Speaking your mind - it's the new black!

I often get fan mail from the likes of Sting, Oprah, even Paris Hilton (remember when she guest-blogged for us?) But I rarely share the letters I get because they're often of a personal nature. However, this one literally made angels sing and birdies chirp all around my head because while I semi-consciously gab on and on about body image, I don't really realize it when I spout off about telling people - doctors, salespeople, ice cream scoopers, whomever - what you really feel. I got this email just after my 1999 Craptastic Cougar died in the middle of nowhere and I was PMSsy and upset and crying uncontrollable to the Triple A woman (hormones) and by the time I got home, I was in such a foul mood...then I opened my email and this fabulous letter was there and it made me smile SO MUCH! I probably looked like an idiot at my computer, grinning through the mascara streaks on my cheeks. Here it is:

Hey Leslie,

So this may be kind of a weird email but I had a Weighting Game-inspired moment of empowerment yesterday and I needed to share it with someone. You seemed like the natural choice.

I am an avid reader of and some time commenter (code name: rebecca, lol) on your Weighting Game blog. And your writings and those of my fellow readers continually inspire, motivate, and challenge me and Ido try to apply what I learn to my everyday life.

Anyway, I was in Kinko's yesterday getting something copied and bound. After being treated so incredibly rudely from the moment I walked in the door, I was then charged twice the price I was originally quoted without any justification beyond that the price was what it was. I was livid but it was a gift and I needed it. So I paid for it (that the credit card machine kept malfunctioning while I tried swiping my Mastercard did not help matters...at all).

I walked out the door, silently fuming. I walked two blocks, thinking okay, an oatmeal raisin cookie from Whole Foods is going to make this all better. And then, I performed the cliche tv show heroine moment of realization, stopped in my tracks and thought Leslie and the Weighting Game women would NOT stand for this. Yes, this was really what I thought as I flashbacked to your recent posts about the rude gyno, the Express dress discount, and the frozen custard girl. (LOL, what a weird combination of incidents when strung together like that).

Now, I am not known for my assertiveness. I am more of the passive-aggressive sort. But I marched right back into the Kinkos, asked for the manager, and in the most assertive voice I could muster, I told her that this was not right. I was quoted one price and charged twice that, without warning or any real justification. It could have been my assertiveness, or more likely that everyone in the Kinko's was now staring at us, but she relented and gave me my money back.

It was such a huge empowering moment for me! I felt like raising my hands in victory as I walked out of the store.

So thanks for the inspiration!!! Have a great weekend!
Rebecca

(PS If you haven't already, make sure to check out Rebecca's blog, I Wanna Be a Domestic Goddess)

Weee! While we're talking (OK, I'm talking) about my assertiveness, I must share the following tidbit with you. I was commenting on other peoples' blogs writing at Caribou Coffee on Friday when this woman came in, sat next to me and proceeded to engage in in - I am not kidding - absolutely the loudest and most intense Russian cell phone conversation ever. Now, I consider myself pretty tolerant of ear-splitting jibjab (hello, I write at steaming, pumping, grinding coffee shops every day) but this was just insane. I pictured her words, translated, as "Sure, I can speak louder than a freight train! How's this? Louder? OK, let me try mimicking Gilbert Godfried on speed!" Normally, I would simply get her attention and ask her to please keep it down a bit but I was feeling sassy and passive-aggressive so I called my friend Julie (fluent in Russian, I might add, and also not picking up her phone). Then I called Dan.

"Will you indulge me for a minute as I engage in a childish social experiment?" I asked him. He said he would. I then launched into a full-tilt auditory assault on the woman, screaming into the phone total nonsense like, "I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU'RE MAD, DAN. I BOUGHT THE BLUEBERRIES AND CORN AND PLACED THEM IN YOUR JACKET POCKET, JUST LIKE YOU ASKED."

"Um, what are you talking about?" he responded in an indoor voice.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" I scream-responded. "THAT IS THE BEST NEWS I'VE GOT ALL DAY! A TEDDY BEAR CAME ALIVE AND IS IN OUR BATHROOM?"

Dan: "Oh, is there someone talking really loudly next to you or something?"

Me: "DEFINITELY! YOU ARE SOOO RIGHT!" My voice was actually starting to hurt. The Russian never even looked up from her hot cocoa.

Comments

you might have just made me pee my pants a little bit. just maybe
blueberries and corn in the pocket? hahaha
I would have loved to be in the coffee shop witnessing this hoop-rah

So ... did anyone tell you to keep it down, or was everyone in awe of your awesome social experiment?

You are giving many of us a little kick in the pants to stand up for ourselves. Thanks!

oooooh.
is this gonna be another blog for you?

THE GREAT SOCIAL EXPERIMENT?

M.

ps--sorry, next time Ill try and keep my russian down a few decibels. I was all kinds of wired on my hot chocolate :)

Wow, there must be a rude phone bug going around! I was enjoying my Sex and the City movie this afternoon and the woman one row behind had two solid conversations with someone on the other end. It's not like they don't remind you five times in the previews :) I love how you dealt with it though! I wish I could think of things like that.

Bring a hidden camera next time!! You would be a natural on one of those shows. Plus I bet you could totally get a Kate Spade and write it off as a business expense:) You'd be the star of YouTube. Everybody hates loud cellphone gabbers. If you want, I can teach you some dirty words in Russian (nothing else tho as apparently all I remember are the bad ones!)

Oooo! Go ASSERTIVE! And, GREAT fanmail! How nice.... How amazing to inspire someone like that. Congratulations... :)

And, LOVING your phone conversation. Blueberry in pocket? Brillers. ;)

AWESOME!!!!! All of it, it's just AWESOME!!!!!

That was hilarious--how do you think of these things?

I just do the squinchy-eyed Stare of Death, which alas, is very easy to ignore.

I then escalate by sighing loudly and lining up social support among other patrons until we're all sighing and frowning and shaking our heads. Still too easy to ignore.

Your way is much more amusing if I ever had the guts to do it.

OMG - I am SO glad my office door was closed as I read that - I doubled over with the giggles. LOVE it.

I also love how Dan knows you so well and goes along with the craziness ... I mean, assertiveness!

Booo ha ha ha ha!

You have the BEST experiments:)

And hurray Rebecca! That's so awesome.

Sweet, I'm a Weighting Game Woman.
I feel like I need a button or something. :)

Russians....what's there to say?
Kinko's? What an abomination of a company. Lets move all Kinko's stores to Russia. They can be loud AND rude all they want. (Yea, I like to generalize and throw the baby out with the bathwater and yes, I literally throw the bathwater outside and watch the plants die because of the toxicity of baby water. Oh and what's up with people bathing babies in the kitchen sink? Isn't that one of THE dirties places in the house? WTF?)

I do admit that sometimes I think of Leslie when in a sticky situation. Like What Would Leslie Do. I did tell this jerk at my work last week that I don't appreciate being bullied and he went to my boss and apologized to her. Which was weird. And I was too tired to think what he meant by it, but I told him. That's all.

LMAO...that's all. Just, you know, LMAO. And I can't stop. Which is bad, cause I'm at work.

Blueberries and corn...OMG. I have to remember that one next time I'm at the post office and someone's rambling on at full volume about their weekend on their Bluetooth headset.

V.

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thanks