A few months ago, one of my younger coworkers, works customer service, I'm over at the register in electronics, she comes all the way over, I see this very eager look on her face as if she has something very important and gossip like to tell me, anyway she was all smiles, she was having trouble containing what she couldn't wait to tell me. So after the customer in my line leaves, she tells me about the one she had over in customer service, that it was a dude dressed up like a woman. I look at her like serious, and say, "So, and, how do you know this?" She's like "Because it was, I know it, I tell you, it was, I bet my whole paycheck on it!" I ask her, "You sure about that? You all of a sudden become an expert on it, that you can tell so easily, because you could lose a paycheck." She just smiles and laughs, really giddy like, and I just shake my head at her silly ignorance. She had not a clue that she's talking to one of those that she is poking fun at, which I found very amusing yet sad.
And this was the same young lady that last year along with another coworker, a manager at that, were making fun of some possible gay guys that were shopping because they were very flamboyant acting, they we both laughing and I asked them what was so funny. So they told me to look at those guys way over there, in the women's section, I said, "What's so funny about them.", They replied, "They're gay!" O-kay, so this is how this town finds excitement, some different kind of people come into town and its like the circus done rolled in. So the manager one asks me, "Don't you find that funny Megan." I said, "No." She asked, "Why not?", "Look how they're acting!" I told her that they are really, really sheltered, that they apparently have never been to any city. I get along well with both of these coworkers, but it seems all they're used to here is white and black and an occasional hispanic, everything else is alien, which is a real shame.
Another time, last year, another coworker of mine, well this couple, a guy and girl was walking out, both were dressed in motorcycle leathers, their hair was a little bit punky, different colors and whatnot, but nothing over the top, to me they looked fine, a decent cute looking couple, and after they walk out, she shakes her head and replies, "Freak show." And I was thinking, over what? There wasn't anything freaky about them to me, just looked like typical young people to me. Yet again another example of how judgmental people can be with those that are just even slightly different than they are.
And what brought me to make this topic, which also reminded me of the few other times someone here got stupid over somebody way out of their ordinary. Yesterday at work one of my coworkers, this being another woman that works there, she gets my attention whispering over to me, she's at the service desk, I'm in at the register nearest by to it. So, having such poor hearing, I step closer to her, and she asks me "You see that customer that was just up here?" I say no. She says, "Well, I don't know of that was a man or a woman!" I shrug, thinking, here we go again, these poor damn sheltered people I work with. So she continues to say stuff, Its dressed like a guy, but looks like a woman to me.", "I mean, how am I supposed to address this customer, sir or ma'am, or what!?", "I mean come on, you are either one or the other, get it right." I tell her, "What does it matter, people are people, so long as they're decent that's all I care about." And she gives what I take as false agreement with her body and facial gestures, guess she was hoping that I'd go along with her ignorance in agreement. She was really uneasy about not knowing, it really bothered the hell out of her, pretty f'ed up, but that's how it is it seems with most people. Anyway, customer came back in, back to her counter, I caught a few second glimpse, customer was dressed in guy clothing, was tall, skinny, had hard edges to his (or her) face, yet at the same time had a slight femininity to those features, but what do I care, I don't, never been a curious person anyway, went back to doing my job. Anyway, refering to this customer as a guy, he went back to shopping, looking around in the men's sections, later coming back up to the service desk, must've had an exchange or something. Personally, this person could've gone either way, male or female and it would work, but maybe those features are born to him (or her), can't be helped, but if not and perhaps transsexual, again, so what.
