ins and outs
Feb. 10th, 2016 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanThe man who sits next to me at work has two sons, 12 and 9 years old. He is dotty about these kids and it's pretty adorable. They call him almost every day and he fights with the other parents on our team over who gets to take their Vacations during the school holidays so he can spend more time with them. (They live about an hour outside of Toronto so he doesn't get to see them every week.)
So he has their pictures prominently displayed on his desk. They're you standard good-looking white boys. And the 12 year-old has ginger-blonde hair down to his collar bone.
Every. Single. Adult. who has stopped by his desk since he brought in this picture has expressed an unhealthy level of investment in this kid's hair. They ask why he doesn't cut it. They ask dadman why he doesn't force the kid to cut it. Then when dadman says it's his hair, he can do what he likes with it they try to reassure dadman that it's ok, when the kid gets to high school he'll probably make the choice to cut it himself.
Like WTF people.
It's almost every day and it seems to come from people of all age groups and cultural backgrounds too. It's just weird.
Add that to the tendency of some of the people here to gender absolutely everything (Did you know staying up too late is a boy thing? I did not know that, but apparently it is.) and I feel like I'm working in some alternate 50's universe with smartphones.
So he has their pictures prominently displayed on his desk. They're you standard good-looking white boys. And the 12 year-old has ginger-blonde hair down to his collar bone.
Every. Single. Adult. who has stopped by his desk since he brought in this picture has expressed an unhealthy level of investment in this kid's hair. They ask why he doesn't cut it. They ask dadman why he doesn't force the kid to cut it. Then when dadman says it's his hair, he can do what he likes with it they try to reassure dadman that it's ok, when the kid gets to high school he'll probably make the choice to cut it himself.
Like WTF people.
It's almost every day and it seems to come from people of all age groups and cultural backgrounds too. It's just weird.
Add that to the tendency of some of the people here to gender absolutely everything (Did you know staying up too late is a boy thing? I did not know that, but apparently it is.) and I feel like I'm working in some alternate 50's universe with smartphones.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-11 09:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-12 07:12 am (UTC)News to me.
They ask dadman why he doesn't force the kid to cut it.
It's a bit like the '60s never happened!
Although I suppose most people view long hair as being something for older kids, and they're probably pondering the power dynamic where a 12-year-old has a say in how their hair is cut. I guess.
(They live about an hour outside of Toronto so he doesn't get to see them every week.)
By car? Because that doesn't seem like that long of a commute. Unless he doesn't live with them.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-12 04:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-12 05:11 pm (UTC)And, hey, if he talks with his kids once a decade doing well.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-14 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-15 09:34 am (UTC)Just pondering great commute times of the world.
An hour in an of itself doesn't sound terrible to me (at 45 minutes) but I am sure it sounds like hell on earth to someone with a more modest 20 minute journey.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-15 03:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-16 10:17 am (UTC)Well, that explains the 'confusion'. Thanks.
Three hours in traffic. Ugh.