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Humans more precious than things
Twitter thread about a great interaction with a tech guy from Alex Woodroe, ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
alexwoodroe. Open in a private window if you don't have an account, or read the full thread below.
CW: shitty families, quoting ableist slur
I don't think I would have named this as an issue for myself. Then again maybe Alex wouldn't have either. But I remember my dad calling me r*tarded (in Spanish) for dropping and breaking a handmade mug, purchased from a neighbor. I was walking across the kitchen, and it slid out of my hand. I've always remembered that, even though like Alex says, this isn't even one of the big ticket items. It was the casual contempt more than the particular word that hurt at the time.
Alex Woodroe said:
I went to get my laptop set up at a tech shop this morning, and I think the tech guy accidentally gave me a free therapy session that's still haunting me now.
So naturally I'm gonna tell y'all what he said
He was winding up my cables and remarking on how neat the little cable-holding velcro thing is. You know, IT shop chatter.
And I said yeah, though I'm a bit of a klutz. I know I should take better care but I break cables (and tech) a lot.
And he looked at me and said "No."
No, don't do this to yourself. Who made you feel this sad about breaking a power cable?
I think I was already getting misty-eyed at this point.
CW: shitty families
I said, I guess I grew up that way. It was always 'take more care. You break everything. You can't be trusted with anything. Everything goes to shit around you.' At one point I'd been accused of chewing the cables.
A-ny-way
Side-note: wow if any of you didn't already know I came from a really bad place, hi, this isn't even the big ticket items
He said, I figured that was it because I grew up in a family like that, too, and I can tell when it hurts *that* bad. But you shouldn't do that.
You shouldn't ever be sad that you broke a thing. It's just a thing, and you're a whole person and infinite times more precious.
He said, if someone who should have known better valued crappy stuff that's designed to break more than they valued you, that's their issue and they have to live with themselves. It's not your job to do that to yourself now they're gone.
And he said, break anything you want. You're still worth everything.
Anyway this is the story of how I cried in the IT repair shop, tune in six months from now when I will have actually processed what the heck happened there
CW: shitty families, quoting ableist slur
I don't think I would have named this as an issue for myself. Then again maybe Alex wouldn't have either. But I remember my dad calling me r*tarded (in Spanish) for dropping and breaking a handmade mug, purchased from a neighbor. I was walking across the kitchen, and it slid out of my hand. I've always remembered that, even though like Alex says, this isn't even one of the big ticket items. It was the casual contempt more than the particular word that hurt at the time.
Alex Woodroe said:
I went to get my laptop set up at a tech shop this morning, and I think the tech guy accidentally gave me a free therapy session that's still haunting me now.
So naturally I'm gonna tell y'all what he said
He was winding up my cables and remarking on how neat the little cable-holding velcro thing is. You know, IT shop chatter.
And I said yeah, though I'm a bit of a klutz. I know I should take better care but I break cables (and tech) a lot.
And he looked at me and said "No."
No, don't do this to yourself. Who made you feel this sad about breaking a power cable?
I think I was already getting misty-eyed at this point.
CW: shitty families
I said, I guess I grew up that way. It was always 'take more care. You break everything. You can't be trusted with anything. Everything goes to shit around you.' At one point I'd been accused of chewing the cables.
A-ny-way
Side-note: wow if any of you didn't already know I came from a really bad place, hi, this isn't even the big ticket items
He said, I figured that was it because I grew up in a family like that, too, and I can tell when it hurts *that* bad. But you shouldn't do that.
You shouldn't ever be sad that you broke a thing. It's just a thing, and you're a whole person and infinite times more precious.
He said, if someone who should have known better valued crappy stuff that's designed to break more than they valued you, that's their issue and they have to live with themselves. It's not your job to do that to yourself now they're gone.
And he said, break anything you want. You're still worth everything.
Anyway this is the story of how I cried in the IT repair shop, tune in six months from now when I will have actually processed what the heck happened there