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write-orflight · 4 years ago

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Galileo. Prologue

**Gif Not Mine**

Next Chapter

Pairings: SpencerXReader, enemies to friends to lovers trope

Rating: M

Words: 1.5K (She’s a smol Prologue)

Warnings: None right now. but will eventually be smut.

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: Y/N is an astronomer with her head constantly in the stars. But when a serial killer is threatening NASA’s top scientists, she is left in the protective custody of a man who’s gravitational pull threatens to pull her back down to earth.

A.N Hey, my children! This is an idea that’s been plaguing me for weeks and I just had to get at least the prologue out (This series is mainly just my excuse to get my pointless knowledge about space out there). I’m probably not going to update this until I finish ‘trouble’ which should be in this next coming week. I’m just really excited about this one and wanted to put it out there too. Message to be on the taglist! -Cia

Prologue: Mercury

There are 400 billion stars in the galaxy.

Some insignificant, some small, some large, and some with great potential.

Humans were the same way. Though most were insignificant to you, which is why you didn’t indulge in the trifles of relationships and companionship. The stars were far more interesting to you.

And you spent your life studying them.

Ever since your dad bought you your first telescope at age 7, you knew exactly what your purpose was. To study and find out what else was out there. And for a while that was all you did, all through school, no time for boys, friendship and trivial prepubescent things, your mind was literally in the clouds. That carried you all the way to Yale where you graduated Summa cum Laude with 3 Phds in Astronomy, Engineering, and Physics.

Getting the job at NASA wasn’t surprising to you at all.

Meeting Jonathan was.

Your first day together had been uneventful, you had been introduced and told your assignment which was to just track the movement of a comet that came every fifty years. A couple of months in and by pure accident you saw her.

It couldn’t be.

You immediately yelled at him to come over, to confirm that you were just crazy but he had seen it too. You had just discovered a planet. And not just any planet one that through your research could very well sustain human life. Jonathan, though not knowing you long, picked you up in a giant hug and swung you around. You couldn’t help the smiles and tears that had fallen from your eyes. This was exactly why you were doing this, for the art of discovery and the overwhelming feeling that came with it.

After weeks of convincing the boards and getting funding, you and Jonathan were now heads of your own department solely designed for tracking and finding new information on Gaia, the planet the two of you graciously named. Now your nights were filled with solving equations and trying to get more than a glimmer of Gaia from your telescope. Alas, as much as you loved her, she was very slow. Jonathan would play his old jazz records and sing off-key dancing around the planetarium gifted by NASA. You didn’t know exactly when they happened, but you started to feel like maybe all humans weren’t insignificant and you started to feel like that about Jonathan. You found yourself watching his bright smile as he danced and singed around, often asking you to please dance with him, which you always declined.

Now you wish you had.

If you knew it’d be the last time, you for sure would have.

But no one could’ve predicted a serial killer coming after NASA scientists.

And no one could’ve predicted you walking into work and seeing your best friends throat slit ear to ear.

—————————————————

The months following Maeve’s death were hard on Spencer. He was a man of science, he knew probability and often relied on statistics for his job. The predictability of it was what made it easy to cope.

But sometimes it wasn’t. And sometimes he hated the unpredictability of his job.

Losing Maeve had definitely been one of those days.

On one of his first couple weeks back, he’s called into the briefing room.

“We don’t have to go far for this case.” JJ says manning the slides to show the team “Four NASA scientists at the Goddard Flight Center in Maryland have been found in their offices, throat slit and hands bound with duct tape behind the back.”

“Execution style…” Morgan says with a grimace. “Brutal.”

“Obviously someone angry too.” Emily adds. “To just do it like that, no sign of remorse. But the jaggedness of it makes it look passionate.”

“The police and NASA believe they know who the next target is as well.” JJ adds moving to the next slide which showed a beautiful girl standing in front of a whiteboard of equations. Long silky hair tied up in a bun, glasses on her face and bright white teeth shown through the smile. You could obviously tell the picture was taken for an article or sort. Spencer thought she was cute but didn’t dwell on it long. “This is Dr. Y/N Y/L/N. She worked alongside Victim #4, Jonathan Brewer as co-head scientists of the Terra-Mora project.”

“They think the Unsub is specifically targeting her department and people who have done work for her department. And if he’s already killed the partner...” Hotch trails off.

“He’s escalating…” Spencer adds.

“Which puts her under extreme risk. Which is why I’m putting her in protective custody.” Hotch adds. “Reid, I’d like you to do that.”

Spencer looks confused. “Why me? Shouldn’t someone like Morgan or Prentiss go?”

“I’ve been told Dr. Y/L/N is very reluctant about having security. I figured having someone as intelligent as her would cushion the blow.”

Spencer leaned back in his chair. Great… just what he needed.

—————————————

“No, Clifton.”

“It’s not up for discussion, Y/N.” Cliff says walking away from you down the hall. You speed up to catch up with him.

“I’m 31 years old! I don’t need a babysitter.” You said, angrily.

“You’re not getting a babysitter, Y/N. The FBI is being gracious enough to provide you extra security. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you people are dying.”

“You know you don’t have to remind me! I lost Jon!”

“Then you know why you have to take protection, Y/N. You know what important work you and Jonathan were doing. You’re the only one left to finish it. Please just let someone take care of you while they catch the sick man who’s doing this.” You sigh, Cliff takes that as compliance. “Now get to work. I’ll show him to your office when he gets here.”

You walk into work and look at the time, 10:30 PM, peak time for planets to be seen. And if you were lucky, you’d probably get a glimmer of her again. You were right because just as soon as you stepped up to the telescope there she was, or more like there was a sliver of her. You’ve never been able to get a full look at Gaia, but just past Saturn was the curvature of the dwarf planet you adored so much. You pick up your tape recorder, and begin to speak into it.

“January 16th, Terra-Mora logs. This is Dr. Y/N Y/L/N. Dr. Jonathan Brewer has passed and will no longer be making logs.” You choke up a bit but clear your throat and keep going. “Gaia’s Southwest region is visible from earth tonight. Seems her clouds are finally dissipating, and you can see some of her icy plains, I am pretty positive it’s a lake. Hopefully with the Approval of SPOT, we’ll be able to know for sure what’s up there.” You look at your door to see your boss, Dr. Clifton and a man standing watching you. “Y/L/N out.” You say into the tape recorder.

You get up to walk over the two men.

“You know everyone does their logs into the computers now, no one uses an actual tape anymore.” Clifton says.

“I’m old fashioned.” You cross your arms.

“This is Dr. Spencer Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. He will be watching you while we figure out what’s happening.”

“This is who’s supposed to be protecting me?” You ask. “You look like a strong wind would blow you over.”

The man looks at you annoyed. “I can assure you, I’m more than capable of doing my job, Miss--”

“Doctor.” You say.

“Excuse me.”

“It’s Dr. Y/N Y/L/N. And I worked very hard and paid a lot of debt for the title so I’d prefer it if you used it.” You looked annoyed right back at him. Something about the man rubbed you the wrong way.

Dr. Clifton looks at the both of you uncomfortable. “Well I’ll leave you both to it.” He nods at you both before leaving you alone.

“I think we got off on the wrong--”

“Listen Dr. Reid.” You cut him off. “This is probably going to be hell for the both of us. I expressed heavily to my boss about not needing protective custody which of course fell on deaf ears, so I’m going to make one thing clear. We’re not here to be friends. I’m here to do important work that I now have to do single-handedly because you guys failed to do your work in the first place and my coworker had to die because of it.” Tears threatened to choke you but you didn’t let them. “And to be frank, I don’t know what exactly you’re here for besides being a pain in my ass so I suggest staying out of my way and not fucking touching anything. Keep that in mind and we’ll get along swimmingly.” You say, turning your back to him, heading back to the telescope and looking at him as if daring him to challenge you. For a second it looks like he might, he’s standing trying very hard not to look like he’s completely fuming. Then he just blows a frustrated breath and sits in a chair halfway across the room.

You didn’t know why, and you didn’t have a real reason.

But you decided that you hated Dr. Spencer Reid.

Which you guessed was another thing humans could be.

Message to be tagged!

#spencer x reader #spencer reid x reader #spencer x you #spencer reid x you #criminal minds #bau x reader #spencer x reader smut #spencer reid x reader smut

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ask-villain-izuku-midoriya · 4 years ago

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Talking about abuse and toxic families

Ace again. Kinda wanna talk about something.

A lot of people are convinced that I was lying about my family. About how bad it was there.

At first, I just thought of our relationship as unhealthy. But some people made me realize it was beyond that.

It was abusive. Physically, verbally and mentally.

Remember when I stated before that someone close to me broke my glasses and tried to kill me? That was my mom. She also lied about it to my dad, saying that I tried to attack her, and naturally he believed her.

My dad also made an attempt on my life once. I got in trouble for watching TV while wiping down the table. I still remember it all. It was on a Thursday night, and American Idol was on. It was near the finals, and Casey James’s cover of Mrs. Robinson was playing. I was 9 at the time. My dad was laying on the couch when my mom told him, and he called me over. He asked me why, and I got scared. I was stammering and shaking, and then he got up.

I remember him standing in front of me for a good 5 seconds, and it made me realize how small I was to him.

Then he grabbed me by the neck.

He picked me up and yelled, “ANSWER THE GOD DAMN QUESTION! WHY?!”

I don’t think I had ever been so scared in my life. I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.

I guess he realized that what he did was wrong(that or he realized that, y’know, when you got your hands around someone’s neck, they can’t really answer you), because he set me down and told me to go to my room(which I’m gonna talk about in a minute).

My mom came in after me, and told me to go brush my teeth, “because she sure as hell wasn’t gonna pay a dentist to do it.(also gonna talk about in a minute)”

Afterwards, she got her turn of yelling at me and wrestling me and making me feel like shit. She left for about 20 minutes, probably so that she could calm down a bit and put on a sugary sweet facade and apologize.

I forgave her. Stupid me. Only hurt me worse.

But my dad never apologized.

They’re mostly faded but I have scars on my back from when they spanked me. They experimented with everything: wooden spoons, plastic spatulas, belts, sandals, books, even a plastic hairbrush of mine.

My mom also punished me by pouring things down my throat. Tabasco sauce, Dawn soap, vinegar, you name it. I remember one time I said a bad word and my mom made my siblings pour vinegar in my mouth. I was standing there, sobbing and drooling like a rabid fucking dog, while she lounged in the pool and watched. To this day, if I even smell Dawn soap or Tabasco sauce, I start gagging. I have to have my coworkers make the hot wings at work, because I can’t fucking stand it.

One time we had this bulldog named Hercules, who was really aggressive. He attacked one of our other dogs and I tried to break up the fight. I ended up with a chunk of my arm missing, and after the incident, my mom blamed me, saying that I was stupid enough to try and break them up that it was my fault. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time, and that just kinda crushed me.

By 11 I was having...thoughts. Thoughts of, would they be happier people if I just didn’t exist? I felt like I was just an ant to everyone. Nobody would be hurt or be sad if I left.

The sad part was, it wasn’t just my parents. It was my siblings too.

Things got worse as I got older. One time my mom poured Dawn soap in my mouth, and then got in my face and screamed at me. I tried to talk, but my mouth was full of soap and it got in her eye. She punched me hard, so hard that I fell over. Later I looked in the mirror and saw blood running from my nose to my collarbone.

Others have witnessed the actual abuse happening. My grandma(her mom), my grandpa(my dad’s dad), my brother’s dive coach, my sister’s boyfriend/family friend, my brother’s friends, everyone.

One time my sister was mad at me when we went to the grocery, and sent me to get some ginger root. The ginger root was massive, so I tried to pick the smallest one. When I came back, she was pissed off that the one I grabbed was still pretty big. I tried explaining to her that they were all big, she threatened to punch the shit out of me, and that she didn’t care if she got arrested for it. The bagger saw it all, and asked me if I was okay.

It’s a sign that things are not okay when you have to smile through the tears and lie through your teeth.

My room was literally a walk-in closet. There was no built-in AC so often I would have to sleep in a 104 degree room. If I even TRIED using the bathroom or getting water, I would get in trouble, causing me to develop UTIs.

I only went to the doctor once every couple of years. They were just for check-ups. That was it. One time I had a bad stomach flu, it was probably the sickest I had ever been, and I begged, PLEADED for them to take me to the doctor. And they just said that I ate too much pizza. They didn’t believe it was a stomach bug until everyone else caught it.

Basically I was the joke in the family. Everyone was so successful, and I just felt like they were comparing me to them and rubbing it in my face. After I failed out, whenever the topic of my siblings’ success came up, my mom would scoff and say, “Well, I got the first three right, dunno about the last.” Every time she said that, it hurt so much.

One time my brother told me nobody in the household loved me, just that they were forced to love me because I was family. It’s been years since he told me that, and it still hasn’t gone away.

By 15 the thoughts escalated into voices. Voices that echoed everything they said about me. They still haunt me to this day. By then I needed glasses and nobody believed me, and I felt like I was abandoned.

At sixteen I was having suicidal thoughts. I had lived out part of my life and it wasn’t enough. Nobody loved me, nobody cared for me. Living was pointless. Classmates saw what was happening but when CPS came, all they saw was the pool, the nice cars, the TV and video game setup(which I was never allowed to touch because I was always in trouble with them), all of that. They didn’t see how I procrastinated on going home. They didn’t see the scars my mom had left on my skin. They didn’t see that my anxiety had developed into a skin picking disorder, and that I had torn up my skin because of how bad it was.

I wasn’t allowed to have friends over, or go over to a friend’s house. If my classmates gave me a ride, my mom would fucking explode. I wasn’t allowed a phone. In junior year my mom saw that I was listening to YouTube while writing an essay at school and locked me out of my school email. That was part of why I failed. Didn’t have access to my own homework.

I felt alone. My mom told me that I didn’t have friends at school, that the people I called “friends” were younger kids, and they only were my friends because nobody in my grade liked me or wanted to be around me. My siblings said that nobody would want to date my ugly fat ass.

With both of my jobs, she wouldn’t let me go to work unless I finished all of my chores. Sometimes she would make do really hard stuff, like mowing the grass, so that by the time I would get to work, I was drained. Plus, they made sure I didn’t touch my paychecks.

I spent $85 on a present for my mom on Valentine’s day, and I never got a thank you, further proving that I was unappreciated there.

I’ve tried so many things to keep my family happy, sometimes going a day without food because I didn’t want to eat something of theirs and upset them. I have bought them gifts, I have tried having fun conversations, I have gotten them food, I have done almost everything.

But it was never enough. I’d just feel so cold and empty inside.

I could keep going on about what all they did to me. But the moral of the story is: don’t stick around for somebody who’s gonna treat you like shit. Because all they’re gonna do is take advantage and hurt you even more.

#abuse #lets talk #serious talk #help

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intheheartofthematter · 5 years ago

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So you know and to myself

I hate to bring this up, and there are many more incidents throughout my life, but I think at least this much should be told. Before I worked at the roofing company as Operations Manager, I worked at another commercial roofing company for almost 6 years as AP/AR Manager and a few other jobs when needed... My boss, another owner, would introduce me at times as his Jack of all trades, master of some. (ha. unnecessary interjection, but I’m reflecting too.) My aunt worked there as well before she retired. One day T wanted me to sign her up for a karate tournament (pronoun at the time, will be used). I had a deadline of a little more than an hour left, so I had to ask permission (very strict business) if I could have the form faxed to me, take a few minutes to fill it out, and fax it back. My request was approved. By the time the tournament sign-up form came through on the fax I had very little time left to fax it back. My aunt saw it come through at the same time I did and grabbed it. I gave her a brief moment to look at it, but she started to walk away and take it to her desk. I asked if I could have it, needing to quickly fax it back, and she said, “No. I’m her aunt. I want to read it first.” I said something stupid back, like, “Well, I’m her mom and I need to read it first and get it filled out.” Anyway, after another long minute, with a hmph and a wrinkled up nose at me, she finally handed it to me. Her day ended at 4pm and it was already after that hour. We both often worked late. My day ended at 5. And, at the time my mom was staying with my aunt temporarily while her move to Florida was in process. She goes home, and tells my mom who knows what! and my mom comes to my place of employment, stomps up to the front door with clenched fists, a few coworkers are gasping, saying, “Who is that?” before she opened the door. I reluctantly reply, “My mom.” To sum it up, she stormed in, in front of everyone, and said, “Get your shit! We’re leaving.” I ask her why, is it an emergency, etc. No answer, but her anger escalated, “I said get your shit! You’re leaving with me NOW!” I said, “NO. I get off work in a little while. I can talk to you then.” She then picked up a section of the switchboard, screaming a whole lot at me, and came after me with it, hitting me with part of it. I mostly got out of the way in time. Two people quickly grabbed her arms, forced them behind her back, and dragged her out the door, backward. But as that was happening, she got partially loose and grabbed the door frame, facing me, and said, “Caryl, you’re crazy. You need to go back into the hospital.” (In front of everyone I work with!)... I looked her dead in the eyes, and said, “I’ve never been in a hospital (truth), but I think that’s where you need to be.” Brave of me at the time, because I was still afraid to stand up to my mom. I didn’t meet up with her after that. Anyway, the owner of the company, who always had everyone walking on eggshells, got wind of it from the office manger who saw it all... OMG! He called me into his office the next day. I thought I was going to be fired. He hugged me!!! He told me that he was going to talk to my aunt next, who would be informed that if her sister (not my mom)... her sister... EVER set foot on his property again, he would call the police and SHE would be fired! (Working with her after that was a nightmare, her treatment of me. Noticeable to everyone. She was warned a few times to act professionally towards me or be fired. Rick hired me not long after.)

So...

After he confronted my aunt, she went home and told my mom, which led to my mom leaving me a message on my answering machine saying that I was disowned from the family due to irreconcilable differences, that I never should have been rude to my aunt like that, blaming me for almost getting my aunt fired, and that she’d be informing the rest of the family that I want nothing to do with them! Me! Not her not wanting anything to do with me! Laurie, already a practicing psychologist in the midst of earning a PhD, came over (we lived 3 doors down from each other at the time) and listened to the message in disbelief. She then reminded me of how my mom had always been like that towards me while growing up (not physically, though), why she always felt protective of me, and that it was time to let her go... don’t respond, don’t play into her games, just focus on recovering emotionally. (And, at the time, I was already dealing with T’s dad threatening me all the time, death threats, coming around, stalking me... having him arrested, his family calling and demanding I drop charges. A lot to deal with, basically.)

Within a week, my mom started showing up to T’s elementary school, leaving packages, demanding to see her granddaughter during class, and shitty stuff like that. The school called me in for a meeting, wanting to know what was going on, saying that they can’t allow her to come on school grounds anymore, or accept packages, not knowing if a bomb would be in one, lol... seriously! And that they would have no choice but to call the police if she stepped foot on school grounds again. I told them I would let her know, so I had to call her. That didn’t go over well. She blamed me, of course. Her next move was to write letters to my main friends, T’s family on her dad’s side (who I was already distancing myself from), my grandparents, my dad, and a few family members on my mom’s side. Basically, each letter was different... everyone contacted me, one by one, reading them to me. She was trying to turn everyone against me after disowning me. Laurie was livid over the letters she and her parents received, and called my mom to confront her and defend me, also telling her she’d better back off and stop tormenting me or she’d hire a lawyer. All contact with me, and anyone she had written letters to, ceased after that for 3 years! until I received a card from my mom with a card-printed message that read, “I forgive you.” Call me, mom. I laughed. I told Laurie I was going to call her, against her advice. I did. She said she missed being in T’s life and that was the main reason she contacted me again. I told her that we could see how things go, but if she caused any problems or tried to control my life in any way again, she would be the one to be shut out. T was about 5 years old when she disowned me. And after a little time passed, when T was 9, I let her fly out to visit my mom in Florida - when and where the letter with T’s story was written. Since then, when my mom has tried anything with me I’ve immediately distanced myself again - not cut her off. She did some terrible things to T over time, and T won’t have it, only sees my mom on a rare occasion if she’s in town, but no regular contact, ever. My mom doesn’t have an interest anymore since T’s changes, too. My mom basically acts like T doesn’t exist. No love loss on T’s part. For me, it’s harder. It hurts that my child isn’t loved, and disconnected from the family, other than my aunt and brother, mostly due to my mom and her gossip within our family. When the extended family ever sees me, they often forget I have a child until I bring it up. My mom usually looks mortified and I stop talking. We do not have a good relationship at all. And after my mom told the rest of the family that I wanted nothing to do with them, when she and I started talking again, and I was invited around them again, they were confused by it all. Not wanting to badmouth my mom to them, I just said that we had differences, but let them know that SHE disowned me for 3 years, and that I never wanted to be separated from anyone.

And she never has any compassion towards me over anything I had to do or went through with T’s cancer, my dad becoming paralyzed and my role through all the years before his death, and with Alex or anyone since... She wanted to buy the urn for my dad, her first husband, which I accepted. But she didn’t even contact me when my grandpa died and all I had to deal with out of state. They never let me grieve and expect me to bounce back to normal overnight. She only concerns herself with how well I’m helping out my aunt and looking out for my brother, and on occasion starts in on me in nasty and negative ways, saturated in criticism, on how I need to do this or that with things concerning my own life... and then the distancing starts all over again. Keep in mind, this is just a few things in my ADULT life. The things I went through as a child and had to deal with on my own, no emotional support from my mother, yet always defending and protecting her were bad enough. I’m not implying I’m a saint or expect pats on my back, it’s more a description of the behavior of someone mentally abused.

The most recent, before the trouble brewing now, was when my dad was near the end, the nursing home calling me often because he was refusing to listen to them and accept care, and other things, so I had a lot going on with him at the same time my aunt was in the hospital, then released, in my care again... cooking and serving meals, bathing and dressing her, cleaning up after her, portable potty, the whole shebang, like always. And at the same time shortly after my brother’s incident of being stranded for 3 days, no food and water, on the military base, then had to outrun a fire. His rental car burned completely. I had begged him not to take the trip up to my mom’s in Northern CA, where she lived at the time, because I could tell his medications were affecting him in bad ways, when the tardive dyskinesia was beginning too, but there was no talking him out of it. I later found out that he had planned the trip for Mother’s Day to be the last time to see her, because he planned to kill himself. When he was rescued, he was mentally gone... in part due to the trauma and dehydration of his brain too, off his meds, etc. It took hours before he could remember a phone number, and couldn’t remember our names, for them to contact us. I got the call. His ID and everything burned up in the car. So, after we brought him home, he was bad, like manic and not sleeping, and doing bizarre things like sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night, stripping off his clothes, running from me when I’d try to get him back into the house, arguing, pushing me down and more. He didn’t know what he was doing and I was trying to care for my aunt by myself, take care of the house and animals too, and I couldn’t get any sleep watching them both. So, I called my mom and asked for her help. I told her that I could handle everything but dealing with him too and to please come get him and take him to her house to help him, temporary if not longer. She drives down, sees what I’m talking about, takes him into the ER of our local hospital. They keep him overnight for observation and a psych evaluation. She spent the night there with him. Calls and asks me to pack a suitcase for him because they determined he needs to go into a mental rehabilitation facility, but she comes back with him! And she almost got into lawful trouble over it. When she decided she didn’t want him getting that type of help, after thinking about it, she asked them to release him and they refused saying that it’s been determined he is required to be admitted for the safety of himself and others, and she argued she was just going to take him home anyway... staff stopped her, discussions with doctors ensued, and they let him leave with her because she said he would be in HER CARE and she would get him the treatment through a private facility instead of the one his disability insurance would place him in. Well, she went home the next day without him. When I got upset over it, reminding her that I was overwhelmed as is, and I had called her to come get him, she yelled at me, “GROW UP! You need to take responsibility. He’s your brother!” I yelled back, “He’s YOUR son! I’m your daughter, and I’m begging for your help.” Of course, I got labeled as the loose cannon with a temper, unreasonable, selfish, along those line... getting an earful from her husband later, too, then my aunt and their brother... all because they listen to each other and never to me, always siding with each other, always expecting me to do for them, respect them no matter how I’m treated, and never argue back. It’s maddening. And for the most part, when I stand up for myself, they tend to back off now... but it never lasts... and now while I’m dealing with my own health issues, instead of being emotionally supportive, they’re kicking me when I’m down. I would explain more, and might in small details at some point, but I have a lot to figure out again. Oh! And, when my mom went home, leaving me to care for my brother too, she’d order me around on how to handle it all. Not make nice suggestions, caring at all about me too, but actually get nasty. When I had to take my brother to the psychiatrist and neurologist until he began to regain normalcy, through a lot of changes we incorporated, early on my mom called up his psychiatrist and demanded this and that, and kept calling. He told me that my mom is not allowed to have any part of his care, and that if she continued to harass him or his office he would call the police, which he told her! I didn’t have to that time. She threatened to sue him. More to the entire story, but this whole mess of words, quickly typed, is long enough. It actually opened up a lot of old wounds too, as I kinda told T, in the text, so I’m feeling quiet. I’m stuck in a bad situation that’s about to get worse and I can’t take more. I held off on posting this, but I think I’m okay with sharing here, for myself at least, now.

Yesterday:

Today (had to open read more to show it all)

Oh, I tried pineapple today. Stitch on the table, so I turned him for a selfie.

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deborahaphillips54303 · 4 years ago

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Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

The conversation has raged on for months as to whether or not we should be covering our faces, which materials are the most effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19, whether the masks that medical professionals were already wearing for hours a day will randomly suffocate you, and what wildly misinterpreted Constitutional excerpts are "at stake" every time you're asked to wear a mask to buy peanut butter at a Trader Joe's. (To reiterate, experts and medical professionals pretty much unanimously agree that we should all be wearing masks in public in the middle of a deadly global pandemic.)

Many of those debates stay on social media (Twitter was already a hellhole for years), but more and more of those arguments seem to be manifested as screaming at a 16-year-old with a stack of waffle cones.

Ice cream shops have become ground zero for mask debates, with troubling regularity and particularly harrowing experiences for their young employees. On Saturday, the teenage staff at the Front Porch in Springlake, Michigan were verbally abused by four groups of customers who didn't want to wear masks in the store, and a fifth group was so awful that the shop's owner had to call the police.

Kelly Larson told MLive that she thought that people wouldn't be surprised by the Front Porch's mask requirements at this point, and she also hoped that everyone would be slightly nicer to her teenage workers.

“I’ve got to speak up not only for my kids but all of these kids, that’s who our frontline workers are in Grand Haven," she said. "They need a lot more respect and love from us than they’ve been getting.”

In a followup Facebook post, she wrote that she doesn't see masks as a political statement; she sees them as a way to help her business, her employees, and her community "see the other side" of the pandemic. "These aren't our rules but we are mandated by the health department to follow them," she continued. "If you want to make a statement, call our elected officials or better yet call the governor's office. Start a peaceful protest. But to yell at teenagers in an ice cream store and make them cry is not a way to promote change."

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

On the day that Mark Lawrence reopened his ice cream shop for the season, he said his "A-Team" of workers—all between the ages of 15 and 20—had clocked in and were ready to go. Six of them were inside the shop and seven were outside, split between stations so they could take orders from parked cars, scoop ice cream, and field online orders. By the end of the night, the staff had been subjected to so much abuse that one 18-year-old girl quit. Lawrence told the Boston Globe that after "hours of F-bombs and slurs" she didn't even want to be paid or take her tips, she just wanted to dip out. In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Lawrence called that night "the lowest feeling I have ever felt" in almost two decades of running the shop.

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

Owner Paul Tamburello told 9News that he was "shocked" by the reactions that he'd seen from customers when they were told about the shop's mask policy. He said that one customer coughed all over the counter and toward others who were waiting to order, while another actually spat on one of his teenage workers. “I understand people’s choice not to wear a mask," he said. "I don’t understand them taking it up with a 16-year-old scooping ice cream. I just feel like that’s not the place to do that.”

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

In a Facebook post, the shop warned that if customers continued to cause problems and harass its workers over its mask requirement, it would be forced to close its lobby for the rest of the season. "We cannot let our employees continue to be treated in this manner," the owners wrote. It repeated that request in an attached graphic that explained its assorted pandemic related policies. "We ask that you do not take your frustrations out on our employees," it explained. "These are kids and young adults trying to earn money for school, and in many cases, working to help out their families who have also been affected by job loss during these times."

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

Owner Angela Brooks is clear: customers either have to wear a mask inside the store, or they have to wait outside for a (masked) staffer to take their order. You might've picked up on a theme here, so no, that approach hasn't been received well in Ohio, either. “We’ve had everything from customers stomping their feet, slamming the doors, screaming and yelling, cussing at the girls, calling them names, it’s been awful,” Brooks told WOIO. ("Does it feel good to make a 16-year-old girl cry in the bathroom? Or sob on her way home from work?" she wrote on Facebook. "Knock it off!!!!!!")

"No one’s enjoying it, like no one thinks this is fun or anything," Mootown worker Eva Mihelich said. "Like, [COVID-19] ruined my senior year of high school and everything, so like the last thing I want is for someone to come in and yell at me and that I’m the problem."

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

When the Coldstone staffers told a teenage girl that state law said they couldn't serve her unless she wore a face mask, she angrily left the store. Two hours later, her mother went back to screech at everyone behind the counter for enforcing the policy. A 21-year-old Coldstone employee defended her coworkers and was ultimately fired for it (although Coldstone later offered to re-hire her). The 'adult' in the scenario told KING5 that "leftists" had created a "hostile environment in Leavenworth" and that's why her kid didn't get a cup of Mud Pie Mojo or whatever.

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

A maskless woman and man were stopped at the counter by The North Pole's two teenage employees and told that they needed to cover their faces in order to be served. Instead of complying, the couple yelled at the girls before going on a lengthy rant about how they didn't need to wear masks or "need to believe" the World Health Organization. The workers closed the window to the ice cream stand, but the woman physically wrestled it back open so she could keep screaming at them. "It was honestly very scary for us," 18-year-old Tori Broniszewski told Syracuse.com.

Two days later, another female customer berated the employees so aggressively that the police had to be called. "If you DON'T WANT TO WEAR A MASK, please just stay home, don’t purposely drive to my parlor to harass my girls," The North Pole's owner, Alexandria Ciotti, wrote on Facebook. "I don’t want to lose my staff because they are afraid to come to work. They mean so much to me."

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

The owners of Brickley's Ice Cream made the decision to close their Wakefield location for the rest of the year after two men “argued with, swore at and verbal [sic] abused both our staff" after being told that they couldn't eat their ice cream inside the shop. When another customer stepped in, the two men started to threaten that person, too. "[T]hings almost came to blows," Brickley's wrote on Facebook. "This is unacceptable and is becoming unsafe for both our staff and customers. We have a limited and young staff at our Wakefield store and must keep them safe.”

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

Kelly Donley, the manager at Uhlman's, told the MetroWest Daily News that she has had to call the shop's owner at least six times this summer to help de-escalate situations involving customers who have gotten aggressive over its mask policy. "The sad part is that these people are yelling and screaming at 16 and 17-year-old employees," she said. Last month, an Ohio family of five—including their young kids—all took turns shouting at the Ulhman's workers about "constitutional liberties." They eventually left after the owner threatened to call the cops.

It should go without saying, but for the love of god, don't do this. If you want ice cream but don't want to wear a mask, it's probably best for everyone if you just stay at home and place a GoPuff order.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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cyberpoetryballoon · 4 years ago

Text

Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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carolrhackett85282 · 4 years ago

Text

Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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melodymgill49801 · 4 years ago

Text

Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

0 notes

carolinechanson97838 · 4 years ago

Text

Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

0 notes

latoyajkelson70506 · 4 years ago

Text

Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts)

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado)

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan)

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio)

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York)

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island)

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts)

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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roxxdafoxx · 5 years ago

Text

30 “red flags” part 2

16. When they gas light you.

“Any form of gas lighting no matter how small.

Also pre-blaming you for things they know will happen because of them. He’d tell me on vacation ‘that drink is too strong you’re just going to pass out later and we won’t be able to go out and do anything,’ but in reality it was him passing out from drinking at 9pm forcing us to stay in. Or saying ‘yeah I want to see the sunrise but you’re never going to get out of bed that early,’ yet I went and saw it and he slept until 2 hours later when I finally got him up.

When I realized it, I saw he was basically trying to make me give up on doing things so he could blame me for us not doing it, even though if I held up my end he wouldn’t hold up his. Between that and making me think my emotions were invalid when he’d upset me just made for a super manipulative relationship.”

—madguins

17. When they hide their finances from you.

“For me, the very first red flag was not communicating finances [we were married]. He would ‘give me’ a certain amount to spend, but never wanted me on his bank account. I had my own, but we had agreed on joining accounts—which is why I transferred my money to his since it had better interest rates/bank/etc. I had no access to my own money. It took him 6 months and a threaten of divorce to be put on the account. And then I saw it—he had lost ALL of our money by spending it on him damn self. I couldn’t do anything—I could even put food on the table or put gas in our cars.

The second red flag was when we adopted a puppy [this was after I began a finance boot camp with him]. The puppy would cry at night. Ex had a temper. I heard him storm into the living room, open the kennel, and shake the dog yelling ‘I will fucking SHOOT you if you don’t shut the FUCK up!’ I shot out of bed, grabbed the dog, told him he would do no such thing, and left to stay with a friend.

Another one was when we were play wrestling and he pinned me down so hard my arms started going numb. I told him to get off of me and then kneed him in the back. He punched my face. I was stunned and told him ‘didn’t your mother ever teach you not to hit a woman?’ “Nope, they’re fair game and you look like you can handle your own anyways.”

The immense guilt trip I received any time I did something for myself—driving over to a friend’s place for coffee, going on a weekend trip to the beach, going to my family’s…it was ridiculous.

There were other red flags as well, but these were the top three I could think of. It wasn’t until I told my Chain of Command some of these things that they sent me to victim advocacy. I had to be told that I was a victim of abuse. We, obviously, have since divorced and I am now happily re-married to someone who believes we are partners in life. Together, we balance each other out.”

—badgerfu

18. When they have an opinion about every single thing you do and every single person you talk to.

“The first red flag is the person having an opinion about every single thing you do and every single person you talk to, like they need to be hands on in all your dealings and activities like they are your parent or some shit. Normal people don’t want to coach your life, only fucked up people do.”

—shewshoe

19. When you tell someone else about what’s happening and they react with horror.

“When I told a coworker about things she reacted with horror. That’s the thing about abusive relationships, at least in my experience. They start off great and then slowly warp into something terrible and the abused person might not know.

I didn’t even notice what was happening to me until two years in. Looking back it blows my mind that I accepted the treatment but at the time it just seemed fine.

I was working at a coffee shop and while closing one day started chatting with a new co-worker—by this point I had been isolated from all my friends and I thought it was because I was a terrible person so was cautiously trying to make a new friend. We were drinking wine while we worked and started dishing about our men and her reaction to my ‘what happened on date night this past week’ story was horror.

It got me thinking and once I knew to look, all of the other red flags showed up.

This was also the same way I found out my parents were abusive. A friend in high school saw the bruises and cuts and when I told her I got in shit for losing a toy something she was like ‘ummmm…that is not a normal reaction to that.’”

—full-of-grace

20. When they keep casually dropping passive-aggressive comments during normal conversation.

“The casual passive-aggressive comments he would drop in normal conversation. Then the comments would become more direct, then mean, and finally just cruel. And once he saw that I would accept those, well, the floodgates of abuse just burst open.”

—scaredofmyownshadow

21. When they make you feel like shit about yourself.

“The need to question everything I did and every one I liked.

The constant need to make ME question them.

None of my pre-existing friends were ‘good to me’ in her eyes.

The need for my constant undivided attention every single waking hour.

Not being able to ‘trust me’ yet doing all of the things that made me ‘untrustworthy’ i.e., taking my phone to the toilet.

Making me feel SHIT about myself. Constantly. But also making me believe she was the only one who didn’t make me feel shit.”

—i_am_gud

22. When they always expect you to take their side, no matter how unreasonable they’re being.

“Like 3 weeks in, when he randomly started arguing with someone over some stupid shit, I sided with the other person who I thought was being reasonable. The PoS got furious at me, saying ‘I expect you to be on my side.’ Aghast and pissed, I walked away ignoring him. He suddenly started playing nice and sweet again. I should have never looked back at that point because he soon turned out to be a massively manipulative, immature, emotionally abusive piece of fucking scum. Ugh.”

—KissyKillerKitty

23. When they keep breaking up with you.

“I don’t know about the first, because it was all so gradual over the course of a few years. Things were fantastic in the beginning but the shifts caught me off guard. Also I was a young adult and have moved out of home for the first time. It was my first ‘real’ relationship and I was stupid and blind.

Some highlights:

• so clingy. Had to literally spend every minute together or else it would be a fight because ‘we are drifting apart’ (because I spent an afternoon reading a book) • telling me I wasn’t raised correctly, nit picking every little behavior, telling me that I was something he needed to ‘fix’ because I was so messed up. Using my anxiety and depression against me. • pressuring me to do drugs. • constant cheating accusations • not allowed to have friends. Could only be friends his friends. • picking fights with me over tiny things, escalating them to the point of making me cry and then ‘look how crazy you’re acting you bitch’ Fights would only end if I apologize and promise to do better. Even if I was not in the wrong. He just liked to exert that control. • he suddenly hated my family for no reason, me visiting them resulted in such huge fights and violence that I just avoided it. Despite the fact that my family lived five minutes away. • he was unemployed and a drug addict, but he’d get so angry with me for ‘choosing my job over him’ because I refused to skip work. • breaking up with me constantly, instantly retracting as soon as I’d agree. Lots of sobbing and begging to change on his end. this became an every other day occurrence toward the end. • refused condoms, no birth control because it ‘fucks with your body’ (like seriously, your cocaine addiction doesn’t though?) So yeah, obviously I got pregnant. Had no say in anything, including my child’s name. He also pressured me to do drugs while I was pregnant, but I never gave into that. • his addiction was my fault because I couldn’t stop him. Same with the drinking. He would get blackout drunk, pick fights with me and trash the house. Things escalated to physical abuse on almost a daily basis. • threatening to kill himself if I ever left. Eventually that graduated to threats of killing me and my son too.

There’s so much more but it’s stressful to write about even though it’s been over 8 years. I’m grateful to my son because even though he didn’t come through the best of circumstances, he gave me the strength to finally leave when he was born.”

—magnumthepi

24. When they start smothering you, even a little.

“So I once worked as a prison warden in a prison for men who had abused their s.o. During lunch breaks I used to read their court trials, the legal reasoning interest me. During one lunch break I said to a more experienced colleague –Well, from working here and reading about all these trials I’ve learnt the importance of telling my *daughter (she was in her early teens back then) to walk out after the first strike.* –No, said my colleague, you tell her to walk out when he starts to always pick her up from work. You tell her to walk out when she wants to go out with her friends and he insists on her staying at home by saying ” but honey, I had planned to make you dinner and then we can cuddle in the sofa and watch a movie. That’s where it begins. When the first strike hits she has been controlled for a long, long time.”

—Norman3

25. When they never have anything to say about any person of the opposite sex, but especially their exes.

“Two things made me uneasy and really stand out in retrospect.

He had nothing positive to say about any woman he had ever dated, or even met. All ex-girlfriends were ‘mentally ill’ and hateful. All his friend’s girlfriends/wives were mean and overbearing. He liked his mom, but no other women.

He isolated me from my friends. He kept saying how nice it was to stay in alone and kept asking me to break established plans with friends.”

—victorontonian

26. When they constantly harass you about all your friends of the opposite sex.

“Would absolutely fall apart when the idea of me drinking around women came up.

Would call me when I went out to check if I was OK.

Constantly asking what I thought about my friends who were girls.

Obviously she ended up cheating on me.”

—DAHGS

27. When they argue about every little thing.

“Expecting me to reply within a half hour and then subsequently giving me the silent treatment to ‘punish’ me for not replying. Then complain that I didn’t care enough to check in on her when she was ignoring me.

Also arguing at every little thing and then giving the silent treatment when I didn’t agree with her on something.

Expecting me to ‘accept her for who she is,’ the smoking, drinking mess of a person who was too lazy to work for her future and expected me to give her money for everything, then blaming everything that went wrong on her abusive father.

The best(?) of all, threatening suicide when I decided I had enough and was going to cut off the relationship. That was pretty traumatic too.

P.S. sorry if this isn’t completely relevant to the question.”

—GOverlord

28. When they ‘neg’ you.

“Negging. First sign of this, run away.”

—SlanginPie

29. When there’s a voice in your head telling you something is wrong.

“Not really answering the question, but after a while there was always a ‘voice’ in the back of my head telling me that what was going on was wrong. I’d just ignore it, or convince myself that it was normal almost automatically. People would tell me that she was being abusive and everything would ring vaguely true somehow but I’d just ignore it for a million reasons. Low self-esteem being one of them, feeling somehow responsible for what they did, being the another. It wasn’t until I one day realized that I was subconsciously making excuses for them in my head that I decided to get the fuck out of there, and even though I knew at that point that the relationship was not good for me, it was still the hardest decision ever.”

—picassos_left_nut

30. When their actions make you feel anything less than equal and loved.

“There are so many red flags and scenarios that could point to an abusive relationship, but it comes down to this: If your partner’s actions make you feel guilty, worthless, defensive or making excuses, or ANYTHING less than EQUAL and LOVED—you need to get out….especially if you find yourself making excuses again for why you can’t get out.”

—Matilda__Wormwood

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