Stigma Exposed from Establishments in Orange County, CA
Stigma Exposed from Establishments in Orange County, CA
by
F. Daniel Brizuela a.k.a. Ouroboros
Hello again my audience, I hope this information becomes educative and brings out awareness. First of all, I will separate these groups to give you a most appropriate understanding of what I am describing. The first group I will refer to as "M-Group," which serves minority groups, and then, "R-Group," will describe all retail stores and restaurants. Before I divide the groups and expand, have you ever noticed that you (with/without mental health, addiction, homelessness, etc.) have ever been followed, been looked at negatively, and/or felt the atmosphere around people uneasy? Does it happen to you rarely? Sometimes? or Often? Well, I am going to give you an eye-opening discovery through my own eyes and experience. Hopefully, I am not the only one experiencing this covert biased conformity.
M-Group:
- Addiction/Chemical Dependence/Substance Abuse/Polysubstance Dependency
- Mental Health/Mental Illness/Psychiatric Disorders/Comorbidity
- Behavioral Health Issues/Learning Disabilities/Eating Disorders
- Lower-class/Poverty/Homelessness
- Non-White (specifically Latino and Black ethnicity)
- Male or Masculine Mannerism
- Gay (Obvious, non-straight acting) - Transsexual/Transgender
- Dressed like a thug/gang-member, goth/emo style
- Carrying a backpack or a plastic bag in your hand
Tell me the M-Group seems quite big of labels, characteristics, and presentation huh? If you pertain to any of these well, now you will have a more rear viewpoint when you go anywhere. If now, up to this point jugs a few experiences, well keep reading. This feed will fascinate you. Now let's break-down R-Group and you can see the subjects.
R-Group:
- McDonalds/Burger-King/Jack-n-Box/Wendy's (Classic Fast Food)
- Pollo-Loco/Taco-Bell/Del-Taco/Flame-Broiler/Subway/Starbucks (Other Take Out)
- Target/Walmart/K-Mart/Home-Depot/Best-Buy/Ross (Shopping Stores)
- Food4Less/Ralphs/Stater-Bros/Northgate/Superior/Albertson/7-Eleven (Grocery Supermarkets)
- Nordstrom/iHop/Dennys/Lil-Caesers/Pizzahut (Diners/Carryout)
- CVS Pharmacy/Walgreens/Rite-Aid/Savon (Pharmacies)
- ARCO/Chevron/Mobil/Shell/GM Gas Station (Gasoline Services)
- Embassy Suites/Hilton/Motel-6/Best-Western/Mariott/Wyndham Hotels (Travel Hospitality)
- OCTA Bus/Uber/Lyft/Yellow-Cab-Taxi (Transportation)
I think I have covered the majority of the retails and restaurants. Why these entities you may ask? They are not randomly chosen and they are categorized in generalized terms so I don't bore you with an endless saga of each entity. Instead, I will include each one with the stigma that was shown to me since most of you reading this have at least gone to one of these stores once or more times, you will know the reference once you complete reading this blog. Now let me disclose my attire at the time of being given shame by these entities.
My Attire and Labels:
- Homosexual
- Mental Illness
- Learning Disabilities
- Addiction
- Homeless
- Guatemalan-Egyptian
- Male
- Gay (homosexual)
- Dressed like someone from the streets
- Carried a Backpack with sometimes a plastic backpack
So now that you have an idea of how I was dressed and my labels of demeanor, you can have an idea of how my presentation brought attention. In the next, I will describe each experience based on the R-Group's behavior and response to how I entered. I will describe it in two concepts for R-Group and M-Group: From R-Group, "Behavior" &"Engagement" & M-Group, "Response" & "Emotion."
Social Inequality Observed & Engaged:
(Classic Fast Food)
R-Group
- Behavior - Looked at me with disgust, the energy felt hostile and repulsive.
- Engagement - Treated my poor customer service, prepared my meal late or poor presentation gave me a time limit to dine in and lied about the bathroom function
- Response - Ate my meal fast to not be told anything, when they would cause a scene I would leave the establishment, I broke into tears and looked down on the ground.
- Emotion - I felt like an insect bugging them, I felt like an outcast, a nuisance, and embarrassment.
R-Group
- Behavior - Employees acted high and mighty, both employees and customers had a hive mentality in which people that visit with struggles feel like an outsider.
- Engagement - To enter the establishment I was told I needed to buy something while others used their tables for their laptops for free, the bathroom was out of service for me or I was only given 5 minutes, and to stay in I had a 10 to 15-minute time limit or they call security or the police.
- Response - I would retaliate and broadcast prejudice and injustice but no one cared to defend it, had to comply to avoid trouble, even with compliance at times the authorities and/or security were called on me and would put a timer on my device to leave without causing problems.
- Emotion - My heart could not contain its passion of either anger (no violence) through shouting outside saying "why me?" or sadness and falling to the ground in tears and sobbing with my misfortune and shame stamp.
R-Group
- Behavior - When entering the store, their employees send loss prevention and/or employees to follow me every single place of the store, even the bathroom, and self-checkout, and as soon as I am about to leave the store 10 to 12 employees and loss prevention are waiting for the alarm to ring to just tackle me down.
- Engagement - Employees would engage out of the norm with me and ask me what I am doing here for and even ask me if I am going to purchase anything and that this is not a hangout place; even a situation the alarm when off when both myself and a Caucasian man passed through; guess who got tackled and searched only?
- Response - Out of civility and appropriateness, I went up to an employee and asked to speak to their manager yet even their supervisors and/or managers gave me that fake apology and that next time would be better yet its not true; I even had to yell out for others to notice the abuse "Hey everyone the potential thief is walking out with purchased items with a valid receipt." The workers and customers look the other way.
- Emotion - The emotions that I felt were righteous anger, hurt, grief, fear, rejection, embarrassment, shame, unfairness, and a fool.
R-Group
- Behavior - Frown upon using loose change to pay, judged when using EBT to pay for the food, and waiting in line other people would get taken care of and I would be ignored.
- Engagement - I would be asked to leave the store or to hurry up because I am bothering actual paying customers, the bathroom is only for employees when I would see customers use it, and would always have reinforcements at the cash register while other registers were not enforced.
- Response - I would speed up my shopping, make a prior list to make sure to stay in the store no more than 10 minutes, and I try to remain polite. I would only look at the ground while waiting for the line to move.
- Emotion - I felt like I always do when going into a market, eyes are always on me, I try to smile while others talk in the background about how I smell, or how I was homeless and always feeling like a joke, nuisance, and rushed.
R-Group
- Behavior -When I walk in, the employees point at me and start talking among themselves, would make me pay first for the order and then I would get seated, and would seat me on a dirty table, or a bad spot or away from the public.
- Engagement - I felt like a disease or virus that they were trying to isolate or quarantine, accused of being someone I was not, and felt worthless when they took forever to bring me my order or even when they see I am about to be finished giving me 5 minutes to leave, I never get refills, or asked if I need anything else, or even grant me customer service.
- Response - What I would do to not cause problems or have customers complain, I would eat my food fast, and even before entering the store make sure to have enough funds to pay for my meal because one time I was short they made a big fuss and threatened to call the authorities.
- Emotion - Can you imagine how I felt? Did you think I would show my face a second time? Do you think that I would rather starve than dining in at any of these places where they rush you, observe you, mistrust you, and treat you less than a person? The answer is "NO."
R-Group
- Behavior - Examined you as soon as you walk into the establishment, call or announce I the intercom security check on the aisle I am in and/or announce a series of numbers where indicates a homeless person is walking in and to keep watch.
- Engagement - When I walk in I am asked by the employee that I must leave my belongings in the front but will not be responsible if they get damaged or stolen, and if I refuse they state that I must leave and to not come back.
- Response - I ask for equal right to be treated like other customers with respect and dignity and they reply, that I am not a customer, and that I should go to a park to bathe than their bathroom which I was not going to use for that.
- Emotion - I felt like a presumed criminal or thief, every time I brought up social justice, they reinforce their stance with more aggression and verbal violence, and when this occurs more embarrassment and ridicule I continue to experience.
R-Group
- Behavior - Since they engage with homeless people or drug users they opinionated on anyone who walks in with the same apparel that they are the same, so time limit, watching me like a hawk, and telling me to leave my bags or belongings in the front.
- Engagement - Do not wander in the aisles long or they will call the cops, no bathrooms unless you pay a minimum of $10 or more at the register or if not the bathrooms are only for employees.
- Response - I stand for myself a few times to them and stated, I am not homeless and that I am a nurse but my apparel did not show that, and they say to me to not lie and the authorities get called and I run due to not wanting to face a bigger threat.
- Emotion - Honestly, I feel traumatized, disrespected, resentful, and even agitated depressive symptoms because they defeat me for feeling like a person.
R-Group
- Behavior - The eyes of the employees go from calm and welcoming to hatred and prejudgment and tell me to keep my distance more than the pandemic qualities, and apparently, I call attention when I carry a backpack.
- Engagement - As soon as I walk in, the security or employee tries telling me to leave or they will the cops. They presume I am a homeless person trying to inhabit inside and I mentioned why the hostility. Sometimes they made me wait outside until they had no customers checking in to check me in. They give me the unclean rooms, unfinished rooms, give me the room that I did not choose and tell me I can't bring anyone or any problem I cause they will kick me out without a refund.
- Response - I ask them, why they treat do they treat me like I am broke or homeless and some dared to say because you are a homeless man that manage to get a few bucks to get a cheap room for the night. When they treat me like I am worthless, I show them my National Providers Identification number and my nursing license and say that's me I am what is called an "Essential Worker." And quickly they change their tune and falsely act kindly.
- Emotion - Feelings of worthless are transparent. Anger and rage inflame my blood. And also, I feel a strong empathetic link with others misjudged and mistreated the same way I am.
R-Group
- Behavior - As soon as I get in I am told to get out, they want money up front, and show no humanity.
- Engagement - Making me beg to get on because of fear of being followed or a cold night to walk to your destination, they let you on until you are humiliated or sometimes do things that you don't want to do to get a ride somewhere.
- Response - Since I didn't have funds at times or not enough, I had to beg and crawl and beg to them and explain the situation openly where others heard my privacy and humiliation was emanate. When the payment could be negotiated with favors, I was forced to offer my body to behave and act in ways that the drivers found amusement and pleasure at my own expense.
- Emotion - I felt like a cheap prostitute working the streets for measly coins to survive, degrading my validity as a person to be used and ridiculed. In the end, I felt like an object worth a sales price that any single person could afford or get their paws on.
Ask yourselves, do you want this stigma to happen to you? To happen to your loved ones? To happen to your Friends? To happen to innocent people? To happen to children? I hope your answer to all these questions is unanimous and it's a "No." Please comment on my blog and share your stories with me, I want to be a service to those in need. The time for tyranny, division, rejection, abandonment, and secrecy to be obliterated and let us stand strong together. Do you want to see "I Stand Alone," or "We Stand Alone or As One?" I believe that sometimes the ugly or horrifying information must be exposed to break the illusion and in the end, the Truth may be hard but it will reign supreme and bring fairness to us all.
Comments
Post a Comment