My kids describe me as “meme-challenged”, but even I am familiar with the Karen meme. You know, the middle-aged white American woman demanding to Speak To The Manager. I strive every day NOT to be Karen.
Mondays are Do All The Shopping If We Need Things day in Casa Brillig since the Before Times ended, and as Mr. Brillig has, in addition to Quarantine Dad responsibilities, that side hustle known as A Paying Non-Furloughed Job, I am our Go Out On Monday person. I have three stores to hit up — Costco, Target, and my favorite grocery store, Wegmans. Let me tell you over the Story Break… and grab a beverage, you’ll want one… about yesterday’s foray into one of those stores, and my question: Was I Karen, or was I merely Brillig?
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
I live in Massachusetts, and face coverings over nose and mouth are mandated statewide in any indoor or outdoor public space where social distancing cannot be practiced. I wear mine any time I might encounter people, no matter how distant. Prepared with mask, wipes, hand sanitizer, and fully caffeinated, I headed out bright and early to hit the post-senior hour non-rush.
Wegmans was my first stop, and while I get frustrated at the sheer number of people determined to wear masks with their noses sticking out, I’m adept at dodging the worst of them, and I can be in and out pretty quickly. I did manage a small bit of enjoyment when I let a cart run into mine from the other direction because its driver was staring down at his phone while traveling, and I just didn’t have it in me to be the responsible person. He clearly wanted to be angry but given it was literally him running into my stopped cart, he apologized and kept going. Yes, we’re at that stage of Quarantine where this was my first memorable Monday moment.
Then Costco happened. Given its warehouse style, it was easy to keep away from other shoppers (and a significant minority of employees) who weren’t practicing good mask-wear hygiene, and I had a ‘small’ enough order I could go to the self-checkout. While normally I am not a self-checkout line fan, I like doing so these days because it minimizes people touching my stuff. I headed that way…
And saw Tall Blue Shirt Employee Guy stationed in that area. He was turned away from me at first, and his pants were pulling down so low there was significant, umm, butt cleavage showing, but while unprofessional I understand clothing size changes, etc. When he turned to face me and beckon me forward, there it was… mask tucked under his mouth (although not fully seated on his chin) and his fingers touching his nose.
I didn’t physically recoil but I DID refuse to move forward, as I would have been within six feet of Mister Mouth Breathing On Me. He motioned me forward again and said “right here, use this register” and I shook my head. “I’m waiting for you to move back, since you’re not wearing your mask properly.”
He LAUGHED, said “Well OK then.” Pissed, I commented “Really, it’s not me. It’s you.” Scanned and paid for my stuff, by which time he’d moved far enough way I felt safe, and I walked towards the exit. At which point I realized, that wasn’t OK. He laughed at me. And someone less… let’s charitably use the phrase ‘self-confident’ than me might have felt obliged to move into his space.
And so I stopped at Customer Service and asked to speak to a Manager. I do not REMEMBER the last time I’ve ever done that in a public retail space, although I often ask to level up when talking to health insurance customer service folks as soon as I realize the first person can’t help.
The manager was polite, knew exactly who I meant the moment I said ‘tall’, and when we glanced over he was still there, pants halfway down his butt and mask NOT covering his nose and mouth. I apologized for calling her over and made clear I don’t usually do this but it wasn’t OK for him to laugh at me for expecting him to follow store policy. She said that she was glad I’d spoken up, because “I can’t fix what I don’t know is wrong.”
I went home, got groceries away, then wondered if I posted this on social media would I get called out for what I did. Would “I would like to speak to a Manager” memes flood my feed? And so, even though my social media spaces are fairly safe and well-curated, I didn’t post. And that’s weighed on me, so here I am asking… Was I a living, breathing Karen meme even though my curly, sometimes brightly colored hair is decidedly NOT Karen-ish? Or was I what I hoped, someone concerned about the safety of myself and everyone in that store who encountered Tall Blue Shirt Dude. Let me know what you would have done, in the comments… AFTER you peruse tonight’s Tops, brought by a man who never would wear his mask inappropriately, BeninSC.
Top Comments
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down. Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers, Barack Obama or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
From Ed Tracey:
Highlighted by Cmae:
Is this comment by joynow, about a fine young human being with already deep insight into the value of service.
Highlighted by hpg:
Is this tweet shared by Janesaunt, illuminating the maginitude of McConnell’s lie about the preparedness of the Obama Administration compared to now.
Highlighted by Nolana:
Is this pithy self-quotation by dijit. Good!
Highlighted by VEURA:
Is this comment by dbcoe, defining ‘asymmetric people’ for us.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, May 11th, 2019, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
Top Pictures
Top Pictures for May 11, 2020! Thanks so much, jotter!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Image sharing not allowed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|