I had a disturbing encounter with a MAGA customer last night [View all]

[Rachel M at 6 pm]

First, a couple of details before I tell you what he said:

He was calm and friendly the whole time, with nothing sinister or threatening about his tone or body language. That's what made it all so much more disturbing. He seemed to think what he said was completely reasonable.

Also, I live in a dark blue state where this kind of encounter is already rare.

Also, while it's difficult to get fired where I work, the one thing you can never do is show gross disrespect to a customer. So other than telling him who I voted for, and that I'm a never-Trumper, I stayed calm and let him spout this insanity. I knew that if I took him on, it would escalate quickly (I know the limits of my own temper) and that I could easily find myself out of a job.

The conversation began with him asking how I was handling the election, and I told him I was stressed to my limit and couldn't wait untll it was over.

He replied, "Well, it will be over soon, one or the other side will win, and then everyone will be able to calm down."

And then:

"But unless Trump wins in a landslide, we'll know the Democrats rigged the election. Anything other than a Trump landslide, and there's going to be hell to pay. And the Republicans are not going to just passively sit by and let it happen, like they did in 2020. This time, they'll be out for revenge. The Democrats better not steal it again."

He said all that in such a reasonable tone, it was as if he was describing how water always runs downhill or how time always moves forward.

This was an hour before the end of my last shift before the election. A month ago I scheduled Monday the 4th through Thursday the 7th off for myself, just to try to avoid some of the election craziness.

I calmly explained that I'm voting for Kamala, I'm a never-Trumper, and I would vote for anyone who ran against Trump. I knew that if I went further than that, I would end up yelling at him, calling him a fucking idiot, and asking him whether he was evil or stupid.

So I made it though my shift without getting fired, and now I have four days off. But I had trouble sleeping last night, thinking about this disturbing conversation.