Odd

by @.open.future.learning on Instagram: "Sam does drag. He also has an intellectual disability. The second fact shouldn't change how you feel about the first, but too often, it does.

Support workers sometimes carry around silent judgements, shaped by our own beliefs, culture, or comfort zones, and bring them into the lives of the people we support. But support isn't about our comfort. It's about their freedom.

Sam has found community in and around Newcastle. At drag shows and competitions, he is not just included, he is celebrated. These nights out aren't just entertainment for Sam (stage name: Celine DoOne!); they are where she is safest, most accepted, most herself. The people there see Celine as a performer, a peer, and a friend. Not as a person with a disability, but simply as Celine.

Our job isn't to approve of someone's choices. It's to stand beside them as they make their own. If that includes drag, then we help with outfits, we show up to the show, and we cheer from the crowd.

Sam doesn't need judgment. He needs what every person needs: to be known, accepted, and free to live on his terms.

Because the alternative is that I try to get my thoughts out and end up with a 38 minute YouTube breakdown of all the things I liked and disliked about the archery in the film

Mixed results from the Americans because this shit is legal in only 30 states and almost impossible to get past a zoning committee so while they exist, they're extremely localized. Lots of yelling at Ohio.

---

Saskatchewan: "What's insane to me is that you have these with the population density you have. What am I going to hit in Turtleford?"

---

Bahia and Sao Paulo: "I'm stunned we don't have these tbh."

Prague: "We have these in my city, but only for boats."

Manaus: "My uncle has one of these! He also has a window on the other side so you can drive your boat up too :)"

(much Brazilian and Czech high-fiving)

---

Brisbane: "There's an astonishing level of trust being displayed that people aren't just going to open a beer immediately"

Tallahassee: "Oh no, there is 100% cop camped like half a mile down the road to arrest people who didn't stow the booze correctly."

Brisbane: "Oh it's an invasive policing operation! Yeah, that's the USA."

---

Newcastle: "No, this looks correct for the country that has bears breaking into your house". (The Australians and Africans have a bit where every time someone mentions their wildlife, they mass @me (who had a bear in my house) and the guy from Singapore whose mom adopted a wild water monitor and says it's her favorite son now)

The aforementioned Singaporean: "How am I exposed to an onslaught of your media and culture at all times and you STILL find new ways to horrify me?"

---

Vatican City: "You can ride your bike through the brewery to get beer but the abbot in charge doesn't like it"

---

Jakarta: "We don't have this because we're Muslim but we do have drive-thru Marijuana"

Kyoto: "We don't have these because we have public transportation. You can buy liquor from vending machines at the stations though."

Munich: "We don't have these because we are disciplined enough to pack our beer with us if we are going somewhere that drinking is acceptable, or there will be beer at that location when we arrive."

---

India: "Why have drive-thru Liquor, when you can have liquor delivered to your vehicle? GET ON OUR LEVEL" (no less than nine different images from across the country of people in trucks that have been specifically modified to operate the business of driving up to other vehicles in traffic and selling them liquor)

---

Pudasjävi: "...I should open one of these."

Everyone: "NO!!!"

well every time i've called, the new representative has been like "i'm so sorry, but there's no ticket by that number. i have no record of you ever calling about this. i'll start a ticket for you."

finally, the fifth time i nearly burst into tears of frustration and i said "i don't want you to start a ticket for me, because it will be the sixth ticket created for this same issue. every week, one of your colleagues tells me they'll create a a new ticket for me, and then nothing happens."

they said, "i'm sorry but i have no record of those tickets existing." and i was like i KNOW. but they doooooo what is happening.

finally i got transferred to a supervisor's supervisor.

if you've ever worked in online customer service, you know that when a customer calls with a problem, you create a "ticket" that puts that issue into the system. if you can't resolve it, it goes into a ticket queue, where other people with the ability to resolve it select it, put it into their personal working queue, and resolve it.

well after 30 minutes of searching, this supervisor tells me, dumbfounded, that she's discovered a completely unique queue she's never seen before, where my tickets have been going somehow. a pocket universe queue that no one has access to or can edit or select from, not even her. she has no idea what's happening. she's like "yes, here are all your tickets, and no one can open them or comment on them or resolve them.....this is crazy......" and it's JUST my tickets in there. no one else's. of tens of thousands of customers.

all professionalism fell by the wayside. i told her i've worked with those queues before and also found that totally wild. she was like "what the hell is going on...." and talked me through everything she was seeing and how gobsmacked she was. we were both like "this is one for the books truly"

tells me she's going to have to bring this up above herself because this is a really big error on like, a coding level, that she has no idea how to resolve. tells me she will personally call me back tomorrow to update me.

four days pass with no word.

i call customer service again. random agent. explain the entire situation, including that last bit.

agent says "i'm sorry but i have no record of those tickets existing. i'll have to start a ticket for you. rest assured, it will be resolved."

i said, "no it won't be. it never will be. because they're in the special queue."

You'll spend less time on hold and reach more people with the time and patience to hear you out.

2. Take notes for phone calls. You can literally make a numbered check list of what you definitely want to bring up, and then during the call take down who you spoke to, at what date and what solutions/deadlines were promised.

(Source) August 2nd, 2026.