Thread by @KaraCalavera

I've gotten nearly as many trolls for defending Meghan Markle as I did in 2016 for supporting Hillary over Bernie, Hillary over Trump, and tgeb in 2020 for supporting Biden over Bernie and then again over Trump. /1

These are annoying me even more, though, because they're trying to target my inner Karen. And my inner Karen is still a scrappy girl from Erie, PA who had to work for her all the shit she's got and would die of shame if she cried because she got an e-mail at 5:00 a.m. /2

And my inner Karen would definitely send a dish back if she asked for no eggs and the dish came to her full of eggs. My inner Karen is still Team Meghan, ya jagoffs. /3

Maybe Karen needs to be renamed Hermione or something. Because MY inner Karen wants her egg-free dish, as she fucking requested, and doesn't think she should pretend that the food she paid for is something it isn't. /4

There are trolls in my mentions trying to convince me that arguing about eggs in food is bad.

No.

She wanted a vegan option for her wedding guests. That's thoughtful.

Trying to gaslight her into thinking a non-vegan option was vegan was fucked up. /5

And a few unrelated instances of her putting her foot down on issues isn't evidence of bullying. That's not what bullying is. That's just a woman standing her ground.

It's okay for women to do that. /6

It's not okay to continually harass or demean your staff, but having opinions and outlining expectations is reasonable behavior. It's not just "reasonable behavior," it's what a boss does. It's half of the job description. /7

Meghan Markle had every reason to believe that these people should be working for her, as part of her team. Nothing they've leaked to the press has shown me that she expected anything past that. She was just asking them to do their jobs. /8

What she got, in response to asking them to do their jobs, was a lot of whining. In response, they whined. And they didn't come to her with their issues, they went directly to the press with their issues. The apparently rang up the press directly to kvetch about her. /9

They started doing this within two weeks of working with her.

Do you know who the first person I talk to is when have an issue with my supervisor? I talk to my supervisor. And she and I work it out. If I had an issue that didn't get resolved, I'd go above her. /10

Thankfully, it's never gotten there. It has in other situations, but it never has with my current supervisor.

Regardless, I've always addressed my issues with my immediate supervisor first. /11

Almost every time, it's been handled between us and has ceased to be an issue in the future.

The first few months in a new boss-employee relationship are tense. You're feeling each other out and testing limits. Professionals know that dance.

KP employees chose war. /12

They started whining to the press after 4 weeks that she was making them cwy wittle teaws. I'm assuming with the support (push?) of higher-ups. /13

(They didn't do any of that without support/push.)

The easier option: request an audience with Meghan, who was apparently in the office every day (which they saud tget hated) and just say, "Hey, we're not used to this. This isn't how we've been working until now..." /14

"...we've got schedules with kids and dogs to look after, and this is new to us. We didn't expect it; we need time. Can we ease into this somehow?"

I can't say for sure, but my guess is she'd have been amenable. She seems... nice? /15

The slow pace was probably galling to her. I remember Dominic Monaghan cutting back work on The Wire in the last two seasons because the U.S. work schedule was "too grueling" for him. /16

I think it's shocking to a lot of other Western nations how much Americans (and Canadians) work. I don't think that's a good thing--I'm on record saying it's a very bad thing!--but we just live it and accept it. /17

But, like, just tell us you usually get the whole week of Christmas off in your country.

I work in software, and thusly work with contractors around the world. They tell us they get weeks of vacation for all sorts of things. We just shrug and say, "Oh, okay." /18

We add another (unhealthy) 4 hours to our day and run along and do it.

Again, I'm not saying it's good or healthy." /19

But I'm doubtful that Meghan Markle ran into the United Kingdom expecting her staff to work as Americans do. Americans don't expect that of people in the rest of the Western world. We know you value time off (as we should). /20

That being said, she very likely did walk into The Firm with The List: that bullet-pointed sheet of paper that so many goal-oriented Americans have created, revisited, and refined throughout their lives.

That shit is probably scary AF. /21

(Scary AF to outlanders.

I've gotten as far as getting my wisdom teeth out, owning a car outright, buying a house, travelling overseas, and getting a dog before I turned 40.

The List is fucking aspirational. It's not a ToDo list. I'm going to die before I hit #10.) /22