"But I didn’t ask him that. I just stood and glared at him until he looked away. I needed the job. I assumed his kid would grow up to hate him."
Or hope that things work out and his father finds ways to love him more. This author seems a little angry. The more I read, the more I wondered if this was a normal account, or the account of someone who always seems to find themselves in strife.
But I can't say no to a peek under the sheets of people's lives. It fascinates me. I don't think I could do her job but I've always wanted just an afternoon where time freezes and I can lightly snoop on how a random assortment of people live (though realistically impossible without hurting others). Being a cable technician seems like a fair, legal alternative.
She had this job for quite a while and so it seems like a very tiny assortment of unpleasant calls. Every friend I know who has worked facing the "general public" has similar grim stories.
This is what being gay is like in America. It's a constant struggle deciding whether the conservatives in our lives are just deep in their cognitive dissonance or actively trying to sabotage us. It makes one angry after a while.
In the words of Anthony Oliveira, "the queers who were nice/patient/gentle all got shot or bullied to death all that's left r me & the other pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers".
You'll probably need to wait a generation or two, assuming the states don't fall into theocracy. The millennial queers I know are a lot more well-adjusted than us Gen X'ers.
The silent majority of bigots isn't abating though.
I just thought of a new conspiracy theory! The housing crisis is largely political and structural to zoning laws. A large part of the reason why forces to conspire to keep it going (because in practice its bad for everyone - rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it) is to abate the migration of youth into urban environments.
In perfect economics the cheapest place to live should be in the city - your per capita infrastructure costs are the lowest when density is the highest, and larger scale condo buildings are cheaper per tenant than single family housing by an order of magnitude. But because of draconian zoning law and NIMBYism cities are rapidly, way beyond the average, costing preposterous amounts of money to live in, and its a self perpetuating cycle - unmet demand for inward migration drives up prices and nothing is relieving that pressure.
So by keeping kids out of cities and stuck in their parents hometowns you can keep them isolated, bigoted, conservative. At least that seems to be what the hope is, and while some escape the ideology trap of small towns the majority of people who grow up there adhere strictly to their culture without deviation. So its probably working to slow the liberalization of the millennial generation.
> rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it
Sellers are disadvantaged by zoning. But it’s their neighbours who are the NIMBYs.
Or maybe its a chance for you to wonder why a gay woman might find themselves constantly frustrated and angry when living in a patriarchal homophobic society?
Would the same comment be applicable to other classes/races/sexes who have been and/or still are discriminated against? Would you say "learning to live with it is a good skill" to a straight white woman? An African-American man? A Jewish person? If the answer is no, investigate more closely the location of the fecal matter.
Living with abuse in its many wonderful forms is a skill that queer people learn early on. The ones who don't, wind up with obituaries that politely avoid stating how or where they died, and a closed-casket funeral.
Or hope that things work out and his father finds ways to love him more. This author seems a little angry. The more I read, the more I wondered if this was a normal account, or the account of someone who always seems to find themselves in strife.
But I can't say no to a peek under the sheets of people's lives. It fascinates me. I don't think I could do her job but I've always wanted just an afternoon where time freezes and I can lightly snoop on how a random assortment of people live (though realistically impossible without hurting others). Being a cable technician seems like a fair, legal alternative.