Call me racist again, please.
Dec. 15th, 2004 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarrenIf you come into my store and are clean, neatly dressed and polite I will be friendly and helpful and not watch you like a hawk, no matter what race you are.
If you come in and are loud, obnoxious, loiter around the fridge, are in a group of people behaving in a distracting way, and/or are completely out of it whether or not you have paint around your mouth, or alcohol secreted about you even though you're 14 at the most, you can expect me to stand at the till and watch you at the fridge, no matter whether you're black, white or skyblue polka dotted.
A while ago a group of kids of kids ranging from about 4 to 14 came in, several of whom made a beeline to the fridge and started climbing the shelves, while the others were attempting loudly to distract the cashier. Luckily one of them knocked a coke to the floor where it smashed so I had an excuse to walk out and stand in front of the fridge and not let them near it on the grounds they'd track the mess around.
As they left a girl who couldn't have been more than four years old at the most, says to me 'Are you being mean to us because we're Noongar?"
This makes me feel sad, and angry, and impotent.
And the other night a Noongar couple with two small girls come in. As they are polite and neatly dressed, my cashier serves them and I smile and say hello and go on with what I am doing. Then the toddler wanders behind the counter. I crouch down beside her and say gently, ' hey, sweetie, you can't be behind here, it's dangerous'. The parents notice and call her back.' Then the woman says to her partner quietly, 'At least she was polite about it'.
The sad thing is she sounded surprised.
And just yesterday this guy in drive thru got arrested by the cops. We watch as three burly police dudes wrestle him to the ground and handcuff him. Me - 'Do you think he still wants his food?" Sure enough a cop comes rushing in for it. What? Do you think as they were reading him his rights (do they even do that here or do I just watch too much American tv) that he was yelling 'Don't forget my chicken and chips!"
If you come in and are loud, obnoxious, loiter around the fridge, are in a group of people behaving in a distracting way, and/or are completely out of it whether or not you have paint around your mouth, or alcohol secreted about you even though you're 14 at the most, you can expect me to stand at the till and watch you at the fridge, no matter whether you're black, white or skyblue polka dotted.
A while ago a group of kids of kids ranging from about 4 to 14 came in, several of whom made a beeline to the fridge and started climbing the shelves, while the others were attempting loudly to distract the cashier. Luckily one of them knocked a coke to the floor where it smashed so I had an excuse to walk out and stand in front of the fridge and not let them near it on the grounds they'd track the mess around.
As they left a girl who couldn't have been more than four years old at the most, says to me 'Are you being mean to us because we're Noongar?"
This makes me feel sad, and angry, and impotent.
And the other night a Noongar couple with two small girls come in. As they are polite and neatly dressed, my cashier serves them and I smile and say hello and go on with what I am doing. Then the toddler wanders behind the counter. I crouch down beside her and say gently, ' hey, sweetie, you can't be behind here, it's dangerous'. The parents notice and call her back.' Then the woman says to her partner quietly, 'At least she was polite about it'.
The sad thing is she sounded surprised.
And just yesterday this guy in drive thru got arrested by the cops. We watch as three burly police dudes wrestle him to the ground and handcuff him. Me - 'Do you think he still wants his food?" Sure enough a cop comes rushing in for it. What? Do you think as they were reading him his rights (do they even do that here or do I just watch too much American tv) that he was yelling 'Don't forget my chicken and chips!"
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Date: 2004-12-18 05:15 pm (UTC)I loves hugs :)