(no subject)
A guest reported me to security today. I was working the playground, watching the children and trying very hard not to fall asleep again, when Joe came by and called me over to him. He laughed and told me I needed to "cut my hair" or "look more lively" or something, then explained what he was talking about: apparently a guest had stopped him and asked him if he was with security, because she had seen a man sitting on the playground watching the children, and a few minutes later he'd moved to the other playground. He looked "really strange," apparently. That... would have been me. Heh. Joe had explained to the woman that I was supposed to be there, that I wasn't stalking her or plotting to rape the poor innocent children, that I was just doing my job. Apparently the woman had already gotten hold of someone else, though, and had them call security, because a few minutes later our actual security officers came down to the playground--two of them--asking Joe and me if we'd heard anything about a "woman who's been having problems with a man." The way he said it, it sounded like they thought I'd been harassing or abusing the woman or something. Gah. And I gather from everything that the woman might have thought I was on drugs, too.
So apparently now I look like a stalker drug addict pedophile weird person. Always an ego boost. Heh.
See, I was laughing at the time. To be honest, I've been waiting all summer for something like this to happen. Because, after all, the zoo's paying one person a day to sit on the playground and just... watch... the children. From time to time I've felt uncomfortable, felt the need to pick up trash or enforce a rule or play around with my radio, just to let the parents know that I'm not just some creepy person who gets a kick out of staring at children. My general appearance probably doesn't help, because, like it or not, as we know, there are people--like my dad--who consider "men" with long hair to be criminal types. Yargh.
Consering how much I hate working on that playground, I'm definitely not cut out to be a pedophile. Heh.
I was just thinking about this earlier in the day today. When did our society become so paranoid? Certainly we are remarkably paranoid as a society. When did children start being taught to be wary of everyone they meet? I know that, when I was a kid, my parents and teachers and classmates and TV shows drove that lesson home hard. I grew up with the general impression that everyone I didn't know was one of those nasty evil strangers who would kidnap me. I grew up feeling unable to trust anyone. Goodness knows how this contributed to my current shyness and insecurities and social anxieties.
So apparently now I look like a stalker drug addict pedophile weird person. Always an ego boost. Heh.
See, I was laughing at the time. To be honest, I've been waiting all summer for something like this to happen. Because, after all, the zoo's paying one person a day to sit on the playground and just... watch... the children. From time to time I've felt uncomfortable, felt the need to pick up trash or enforce a rule or play around with my radio, just to let the parents know that I'm not just some creepy person who gets a kick out of staring at children. My general appearance probably doesn't help, because, like it or not, as we know, there are people--like my dad--who consider "men" with long hair to be criminal types. Yargh.
Consering how much I hate working on that playground, I'm definitely not cut out to be a pedophile. Heh.
I was just thinking about this earlier in the day today. When did our society become so paranoid? Certainly we are remarkably paranoid as a society. When did children start being taught to be wary of everyone they meet? I know that, when I was a kid, my parents and teachers and classmates and TV shows drove that lesson home hard. I grew up with the general impression that everyone I didn't know was one of those nasty evil strangers who would kidnap me. I grew up feeling unable to trust anyone. Goodness knows how this contributed to my current shyness and insecurities and social anxieties.