October 14, 2008
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Business Class, week 2
So I am not sure how much I’m really going to get out of this class. The guy teaching it, I think I mentioned he was a shyster in another post. He’s nice enough, but he likes to talk… about himself. Which is not necessarily a bad thing since he uses his business exploits as examples for the rest of us (all four of us), but it doesn’t seem like he has any experience in the field that I want to go into. And he talks really fast and uses power point slides, but doesn’t give us time to write anything down. Though he’s said that he’ll give us print outs of everything when he’s done, he still hasn’t. Maybe in the final class?
I’m picking up some stuff and maybe it will make more sense when I actually go out and try to get funding and open my own business, but right now, it’s just a lot of talk. I get the sense he’s trying to push me into E-commerce though; I think because his wife sells books on e-bay. So he’s more familiar with e-business than an actual store. I asked him how that works and where the books are kept before being sold, and he suggested a closet…. that’s um, really not feasible. I may sell some things online once the store opens, but I’m not going to keep my books in a closet! I have to keep my clothes in the closet… there’s no room for a store too! lol
Yesterday, we presented our business plans. I was the only one who actually made one and stressed over doing it properly it seems. The one guy was a no-show. Either his back was bothering him (since he mentioned he’d had an operation last week) or he thought there wasn’t a class since it was Columbus Day or he decided not to come back. Who knows. The rest of the class are all female except for the instructor. One wants to open a kitchen design company, and the other says she wants to be a grant writer, but she doesn’t seem to be very focused… Maybe that’s something to do with her age since I’d say she’s about as old as my grandma. The other woman is probably in her fifties. I’m not sure how old our other classmate is, maybe around the same age as me. He wants to open a trucking company. I’m kind of the baby of the class at 34.
The kitchen design lady is nice but doesn’t speak up much. The older lady who wants to be a grant writer is very scattered, wandering off on tangents whenever she speaks. She’s very overbearing and a little rude. She was all for my bookstore until I mentioned it was for all religions, including Pagan ones. Then she had to open her mouth and give her opinion that Paganism is not a religion… that “95% of this country is Christian”… that Pagans look weird and rob graves… I haven’t said what my religion is because I have to go to class for three more week and I don’t want to have a big fight with her or distract from what I am trying to learn, but I told her she was wrong and that (obviously) Pagans do not rob graves. WTF lady….!
I’m really considering sitting elsewhere. Obviously there are only four people in the class, so I can sit anywhere I want, but since I have to keep going to class, I don’t want to offend her. I’ve only had two classes so far and I am already sick of her. One of my biggest pet peeves is ignorance, hence the reason I want to open this store, but I don’t think it would be fair for me to sidetrack the class in order to educate her. She goes on and on about how she wants to make the world a better place for her grand kids and how she values diversity and tolerance, and then she goes and makes asinine assumptions about what Pagans are and do. She’s only tolerant of what she considers diversity, cultural diversity… diverse religions need not apply apparently. I Really wanted to say, “I’m a Pagan. Does it look like I have graveyard dirt under my nails?” but all I said was (in a small voice), “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.”
I hope her grand kids grow up to be Pagan….
I know that my store will not go over well with certain people (in fact, I expect there may be occasional vandalism and protesting from a certain subset of Christians who can’t bear the thought that there are actually other religions out there), but I’d expect that anyone looking to be an entrepreneur would be a little more open minded or at least know when to bite her tongue. She could be alienating a potential client with her stupid-speak (actually, she has, since I won’t be going to her if I start looking for grants). Pagans are everywhere and look like everyone. We have normal jobs and normal hobbies… which do not include grave robbing. You’re more likely to find disillusioned Goth teens robbing graves than Pagans. I have enough ghosts in my house without pi$$ing off an entire graveyard! lol
Comments (3)
i don’t like it when people are ignorant either. good for you though that you decided to not say something now because of the rest of the class. it takes a lot to sit by and just say, “you’re wrong” to a person who is insulting you.
i like the idea of your bookstore too. i wish more entrepreneurs were as open-minded as you are! =)
*complex
That woman sounds sooooo annoying. I’d want to sit somewhere else, too. Where in the world did she get the idea that pagans robbed graves?!?! At least you only have to put up with her once a week.
Oh man! I can’t believe that someone would voice an opinion like that right to you. That’s pretty insulting, regardless of whether she knew your religion or not.