Happy Valentines Day, suckers.

I alluded yesterday to the fact that I would be doing a Valentines Day post to let you know why I don't like Valentines Day.

Basically, I think Valentines Day is used as an excuse for couples to get rid of all romance out of their relationship and limiting it all to one day so they can get away with not being romantic any other day.  Presents are over priced, and they take no thought - how hard is is to pay $70 for a bouquet of red roses?

That's not to say that I don't like love and romance - of course romance is awesome.  But it's so much more romantic if it's by choice, rather than because every one else does it.

I don't have a problem with people buying into the idea, and if you want to celebrate, by all means, do.  But I really really truly think that the vast majority of women don't actually like all the fuss around Valentines Day - and most men HATE the pressure of having to find something that's the right mix between romantic and thoughtful and generic.  Women get peer pressured into feeling like they need to love Valentines Day, and that if they don't they must be broken or single or resentful, which is totally untrue.

Whether I've been single on Valentines Day or with a partner, I have not celebrated a Valentines day except for the one just before my 14th birthday, when I had my first boyfriend.  It's not because I'm bitter or resentful or angry or anything - I just hate the commercialism aspect of it, and I hate the pressure.

Yes, it's wonderful to feel special, it's fantastic to feel loved, and of course we like feeling like someone's thought of us.  It's pretty hard to argue that we'd feel less special being appreciated on any other day.

I saw a tweet (that I can't for the life of me find again) saying that Valentines Day is where men buy women overpriced flowers in exchange for the possibility of a mediocre blow job.  Well, blow jobs are something we should be giving every day, and so are flowers and kisses and expressions of love.

Love every day, not just because Hallmark tells you to.

In saying that, I received TWO lovely Valentines Day gifts today.  One was from Kylie, who decided that me not liking Valentines Day isn't a reason to not embarras me in Wholly Bagels - thanks hun.

The second was from a random fire fighter, who handed me a red rose this afternoon and simply said, 'Happy Valentines Day'.  It made me smile, and I was very happy.  I walked about another 10m down the road and saw a sad looking man sitting at the bus stop.  I handed him the rose, and said 'Happy Valentines Day'.  It was obviously just what he needed, he smiled, and got up and hugged me and thanked me profusely.  Pay it forward.

Work makes me angry.

I'm not usually the sort of person to complain about things. In fact, I'm usually very quiet and docile, and I don't like to make waves. Actually, that's a huge lie - I'm usually the first to complain, very vocally, about injustices, more so those that happen to others, rather than myself, but that didn't work as well with the story, so we'll proceed on the basis that I don't usually complain.

Anyway, here I am, as a non-complainer, feeling the need to complain about an injustice I have witnessed at work. Now, for those of you who know me and where I work, this is the retail job, not the office job. We should keep this very clear so I don't get into trouble!

Anyway, through a combination of being injured (shoulder) and having leave for my holiday, I've been away for about 5 weeks. I've had an ongoing issue with this place not paying my leave correctly, and as a result, am currently claiming over $1000 in leave payments. There are also lots and lots of other issues that I have with this place.

Anyway, it seems that while I've been away, lots has happened. The thing I'm most pissed off about is the fact that the store manager hired the TIC's son. It might not seem like a big deal, but let me put it in context:

• the general rule is that people who are related ie father and son, cannot work in the same store for security reasons. Other people in similar situations have not been allowed to work in the same store. In fact, another manager's son was turned down 3 times because his father works in the same store.
• this place has surprisingly stringent hiring processes and the policy is that a person will only be hired after a phone interview, a group interview, a 2 on 1 interview then 2 day induction. This particular person was hired after 1 interview.
• because of hazchem and physical dangers, the company has a policy of not hiring anyone under 16 years old. This particular person is only 15 years old.
• there are people who work in the store who are begging for hours (such as a person who does the job this person was hired for who can only get 32 hours when he wants 40) but this person was hired for 40h/week.

It seems stupid, but it's so demoralizing for the people who are there working every day to see someone come in and get a job because of who they know. The thing that fucks me off the most is the double standard. Why have policies if they can be broken whenever someone feels like it?

I suppose I shouldn't expect anything more from employers who allow an employee to suffer from permanent partial blindess and the only thing they ask is who's doing her job while she's at the doctor. Or an employer who allows an employee to be sexually harassed (physically touched) at work by a person who has already had several sexual harassment complaints laid by other staff and customers, then tells her that she might have 'misinterpreted' the touch, and that 'friendly pats' on the ass are okay at work. Or an employer who fires someone who has no previous warnings with no notice, warning or chance to appeal, but doesn't fire another person who does exactly the same thing, but who has been given warnings in the past.

I don't know what I should do. I want to confront my manager about it, but I think it would just end up being a stupid conversation where she denies everything and pretends there's no problem. Am I making too big a deal about this? Should I just forget all about it and move on?