Perhaps I didn't read the various postings carefully enough: could you provide a quotation / link to somewhere in this thread (or any other posting on this system) in which Kimberly51 indicated that she wanted this person (or any other person at her workplace) to be fired? E.g., did I miss some subtext in this message of Kimberly's?Originally Posted by MarcieM
Do you include your statement that "This individual will be singled out and harassed at almost every opportunity" in what you refer to as "reality-mongering" ?
Possibly conditions for CDs are harsh where you live. Where I live, here is a slice of reality:
Early yesterday afternoon, I changed into a long grey woolen skirt in a bar bathroom. Two guys in the bathroom saw me clearly; neither said a thing to me. Four guys just outside the bar door saw the skirt clearly; if they said anything, it wasn't in my hearing. I proceeded to walk a few long blocks along a busy road, and went into a woman's clothing store (Penningtons), where I was welcomed, complimented on my skirt, and assisted by a couple of SA's, including trying things on and them fetching alternate sizes for me and making some recommendations. There was one guy in the store waiting for his wife, and he didn't say a thing about me, at least not while he was in the store (I was within hearing range of him for the duration.) At check-out the SA asked for my store points card, expecting that I would have one (which I did), and bid me to come back again.
After that, I walked a couple of long blocks on a semi-busy road to a nearby major shopping mall, one considered to be the premiere shopping mall in the city, though it is perhaps not actually the largest. I passed a few people on the sidewalk along the way; the only interaction was that I was routinely panhandled for some change, exactly as would have happened if I had been dressed completely male.
Once in the mall, I went about my business shopping, my skirt in full sight of all of the clerks and shoppers in the stores and in the mall and food court. Total observed public response: a couple of mildly curious looks (from some senior citizens). One mid-20's woman might have pulled a friend aside and said "Did you see that guy?!", but the distance was far enough that she might have been saying something else completely, and they didn't turn and look over at me. When I was going down the escalator leaving, a youngish male behind me might have said "Huh", but the tone was more one of startlement, not accusatory and not directed at me.
The various store SAs that I interacted with treated me fine. And when I walked through the Power Tools and Audio/Video section of a department store to go to the washrooms that happen to be located in that corner, the all-male grouping of clerks just did the basic 2-second visual scan to be sure I wasn't carting unpaid merchandise into the washrooms and otherwise paid me no attention.
After the large mall was 30 minutes on the city bus to a local shopping mall near my home;
- No-one on the bus cared how I was dressed.
- The clerks at the bookstore I entered smiled pleasantly.
- The owner of the higher-end bra store was slightly annoyed because I asked for bras that she considers to be too small for me (I was hoping for one that made me look good without any forms, but she thinks anything less than a D cup looks too small for me and thinks that the G cup looks good on me.)
- The two guys at the cobbler didn't care about my skirt, but didn't have the insoles I needed; they took the time to tell me where I could probably find them.
- The male owner of the ladies fashion store across the way again took time to try to understand my needs and make recommendations... unfortunate that his tastes run to more vivid than mine, but he did try to understand, and he asked me more carefully about what I was looking for so he would know what to buy in the future. And although I've always been in drab when I have dealt with him, he "slipped up" and several times referred to me as "she" in talking to his (female) partner.
- The people at the drug store didn't care how I was dressed. The assistant druggist waved and said hello.
- the stream of people I weaved through who were heading to the movie theaters didn't appear to be interested in anything other than making their movie on time
- I've recently been dealing with a tailor at the mall, including getting a dress altered (which required showing them it on me so they could mark the proper places on the dress.) This time I took in some women's jeans I bought at one of the stores and put them on so they could see where to take in the waist. They didn't mind.
Total time out and about in busy public places while in my skirt: about 6 hours.
Did I mention that that second mall is only 1 mile in a direct line from home, a natural place for my neighbours to visit, not just a place far from home where no-one is likely to know me?
Well, that's my "reality-mongering" for the day: not even one outbreak of giggles in six hours. My skirt was, to most people, of considerably less interest than whatever they were already doing, and I got positive reinforcement from several people. And along the way I found a nice pair of pumps in my size (12), and a lovely brown silk blouse, amongst other items. Who knows what I could have accomplished if people hadn't been busy harassing me "at almost every opportunity" ??
