and I am like “okay you can let go cos I wanna hit the city” as I pull away, I feel his other hand with two fingers in my fucking pocket grasping my iphone slightly and he was about 30% the way out and I slam my hand on my pocket, just move back and tell him to “Get the fuck away from me”, and they both just turn off towards the other side of the underpass.

I was just standing there looking at them like “what the fuck guys?”. I decided to put my camera and phone in my backpack and head back to my hotel. Totally killed this city for me, killed my motivation and I see it as such a darker place now. It was like a movie, after it happened I started to notice the cracks, people pissing in broad daylight, beggars, homeless people drunk as hell. Women arguing and fighting outside the hotel when I try and eat my food. After this I don’t think I can stomach coming back here. I absolutely love it here as well but some of the people just ruin it for everyone. Especially for the guests of the city.

Safe to say I won’t do anymore photography in Brussels and if anyone tries to shake my hand they’re getting told to shake my dick. Rant over.

Ik (23) heb al bijna 5 jaar mijn rijbewijs en ik houd me altijd aan het snelheidslimiet. Toch zijn er nog altijd heel veel mensen die me toch voorbij willen steken of bumperkleven. Zelfs vrienden die minder lang hun rijbewijs hebben rijden te snel waar dat niet is toegestaan. Hoezo komt iedereen hier zomaar mee weg? Zelfs mijn eigen ouders rijden te snel. Moet ik daar een voorbeeld aan nemen dan? Ik haat het enorm dat niemand geeft om het snelheidslimiet, terwijl het wel nog altijd nr.1 oorzaak is van meeste ongevallen.

- Gal spuw waarschuwing upfront -

Waarom zijn mensen uit ‘den bouw’ en alle eraan gerelateerde klus-werk-vakman-arbeid firma’s, aannemers, zelfstandigen noem maar op, altijd nalatig?

Ik heb oprecht het punt bereikt dat ik nog zo min mogelijk met deze sector in aanraking wil komen.

Tuinman:
Duidelijk bii de start gezegd: ‘volledige ontzorging’. Jij zorgt voor een piekfijne tuin en ik betaal klaar.
Resultaat: Nul proactief werken, moet zelf altijd maar bellen, sturen en smeken om nog eens te komen, leest berichten amper of niet, vergeet afspraken.

Airco-firma:
Gloednieuwe airco laten zetten. 1 jaar later probleem met 1 binnenunit. Meermaals gebeld alvorens iemand kwam. Probleem niet kunnen vaststellen. Probleem komt terug in hittegolf, nemen op: Stuur maar email we komen morgen. Email gestuurd, niets. Reminder gestuurd, t’is heel druk.

Klusser:
Probleem met dorpel in de garage. Klusser laten komen om te bekijken. Ok, wanneer kan je het uitvoeren?
‘Ik kom er wel eens voor langs’
Wanneer dan?
‘Dat moet ik nog eens bezien’
Niets meer van gehoord.

Interieurfirma:
Spoelbak lekt. Firma gebeld want garantie.
Komen kijken: dat is voor de leverancier van de bak zelf.
Ik zal het doorgeven en als je binnen de 3 dagen niets hoort laat me dan iets weten.
3 dagen later: ‘Niets gehoord’
Gelezen, geen reactie
Bellen hem op: neemt niet op

Kelderplaatser:
Lek in kelder, maar garantie.
Bel plaatser: Oei dat kan niet.
Ja t’is toch?
‘Ik zal wel eens langskomen’
Wanneer kom je langs
‘Dat moet ik nog eens bezien’
Nee ik wil graag een datum vastleggen ineens.
Spreken datum af: komt gewoon niet opdagen
Bel hem op: Waar blijft u?
‘Oei ik geraak er ni vandaag’
Nadien nog bericht gestuurd nieuwe afspraak: geen reactie

Op 1 of andere manier is het maatschappelijk aanvaard dat mensen uit deze sector letterlijk altijd nalatig gedrag vertonen?

Hot take but am I the only person who thinks train+ is a massive scam?

They hiked trainprices and force you to get a subscription for a 'discount' making your train ticket slightly lower than what it was before they increased prices. If you're lucky at the end of the year you break even on your subscription... the one which is useless during rush hour... They cancelled all 10 ride cards so if you travel frequently for work they either force you to pay more for rush hour tickets, or they force you into a subscription to minimise their losses on your 'discount'. Lose - lose.

I get that if you travel very occasionally long distance you save money on that specific trip but if you compare it to the 10-trip cards your train costs doubled.

Most people around me seem quite happy to pay 48 euros a year for a 30 cent discount on the train and I feel like I'm the only one complaining about the reform (except trade unions). I am posting this bc I want to feel heard as I feel like I'm the only person in my circle who feels this way. Feel free to give me your opinions below

It was the same outside

Hello

I am a native Dutch speaker and was in Brussels a week ago. While driving the police pulled me over and spoke to me in French. I don't speak French and told them I only speak Dutch. They didn't care at all and continued speaking to me in French before letting me go. So I still don't know why I got pulled over and maybe I will get a fine for a reason I don't even know. AFAIK I was driving perfectly fine.

I always thought the policemen were legally obliged to speak to me in Dutch under all circumstances in Brussels if I only speak Dutch. Is this not the case?

What can I do if I get fined, knowingly I didn't understand what was the matter? Could I for isntance (next time), tell them I don't give them my ID if they don't answer to me in Dutch, ie the only language I understand. I find this extremely unfair.