I went to my fifth Occupy this afternoon. Last week I met with various organizers at Occupy DC as well as Occupy Wall Street. Talk about being fired up and ready to go! As y'all know, I am now calling for an all inclusive Debtors Strike, and emphasizing that we don't need to asked for any goddamned loan forgiveness. In any event, last week I was able to witness first-hand a flourishing democratic society at Zuccotti Park before it was destroyed early this week by the oligarchic police state in which we now live (and hello DHS! I like how you keep tabs on my site - love seeing you here).
Today, I went to an Occupy that's in my back yard: Occupy Fort Worth.
Before I hit the small encampment, I was thirsty and decided to pop into a small store called the [redacted] in Ft. Worth. This business is a block away from where the protesters are camped out.
When I walked in a blonde-haired man smiled at me. He was sitting at the front desk. I grabbed a bottled water and went to pay. He told me that it was a dollar something.
I pulled out my money and said, smiling, "I'm heading to Occupy."
At this point, he was still sitting. But as soon as I mentioned Occupy, he jumped out of his chair. It seemed he was shaking. I had thrown the poor, ignorant fellow off guard or something (I'll explain why he's ignorant in a moment).
"Wait . . . uh . . . wait . . . are you part of the movement?"
I was taken aback by the question as I put my money on the counter.
"Uh, no. I am a freelance journalist, and I am here to meet with them."
That seemed to quell his fears, but then he asked, "Do you support Occupy?"
I was more stunned than before. (Apparently, the ding-dong had failed to read my shirt, which I purchased for $10 in lower Manhattan to help the food kitchen. The shirt reads: I OCCUPY NYC).
"Yes. I am in full support of the movement."
"Then I can't sell you this water."
"I don't want to give you my money!" I blurted out. I grabbed my crumpled dollar off the counter and quickly turned around to leave.
"Shame on you! Shame on this business," I shouted.
"Shame on y'all!"
"Well, just remember, we're doing this for people like you, too!"
So, yeah, because I support the 99%, of which I am sure this young man is also a part, I was refused service today.
Shame on this store. NO ONE should do business there, and I urge people to spread the word that the 501 Creative Group does not take money from the 99%. I guess they must just do business with the 1%. Good luck with that.
[UPDATE]: A reader of mine just called to complain about what happened, and the owner said that the movement was filled with a bunch of "bums." Pathetic. Does this guy have the desire to hurt his brand?
Oh, and about that claim that we're all a bunch of bums, he's dead wrong. Most occupiers have full-time employment.