A man came into our store and tried to steal some items, but he got caught by security. Management confiscated the items and let him leave, and they didn’t do anything else.
The man changed shirts, walked back inside, and stole the items again.
This time, he escaped security.
I am a prison officer in a male prison, and while I am cisgender female, I am also openly pansexual, and I’m very active/supportive of the LGBTQI+ community.
In conversation with a colleague, he jokingly shares what he thinks is a funny story about a recent intake, who (while still legally required to be housed in a men’s prison) is openly transfemale. He continually refers to this person using their deadname.
Me: “You mean, [Female/Preferred Name].”
Colleague: “No, his name on [System] is [Deadname].”
Me: “Would you like me to prove you wrong?”
I bring up the person’s profile and point out the section for identified gender and preferred name.
Colleague: “HA! ‘Preferred’ name. But his legal name is still [Deadname].”
Me: “Like how my legal name is [My Full Name], but my preferred name is [Shortened Version]?”
Colleague: “…”
Me: “Besides which, under the current departmental policy, you are required to acknowledge her identified gender and refer to her by her preferred name, regardless of your own personal bigotry regarding trans people.”
He left the room shortly after and has not spoken to me since.
I don’t miss our talks.
When I worked in security in my early twenties, I got placed at a top-secret site. The guards there were all long-timers since it was a higher pay level due to the security clearance requirement. The site had two sections, and after I had been there for a couple of years, I got transferred to the second one around the corner. I joined my new shift and met my shift supervisor and the other patrol guard.
We were on a twelve-hour rotating shift. We worked twelve hours a day for a total of seven days in a fourteen-day period, and then we switched day/night. So, it was two weeks of days and then two weeks of nights, over and over. It was stressful, and sometimes your shift-mates were the only people you’d talk to for days at a time on nights.
Enter [Coworker]. [Coworker] had been working at that site for probably six years at that point. He was a white guy in his early forties.
[Coworker] was a bigot. If you could find a difference between two people, [Coworker] hated one of the options. He would go on hours-long rants about “foreigners stealing jobs” or “effing [Language]-speaking people,” etc., etc., etc.
Oddly enough, it was always said matter-of-factly, not with rage. He’d spout racist nonsense with people of that race in the room, or sexist BS in front of women, but it was not directed specifically at them. He created a toxic pall of negative energy around him, and no one could get him to shut up. And because the company was all old-guard-type people, he got ignored instead of being called out.
For instance: one Christmas Eve, I was on the night shift with my shift supervisor, a sweet lady who happens to be a [Language] speaker and a lesbian. I’m a young woman, not ex-military, and I also speak [Language]. We were sitting together before our shift started.
Supervisor: “[My Name], I can’t take [Coworker]’s rants tonight, not tonight of all nights.”
Me: “Me, neither. I’m not spending Christmas Eve listening to his BS.”
[Coworker] came in and we sat watching the TV, waiting for our patrol time to start.
Coworker: “I can’t believe our company is hiring so many [racial slur], [LGBT slur] [Language]-speaking women who’ve never been in the military. It’s—”
Supervisor & Me: “[Coworker]!”
I stopped and let her continue since she was our boss.
Supervisor: “No, no, I am not sitting here all night listening to you talk like that. If you can’t talk about the weather or sports, I don’t want to hear it. Okay?”
[Coworker] was stunned, and he didn’t say a single word for the rest of the night that wasn’t about work. It was glorious.
I had to work with [Coworker] for two years, until one day he was telling a racist joke to an employee (probably against their will) and the CEO was walking down the hall behind him. [CEO] was pissed. He went to our big boss.
CEO: “I want that guy gone — yesterday.”
Then, when he saw [Coworker] the next day because the company was trying to find him a new site the CEO went back to the big boss.
CEO: “When I said, ‘gone,’ I meant ‘gone.’ His access to the site is revoked. He’s not allowed here ever again.”
After that, it was a lot more peaceful on our shift.
My sister used to work at an ocean-themed park at the orca stadium. When the stadium got full, it was her job to tell people that they would have to wait for the next show.
One day, after she started doing this, a man walked up to her.
Guest: *Demanding* “Let me in!”
Sister: *Politely* “Sorry, sir, you’ll have to wait for the next show.”
Guest: “You stupid j*g*boo! My wife has been holding a seat for me.”
“J*g*boo” is a racist slur for a black person.
My sister is not an a**hole. If he’d simply told her that he had a seat already, she’d have let him in. But because he was now calling her all types of terrible and racist names:
Sister: “I’m sorry, sir, you can’t come in.”
His wife then showed up and joined in with her husband.
Sister: “Please, both of you wait right there so that I can ask my manager if I can let you in.”
After all, she didn’t want to get written up for disobeying. She left the couple at the entrance and called security. She told them some of the names she was being called. She returned to the couple and said that her manager was coming to sort them out. Security sent the largest black guy on staff, who, upon approaching, looked the man square in the face and said:
Security Guard: “You wanna call me a ‘j*g*boo’?!”
They were both ejected from the park and banned for life.
I work for a well-known national bank in the fraud protection department. One day, I receive a call from a very angry customer. After my opening script and verification process:
Me: “…so, what seems to be the problem today, ma’am?”
Customer: “YOU HAVE BLOCKED MY CARDS! YOU HAVE BLOCKED THEM BECAUSE YOU THINK I’M TOO F****** POOR TO GO ON A VACATION! F*** YOU! F*** YOU! OPEN THEM RIGHT NOW!”
I begin my “Customer Complaint” logging process and go through the charges on her card to see what might have triggered the block. She is screaming the entire time.
Me: “Okay, ma’am, I think I see the issue here. You’re from New York, correct? And now you’re currently in Vegas. There’s not a notice of travel placed for this specific card, so it was blocked as standard procedure. If you’ll verify a couple of charges with me, we can get this opened again.”
Customer: “This is ridiculous! I shouldn’t have to ask you for permission to go on a vacation! Can I buy some gum with my card?! Is that okay with you?! What about when my rent comes up? Am I allowed to pay my rent so I won’t be homeless?!”
I kind of ignore this rant and ask her about a couple of charges to the card, which she verifies as having been her in the same manner that she’s been screaming at me.
Me: “Okay, ma’am, please try your card one more time for me and let’s make sure it’s opened.”
She manages to withdraw $500 at a third-party ATM.
Me: “Excellent! Now, if you’d like to place a notice of travel, this will prevent the system from flagging any future standard transactions as potential fraud. It will expire on the date you select, so there will be no interruption of service when you return home.”
Customer: “F*** you! You don’t need to know s*** about what I’m doing! This is an invasion of my privacy, and I’m going to change banks as soon as I’m home! You just lost a customer!”
She hangs up on me. I message my supervisor.
Me: “The customer on this account is traveling from New York state to Vegas and is refusing to place a travel flag on the account. What do I do?”
Supervisor: “Notate that customer refuses to place a flag in the system or allow one to be placed and hope you’re not the next person on the phone with her.”
