FYI to anyone potentially interested in a bit of helpful armor to ward off annoying store greeters (among others), the Verbal Communication Reserves Critically Low! graphic shown in my post on obnoxious, accessibility-fail-worthy 'store policies' and such is now available on Zazzle.
You can get either a t-shirt (which can be customized to account for different people's shapes, sizes, and preferences) or a button (which you can keep in your bag and pin to your shirt, etc., whenever the need arises).
Of course I make no guarantees as to whether wearing this graphic will actually work.
I remember once at one of my prior jobs, I was really busy with something and did not want to be interrupted. So I put a piece of yellow "CAUTION" tape across the opening to my cubicle and hung a note on it saying I was working on Important Business and for people to please avoid bugging me until I was done (or similar, I don't recall the exact wording I used).
And...within a few minutes of putting it up, I had a manager peek their head into my cube and inquire of me, "So, is this working for you?" It was at that moment it became clear just how factually grounded the Dilbert comic is.
But in any case, I have long thought that there needs to be some equivalent to a "Do Not Disturb" sign for people just walking around in public, especially for those of us with non-standard body language and expressions, etc. I figured out a while ago that I probably tend to get approached (or, paradoxically in some cases, ignored) a disproportionate amount of the time, and I am pretty sure this is due to some intangible factors in how I come across.
E.g., I get told I look "lost", "distracted", or "like [I] don't know what [I'm] doing" on a regular basis. When I was a teenager I got stopped by the police multiple times just walking down the street, to the point where (until someone told me this was rarely done to white teenage girls) I thought that was normal. When I'm amongst a lot of other nerds or other neurologically unusual folks this doesn't happen nearly as much, but it happens a heck of a lot when I am in more general/mainstream situations, and I figure I can't be the only person who this is the case for.
Anyway I am probably going to get a button and try it out next time I'm out running errands, as sort of a field-test. I shall certainly report on the results if I do this!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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3 comments:
People, I think, tend to think I'm shoplifting due to a combination of apparently the way I come across is 'not normal' and I dress alternatively. (Apparently shoplifters like to draw attention to themselves by exhibitng non-neurotypical behaviour/mannerisms/body stance?)
I get the staff that usually wander the store keeping a close eye on me from a little distance, and I've had to open my bag and show them receipts and stuff a lot.
I totally get this. One that gets me is when I am going through a check out lane and the cashier is striking up conversation on every item I am purchasing. If I am on my own I can go with it. But, when I am with M we are lucky to have made it to the check out lane and her ability to relax is usually wearing thin. I get so frustrated.
This is one of the reasons I'm afraid to go out late at night. It's a damn shame, as that's when it's kind of quiet and I'm unlikely to meet other people. There seems to be something about the Cop (criminal, predator) mind which makes its owner pick on a harmless lone person, who is obviously not violating any laws and is minding his own business.
Oh God I hate cops. Maybe I've been reading radley balko's site, www.theagitator.com too much.
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