You Bitter Old Coot

To preface this rant, some background information: I work as a clerk at a convenience store in North Carolina. Now, I am no stranger to rudeness, air head customers or people forgetting to remove the gas pump from their car. I've seen parking lot brawls erupt over bathroom usage, I've kicked drunks and panhandlers off our property, called the police on people I suspected were up to no good.

In short, I've seen and heard a lot in my field of work. Dealing as much with the public as I do, I had thought that not much would shock me anymore. After all, I had seen a woman just the week before come in beat up and bleeding from facial cuts and begging me to call the police because her boyfriend had just beat her up. So when I had the grueling displeasure of dealing with this, I would typically use the word gentleman here but this man was anything but so we'll replace that honorific with a title more suited for the mentally stunted, say... Ingrate? Yes, I rather like ingrate at the moment.

Now, I had just finished ringing up a lovely young interracial couple and, having completed the transaction, I bid them good night and turned my attention to the ingrate behind them, a 50 something white man dressed in a mechanic's get-up. As he reached the resgister I asked, "Hi, how ya doin tonight?" to which this inhuman pile of regurgitated pond scum says to me with a straight face, "Good until I seen that S***." followed immediately by a perfunctory and rhetorical, "but I should keep y mouth shut." Needless to say I was and still am appalled. Being behind the counter and not losing my job I muttered an unmistakably blunt, "Yeah, sure." as he said have a good one and left.

I've been working in this field for almost six years and this is the first time anyone has directly and without a veil made racially charged remarks toward me regarding other customers. It's sickening and disheartening to hear.

So here's to you ya bitter old coot. I hope one day you'll see how full of hate and bile you are and maybe change your ways. However, I'm not holding my breath.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

People like that are just stuck in some twisted dimension of idiocy.
Dude sounded like a creep.
He’s probably still living in his mother’s trailer with 2 confederate flags waving on the porch.
On hot days they leave the trailer door open and if you walk by you can hear American History X - VHS, being played over and over.
Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy was authoring Mein Kampf 2.
Sick scum bag.

Put up a small sign behind you that states " We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" and calmly point to it, when someone like that makes a statement like that, and ask "do you understand the meaning of this?" Then apply it. Pepper spray his ass if he reaches, and tell the police he was reaching toward the cash register.

Poor baby! Here you deal with bleeding beat up women and this guy is who angers you? Priorities, kid.

Well, back in the olden days, when I was a kid, that was a little more normal to hear remarks like that. Even the black people would negatively respond to mixed couples. In fact, I am sure some blacks do not care for mixed couples these days.

Times have changed, but in some areas people just automatically say things about race yet, many do not feel any ire, but since it is a consensus of the people they hang around with they sometimes parrot racial slur. I have heard racial slur against whites coming from blacks on multiple occasions, I also have heard racial slur against whites coming from Hispanics over the years, I just heard some in the last month coming from a Hispanic person.

I have not heard many people doing racial slur around here in many years, it has not been socially acceptable for years. But a lot of tales told by old people about incidents back in the sixties have some racial text, when reminicing, they will say that the racial term of disruptive black people had been rioting in Detroit in the sixties, yet they do not call them that name when talking about blacks unless it is tied to one of the incidents they witnessed in times long ago. I myself am almost automatically tuned into calling the blacks that name in relation to the sixties riots I witnessed on TV, the TV reporters even called them that name when I was young. During the sixties, it became a social thing to call them black instead of the N-word.

I would just let it go in one ear and out the other if someone mentioned it in a conversation. They are all just customers, most people do not see things the same as others do on some things. The mechanic may have had a rotten day and commented that way because he may have thought you were indiferent to the couple and thought you disapproved because you were not acting friendly towards them. People do that all the time, misread the actions of someone they are talking to. Maybe you looked a little upset and the guy thought the couple upset you, he might not actually even be that way, he may have been trying to suck up to you. Usually a person learns by their mistakes not to try to read people by the time they are in their fifties but some people never learn. I know people who say very inappropriate things to others because they think it is what the people want to hear, yet they really are not like that in their real life. You appeared to agree with the guy, so he thought he did it correctly, now he may try to bring up conversations like that in the future because he thinks you are like that. A better answer in a situation like that might be...Ahh, some people do that kind of stuff, it's their life...

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Assuming he was talking about the interracial couple being interracial; I would of said "that is what is called progress my friend, progress" and left it at that. Your job sounds exciting, you should write a book.

originally posted by: schuyler
Poor baby! Here you deal with bleeding beat up women and this guy is who angers you? Priorities, kid.

The guy was a ignorant idiot but I agree with Schuyler, people doing violent stuff to women and kids is much worse, people like that dude are slowly but surely fading into the past.Frigging child molesters and meth and heroin dealers aren’t, unfortunately .Those are the types that anger me, guys like the idiot you talk about are more pathetic than anything

schuyler

Nice assumption. The unfortunate truth is that I see violence a lot more, especially against women. No, violence pisses me off. Especially against women. It is something I can take care of. Now while I can't go fighting every renegade boyfriend that beats up his girl, I can call the police on their sorry asses. And that's all I can do so that's what I do.

Again, I see domestic violence a lot. What I don't hear a lot is blatant racial epithets directed at my customers and spoken directly to me.

Are you standing up for the racist or simply using your fallacious statement to try to discredit me? Either way may I ask why you've chosen to seemingly take an opposing stand against my position?

Onlyyouknow

He directly gestured toward them as they left, there are, unfortunately, no assumptions being made on my part. He made it clear what the source of his ire was.

Did I just stumble into a Netflix original?

originally posted by: CagliostroTheGreat

I've been working in this field for almost six years and this is the first time anyone has directly and without a veil made racially charged remarks toward me regarding other customers. It's sickening and disheartening to hear.

So here's to you ya bitter old coot. I hope one day you'll see how full of hate and bile you are and maybe change your ways. However, I'm not holding my breath.

Give it a while.....they don't know what they say..it's often called ignorance.

smurfy

I'd like to believe that but from my perspective willful ignorance is just as bad as negative intent whether it comes in the form of racial discrimination, violence or verbal abuse. In this day and age, ignorance is no excuse for racism.

originally posted by: CagliostroTheGreat
Onlyyouknow

He directly gestured toward them as they left, there are, unfortunately, no assumptions being made on my part. He made it clear what the source of his ire was.

That is really sad. Here there is none of that nonsense; it's just not accepted.

There was more to my post; it seems you took my post as being confrontational. I apologize if it seems that way.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Sorry you had to deal with that. Some people are just turdbuckets. Yeah, probably living in his mommie's basement, sitting naked at his computer being a keyboard commando too. So gross.

Onlyyouknow

Not particularly. My writing usually comes across rather curt. I was simply responding as marter-of-factly as I could.

No confrontation detected.

ChiefD

I'm not. If anything it was rather eye-opening. It made me realize that despite what some want me to believe racism is an actual problem in our communities. I've heard rumors there were still active kkk groups in my area. Never believed it until now.

Crass is another word for Ingrate. What you will find with the "S***" stuff if you look deep is a projection. Try not to take it personally, the person is usually talking about themselves as part of there self centered perception.

Expect more of it as things become tense and some house cleaning takes place.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

On the bright side, this is the only time you've ever witnessed something like that... and you've seen it all.

Sounds to me like racism is overhyped in this country.

originally posted by: CagliostroTheGreat
Onlyyouknow

He directly gestured toward them as they left, there are, unfortunately, no assumptions being made on my part. He made it clear what the source of his ire was.

Was the girl pushing 300 lbs and wearing booty shorts?

Bone75

I was already expecting this response, no surprise in finding it so early.

I would argue that racism has always been a problem. Do you honestly believe all the hate from the 50's and 60's just, what, faded away because...?

I'd hate to believe that some external catalyst has emboldened the racist among us but that is not for me to say, nor the topic of my rant. All I know is this ingrate had the nerve to make an unmistakably racially charged comment to a stranger just trying to do his job with the clear expectation of me responding positively in accordance to his prejudices.

The mindset it requires to even consider such is beyond me let alone one necessary to actually say such a thing.

*Furthermore I'd like to clarify that when I say, in paraphrase, "this is the first time I've seen this" I, obviously, mean seeing this sort of abhorrent speech directed toward me. It's not hard to find evidence of resurgent racism in the US.