THIS is how you handle something properly – Corporate, DID style… A niche, but hear me out:
My initial response:
“Hell. Fucking. No.”
Justifying my point to someone who said I was being too sensitive:
“Actually, I get angry when people make fun of people who have survived severe trauma. You call that offended. I call it common decency.”
My response as a consumer, to their international CEO in regards to their Advertisement:
[TEXT:
Mr Gainor,
It has come to my attention that in an advertisement for your banana split, you have chosen to make mental illness the punchline. This is in reference to the “Split personality? Order two!” sign. I would like to inform you that this is extremely offensive.
It’s called Dissociative Identity Disorder – and it is caused by chronic and severe trauma during early childhood.
I have been a customer at Dairy Queen for over a decade, and you have lost a lifetime of business from this former customer.
I would also like to inform you that DID occurs at a rate of 1% in the general population. You have just alienated and made a tasteless joke in reference to 1 out of every 100 customers.
And finally, I wanted to let you know that you have made survivors of the most horrific trauma and abuse a punchline.
Please reconsider this ad and remove it before you cause more damage to your company.
Sincerely, Eleanor Hutchinson (a real life person with DID)]
And today, to my shock and amazement:
[TEXT:
Dear Ms. Hutchinson,
Thank you for reaching out to John Gainor regarding the point of sale poster for the banana split seen in Texas.
I am so sorry we have upset you and offended you. Please accept my apologies on behalf of John and the corporation.
Everyone on Texas Marketing and Operations teams is working to have this removed and destroyed immediately.
Kind regards,
Carolyn
Carolyn Kidder Senior Fan Relations Manager American Dairy Queen Corporation
”: ]
My final response:
[TEXT:
Ms. Kidder, Your apology is warmly accepted. Thank you for listening and responding so gracefully. DQ has been a brand I have been loyal to since childhood, and have had the fondest memories. I’m reminded of fund raisers in the community; and the sponsorship of my high school’s hockey team, along with the Peer Mentors program. You have certainly won back my current and future business. I think I’m going to have to go get a blizzard 😊 Thank you for listening to the DID community’s feedback. It helps restore your faith a bit, you know? Take care,Eleanor Hutchinson ]
Long story short; A+ to Dairy Queen for being so responsive. I love you more than I thought possible :,)
While this blog primarily focuses on physical accessibility and ableism directed towards physically disabled people, this is a great example of how to respond to ableism anywhere- especially at a corporate level. Contact the company politely and explain why something is a problem to someone in charge. Don’t yell at employees- it isn’t up to them to decide. Ask the employees how you can contact the manager and/or owner of this branch. Some will refuse to help or lie claiming they don’t know how to reach their manager. If there is a customer satisfaction survey and employees made bs claims like this and stonewalled you that you fill it out with a complaint about their unwillingness to help you. Beyond that harassing employees does nothing. If they won’t say who to contact go directly to the chain head with what happened. They will get in touch with the manager/owner and ensure the issue is fixed because they don’t want their brand to look bad.
This was how I handled a recent incident where a security guard refused to let my working service dog come with me into hospital. I gave them the laws and wrote an info sheet on applicable local laws as well as federal and provincial around service dogs and disability accommodation. They have asked permission to make my info sheet I made to summarize things as a permanent part of their staff training. By going to the person in charge not just yelling at employees, especially if you are able to explain how to fix it, it ends up not only helping you but others who didn’t know what to do or who don’t have the spoons to handle it.
I can feel…the serotonin and dopamine dropping…i need to make…Crafts
i must make…
b e a d l i z a r d
B…
B e a d l i z a r d
I have seen these things for years but never knew how to make them so I must thank op for this new knowledge
op has given me the best gift possible
ive been making them for four days
Am… am I back in the 90’s?
Bead animals were my JAM in the 90’s!! And you don’t have to limit your creativity to lizards, either! With a few adjustments, you can make anything!
AND with a little practice, you can even make them 3D shaped (especially with the smaller beads and wire, though you can make them with the bigger beads and string, to an extent)
So fun fact–I’ve gone into the calligraphy tag on tumblr, and plenty of times I’ll see people who post pieces that are, quite frankly, better than mine. And yet, they will often have a total of 0 notes. And it’s because they don’t understand that tumblr isn’t instagram. They have the edge with calligraphy, but I’m better at understanding how to operate tumblr–does it matter if theirs is better if no one sees it? So, I figured I’d outline some of the ways to run a successful calligraphy blog on tumblr!
Only the first 5 tags will show up in the tags. If you use serach, or go on mobile the first 25 will show up, so make sure to put the 5 most important tags first
Instagram is solely pictures and videos. Tumblr is Not. So while there is a calligraphy community, it isn’t the same as instagram. So definitely use “calligraphy” in the first tag, BUT if you use a quote from, let’s say a marvel movie, have the other 4 tags be marvel related.
Like don’t spam the tags by tagging things that don’t apply, but this is tumblr–there will be plenty of blogs who will then see calligraphy and lettering for the first time
(tbh less of an exposure to calligraphy means that their standards will also be lower on instagram. it’s easier to get a following while also then improving
something about tumblr that is completely different about instagram is that now these non lettering blogs will reblog your things, then exposing even more people to calligraphy who would never even follow that kind of blog
another point of tags with tumblr? use spaces. u s e. s p a c e s. Instagram you have to fit it within one hashtag. You do not have to do that with tumblr. When people search for things, they use spaces. If it doesn’t it won’t be found
and then the only people who will then see things are the ones who are also on instagram, which defeats the purpose of even using tumblr as another social media platform
so use spaces
something that I do is leave my askbox open to requests! at this point I get so many requests that I usually keep it closed BUT this is a pretty good way to accumulate and keep followers. People see that maybe you’ll make something for them, and they become ride or die since you made them something, and then are much more likely to reblog what you made, and tell their friends about it
this isn’t instagram, where all they can do is like it or comment. all of their followers will see it. tumblr is more interactive in a lot of ways than instagram–take advantage of it.
But, something that I do to accumulate commissions is to make rules about requests. I have word limits, won’t do full names or anything not safe for work, or color specific requests. If they want those things, then we can talk about commissions.
don’t let people pull you around–sometimes people can be demanding, but you are giving them things for free.
reblog other people’s calligraphy along with posting your own! if you really want to get their attention, put tags of commentary about what you think! it’s how you make friends on here and those are also the people who will then reblog your things! (plus it’ll make what you do more fun! success aND fun! always good!)
these are just a few tips and tricks for how to manage a great calligraphy blog, so go out and make calligraphy!
