Homophobia as evidenced by petty vandalism at the supermarket

[+ purplekow]

I was at a Stop and Shop today and overhead they played a commercial about Stop and Shop supporting LGBT...not sure how far down the alphabet they went.  As I was shopping, I came across a display with some rainbow knick knacks such as Pride Mini flags, rainbow  employee badge holders,  rainbow key chain.  I reached to get a rainbow drink cozy.  I intended to buy one to give to my next guest as a small token and intended to put his fee in the cozy.  The cozy I picked out had no price tag and as I searched I noticed that all the cozies were tagless and then on looking further, I noticed that all the items on display did not have a price tag and in fact the tags had been cut off leaving only that annoying plastic item that holds the tag in place.   

The display was right next to the service desk and the  service person at the store was helpful and she seemed honestly annoyed at the situation.  When I said that it looked to have been done on purpose, she just sighed and said "of course they did"  She then offered to get me the price and get it to me before I checked out.  

I told her to get the price pf each item as I intended to buy some of each.  She said she would and that she would have the tags reaffixed to each  item.  

So now I have a bunch of Gay Pride Kitsch.

 

[+ FrankR]

6 hours ago, purplekow said:

I was at a Stop and Shop today and overhead they played a commercial about Stop and Shop supporting LGBT...not sure how far down the alphabet they went.  As I was shopping, I came across a display with some rainbow knick knacks such as Pride Mini flags, rainbow  employee badge holders,  rainbow key chain.  I reached to get a rainbow drink cozy.  I intended to buy one to give to my next guest as a small token and intended to put his fee in the cozy.  The cozy I picked out had no price tag and as I searched I noticed that all the cozies were tagless and then on looking further, I noticed that all the items on display did not have a price tag and in fact the tags had been cut off leaving only that annoying plastic item that holds the tag in place.   

The display was right next to the service desk and the  service person at the store was helpful and she seemed honestly annoyed at the situation.  When I said that it looked to have been done on purpose, she just sighed and said "of course they did"  She then offered to get me the price and get it to me before I checked out.  

I told her to get the price pf each item as I intended to buy some of each.  She said she would and that she would have the tags reaffixed to each  item.  

So now I have a bunch of Gay Pride Kitsch.

 

I appreciate her willingness to help. And your willingness to add to your collection if kitsch!  But if it was my store, I would be far more likely to also pursue the root cause. Most stores have video cameras and the quality of the images can be amazing nowadays. I would have chased it down to find the culprits….

[+ purplekow]

This probably does not rise to a level of a crime, though I suppose local ordinances may differ.   I do agree that if it were an employee who did this, that punishment would be appropriate, possible to the level of firing.

[Luv2play]

We.ve had the same sort of vandalism in the last year in our small town in Ontario, Canada. It's pretty conservative country in this area by Canadian standards and unfortunately homophobic attitudes even amongst the young are fairly common.

The town installed rainbow crosswalks at the entry to town and within a few days they had been defaced by tire tracks with cars spinning their wheels on them. That was a year ago and the town fixed the paint and installed a camera on the light post. Since then they have been defaced similarly two times and each set of offenders has been caught and taken to court and fined..

Still, this hasn't deterred them, it seems as the last incident was only a few weeks ago. They probably don't read newspapers, if they can read at all.

[mike carey]

2 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

if they can read at all.

Harsh but fair.

[Luv2play]

2 hours ago, mike carey said:

Harsh but fair.

Actually they probably are capable of reading but don’t do much of it and certainly not a local newspaper. They probably get all of the info from the social media which relies heavily on visual images and video. Easy for passive intake.

I might add one of the perps was a young woman, I think in her 30’s. So this isn’t just a red neck guy thing. They have girl friends with the same attitudes.

[lonely_john]

3 hours ago, Luv2play said:

We.ve had the same sort of vandalism in the last year in our small town in Ontario, Canada. It's pretty conservative country in this area by Canadian standards and unfortunately homophobic attitudes even amongst the young are fairly common.

The town installed rainbow crosswalks at the entry to town and within a few days they had been defaced by tire tracks with cars spinning their wheels on them. That was a year ago and the town fixed the paint and installed a camera on the light post. Since then they have been defaced similarly two times and each set of offenders has been caught and taken to court and fined..

Still, this hasn't deterred them, it seems as the last incident was only a few weeks ago. They probably don't read newspapers, if they can read at all.

People often imagine Canada as this progressive paradise for minorities, which it kind of is compared to other countries, but we still see hate crimes happening. I remember an attack in Vancouver right in the middle of the gaybourhood, and just this month here at Hanlan's point.