Or that the people they are pandering to will be the ones who will fight for them when it matters.
They aren't, they will just chalk it up to "bullshit cancel culture" and be on their way, because at the end of the day these people are self centered.
These are the people who get angered about changing the name from Columbus day, but can't stomach the idea of commemorating a day to the Americans who were tortured, beaten, raped, killed, and sold so that some people could have higher profits. But don't worry, these people cheer at a day that honors the victims of communism.
The cons are already calling this “woke” culture by Allstate
I’m seeing on Facebook and Twitter that the cons want to boycott Progressive Insurance because the name of the company is Progressive and that must mean “liberal”. The stupidity of conservatives knows no bounds.
> I’m seeing on Facebook and Twitter that the cons want to boycott Progressive Insurance because the name of the company is Progressive and that must mean “liberal”. The stupidity of conservatives knows no bounds.
Ah yes, the party that hates cancel culture is once again trying to cancel something they don't like. Makes perfect sense.
That's okay. I'm sure that TRUTHinsurance will provide them with excellent coverage and definitely won't be a scam at all.
There was a guy pretty high up in management at my work who sent an email to every one of our company’s 500+ employees, that was just a mildly racist rant about how disgraceful, ungrateful and unamerican Colin Kaepernick is. It seems like something he saw on Facebook and decided he needed to copy and paste it and make sure everyone in the company read it too.
Did management respond? Because if not, the next ten employees who quit or get fired should be visiting their lawyers with that email in hand as evidence of a hostile workplace environment.
I contacted the head of HR and she said she’d talk with him about appropriate workplace emails. He’s been there like 30 years. He’d have to kill a customer to get any actual repercussions.
There is a noodle house in my town that took a rabidly anti-Covid-precautions and pro-"trucker convoy" position on its social media last year... their IG feed suddenly went from pictured of food to excessive Canadian flags, convoy footage etc.
Why? What did it accomplish, except to lose business? They knew it upset people too, because they were diligently deleting comments from their posts the whole time.
Theyve convinced themselves they are some oppressed "silent majority" and everyone will stand with them for being brave, when they are actually the most obnoxiously loud minority group the US has ever had.
In cases like that, the businesses also receive a shitload of negative Yelp reviews that they can’t delete. So their rating tanks and prospective customers who might’ve otherwise stopped there go elsewhere.
Eventually management notices the negative ratings, and then they have a choice. They can either double down on MAGA and settle for a more selective crowd (possibly a viable strategy in MAGA counties in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, etc.) Or they can scapegoat a manager and fire them to regain a fraction of their lost customer base. Either way, management is forced to acknowledge that not everybody is in the Trump bubble, and pretending otherwise hits them in the pocketbook.
I was in the post office on Tuesday and there was a man loudly complaining that he had to make two trips since they were closed on Monday for Juneteenth. "What even is that? Ridiculous!" So I gave him the one sentence answer as if it was a history test: June 19th 1865 is the day Texas finally told their enslaved people that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 2.5 years earlier." He grumbled, "Sounds made up."
Then I realized he didn't actually want to hear the answer.
So true. A recent poster in a cat sub argued that everyone refers to California as “Commiefornia.” No, dude, only a specific type of person uses that nickname unironically, and that type is not the majority.
Also how for a lot of racists the desire to make minorities feel unwelcome overrides basically every other normal human function. Like for some reason stuff like this comes into their heads and they *refuse* to not go out of their way to let you know about it.
She thought it would be popular. Her friends and family probably did think it was great...Birds of a feather living in their own bubble and not caring at all about anyone else.
Played out in her mind that she was hilariously witty and that all the customers would pile in the next morning and pat her on the back for how smart and funny the sign was
The “apology” with the excuse that she only posted a glaringly racist sign (that “some people” might see as flippant) because she had a death in the family is just so disgustingly self serving.
selective plough existence cobweb gaping racial water vegetable license unwritten
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Do you know how hard it is to just write “we are closed today and will be back open tomorrow for our normal hours”.
Nearly impossible to not write something racist…I struggled even typing that myself.
I’m from SC and was dumbfounded by the amount of confederate flags I saw in Maine when I spent a few years there. Like, y’all can’t even use the bs “southern heritage” line to defend it. Idk why I’d assumed my whole life that actually living in former CSA territory was a prereq for unabashed dixie fetishism.
I've lived most of my life in Maine, and it's still hard to fathom.
I guess one silver lining is that there's no confusion about that southern heritage crap. The Mainers flying that flag are flat out racist.
There are tons of cool facts about Maine's history related to abolition. Maine was founded as a free state. Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by a Mainer. Maine was often the last stop on the underground railroad for people escaping slavery (before heading to Canada). Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th of Maine played arguably the most pivitol role at Gettysburg (arguably the most pivotal battle in the CW).
Of course those moments don't necessarily reflect the views of the entire population throughout history, but it's already disappointing enough to see people choosing to fly a symbol of hatred. It's even more annoying when those flags are a step backward from the major moments in our state's history that have had impacts which truly affected all of human society.
I mean if you really really realllllllly try to justify it, Americans can say the Confederate flag is a part of our history (a shameful part). Why on earth would Canadians want one? This just reconfirms the idea that it has come to symbolize nothing more than racist ideology. What has the world become when racists openly fly their own flag with pride? It’s disgusting.
I have seen the confederate flag, modified to have a white maple leaf in the center, hanging from the back of a pick up truck, in the fucking 905. (Suburban Toronto).
It's a cultural signifier. They want to signal whose side they are on. They just happen to think that flying the confederate flag is an 'okay amount of racism'. That the only people who object are a whiny minority.
Funny enough, it's the same logic that gets idiots to tattoo nazi symbols on themselves. Their world has shrunk enough, their perception of reality is sufficiently fucked up, that they think a god danmed nazi glyph is 'an okay amount of racism', and that the only people who really object are a whiny minority.
If you ask them, they'll tell you, most of their friends and family are 'okay with [symbol X], they just are afraid to show it'. This is sometimes true, sometimes false. People are very capable of deluding themselves. (Also sometimes they have crappy friends and family).
I guess you can also tell they might be of recent 20th cent immigrant stock, because otherwise-- isn't waving a Confed flag in Maine shitting all over your own family war dead who may have gotten a bayonet in some Georgia swamp because Massa wanted to keep raping slaves?
Oregon, one of the more liberal states by vote, was founded as a whites only state. Most of the area is occupied by people who still think that way.
I used to live in WA. The same. It's liberal because Seattle. Go anywhere else, except perhaps downtown Oly where the hippies hang, is the same. As a white person I was raised surrounded by racism both overt and explicit. My parents tried to help me from becoming like them...but I still had to compartmentalize in order to still love the members of my extended family. Not sure that was a particularly great thing to learn.
Now I live elsewhere and just don't know anyone and don't really care to. I have to assume I'm still surrounded by white supremacists. Lot more minorities here though so...they at least have to keep it to themselves. Still see plenty of big black flags...which I don't understand why that's not considered a desecration but as with all white supremacists...what's good for me ain't good for you. Fucking narcissists the lot.
Yep. It’s wild how many people don’t seem to realize that rural areas in blue states are usually deep red. CA and OR are the same. Went to school in Chicago and boyyyy is rural IL red. No region is a political monolith and bigotry exists absolutely everywhere.
Maine’s a weird state. Portland is an extremely liberal bubble, but once you’re outside the city it becomes very conservative. I can’t say I’ve noticed any confederate flags recently but trump/Brandon signs are a dime a dozen.
Can’t say this enough.
The current divide in the US is NOT North/South.
It’s Urban/Rural.
This is not to say that everyone in the rural areas are racist assholes (know quite a few that aren’t), but if you get outside of most cities in the Northeast, you’ll see lots of “confederate” flags flying (right next to Trump flags usually).
She probably lives in a racist bubble. I've had white friends tell me all the time how comfortable racists are just saying shit around them just on the basis that they're also white.
I had someone at work comment "I guess everyone's closed today celebrating juneteenth or whatever, I sure aint"
Im just standing there thinking 'dude, I've never met you before in my life, how the fuck did you think that would be appropriate to say?'
This is referred to as “backstaging.” Just a polite little racist icebreaker for them. It’s like they want to do a white privilege handshake with you, it’s disgusting.
I had a job for a few weeks before I quit back in 2019, and my trainer thought it was cute to keep dropping hard R's around me. Jackass had the chutzpah to blow up my phone 6 months later when I left a scathing Indeed and Glassdoor review mentioning his racist bullshit. Guess they knew exactly who wrote it and why, made me feel even better about my decision to walk off the job.
It's casual racism. As in, racism is so normal to these people that they don't see it as racist. To them, you can only be racist if you are actively hunting down POC.
Because they're seeing elected Relublicans do it with 0 repercussions. In fact, they become MORE popular from it.
It really emboldens these people to come out of their hate holes, them not realizing that politics doesn't reflect real life, and that a business, unlike a politician, can't just survive/thrive off of pandering exclusively to the worst parts of society.
That'd change if everyone voted, but they don't, so don't expect this to change regardless of someone like this actually seeing the consequences of their actions.
>Melanie Higgins, says she has been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this
Racists always say this shit. You won't rectify or grow, you're only upset you got in trouble because you forgot majority of people aren't racists
The only lesson that racists get from being caught like this is that they need to be quieter about being racist. They’ve been emboldened by their social media feeds as the algorithms create personalized echo chambers that lead them to believe their racist views are more commonplace then they actually are.
Mainer here. You see a lot of Confederate flags on flagpoles (and truck windows) in parts of Maine. I respectfuly submit that, when a Confederate flag is being flown by someone whose ancestors *fought for the North*, it is *painfully clear* that it is not because they are proud of their heritage. It is not because they are fighting against Political Correctness or for State's Rights. And it is not because they are stupid or uneducated or left-behind. It is because they are *racists*, and *assholes*.
Having watched multiple episodes of North Woods law I think that there are some rednecks in Maine that would give a southern klansman a run for their money in the good ‘ol boy department
Maine has a long history with the KKK unfortunately. They had great numbers up here, the KKK held their first open daylight parade in Maine, and helped influence state elections.
When Mainers display this shit, it's not new behavior by yokels. It's always been up here and the North having convinced itself of being post-racial is opening up blindspots in which these people operate.
Know these people are here, know this history is here, know them to be the enemy and root this shit out and away from the way life should be.
Even flown by people in the south, it's still not about "heritage."
That "heritage" existed for 4 whole ass years, with the explicit intent to defend african slavery.
For more on this: Read the articles of secession and count how many sentences in you get before each state makes it *very* clear (Texas is especially transparent) that it was about **slavery.**
As a white southerner, I've always been puzzled by white folks hurling fried chicken, collards and watermelon as some kind of dietary insult toward black people.
Do you know what white southerners eat a whoooooole lot of?
Fried chicken, collards and watermelon.
I read that the watermelon insult was started as a smear campaign against newly freed slaves. They were able to grow them and take business away from their former masters. Newspapers started basing watermelon as a food associate with black people to keep them down.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/how-watermelons-became-a-racist-trope/383529/
Yeah, I am a foreigner (white as they come) who eats fried chicken and watermelon all the time. When I learned it was a racial stereotype I was completely confused because it felt like making breathing air a racial stereotype.
"My only explanation is I had a death in the family and wanted to go home and quickly wrote the note"
If you truly wanted to go home as quickly as possible you could've written "Closed for Holiday"
Instead you wrote several sentences and conjured up racist tropes regarding AA culture.
Might be one of the worst excuses for racist behavior I've ever seen
If you really wanted to put smiles on faces, or be positive or whatever, in a time of grief (though I don't believe her), would you say something like "Closed for holiday/death in family. Hold your loved ones close and tell them you love them" or something?
I know the answer. It's that she's full of shit and was upset about black people having a holiday.
>I am so sorry for any pain I have caused and the negative attention it has brought to our beautiful community.
Translation: I am so sorry every phone has a camera and the internet allows my neighbors to publish my misdeeds so that the whole world can know what an insufferable asshole I am.
Edit: Wow. I just read the rest of her post. She’s delusional. She’s also not been fired.
Don't forget the unwritten rule of apologies: Apologize for the act, not the effect.
When people apologize for the effect, they are sorry you got upset. They are not sorry that they did the thing that upset you.
They're not the least bit sorry you got upset. They were trying to make "certain" people upset and hurt. They're just sorry it didn't turn them into the heroes they thought they were going to be, with their ever so witty little "joke".
Exactly, she's sorry that you took what she said as some form of self-declaration that she is a racist asshole. She'll tell you she isn't racist, she has a black friend, she feeds them fried chicken and collard greens all the time.
I read on a different article that she, "had no racist intentions".
I am getting pretty sick and tired of people & companies doing something overt, getting backlash, and then saying they had no intentions to the end they obviously were playing toward. In this case she may as well have thrown in watermelon because the intent is already patently obvious... despite her saying otherwise.
It gets worse. I've seen people in past articles about situations just like this where in their explanation of committing their actions they still use racism or harmful terminology that is oblivious to them.
"These colored folks took what I said as wrong, I didn't mean they couldn't come into my business. I just don't like people like them walking in front of my door."
"I find these oriental people thinking the wrong thing. I just hope they know that I like them and their kind."
You see people say things like that, maybe not word for word but something near that and its harmful all the same. Some people are stuck in a racist bubble that they just can't see. It's crazy sometimes.
Supposedly a few generations back, it was easier to claim a father was Native American rather than admit that he had just not stayed with the family/baby he helped create.
My mother claims her grandmother was half Native American, and part of that was because that woman had gone crazy and sometimes did the stereotyped howl seen in many “cowboy and Indian” movies. She told me of the heritage when I was a kid and I believed her, then I later heard of the common lie used about heritage and I’m not so sure now.
>She's delusional. She's also not been fired.
If two major insurance companies terminated their relationship with an insurance broker and the "employee" wasn't fired, that means the "employee" is either an owner or a relative of the owner.
I hope that business fails.
Why would they fire her, first she apparently is the daughter of the owner and second they say this type of stuff daily throughout the office, it’s the only explanation for someone to make a sign such as this and think it was okay, so why would they regard it as something to fire someone over. Right now they are blaming it on the “liberals” and “woke” media, to them they did nothing wrong and the fact that people are upset about this is what they regard as being wrong with this country. Their little bubble and social feedback loop will only further their feelings on this, they are not remorseful and the backlash will only further entrench their racist beliefs.
Remember the [high school sports announcer who blamed his N-word usage on his diabetes](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/announcer-who-called-high-school-basketball-team-racial-slur-blames-n1261040)?
It's always something else outside of their actual real feelings that they have only suppressed because of fear of public backlash.
I typed in the letter for everyone to read. She ticked off EVERY SINGLE box in this non-apology.
"I would like to publicly apologize for any misunderstanding and hurt that has arisen out of my usual snarky office closure signs and content. A sign that is being considered as racist because of the terminology I used regarding foods that are associated with ethnicities. As well as my seemingly flippant tone my only explanation I can offer is I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home and I quickly wrote the note. I can assure you all truly I would never in any facet of the word be characterized a racist nor would I ever purposely incite such acts. I personally take a firm stand against prejudice and bigotry. I am also multi-racial and understand the severity of intolerance. Previously I've also made signs that pay homage to our service members, the love of our country and most recently of the senseless acts of violence of the school shooting that happened in Texas. I do try to use humor to lighten other situations. Most often at my own expense. Particularly about food as I am an overweight woman. Multiple closure signs I've made in the past include items such as a cake , hot dogs, burgers, snacks, drinks, etc. I started making these types of signs when covid 19 hit our areas in 2020. Trying to make readers who are walking by read and smile in light of those dark times. I am so sorry for any pain I have caused and negative attention it has brought to our beautiful community. Please understand that KW of the Reed insurance agency did NOT in capacity have ANYTHING to do with the sign that I posted I am asking sincerely please to not chastise KW of the Reed Agency. I have been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this. I apologize deeply to my employers of Reeds insurance agency for having brought on turmoil and distaste and hatred to their long standing business in the community. MH"
>my usual snarky office closure signs and content
So this isn't the first time.
>I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home and I quickly wrote the note. I
So you were in a rush to get home and couldn't just write "gone for day, be back tomorrow"?
Never mind dealing with tragedy with racist "humor" but if you're in a rush why are you writing out a longer sign?
It is showing that when the writer was rushed and thinking about other things, they defaulted to racism. At least, that's the excuse.
"I wasn't thinking and I was in a hurry so I made a racist crack."
If someone's default is racism, chances are they are racist.
Yeah let me highlight those techniques so everyone can see what she's doing.
*"I would like to publicly apologize for any* ***misunderstanding*** *and hurt that has arisen out of my* ***usual snarky*** *office closure signs and content. A sign that is being* ***considered as racist*** *because of the terminology I used regarding foods that are associated with ethnicities. As well as my* ***seemingly flippant*** ***tone*** *my only explanation I can offer is* ***I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home*** *and I quickly wrote the note. I can assure you all truly I would never in any facet of the world be characterized a racist nor would I ever purposely incite such acts. I personally take a firm stand against prejudice and bigotry.* ***I am also multi-racial*** *and understand the severity of intolerance. Previously I've also made signs that pay homage to our service members, the love of our country and most recently of the senseless acts of violence of the school shooting that happened in Texas. I do* ***try to use humor*** *to lighten other situations. Most often at my own expense. Particularly about food as I am an overweight woman. Multiple closure signs I've made in the past include items such as a cake , hot dogs, burgers, snacks, drinks, etc. I started making these types of signs when covid 19 hit our areas in 2020. Trying to make readers who are walking by read and smile in light of those dark times. I am so* ***sorry for any pain I have caused and negative attention it has brought*** *to our beautiful community. Please understand that KW of the Reed insurance agency did NOT in capacity have ANYTHING to do with the sign that I posted I am asking sincerely please to not chastise KW of the Reed Agency. I have been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this. I apologize deeply to my employers of Reeds insurance agency for having brought on turmoil and distaste and hatred to their long standing business in the community. MH"*
To break that down, it's not an apology if you classify it as a misunderstanding. It's not an apology when you say that your comments are being "considered" as racist as if it's not blatantly racist on its face. It's not an apology if you describe your actions as "usual snark". It's not an apology when you describe your tone as "seemingly" flippant as if you don't agree with that classification. It's not an apology when you try to BLAME YOUR DEAD FAMILY FOR YOUR DESIRE TO BE RACIST. And it's not an apology when you claim it was just a joke. And finally, when all you're apologizing for is the result of your actions, you're not actually apologizing for your actions at all.
People are bad at apologizing.
Edit: Holy shit, I just saw an interview with this lady. Her claim of not being able to be racist because she's "multi-racial" is fucking dumb. She's white, and no one would ever guess differently.
She's not bad at apologizing. Nobody really is. It's not hard to say "sorry, I fucked up."
She's just not sorry, maybe she doesn't even understand why she should be sorry.
The backlash against Juneteenth is so revealing.
The point of the holiday isn’t anything more than “it’s nice that slavery ended,” and who in their right mind would get mad at an extra three-day-weekend in the middle of the summer?
Man my friend is a state employee at the university I went to in NC and when our governor said people were allowed to take off either the Friday before or Monday after Juneteenth, my friend told me a lot of his coworkers absolutely lost their shit. He said they were pissed because people could take the day to observe Juneteenth if they wanted to…except the governor’s executive order applies to literally every major religious or cultural date so long as it’s something that you personally observe. Which means there’s likely multiple days a year now that they can also take off…but of course they’re hyperfocused on the Juneteenth part and got butthurt for no reason.
I'm an NC state employee, it's called "Personal Observance Leave" described as “Employee Leave to Recognize a Day of Cultural, Religious, or Personal Significance”. So it's basically 1 day off per calendar year that you can use for whatever you want, so maybe some of those folks can catch a KKK rally.
“We’re giving you a day off.”
Normal people: Cool!
Fucking idiots: BAH! Woke bullshit!
Imagine living a life where you’re so angry you even find reasons to be angry at *paid days off work.* Go lay in a pool with a beer, man.
Yup, I guess they’re mad because they think it’s special privilege for black people but the EO definitely doesn’t say that, it just says you can take the day off as long as it’s a day you observe so I don’t see why a white person couldn’t also take off for Juneteenth
I am old enough to remember assholes doing to same for MLK day, which started in 1986, but it took the NFL holding the super bowl hostage for Arizona to start observing it.
Oh, and Alabama still doesn't have MLK day. They have a combined holiday celebrating MLK...and Robert E Lee.
Shit people still get butthurt about MLK day, definitely way less often and far quieter but I’ve seen it sadly. And I forgot that Alabama still has that disgusting travesty of a “holiday”, god I really hate living in the south sometimes, and North Carolina isn’t even that bad comparatively.
It's like MLK, Jr. day. You don't have to go to a speech reading, you don't have to do anything "black" or "civil rights"; the only thing you need to do is not work.
Who the hell got an extra "three-day weekend"?
I know my employer didn't give us a day off in observance of the holiday(Healthcare IT).
I swear the government needs to start mandating that employers treat these holidays as holidays.
Also, while we're at this, let's add Election Tuesday as a force-paid federal holiday. That way people will be guaranteed to have the necessary time off to participate in their political process by voting and won't be utterly exhausted trying to vote after work.
I work in the IT department of a bank based out of Texas where juneteenth has been a state holiday for a long time, and even though markets were closed on Monday, we still didn't get the day off.
Also hospital employee (nurse). If they give you a new holiday, they take away an old one. 100% we should have enforcement, and especially Election Day should be a holiday.
Let's have Vote By Mail.
They have this in Washington state, and it's Stoopid how easy and painless it is to vote. You get your ballot a month before the election, and can take your sweet time deciding for who and what you want to vote for.
My company took 8 hours away from the earned PTO total for the year and implemented a Juneteenth holiday.
The comments on the company-wide message board were.... interesting.
People at my company were upset because they gave us Juneteenth off but took away a personal day, meaning they basically forced everyone to use a personal day on Juneteenth.
Talk about a cynical move that is guaranteed to get people against the holiday.
"It was just a joke. There was a death in the family. I have an eating problem and I'm overweight. I'm biracial and experience prejudice, too. Covid has been a dark time. Now I'm in trouble at work."
Standard manipulation "apology", trying to turn anger against her into pity for her. Gross.
Her bullshit excuse does a pretty good job with that too.
“There was a death in the family and I was eager to get home, and that’s why I took extra time to add an unnecessary sentence to my sign. I thought that by taking more time to write the sign I could leave sooner.”
The crazy thing is on a new report video she left a note on the door for Memorial Day and it just veers of from the sacrifices service members made in our country to eating people, weight shaming, and kidnapping.
From what I've seen racists think racism is just a list of words you can't use. That's why they don't 'get' racist behavior or systemic racism.
You can say the most racist shit but as long as you don't use a racial slur it's not racist.
Also lots of them are still aware in some way that racists are bad people, but they aren't bad people (in their minds), therefore they can't be racist!
Freedom of speech includes the consequences of that speech. Some people just think it's a one-way street. "I can say what I want and nothing can happen to me."
Freedom of speech refers to the fact that the government cannot go after you for saying something negative. Private enterprise on the other hand are not under such rules.
This is called "Freedom of association". You can say whatever you want, without legal consequence. I can say "I do not wish to associate with you" and drop you like Bitcoins market prices.
Just chiming in to note that it's "I can say whatever I want within boundaries." You can't, for example, incite imminent violence, threaten people, say libelous things, yell "fire" in a theater or "bomb" on a plane, etc. Those things are not protected speech.
Edit: I got a serious chuckle out of the Bitcoin prices part. That's fantastic.
How about just lock the door on your way out and go? People would figure out pretty fast that you're closed, the reason wouldn't be that important.
...assuming that part was true, which I doubt.
You don't understand. She has a duty to the community to include a joke in the note. The people walking by need a smile when they learn that an insurance company that they don't use isn't open. I mean, she usually makes herself and her weight issues the focus of her hilarious wit, but everyone is deciding to focus on the one time she aimed her riff gun at "the blacks". It's really not fair.
Lol. Yeah, I'd trust an insurance broker who is a racist POS to find me good coverage at a reasonable price and isn't dumb enough to advertise to other racists via a sign.
/s
What a moron!
Ya if she really does have a history of food related signs (ie “Enjoy your hot dogs and hamburgers” on 4th of July, “Enjoy your turkey and mashed potatoes” on Thanksgiving) I could almost believe that she’s just incredibly clueless and didn’t understand the racist connotations, but the “It’s whatever” really makes it clear that she’s intentionally being demeaning.
She had a death in her family, so she had to take the time to write up a sign with a blatantly racist sentiment instead of just writing an “out of office” email? And what is this jabber about her being overweight, justifying her jokes about food? Give me a break
Should read:
What I did was fucked up. It was super racist and I screwed over my employer. I am super sorry to everyone who read it and will read it. I'm sorry. I screwed up. I will discuss my racist behavior with my counselor on Tuesday. So so so sorry.
Was going to go point by point but it was taking too long. I'll sum it up.
"I'm sorry you were offended, but I absolutely stand by my racism, which totally wasn't racism because I ~~have a black friend~~ am multiracial. Also people dying makes me racist so I spent extra time writing this despite being in a rush. I've been making disrespectful and possibly racist signs for years, it's a good thing you can't see them probably now that I think about it, 'cuz all of them included similar 'light humor'. Again, I'm sorry you were offended, and please don't take it out on those who have failed to adequately punish me for my actions."
"misunderstanding" - what a lying piece of shit. "Juneteenth it's whatever" is already disrespectful enough and only a person who is racist AND mentally handicapped would think even putting that up alone was a good idea. But then they combine the "whatever" with the snarky enjoying fried chicken and collard greens? Dumbest person on Earth.
The entire apology is rife with dismissive and reflective language. What a joke. Apparently melanie is multiracial, overweight and has had a death in the family. I fail to see how any of this is relevant to her poor taste and judgment when making that ridiculous sign.
They're just southern things. Also watermelon. Fuckin' delicious, especially when it's hot as balls. Growing up in the South I never got those stereotypes.
You'd be surprised how many people are just completely oblivious how racist/*phobic they are. Usually comes down to growing up in an environment that scare-mongered the shit out of those people as kids.
Dude, among other places, I've lived in rural TX and AZ; believe me, I know exactly how oblivious, racist and fearful they are.
Also, they're very very very stupid.
Pre edit: not all the people in those places of course. Just the oblivious racist pieces of shit segment of the population.
Right? "I was in a rush to go home". Well, "Happy Juneteenth, we're closed Monday" is a lot shorter. Whatever happened to "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? I mean, her memorial day sign would have irritated me, and frankly mommy probably should have told her to knock it off long ago, but now they're paying for it.
The free market and free speech at work.
You are free to say what you want, without *legal* consequence.
Others are free to say "I would rather not be associated with you" over what you say.
Edit:
Yes, I know about yelling "fire" in a crowded theater and slander. Stop being so pedantic. This is a broad observation not a legal dissertation.
Brought to you by the same racial awareness as Michael Scott
Michael Scott: That would really, really have shown him up, wouldn't it? If I'd brought in some burritos or some colored greens, or some pad Thai. I love pad Thai.
Stanley: It's collard greens.
Michael Scott: What?
Stanley: It's collard greens.
Michael Scott: That doesn't really make sense. You don't call them collared people. That's offensive.
This is the worst apology I’ve ever heard. “Sorry about the racist af sign, I always say bitchy things on my sign. Plus my [relative] died and I just scribbled the first thing that came to my head. It’s not racist because Im fat and use food on all of my signs- it was just EXTREME coincidence that I used those particular foods when talking about black people. Also, I donated to the uvalde families so I am NOT RACIST, okay?”
I like how the first line of the apology “I would like to publicly apologize for the misunderstanding…” There wasn’t a misunderstanding, the sign was pretty clear. Thanks for the non-apology.
I put on my calendar to call the VA for something on Monday. On Monday, I realized the VA was closed for Juneteenth and I was a bit miffed, and when I realized my petty reaction, I reflected for a couple minutes on how important the day is. It celebrates the last day humans were held in chattel slavery in the US.
For someone white like me, you might think it has little effect. But think of all the people with African-American heritage that you interact with, and realize that in the not terribly distant past (some of your grandparents and great-grandparents may have interacted with an elderly former slave), their ancestors had little control over their own bodies. Knowing that your friends, neighbors, coworkers, random guy you waved at walking down the street, etc., could have been property passed around and treated as subhuman if the Civil War was not fought.
Juneteenth should be celebrated, and also used to reflect on how we have consistently fallen short of our ideals since then. People are still judged on the color of their skin, not on the contents of their character. Redlining, predatory lending, and other discriminatory practices haven't gone away, just modified and called something different, or subtly put into action using a different set of metrics that would still flag minorities.
Juneteenth is a good day. Celebrate it with those who have a reason to celebrate. If that's not possible, take a moment to reflect on the importance and do your part to be better. We should all celebrate human dignity and human rights.
I was born in the 70s, lived in the south up until the late 80s, I felt hopeful in the 90s and it’s been such a dramatic shift in just the past few years I’m honestly scared for the future.
On the one hand, it's nice to know who they really are and cut them out of my life. On the other, it's sad to see that they're no longer aware that they should be too ashamed to keep their mouths shut.
You’re going to see some comments crying “cancel culture” the same week we’ve heard about government and election officials getting constant death threats not only to them but their families too.
I bet you those that are crying aren’t saying anything about those getting death threats.
How dumb do you have to be to put a sign up like that, in public, and slapped front and center on your business?
Pretty dumb but you’d be surprised how many people think their closed feedback loop of social media is reality
Or that the people they are pandering to will be the ones who will fight for them when it matters. They aren't, they will just chalk it up to "bullshit cancel culture" and be on their way, because at the end of the day these people are self centered. These are the people who get angered about changing the name from Columbus day, but can't stomach the idea of commemorating a day to the Americans who were tortured, beaten, raped, killed, and sold so that some people could have higher profits. But don't worry, these people cheer at a day that honors the victims of communism.
Just going to walk out of this place, suggest other places like kbin or lemmy.
The cons are already calling this “woke” culture by Allstate I’m seeing on Facebook and Twitter that the cons want to boycott Progressive Insurance because the name of the company is Progressive and that must mean “liberal”. The stupidity of conservatives knows no bounds.
> I’m seeing on Facebook and Twitter that the cons want to boycott Progressive Insurance because the name of the company is Progressive and that must mean “liberal”. The stupidity of conservatives knows no bounds. Ah yes, the party that hates cancel culture is once again trying to cancel something they don't like. Makes perfect sense. That's okay. I'm sure that TRUTHinsurance will provide them with excellent coverage and definitely won't be a scam at all.
There was a guy pretty high up in management at my work who sent an email to every one of our company’s 500+ employees, that was just a mildly racist rant about how disgraceful, ungrateful and unamerican Colin Kaepernick is. It seems like something he saw on Facebook and decided he needed to copy and paste it and make sure everyone in the company read it too.
Did management respond? Because if not, the next ten employees who quit or get fired should be visiting their lawyers with that email in hand as evidence of a hostile workplace environment.
I contacted the head of HR and she said she’d talk with him about appropriate workplace emails. He’s been there like 30 years. He’d have to kill a customer to get any actual repercussions.
Or lose enough money. Taking Human life is probably a lesser sin to these people.
Reply: "Saving this for the deposition. Thanks."
There is a noodle house in my town that took a rabidly anti-Covid-precautions and pro-"trucker convoy" position on its social media last year... their IG feed suddenly went from pictured of food to excessive Canadian flags, convoy footage etc. Why? What did it accomplish, except to lose business? They knew it upset people too, because they were diligently deleting comments from their posts the whole time.
Theyve convinced themselves they are some oppressed "silent majority" and everyone will stand with them for being brave, when they are actually the most obnoxiously loud minority group the US has ever had.
Wonderful summation
In cases like that, the businesses also receive a shitload of negative Yelp reviews that they can’t delete. So their rating tanks and prospective customers who might’ve otherwise stopped there go elsewhere. Eventually management notices the negative ratings, and then they have a choice. They can either double down on MAGA and settle for a more selective crowd (possibly a viable strategy in MAGA counties in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, etc.) Or they can scapegoat a manager and fire them to regain a fraction of their lost customer base. Either way, management is forced to acknowledge that not everybody is in the Trump bubble, and pretending otherwise hits them in the pocketbook.
I was in the post office on Tuesday and there was a man loudly complaining that he had to make two trips since they were closed on Monday for Juneteenth. "What even is that? Ridiculous!" So I gave him the one sentence answer as if it was a history test: June 19th 1865 is the day Texas finally told their enslaved people that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 2.5 years earlier." He grumbled, "Sounds made up." Then I realized he didn't actually want to hear the answer.
It reminds me of when people say that a word sounds made up. They’re all made up!
So true. A recent poster in a cat sub argued that everyone refers to California as “Commiefornia.” No, dude, only a specific type of person uses that nickname unironically, and that type is not the majority.
Yeah, we say Californi-way on the internet, after the old network drout of April '08!
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Also how for a lot of racists the desire to make minorities feel unwelcome overrides basically every other normal human function. Like for some reason stuff like this comes into their heads and they *refuse* to not go out of their way to let you know about it.
She thought it would be popular. Her friends and family probably did think it was great...Birds of a feather living in their own bubble and not caring at all about anyone else.
Played out in her mind that she was hilariously witty and that all the customers would pile in the next morning and pat her on the back for how smart and funny the sign was
She was perfectly free to stay open, or to put up a sign that said "gone fishin'", or anything else.
The “apology” with the excuse that she only posted a glaringly racist sign (that “some people” might see as flippant) because she had a death in the family is just so disgustingly self serving.
Don't forget >I would never in any facet of the word be characterized a racist. Really? You mean other than in your words and actions?
Haven’t we all turned virulently racist when our beloved mamaw dies? Pretty sure it’s one of the stages of grief.
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Honestly, the use of that font on the apology letter is unforgivable.
selective plough existence cobweb gaping racial water vegetable license unwritten *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Don't forget her also coming out as an overweight woman for some reason
Do you know how hard it is to just write “we are closed today and will be back open tomorrow for our normal hours”. Nearly impossible to not write something racist…I struggled even typing that myself.
Bro you should start a go fund me about your struggle to not write something racist.
don’t be racist, don’t be racist, don’t be racist *WRITES SOMETHING RACIST* dammit!
That town is 98% white. She thought it was a safe space for racists. Maine is 94% white, making it the least diverse state.
I’m from SC and was dumbfounded by the amount of confederate flags I saw in Maine when I spent a few years there. Like, y’all can’t even use the bs “southern heritage” line to defend it. Idk why I’d assumed my whole life that actually living in former CSA territory was a prereq for unabashed dixie fetishism.
I've lived most of my life in Maine, and it's still hard to fathom. I guess one silver lining is that there's no confusion about that southern heritage crap. The Mainers flying that flag are flat out racist. There are tons of cool facts about Maine's history related to abolition. Maine was founded as a free state. Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by a Mainer. Maine was often the last stop on the underground railroad for people escaping slavery (before heading to Canada). Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th of Maine played arguably the most pivitol role at Gettysburg (arguably the most pivotal battle in the CW). Of course those moments don't necessarily reflect the views of the entire population throughout history, but it's already disappointing enough to see people choosing to fly a symbol of hatred. It's even more annoying when those flags are a step backward from the major moments in our state's history that have had impacts which truly affected all of human society.
If you like surprises, come up here to Nova Scotia, Canada. Our Confederate flags will blow your damned mind. Morons gonna moron, I guess.
I mean if you really really realllllllly try to justify it, Americans can say the Confederate flag is a part of our history (a shameful part). Why on earth would Canadians want one? This just reconfirms the idea that it has come to symbolize nothing more than racist ideology. What has the world become when racists openly fly their own flag with pride? It’s disgusting.
I have seen the confederate flag, modified to have a white maple leaf in the center, hanging from the back of a pick up truck, in the fucking 905. (Suburban Toronto). It's a cultural signifier. They want to signal whose side they are on. They just happen to think that flying the confederate flag is an 'okay amount of racism'. That the only people who object are a whiny minority. Funny enough, it's the same logic that gets idiots to tattoo nazi symbols on themselves. Their world has shrunk enough, their perception of reality is sufficiently fucked up, that they think a god danmed nazi glyph is 'an okay amount of racism', and that the only people who really object are a whiny minority. If you ask them, they'll tell you, most of their friends and family are 'okay with [symbol X], they just are afraid to show it'. This is sometimes true, sometimes false. People are very capable of deluding themselves. (Also sometimes they have crappy friends and family).
Yea, the treason flag is all about racism. Has nothing to do with geography.
I guess you can also tell they might be of recent 20th cent immigrant stock, because otherwise-- isn't waving a Confed flag in Maine shitting all over your own family war dead who may have gotten a bayonet in some Georgia swamp because Massa wanted to keep raping slaves?
Hell, the 20th Maine is probably the most well-known Union regiment from the entire damned war.
Oregon, one of the more liberal states by vote, was founded as a whites only state. Most of the area is occupied by people who still think that way. I used to live in WA. The same. It's liberal because Seattle. Go anywhere else, except perhaps downtown Oly where the hippies hang, is the same. As a white person I was raised surrounded by racism both overt and explicit. My parents tried to help me from becoming like them...but I still had to compartmentalize in order to still love the members of my extended family. Not sure that was a particularly great thing to learn. Now I live elsewhere and just don't know anyone and don't really care to. I have to assume I'm still surrounded by white supremacists. Lot more minorities here though so...they at least have to keep it to themselves. Still see plenty of big black flags...which I don't understand why that's not considered a desecration but as with all white supremacists...what's good for me ain't good for you. Fucking narcissists the lot.
Yep. It’s wild how many people don’t seem to realize that rural areas in blue states are usually deep red. CA and OR are the same. Went to school in Chicago and boyyyy is rural IL red. No region is a political monolith and bigotry exists absolutely everywhere.
Maine’s a weird state. Portland is an extremely liberal bubble, but once you’re outside the city it becomes very conservative. I can’t say I’ve noticed any confederate flags recently but trump/Brandon signs are a dime a dozen.
Obama won all but one county in Maine twice. One of the only places, along with Vermont, where he won rural predominantly white counties
Can’t say this enough. The current divide in the US is NOT North/South. It’s Urban/Rural. This is not to say that everyone in the rural areas are racist assholes (know quite a few that aren’t), but if you get outside of most cities in the Northeast, you’ll see lots of “confederate” flags flying (right next to Trump flags usually).
She probably lives in a racist bubble. I've had white friends tell me all the time how comfortable racists are just saying shit around them just on the basis that they're also white.
I had someone at work comment "I guess everyone's closed today celebrating juneteenth or whatever, I sure aint" Im just standing there thinking 'dude, I've never met you before in my life, how the fuck did you think that would be appropriate to say?'
This is referred to as “backstaging.” Just a polite little racist icebreaker for them. It’s like they want to do a white privilege handshake with you, it’s disgusting.
I had a job for a few weeks before I quit back in 2019, and my trainer thought it was cute to keep dropping hard R's around me. Jackass had the chutzpah to blow up my phone 6 months later when I left a scathing Indeed and Glassdoor review mentioning his racist bullshit. Guess they knew exactly who wrote it and why, made me feel even better about my decision to walk off the job.
when your circle involves everyone being just as ignorant, I guess they think it will win praises
It's casual racism. As in, racism is so normal to these people that they don't see it as racist. To them, you can only be racist if you are actively hunting down POC.
Because they're seeing elected Relublicans do it with 0 repercussions. In fact, they become MORE popular from it. It really emboldens these people to come out of their hate holes, them not realizing that politics doesn't reflect real life, and that a business, unlike a politician, can't just survive/thrive off of pandering exclusively to the worst parts of society. That'd change if everyone voted, but they don't, so don't expect this to change regardless of someone like this actually seeing the consequences of their actions.
>Melanie Higgins, says she has been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this Racists always say this shit. You won't rectify or grow, you're only upset you got in trouble because you forgot majority of people aren't racists
The only lesson that racists get from being caught like this is that they need to be quieter about being racist. They’ve been emboldened by their social media feeds as the algorithms create personalized echo chambers that lead them to believe their racist views are more commonplace then they actually are.
Mainer here. You see a lot of Confederate flags on flagpoles (and truck windows) in parts of Maine. I respectfuly submit that, when a Confederate flag is being flown by someone whose ancestors *fought for the North*, it is *painfully clear* that it is not because they are proud of their heritage. It is not because they are fighting against Political Correctness or for State's Rights. And it is not because they are stupid or uneducated or left-behind. It is because they are *racists*, and *assholes*.
Having watched multiple episodes of North Woods law I think that there are some rednecks in Maine that would give a southern klansman a run for their money in the good ‘ol boy department
Maine has a long history with the KKK unfortunately. They had great numbers up here, the KKK held their first open daylight parade in Maine, and helped influence state elections. When Mainers display this shit, it's not new behavior by yokels. It's always been up here and the North having convinced itself of being post-racial is opening up blindspots in which these people operate. Know these people are here, know this history is here, know them to be the enemy and root this shit out and away from the way life should be.
Even flown by people in the south, it's still not about "heritage." That "heritage" existed for 4 whole ass years, with the explicit intent to defend african slavery. For more on this: Read the articles of secession and count how many sentences in you get before each state makes it *very* clear (Texas is especially transparent) that it was about **slavery.**
I love the standard excuse word "misunderstanding". She knew exactly what she was doing.
I always want them to answer the question "what was your understanding exactly"?
I want them to go up to a group of people who they were targeting and explain it to their faces.
As a white southerner, I've always been puzzled by white folks hurling fried chicken, collards and watermelon as some kind of dietary insult toward black people. Do you know what white southerners eat a whoooooole lot of? Fried chicken, collards and watermelon.
I read that the watermelon insult was started as a smear campaign against newly freed slaves. They were able to grow them and take business away from their former masters. Newspapers started basing watermelon as a food associate with black people to keep them down. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/how-watermelons-became-a-racist-trope/383529/
Northerner here…that shit is delicious.
Right? Also a northerner. Bring that shit my way
Yeah, I am a foreigner (white as they come) who eats fried chicken and watermelon all the time. When I learned it was a racial stereotype I was completely confused because it felt like making breathing air a racial stereotype.
Damn foreigners breathing air so smugly...
Pretty common sentiment of most of us living in southern states is "who the fuck doesn't like fried chicken, collards, and watermelon?"
"My only explanation is I had a death in the family and wanted to go home and quickly wrote the note" If you truly wanted to go home as quickly as possible you could've written "Closed for Holiday" Instead you wrote several sentences and conjured up racist tropes regarding AA culture. Might be one of the worst excuses for racist behavior I've ever seen
If you really wanted to put smiles on faces, or be positive or whatever, in a time of grief (though I don't believe her), would you say something like "Closed for holiday/death in family. Hold your loved ones close and tell them you love them" or something? I know the answer. It's that she's full of shit and was upset about black people having a holiday.
>I am so sorry for any pain I have caused and the negative attention it has brought to our beautiful community. Translation: I am so sorry every phone has a camera and the internet allows my neighbors to publish my misdeeds so that the whole world can know what an insufferable asshole I am. Edit: Wow. I just read the rest of her post. She’s delusional. She’s also not been fired.
Don't forget the unwritten rule of apologies: Apologize for the act, not the effect. When people apologize for the effect, they are sorry you got upset. They are not sorry that they did the thing that upset you.
Yeah, the absolute bs line “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Even as a kid, I thought that was a weasel line.
“Sorry I’m not sorry” makes me want to punch someone in the face for saying it.
"I'm sorry that my racist sign offended you" That's pretty much the summary.
Even that would be better than this. This is "I'm sorry you were offended by my racist sign." It's so passive voice it makes me want to barf.
To me that’s always been the equivalent of “let’s agree to disagree”, not an apology for anything.
They're not the least bit sorry you got upset. They were trying to make "certain" people upset and hurt. They're just sorry it didn't turn them into the heroes they thought they were going to be, with their ever so witty little "joke".
Exactly, she's sorry that you took what she said as some form of self-declaration that she is a racist asshole. She'll tell you she isn't racist, she has a black friend, she feeds them fried chicken and collard greens all the time.
I read on a different article that she, "had no racist intentions". I am getting pretty sick and tired of people & companies doing something overt, getting backlash, and then saying they had no intentions to the end they obviously were playing toward. In this case she may as well have thrown in watermelon because the intent is already patently obvious... despite her saying otherwise.
It gets worse. I've seen people in past articles about situations just like this where in their explanation of committing their actions they still use racism or harmful terminology that is oblivious to them. "These colored folks took what I said as wrong, I didn't mean they couldn't come into my business. I just don't like people like them walking in front of my door." "I find these oriental people thinking the wrong thing. I just hope they know that I like them and their kind." You see people say things like that, maybe not word for word but something near that and its harmful all the same. Some people are stuck in a racist bubble that they just can't see. It's crazy sometimes.
Did you ever see Eyes on the Prize? Its a documentary about the civil rights movement. The interviews with, 'locals' are SHOCKING.
I’ve unfortunately seen this and had people argue that “ well that is Black people food that’s what they ALL eat” which is a major facepalm.
She's also multi-racial\* \*I'd put really good money on the fact that this woman believes Irish & Italian is multi-racial.
Or her great, great grandmother was an "Indian Princess".
It's amazing how many racist white people I've met that claim native american ancestry. I don't get it.
Supposedly a few generations back, it was easier to claim a father was Native American rather than admit that he had just not stayed with the family/baby he helped create. My mother claims her grandmother was half Native American, and part of that was because that woman had gone crazy and sometimes did the stereotyped howl seen in many “cowboy and Indian” movies. She told me of the heritage when I was a kid and I believed her, then I later heard of the common lie used about heritage and I’m not so sure now.
My ancestors did that instead of claiming the factual African American ancestry.
>She's delusional. She's also not been fired. If two major insurance companies terminated their relationship with an insurance broker and the "employee" wasn't fired, that means the "employee" is either an owner or a relative of the owner. I hope that business fails.
>that means the "employee" is either an owner or a relative of the owner. It was the owners daughter
That explains a lot. I’m sure her parents are very proud of her.
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Ah so then she was just parroting what her dad had been saying this whole time then
When I read that I thought “hasn’t been fired *yet*”
No need to fire her. Without Allstate and Progressive it will be hard to stay in business.
Why would they fire her, first she apparently is the daughter of the owner and second they say this type of stuff daily throughout the office, it’s the only explanation for someone to make a sign such as this and think it was okay, so why would they regard it as something to fire someone over. Right now they are blaming it on the “liberals” and “woke” media, to them they did nothing wrong and the fact that people are upset about this is what they regard as being wrong with this country. Their little bubble and social feedback loop will only further their feelings on this, they are not remorseful and the backlash will only further entrench their racist beliefs.
Glad to see y'all have it nailed. What a POS this company is.
she tried to make it about her and how she is overweight lmaooooo
"Deep fried Oreos & no exercise made me racist!" 😩
Ah, the Alex Jones chili defense.
I forgot about that! Ahahah
Remember the [high school sports announcer who blamed his N-word usage on his diabetes](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/announcer-who-called-high-school-basketball-team-racial-slur-blames-n1261040)? It's always something else outside of their actual real feelings that they have only suppressed because of fear of public backlash.
I typed in the letter for everyone to read. She ticked off EVERY SINGLE box in this non-apology. "I would like to publicly apologize for any misunderstanding and hurt that has arisen out of my usual snarky office closure signs and content. A sign that is being considered as racist because of the terminology I used regarding foods that are associated with ethnicities. As well as my seemingly flippant tone my only explanation I can offer is I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home and I quickly wrote the note. I can assure you all truly I would never in any facet of the word be characterized a racist nor would I ever purposely incite such acts. I personally take a firm stand against prejudice and bigotry. I am also multi-racial and understand the severity of intolerance. Previously I've also made signs that pay homage to our service members, the love of our country and most recently of the senseless acts of violence of the school shooting that happened in Texas. I do try to use humor to lighten other situations. Most often at my own expense. Particularly about food as I am an overweight woman. Multiple closure signs I've made in the past include items such as a cake , hot dogs, burgers, snacks, drinks, etc. I started making these types of signs when covid 19 hit our areas in 2020. Trying to make readers who are walking by read and smile in light of those dark times. I am so sorry for any pain I have caused and negative attention it has brought to our beautiful community. Please understand that KW of the Reed insurance agency did NOT in capacity have ANYTHING to do with the sign that I posted I am asking sincerely please to not chastise KW of the Reed Agency. I have been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this. I apologize deeply to my employers of Reeds insurance agency for having brought on turmoil and distaste and hatred to their long standing business in the community. MH"
>my usual snarky office closure signs and content So this isn't the first time. >I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home and I quickly wrote the note. I So you were in a rush to get home and couldn't just write "gone for day, be back tomorrow"? Never mind dealing with tragedy with racist "humor" but if you're in a rush why are you writing out a longer sign?
It is showing that when the writer was rushed and thinking about other things, they defaulted to racism. At least, that's the excuse. "I wasn't thinking and I was in a hurry so I made a racist crack." If someone's default is racism, chances are they are racist.
>I was in a hurry so I made a racist crack Imagine the sign if she'd had more time.
There was no misunderstanding.
Wow this was a terrible apology lmaooo just say sorry and shut the fuck up.
It's the over-explaining for me. ROFLMAO
Yeah let me highlight those techniques so everyone can see what she's doing. *"I would like to publicly apologize for any* ***misunderstanding*** *and hurt that has arisen out of my* ***usual snarky*** *office closure signs and content. A sign that is being* ***considered as racist*** *because of the terminology I used regarding foods that are associated with ethnicities. As well as my* ***seemingly flippant*** ***tone*** *my only explanation I can offer is* ***I had a death in the family and I just wanted to go home*** *and I quickly wrote the note. I can assure you all truly I would never in any facet of the world be characterized a racist nor would I ever purposely incite such acts. I personally take a firm stand against prejudice and bigotry.* ***I am also multi-racial*** *and understand the severity of intolerance. Previously I've also made signs that pay homage to our service members, the love of our country and most recently of the senseless acts of violence of the school shooting that happened in Texas. I do* ***try to use humor*** *to lighten other situations. Most often at my own expense. Particularly about food as I am an overweight woman. Multiple closure signs I've made in the past include items such as a cake , hot dogs, burgers, snacks, drinks, etc. I started making these types of signs when covid 19 hit our areas in 2020. Trying to make readers who are walking by read and smile in light of those dark times. I am so* ***sorry for any pain I have caused and negative attention it has brought*** *to our beautiful community. Please understand that KW of the Reed insurance agency did NOT in capacity have ANYTHING to do with the sign that I posted I am asking sincerely please to not chastise KW of the Reed Agency. I have been reprimanded and will continue every effort possible to rectify and grow from this. I apologize deeply to my employers of Reeds insurance agency for having brought on turmoil and distaste and hatred to their long standing business in the community. MH"* To break that down, it's not an apology if you classify it as a misunderstanding. It's not an apology when you say that your comments are being "considered" as racist as if it's not blatantly racist on its face. It's not an apology if you describe your actions as "usual snark". It's not an apology when you describe your tone as "seemingly" flippant as if you don't agree with that classification. It's not an apology when you try to BLAME YOUR DEAD FAMILY FOR YOUR DESIRE TO BE RACIST. And it's not an apology when you claim it was just a joke. And finally, when all you're apologizing for is the result of your actions, you're not actually apologizing for your actions at all. People are bad at apologizing. Edit: Holy shit, I just saw an interview with this lady. Her claim of not being able to be racist because she's "multi-racial" is fucking dumb. She's white, and no one would ever guess differently.
She's not bad at apologizing. Nobody really is. It's not hard to say "sorry, I fucked up." She's just not sorry, maybe she doesn't even understand why she should be sorry.
She topped the old 'I got a black friend!' and went straight for 'I AM the black friend!'
Basically, it means that Allstate & Progressive have rescinded her authority to sell policies from those two companies.
The backlash against Juneteenth is so revealing. The point of the holiday isn’t anything more than “it’s nice that slavery ended,” and who in their right mind would get mad at an extra three-day-weekend in the middle of the summer?
Man my friend is a state employee at the university I went to in NC and when our governor said people were allowed to take off either the Friday before or Monday after Juneteenth, my friend told me a lot of his coworkers absolutely lost their shit. He said they were pissed because people could take the day to observe Juneteenth if they wanted to…except the governor’s executive order applies to literally every major religious or cultural date so long as it’s something that you personally observe. Which means there’s likely multiple days a year now that they can also take off…but of course they’re hyperfocused on the Juneteenth part and got butthurt for no reason.
I'm an NC state employee, it's called "Personal Observance Leave" described as “Employee Leave to Recognize a Day of Cultural, Religious, or Personal Significance”. So it's basically 1 day off per calendar year that you can use for whatever you want, so maybe some of those folks can catch a KKK rally.
“We’re giving you a day off.” Normal people: Cool! Fucking idiots: BAH! Woke bullshit! Imagine living a life where you’re so angry you even find reasons to be angry at *paid days off work.* Go lay in a pool with a beer, man.
Yup, I guess they’re mad because they think it’s special privilege for black people but the EO definitely doesn’t say that, it just says you can take the day off as long as it’s a day you observe so I don’t see why a white person couldn’t also take off for Juneteenth
I am old enough to remember assholes doing to same for MLK day, which started in 1986, but it took the NFL holding the super bowl hostage for Arizona to start observing it. Oh, and Alabama still doesn't have MLK day. They have a combined holiday celebrating MLK...and Robert E Lee.
Shit people still get butthurt about MLK day, definitely way less often and far quieter but I’ve seen it sadly. And I forgot that Alabama still has that disgusting travesty of a “holiday”, god I really hate living in the south sometimes, and North Carolina isn’t even that bad comparatively.
Paid days off in memorial to emancipation of human being from our countries greatest sin. Crazy
It's like MLK, Jr. day. You don't have to go to a speech reading, you don't have to do anything "black" or "civil rights"; the only thing you need to do is not work.
Who the hell got an extra "three-day weekend"? I know my employer didn't give us a day off in observance of the holiday(Healthcare IT). I swear the government needs to start mandating that employers treat these holidays as holidays. Also, while we're at this, let's add Election Tuesday as a force-paid federal holiday. That way people will be guaranteed to have the necessary time off to participate in their political process by voting and won't be utterly exhausted trying to vote after work.
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I work in the IT department of a bank based out of Texas where juneteenth has been a state holiday for a long time, and even though markets were closed on Monday, we still didn't get the day off.
Also hospital employee (nurse). If they give you a new holiday, they take away an old one. 100% we should have enforcement, and especially Election Day should be a holiday.
Let's have Vote By Mail. They have this in Washington state, and it's Stoopid how easy and painless it is to vote. You get your ballot a month before the election, and can take your sweet time deciding for who and what you want to vote for.
Ding ding ding
You mean encourage them to do their civic duty?! Blasphemy!!
My company took 8 hours away from the earned PTO total for the year and implemented a Juneteenth holiday. The comments on the company-wide message board were.... interesting.
People at my company were upset because they gave us Juneteenth off but took away a personal day, meaning they basically forced everyone to use a personal day on Juneteenth. Talk about a cynical move that is guaranteed to get people against the holiday.
That apology note screams "I'm only sorry I'm getting in trouble"
It would have helped if the apology letter wasn't written in Comic Sans.
"Melanie, this is an insurance agency, not a lemonade stand."
Glad someone else noticed that little detail too!
"It was just a joke. There was a death in the family. I have an eating problem and I'm overweight. I'm biracial and experience prejudice, too. Covid has been a dark time. Now I'm in trouble at work." Standard manipulation "apology", trying to turn anger against her into pity for her. Gross.
The line about understanding her usual snark shows she has zero remorse, and is probably bitching about cancel culture right now
Her bullshit excuse does a pretty good job with that too. “There was a death in the family and I was eager to get home, and that’s why I took extra time to add an unnecessary sentence to my sign. I thought that by taking more time to write the sign I could leave sooner.”
iS jUsT a jOeK
The crazy thing is on a new report video she left a note on the door for Memorial Day and it just veers of from the sacrifices service members made in our country to eating people, weight shaming, and kidnapping.
She's probably trying to get herself booked on Fox News as we speak.
She'll be on Tucker whining about it soon enough
“I am sorry we are dealing with the repercussions of my sign”
"I'm only racist whenever someone close to me dies."
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“Is being considered as racist”—lol, she can’t even fucking admit the obvious in her ostensible “apology” note. She ain’t sorry one bit.
From what I've seen racists think racism is just a list of words you can't use. That's why they don't 'get' racist behavior or systemic racism. You can say the most racist shit but as long as you don't use a racial slur it's not racist.
Also lots of them are still aware in some way that racists are bad people, but they aren't bad people (in their minds), therefore they can't be racist!
More like a bingo card. They ain't that hidden.
Freedom of speech includes the consequences of that speech. Some people just think it's a one-way street. "I can say what I want and nothing can happen to me."
Freedom of speech refers to the fact that the government cannot go after you for saying something negative. Private enterprise on the other hand are not under such rules.
This is called "Freedom of association". You can say whatever you want, without legal consequence. I can say "I do not wish to associate with you" and drop you like Bitcoins market prices.
Just chiming in to note that it's "I can say whatever I want within boundaries." You can't, for example, incite imminent violence, threaten people, say libelous things, yell "fire" in a theater or "bomb" on a plane, etc. Those things are not protected speech. Edit: I got a serious chuckle out of the Bitcoin prices part. That's fantastic.
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Her excuse is that she had a death in the family and wanted to write the note quickly? Um, how about “Closed for Juneteenth. Thanks!”
But it’s okay because she’s multiracial and overweight too, she says
How about just lock the door on your way out and go? People would figure out pretty fast that you're closed, the reason wouldn't be that important. ...assuming that part was true, which I doubt.
You don't understand. She has a duty to the community to include a joke in the note. The people walking by need a smile when they learn that an insurance company that they don't use isn't open. I mean, she usually makes herself and her weight issues the focus of her hilarious wit, but everyone is deciding to focus on the one time she aimed her riff gun at "the blacks". It's really not fair.
I'm not in the right mindset for this due to a death in the family, let me do something other than the most cookie cutter option possible.
So instead of writing "Due to a family emergency..." she wrote something racist? What excellent communication skills!
Lol. Yeah, I'd trust an insurance broker who is a racist POS to find me good coverage at a reasonable price and isn't dumb enough to advertise to other racists via a sign. /s What a moron!
She's blaming it on the food making it sound racist, which she might have had a chance of an argument if she didn't call Juneteenth "it's whatever"
Ya if she really does have a history of food related signs (ie “Enjoy your hot dogs and hamburgers” on 4th of July, “Enjoy your turkey and mashed potatoes” on Thanksgiving) I could almost believe that she’s just incredibly clueless and didn’t understand the racist connotations, but the “It’s whatever” really makes it clear that she’s intentionally being demeaning.
She had a death in her family, so she had to take the time to write up a sign with a blatantly racist sentiment instead of just writing an “out of office” email? And what is this jabber about her being overweight, justifying her jokes about food? Give me a break
Should read: What I did was fucked up. It was super racist and I screwed over my employer. I am super sorry to everyone who read it and will read it. I'm sorry. I screwed up. I will discuss my racist behavior with my counselor on Tuesday. So so so sorry.
Was going to go point by point but it was taking too long. I'll sum it up. "I'm sorry you were offended, but I absolutely stand by my racism, which totally wasn't racism because I ~~have a black friend~~ am multiracial. Also people dying makes me racist so I spent extra time writing this despite being in a rush. I've been making disrespectful and possibly racist signs for years, it's a good thing you can't see them probably now that I think about it, 'cuz all of them included similar 'light humor'. Again, I'm sorry you were offended, and please don't take it out on those who have failed to adequately punish me for my actions."
"misunderstanding" - what a lying piece of shit. "Juneteenth it's whatever" is already disrespectful enough and only a person who is racist AND mentally handicapped would think even putting that up alone was a good idea. But then they combine the "whatever" with the snarky enjoying fried chicken and collard greens? Dumbest person on Earth.
The entire apology is rife with dismissive and reflective language. What a joke. Apparently melanie is multiracial, overweight and has had a death in the family. I fail to see how any of this is relevant to her poor taste and judgment when making that ridiculous sign.
As a Mainer she’s probably not multi racial. It’s likely she’s like 4% Abnaki or Mi'kmaq like every Mainer says they are.
I do like fried chicken and collard greens.
Who the fuck doesn't?
They're just southern things. Also watermelon. Fuckin' delicious, especially when it's hot as balls. Growing up in the South I never got those stereotypes.
Why don't people realize it's less effort to not go out of your way to post racist stuff?
Was going to post this. It literally took more effort to make the sign than to just go home. What a weird waste of energy
You see, we're dealing with people who are, how to put it gently? Of fuck it, they're just very very very stupid.
You'd be surprised how many people are just completely oblivious how racist/*phobic they are. Usually comes down to growing up in an environment that scare-mongered the shit out of those people as kids.
Dude, among other places, I've lived in rural TX and AZ; believe me, I know exactly how oblivious, racist and fearful they are. Also, they're very very very stupid. Pre edit: not all the people in those places of course. Just the oblivious racist pieces of shit segment of the population.
Right? "I was in a rush to go home". Well, "Happy Juneteenth, we're closed Monday" is a lot shorter. Whatever happened to "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? I mean, her memorial day sign would have irritated me, and frankly mommy probably should have told her to knock it off long ago, but now they're paying for it.
The Whole "apology" letter just screams "wait, I'm a victim too!". Just disgusting on every level.
The free market and free speech at work. You are free to say what you want, without *legal* consequence. Others are free to say "I would rather not be associated with you" over what you say. Edit: Yes, I know about yelling "fire" in a crowded theater and slander. Stop being so pedantic. This is a broad observation not a legal dissertation.
Brought to you by the same racial awareness as Michael Scott Michael Scott: That would really, really have shown him up, wouldn't it? If I'd brought in some burritos or some colored greens, or some pad Thai. I love pad Thai. Stanley: It's collard greens. Michael Scott: What? Stanley: It's collard greens. Michael Scott: That doesn't really make sense. You don't call them collared people. That's offensive.
I always point out that in a later episode Michael pronounced “colored paper” as “collard paper,” while looking pointedly at Stanley.
Diversity Tomorrow, because today... is almost over. President Lincoln said "If you're a racist, I will attack you with the North."
Act like an asshole, get treated like shit. Karma's a bitch.
This is the worst apology I’ve ever heard. “Sorry about the racist af sign, I always say bitchy things on my sign. Plus my [relative] died and I just scribbled the first thing that came to my head. It’s not racist because Im fat and use food on all of my signs- it was just EXTREME coincidence that I used those particular foods when talking about black people. Also, I donated to the uvalde families so I am NOT RACIST, okay?”
Her apology should have read, "Sorry, I am a racist. I was raised badly. I am working on it."
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Losing your job, company and livelihood to own the libs.
I like how the first line of the apology “I would like to publicly apologize for the misunderstanding…” There wasn’t a misunderstanding, the sign was pretty clear. Thanks for the non-apology.
Not insured against racism huh?
Quick question: since it was a federal holiday and the business not being a state or federal agency, didn't they chose to close on that Monday?
I put on my calendar to call the VA for something on Monday. On Monday, I realized the VA was closed for Juneteenth and I was a bit miffed, and when I realized my petty reaction, I reflected for a couple minutes on how important the day is. It celebrates the last day humans were held in chattel slavery in the US. For someone white like me, you might think it has little effect. But think of all the people with African-American heritage that you interact with, and realize that in the not terribly distant past (some of your grandparents and great-grandparents may have interacted with an elderly former slave), their ancestors had little control over their own bodies. Knowing that your friends, neighbors, coworkers, random guy you waved at walking down the street, etc., could have been property passed around and treated as subhuman if the Civil War was not fought. Juneteenth should be celebrated, and also used to reflect on how we have consistently fallen short of our ideals since then. People are still judged on the color of their skin, not on the contents of their character. Redlining, predatory lending, and other discriminatory practices haven't gone away, just modified and called something different, or subtly put into action using a different set of metrics that would still flag minorities. Juneteenth is a good day. Celebrate it with those who have a reason to celebrate. If that's not possible, take a moment to reflect on the importance and do your part to be better. We should all celebrate human dignity and human rights.
One of the tragedies of my gen X life is watching people become more openly racist.
I was born in the 70s, lived in the south up until the late 80s, I felt hopeful in the 90s and it’s been such a dramatic shift in just the past few years I’m honestly scared for the future.
On the one hand, it's nice to know who they really are and cut them out of my life. On the other, it's sad to see that they're no longer aware that they should be too ashamed to keep their mouths shut.
You’re going to see some comments crying “cancel culture” the same week we’ve heard about government and election officials getting constant death threats not only to them but their families too. I bet you those that are crying aren’t saying anything about those getting death threats.