A few years ago, my old man and I used to go to the movies. A LOT. Like, at least 3 times a month (which is a lot for me). In my constant quest for spontaneity, I suggested we go to the movies. Yeah, real spontaneous, I know...but it counted as something slightly different for us on a Saturday night.
We visited our old friend - the movie theater dubbed "The Purple Monster" by our friend Courtney, and saw Your Highness. Yes, full of stoner jokes and as much Danny McBride as you can shake a stick at, Your Highness would probably have been better if we were high. Natalie Portman's lack of clothing at some parts surprised me (especially coming from her) but I'm pretty sure a majority of those shots were filled in by a body double (no surprise there). James Franco was particularly dreamy as Fabious, his long locks flowing in the wind and rippling muscles straining against his costumes...he was pretty hot. Justin Theroux was a nice surprise as well. I had no idea he was in the movie until I saw his name in the (well-executed) opening credits and let out a girlish squeal.
The movie was quite entertaining but there was one thing I didn't particularly enjoy at this theater...
The old man and I got to the theater quite early (for the 10pm show) and took our seats. We were the only ones in the entire theater for about 20 minutes, then a few couples trickled in here and there but they sat pretty far away from us - we like to sit dead center (just like most everyone does) and no one was really in our way. Until one final couple showed up and sat right behind us. No big deal, right? WRONG. Not only were these Ed Hardy wearing jerks noisy (they had really loud buckles on their clothes for some reason), but they decided it would be all right to put their feet up on the chairs next to me and my old man. Normally, I like to put my feet up on the chairs in front of me at the movies but only if there's no one in them or around them because that is just plain rude but I turned to face my old man and right next to his ear were a pair of douchey Ed Hardy slip-ons. I hesitated to turn my head to see what was awaiting me on my side but I turned anyway to see fucking BARE FEET. GROSS. WHAT THE FUCK? Have manners just completely gone out the window? What makes it okay to fucking do that? I wanted to say something but I figured my old man would do it. Avoiding confrontation the way he does, he didn't. Irritated, I took the passive aggressive approach (since the direct approach always gets us into trouble and usually embarrasses my old man) and squirmed to the point of leaning over to where her feet were and she took them down. But not for too long. The second time she put her feet up, I glared back at her and mouthed the words "What the fuck" but she didn't care. My old man and I hadn't been to the movies in forever and I didn't want to ruin it even more than it already had been by exchaning words with the inconsiderate couple. Who knows, maybe the guy in that relationship would've stepped in to squash the argument between me and his lady friend but I know my old man doesn't really have a confrontational bone in his body. It could've turned ugly quick - which is sad because we're adults and we need to respect each other - especially if we're trying to watch a movie and don't like the smell of feet next to us. Thankfully they left the movie 10 minutes early. If I had opened the box of Skittles in my purse, I would've thrown some at the inconsiderate couple. OR I would've taken a page out of Jonah's playbook. Jonah was a kid I knew for a brief period of time in high school. He was kind of a dick but I think he was trying to be like his even bigger dick of a brother. One night, Jonah was taking me and another friend home when he asked for some gum. I gave him some, watched him chew it and then throw it into a Jeep Wrangler. I thought that was the end of it but I was wrong. He took another piece and threw it into the Jeep again. Normally, I would've enjoyed a little stunt like that but this time, I was pissed off since the guy driving the Jeep decided to follow us to MY house.
Aaaaaaanyways...what I'm getting at is that if I was in the mood for a fight and if I had known the inconsiderate couple was leaving early, I would've chewed some gum and thrown it into the chick's rat's nest of hair. Oh well. Missed opportunities. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
Maybe next time I'll say something - fight or no fight. I'm tired of all this passive aggression when people aren't trying to make the effort to respect each other. It makes me very upset.
Love and kisses,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I
Showing posts with label lack of respect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lack of respect. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sauced - an overall horrible experience
As a resident that lives OTP (outside the Perimeter), I don't have a huge, huge handle on Atlanta restaurants. I'm only familiar with a handful of places - especially since my old man is Vegan, which limits our options even more. So the only time I get to experience Atlanta dining is when I venture out with my friends. Last night, I did just that.
We were trying to figure out what do to kick off our girls night and, naturally, we started at Cameli's. You can't go wrong with pizza!
After a healthy amount of delicious pizza, we were trying to figure out where to go next. I'm not too sure of what's good - except for the usual places I know of, so I usually leave it up to everyone else to tell me what's good around town.
We were trying to figure out what do to kick off our girls night and, naturally, we started at Cameli's. You can't go wrong with pizza!
After a healthy amount of delicious pizza, we were trying to figure out where to go next. I'm not too sure of what's good - except for the usual places I know of, so I usually leave it up to everyone else to tell me what's good around town.
I had heard Sauced come up a few times and the one time I tried to go there with L and C, they were closed so I didn't really think too much of it until L brought it up last night and I said we should maybe check it out. In hindsight, we should've gone somewhere else but how were we supposed to know it would be a terrible experience?
It started out awkwardly. We entered the small space and stood at the Host/Hostess/Dj booth and waited. And waited. And waited. We probably would've gone to the bar if it wasn't so crowded. Finally, a guy with permanent stink face seated us - after joining two table tops together. He muttered something snarky as I passed him but I couldn't tell what he said. I should have know that that was not a good sign.
Our waiter showed up and we were kind enough to tell him that we weren't going to order dinner but we were definitely going to get drinks and dessert - because, after all, the Sauced website says that it's a "Restaurant and Lounge". Big mistake because, apparently, that was his invitation to pretty much ignore us the entire time we were there. Luckily, we were able to get one drink each, their bacon peanut brittle and finally, their lemon ice box pie. I don't know how we were able to get those since we pretty much had to catch our waiter on his way back from servicing other tables. I get it - we weren't eating dinner BUT we would've gotten more drinks if he had just come back to give us refills on our water - which didn't happen. And on top of that, I was getting into a story I was telling and I leaned out a little and got elbowed by our waiter. I was the only one apologizing. Why? I don't know but he never said "sorry" for elbowing me. It was an accident, yes, and I acknowledged that it was an accident but for some reason he didn't really seem too involved because I guess it was my fault. Silly me!
It started out awkwardly. We entered the small space and stood at the Host/Hostess/Dj booth and waited. And waited. And waited. We probably would've gone to the bar if it wasn't so crowded. Finally, a guy with permanent stink face seated us - after joining two table tops together. He muttered something snarky as I passed him but I couldn't tell what he said. I should have know that that was not a good sign.
Our waiter showed up and we were kind enough to tell him that we weren't going to order dinner but we were definitely going to get drinks and dessert - because, after all, the Sauced website says that it's a "Restaurant and Lounge". Big mistake because, apparently, that was his invitation to pretty much ignore us the entire time we were there. Luckily, we were able to get one drink each, their bacon peanut brittle and finally, their lemon ice box pie. I don't know how we were able to get those since we pretty much had to catch our waiter on his way back from servicing other tables. I get it - we weren't eating dinner BUT we would've gotten more drinks if he had just come back to give us refills on our water - which didn't happen. And on top of that, I was getting into a story I was telling and I leaned out a little and got elbowed by our waiter. I was the only one apologizing. Why? I don't know but he never said "sorry" for elbowing me. It was an accident, yes, and I acknowledged that it was an accident but for some reason he didn't really seem too involved because I guess it was my fault. Silly me!
The only things to save the experience were: my drink - The Dixie Cup (a little expensive), the lemon ice box pie - which was rich, creamy and delicious and the incredibly good looking bartender (a handsome young fellow with manicured facial hair, slicked back hair and a noticeable "straight edge" tattoo on his left arm - among many others). The bacon peanut brittle didn't grab me as much as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong - it was still good but it wasn't anything to write home about.
The decor was a little bizarre as well. L said that Creative Loafing had said it was like eating inside a Wes Anderson film. Yeah, I guess I could see that but it felt more like hanging out in Eric Foreman's basement. I would've preferred Kitty and Red's presence more than the actual wait staff.
At one point, we had decided we wanted to leave and we were looking out for our waiter when we spotted him behind the bar, talking to the guy who seated us - who was NOT shy about staring at us, and another waitress who joined in on the staring. But what made it worse was we all had exchanged awkward eye contact, which made me think: Okay, I have acknowledged you staring at us and possibly talking shit so I will raise my almost empty glass of water and see if you will do your job and come over to refill it. Nope. No refill, no opportunity for a second drink or even a second dessert. I know we weren't dinner customers and all but we were still customers. We were willing to give you money! We wanted to but apparently, we weren't worth the time. If I hadn't been so enamored with the bartender, I would have walked up to the bar and asked the bartender to close us out since he was the only one who was actually doing his job. But I couldn't muster up the courage. Instead, we waited for our waiter before he finally gave us our check - which was handwritten so we couldn't get his name. No, he did not introduce himself to us when we sat down.
L was telling me she had never experienced such bad service there, so this was a surprise to her! I was entertaining bringing my step-sister to Sauced the next time she was visiting from New York (since it kind of reminded me of a spot we had gone to in Brooklyn) but I took the offer off the table because of the terrible service. The only way I'd take her is if we were able to sit at the bar with the handsome straight edge tattooed bartender serving us.
I think it's safe to say that I'm pretty sure I will not be returning to Sauced and if people ask me about it, I'll be sure to tell them about my horrible experience. And if they're brave enough to venture through, I'll be sure to have them report back.
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A few words on feeling inferior in the workplace...
Today is not a good day. No, it isn't. I was talking with a co-worker of mine about apprenticeships. I'd love love LOVE to be the apprentice of a wonderful, reputable editor and / or motion graphics artist but there's one problem: most of them think they're superior to the rest of us. Now I'm not saying ALL of them are like that but they can get a little patronizing.
Yes, I know what After Effects is and no, I don't use it to its full potential and neither do you.
Yes, I have worked on Avid before (granted it was only DV Xpress but Avid is still Avid) and yes, I work on Final Cut Pro now but that doesn't make me any less of an editor.
I know that the job I'm in now doesn't really let me have my full range of creativity but I make it work. I graduated college in 2001 and A LOT has changed in the post-world. But I have two things working against me that have been a major issue since the dawn of man: 1) I'm a minority and 2) I'm a woman.
So, working in a predominately male field was going to be a challenge from the start. I knew that when I had to teach myself tape-to-tape editing in my freshman year of high school (since no one would help me). But in high school, many people took video classes for the semi-easy A (or to make Quentin Tarantino-style shorts). I took it because I genuinely liked it. In fact, I liked it so much that I went to college for it.
In college, I met great friends. I rounded out a group of friends by being the "token" girl and the "token" minority all in one! And we made hilarious (Wes Anderson-style) shorts. But I noticed there was one small problem: I didn't really get to do anything technical.
I've always wanted to be an editor. Especially after I found out about Avid. Shit, even Media 100! Editing is, like, my dream job. Taking the chaos that comes with filming and putting it into a nice, pretty, entertaining order. I didn't really get a chance to do that in college. And the few projects I was able to got very weird reception.
My projects are strange, yes, but I've always loved film/video as an art form. When I had my first After Effects class, I freaked out.
After Effects is amazing! You can do so much with it! I love it! And if you've never used it before but you know Photoshop, it's easy as pie - for the basics. After you've mastered the basics, the possibilities are endless!
My knowledge with After Effects is fairly basic. When I do complicated things, I take the "long way" - I keyframe for days and days because I like that part. I enjoy the convinience of the Animation Presets but I prefer the tediousness of keyframing. It gets a little frustrating now and then but so what?! It's YOUR creation. Your own, personal creation with your own little quirks and things. That's what I enjoy.
Every once in a while, I get asked about it and I end up teaching someone the basics. Just the bare bones minimal. No problem there. But many times after that, they all think I'm some sort of idiot and they've surpassed me in After Effects knowledge - which makes them superior to me in every way. It's not just After Effects (or FCP, for that matter) - it could be anything. I took a Deko class just for the company I was working for with 4 other employees. We all learned the same material at the same time and I was given the task of maintaining the Deko machine. For some reason, one person in that group thought he was superior to me (with seniority yeah, sure) but little did he know that I would have to go back and fix his errors from Thursday night on my Friday house-keeping day. Every fucking Friday.
And sure, I was outside of "post-world" for a loooooong time and it's taken some getting used to but, dammit, I'm still fucking awesome at FCP. And I may not use the animation presets in After Effects but, dammit, I still get the mother fucking job done.
So where is this leading? When my friend and I were talking about apprenticeships, I told her that a lot of the "masters" in my field (in every other field, too, I'm sure) is kind of a dick - especially if you're a woman. The attitude always seems like, "Hey you crazy lady, what are you doing out of the kitchen?" Oh fuck no! There is no excuse for that sad, sorry attitude anymore. And what's funny is is that the company I work for now is predominately women! But since I'm the only editor on staff, they've had to out-source. No problems there - except one place where I felt inferior to all the men that do the same things I do except this time, I was telling them what to do as the "producer" of sorts. No problem there, I enjoy bossing people around in my own way, but there was an undertone that reeked of lack of respect. Like I wasn't a good enough editor so they had to pass it off to "real" editors. Fuck that! My bosses didn't realize that the amount of work they have is too much for one person to do alone (7 1 hour+ DVDs to edit and author PLUS in-house online only content and inter-office training sessions, etc). So, the bulk of it was passed off to a post house and the inter-office stuff lands on me. And there's plenty to do. But I just can't shake the lack of respect I'm getting as of late.
When we film for our DVDs, I'm in charge. The in-house folks ask me questions and they ask me my professional opinion. That part makes me feel validated and confident. But when someone comes up behind me and re-words what I say to make it sound like it was their idea, I really fucking hate that shit. Don't argue with me over something that will end up helping you in the end. It really knocks me down and makes me start to wonder if I even picked the right field. But discrimination and bullying like that is everywhere - no matter where you look, even outside the work place.
What people don't realize is that it is a form of bullying. Yeah - high school bullying. It's all petty and shit and I shouldn't let it get to me but it does because at the core, it still fucking hurts. It hurts to be undermined, it hurts when you patronize me, it hurts when you take my fucking ideas as your own, it hurts when you fucking treat me like shit, it hurts when you make me feel inferior and it hurts when you don't respect me.
I love everything about post production but I hate the attitude of the people around me. And it's not as easy as "If you can't beat them, join them" because that's not right. Post production is teamwork. If you can't respect your team, then why do you do it? I have 1000% respect for my "old" team. We have eachothers' backs. We don't pick on one another if we need help somewhere. In fact, we're not too proud to ask for help - we help each other out. But now, I feel like it's being thrown off balance because this lack of respect thing has gone on far enough. I mean, I am fucking turning 30 this year and I'm still dealing with the same kind of discrimination that I was dealing with in elementary, middle and high school. I thought that shit was over and done with but I guess some people just can't grow up.
< / rant >
Sorry for the rant, I just had to put this out somewhere.
Thank you
Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.
PS - This was SLYASDI's 100th blog post! Wowzers meowzers!
Yes, I know what After Effects is and no, I don't use it to its full potential and neither do you.
Yes, I have worked on Avid before (granted it was only DV Xpress but Avid is still Avid) and yes, I work on Final Cut Pro now but that doesn't make me any less of an editor.
I know that the job I'm in now doesn't really let me have my full range of creativity but I make it work. I graduated college in 2001 and A LOT has changed in the post-world. But I have two things working against me that have been a major issue since the dawn of man: 1) I'm a minority and 2) I'm a woman.
So, working in a predominately male field was going to be a challenge from the start. I knew that when I had to teach myself tape-to-tape editing in my freshman year of high school (since no one would help me). But in high school, many people took video classes for the semi-easy A (or to make Quentin Tarantino-style shorts). I took it because I genuinely liked it. In fact, I liked it so much that I went to college for it.
In college, I met great friends. I rounded out a group of friends by being the "token" girl and the "token" minority all in one! And we made hilarious (Wes Anderson-style) shorts. But I noticed there was one small problem: I didn't really get to do anything technical.
I've always wanted to be an editor. Especially after I found out about Avid. Shit, even Media 100! Editing is, like, my dream job. Taking the chaos that comes with filming and putting it into a nice, pretty, entertaining order. I didn't really get a chance to do that in college. And the few projects I was able to got very weird reception.
My projects are strange, yes, but I've always loved film/video as an art form. When I had my first After Effects class, I freaked out.
After Effects is amazing! You can do so much with it! I love it! And if you've never used it before but you know Photoshop, it's easy as pie - for the basics. After you've mastered the basics, the possibilities are endless!
My knowledge with After Effects is fairly basic. When I do complicated things, I take the "long way" - I keyframe for days and days because I like that part. I enjoy the convinience of the Animation Presets but I prefer the tediousness of keyframing. It gets a little frustrating now and then but so what?! It's YOUR creation. Your own, personal creation with your own little quirks and things. That's what I enjoy.
Every once in a while, I get asked about it and I end up teaching someone the basics. Just the bare bones minimal. No problem there. But many times after that, they all think I'm some sort of idiot and they've surpassed me in After Effects knowledge - which makes them superior to me in every way. It's not just After Effects (or FCP, for that matter) - it could be anything. I took a Deko class just for the company I was working for with 4 other employees. We all learned the same material at the same time and I was given the task of maintaining the Deko machine. For some reason, one person in that group thought he was superior to me (with seniority yeah, sure) but little did he know that I would have to go back and fix his errors from Thursday night on my Friday house-keeping day. Every fucking Friday.
And sure, I was outside of "post-world" for a loooooong time and it's taken some getting used to but, dammit, I'm still fucking awesome at FCP. And I may not use the animation presets in After Effects but, dammit, I still get the mother fucking job done.
So where is this leading? When my friend and I were talking about apprenticeships, I told her that a lot of the "masters" in my field (in every other field, too, I'm sure) is kind of a dick - especially if you're a woman. The attitude always seems like, "Hey you crazy lady, what are you doing out of the kitchen?" Oh fuck no! There is no excuse for that sad, sorry attitude anymore. And what's funny is is that the company I work for now is predominately women! But since I'm the only editor on staff, they've had to out-source. No problems there - except one place where I felt inferior to all the men that do the same things I do except this time, I was telling them what to do as the "producer" of sorts. No problem there, I enjoy bossing people around in my own way, but there was an undertone that reeked of lack of respect. Like I wasn't a good enough editor so they had to pass it off to "real" editors. Fuck that! My bosses didn't realize that the amount of work they have is too much for one person to do alone (7 1 hour+ DVDs to edit and author PLUS in-house online only content and inter-office training sessions, etc). So, the bulk of it was passed off to a post house and the inter-office stuff lands on me. And there's plenty to do. But I just can't shake the lack of respect I'm getting as of late.
When we film for our DVDs, I'm in charge. The in-house folks ask me questions and they ask me my professional opinion. That part makes me feel validated and confident. But when someone comes up behind me and re-words what I say to make it sound like it was their idea, I really fucking hate that shit. Don't argue with me over something that will end up helping you in the end. It really knocks me down and makes me start to wonder if I even picked the right field. But discrimination and bullying like that is everywhere - no matter where you look, even outside the work place.
What people don't realize is that it is a form of bullying. Yeah - high school bullying. It's all petty and shit and I shouldn't let it get to me but it does because at the core, it still fucking hurts. It hurts to be undermined, it hurts when you patronize me, it hurts when you take my fucking ideas as your own, it hurts when you fucking treat me like shit, it hurts when you make me feel inferior and it hurts when you don't respect me.
I love everything about post production but I hate the attitude of the people around me. And it's not as easy as "If you can't beat them, join them" because that's not right. Post production is teamwork. If you can't respect your team, then why do you do it? I have 1000% respect for my "old" team. We have eachothers' backs. We don't pick on one another if we need help somewhere. In fact, we're not too proud to ask for help - we help each other out. But now, I feel like it's being thrown off balance because this lack of respect thing has gone on far enough. I mean, I am fucking turning 30 this year and I'm still dealing with the same kind of discrimination that I was dealing with in elementary, middle and high school. I thought that shit was over and done with but I guess some people just can't grow up.
< / rant >
Sorry for the rant, I just had to put this out somewhere.
Thank you
Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.
PS - This was SLYASDI's 100th blog post! Wowzers meowzers!
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