Original Facebook Post – August 28, 2015 6:30AM
Yesterday I was addressed as “Sir”, multiple times, by a team member that is usually in the same work center as the woman who implied that I am Transgendered a few weeks ago. I think this has now become an actual thing. I know that some of my features are more masculine, it’s genetics, I can’t help it. However, if I were in fact Trans-anything, wouldn’t the feminine aspects and aesthetics, such as, I don’t know, breasts, make up, hairstyle, manicured eyebrows, and the like, indicate that I identify as a FEMALE? So aside from being ignorant, and rude, they are also bullies and bigots. I figured my embarrassment was enough, though. There was no need to make them feel like shit as well. So I said nothing. I just waited until my break and cried in the bathroom like any respectable grown woman with an imaginary penis would. My beastly exterior harbors an increasingly fragile heart of gold. This month has been almost as hilarious as it has humiliating. Almost.
Original Facebook Post – August 28, 2015 9:45PM
Thanks for the support, encouragement, advice, and semi-frightening outrage. The situation is being handled, so pitchforks and torches are not yet necessary. To be clear, I did not cry because I was called Sir. I would have drowned long ago if that were my reaction to it. I have been disrespected by different people, for different reasons, since starting at that store, and yesterday was the culmination of that. What didn’t sit well with me, as I tried to sleep last night, was the fact that it was no longer an isolated incident. If it didn’t progress beyond what happened a couple weeks ago, it would be water under the bridge. In that conversation, I did correct her and nothing was said after that. But now, this was a different person, from the same work center as the other one, who was implying the same thing. That was my cause for alarm, whether it is a rumor being spread, or a conclusion they each came to on their own, they thought it was okay to address me disrespectfully based on their assumptions. To call me such is rude, yes. To speak that way to someone who is actually Transgender, that is completely unethical anywhere, but especially in a corporate workplace. Those statements aside, they didn’t treat me poorly or differently…so I do not believe there was malicious intent. I DO think it’s passive-aggressive bigotry…which, absolutely should not be tolerated. Yesterday was not the appropriate time to address the issue, that’s why I didn’t say anything. It was Inventory day. I did plan on speaking to HR about it, and now that will just happen sooner rather than later. An awkward situation like that, of course, is a blow to the ego, but I wasn’t posting from a place of hurt feelings. I was astonished by the ignorance and blatant disregard for the human spirit, so I needed to express and release. I definitely did not expect to elicit such an intense reaction. Your love never ceases to amaze me.
