Look at this! Somebody- who will remain nameless, because of the 1984 environment at the Strand- e-mailed it to me. It's pretty nice to see media attention on the fact that Nancy Bass is a hateful, racist person. I had similar experiences to those that folks describe in that article, although mine were about when I started to transition, instead of my race.

That woman is a friggin bully, man. She will get up in your face for looking at her. There are a lot of mean things you could say about her that don't have anything to do with the poisonous work environment she creates, but the relevant ones are about the fact that she's resentful toward her employees. Or something that looks like resentfulness. She treats her employees like they're stealing from her. You'd think that, with an MBA, she would understand the fact that nobody is happy in an environment where the co-owner micromanages everything around her. I've never been to business school, but I do understand that employees who can take a second and talk shit are a lot more productive than ones who are terrified they're going to get written up for going to the bathroom.

Plus, Nancy? It didn't work. I slacked off SO HARD, SO PROFESSIONALLY, SO OFTEN while I worked at your store. You never caught me. I wonder whether that's because I'm white so you weren't paying attention.

I mean, I have a pretty good idea that's the case.

Also, that article makes it look like the managers are all complicit with management's whims, and since I don't work there I can let you know that that's not the case. Managers at the Strand tend to be great people who get the same shit from Ms Bass as the rest of the employees. The only difference is that, once you become a manager, you're no longer protected by the union, so she can fire you on a whim. She doesn't even need to document anything, write you up a couple times. I've seen this happen. There's always some stupid hearsay reason that some other manager will confirm (maybe MAYBE because that manager is on thin ice already).

Anyway, yeah. It's nice that somebody's calling Ms Bass out, is all.