never in a million years
01.29.06

i thought work would be nice and easy this evening. nope. crazy story. i was handling the register, just dealing with a customer who wanted to return something, and the computer was being grumpy. behind the man, a line was forming of about 4 or 5 other people, all laden with piles of books. i said to no one in particular that the cafe was also available for checkout. most of the folks headed over to the cafe, then i soon after finished the transaction and sent the happy customer on his way. as soon as he moved over i saw that there was a very short black woman standing behind him. i greeted her; she looked me in the eye and asked,
"why didn't you tell me that i could check out at the cafe?" this lady was eyeballing me something awful. i just looked at her, speechless for a minute, then stammered out,
"i just saw that the line was getting long and wanted to keep people from waiting."
"well i've been standing here waiting, and you just looked at the people behind me and told them that they could go to the cafe."
"well, ma'am, i'm sorry. i wasn't looking at anybody in particular."
"did you overlook me because of the color of my skin?"
"no ma'am! did i offend you? i didn't mean anything to be offensive."
"..." (she just looks at me)
"ma'am, i honestly didn't even see you behind the other customer."
"just let me pay for my books."

what on earth?! i have never, ever, ever, ever been accused of racism in my life. this whole evening my stomach has been in a huge knot just feeling horrible over the accusation. there is a heavy pit of a feeling in my guts. ugh!

the upside of my evening: burger king chicken fries are great! go buy some. right now. wherever you're at. delicious with lots o' ketchup. enjoy.

check it out - 01.20.07
vapor - 11.15.06
can't complain - 11.10.06
turn the page - 11.09.06
who invented the word "me-maw"? - 09.28.06

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