#because i've worked retail and i'm sure he's had customers who complained about that

[notthewriteryourelookingfor]

So I made a Palestine flag pin to wear at work, partially because it feels like all I can do, and partially because the city I work in seems to be having a weekly protest about what's happening in Gaza but I seem to be working or otherwise busy every time so I can't join them but I can do this.

I'm a supervisor at a retail store and if I'm working on the weekend, I'm in charge of the day. (This does matter)

Anyway, yesterday I'd stepped away from the register cuz my coworkers had it covered and I was in the middle of fixing up an isle that was in danger of dropping a bunch of rolls of fabric on someone if they pulled out the wrong roll.

After a second or two, one of my coworkers came up like "Hey the dude at the register is giving [coworker] a hard time about your Palestine pin" so I went over to check out what was going on.

He'd left by the time I got there but I did catch a glimpse of him leaving. I am a larger woman, both because I'm tall (like 175cm which is about 5'8-9") and also wider/a lil chubby, the coworker he'd been having a go at was the smallest of the three of us (all women) that was working there. And part of me thinks that's why he complained to her and not me. Because I'm nearly the same size has him but the one he decided to have a go with was like 60% his body mass.

So she has a name that sounds like it comes from the middle east and I'm p sure he's racist based on what he said so there's that too.

Some of the things he said was "[Palestine] is a terrorist state" (which isn't even how words work tbh) and that me wearing the pin was "offensive and disappointing" and then left. (My coworker told me that these are some of the things she said).

My coworker is ok, she was a little rattled mostly cuz that's just how you react when a customer randomly has a go at you, especially since the majority of our customers are nice (if stupid) and then she was just annoyed that she wasn't able to snap back at him.

I've told the women working yesterday and I'm telling the women who are working with me today (who are also quite small and petite) that our store is not a place for debating, and if they feel uncomfortable about anything a customer is saying they can tell them to leave. I will back them up 100% and cover for them of necessary though our store manager is pretty good about having our back on these things too.

It's just so wild to me that he saw my pin, right below my "I'm a supervisor" pin, went to checkout, saw a tiny, maybe middle-eastern woman ladled as a "team member in training" and decided to parrot racist bullshit that almost definitely came from Fox News and then walk off like he'd won something.

I will say, I've had nothing but good things said to me about my pin. I have the Palestine flag pin, and the Indigenous Australian flag pin, both of which I made out of old fandom badges that I painted over cuz I couldn't find anyone selling badges near me and wanted the Indigenous flag before the voice vote a few weeks back. And then cuz I was continuing to wear that, I decided I should also support another group of people who have been invaded, colonised, oppressed, and demonised. (Just cuz Australians didn't carpet bomb the indigenous people when they were driven from their homes, doesn't mean they wouldn't have if the technology had been available at the time tbh)

People have asked if I made them or have asked where I got them because they wanted to buy them. There are more people who support Palestine than we really realise and that's great.

But:

Leave retail workers alone.

And don't get your info from Fox News or Murdock news.

[sofiadragon]

This has been in my drafts as a reblog for ages, but I've decided to share the story on it's own instead of inviting drama I don't have time for. Enjoy the tea:

Storytime:

I was a shift lead at a chocolate shop and there was one person who just could not get to work on time Sunday. I would work a closing shift Saturday night, open to close Sunday, and then open on Monday with one of the two owners [boss 1] - so I was completely responsible for the state of things. Every Sunday I'd start out making chocolates before opening at noon and then manage the store straight though mopping up. The crowd that came after church for treats with their kids was truffles to the wall busy. The tips though, oh how the tips flowed like our fondue service. We could not be down a man without long wait times that hurt the (pooled) tips that the college and high school students I managed very much needed.

Everybody loved working there. It was a chocolate shop that made chocolates right there behind the counter, sold chocolate based drinks (non-compete with a coffee shop next door so no espresso) and served fondue at a few café tables or as takeout. It was retail, it was light food service, but it was the best team I ever worked with for the decade or so I was there.

This one guy walking in up to an hour late, usually only 15-20 minutes, and needing to get all the info about special orders, reservations, and who needs what done when while customers are stacking up 3 deep was a problem. We were only open 5 hours and served as much as we did during the 10 hour Friday business hours. Sundays were slammed starting at 12:10 and going until people started thinking about supper.

I talked with the owners and he just stopped being scheduled on Sunday. He moaned and complained about the later closing shifts eating into his social life, but if you wanted to clock out at 6pm instead of 10pm you should have been on time for our short day. He was constantly in need of switching hours with people, and complained like a squeaky hinge when he couldn't get what he wanted. Once, he talked one of the high-school kids into coming in for the last two hours of a closing shift so he could go home early, which would have been illegal if we let it happen because under 17 can't work that late in that state. He was scheduled for fewer hours to accommodate his "actual availability" and got pissy about that.

I very quietly attended a Wiccan drum circle on full moons and Wednesday evenings at the time, but I talked about that exactly zero times in my place of work. I'd told boss 2 over tea at a private meeting off-site because she was all upset about asking me to skip church for work so she could do more with her kids and teach Sunday school every week instead of alternating. She had never asked why I was unavailable to close on Wednesdays and was not the gossiping type. I thought we were on good enough terms, and it got me a raise and a management position so the risk worked out, but man did I lay my head on the chopping block. I do not recommend doung that in a "we want to promote you" meeting unless you are very sure of where you stand. Bonus: I told her when my holidays were and got them all off for the rest of my time working there, so then I could volunteer at my place of worship too, and I did.

Come to find: he was late because he was staying at church. Don't remember what exactly he was there for so late and during seeminly random evenings, some social thing and I got the impression he was fishing for a girlfriend while he was there (do mega churches host speed dating?,) but most people who worked at the shop went to one of two churches (one mega, one Baptist) so he was found out quick enough. I'm thinking he figured with one owner being a Sunday school teacher she'd give him a break for being late if it was a church activity. This was not the case.

After a while, we had a meeting about dude bro's continued moaning, which had started to happen in front of customers instead of just in the back or during closing after the doors were locked. He asked me how I could possibly get all the things done that I said I did on Sunday, trying to get me in trouble for lying about my own hours to try and derail the meeting. After all, I can't be coming in at 9 to make multiple trays of fresh chocolates on a Sunday. It must be work left unfinished from Saturday night. The "bookeeping" oriented boss[1] said they have cameras for that. The "front of house" boss[2] said I was made a shift lead for my availability so they could both have Sunday off. The thought that I might not go to the same Mega Church as he did - and possibly that I have a different religion altogether - dawned on him right in that moment. I got to see this man reevaluate me in real time. When he tried to ask me the obvious question of why I'm not at church I just said "All you need to know is I close every Saturday night and run through until I open with [boss 1] every Monday as I was asked to. You are the only one causing scheduling issues on the weekend that I know of."

Later that week he came on shift as I was turning over to the other manager and refused to do work. Said he couldn't work with a non-Christian, loudly, right in the middle of the shop. Got himself sacked on the spot. Guess he thought it would lose us business if he told people that the people who worked on Sunday weren't Christian.

Honey child, Jews, atheists, and pagans have been doing service jobs for ya'll on Sunday for centuries now. It ain't news.

[charmingpplincardigans]

If le petit prince Crowley is your fourth favorite thing about Good Omens fandom, I implore you to share the first three! (Also, what fictional character do you have the same energy as: I can't figure it out because I associate people too strongly with their favs! DO YOU have Crowley energy? Is that what the kids these days call "vibes"? But if I got creative I could absolutely justify saying you have Crowley energy anyway so moot point!)

Oh god. I don’t know if I have Crowley energy. I certainly have ‘asking-too-many-questions, wanting-to-sleep-for-literal-years, past-me-constantly-inconveniencing-future-me’ energy, but I don’t know if I can claim that certain je ne sais Crowleyness of him. He really is relatable for a demon though, right? Like, I too just want to drink wine with my friends and have my plants be verdant and be left alone by my boss to FUCKING PINE. The cute girl I like that I rudely turned down because of my rude brain posted an internal profile to the department the other day and I was just sitting at my desk going ‘OH NO, SHE’S STILL CUTE AND GREAT, FFFFFFF.’ I’ve done this to myself, but then so did those dummies. 

Anyway! KL’s Top Three-ish Favorite Things About Good Omens Fandom 2K19!

3. How it just fucking, rose from the depths!! I was mostly a lurker in Good Omens fandom back in the late 00s. I wrote some (VERY BAD, DON’T FIND IT) fic and I roleplayed Crowley in a multi-fandom game where he got to terrorize Cesare Borgia a bit, but I didn’t really feel like I was a part of it. Probably because I was in Too Many Fandoms at the time. But now this has happened and I’m just. SO. ECSTATIC. There’s so much new art and fic and headcanons and discussion-and and and-for this book turned tv show that I absolutely love to pieces and have for YEARS. There’s so much art in particular that I queued that Le petit prince post a month and a half ago and when I saw your ask I had to stop and go ‘WAIT, WHAT WERE THE OTHER THREE THINGS??’ My queue is groaning. My drafts folder is burgeoning. MY PLANTS ARE WATERED AND MY ANGEL IS FED. 

And mainly, mainly my favorite thing about all of this is that I haven’t seen a single person try to make a distinction between book fans and tv fans or “real” fans and “new” fans. We’re all just in here crying about these idiots (and I certainly mean Crowley and Aziraphale, but also everyone else HEY ANATHEMA, HEY I LOOOOOOVE YOOOOOU) together and it’s beautiful and I’m so happy. 

2.5 The David Tennantssance. Look. I’m just. If you need me I’ll be huddled in my blankets re-watching that whole four seasons of Doctor Who again and also everything else he’s ever been in. Just yesterday Audible informed me they had a voice play of Carmilla with him in it and I cackled to myself in my bed for close to a minute. Like yes, lesbians, vampires, and David Tennant, the true trifecta of common interests. 

2. ALL OF TIME AND SOME OF SPACE. Don’t get me wrong, there was always fanwork for Good Omens that utilized historical moments (for all the characters I believe, because why not). Especially that much detested fourteenth century. But now I feel like that cold open gave us carte blanche to just go ape shit by breathing a little more context into those moments. Never have I been so pleased to see so many people utilizing their hyper specific knowledge/education/interests/upbringing when it comes to depicting these characters because it all works! It’s all on the table! Pick a time period! Pick an occupation! Pick a favorite dessert or type of flower! Pick a PLACE IN THE SKY BECAUSE CROWLEY HELPED BUILD THAT NEBULA. God, I am never going to get over that stupid, single line. I am here for Crowley among the stars, especially outside of time and space. TV!Crowley hits so many of my buttons and I AM ABSOLUTELY LIVING. 

1.5 ALL OF ART HISTORY IS AN OPEN BOOK. God you guys, I am just, never getting over fandom’s decision to redo EVERY PIECE OF ART with Crowley and/or Aziraphale in it. It’s AMAZING AND BRILLIANT THANK YOU ALL. I’M JUST SO HAPPY. And I’m still trying to think of a reason to ask fandom to redo John White Alexander’s Isabella and the Pot of Basil with Crowley because I am IN LOVE with the lighting in the fucking painting and of course I want to put Crowley in it. 

1. Gender? I don’t even know her! WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT MY BUTTONS? Because like, what even is gender? Fuck if I know. I once asked a salesperson at Kiehl’s that after they apologized for trying to sell me on a men’s moisturizer and they did NOT have an answer either! (Probably they thought they did not get paid enough to deal with that, but I don’t care what side of the store the moisturizer is from, my man, just moisturize me! *spritz spritz*) I’m just out here living in the world being both fine with and affronted by the way strangers read me day in and day out like. It depends, but also WHY DO THEY HAVE TO?

So I love every fucking discussion post about Crowley’s gender presentation in the show and outside of it. And I imagine much of that was the work of the costume department with notes from GNeil et al, but it works because, honestly, why would non-euclidean beings give a toss? They have to blend in, so they do, but for all they’ve come to love us they’re not us. Which leaves them free to do whatever, which fandom has fucking run with. My heart grows another size every time I see art or fic of both Crowley and Aziraphale (especially Aziraphale, hedonist extraordinaire) depicted in a way that embraces that, however the artist or writer chooses to depict it. 

And outside of the aesthetics of it, at the risk of being Serious here for a sec, I love the way that lets other fans explore and express themselves. Here are these characters that canonically love humanity but sit outside of it, so why shouldn’t they navigate those spaces of gender and sexuality to the fullest? For research or business or pleasure or whatever? (I mean, also, more angels-are-monsters interplanar weirdness in your sex scenes 2k20, but that’s a separate issue.) 

And I think they as characters should be allowed to do that in the works we create with them because I feel like it’s a very human thing to want to explore and for some people fandom is the safest place to do that. I’ve always been a big proponent of fandom as catharsis, or even as expression of joy that can’t be shared with the outside world for whatever reason. Which is why I go so fucking feral for Michael Sheen telling off jerks on the internet who think fandom is loving this thing The Wrong Way. Mostly, the wrong way to love something is to assume your way is the right and true way when [rant about the nature of art and ownership and belonging redacted]. Kindly fuck all the way off indeed. 

Anyway, I want people to feel safe to find themselves. Honestly, this is a selfish desire, because I’m in my 30s and I also just want to be safe to keep finding myself for however much time I have left. And I think this is a canon and a fandom sort of uniquely positioned to allow for all of it. So we should continue to celebrate that.