I work in a customer facing job, lots of folks coming through. It was my absolute joy yesterday to see a butch woman walk into the store in the morning, then later...a butch/femme couple, probably early fifties. The couple seemed reticent at first, and they warmed up after I offered some queer indicators in conversation. They all left smiling and relaxed. Y'all, it has made me smile the whole next day after. I saw people out in the wild!
I had my hair cut *short* a little while ago...faded on the sides, a lil curly up top. I need to wear zero rainbows now, because this hair does all the flagging for me. The next day I had an elderly woman come in and start up a conversation about her grandson using different pronouns and how she could figure out how to do that, zero prompting from me. That grandma's world was changing...she just needed a safe place to talk about it. I've had multiple conversations like that since and as long as they're polite, I'm here for it. It makes me so happy to have my job-space be a tiny part of people feeling safe out in the world.
