u/Time_Award3158

The USA is huge. Regional variations in accent and diction are valid. There is no “correct” American accent. Many words and turns of phrase differ regionally.

Edit: fully aware that SAE exists as a concept. But it lacks: an official dictionary, an official guide to grammar, an official guide to pronunciation, an authority that sets and maintains the standard.

Example of the pet peeve:

Person A (region 1 accent): “I love your accent. Are you from (region 2) originally?”

Person B (region 2 accent): “I was born there, but I don’t have an accent. I speak standard English. Maybe you think I have an accent because you do.”

I know that righteous petulance is the coin of the realm, but it rarely makes the world a better place. A contingent of dissatisfied Third Street employees have been working to unionize and this has turned into a smear campaign against the owner who has served this community for decades. Pat is an unwavering ally to the marginalized. She has been paying well above minimum wage since the coffee shop opened in 2004 ($10/hr + tips way back then) when no other similar business was even close. She has provided additional financial support to employees, former employees, and others in need with no expectation of repayment. She may be the owner of the business, but she is not part of the “owner class.” She is a worker who has put in thousands of hours on her feet opening and closing that store over the last two decades. She is good person. She is retiring and the business will stay in her family. She deserves to be celebrated, rather than protested. At the risk of being doxxed (again), I hesitate to provide more info about how I know what I know about the situation, the history, etc. I am not currently affiliated with the business, but I have first hand experience of the good, the bad, and the ugly as it relates to the place and the person who made it possible. There is 10,000x more good than bad and ugly combined.

Edit: No, I am not a relative. I just hate to see a very decent person maligned by a gaggle of randoms on social media simply because the word union is involved.