The joys of being known

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crfriend
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The joys of being known

Post by crfriend »

I'm well known about my newly-adopted home-town after having the last one made too hot for me to exist in, and I think I've done pretty well. The cast of characters at my local all accept me -- skirts and all -- and bust my chops over all manner of stuff, but none so much as when I show up in male drab. So does the staff. The place I frequent now in a town to the north is so familiar with me that by the time I get from the parking-lot to a seat at the bar a Guinness is already waiting for me.

The "package store" (a prohibition-era term for "liquor store") has even gotten in on the act. The compressor for one of their beer-coolers failed a few days ago and everybody's waiting on the new parts to arrive. One of the staff today went the extra mile for a regular and put a single 12-pack of Bass Ale in the other cooler specifically for me so I'd have cool beer this evening.

I love this little corner of the world.

I need to start going to Town Meeting -- the very last bastion of true democracy in the New World -- at some point. It just needs doing.
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
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denimini
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Re: The joys of being known

Post by denimini »

That sounds a very positive aspect to your life, unlike your workplace.

I live in a small town of about 600 where I am well known. I went to the Post Office the other day wearing pants, because I was going to a meeting where I was representing an organisation, The Post Master commented "A bit cold out there is it?".
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
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moonshadow
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Re: The joys of being known

Post by moonshadow »

I know those feels. It reminds me of my time living in Pulaski Virginia. Prior to my days as a solitary skirt wearing maverick , I used to be very involved in many situations. The most notable being my involvement in the actual Town of Pulaski community government. The ordeal really put me on the map, so to speak, and made my name well known. I was heavily involved for several years, participating in several town cleanups, and becoming active in various sub-organizations, most notably, the sale of Hogans Dam from the town of Pulaski to an outside developer, dealing with the blows of losing basically all of our industry in a 10 year span, losing various retail outlets, and the threat of losing our middle school (the high school was already located to another town several decades ago).

The town seemed to be dying, but it had a strong soul and many local town residents fought hard for her, people in neighboring towns (even in the same county) often kicked dirt at Pulaski, and in many ways, it really was "us against the world". At one time, myself and a small band of other locals fought hard to get the state government to lift its moratorium on cities, so we could petition the state for a city charter, rendering us independent from the county, allowing us our own school system, and constitutional offices. It never went anywhere, and the state moratorium stands to this day.

My days as a small class C contractor for refrigeration and home improvement yielded many local contacts and networking opportunities within the town, for a brief moment I was involved with the Chamber of Commerce. When I ceased that business and started a Witchcraft Store (Lunar Curiosities) at 83 West Main Street, it pissed a few people off that I used to run with, but new friends were made along the way, and by the end of my time there, I could take a walk in the middle of a Saturday afternoon downtown, and literally stop at almost every single store on main street and shoot the bull with the other local merchants and shoppers. They all knew me and what I was about. Life was good.

My former employer out of Roanoke offered me my job back in late 2013 about the time I left for the far flung corner of the state. Sometimes I wonder how things would have panned out had I had taken that position. I could have kept my home in the town I loved, I probably never would have discovered skirts, but hey, you can't agonize of a losing joy you've never known. It's been a long time (since 2013) since I've felt like I was a part of a community.

Sometimes, my heart just aches. And I maintain that no matter where life may take me, Pulaski Virginia will always be where my heart is. Funny, since I wasn't even born there.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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