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You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
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leavethegun-takethecannoli
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
Should I be upset when they write "hairy-chested guinea in the silk jump-suit?"

Probably not- but if they throw in "also wearing a Mr. T starter set" I'm going to flip out.
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TheGuinnessTooth
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
Without a photo in the original story how are we supposed to know she isn't both big and fat?
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smalleyxb122
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
Was she not big and/or fat? She said that she was understanding of the "black lady" part of the descriptor, acknowledging that she is, in fact, a black lady. Yet, she was incredulous to the "big" and "fat" adjectives. If the only determining factor in appropriateness is validity (as is implied by her statement about being a black lady), and if she is in fact fat....

...it's still not nice.
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Ash Clutchem, Pokey Master
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
I'm guessing 90% odds the proprietor/clerk is ESL. That said, maybe they should get a little leeway on adjectives. They did say "lady" and not "woman." That's respectful, right?

Dick (German for "fat").
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MushyHeirloom
09/29/09

@Ash78 is going POLAR...: Even so, I'd think 'large' would be a bit more polite, and everyone knows 'large'.

I dunno. At the very least, it seems silly to hand her the piece of paper with her money. Call her what you want behind the counter, but if it's insulting, don't let her know. That's how you lose customers.
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Scandinavian Flick
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
I gotta say; I like the "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" tag for the article.
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Alfisted
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
The note should have read "pissed off black lady".
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lalie (apologetic mess)
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
I will never understand the thoughtlessness that goes into something like this. Is it so hard for people to realize their actions/words affect others?

I used to work at a cafe where we'd write descriptions of customers on their sandwich orders. ie "blue shirt lady" "cool dude w/fro" "suave guy" etc
Once a woman came up to me in a bar to complain that a former coworker had written down 'annoying hipster bitch' for her. Le sigh.
I thought it had been an understood logic thing, but "Don't write anything mean, BECAUSE THEY CAN SEE IT FROM THE REGISTER" quickly became Rule #2 during my training.
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throwdetta
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
Sounds like a Homestar Runner character.
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Newsgirl
09/29/09

@throwdetta: Teen Girl Squad!
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theorchidthief
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
I thought the FA movement wanted the word fat to be ok though?
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BetteD
09/29/09

@theorchidthief: I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that any word can be construed as derogatory if the person using it sees it as such. I think the main goal of FA is to normalize being fat first, and with that cultural understanding, normalize being referred to as fat. Until then, a lot of people feel that being referred to as such is crude and reductive.
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mattharvest
09/29/09

@BetteD: Aren't all such descriptions (i.e. on a receipt) reductive by definition? Is it more offensive to be identified by one such term (fat) as another (woman)?
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Penny
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
I love it when I click over to these stories and find they've happened in my city. I wonder what gas station it was.

In any case, was this employee trying to write in French....in....English?
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msAnthrope
09/29/09

@Penny:

honestly i'm always surprised when they're not in my state!
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Dodgergirl
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
It sounds like the first line of a really stupid haiku.
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andBegorrah
09/29/09

@Dodgergirl:
"black lady big fat"
How does the poet scan lines
when high on gas fumes?
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Percy
09/29/09

@Dodgergirl:
"black lady big fat"
Shortchanged at the gas station
In so many ways.
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dcdulce
09/29/09

@Dodgergirl:
news at 11
black lady big fat beats up
bigot jerk gas clerk
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Mary McCarthyite
09/29/09

@Dodgergirl:

Black lady big fat
Went to fill her car with gas
Left with so much more.
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funzette
09/29/09

@Dodgergirl: It reminds me of terrible beat poetry

Black Lady Big Fat
Falling Man White Noise
Burn Labels! Bright Sky!
In the Morn I Mourn
Utopia, Eutopia
No Place, Good Place
Now Here is Nowhere

snap snap snap
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badmutha promoted this comment Edited by funzette at 09/29/09 12:21 PM funzette was starred funzette was unstarred

badmutha
09/29/09

@funzette: I love me some really absurd beat poetry

Black Lady Big Fat
HANDS? FEET? HELP?
I feel your pain
with the bigotry of
the Sun.
How will you help me
twisting, turning, breaking
wind.
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♥ dosido☮
09/29/09

In reply to You Say "Big Fat" Like It's A Bad Thing
Someone should scrape together a clue for "semi-literate gas station employee bacne halitosis"
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Doreen DelPurgatorio
09/29/09

@♥ dosido☮: "Supercalifragilisticbacnehalitosis..."! Or just "douchebag."
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Laulau promoted this comment

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