Posted On: Thursday - May 30th 2024 12:15PM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Race/Genetics Customer Care
I've got a friend who lives in eastern Tennessee. While describing the general situation of society there he mentioned the lack of "negritude" in those parts as a very nice plus. Without getting into the etymology, almost all of us would inherently understand the idea. In that very White (for 2020's numbers) part of the country, sure, things are not just fine by any means. Good jobs are scarce, there are meth heads and crime is not at all unknown.
Still, though it may rarely appear in White people too, that basic attitude of uncaring for society or anyone is part of our working definition. That attitude has been made worse steadily, and especially since the Martyrdom of Fentanyl Floyd 4 years back. At this point, Black! people can do no wrong. This creates an amount of undeserved self-esteem and great privilege that, well, I'd rather have nothing to do with.
Much of our Curmudgeonry posts here on Peak Stupidity overlap (there's that Venn Diagram thing ...) with "Customer Care" stories. Seeing as the problems seem to be getting more numerous, I tend to wonder if the problem is me, not others. It's not always this negritude that's the problem, but let me just describe the quick scene at the Target store.
This store has been the Target (uggghh) of multiple posts here, most of them related to the Kung Flu PanicFest. In fact, and also to be fair here, the friendly black lady subject of Targeted for hysteria - Aftermath* may very well have been
At this check-out counter, I had some moderately heavy stuff. There were bags of pet food mostly for donation. I tried to help out by moving them close to the counter - they've long had scanners connected by cord to the "registers". Well, the scanning wasn't working after multiple efforts, so I suggested she type in the 12 digit ISBN or whatever "harmonized" code it is that the bar-code represents. That didn't go well. "That won't work." "Yeah, it will, let me read out this first one." I read her out one number, she punched something in, and it didn't work. Instead of concentrating and figuring it out (there IS a way) she showed off that attitude.
This was not the workplace or the Highway Department. I didn't have to take this, so I simple backed off, leaned on the empty counter behind me, and pulled out my phone to read Peak Stupidity comments (thanks, you guys!!) I was just not going to participate in this show of negritude. You want help from me - then you be nice. Otherwise, go ahead, I've got all day.
Yes, there were people behind me in the line probably thinking I'm the lazy, uncaring, unhelpful guy letting the woman do the heavy lifting. I don't care - 5 minutes later - instead of 2 - I was on my way.
Was it just MY attitude? I thought back later that on this same day I'd dealt with black ladies 3 times while doing errands. I had no problem with either of the other 2:
1) At the post office, it was very cordial and nice. I've been to that branch enough to where I and this older woman recognize each other. Also, oddly, there was nobody else in there, so there was no hurry or stress.
2) At the bank, there are usually from a handful of people to, much of the time) nobody else in there. Same thing. Also, they really need to be polite there. People might just decide to take a bunch of money out otherwise.
PS: So as not to need yet another post, I'll mention that the next time in Target I dealt with a smiling fairly-pretty Hispanic cashier. The only problem is, her English was nearly NIL. You don't notice that normally. "Hello" "Swipe or tap here", etc. can be memorized. However, "Can I get 10 ones back in my cash?" (cash-back, using the store as a bank) did not ring a bell. I tried 3 ways! Coincidentally, a guy in line wanted a ten for his 10 ones. He was a White guy, so I didn't need to bother to count. What a country!
* That post, on the mask-wearing as late as Fall '22, was the last of what turned out to be a 4-part series. Previously, Peak Stupidity had posted the original post, an addendum, and then an amended addendum.
** Something I've thought about before is that the nicest and/or prettiest check-out girls will get the fewest, or maybe no, short breaks from the job. A real stand-out hottie will have a continuous line, barring the store being empty - that's just
Comments:
The Alarmist
Thursday - May 30th 2024 12:51PM MST
PS
My best Black-lady experience is from my earliest days in NYC. I rode the subway in the wrong direction and found myself in the Bronx. I decided to rise to the surface to orient myself and get my bearings, when this older black woman (probably a nice God-fearing church lady) said, “Oh honey, you don’t belong here!” and took me by the arm and put me on a train to relative safety. That doesn’t happen much in the North; I’ve had plenty of easy going interactions with Southern black ladies, almost all in the countryside.
We flew into Orlando and while doing the paperwork with a very pretty Cuban babe, I decided the conversation might go better in Spanish. My wife doesn’t do much spanish, but she knew enough to ask what was going on when she heard my phone number, so she asked “What’s going on here?” to which pretty Cubana replied, “He’s speaking my language... he’s very sweet.” I thought the trip might be ended right then and there, but Mrs. Alarmist simply responded, “So why isn’t your French so good, honey?”
My best Black-lady experience is from my earliest days in NYC. I rode the subway in the wrong direction and found myself in the Bronx. I decided to rise to the surface to orient myself and get my bearings, when this older black woman (probably a nice God-fearing church lady) said, “Oh honey, you don’t belong here!” and took me by the arm and put me on a train to relative safety. That doesn’t happen much in the North; I’ve had plenty of easy going interactions with Southern black ladies, almost all in the countryside.
We flew into Orlando and while doing the paperwork with a very pretty Cuban babe, I decided the conversation might go better in Spanish. My wife doesn’t do much spanish, but she knew enough to ask what was going on when she heard my phone number, so she asked “What’s going on here?” to which pretty Cubana replied, “He’s speaking my language... he’s very sweet.” I thought the trip might be ended right then and there, but Mrs. Alarmist simply responded, “So why isn’t your French so good, honey?”
I found a black guy behind the counter at Subway, the store, not the mode of transportation, pretty humorous the other day. Two black girls had left the table with some piece of paper still sitting on it. "Hey, grab your trash. This ain't Shoneys." You could tell he was mostly just having fun but "it's not even ours...", but they picked it up.