present tense sky & stars

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE

THE TERROR (2018) S01E04 "Punished, as a Boy"

in response to this

Oh all Robins yeah. There’s a different justification for each one and in a way the more rock-solid and defensible they get the more egregious it becomes imho. “He was going to do it on his own” “he was headed down a hopeless path to crime and needed the structure and discipline of Robin” “he was literally asking for it” “making him Robin is the only way to keep him from becoming a supervillain”. Every time there is a new justification for why a billionaire with every resource can only help a child by entering into a dangerous and bizarre kind of relationship with him that is repeatedly shown to be profoundly psychologically damaging (…for the kids).

And every time the narrative bends over backwards to assure us that Bruce never actually makes the wrong decision. That he’s never actually being selfish. That Robins just sort of happen to him as an act of God that has little to with Bruce’s wants. That these boys really are just that special, their circumstances are that exceptional, that Robin really is the best option for them. And every time they get hurt or die or are tragically, profoundly warped by their proximity to Batman, well…? We flirt with the notion of remorse and regret for a while. Then it’s time for a new boy (it’s different this time! I promise! Unavoidable!).

Don’t get me wrong—I love the Robins. I think they are the best part of the Batman story and don’t want them to be eliminated. I understand that they are wish fulfillment/power fantasies for children and that 90 year old ongoing comics can’t actually come to meaningful, lasting character resolutions. But we’ve been telling serious standalone “adult” Batman stories for fully half that time and I don’t think we’ve ever properly grappled with Robin. The elements are all there. It comes up, a little bit, here and there, but only so that it can be summarily dismissed.

And it’s hard, you know—it’s difficult to tell a story about grooming because people can’t or won’t recognize it unless there is literal molestation happening. But if there IS literal molestation, well, now, the story is lurid! Provocative! Edgy—too edgy! The sexual act eclipses the emotional reality and flattens character motivations and dynamics into something familiar and cliché. Something safely true crime that disinvites empathy. I don’t think Bruce is a pedophile but I don’t think a pedophile Bruce Wayne would look any different. The nature of the exploitation would differ, obviously, but the dynamics and rationale and downstream effects would be basically the same.