That social pressure when it fails in front of everyone is the worst part. Cold beans taste even worse with an audience.

Totally get that. Feels like it lost some of its soul.

When I asked for a raise at my old job, I pulled numbers from PayScale and Glassdoor. I made sure to list my wins from the past year before handing over the printouts. My boss said the facts helped her make a case to upper management, and I got a 5% bump. It didn't feel awkward because I framed it as wanting to stay fair with the market. What sites did you use for your data?

Yeah, I ran into this when I started doing some basic book repairs. Tried to peel apart an old cover and it was just this sad, crumbly plastic mesh glued to paper. Total gluey tragedy. I had some luck finding starch-filled cloth from a specialty supplier, which tears clean like fabric. You really have to check the product descriptions though, because the plastic stuff is everywhere.