For the Record...

I'd posted this on a thread in the Lime & Violet bulletin board. It was deleted because, in their opinion, it was launching a personal attack. If you read all of the posts in that particular thread (the ones aimed at me especially), then you'll see that they didn't delete the posts that were a personal attack on me or my character.

For the Record: I am not now, nor have I ever been an employee of String of Purls.

For the Record: My posts were not at the behest of the String of Purls management; rather, they were my own views and motivated by a desire to challenge actions and perceptions.

For the Record: I did not create an account on the LnV BB for the purpose of "starting a fight" (as I was accused via email of doing). I did it for the purpose of challenging actions and perceptions.

For the Record: I have not been able to post anything further on that BB. I don't know why, but my account has been disabled. It has not been deleted, because that would have removed all of my posts, and Eliza said that she felt my point of view was "valuable." I have emailed Eliza to ask why my account has been disabled, but I haven't had a response yet; however, I can't get to that email account until Monday, so it's possible there is a response that I just haven't been able to get to.

10/02/2006 Update: I received an email from Eliza on Friday after I'd left the office. Poor thing has a severe injury which required serious medication, so all she could do was give a short reply. Here's wishing her a speedy recovery!

For the Record, here is my original post on that site:

I've read this [thread] from page one and it's distressing in so many ways.

First of all, if there was a problem with the people in the shop, why didn't you address the problem with those people? I mean, I can understand being upset and not being able to talk about it right away, but the fact of the matter is that problems don't get resolved until you deal directly with the people involved.

Second, I've shown up in that yarn shop in all manner of clothing (good and bad), no makeup, and my hair looking like its been through a blender. The only time I noticed slow service was when the people working in the shop were busy with other customers. In all the time I've been in that shop I've never seen anyone treated disrespectfully no matter how he/she was dressed, no matter how many children he/she brought along, and no matter how much or how little he/she purchased. From my own experience, I seriously doubt anyone had a problem with the mother being tattooed.

Third, I have worked in retail shops and I do a lot of shopping in all manner of stores. Here's a few things I've observed about parents and their children:

1. Nearly all parents believe their children aren't a bother.

2. Most parents have no clue what their children are doing, and worse ...

3. Most parents don't seem to care that their children are running around like the place is a playground, molesting the inventory, or screaming for attention.

Just because you didn't think the baby was a bother that night doesn't mean other people in the store (other paying customers, too) didn't have their teeth on edge. Just because you as a mother or a friend wrote it off as a little bit of fussing doesn't mean everyone else should take it that way.

And I'm saying this as someone who has been around a LOT of children and shopping in a lot of places. (Get yourself stuck on a five-hour airplane ride with just one fussy baby in a seat near you and then see how well your family values hold up.)

I understand that there are times when the parent must bring the child along. It's good for the children to get out and learn appropriate behavior for any number of environments. But the parent bears the responsibility for the child's behavior. More than likely the baby needed to be in a quiet environment in order to sleep, so being around a bunch of noisy knitters wasn't the best solution.

I hope the locals are willing to engage in a dialog with the owner to work out their conflict. It would be a shame if the Thursday night group disbanded over a huge misunderstanding of intentions and perceptions. Ideally, you all would get this resolved AND there would be a way for some of the local spinners to sell their items through that store. I can't think of a better partnership than for a good yarn shop to get together with the spinners in that area.


Shalom