10 Replies to “First Cup of Coffee – April 27, 2020”
Poor packrat.
Seriously, glad neither of you were hurt with the engine fire. I am sure the packrat will be happy with his new home. I will miss news of your daily battle for the secret garden, but his relocation is obviously for the best.
Congrats on finishing the book. Woo hoo! Sorry about the restaurant hostess. Maybe she’s related to the owner.
You know, I’ve often wondered if she’s related to the owner! And yes – pack rat will enjoy greener pastures and we’ll have fewer cholla burrs in our feet!
Re: the essay – I started wearing skirts at cons a couple years ago because it let me put more layers on. Since surgery however, I can’t handle wearing pants hardly at all (the seams aggravate the incision sites). I don’t recall anyone giving me a hard time about my (admittedly eccentric, but also somewhat feminine) fashion choices, but maybe they were just warded off by my default not-smiling-and-a-woman-so-i-must-be-glaring expression? The story that got me into SFWA is based on real-life fashion police at work though and another woman at my workplace (who also quit) got criticized for wearing stuff that was essentially deemed “too pretty.”
Boy howdy, how many times did I hear that line at a couple of my jobs? I never could get a solid answer on why the complainers had so much more weight than the majority who were fine with things.
Yeah, and that part where the manual was printed/highlighted was 100% real. They also made a new rule just to apply it to me. I was in a completely non-customer-facing position (and, frankly, non-people-facing, if it was up to me).
Dare I ask what the rule was?
For some reason I can’t reply to the reply with the question, so not sure if this will show up above or below it.
The rule was “no tie-dye.” This was on top of no graphics, no logos, etc., so, meant I had pretty much zero shirt options. Given that I’d spent five+ years acquiring/making clothes that had previously been acceptable, I refused to buy new clothes. Instead, I took two old plain T-shirts of Gary’s that were green and too small for him (but too large for me) and wore them, and nothing but them (I worked from home on Wednesdays and did laundry twice a week) until the end of my working from that office. Also, let me point out, plenty of OTHER people in the office managed to get away with wearing logos, graphics, and even tie-dye without being reprimanded. I mean, this was IT; most of them didn’t own shirts they didn’t get for free from a tech company (I had at least restricted myself to our company logo/characters).
I was guessing it was the tie-dye. What a bunch of assholes.
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Poor packrat.
Seriously, glad neither of you were hurt with the engine fire. I am sure the packrat will be happy with his new home. I will miss news of your daily battle for the secret garden, but his relocation is obviously for the best.
Congrats on finishing the book. Woo hoo! Sorry about the restaurant hostess. Maybe she’s related to the owner.
You know, I’ve often wondered if she’s related to the owner! And yes – pack rat will enjoy greener pastures and we’ll have fewer cholla burrs in our feet!
Congrats on finishing the book!
Re: the essay – I started wearing skirts at cons a couple years ago because it let me put more layers on. Since surgery however, I can’t handle wearing pants hardly at all (the seams aggravate the incision sites). I don’t recall anyone giving me a hard time about my (admittedly eccentric, but also somewhat feminine) fashion choices, but maybe they were just warded off by my default not-smiling-and-a-woman-so-i-must-be-glaring expression? The story that got me into SFWA is based on real-life fashion police at work though and another woman at my workplace (who also quit) got criticized for wearing stuff that was essentially deemed “too pretty.”
Oh, ugh. Is there a link to that story? Would love to read it!
And skirts are so comfy!
http://factorfourmag.com/the-definitions-of-professional-attire-by-evergreen-lee/
It’s a very direct metaphor for problems I had at my last job.
Ha! I love this story!
“There have been a number of … complaints.”
Boy howdy, how many times did I hear that line at a couple of my jobs? I never could get a solid answer on why the complainers had so much more weight than the majority who were fine with things.
Yeah, and that part where the manual was printed/highlighted was 100% real. They also made a new rule just to apply it to me. I was in a completely non-customer-facing position (and, frankly, non-people-facing, if it was up to me).
Dare I ask what the rule was?
For some reason I can’t reply to the reply with the question, so not sure if this will show up above or below it.
The rule was “no tie-dye.” This was on top of no graphics, no logos, etc., so, meant I had pretty much zero shirt options. Given that I’d spent five+ years acquiring/making clothes that had previously been acceptable, I refused to buy new clothes. Instead, I took two old plain T-shirts of Gary’s that were green and too small for him (but too large for me) and wore them, and nothing but them (I worked from home on Wednesdays and did laundry twice a week) until the end of my working from that office. Also, let me point out, plenty of OTHER people in the office managed to get away with wearing logos, graphics, and even tie-dye without being reprimanded. I mean, this was IT; most of them didn’t own shirts they didn’t get for free from a tech company (I had at least restricted myself to our company logo/characters).
I was guessing it was the tie-dye. What a bunch of assholes.