We’re in New Orleans, shopping for pralines in a touristy little candy shop. I’m scarfing down a gritty, chalky sample of the chocolate pralines when a short, plump employee barrels past me and blocks the door.
“Sir, did you pay for that?”
At first I’m confused; then, I realize she’s not addressing me. Instead, she’s speaking to what looks to be a homeless fellow with a seventy-nine cent bottle of water in his hand.
He’s instantly furious. “Yes I did pay for that! You think I stole this bottle of water? You think just because I’m black I stole it?”
The employee rolls her eyes. “I need to see a receipt.”
The homeless man stamps his feet. “You callin’ me a thief, you racist bitch? You just sayin’ that because I’m black! You think a black man has to be coming up in here to steal something, ’cause you nothing but a racist bitch!”
The confrontation escalates. The employee gets louder. The homeless man looks as though he’s about to start turning over tables of merchandise. I begin to wonder if this diversion could eventually become so distracting, I could manage to pack my pockets with chocolate praline samples without anyone noticing.
Eventually, the cash register clerk waves a receipt in the air, and, in addition, the manager comes out and tells the plump employee, “He buys water here all the time.”
“Not no more!” the homeless man shouts, still furious. He storms out the door, his fist in the air. “Never again! And all because of one racist bitch!”
What’s particularly lovely is the “Sir” that people add to their comments in cases like this. If she was really treating him like a Sir, this wouldn’t have happened. – Teresa
What’s particularly lovely is the “Sir” that people add to their comments in cases like this. If she was really treating him like a Sir, this wouldn’t have happened. – Teresa
We recently promoted our admin to finance responsibilities. She is black and from the community in which our office is based. On her first trip to the bank to DEPOSIT a substantial amount of money (client payments), she was queried by the teller and refused the ability to DEPOSIT the check.We called to ask if some rule existed that only a director could depost checks over X. Of course no rule exists, we have not had a problem since our reporting it to the bank…But, you can see how racial profiling and overzealous employees can break a project.