"Family Values"

I get a lot of marketing calls at work. In fact, I never (EVER) answer my desk phone if it is from an outside line. The inside extensions from in-house people get an answer. The reason I never answer my phone when outside people call is because they are always people who work for companies that are trying to sell me services. If I need those services, I'll call them! The people I really want to keep in touch with have my cell phone number.

This morning, I answered the phone because I was expecting a call from one of our other locations. It was some vendor who was trying to sell me a network service. Among the attributes that he gave they he held in high regard for his company is that they believe in "good old family values" (read: we hate gays) and that we are "family owned and operated".

I replied, "That's nice. How many black people do you employee?" Silence. I replied, "How many gay people do you employee?" He said, "Uhhhhh". I said, "Yeah, I'm 'one of them'. Well, I'm a professional so the questions I asked are rhetorical. I don't expect an answer, but your reply of 'Uhhhhh' spoke volumes to me. We aren't getting off to a very good start here, are we?"

He then promptly hung up.

I'm all for "family values". Unfortunately, thanks to today's political environment (thank you God-loving, Gay-hating "Christians"), "family values" just doesn't quite mean what it used to mean. Now, it's a code phrase to mean, we just don't care much for gay people. That's fine. But don't call me telling me that that's one of your selling points, because it won't win points with me. He's honestly lucky I was quite professional about it, didn't storm into a cloud of four-letter-words, and give him a peace of my mind.

Aside from that and a few hot fires to put out, today is turning out to be a sad day for me. I learned this morning that a good friend of mine passed away last night. I'm going to go grab a sandwich now, drive down to the river, and over lunch, think of him.