TJ’s Pasadena – Hastings Ranch (171)
467 N Rosemead Blvd Pasadena, CA 91107
626-351-3399
Having had 5 meals in the past 4 days, and having gotten physically assaulted a few days ago, I finally upped and left the area I had been in and made it up to Pasadena, where I remember it was relatively safer.
The key word is relatively.
I was walking to the library when I saw a Trader Joe’s. I thought, hey, I really like Trader Joe’s, so I made a change to my plan to head directly to the library, grit my teeth, and decided to panhandle.
Long story short, a blonde, somewhat overweight white woman name Emily gave me a piece of paper and let me borrow a pen for 5 minutes when I asked her. I thought, how nice.
Eventually it became obvious she hadn’t known I was homeless. That was why she was nice.
After I went outside the front door to hold my sign, she immediately came out and said, “I didn’t know what you were making the sign for. You can’t do that here.” The whole time she was smiling. I said ok. Where can I go? The parking lot? She said, “no not the parking lot. You can go to the end of the driveway there.” She pointed to he place where cars turn into the parking lot. I said ok, and I went there.
A while later, I thought about it, and I got angry because I thought another employee who had seen me had snitched, which would be crappy.
I went into the store to ask if they had. He said he hadn’t. Emily said, “you were right outside the door.” In other words, she saw me, which is why she came out and told me I couldn’t be there.
I said ok and left.
I went back to the end of the driveway.
I can’t remember the second time I went in, but while there, I asked for the female employee’s name. At this time, a tall-ish young-ish white male employee was also at the customer service desk. I asked them what rule said I couldn’t panhandle, and he told me. He said something about you also can’t in the parking lot because of the property management. I said, who is property management? It was a question.
He said, you’re getting agressive.
I said, “this isn’t aggressive. this is straighforward. I’m from the east coast and this is how we talk.”
I had been ONLY asking them questions about the rules. Apparently questions are, to them, aggressive, the same way simple, non-leading questions are threatening to narcissists.
I said, “I’m not fake.” I turned to Emily and said, “It’s nice to have a smile on your face while preventing someone from eating. That’s fake and Californian.”
Emily and the tall white male employee both said, “Ok.”
I left.
Thinking about it, I realized it was apparent they were saying “ok” to get me to go away as soon as possible.
I did go away, and I didn’t go back.
I sat at the end of the driveway for more than 1 hour and 1 African American couple gave me a $5 bill. I was very grateful and thanked them.
After more than an hour, a Latino male employee walked from the store toward me. He walked out onto the sidewalk, making a 3/4 circle around me, and then cricled back in front of me into the driveway of the parking lot.
He said, “You can’t be doing that here.”
I eventually told him that other employee had said I could be at the end of the driveway.
He said, “If they told you that, you’re ok.”
Then, after he started walking away, he turned around and said, “How are you doing? Are you ok?”
What a fucking stupid ass motherfucker.
That is either a really really really stupid person, or someone intentionally messing with you.
How am I supposed to be after eating 5 meals in 4 days and sitting in more than 90 degree heat for more than an hour? I might have been there even two hours.
I said, “That’s none of your business.”
Then he said, in a high-pitched mocking voice, the type that only Californians can pull, “Have a nice day.”
I said, “fuck you.”
I asked him what his name was and he said it was Westin. I went back into the Trader Joe’s to report it.
An older middle aged white male manager heard my complaint and said, “I’ll talk to him about it.”
I went back to the end of the driveway.
Then I thought I should get the other male employee’s name, so I went in and asked for it. I asked Emily, and she asked me why I wanted it. Fuck you, bitch, it’s none of your business why I want it, is what I thought later. At the time, I just anwered and said, “I keep a blog.” She looked at me with a sarcastic smile and said, “I’m not going to give it to you.”
At the time the older middle aged white male manager was at the customer service desk too. I asked him his name and he said Jason. I said what’s your last name and instead of telling me, he said, “It’s right there.” I had to squint to see it. His name is Jason Aaronson. He kept saying I can’t be coming back in there because I’m not a customer. I said, I would have been a customer.
Analysis:
Emily is one of those fake tool women who smiles to your face to keep her job but doesn’t actually give a shit about humans.
The tall young white male employee was a typical white male who decided Emily couldn’t speak for herself and had to butt in. He also apparently has problems with people asking very basic questions, like, can you please tell me what rules prohibit panhandling.
Either that, or, apparently, homeless people aren’t allowed to ask questions about laws that affect them.
We’re only supposed to shut the fuck up and do everything that eveyone tells us to. Shut the fuck up and obey.
Jason Aaronson is a typical narcissistic manager. He has that way of talking and walking like his brain is removed from his body and he doesn’t have a heart. He doesn’t have empathy. He just says what he needs to say to customers, or homeless people, not even being good at being fake like Emily was, to get them to go away.
THIS IS FAR FROM THE WORST THING I’VE EXPERIENCED AS A HOMELESS PERSON.
This is daily.
You’re expected to kiss people’s ass, shut the fuck up, and obey everyone who gives you orders.
It’s interesting because in general people in the Los Angeles, California, area, are surface-level tolerant of homeless people.
I mistook that for actual acceptance and concern for a while.
I’m only now starting to see that politely ignoring and giving plastic smiles to homeless people is non-homeless people’s adaptive way to get them to shut up and go away. Being fake friendly is an adaptive way to control people’s behavior.
You can argue this applies to how Los Angeles people treat non-homeless people, too.
But I’m talking about homeless people.
Real caring is not in fake smiles.
You get to see people’s real characters if you so much as actually AFFECT them in some way.
Say, you are on their store’s property when the rules prohibit you from being there.
Or you ask questions to find out about laws and rules.
Or you report harassing, hateful behavior like Westin’s. (Who only treats people like that when he thinks they are powerless. That is the type of abusive man he is. You can tell from how he acted.)
Or you complain.
Or you talk back.
That is the litmus for whether people really see you as a human being. Or just a machine to control in their daily life.
At least that is my litmus.
Maybe fake Californians are content being a shallow shell of people without opinions that can ripple the laziness of 90 plus degree heat. (Actually heat makes you so lazy. For real.)
Fake, hollow-brained, empty-headed, vacuous, intellectually vapid, stupid Californians aren’t able to handle things like QUESTIONS or dissent.
Complaints or UNHAPPINESS THAT SHOWS ITSELF.
Go fucking cry at the end of that fucking driveway. (Which I did.)
NOMP. Not on my property.
People Who Hate Humans 