I am the biggest bitch in the world.

[rivka]

Rivka: Good morning.
Health Club Clerk: Oh, good for you, you made it in.
Rivka: [silently wonders why this is news]
Health Club Clerk: [takes membership card to scan] I have a friend, she's got multiple sclerosis, and she blah blah blah.
Rivka: Why are you telling me this?
Health Club Clerk: [says more things about her friend with multiple sclerosis]
Rivka: [slightly louder] Why are you telling me this?
Health Club Clerk: Well... what do you have?
Rivka: That's a personal question. That's none of your business.
Health Club Clerk: Oh. But I just...
Rivka: [firmly] It's a very rude question. [walks away]
Health Club Clerk: [calling after her] I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!
Rivka: [calling back] You didn't "hurt my feelings," you made me angry.
Health Club Clerk: Ma'am, ma'am, please come here. Please accept my apology.
Rivka: [alarmed] Okay, just... okay, don't cry.
Health Club Clerk: [crying] I am going to cry. I've had a really bad day, and...
Rivka: Look, I'm sorry you've had a bad day, but...
Health Club Clerk: Please, please say you accept my apology.
Rivka: Fine. I accept your apology. Okay.

Sheesh.

Comments

Don't stare

[trinker.livejournal.com]

The biggest persistent complaint I get from my friends who use wheelchairs is that they become invisible. My theory is that they're getting the wrong end of "don't stare", where people deal with their urge to stare by going 180 and not staring, which means that they're not making eyecontact at all.

I really wish standard education included a unit on "dealing with others", with some sensitivity training, and also some concept of "one disability does not imply all disabilities".

Re: Don't stare

[lizardling.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've had the "Not Here" thing happen to me often enough that I've developed a twitch when it comes to making eye contact with people. Figures, eh? :)

I've had people come up to me and a friend when we were chatting in sign, and immediately the people start asking my friend about sign language. *Not* me. Pfeh.

One of the better compliments that I got, now that I think about it, was when I'd done some role model speeches for a minority student program. So the coordinator asked me to come the next year, saying that the students had asked for me again since I was "the lady with the blue hair". And not "the deaf lady". (I'd had electric blue extensions in my waist length hair at the time, and was the only disabled speaker)