|
Post by Heightism Report on Mar 25, 2017 6:56:34 GMT
EDIT: I left a part of the story out and went back and added it about twenty minutes after I originally posted this
I go back-and-forth between whether to post personal stories in here, not because I want to keep them a secret, but because I want to discuss heightism as a systemic form of discrimination, not just a personal issue, but I think it's important that we have some personal experiences with heightism posted so that awakening short men can see how to properly deal with and discuss similar scenarios that they encounter.
I currently am going through a career change, and have a job that I took temporarily until my training in my new career field is completed. On my first night on this current job, my manager was showing me around, and he took me into the office and introduced me to a few of my coworkers. Immediately, one of them gets a smirk on his face and says
"This guy is working with us? To do this job, don't you have to be taller than that?"
Well, that's just great. I'm two seconds into the job and it has already started. So, I made a crack about the guy's weight, which he ignored while he was still giggling at his dumb insult, and that was pretty much it for the night.
As time went on, I could see that this guy is the type of person who fiends for attention, and tries to get it by cracking unfunny insults that he masks as "just jokes." So, I started giving it back to him about all of his physical characteristics.(BTW- This job is in the blue collar world, so there's no HR Department to save you from any verbal insults etc. Not that HR departments defend short men) Anyway though, I knew that I would eventually have enough of that moron's nonsense. His jokes were not original, funny, or even jokes really. Most of the stuff he says is stuff like "You're short," "You have a big mouth to be so short" etc. I know everyone who is reading this is cringing because we all know idiots who mask their insults as "just jokes" and here I am with an almost daily dose of it from some fool who looks like he crawled out of a retention pond before coming to work.
So, I tried to stay away from that trashmonster and his BS as much as possible. I'm the kind of person who just wants to do my job, go home, and not get involved in office drama or politics. As time went on, I noticed that my managers kept micromanaging the shit out of me. Like, it was overwhelming. I was the new guy, so I understood it to an extent, but it was blatantly obvious that they were certain I was going to screw something up, even though I'm trained to do the job and am more competent than any of the other goobers I work with. I hate that as a short man, not only do I have to deal with childish insults, but I also have every action of mine scrutinized so much more intensely than anyone else. I have had so many jobs that were an absolute pressure cooker for me. Anyway though, things have gotten better in regard to the micromanagement, but it was idiotic in the beginning. There was another guy who started the same week as me, and he was humongous. He was like 6'4, 300 pounds, but everyone stayed away from him. He was the biggest crybaby you've ever seen too. He would always whine his way out of doing work by saying he was sick or some other excuse. He quit a few weeks ago, but no one would question him on anything, and one of my coworkers said that he thinks the managers were afraid to call him out on his whining his way out of work nonsense. When I told that cowworker about my situation of being micromanaged on account of my height, he got this big involuntary grin on his face. I hate that shit so much. Here I am telling a story about me being discriminated against and a person who I consider a "work friend" can't help but grin because this is the indoctrinated response people have to short men and our problems. Trust me, I wasn't surprised that he grinned, but that doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
So, back to the assbag who thinks he's funny. About two weeks ago, I was in a conversation with a co-worker. We were discussing something pretty interesting and I was enjoying the conversation. So, in the background, I could hear the heightist idiot's voice. He said "SHORTY" and I ignored him. So, he said it louder..."SHORTY!" and then, he just kept repeating it over-and-over every time I tried to speak. So, my coworker had to leave because he got called to a different part of the building, and as soon as he walked off, I totally snapped on the idiot who can't get past my height. I'm not going to say what I did to him because it was definitely a fireable offense(and the guy surprisingly didn't snitch on me) and my reaction to heightism isn't the point of the story anyway, the point is that I have to deal with this nonsense in the first place. When someone just repeats the word "SHORTY" over and over to where you can't speak, that's not a lighthearted joke, it's a power play where someone is trying to assert their dominance. This guy isn't extremely tall or anything, he's average height(probably around 5'10) but he wasted no time in having a go at my height, and it got worse and worse as time went by. He doesn't talk about my height anymore since I escalated the situation, but it sickens me that I'm still dealing with this nonsense at my age.
Also, about a week before the "SHORTY" incident, he made it a point to tell me that he was clowning the new guy for his big feet(The new guy is about 6'3) and then made the point of telling me that he just wanted me to see that he clowns everyone's appearance. The fact that he made this gesture shows me that he knew he was doing something wrong, and wanted to frame it under the umbrella of "I insult everyone," so that I would continue to let him use me as a punching bag. Also, clowning a tall guy about the size of his feet doesn't emasculate him at all, it's a borderline compliment(especially considering what dumb women believe about guys with big feet) There's no insult that you can use for a tall guy that's akin to "You have such a big mouth to be such a short person." Having big feet is just a cosmetic nuance, but when you insult a guy on the basis of his height, you're emasculating him, and when you state that a short guy shouldn't have an opinion because he's short, you're being extremely bigoted.
So, about an hour or two after that incident, something else happened. The job has a lot of sitting around and waiting before the product we work with arrives, so while we're waiting for our particular product to arrive, we all pitch-in and help each other where needed. So, I was helping a few other guys, and I helped the guy(about six ft tall) who was working next to me for a bit.(I had helped him with the majority of his work the night before. Keep that in mind) So, I took a break for a minute or two, and the guy I just mentioned says "Can you help me with this?" And I said "Sure" and I got up from the place I was sittting and he continues with "I MEAN DAMN. DO SOMETHING. YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THE REST OF US." So, I totally came unglued on that guy and gave him an extreme verbal dressing down. That was the first time we had ever spoken, other than the night before when I helped him with the majority of his work, which he did mutter a "Thank You' for if I remember correctly. However, on this particular night, he decided to craft a fiction about me being some lazy slob who thinks he's better than everyone. Do you think he would say this to the 6'4 crybaby who quit a few weeks ago? I don't think I even need to answer that. It doesn't matter what I helped him with the night before, it doesn't matter that I had already helped him some that night. It doesn't matter that he already had two other people helping him(when the rest of us only need one helping us at the most, and we mostly do everything on our own.) None of that matters, what matters is a six footer needed to unload some heat on someone, and low and behold if a short man wasn't available for him to relieve some stress on.
It all gets better when you're older though, right? Maybe I should go post this on r/short so that they can tell me about how all of this is my fault. This particular job might be the most heightist I've ever had. It's a deadend job and I'm one of the only ones who isn't stuck there, so it's blatantly obvious that the people there look for ways to release their anger, so when a short guy enters the picture, it's GAME ON.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Mar 25, 2017 7:22:57 GMT
Oh yeah, I also just remembered that there's this older lady who has made one or two cracks about my height. Want to know the kicker? She's about 5' tall.
There was also one guy I was on good terms with who I used to playfully banter back-and-forth with(not about height) and then one day, I was walking past him and he said "grow taller." I pretty much stopped talking to him after that. No matter how your rapport with someone starts, they're always going to eventually bring your height into it. There's no escaping it.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Mar 29, 2017 21:41:12 GMT
I'm going to add every instance of my height being a factor from work. I know all of these aren't egregious acts of discrimination, but I just want to show how this stuff piles-on after a while and creates a scenario where your height colors every interaction you have.
Last night, there was a scheduled department meeting that many of us missed out on because we weren't notified that the meeting was going to occur. So, the only times that we could attend a make-up meeting this week were on my days off, and I'm not doing that because I have plans this week, and am not ruining my plans because they have their heads up their asses. Anyway, I was talking about how I wasn't going to attend the makeup meetings to one of my coworkers.(He's the one who I mentioned in the original post who got an involuntary grin when I mentioned how much I was being discriminated against.) Anyway, when I told him that I wasn't going to attend a meeting on my day off, he scolded me and tried to talk me out of it.
"Don't make it such a big deal. Just do what they say, and you'll get paid an extra hour of work for the meeting. It really isn't a big deal."
I had just explicitly told him that I had plans that I can't cancel, but he still can't resist the opportunity to scold a short man. If you think people treat tall men this way, you're mistaken. The facts are that I told him that I can't cancel my plans, and my manager is the one who screwed-up, so I'm not ruining my plans for a dead-end job based on incompetent leadership. Anyway, after that, he seemed dejected that I didn't kowtow to his scolding, and said
"Well...You're a big boy. Just do whatever you want."
First of all, I wasn't asking him for any advice. That's one of the main things I hate about the way short men are treated. Very rarely can we even have a basic conversation without some taller using it as an opportunity to tell us what we should do. People don't see us as adults and treat us as children. They don't even conspire to do it, they just do it automatically because the notion that we are to be scolded and kept "in our place" is so ingrained in them that they do it automatically.
As far as the "You're a big boy" comment, I don't even need to comment on that. That is the exact thing you would tell some mouthy eight year old who isn't old enough to understand the consequences of his actions. Keep in mind that I get along with this coworker more so than any of the others, which is counter-evidence to the "Only jerks are heightists" platitudes that the deniers spout. EVERYONE IS HEIGHTIST UNTIL THEY LEARN NOT TO BE, including short men, so painting this out to be an issue that is only perpetuated by extremist outliers doesn't capture the true impact that heightism has on our lives.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Mar 30, 2017 18:57:13 GMT
I have another one to add to the pile. This was from last night.
I was getting ready to deliver some products from work to two of our clients. The stuff that was going to each client was in carts that were placed in different parts of the trailer. My supervisor asked me if I wanted him to mark where one client's stuff started and the other ended by placing an extra load bar, and I told him that wasn't necessary because I always look at the stickers on each cart before unloading them.(The customer's location is on stickers that are placed on each cart) So, he gets this goofy grin on his face and says
"Are you sure you can read them?"
I knew immediately what he was trying to say because the stickers are toward the top of the cart. The carts are about six feet tall. So, I just said "Yes, sure can" and went about my business. Well, he was afraid that I didn't understand his "completely hilarious" and "absolutely original" joke, and he said
"No, when I ask if you can read them"
and I interrupted him at that point and said
"I know exactly what you were saying because the joke just isn't as original as you think."
That guy happens to be originally from the deep country, so I said
"Can you read the stickers? I know hillbillies don't do that well in school."
I absolutely hate responding to people with stereotypes about their culture, background etc, but with uneducated types, sometimes that's the only way you can put it in a context where they'll comprehend the fact that they've said something disrespectful.
So, after I replied, he just looked at me all befuddled and said
"Hey man, it's no big deal. I have a daughter who is like 4'10."
Now, at this point, I'll say that I don't think he meant anything malicious by his joke. To me, what aggravates me the most about scenarios like this isn't usually the jokes themselves, it's the fact that when I side-step the joke and try to move things along, they have to try to take control of the scenario and make sure that I understood the joke. I try to sweep the joke under the rug to give them a few seconds to think about what they just said, but they can never resist making sure the little guy understands that he has just been mocked. Also, as I've said many times, the jokes themselves aren't the most discriminatory thing about these situations, it's the expectation that we're expected to laugh at them no matter how many times we've heard the same joke. Then, when we don't laugh hard enough, acknowledge the joke deep enough, or give the taller the level of satisfaction they think they deserve, we're then called-out for that.
The fact that he has a short daughter really isn't relevant to the situation, and him doing so in this scenario is no different than racists who will make a racist statement then try to recover by saying "I have black friends."
What people don't understand about these jokes is they don't happen in a vacuum as standalone comments. Luckily, I was having a good day yesterday so this joke didn't really affect me, but take a look at all of the other nonsense that has happened to me during the limited time I have worked at this part time job, and you'll easily see that if he made such a comment on one of the days where I had experienced malicious heightism, the joke would've been even less funny than it already was.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 3, 2017 19:27:14 GMT
Two more entries from last night
Last night, I saw a coworker who I haven't seen in a while. We work in the same department, but in different areas. I recently shaved my beard and cut my hair, and it was the first time he has seen me since I "cleaned-up." So, he started off with the typical "I didn't even recognize you." And then, he says "What's next?" and I said, "I'm not sure...maybe I'll get some orange hair extensions."....so he says "You probably should because bigger hair would make you look taller."
So, a few minutes after that, I saw a guy who I talk to every day. I would consider him a "work friend." He had gotten a new haircut, and i said "Welcome to the clean yourself up club." His response? "Yeah, I cleaned up, but you don't even look the same as you did before, but of course, your height gave you away."
Ok, so, I don't think either individual had cruel intentions with their remarks, but the fact that people feel the need to compulsively make cracks about a short man's height is a problem. It doesn't matter what you do, you'll "always be short." As you can see, with this job, I'm the "office short guy." None of my credentials matter, the fact that I'm more educated, am in better physical condition, am a better communicator, and have a better resume than anyone else there doesn't matter. If I was rewarded for being educated, having a better resume etc. in addition to getting mocked about my height, it wouldn't be as much of an issue, but the fact that we get all of the mocking without any of the respect shows the depth of this issue.
I have about seven more people to go to reach the point where everyone in my entire department will have made at least one crack about my height, or openly discriminated in some way. I've only worked there a little more than two months, so these folks aren't wasting their time letting me know exactly what I am. If you've read the thread, you'll see that these remarks aren't the entire issue, but are side-effects of a much deeper issue.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 3, 2017 19:48:35 GMT
I'd also like to add that we have two different district managers who refer to me as "big man." For those who don't know, this is a tall man's "hilarious" way to point-out that you're short. They find it comical that anyone would ever refer to you as "big man," which is a term that conveys respect. These two managers don't know each other and work at different locations, thus, it's not an issue where one made the comment and the other followed suit, it's an issue that shows how common it is to comedically refer to a short man as "big man." It's not as confrontational as the term "big guy" usually is. Usually, talls will use big guy to put you back in your place when they feel you've been "too mouthy" with them. "What are ya gonna do about it, Big Guy?" Basically, "big man" is just an outlet for them to point-out your "inferior" trait under the auspices of it being playful banter. A lot of it is also them thinking that it's borderline cute for a short guy to be doing a "real man's job." It'd be like if a kid's dad was a construction worker and the kid liked to wear dad's hardhat around the house and pretend he was building things
In regard to the two managers though, one of them just refers to me as Big Man when he greets me. "What's going on, Big Man"
While the other one always makes a ceromonial proclamation to everyone else when I get out of the truck "Heeeyyyy everyone.....the Big Man is here today."
These are all just jokes, right? It's all in our head. Everyone has their physical traits pointed-out by complete strangers everywhere they go, right?
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 12, 2017 9:22:19 GMT
Good God man. Two more to report. The second one isn't really "bad" per se, didn't even happen to me, but can't I go one night without hearing about height IRL?
Story 1: Last night, I pulled-up to the one location I mentioned in the last post where the manager says "Hey everyone...the Big Man is here today!"
So, as we're unloading everything, the manager and this other guy are standing there. They're having some kind of conversation as I'm getting everything gathered, and I hear them say "They must be short drivers"(As in, we must have not enough employees) and then, the other said "Yeah...Really short!" and they both had a nice chuckle. Then, they started talking under their breath saying something else, which had to be about me. Now, think about the first comment(the supposed non-heightist one) "They must be short drivers." This statement indicates that they were slumming-it by sending me. I'm one of the fastest guys who works there because I'm one of the youngest, so there was no reason to imply that I was somehow not good enough to be there. Then, all of the other "harmless" comments were spawned from the original one where they made a value judgment about the level of service I provide. Now, the guy who made the heeeee---laarrrrrriousssss "yeah....really short" joke happens to be around 380 pounds. What if I got out of the truck and immediately took someone to the side and said
"Wow, you guys must be really doing a heavy amount of work here....or at least a heavy amount of eating" then started whispering to the person I was with? The fat guy would've been pretty pissed about the scenario, and would've probably unleashed a heightist tirade against me.
Flash Forward To Tonight:
I was at the location where the one manager refers to me as "Big Man" as though it's my name. That particular manager wasn't there tonight, so he's not part of the story, but there was a short guy who is an assistant manager working. I have a really good rapport with that guy. So, as I'm doing my work, I hear the following from about twenty feet away.
"It was just a little joke. Get it? Little? I guess it came-up short." So, I looked over where the assistant manager was and there's this tall biker looking guy, holding his hand down toward the ground(You guys know exactly what I'm talking about. They do the thing where when they mock us, they hold their hand really low to the ground to exaggerate how short we are.) I didn't hear the "little joke" that started the whole thing off, and I'm kind of glad I didn't. I'm sure it was something I've heard a billion times. It's the same tired puns over-and-over, and every tall doofus thinks they're revolutionary for using these recycled puns. I think the most offensive thing about these puns is not only that people don't recognize that they are standard-issue jokes that are played-out; The most offensive thing is if we don't laugh at them, we're accused of being "sensitive about our height" all so the taller can protect his precious ego from the pain of not getting the reaction he thinks he deserves. FYI- The assistant manager who was the recipient of the height joke is probably around 5'5, and the guy who was mocking him was definitely six foot at least.
Thankfully, today, I got hired for a much better job and will work independently at that job, so I won't have to put-up with this foolishness nearly as much because I'm only going to work at the current "heightist feeding frenzy" job occasionally starting next week, but damn man, it's getting to the point where not only do people feel obligated to mock every short man they see, but we're actually becoming the main attraction everywhere we go. People can write this stuff off as "just jokes" all they want, but I sure don't see anyone else getting mocked as ice breaker conversation. All of the events I've written about in this ever-expanding thread are all things I'm imagining though. If my ears had more KAWWWNNFOOODINZ, they wouldn't be hearing this stuff, they'd just be hearing a constant slathering of "FUCK YEAH SHORT GUYS" or some other pseudo-machismo.
Oh, and btw. I just want to highlight the fact that this is merely a part time job...that I have only worked for three months. This isn't years and years of stories through dozens of different situations and hundreds of different employees, this is all from a limited group of co-workers in a period of three months. "Hopefully," 100% of the people I deal with on a daily basis will be able to get their chance to take a few whacks at the human short guy pinata at least once before I phase this job out of my life completely
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 14, 2017 0:31:42 GMT
Good God man. Two more to report. The second one isn't really "bad" per se, didn't even happen to me, but can't I go one night without hearing about height IRL? Story 1: Last night, I pulled-up to the one location I mentioned in the last post where the manager says "Hey everyone...the Big Man is here today!" So, as we're unloading everything, the manager and this other guy are standing there. They're having some kind of conversation as I'm getting everything gathered, and I hear them say "They must be short drivers"(As in, we must have not enough employees) and then, the other said "Yeah...Really short!" and they both had a nice chuckle. Then, they started talking under their breath saying something else, which had to be about me. Now, think about the first comment(the supposed non-heightist one) "They must be short drivers." This statement indicates that they were slumming-it by sending me. I'm one of the fastest guys who works there because I'm one of the youngest, so there was no reason to imply that I was somehow not good enough to be there. Then, all of the other "harmless" comments were spawned from the original one where they made a value judgment about the level of service I provide. Now, the guy who made the heeeee---laarrrrrriousssss "yeah....really short" joke happens to be around 380 pounds. What if I got out of the truck and immediately took someone to the side and said "Wow, you guys must be really doing a heavy amount of work here....or at least a heavy amount of eating" then started whispering to the person I was with? The fat guy would've been pretty pissed about the scenario, and would've probably unleashed a heightist tirade against me. Flash Forward To Tonight: I was at the location where the one manager refers to me as "Big Man" as though it's my name. That particular manager wasn't there tonight, so he's not part of the story, but there was a short guy who is an assistant manager working. I have a really good rapport with that guy. So, as I'm doing my work, I hear the following from about twenty feet away. "It was just a little joke. Get it? Little? I guess it came-up short." So, I looked over where the assistant manager was and there's this tall biker looking guy, holding his hand down toward the ground(You guys know exactly what I'm talking about. They do the thing where when they mock us, they hold their hand really low to the ground to exaggerate how short we are.) I didn't hear the "little joke" that started the whole thing off, and I'm kind of glad I didn't. I'm sure it was something I've heard a billion times. It's the same tired puns over-and-over, and every tall doofus thinks they're revolutionary for using these recycled puns. I think the most offensive thing about these puns is not only that people don't recognize that they are standard-issue jokes that are played-out; The most offensive thing is if we don't laugh at them, we're accused of being "sensitive about our height" all so the taller can protect his precious ego from the pain of not getting the reaction he thinks he deserves. FYI- The assistant manager who was the recipient of the height joke is probably around 5'5, and the guy who was mocking him was definitely six foot at least. Thankfully, today, I got hired for a much better job and will work independently at that job, so I won't have to put-up with this foolishness nearly as much because I'm only going to work at the current "heightist feeding frenzy" job occasionally starting next week, but damn man, it's getting to the point where not only do people feel obligated to mock every short man they see, but we're actually becoming the main attraction everywhere we go. People can write this stuff off as "just jokes" all they want, but I sure don't see anyone else getting mocked as ice breaker conversation. All of the events I've written about in this ever-expanding thread are all things I'm imagining though. If my ears had more KAWWWNNFOOODINZ, they wouldn't be hearing this stuff, they'd just be hearing a constant slathering of "FUCK YEAH SHORT GUYS" or some other pseudo-machismo. Oh, and btw. I just want to highlight the fact that this is merely a part time job...that I have only worked for three months. This isn't years and years of stories through dozens of different situations and hundreds of different employees, this is all from a limited group of co-workers in a period of three months. "Hopefully," 100% of the people I deal with on a daily basis will be able to get their chance to take a few whacks at the human short guy pinata at least once before I phase this job out of my life completely It's amazing, there's no doubt about that. As far as personal stories go, I have many, although I have been reluctant to discuss most of them online (it usually does no good to discuss them as most people on most of these message boards are in no position psychologically to understand, support you, or do anything else positive in this situation). I have found that there is so much silence on the part of the Short-statured, that even if you reveal one or more of these situations, it is still very difficult or impossible in most cases to get other short people on the same page. I've stated on at least one occasion in my broadcasts that there are more people willing to come forward to say that they've been abducted by Grey Aliens than there are people who are willing to admit that they've been discriminated against, or harassed, or chosen as a target because of their short stature. People are more afraid of being ridiculed and laughed at because they're short than because they've (allegedly) been abducted by aliens from another planet, yet the prejudice against short people is FAR more easily proven if they would only be willing to talk. They've got this fear of being laughed at more than people have a fear of being laughed at for believing in extraterrestrial visitation. It's incredible. It certainly is maddening that short people can't even be brought to discuss heightism anonymously, and it doesn't look this is going to change any time in the near future. The reason I felt it was important to start this thread is to have a real life example of how prevalent heightism is and how often it happens. You have to start somewhere, right? Nothing is worse than the silence of our allies though. They have been beaten into a corner and prefer the pseudo-comfort of hiding in the shadows instead of facing ridicule for speaking-out. At some point, they have to realize that being short subjects them to ridicule, judgment, marginalization, and hatred by itself even though they don't speak-out. They don't seem to get that though, so they opt to let the few of us who do speak-out out be sacrificial lambs, and I guess they're waiting for it to be more convenient for them to speak-out. This is a self-reaffirming cycle though because it won't ever be more convenient to speak-out about heightism if we don't have more participation. This is a numbers game, and until we have more of a network of allies, we're just going to keep running in circles like we have been. Right now, it's far too easy to dismiss the few of us who do speak-out as extremists, and even though we have been able to spread awareness to some degree, that's a hollow victory because doing so hasn't caused short men to join the fight. If society ever decides to take heightism seriously, the "Silence Of The Short" will most definitely be part of the narrative in regard to why it took so long to make progress. When we want people to break the silence, we're not even saying that everyone has to go picket in the market square, we're just wanting minor, incremental progress such as short men actually posting their input, maybe vowing not to be Garmins, and to speak against the other short people who will fight against those of us who address heightism but won't attack heightists, and so on. As far as people speaking-out about alien abduction, other people who claim to have been abducted will speak-out about it much more so than other short guys. Short guys are truly in a perpetual "crabs in a bucket" scenario where when one of us tries to crawl out of the bucket to freedom, the others drag him back into the bucket. With that being said, it's no coincidence that people take alien abduction more seriously than heightism. There have been organizations that spare no expense at investigating alien activity, while heightism is only given a passing mention here-and-there, and when it is talked about, it's either laughed-off, trivialized by clips of Randy Newman, the blame is shifted back onto short men, short guys who mock themselves are invited to join the discussion, and everyone just has a wonderful time laughing the whole thing off. As short men though, we can't expect others to discuss this issue seriously if 99.9% of short men will never articulate their plight, even in anonymous fashion. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is seriously where we are at this point in time, and have been for decades. If The Silence of The Short continues, our issues will continue to be ignored. Plain and simple.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 14, 2017 8:23:47 GMT
It certainly is maddening that short people can't even be brought to discuss heightism anonymously, and it doesn't look this is going to change any time in the near future. The reason I felt it was important to start this thread is to have a real life example of how prevalent heightism is and how often it happens. You have to start somewhere, right? Nothing is worse than the silence of our allies though. They have been beaten into a corner and prefer the pseudo-comfort of hiding in the shadows instead of facing ridicule for speaking-out. At some point, they have to realize that being short subjects them to ridicule, judgment, marginalization, and hatred by itself even though they don't speak-out. They don't seem to get that though, so they opt to let the few of us who do speak-out out be sacrificial lambs, and I guess they're waiting for it to be more convenient for them to speak-out. This is a self-reaffirming cycle though because it won't ever be more convenient to speak-out about heightism if we don't have more participation. This is a numbers game, and until we have more of a network of allies, we're just going to keep running in circles like we have been. Right now, it's far too easy to dismiss the few of us who do speak-out as extremists, and even though we have been able to spread awareness to some degree, that's a hollow victory because doing so hasn't caused short men to join the fight. If society ever decides to take heightism seriously, the "Silence Of The Short" will most definitely be part of the narrative in regard to why it took so long to make progress. When we want people to break the silence, we're not even saying that everyone has to go picket in the market square, we're just wanting minor, incremental progress such as short men actually posting their input, maybe vowing not to be Garmins, and to speak against the other short people who will fight against those of us who address heightism but won't attack heightists, and so on. As far as people speaking-out about alien abduction, other people who claim to have been abducted will speak-out about it much more so than other short guys. Short guys are truly in a perpetual "crabs in a bucket" scenario where when one of us tries to crawl out of the bucket to freedom, the others drag him back into the bucket. With that being said, it's no coincidence that people take alien abduction more seriously than heightism. There have been organizations that spare no expense at investigating alien activity, while heightism is only given a passing mention here-and-there, and when it is talked about, it's either laughed-off, trivialized by clips of Randy Newman, the blame is shifted back onto short men, short guys who mock themselves are invited to join the discussion, and everyone just has a wonderful time laughing the whole thing off. As short men though, we can't expect others to discuss this issue seriously if 99.9% of short men will never articulate their plight, even in anonymous fashion. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is seriously where we are at this point in time, and have been for decades. If The Silence of The Short continues, our issues will continue to be ignored. Plain and simple. I would tend to agree with everything you've said here, and one of the major problems is the non-group status of the short. The short - unless they are dwarves (who have a congenital condition), tend not to identify AS short. The ties of race, religion, skin color, sex, sexual orientation, etc. are far greater than any identification based on height. It's like a situation of others "just have more height" than we do, almost like a bank account where some have more money that others, or some have more muscle mass, or some have more of some desirable quality than others like "looks" or whatever it happens to be. If one is discussing "looks" however, at least there is some variability for opinion, for example some people that are considered not good-looking by some, would be considered good-looking by others, but height is a constant. If you're 5'7", you're 5'7". Weight also has a variability about it, for example, someone who is 5'8" and 200 lbs. can be fat, yet another who is 5'8 and 200 lbs might be all muscle. So we can't say definitively if someone who is 5'8" and 200 lbs is necessarily fat. Height is much more of a constant. Most people just can't "get" the idea of viewing this situation for short people as a social issue instead of a personal one or a cosmetic one. They certainly do view it as a personal/cosmetic issue, which is extremely misguided because short guys who feel they have "defeated" heightism will always laud their personal attributes as being some sort of victory. We see right through this though because this type of machismo boils down to the guilty party trying to capitalize on painting himself out to be better than the other short guys. The sad thing about not identifying as a group is because society already see us as a group. They see us as an inferior, hostile for no reason, socially and physically incompetent, childish, immature, all-around incapable, mentally-deranged, naive, weak, group of men who don't rate being treated as men and whose opinions are to be viewed as though we are pestilent children. We're in a group whether we want to be or not, so at some point, short men need to realize the fact that we need to take control of the narrative surrounding the group that we are involuntarily a part of. No matter what we do with ourselves, society still sees us as "still short," and like I posted in another thread, even people like Prince dealt with the goodies that come with being a short man, thus, short men as a whole need to wake the hell up, stop ignoring all of the warning signs and evidence, and understand that society keeps an extremely watchful eye on them to make sure they don't try to obtain any status that is associated with "real manhood." We're a group whether we want to be or not, so short men need to stop hiding in the shadows and let tallers, women, and others be the ones who write our story.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 25, 2017 20:00:31 GMT
Flash Forward To Tonight: I was at the location where the one manager refers to me as "Big Man" as though it's my name. That particular manager wasn't there tonight, so he's not part of the story, but there was a short guy who is an assistant manager working. I have a really good rapport with that guy. So, as I'm doing my work, I hear the following from about twenty feet away. "It was just a little joke. Get it? Little? I guess it came-up short." So, I looked over where the assistant manager was and there's this tall biker looking guy, holding his hand down toward the ground(You guys know exactly what I'm talking about. They do the thing where when they mock us, they hold their hand really low to the ground to exaggerate how short we are.) I didn't hear the "little joke" that started the whole thing off, and I'm kind of glad I didn't. I'm sure it was something I've heard a billion times. It's the same tired puns over-and-over, and every tall doofus thinks they're revolutionary for using these recycled puns. I think the most offensive thing about these puns is not only that people don't recognize that they are standard-issue jokes that are played-out; The most offensive thing is if we don't laugh at them, we're accused of being "sensitive about our height" all so the taller can protect his precious ego from the pain of not getting the reaction he thinks he deserves. FYI- The assistant manager who was the recipient of the height joke is probably around 5'5, and the guy who was mocking him was definitely six foot at least. I have something else to add this story. This occurred two nights ago, and is in regard to the assistant manager who I speak of in the quoted portion of the related post. At the particular location where this assistant manager works, when I arrive, I have to knock loudly on the door to get them to let me inside. A lot of the independent contractors who are signed-on with that company hang-out just outside the door so that they can enter as soon as the door is unlocked. So, as I knock on the door, it's taking a while for anyone to answer, and the following conversations occurs Independent Contractor 1: "Who is the manager tonight anyway?" Independent Contractor 2: "Joe is here tonight."(Yes, his name is Joe) Independent Contractor 3: "Don't you mean....Little Joe?" Independent Contractor 2: "Yes, Little Joe." Independent Contractor 3: "I hate that kid." Now, that "kid" they speak of is probably 30-35 years old, carries himself with an element of decorum and class, has a friendly demeanor, appears to take care of himself, and also works a respectable day job. He is nothing but friendly and helpful to all of the contractors, and he and I have always helped one another out as much as possible. The other night though, when we were the only two people near the loading dock, he tells me about how this job is making him work on his some of his days off, so he's only getting a few hours of sleep after working his main job. Then, he says "I'm going to have to start giving some of these independent contractors beatdowns. I'm getting sick of them always starting trouble with me, and trying to gang up on me." So, after that, we had a conversation about how a lot of the contractors are the types of people who can't(or won't) hold jobs that have more responsibilities, and how many of them just look for someone to lash out at. At this point, I told him that I go through the same stuff that he does, and that a lot of it is because people think short guys won't defend themselves, and then I told him, if he ever lost it on one of those fools, not to be surprised if I jumped in and inflicted some damage as well. He didn't seem hostile to the notion that I took the mask off by telling him that height was the catalyst, but he was kind of distant because he was rightfully exhausted from lack of sleep and an over-hostile working environment. The point is though, I only go there twice a week tops, but look how much evidence there is of heightism against Joe in the brief time that I spend there. They mock him with puns, they don't like him, they refer to him as "Little Joe," they give him a constant ration of shit for no reasom(well, we know the reason) and they don't care about how professional he presents himself, they just want a punching bag to take target practice on. It pisses me off because Joe is one of the few people I get enthusiastic about seeing when I'm traveling to our different locations and people treat the man like absolute shit. Part Two Of This SagaAt my office, there's this guy in upper-management named "Lee." I've never met him because he works the day shift, and the only time he deals with anyone from my shift is when a major incident of some sort occurs that is beyond the scope of what our night managers can handle. You should hear the way people talk about him though. "You don't want to have to talk to Lee." "Lee does not play around." "I think I'd just quit if I had to go talk to Lee." "I was working one night, and Lee walked in. I was doing shit that I don't even normally do like sweeping behind the stairs because I damn sure want to be on Lee's good side." It's remarkable that I can't think of anyone making even one comment about Lee that didn't sound like some sort of homage to the way he commands respect. So, one time, after someone made one of those comments, I decided to stir the Kool Aid a little bit and said "Screw Lee. He needs a dose of humility." Now, like I said, I've never even seen Lee, but I was just saying that to add some levity to the situation, but the response I got was. "Don't play like that. You, definitely don't want to have to go see Lee." The person who said it added emphasis on the "You" when he said it too as if it would be especially terrifying for someone like me to experience the peril that was Lee. Now, given everything I've said, what do you think Lee looks like? I have no doubt in my mind that he's "remarkably" tall. I'm going to ask what he looks like the next time I'm at that job, but I've dealt with society's tallboner for my entire life and I know exactly what it sounds like, even if I don't know who the person is referring to. There's no chance that Lee is a short guy or people would be speaking of him in the same way as they do Joe at the other location. Also, notice how Joe isn't even a hardass, but Lee apparently is, yet, Lee's behavior gets him treated with a reverent fear that benefits him greatly, yet, Joe's professionalism doesn't serve for any reason other than to get him mocked, disrespected, classified as a "kid," and to be used as a prop for cheap laughs. In addition to all of that, when I jokingly state that I'm going to humble Lee, I get scolded for daring to pierce the aura of an obviously "superior" man. People who pull the "heightism is only an issue online" card, really need to pull the wool from over their eyes because these stories I'm telling are blatant examples of both the Halo Effect enjoyed by the tall man, and the no-win situation of the short man. I'll verify Lee's height next weekend, but that's more of a formality because...come on...the heightists I work with aren't going to view any short man with that amount of reverence.
|
|
|
Post by toughlimbs on Apr 28, 2017 20:49:02 GMT
Oh yeah, I also just remembered that there's this older lady who has made one or two cracks about my height. Want to know the kicker? She's about 5' tall. There was also one guy I was on good terms with who I used to playfully banter back-and-forth with(not about height) and then one day, I was walking past him and he said "grow taller." I pretty much stopped talking to him after that. No matter how your rapport with someone starts, they're always going to eventually bring your height into it. There's no escaping it. Jesus! These tall hecklers are so out of touch of reality. "Grow taller" my god!!! Sheer stupidity in that comment! If some baffoon talks like that to my old time 5'2 ft tall friend (of whom I was best friends with for years), the heckler would've gotten his ass handed to him. My friend used to be an avid wrestler, and was usually very fast with long gorilla-like arms and wide back. Extremely strong. Always win every championship in elementary school. Don't be fooled, he still had that sheer strength even after college, cuz I witnessed him never loosing a fight to those blithering idiots. Nobody would DARE say "grow taller" to him if they saw how dangerous he could be. I always told him he reminded me so much of Wolverine. Literally, sideburns and hairy body and all. His physical speed was insanely scary. He never liked to be compared to Wolverine, though. People often overlook the size of some short people's limbs. That's why my friend was always kicking bigots' asses. He's a softie now cuz he has a family and kids to look after. "Grow taller" Jesus Christ...
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 28, 2017 21:00:54 GMT
Oh yeah, I also just remembered that there's this older lady who has made one or two cracks about my height. Want to know the kicker? She's about 5' tall. There was also one guy I was on good terms with who I used to playfully banter back-and-forth with(not about height) and then one day, I was walking past him and he said "grow taller." I pretty much stopped talking to him after that. No matter how your rapport with someone starts, they're always going to eventually bring your height into it. There's no escaping it. Jesus! These tall hecklers are so out of touch of reality. "Grow taller" my god!!! Sheer stupidity in that comment! If some baffoon talks like that to my old time 5'2 ft tall friend (of whom I was best friends with for years), the heckler would've gotten his ass handed to him. My friend used to be an avid wrestler, and was usually very fast with long gorilla-like arms and wide back. Extremely strong. Always win every championship in elementary school. Don't be fooled, he still had that sheer strength even after college, cuz I witnessed him never loosing a fight to those blithering idiots. Nobody would DARE say "grow taller" to him if they saw how dangerous he could be. I always told him he reminded me so much of Wolverine. Literally, sideburns and hairy body and all. His physical speed was insanely scary. He never liked to be compared to Wolverine, though. People often overlook the size of some short people's limbs. That's why my friend was always kicking bigots' asses. He's a softie now cuz he has a family and kids to look after. "Grow taller" Jesus Christ... Your friend, who is apparently Batman, would be in prison for the majority of his life if he fought every person who made a comment about his height, especially at 5'2. Earlier in the thread, you'll see that once one particular co-worker crossed a certain line, I escalated the situation, so I don't just let people get away with any and everything, but that doesn't mean that others still won't make comments. As you'll see, the one co-worker also made a remark about the tall guy's feet, so I very seriously doubt your friend would escape the same type of comments in this scenario. Heightism is far too common for it to be solved by getting in a physical confrontation with every single person who makes a condescending remark. If your friend doesn't have a lengthy criminal record, or a history of injuries due to getting in a fight every time he leaves the house, I'm going to have to doubt the validity of a story claiming that a 5'2 guy gets in a fistfight every time his height is mentioned(and of course wins every fight.) Remarks about a short man's height are extremely common , and it's not realistic to just start throwing hands every time someone makes such a comment, especially at work. This story is akin to the 5'1 Casanova everyone on r/short seems to know when it's convenient. We shouldn't have to be the Sugar Ray Leonard of short guys in the workplace, and doing so would get us fired, arrested, and unhireable. I don't know if your 5'2 friend holds a job, but I predict tough times on the horizon if he swings on everyone who mentions his height. I don't fault any short guy who does what he has to do to defend himself and get respect, and I agree with you that people perceive short men as weaker than we are, but if your friend worked the same job as I do, he'd be every bit as much of a target as I and the guy named Joe I mentioned, and he'd certainly have some legal trouble on his hands.
|
|
|
Post by Heightism Report on Apr 28, 2017 21:21:59 GMT
To elaborate, my suggestion is that your friend has developed all of this machismo because he doesn't want to admit that he gets a ration of shit for his height. If it were that easy to "defeat heightism," we wouldn't need this message board to have this discussion. At 5'2, he knows good and damn well that he is treated differently than others, and carrying his wrestling trophies everywhere he goes still won't make him immune to criticism and judgment.
|
|
|
Post by toughlimbs on Apr 28, 2017 22:01:31 GMT
Jesus! These tall hecklers are so out of touch of reality. "Grow taller" my god!!! Sheer stupidity in that comment! If some baffoon talks like that to my old time 5'2 ft tall friend (of whom I was best friends with for years), the heckler would've gotten his ass handed to him. My friend used to be an avid wrestler, and was usually very fast with long gorilla-like arms and wide back. Extremely strong. Always win every championship in elementary school. Don't be fooled, he still had that sheer strength even after college, cuz I witnessed him never loosing a fight to those blithering idiots. Nobody would DARE say "grow taller" to him if they saw how dangerous he could be. I always told him he reminded me so much of Wolverine. Literally, sideburns and hairy body and all. His physical speed was insanely scary. He never liked to be compared to Wolverine, though. People often overlook the size of some short people's limbs. That's why my friend was always kicking bigots' asses. He's a softie now cuz he has a family and kids to look after. "Grow taller" Jesus Christ... Your friend, who is apparently Batman, would be in prison for the majority of his life if he fought every person who made a comment about his height, especially at 5'2. If you'll re-read the thread, you'll see that once the other co-worker crossed a certain line, I escalated the situation, so I don't just let people get away with any and everything, but that doesn't mean that others still won't make comments. Heightism can't be solved by getting in a physical confrontation with every single person who makes a condescending remark. If your friend doesn't have a lengthy criminal record, or a history of injuries due to getting in a fight every time he leaves the house, I'm going to have to doubt the validity of a story claiming that a 5'2 guy gets in a fistfight every time his height is mentioned(and of course wins every fight.) These remarks are extremely common , and it's counterproductive to just go into work guns ablazing. This story is akin to the 5'1 Casanova everyone on r/short seems to know when it's convenient. We shouldn't have to be the Sugar Ray Leonard of short guys in the workplace, and doing so would get us fired, arrested, and unhireable. I don't know if your 5'2 friend holds a job, but I predict tough times on the horizon if he swings on everyone who mentions his height. I don't fault any short guy who does what he has to do to defend himself and get respect, and I agree with you that people perceive short men as weaker than we are, but if your friend worked the same job as I do, he'd be every bit as much of a target as I and the guy named Joe I mentioned, and he'd certainly have some legal trouble on his hands. That's true. It's not good to land a fist on someone's face every time they talk smack about you. Fighting like Spider-Man would be a bad idea. Thank you for this warning. Dammit, that comment really did strike a nerve. It's so downright disrespectful. Maybe, at least, a hard slap on his face? I'm serious. A slap wouldn't land you in jail, would it? And no, he did not make up his stories. I was there and saw how he was. He did stuff like this and I have seen him taken to jail twice before. He was a wrestler, so he would often hold them down. Rip their clothes off. Extreme yelling. Red face with foam at the mouth. Just horrible to see something like that in person. Believe whatever you want, but I know what I saw. They lost to him cuz of how stupid they looked after being manhandled like little puppets. The guys never called the cops on him because they had huge ego ("I don't need the cops' help"), AND they had bad criminal history and my friend didn't have as much criminal history as they did. They often back off because of that, I believe. Nowadays, people would've easily jump to conclusion by saying he has napolean complex if they saw how scary mad he was, but this was back then when he was young, so they called it "blacking out". What I'm saying is that tall people need to stop assuming short people are inferior because of their size, and they need to stop trying to start fights. It's EXTREMELY immature.
|
|
|
Post by toughlimbs on Apr 28, 2017 22:30:44 GMT
To elaborate, my suggestion is that your friend has developed all of this machismo because he doesn't want to admit that he gets a ration of shit for his height. If it were that easy to "defeat heightism," we wouldn't need this message board to have this discussion. At 5'2, he knows good and damn well that he is treated differently than others, and carrying his wrestling trophies everywhere he goes still won't make him immune to criticism and judgment. He was definitely mistreated due to his height. That was why he went Batman on some fools before. This is how bad heightism has gotten. It's so bad to the point that a really nice guy like my friend had to do this to protect his respect as a person growing up. Unfortunately, that's how he got popular and got more respect. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to fight, but I have fought back to protect my reputation before, and I hated doing that.
|
|