Thin Orange Line
The quiet clinic isn't so quiet anymore. The arrival of the publicity-seeking Her Highness has nettled (or perhaps emboldened) Praying Mantis to become more pushy. Today, to my concern, he started pulling out a camera and taking photos into the parking lot.
At one point he was aiming at the 7-11 wrapper for god knows what, possibly because one of the clinic nurses kicked it on the ground and Her Highness is already spreading the lie that the clinic improperly disposes of medical waste. So I asked him, as he took the photo, if he thought it was medical waste.
"Yes."
So I marched over, grabbed the wrapper, spread it out and said "Here it is. This is what you wanted a photo of. You can have it, our compliments."
And he starts going "It's a 7-11 wrapper. I don't understand. Why all this hostility?" But he wasn't moving the camera - and I was holding the wrapper right near the lens - so I didn't move. Then he decided to meditate, but unfortunately closing his eyes didn't make me go away. (What am I, the monster under his bed?) Eventually he marched back to where he started, me following the entire time, holding out the wrapper until he put the camera down.
Then I noticed the other protester filming me on her phone. So I held the wrapper out to her in a way that should have covered the lens. "I'm not filming," she protested, but she didn't put her phone down so I said "That's okay. I've stood out here for 3 hours. I can stand here all day."
And for the next 10 minutes or so, that's exactly what happened. A Mexican standoff where she didn't move and I barely did (occasionally I adjusted my grip) until one of their signs fell over. She went to move it -- visibly turning off her video camera (what? I'm not supposed to know what that looks like? I take video on my iPhone too.)
And that was the end of that... for today. Praying Mantis and a camera are bad news and I'm already speculatively eyeing my closet for a very large, opaque fashion scarf I can put in my pocket and whip out next time he pulls the camera out. Worst case scenario, I myself am very large and opaque.
Apparently this amused the heck out of one of the other escorts, who ended up filming me being filmed and holding up the wrapper.
At one point he was aiming at the 7-11 wrapper for god knows what, possibly because one of the clinic nurses kicked it on the ground and Her Highness is already spreading the lie that the clinic improperly disposes of medical waste. So I asked him, as he took the photo, if he thought it was medical waste.
"Yes."
So I marched over, grabbed the wrapper, spread it out and said "Here it is. This is what you wanted a photo of. You can have it, our compliments."
And he starts going "It's a 7-11 wrapper. I don't understand. Why all this hostility?" But he wasn't moving the camera - and I was holding the wrapper right near the lens - so I didn't move. Then he decided to meditate, but unfortunately closing his eyes didn't make me go away. (What am I, the monster under his bed?) Eventually he marched back to where he started, me following the entire time, holding out the wrapper until he put the camera down.
Then I noticed the other protester filming me on her phone. So I held the wrapper out to her in a way that should have covered the lens. "I'm not filming," she protested, but she didn't put her phone down so I said "That's okay. I've stood out here for 3 hours. I can stand here all day."
And for the next 10 minutes or so, that's exactly what happened. A Mexican standoff where she didn't move and I barely did (occasionally I adjusted my grip) until one of their signs fell over. She went to move it -- visibly turning off her video camera (what? I'm not supposed to know what that looks like? I take video on my iPhone too.)
And that was the end of that... for today. Praying Mantis and a camera are bad news and I'm already speculatively eyeing my closet for a very large, opaque fashion scarf I can put in my pocket and whip out next time he pulls the camera out. Worst case scenario, I myself am very large and opaque.
Apparently this amused the heck out of one of the other escorts, who ended up filming me being filmed and holding up the wrapper.