When I read stuff like this I am reminded of how I felt that one time at a local pizza place. I was maybe 20 years old , give or take, at the time. Having just placed my order for their smackin’ tuna grinder, I stepped back to wait while another person stepped up to place a similar order. Instead of slipping into my ‘wait state’ I couldn’t not listen to the next person because here was an attitude so bizarre. She said – “I want” and then proceeded to tell them how to make her sammich. Wait.
What?
It wasn’t what she was saying, it wasn’t the ingremidents to her sammich, it wasn’t her look or stature – it was bombast. Fully and clearly. Here she was, walking into someone else’s ‘house’ and telling them to paint a wall a different color – oh, and use this kind of paint and buy it from this seller….
Bombast; and it was weird. So I listened and my ‘wait state’ would have to do same.
The folks slingin’ it from behind the counter took notice, too. It was an odd occurrence and creepy. We have always had ‘karen’s’ but certainly they were actually nowhere, or, they were at home doing karen-at-home sorts of things. In any case, it was the late ‘80’s in a small city in Massachusetts and it’s taken, now, as a matter of course to walk into a place and ‘start rearranging furniture’ because that’s what it seems like to me. You don’t go to someone’s house and then start bossing them around. FFS. And over recent years, as I write this 24 mar 21, in the AM, it has become common to do just this. It’s very odd to me.
It’s like – choosing a friend and then immediately start to remake them. WTFissat? That’s just crooked. You choose a friend because it’s already happened naturally – anyone seeking to remake the world for themselves is batshit crazy. Anti-social. You goto a place because it has the thing that you want, you don’t goto a place and try to remake what they have to fit your purpose(s). I mean, tinkering with stuff is cool, making a thing – yeah, do that, but, you don’t walk into a candy shop and demand to buy a telescope; even worse, cause a ruckus, or, feel a way, if they decline to accommodate you.
Damn.
Having a voice is wicked, and, you need to. But you better be ready for the world’s response after having used that voice. It may ruffle you, send you into fits. And you have to take that, learn from it, and carry on. You don’t respond to the way the world responds to your bullshit with more bullshit. That’s just crazy – you gotta live there, dumbass, these are your people. Love them.
There is a lot more to write on the matter, and I took this sentiment out of context just to avoid having to do all that. In this way we may just consider my thesis – if we put it into context and we talk about hostile work environments, my point still stands. Don’t work there. If you’ve worked there and a hostile work environment happens – it’s on you to try to stop it prevent it; failing that, it’s on you to have a say in its evolution, from discovery to remedy, within the ‘society’ that you are in. It wouldn’t be going into a place and making demands any longer, it would be akin to noticing a problem and fixing it.
I guess that, all I’m trying to say is – keep your religion in your pants.
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