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​Hot Takes About Stuff - September 29th, 2022

Because everyone is entitled to my opinion. ​

Naming is a powerful thing.  The subject came up repeatedly throughout my years of academic walkabout as a young adult.  Later, I saw it in action as a cubicle farm denizen and clinical psych worker.  It has been a personal best practice for me to ask if I can't parse out a name from reading it or if I hear someone use a different pronunciation from what I might expect given the written form of what they call themselves.  Padriac can be pronounced "Pawric,"  Namh sounds like "Nee-ev," and Quvenszhane is "Kwahvendjzanay." It's not that hard to ask. Tt takes less than a minute to let those names roll off your tongue and become a sweet sound to those who wear them as part of who they are. 

I bring this up because the usual place I get my COVID booster was out and their scheduler didn't know when they would get a new supply.  That I missed out was my fault.  I try to stay on top of when the vaccines come out and get myself and my mother poked as soon as we can. This one slipped past me. So, we ended up going to a different pharmacy. We chose it because it is one of the more pleasant places to buy groceries in Hendersonville. If I can't get my mother to go anywhere else, I know she'll visit the "Green P" as long as she can mask and keep a safe distance.  Cool. Cool cool cool.

We arrived about ten minutes early.  They were giving someone a shot and we checked in after they were done.  We were told by the person at the counter who was almost scarily identical to Edna Mode from The Incredibles that it would take a few minutes because they needed to "adjudicate" some things.  While she may not have been exactly wrong in using "adjudicate," it felt like lexiconic overkill.  I get that there are times when a perfectly good one- or two-syllable word evades you and all that occurs are four- and five-syllable verbal heffalumps, but it can also be a red flag that you're dealing with a condescending dumbass. 

We found out which one she was fairly quickly when she started squealing out a very obnoxious diminutive of my legal name. I thought about not answering her, but we were already nearly thirty minutes behind schedule and I figured I'd save my USDA one dumbass takedown a day for someone who might be a barking hosebeast to people who were less able or inclined to stand up for themselves. 

My mood got darker and I turned into a crabby geezer who noted that back in the day, I was expected to be fully prepared at least a half hour before my clinical shifts started.  My mother asked me why I was in such a bad mood and that I was usually pretty calm about stuff like this. That was when I told her the clerk kept calling me (Obnoxious Diminutive.) She responded that she called me (Obnoxious Diminutive.)  I explained that she was my mother and she had been calling me that for decades and was allowed because she just was and I was okay with it.  

For the record, she used (Obnoxious Diminutive) at least three more time during our visit. 

What this P****x employee was doing was renaming me, something she had no right to do. Here's the thing, the majority of the people I have encountered who do this are women in positions of authority. The other thing is, if they encountered a Michael or a Stephen, they would not have dreamed of calling them Mikey or Stevie. They would have been Michael or Stephen.  The women who do this, and they have come from every ethnicity, SES, and level of education, do this to other women because they have never, ever outgrown the Good Girl mentality that says you have to tear down other women to keep yourself working under the delusion that you can control others by diminishing them. 

Yes, I am sick of it and and yes, I will call out that nonsense. 

As we left, a man who kept offering a running commentary of what was going on and who I suspect gave headpats to Edna because I was obviously one of those MEEEEEEEEAN Feminists, hollered, "Bye, girls!" at us a couple of times as we walked away.  Oh, good grief. Notice me, Senpai!  Sorry, little dude! I'm cutting back to one dumbass a day.  You were too slow and not really clever enough to be worth the time for sparring. 

Oh, and do better, P****x in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

​
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Legal stuff to make you very sleepy (binaural beats not included.)

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