#this is really just to combat people who have the asinine thought that the owner of a bike wont mind if you just take it

[rohirric-hunter]

The company that made my bike lock has chosen to combat picking attempts by shaping it in such a way that holding it the way you need to in order to pick it is very uncomfortable

This would be pretty clever except that it can be picked in 3 seconds flat because 2 out of the 4 digits of the combination are the default location of the wheels

[thehippieparty]

**WARNING: LONG POST**

Alright Tumblr fam, I need advice.

I recently started a new job at a locally owned retail shop in my town. I’ve had five or six shifts, I was really enjoying it. The product’s great, small business is cool, I fit in well.

That is, until today. Today, something so disgusting happened that I can’t stop thinking about it and I don’t know what to do.

Here’s the story. This morning, I was working in the shop alone (a sister store is connected via a small hallway where my boss and other coworkers were) but I was in the shop alone. A lady walks in. She’s Native American, has neck tattoos, and looks a little rough around the edges. She’s perfectly friendly and nice, and she and I are chatting. She was waiting for her friend to call her dying phone, and in an afterthought, she asked if there was an outlet behind the desk she could use while she browsed. I thought sure, no problem. I plugged it in for her and she walked around the store.

My boss, we’ll call him Jacob, walked in to check up on me. (Note: Jacob owns the store, and he is a white older male). He sees the woman, and then sees her phone plugged in behind the desk. He pulls me aside and says, “We’re not a charging station.” I said sure and apologized. No big deal.

What he did next is what I can’t get over. He takes her phone off the wall, grows all tall and says to this woman in the most fucking patronizing voice I’ve ever heard, “We’re giving you your phone back.” She asks why. He says, “Because we’re not a charging station.” She gets kind of huffy, takes her phone back and says “fuck off” under her breath as she walks out the door.

And my boss, the owner of this store, Jacob, fucking chases after her and yells after her to never come into the store again or we’ll call the cops. Meanwhile, I’m standing there burning up, embarrassed for me, for the woman, and for Jacob for that ridiculous overreaction and what I perceived to be racial profiling. And from what Jacob said to me next, it turns out it was racial profiling.

He says, “You need to use common sense when you work downtown like this. We don’t offer special services to people like that.”

I said, “People like what?”

And he says, “You know, people with neck tattoos and shit like that.”

I promised him I wouldn’t let people use the charging station behind the counter anymore. He said that wasn’t his point; we can do that, but only to certain people. People who buy things from the store, people who look trustworthy.

Basically, people who are white and wear Patagonia.

Because here’s the thing: she wasn’t doing anything wrong. If anyone was in the wrong, it was me, and I didn’t even do anything wrong. He humiliated her and kicked her out for literally no reason other than the fact that she “looked” like someone who couldn’t be trusted. Jacob had no way of knowing if she would buy something; maybe she would have seen one of our cute wallets on sale and picked one up. He didn’t give her that chance. He came in, decided upon first sight exactly what kind of person she was, and treated her like garbage. 

All Jacob needed to do was tell me hey, for future reference, we’re not a charging station, and let this lady go on her way. Instead he caused a huge scene, humiliated her and made a complete ass out of himself and his business. 

I felt like I was in a movie. Never in my life have I seen such explicit judgement and profiling on race and class, and it’s crazy how this kind of shit happens where you least expect it to. Had I not just started this job, had I not been so shell shocked, I might have said something to Jacob. But I didn’t, not that it would have made a difference, really. He would perceive me as someone who was young, dumb, green and had a lot to learn from him. I might have lost a job I desperately needed. But in hindsight, I wish I had said something. 

Now the problem remains: do I stay or do I go? I’m considering using this instance as strike one, and if something of the like happens again, then I’m gone. It took me three months to find this job and I really need it. However, I can’t get today out of my head and though I’m incredibly good at putting on a happy face, I just can’t when it comes to something like this. 

She was a person who wasn’t doing anything wrong. The only wrong thing about this is the asinine racist behavior of my employer. I don’t want to be in an environment that normalizes treating people who look different like they’re less than human and unworthy of existing in a space. Please send thoughts or tips on how to combat this sort of issue. As a white person myself, I don’t know the experience of POC who get racially profiled, but I certainly don’t want to perpetrate it. Anything helps.