One thing I’ve learned working at Diverse Universe: there are many, many, many straight people who are still quite unaware that the rainbow is a symbol of gay pride. I know this because even though the front of the store is decked out with rainbows galore (not to mention the giant banner advertising Gay Fuel in the window), there are lots of straight people who wander in the store without realizing what sort of store they’ve entered. They usually make it to the middle of the store before it starts to sink in that the pictures they’re seeing feature women with women, and more shockingly, men with men. A few of these people continue to browse with curiosity, many quietly turn and walk out the door, but a few (mostly straight men) freak out a little bit and dash out the door in fear of catching “the gay.” This happens at least once a week, and I’ve learned just to take it in stride.

Yesterday, in the midst of all the Christmas shopping madness (meaning we had a store full of people), a straight couple walked in the door and separated as they browsed. The girl was in the middle of the store, the guy was still near the front, when suddenly something clicked in his head. “Oh SHIT!” he exclaimed, and hightailed it out the door. She noticed this, but she was still looking around. She continued to browse for a minute or two, then she quietly left.

I was bouncing back and forth between the stores putting up all the cute new stuff that showed up just in time for the last minute shoppers, and as I made a trip over to City Dweller to take an armful over there, I saw her reading him the riot act. I only heard bits and pieces because I didn’t want to be obvious about listening, but I heard him say, “That was a perfectly normal reaction,” to which she replied, “You think that was acceptable? I don’t. I think that was rude and ignorant.” He was still sort of laughing it off as a joke, but man, she was pissed. From inside City Dweller I could hear them continuing to argue. She was getting louder - and though I couldn’t understand what she was saying - it was clear she was giving him absolute hell.

This alone made me love her. I went back to Diverse and told Marshall about it, and we both agreed that she was awesome. But we had no idea how awesome she was until a few minutes later, when they both walked into the store. Marshall was ringing up a customer and I was working on some stock, so they patiently waited for Marshall to be free. As soon as he was, the guy spoke up: “I just wanted to come back in here and apologize for the way I acted earlier. That was rude and completely inappropriate, and I’m very sorry I did that.”

Seriously, it was all I could do to not yell out, “You GO girl!”