hey sweetie i'm popping by again & just wondering if you have any tips about writing deaf & hoh characters?? what would you classify as good representation? what are your biggest pet peeves in the rpc's portrayal besides the obvious lack of hoh muses!! obvs feel free to ignore me but i'm really interested in your observations!! :')
oooh boy. i feel like i always have a lot to say about these sorts of things. i wrote THIS POST a few months ago, and attached are some really helpful links, and there’s a few posts in my deaf tag.
good rep in media is difficult, but it’s slowly getting better – deaf/hoh stories are much better told by deaf/hoh actors rather than hearing actors ( the same way trans stories are told better by trans actors, and not just cis actors ) because they’re more authentic. but with so few deaf actors in the media, resources are hard to come by, and so whilst it’s most certainly preferable to have a deaf fc play your deaf character, it can be very difficult to find a certain aesthetic to match.
when it comes to hearing people playing deaf/hoh characters in the rpc, i don’t mind it so much, as long as it’s done respectfully. i’ve heard of hearing muns be rejected from rps for playing deaf characters – now, i could be wrong, but i’ve never seen that with trans muses or muses of colour with cis or white muns. as long as you’re being respectful and exercising resources, i think it’s perfectly fine for hearing muns to play deaf characters.
some insane pet peeves, though, since you asked:
✕ sign language, no matter where from, is a language. so why do people italicise it ?? put it in “quotation marks”, just like you would any other language. also, something i’ve noticed with american muns – asl is for americans. it is american sign language. there’s over 300 more strands of sign language.
✕ disability is not a personality trait, please do not write it as one. deafness is more than hearing aids and sign language !! involvement in the deaf community is a good thing to write, and i encourage you to write about and explore it.
✕ you wanna know what really shits me in the rpc when playing a deaf character ?? being blatantly ignored because the character is deaf. if the fc is deaf, they’re likely an underused and unpopular fc, and the rpc hates those. i’ve been excluded from rps because the character is deaf. i’ve been in rps where people love the deaf rep. it just depends on the people you’re surrounded by.
of course, these are just my experiences in the rpc, other deaf/hoh folks might have other experiences. but, i’m always open to discuss this stuff, though, so thank you for asking !!
jack, my friend!! i hope all is okay. i'm wondering about your experience as a barista?? are there things about its portrayal in the rpc that are inaccurate or annoying to you?? being a barista is probably the most popular job characters have on here!! what impact does being trans, ace, queer have on your workplace environment if you don't mind talking about it?
oh man olivia, oh man. you’re gonna have me GO aren’t you?? i’m doing better ilusm bb
okay so disclaimer that i’ve only been a barista at sun-dollars (think of synonyms) for a year now. i’ve never done it at some fancy, privately owned shop, and my experience isn’t that of everyone else!! i’m also pretty damn low on my totem poll, too, so keep that in mind
so when i was hired, i worked at a small cafe store for a few months; small outside patio, small parking spaces, located in a tiny strip mall off a main road, maybe a max crew of 20 or less?? but now we all relocated to one of the busiest drive thru stores in our district; large outside patio, giant inside seating, one of the only stores with a conference room in the CITY, a drive thru that pretty much… never stops, and a stand-alone building on the same main road. and wow what a difference there is
this thing ended up being super long so it’s under a cut
note:: this is really for people looking to portray accurate, non-dramatized versions of barista life, and the whole thing is largely fueled by personal experience. hope it helps??
on THE JOB ITSELF :
if you think its an easy job, please get out of my face. if you think it’s super complicated and hard, there’s a bit for you to learn here. and most importantly–if you think fucking with a barista is fun, go to hell
firstly–there is a lot to remember. there’s the drink standard; how the drink is supposed to be made without any customization. then there’s whatever people add and change about it. then there’s “i asked for five mocha pumps but this tastes like you didn’t put five in, remake it.” and then there’s “i think i know how a drink is made, but i don’t, but i’ll still tell you how to do your job.”
there is a specific routine for making drinks called SEQUENCING that we’re supposed to learn as soon as possible. it ensures that, if you’re on bar, you are always making part of a drink and finishing another. steam milk, queue shots, turn and start blending a frappuccino, while that’s in the blender turn back and finish the hot drink, hand it out, steam another milk, queue more shots, turn and pour frappuccino, hand it out, etc etc etc
personally, i’m not the best on bar. i know people who are stunningly gorgeous at it – who can sequence without fail. but it requires a LOT of mental work. not a lot of room for talking unless there’s only one drink or two to make. any character who is “skilled” at being a barista probably doesn’t spend their shift talking, but working in hasty silence when it is busy
being on register is my personal skill. i always work drive thru orders. yes, we have specific buttons for everything, but with as many combinations as sun-dollars has, there’s still an infinite number of ways to mess it up if you don’t know what you’re doing. and if the order comes out wrong, it gets made wrong, and then the barista on bar gets the brunt of the abuse from the customer and has to mess up their sequence by remaking it
on TIPPING YOUR BARISTA :
at sun-dollars, we’re paid just slightly above minimum wage and a huge chunk of our money is tips, which at a store of our size are still under a dollar earned an hour, then divided by how many hours you worked, and how many people worked that week and their hours too. tips don’t always add up to much, because people never think about tipping us
but here’s the thing. we make everything by hand just like someone would at a restaurant. sometimes more than once if one little thing is wrong. we burn our hands on hot coffee and water, we slip and fall, we haul heavy things around. even if you don’t see it, we do it. so please… tip your barista because we make everything and serve it to you just like at any other food business
on MONEY EARNED :
a part-time barista position, maybe working 25-30 hours a week with included tips, is NOT ENOUGH TO HAVE AN APARTMENT ON. not anywhere outside of fantasy land anyway
take that example. if i get 10.55/hour, and work 25 hours one week and 16 the next (which is a GOOD week for me, holy shit), and my tips are… $15 for both weeks, then I’ve made around… $475~ after taxes are taken out. no. so many of my fellow partners have second, third jobs. or their spouse earns the majority of the money. or they still live at home–like myself. it simply isn’t a job you can live on independently
i.e. this is a callout to the “barista who somehow lives without a roommate and doesn’t constantly complain about how hungry they are” trope
on WRITING ON CUPS :
yes, sun-dollars used to write on cups. but now we have a sticker system that is ten times more efficient. yes, we still write on the cups if our machine goes down, or if we have a messed up drink, any number of things. but it isn’t common for a busy store to write on cups daily anymore
that being said, let’s talk about our big fave trope: muse a writes their number on the cup for muse b because they flirted at the handoff plane. YOU CAN GET FIRED FOR THIS. it is immediately a fireable offense, no questions asked. i know it ruins the CUTESY moment but it’s a thing. best to keep your ship intact and employed by having them ask when the barista is on a break.
yes, we misspell names. it happens. whether your fingers slip up on the touch screen or you just didn’t hear it right. but no barista i know would risk their job and security by purposefully writing a malicious name on a cup. end of
on CUSTOMER CONNECTION :
the cafe store had been around for years in a community where snowbirds (old people who come to the warmth of arizona for the winter) are the largest customer base. that, plus the small crew, meant that the partners (baristas) had a long-established rapport with many of the customers. i remember on my first official day working, so many people kept telling me “my usual” and my partners had to keep reminding the customers to order properly, since i was new and didn’t know them yet
but once i got to know the regulars–and it definitely took a lot of time–it showed me the incredible connection people have with their baristas. we joke that as baristas, we’re unpaid therapists with a coffee in hand. people tell their barista SO MUCH. but it’s fascinating, really; sometimes it’s just plain oversharing, but sometimes you just get to be connected to a person you see every day, even if it’s only for a minute or two
now, at my drive thru store, i have my personally labelled “night regs” who i see pretty much every time i work. i know their names, their orders by heart, and sometimes stuff about their family or lives. and for those who are grateful, you’d be surprised the brightening affect on someone’s day it can be when you remember their order and ask them about something they mentioned last week
recently, a family who comes through my drive almost every day suffered a loss in their family. i could tell something was different because they weren’t joking around with me. they ended up sharing and it brought us really close. they even came to visit me when i worked on christmas day. recently, they had a family bbq and actually drove all the way to the store to bring me a plate of leftovers because of an inside joke we all have. i don’t give them discounts–big no no–or free drinks. they pay like everyone else. but we’ve grown really close and they make my work day nicer because i know i’m making people happy
so often when i see people writing baristas, the character is a certain archetype: the aloof one, the bubbly one, the romantic one, for examples. but i think the connection between a barista (even an introverted one like myself) and a regular is really undervalued!! the fact that we have worked so hard to maintain that customer personal connection with our regulars even though we have thousands more people a week has really shown me a lot about how people interact with one another
on RUDE CUSTOMERS :
it takes a LOT to kick someone out of a store. like a LOT. we’ve only ended up kicking out one person because they were repeatedly stealing from our food display, and then we could only do it once we got proof. so no, being rude to the barista once isn’t an offense that can get them removed. somehow
people are rude. collectively. some are nice, but people are rude. whether it’s the cranky person who insists they ordered their drink iced but the sticker says hot, the person who repeatedly asks “is my drink ready?” even though the sticker line is as long as i am tall, the person who demands their drink be remade for any reason valid or otherwise with a big attitude, or the drive thru car who has an attitude because they expected to be in and out but their wait time is 15 minutes because the car ahead of them ordered for their entire church. people will find a way to be rude, even if they don’t know it
what do we do? we smile, apologize and take blame, and do it over. especially at sun-dollars; the customer IS ALWAYS RIGHT. welcome to the service industry
on ACCEPTANCE :
i’m very lucky when i can say sun-dollars is a very accepting environment. being a trans and queer partner, i had my identity accepted right away by my coworkers. i also make it a point to let them know that if they have any questions about my identity, they can ask it to my face within reason. this has led to some really heartfelt interactions with my fellow partners, because it was how they learned some things about identities other than theirs
customers… well it’s touch-and-go. i live in a primarily… single-minded area. but i know i’m not the only one who knows this – being trans in a workplace is a touch-and-go thing. i’ve had people who only hear my voice call me “miss” at the speaker and correct themselves to “sir” at the window when they see my beard. i’ve had stubborn old people refuse to say my name. you still have to serve them, and personally, i avoid correcting people to avoid any sort of confrontation
my specific workplace is very personal; we know a lot about one another’s personal lives. what else is there to talk about when cleaning? some partners have been insensitive, but we talk it out and it’s done and fixed. sometimes we snark at one another using personal jabs, but that’s something we all participate in. and we know where the line is and not to cross it. but i’m sure many workplaces are like that
on ETC :
you will get messy. i end a time on bar with my fingers sticking together, my arms covered in fake-tan from chai or frappuccino roast pumps, and one partner told me once she went home to find mocha in her belly button of all places
you clean the bathrooms too. in all their shitty mess. and people treat public bathrooms terribly. but doing bathrooms is also a good release from the business of the bar
that drive thru headset? paid-for walkie talkies. yes, we gossip, we laugh, we trade jokes. we rag on customers out of earshot. let us have fun
WE DID NOT INVENT OR TAKE PART IN THE SECRET MENU. we cannot make your drink unless you tell us how it’s made. we’re not gonna google your weird invention when we have other things to do. you either come prepared, or you get something else
if you’re going to pay separately for a large order, TELL US FIRST
there will always be that one partner you hate working with. it happens in every job. there will always be that crew you love working with. you don’t always get to choose when that happens. c’est la vie
if it’s closing time, customers need to LEAVE. this is an issue of safety for when we work with money. even your best friend, your spouse, or your elderly mother cannot be inside the store during closing
at sun-dollars we have a weekly thing called the “clean play,” where people come in after the closers and do a deep-clean of the store. we rock out to music, enjoy there being no customers, and have fun. good setting for fellow workers!!
don’t give us pity on holidays. you’re the reason we’re there
i once had a woman come in half an hour before closing, and she was so mad we didn’t have the food box she wanted that she called corporate to complain. we now have more waste at the end of the night because we have to order so many boxes so we never run out
sometimes you’ll have to run out before or during a shift to pick up product from other stores
people take it personally when you finish a seasonal beverage. really personally when you’re out of anything, really
seeing regulars outside of the workplace will always be awkward. some even ask if you remember their drink. you might
people will complain about things out of your control. smile and nod and say you’ll let your manager know
when in doubt, give it to your shift supervisor
ADDITION :: my wonderful friend @morbidrpa wrote about her experience as a barista/manager in a smaller, single-location coffee shop. go check it out for varied experiences!!
favorite things ever series (w/ @activisthelps) [1/?]:
name:
d’arcy carden
their passions:
acting/comedy
where can you find them?:
nbc’s the good place (season 1&2 on netflix now) & hbo’s barry! she’s also still active at the LA UCB!
why I love them?:
d’arcy is honestly the kindest and silliest person i’ve ever seen. her insta stories brighten my day. her dog, penny, is the love of her life. she’s the most underrated member of her cast because she is so stinkin’ talented.
i am so bad at remembering dreams, holy cow, i’m still trying to remember the one i had last night! but hm, okay, a plot based with exes who broke up but no one else knows? everyone loved them together, but things fell apart so suddenly that they don’t know how to continue on with things. so you’d have their friends inviting them together to events, parents asking where they are, just the slow falling out of a relationship but neither of them has the heart to tell everyone they broke up — whatever the reason may be is up to you. and they’re just kind of trying to figure out how to carry on, whether that be as friends or total strangers. my dream had someone looking at me from a stage with a sad look in their eyes (though it definitely wasn’t an ex of mine, haha.)
page 24. the last full line on the 24th page of the closest book.
“you don’t give a damn about me anymore, now that you’ve slept with me,” she said, crying. — norwegian wood by haruki murakami
muse a is used to getting left behind, a broken bird who’s had people leave them time and time again. they’re used to numbing their emotions so it hurts less, despite the fact that they are sentimental by nature. they meet muse b, a friend of a friend who instantly takes a liking to them, and they grow close. muse b doesn’t know about muse a’s history, but the more they hang out, the more they grow to like them as more than a friend. they spend a night together, but muse b can’t sleep because of muse a’s crying. they find out it’s because muse a’s been left before, both after one-night stands and relationships, and therefore doesn’t see or feel like they’re worthy of nothing more than temporary affection. cue muse b trying to tell them otherwise and make them feel their worth. what happens to them after? that’s up to you.
sveja, hi, you're so sweet!! how about some positivity for thegoodrph, thecanarywrites and fieryrebirth :') <33
no you’re sweet!!!!
@thegoodrph
how haven’t i followed you yet!!! (sike i just did) i have seen you on the dash probably multiple times and went “hm isn’t that who i think it is” and probably forgot. but there’s only good things i can say about hufflepuffs since i’m a dumbo slytherin.
@thecanarywrites
seven years is a long time to be in the rp community and honestly good for you?? also hope you do well (since i saw you posted about sending a resume on your blog) and go far in life! i felt so scared and anxious when i sent mine out the first five times but i ended up getting one of the jobs recently! so hopefully i can shove that luck and energy to you.
@fieryrebirth
the first thing i thought of when i saw your blog was Aesthetique™ and i’m LIVING for it. also i see u with ur many chris wood muses. but it’s okay i have too many muses with the same face and it’s him too. why is it always him
a pretty face, one of a kind, secret admiring, expertise!!
a pretty face: what mascots have you used in the past?
omg.. i can’t keep track! candice accola was my first one JHDSJKSBDJKN. dev patel. keiynan lonsdale. umm alisha wainwright, deepika padukone... china ann mcclain.. GOD i dont even know i always use random people hdsjbhsjs
one of a kind: what about your help is unique from others’ help?
probably nothing hajhbADBHJSBHJ. i try being nice, and explaining things as thoroughly as possible to people ?? but a lot of ppl in the rpc are nice and helpful so i really don’t think i’m unique or special in that manner, i just love being Nice to ppl who need it.
secret admiring: who is someone you’ve always wanted to approach but haven’t?
GOSH um, @nativerpt, @hvkate, @pumpkinchairps, and @bexrps are the first i can think of when scrolling thru my dash! love their work and love seeing them and wish i knew how to speak to ppl!
expertise: what experiences have you had that would make good guides?
umm maybe how to write an australian character that isn’t Dumb with stupid lingo. a proud indian girl , or anyone who’s just Happy with their culture and ethnicity and isn’t some Depressed sad Brown person who’s family doesn’t understand them. maybe things for people to NOT say to poc muns or characters??? or how to NOT write a poc character.. there’s still a lot of passive aggression, or vaguely racist things i see in the rpc, but we’ve still come a long long way and i’m forever grateful for that!
for the url positivity thing!! claurps, ruhrohrps, charleshvnnam aND of course dandelionrph <3333
positivity meme
@claurps - i wasn’t following you but now i am ! anyway, this lovely person would like some positivity sent your way, so here i am ! scrolling through your blog, i see that you reblog some good goods. also i like ur theme, v simple and easy to navigate. i hope you have a great 2019 !
@ruhrohrps - don’t know ya but i love your theme, it is v gentle on the eyes + it’s super cute. i couldn’t find much on your blog abt you or anything but if olivia wants to send positivity your way, you must be pretty darn great. i hope 2019 treats you well !
@charleshvnnam - your theme is gorgeous wow ?? graphics ? 10/10. colour scheme ? 10/10. i’m in love. you reblog some A++ content, especially this post. i’m not sure why i wasn’t following you ? i looked through your tags and you seem absolutely lovely ! i hope the new year brings you joy !
love the new icon thal !! what do you think are you most favorite gender-neutral names in the whole wide world ?? :')
Thank youuuu Olivia !!! I absolutely adore the name Lucky ??? Even if it’s just as a nickname but I love love love it. Otherwise I’d say Sam, Nikki, Charlie, Rory, Alex, Jean, Jesse and Tate!!!
