Pirates Of The Mississippian?

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

Anyone ever had to deal with hostile customers who went beyond the normal suckiness to insult your appearance?
Years ago, before it was more socially acceptable (late 80's, and keep in mind I lived in Mississippi at the time where social graces are usually behind the times a few decades or so), I got an earring (I'm a guy). I'm also gay, so I got it in the right ear. Nowadays, the ear placement doesn't mean much, but then? Wow.
The giggles.
The stares.
The looks.
I took it in stride. I wasn't trying to impress anyone, so who really gave a ratzazz, right?
Anyway, I had several moments with customers that bear telling.

The first was an Indian lady (Asian Indian) who saw the earring and asked me if I was waiting for a holy day.

I just kinda shook my head and she didn't pursue it any further, though she had a bit of a smirk on her face.
I still don't get that one. Anybody have any idea?

The second incident took me aback.
A couple of teenage guys came into the store and looked around a little. Later, as they were walking out, one of them yelled, "Fag!"

Nice one.
Real brave.
Verbally attack me as you're running away, 'tard-mash.
I've never been a fighter, so I suppose it's best he took that route because I couldn't be held responsible for the condition of his fist once my face got through with it.

I no longer wear earrings, but I still find myself amused by the reactions from when I did.
Anyone else ever suffer abuse by SCs over your appearance?

[Boozy]

Right after I got engaged, an elderly woman noticed my ring and asked me when the wedding was. I told her, and she responded with:
"Good for you, honey. Its nice to see that flat-chested girls can land a man!"

On a related note: I've always been tiny, but back in my waitressing days, I was really skinny, far skinnier than I would have liked. I was run off my feet for eight hours a day, and rarely had the time (or money) to eat. I quickly came to dread asking "Would you like dessert?" No one likes to order dessert from someone who weighs 100 pounds soaking weight. So a lot of women would go ahead and order dessert, but then make a snide comment about me being "anorexic", probably to make themselves feel better.
How would they like it if I said, "Gee, I'd offer you dessert, but you OBVIOUSLY don't need it." Well commenting on MY weight, something that I am also self-conscious about, isn't appropriate either.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I don't understand why people think it's ok to comment on someone's weight because they appear to be underweight. Some people just are naturally skinny and have trouble gaining weight. One of my friends is like that and is perfectly healthy. And if they really do have an eating disorder, the last thing they need is complete strangers making comments. There is a girl who used to come into my store and I would bet money that she was anorexic. She was always buying fashion magazines and when I didn't see her for a while I'd start to wonder if she was OK. I'd never in a million years say something to her about it.

Edit: Just to clarify, I don't say she was anorexic because she bought fashion magazines; I just found her buying habits interesting given how she looked - extremely thin, sunken eyes, that fine dark hair on her arms, and just, well, ill.

On a side note, she was always wearing really pointy-toed high heels. One day I saw her in sandals and her feet were just bright red. Ouch. Why do we torture ourselves?

[Ackee]

Pirate

I think if you look different, people kind of, find themseves drawn to you.
Unfortunately this means sucky customers find you first. You may have noticed, if only one woman works in a place full of men, she always ends up with all the craziest people. That's the only explanantion I can think of for things like that it...

[trunks2k]

The second incident took me aback.
A couple of teenage guys came into the store and looked around a little. Later, as they were walking out, one of them yelled, "Fag!"

That took you aback? Man, that's something I used to hear on a near daily basis whenever I was out and about with my now ex. The second most common thing we heard was "Excuse me, but I'm trying to find <destination>". Apparently two guys holding hands as they walk down the street means "Ask us for directions, because we know where everything is, no matter how obscure."

[blas]

I know what it feels like to have stupid questions asked.

I love to wear lots of makeup (not because I need it, because it's FUN. And I don't look like Tammy Fae or Laura Van Impe) and big shoes and tight pants because I have a hot body. I don't show a lot of cleavage, I usually try to wear a shirt or tanktop under low cut shirts.

I've been asked by people if I am a porn star, if I'm a prostitute (I'm wearing JEANS and a halter top, not leather for christ sake), if I'm a stripper......

The worst is people telling me God feels bad for me, why do I want to cover up what God gave me, why can't I be natural....blah blah blah blah...

It's mostly older people doing it. Don't judge me, I am an adult and can do whatever I want and wear whatever I want. Go yell at those 14 year old prosititots wearing mini skirts over there.

I have no qualms about telling some busybody to shut the f*ck up or get bent. I dont care if that person is my parent's age or even older. It's about time people got the hell over it.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

That took you aback? Man, that's something I used to hear on a near daily basis whenever I was out and about with my now ex. The second most common thing we heard was "Excuse me, but I'm trying to find <destination>". Apparently two guys holding hands as they walk down the street means "Ask us for directions, because we know where everything is, no matter how obscure."

It surprised me because I've hardly ever had to deal with it. As a matter-of-fact, that's the only time anyone ever called me that (out loud, anyway).
Guess I'm lucky in that respect.
I'm especially lucky in that I was never attacked by redneck jerks!
Ah, the world we live in.
And life in general.

[RentalRacer]

Back in the days when I was a server and bartender I worked in a location that is mostly made up of ignorant rednecks who believed that the stereotype about all male servers being Gay. Some would even request they have a female server when they were at the host stand. Me personally, not gay. But I heard many snide remarks. I just kind of laughed it off unless they got too personal, then I either said something or sent my GF who also worked over there to straighten them out. However, if I was actually gay, I could not imagine putting up with some of the comments that were made.

A little OT but sometimes I get comments from Douchbags who think just cause I manage a car rental company in a small city I must be an uneducated hillbilly. In reality I have a college education, get paid a very good salary for the area(well above the median "family" income for the area, and I am single) with awesome bonuses each quarter and end-of-year, great benefits, get a company car, don't pay for gas or car insurance, and I am also provided with a company paid cell phone that half the time I want to throw out the window, but hey, it keeps me from paying for my own cell or a home phone, so whatever. Yeah, I could do something or aspire to do something else, but I love my job, and thats all the SC's need to know.

[Noelegy]

I don't think I've ever had any personal attacks on my appearance come from a CS, but you made me think of a couple of incidents at the book/music/video store that actually ended up affecting company policy. There was a music department employee I befriended who was incredibly knowledgeable about music, all genres, and very helpful and professional. She was also bright, cheerful, and fun to work with, just an all-around great coworker.

She had a teeny tiny nose ring. It was silver, small gauge, and hard to see unless you were standing right next to her. Some CS went out of his/her way to complain to our corporate office about her appearance. I might reiterate here that there was nothing about her professional demeanor that would warrant such a complaint. As far as I know she was never rude or unpleasant to a customer. Just that someone saw that tiny little nose ring and complained, and because of that it was handed down that there were to be no visible piercings except on the ear.

This store is in a two-college town, so we had a large employee base of college students with unconventional appearances. Two of these worked in the book department with me. One had a different hair color each week (green, orange, hot pink) and many visible tattoos. The other had buzzcut her hair, left it its natural light-brown color, except for two dangling forelocks dyed hot pink. Both of these girls knew books inside out and were great employees. But again some CS complained and two new dresscode rules were born: no visible tattoos, no "unnatural" haircolors.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

Noelegy, one of my favorite places to shop is Half Price Books (if you're familair)and one of the reasons I love the place is that their employees are very unconventional looking.
They always wear T-shirts and jeans, some have piercings, some have tattoos, some have wildly-colored hair, some have a combination of all three, and some don't have any.
It's real.
And though I have none of the above myself, I feel at ease with them because they are allowed to be themselves. Plus, they're really cool people. I don't strike up conversations with just any retail folk, but I find myself engaged in talks with Half Price Books employees quite a bit.

It's amazing that someone's personal insecurities would make them actually complain about something like a nose ring. How miserable must someone be-?

[Rubystars]

.

Not too long ago I was helping another employee stock the frozen section and I had a cart full of oversized tubs of ice cream, and I was putting them into the freezer. A woman walked up to me and said "Oh, you're putting them into the freezer, I thought that was your lunch!" Then she laughed.

I am overweight but that was just a sick thing to say to someone, especially when you know they can't tell you to F off back.

[TruthHurts]

I have a tattoo on my upper arm (a butterfly) my work shirt covers it most of the time. Sometimes when I have to reach for something off the top shelf it gets exposed. One older woman saw it and just lost it, she started ranting to her friend about how women are "destroying their bodies just to look sexy" She finished the rant by saying that "no decent man will ever want a girl with tattoos".

I just started chuckling to myself it was so pathetic it was almost funny.

[Acolyte]

I consider myself a decent guy, and, well, everybody I've ever dated has had a tattoo somewhere. Shows them!

I had the ultimate stereotype revenge though. During the summers, I work two jobs-one as a computer tech and one as a McLackey, for the extra money (I'm in university and have expensive hobbies-namely, gaming, computers and paintball). Once, a few jackoffs were commenting about the stupidity of the people at McDonalds, commenting about how we were only good enough to work fast food and all that. They got thrown out by the manager, BTW. Anyways, a week later, some guy calls in for a menial bit of computer service-I had to create a dial-up account setting. For the record, we have a walk-through on our website and a reasonably trainable chicken could do it. So, I went out to take care of it.

Surprise, it was one of the trash-talkers from last week! He was so red-faced when I showed up. I didn't say anything because I didn't want it coming back to my manager, but I had a s**t-eating grin on the whole time.

[ArenaBoy]

I used to get a lot of comments about my hair (which has been cut since last month). I would sometimes not wear a hat and it was noticeable that I had long hair. Some of the comments I endured was hippy, wanna-be girl, fag, draft-dodger, and my personal favorite; Miss. In fact, when it was long my family didn't care as it was my hair and my great-grandmother while she admitted she didn't like it told me that it's my choice.

My other great-grandmother on the other hand, who is long since dead would've thought other wise. If she knew I had long hair I would've been on the receiving end of some very nasty comments that she would not express remorse for. Hell, she would be very rude to clerks with gems such as: "Excuse me Miss, *clerk turns around, it's a guy* Oh I'm sorry I thought you were a woman."

*Sigh*

[georgiab]

Boozy- I swear we could be twins....I to am extremely small and self conscious about it...I used to waitress and worked my ass of sometimes on 16 hour shifts because my relief wouldn't show..I was put down and called all sorts of names....told I shouldn't do drugs, anoerexic, starving myself and anything you can think of I hated womaen who made those same comments to me...Haters...