The owner of a personalized sign business went viral for shutting down a woman asking her to make an anti-vaccination sign.
@thesleepyowlhome’s 27-second TikTok shows an interaction between herself and a customer asking her to make a sign that says: “Welcome unvaccinated and unafraid.”
Captioned “Just because I can make something doesn’t mean I will,” the video got over 268,500 views and 54,200 likes since being posted on Oct. 27.
@thesleepyowlhome owns a business, and she hand-makes custom signs per order.
The video zooms between @thesleepyowlhome’s facial expressions and her interactions with the customer’s request. First, we see a screenshot of a customer request form message made by a person named Samantha.
“Can u make a custom sign?? I want one with a certain saying but can’t find it. I can do local pick up,” the initial message from Samantha reads.
A second message states what kind of sign the customer is looking for: “I want a round door sign that says ‘Welcome unvacinated and unafraid’ but like pretty ya know?? Its for my front door and i need it by thanksgiving. How much $$??.”
@thesleepyowlhome politely declines her request due to the anti-vaccination message it entails.
“Samantha, assuming you are referring to the COVID vaccine, I cannot in good conscience make a sign promoting anti-vaccination,” @thesleepyowlhome wrote back. “COVID vaccines have been thoroughly tested and proven effective and are entirely safe so there’s nothing to even be afraid of. Thanks!”
Samantha responded with an angry message attacking @thesleepyowlhome personally.
“Um i didn’t ask for your opinion i just want you to do your job like im paying you for. or you just cant do customs like you said and are just lieing to our customers or what?? Seriously I just want the sign and im the one paying you and im a lion not a sheep!!” Samantha said.
At the end of the video, @thesleepyowlhome drew up the requested sign, but facetiously points out the spelling and grammatical mistakes. She also adds an extra line so it reads: “Welcome we are unvaccinated and unafraid * and uneducated.”
@thesleepyowlhome referred to the customer as a “Karen” in the caption of the video.
Most of the 1,637 commenters point out how entitled the customer is acting.
“I’m going to insult her now. That’s surely going to get me what I want,” @toes.natcher said.
“Remember when Republicans advocated for business owners to refuse customers because of gay wedding cakes. And now they are acting like this,” @hambyb1 commented.
“‘Like I’m paying you to do’ but hasn’t paid you for anything,” @fruity_pisces wrote.
Update 7:31 pm CT Nov. 10: In an email to the Daily Dot, @thesleepyowlhome said the issue of vaccination was not political to her, rather it is a “matter of human decency.”
“Since the video’s posting, the response has been, as expected, polarized,” she said. “On one hand, I am grateful to know I am not alone in being fed up with anti-vaxxers. I have been humbled by the kindness and support of so many strangers that have now brought meaning to my work that I didn’t even know was missing before. On the other hand, I’m more confident now than ever that our society and education system has failed so many. The amount of misinformation about COVID vaccines being spread, despite all the factual information, is appalling.”
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