This is a screenshot from an iphone/ipad app of Family Feud by the company Ludia. It is continued evidence of the objectification of women, and it is maddening. Is it really OK to stare at women? Is it OK for this company to suggest that it is? Women are not objects to be viewed, used, and enjoyed by men. We are human beings first and foremost, and women second. We are not sexual playthings, we are not magazine adverts.
I am, fortunately and unfortunately, very gifted in the bust department. Fortunately, because we live in a culture that suggests that women must have large breasts to be attractive, and unfortunately because the back pain is KILLER, and my height makes finding a good shirt or dress impossible. I fill out a dress up top so well that A-lines become empire waists. Petite button-ups strain to contain my chest. A t-shirt with a good fit around the middle (which makes a variety of tasks easier) becomes low-cut. I often display quite a bit of cleavage on accident, and camisoles do little to cover that. In the vein of Slut Walks, I would like to be able to simply wear the clothing that I like and that is comfortable, but apparently simply being a woman makes me a potential target of sexual harassment. I have to constantly be on the defensive, I have to treat every man as a potential sexual predator. I cannot dress like a bag lady at work… must I really deal with men that think it’s OK to stare at my body while I’m trying to work?
Companies like Ludia, probably unwittingly, continue this degrading practice. Women are people. I can’t believe that, in 2012, I have to say that. (White) Women have had the right to vote for almost a century. We can now go to universities, and smoke in public. And yet we still must be ashamed of our bodies, and ashamed of our sexuality.
Ludia, take note. We won’t stand for this.
If there’s one thing I have a complaint about, it’s stupid crusties. One serious problem I have is with percentages. Since people do not know how percentages work, they assume that if a product is 20% off, I am giving them a discount of 10% for a small hole/defect, and they have a 20% off coupon, it will be 50% off. So when we get to the checkout, they get very ticked. Let’s go through the math in case you’ve never had to think about it.
Example: $100 shirt.
Customer thinks: “It will be $50.”
Reality: $100 shirt- 20% sale= $80. 10% off that new total is $72. The coupon brings it down to a final price of $57.60.
So yeah, close… but no dang cigar.
This difference leads to a lot of stupid crusties thinking (and saying) that I’m an idiot. For example, there was one customer that was interested in buying a product at 15% off, but all we had left was the display. So I offered to give her 10% off for the inconvenience, and she said “Awesome! So I’m getting 25% off?” To which I, of course, responded: “Well, you are getting two discounts, but it doesn’t work out to exactly 25%.” “15 plus 10 equals 25. Seriously, are they not teaching kids math these days?” “The 10% comes off AFTER the 15%, so the 10% is being taken from a new total. It’s two separate equations. It probably works out closer to 23%.” “No, honey, 15 plus 10 equals 25, not 23. Just ring me up before I have to explain addition again.”
On one hand, it makes me very irritated. I don’t like to brag, but I am pretty dang smart. It makes me very upset when people insult my intelligence. It is also quite frustrating when people don’t understand basic concepts. If you’ve never had to think about it, that’s one thing. But if I’ve just explained it to you, you have no excuse. Especially if I’ve done the math in front of you. On the other hand, it makes me feel crazy smart. I’m in my early twenties, and I’m more capable of critical thinking than an “adult.”
That being said, an incident from last year just popped into my head. A very nice young woman and her mother stopped in to return a TON of stuff from a few online orders. None of it was their fault… The entire order was hundreds of dollars worth of housewares and china, and it was all either the wrong item or broken. So I returned everything, and helped them to reorder the proper things. Shortly before I finished with them, an old lady sat down on the display bed, putting her shopping next to her. After I sent the ladies happily on their way, I came out from behind the counter to help carry the old lady’s shopping to the counter… and she chucked a shower curtain and a pack of curtain rings in my face, cutting my cheek. I was absolutely stunned, and didn’t say a word… just turned around with the stuff and headed back to the counter. She actually had the GALL to lay her hands on me, putting her hand on my back she said “I’m sorry, I’m just very frustrated. I am going to call corporate and have you fired.”
Me: “I’m very sorry for the wait, I’m the only person here right now.”
OL: “No, no, it wasn’t that. I shop her all the time, I can handle a little wait. I just can’t BELIEVE you would take all those returns!!”
Me: “Oh, no, the young lady’s order came to her all messed up because of a mistake at the warehouse. I was simply trying to get her the correct items.”
OL: “That’s no excuse, people make me sick! I’ve been shopping here for decades (note: the store’s only been open 4 years) and I’ve NEVER returned a thing! I am going to complain to corporate, it SICKENS me that you would actually take all of her returns!”
I did not say a single word after that. After we finished the transaction, she stayed in my department, sitting on the display bed, for a half hour. I had to duck out for a quick cigarette to avoid her.
I wanted to call a manager from the start… but every single manager and every other person on my floor was GONE. Guess where they were?? IN A SAFETY MEETING. I WASN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE THERE. I was supposed to have left, but they needed me to stay longer so we could have coverage on the floor during the meeting. I’m not sure if that’s ironic or if I should just kill myself. When I told the store manager later, he told me that I didn’t have to take it if someone my age or a little older treated me that way, but since it was an old lady, I did the right thing by letting her verbally and physically assault me.
I really need to get out of retail.
I didn’t know what to get her (well, I don’t know her IRL, so nothing would make sense), so I drew her an awful picture.
SHE IS ACTUALLY VERY CLEVER AND VERY GOOD AT DRAWING, YOU SHOULD CHECK HER OUT.
heycatlin.tumblr.com
DO IT.
Something about eating fats to train your body to use fats as energy instead of carbs or something. BACON.
THEY WILL BE BFFs.
“Oh my, Sherlock, do I detect jammy dodger crumbs on your scarf?? We WILL get on famously!”
I’ve heard this quote before. I think it’s a good quote, but it’s missing something.
“If you come home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t f*ck ‘em!”
You should make sure that they are GOOD books. That they are treated well, but well-read and showing signs of multiple reads. Not crammed on the floor like dirty socks, but placed (in order for bonus points) on the bookshelf. At least one with a bookmark in it, on the coffee table or on a nightstand. NO AYN RAND (unless s/he’s got them to be able to argue against assholean egoism). No Twilight. No adaptations of popular video games. Card, Tolkien, Sebold, Gaiman, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Can they laugh at your joke about Friar John (“well, we know he ‘triiiieeed’ to deliver the letter to Mantua, but I think the ‘sickhouse’ was actually a whorehouse!”)? Can they make a good point about the jester in King Lear being Cordelia? Have they read and liked at least one of your favorites?
If not, don’t f*ck ‘em.
Favorite new song. XD
For those who missed the greatest song of 2012
need this on my blog
This is the best thing in the world. I want this in my ears at all times.
Friar John, you are bad at your job.
Spoilers: But no, seriously, you’ve had 400 years to read/watch this play.
Chicken: Throw some freaking chicken in a pyrex thing.
Pour a can of freaking black beans on top.
Pour various kinds of freaking salsa because you bought two different kinds for some reason on top.
Maybe also some taco seasoning or whatever, but I don’t have any right now so I don’t care.
Stick it in the freaking oven for a while. Whenever it’s done, whatever.
Rice: Pour some freaking rice in the rice cooker.
Half freaking water, half freaking mojo marinade in that sumbi**h.
Maybe some freaking garlic in there too, go hogwild I don’t care.
Whenever all that’s done, just freaking eat it, ok?
Totally posted this on my facebook too. I don’t even care, ok?
Caption this!
C’est la retail.
Sally says: “Ted didn’t know that the store had started equipping their cash wrap stands with built-in tazer arms…”
I made up a bunch of Your Mom jokes and pick up lines based on major players.
Please enjoy.
“Many of the things we deem to be morally bad are only so because of our feelings towards them, and the converse is true as well. It is not a provable theory, our hearts cannot provide reasons for that which it does not love or hate, and yet it serves as reason for discourse and law. That being said, there is nothing inherently wrong with what I did with your mom last night, so stop yelling at me.”- Hume
“I cannot say that any one thing in Nature can prove or disprove the existence of God, because there is no necessary connection evident. If there was one such thing to prove the existence of God, however, I’d be tempted to say it was your mother. Awwww yeeeeah.”- Hume
“When I speak of the oak tree in the yard, it is the same oak tree despite the fact that it is completely different each time I might observe it. It may have a different number of leaves adorning it, or perhaps a different number of creatures calling it home. The same goes for your mom. She is still your mom, despite the fact that I have observed her with a different number of clothes (or lack thereof) adorning her on many occasions. Awwww yeeeaaah.”- Hume
“If physics is to be believed, then when I am checking out your mom, I’m not observing her… but observing her effects on myself. Awwww yeeeaaah.”- Bertrand Russell
Descartes: “If you know something with absolute certainty, it is the Truth. It cannot be Truth without mathematical certainty and distinctive clarity.”
Locke: “Would you prefer it if your physician waited until he knew how to treat you with mathematical certainty?”
Descartes: “Well, shit.”
“You should think for yourself, use your own light of reason to determine Truth. Don’t read so many works by past scholars, or they might infect your mind with their mistakes and weaknesses. But uh, don’t forget to buy all of my essays and books.”- Descartes
“Girl, if this were my Ideal Republic, I’d be your Philosopher King and you’d be my babymaker. Awwww yeeaaah.”- Plato
”Good character may be a gift from the gods, but so is your figure.”- Plato
“Would you like to see the Socratic Method at work?” - Socrates
”Outside of the bedroom I’m a gadfly. Inside… well, you’ll have to experience it for yourself.”- Socrates
”Knowledge is the art of love, and I’m well-versed.”- Socrates
“I cannot bed your mother twice, for she is a different woman on each occasion. Awwww yeeeaah.”- Heraclitis
Many of you may have seen the articles today about the awesome fourteen year-old who took a petition to Seventeen Magazine requesting that they do one non Photoshopped spread a month. Seventeen, to their credit, heard her out. They ultimately turned her down.
Now, Seventeen Magazine can do…
This is the post I was talking about. Definitely worth a read.
