So I went to American Apparel day before Halloween (to buy a tank top - long story short, I was going to go as Peter Kriss of Kiss in a jogging outfit, but it was another terrible idea of mine and it all went to hell and I ended up going as, well, a guy wearing a tank top who carried a bottle of gin around; needless to say it wasn't the most exciting Halloween of the decade), to desperately attempt to salvage any hope for a decent Halloween costume , and I am walking around the store and there are so really obnoxious blonde girls trying things on. I had nothing against them, but they were really loud, and said dumb things of the "Candice that is so hot!" and "Jennifer I'm going as a troll!!!" variety. Whatever. So I am in line, and one of the blonde people exits the dressing room and gives shape to her voice and it turns out she's really fat. Like no bueno big. Whatever. I'm in line and she goes up to the ad nauseum hipster working the counter (Asian hipster dressed as Peter Pan) and says, "Hey just wanted to let you know, next time you make fun of customers out loud while they are trying things on and you think they can't hear you, maybe you should do it a little louder next time so they can know how big a of a BITCH you're being." The hipster is admittedly shocked, but manages a snarky "Have a nice DAY!!!!" and continues working as the fat lady exits the store. I have no idea where her blonde compatriots toddled off to, but either way they were gone.
The thing that got me about this scenario was I had no in the moment context to go on. Assuming I had to root for someone in the confrontation, the only way I could judge the situation would be to use generalized biases and stereotypes associated with the groups the people seemed to belong to. These would to help me form a judgement and opinion on the matter since I arrived too late in the scene to tell what was really gone on and who really crossed the line. So I go with what I know. For example, I judge the hipster as a semi-affluent, pretentious, silly, useless person. And the fat lady as a loud, brackish, unhealthy, vacuous person. But these significations are totally bogus when you think about them as a basis of judgement --- sure it might be fun to use one every now and again towards the butt of a joke ("hipster walks into a bar..."), but to use both together and nothing else to figure out how you stand on a complex, heated, social situation? That's totally biased thinking right there. That's not knowing nearly enough facts. Now you could say I had no business judging a situation I happened to waltz into ignorantly, but it's my world too. Let me interpret. Life is boring! Stuff like this is what it's all about.
So I was in a quandary. Even if I was still to go with my biases, I didn't like either person. So who to choose. It was like having to decide between a vulture and a hyena in a fight in the African savvanah. You really have no preference either way.
The best part though, was after the fat lady left, another hipster employee comes up to the Peter Pan hipster and states, "ummm Christina, what do you want on your pizza?" The Peter Pan hipster curtly replies as she forcefully scans an electric pink pair of hot pants for a customer, "I don't WANT pizza!"
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