Random things
Oct. 3rd, 2006 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iceminkSo I finally started my new job on Friday. Right now it's really boring, but that's because all they have me doing is seating tables right now while they train me. Still I think it's going to be a good place to work. It's a little disorganized, but the new manager is trying to change that, and in general the management seems good which is what's really important.
The funny thing is I think they hired me for my combat experience. Okay, that's a little over dramatic, but the general management did tell me at one point that one of the problems they have is that a lot of the girls let themselves get a little bullied when the restaurant is very busy and don't keep control of things. For instance there's this delivery service that is a separate company, that sometimes comes in to pick up orders. The manager absolutely does not want those drivers behind our counter. They get in the way and they aren't our employees so they don't belong there. On Sunday night I found two of them behind the counter, and no one else said anything so I shooed them back into the main lobby part.
In any case, I can't wait till I start serving. That should but a lot more interesting, but first this week I have to learn how to sell pies.
On a totally different matter, because of the whole Foley thing, I was thinking about homophobia and something occurred to me. I'm assuming that it's mostly the homophobes who equate pedophile with homosexuality and I think it's because they are so afraid of a man propositioning them or making a lewd comment. Do they really feel as helpless as a child in that situation who is in fact helpless? I mean grow up. So someone who gives you the creeps makes a pass at you, try being a woman. Does it happen everyday? No, but can I keep track of all the times a guy has made an inappropriate comment to me, or whistled at me, or something of that nature. No. Only the really spectacular ones stand out.
In fact one case that is so funny to me stands out about the strangeness that is America. One day when I was still bartending at the dive bar I used to work at, these two men in their 60s or so came in. There weren't many customers in the bar, and I ended up talking to them for a while. At one point one of them got up to use the bathroom, and his friend asked me if he could ask me a questions.
I gave him my standard answer, "You can ask, but I don't know if I'll answer."
Usually when someone asked me that they just want to know my age. Not in this case. This guy asked me if I was shaved or not, and I very quickly told him that it was none of his business. He tried to convince me to tell him on the grounds that he was never going to get to see, so what was the harm. I was pretty squicked at this point, but I stayed polite and told him again it was none of his business.
His friend came back, and I went to help some other customers. I came back to check on them later and they had started having some conversation about religion. The guy who'd gone to the bathroom politely asked me, "What is your religion?" Before I could say anything, the guy who'd asked the rude question stepped in horrified and told his friend, "You can't ask someone that." The rest of their time there they argued about whether it was okay or not to ask someone about what their religion was.
So evidently it's perfectly fine to ask a woman about the state of her pubic hair, but not about how she interacts with the divine.
Anyway, my point is if the worst thing everyone ever does at you is leer, or make a rude comment to you than you've lived a pretty good life. I have no sympathy for the homophobes. Are they afraid they'll be raped? Sure that would be awful, but woman make decisions all the time to keep themselves out of situations where they could be in danger. I don't walk around at night by myself through unlit dark neighborhoods, and I'm careful about who I get drunk around. It's not that I think a rapist is hiding behind every bush or in every bar. In fact most of the time I don't even think about these things, I just consider them common sense. I guess I just feel that homophobes are the biggest wimps on earth. Life isn't always perfect and friendly, at times you will be offended. Deal with it.
The funny thing is I think they hired me for my combat experience. Okay, that's a little over dramatic, but the general management did tell me at one point that one of the problems they have is that a lot of the girls let themselves get a little bullied when the restaurant is very busy and don't keep control of things. For instance there's this delivery service that is a separate company, that sometimes comes in to pick up orders. The manager absolutely does not want those drivers behind our counter. They get in the way and they aren't our employees so they don't belong there. On Sunday night I found two of them behind the counter, and no one else said anything so I shooed them back into the main lobby part.
In any case, I can't wait till I start serving. That should but a lot more interesting, but first this week I have to learn how to sell pies.
On a totally different matter, because of the whole Foley thing, I was thinking about homophobia and something occurred to me. I'm assuming that it's mostly the homophobes who equate pedophile with homosexuality and I think it's because they are so afraid of a man propositioning them or making a lewd comment. Do they really feel as helpless as a child in that situation who is in fact helpless? I mean grow up. So someone who gives you the creeps makes a pass at you, try being a woman. Does it happen everyday? No, but can I keep track of all the times a guy has made an inappropriate comment to me, or whistled at me, or something of that nature. No. Only the really spectacular ones stand out.
In fact one case that is so funny to me stands out about the strangeness that is America. One day when I was still bartending at the dive bar I used to work at, these two men in their 60s or so came in. There weren't many customers in the bar, and I ended up talking to them for a while. At one point one of them got up to use the bathroom, and his friend asked me if he could ask me a questions.
I gave him my standard answer, "You can ask, but I don't know if I'll answer."
Usually when someone asked me that they just want to know my age. Not in this case. This guy asked me if I was shaved or not, and I very quickly told him that it was none of his business. He tried to convince me to tell him on the grounds that he was never going to get to see, so what was the harm. I was pretty squicked at this point, but I stayed polite and told him again it was none of his business.
His friend came back, and I went to help some other customers. I came back to check on them later and they had started having some conversation about religion. The guy who'd gone to the bathroom politely asked me, "What is your religion?" Before I could say anything, the guy who'd asked the rude question stepped in horrified and told his friend, "You can't ask someone that." The rest of their time there they argued about whether it was okay or not to ask someone about what their religion was.
So evidently it's perfectly fine to ask a woman about the state of her pubic hair, but not about how she interacts with the divine.
Anyway, my point is if the worst thing everyone ever does at you is leer, or make a rude comment to you than you've lived a pretty good life. I have no sympathy for the homophobes. Are they afraid they'll be raped? Sure that would be awful, but woman make decisions all the time to keep themselves out of situations where they could be in danger. I don't walk around at night by myself through unlit dark neighborhoods, and I'm careful about who I get drunk around. It's not that I think a rapist is hiding behind every bush or in every bar. In fact most of the time I don't even think about these things, I just consider them common sense. I guess I just feel that homophobes are the biggest wimps on earth. Life isn't always perfect and friendly, at times you will be offended. Deal with it.
