💼👧's 🔍: Olive Garden, the Gen-Z stare, and the Ref top I can't take off

The Gen-Z stare is apparently a trauma response, Peet’s was sold for $18 billion (it feels like the year of the beverage company acquisitions?), and I’m impersonating your bf post-yoga.

Let’s get into it.

Olive Garden is saying spaghetti-NO to inflation

Olive Garden’s back with its Never Ending Pasta Bowl (and yes, I’ve personally confirmed with a waiter there: they do NOT cut people off) for $13.99. This is the same price they originally launched the deal with 3 years back — even as costs have soared over 35% since then. It’s a smart move to get (and keep) people in the door; once you’re deep in Alfredo, you’re probably going to buy a full-priced cocktail and dessert (it’s the same strategy as Costco’s infamous $1.50 hot dog, which definitely gets ME in the door).

The latest discourse on the Gen Z stare: are they rude or traumatized?

While my fellow millennials have suffered through lots of criticism for spending all our money on avocado toast and wearing too many infinity scarves, Gen Z is under the gun for staring blankly, often in response to questions. Some are saying it’s a result of this generation’s lack of face-to-face contact during the pandemic (which happened during a critical stage of development for this age group), and is a genuine trauma response. Others are saying Gen Z is just…rude and too online. Do I have any Gen Z readers in the house who want to weigh in?

I may spend a lot of money on coffee, but $18 B for Peet’s??

Keurig Dr Pepper just bought SF-based Peet’s coffee for $18 billion - that’s 3.6 billion $5 coffees! Their stock took a bit of a nosedive after the announcement (dropped 7%), amid declining sales of soft drinks as consumers turn towards more health-conscious alternatives. I swear we cannot go one week without a big beverage company getting sold for billions!

We spent the weekend observing and taking notes I mean enjoying a beautiful wedding in Vermont! Business school friends got married; attending weddings while planning one definitely makes you hyper aware of every. last. detail. I got many questions on the feather dress - It's FRAME from 3+ years ago, but I found ONE size medium on Poshmark (I'm wearing a medium here, for reference). Which working girl is going to snag it?

NOT ME not wearing white! If I’m not dressing bridal, catch me in black flats and stretchy jeans. I wear this top twice a week (Reformation, $54, cost per wear does not exist when you never take it off). Have linked some good classic black flat options, including a $27 pair from Banana Republic!

If you’re sending out a ton of emails (networking, pitching, holiday notes, whatever), skip the painful copy/paste of names and custom intros. In Gmail, you can upload a CSV into Google Sheets, connect it to Yet Another Mail Merge (YAMM) (a free add-on, not sponsored), and in literally two minutes you’ll have personalized emails that look hand-typed.

Example: instead of writing “Hi Sarah,” “Hi Alex,” “Hi Priya” 200 times, you write it once in the draft, link it to the name field in your sheet, and boom: Gmail personalizes and sends each one separately. Looks thoughtful, saves hours.

Thanks for reading!