Its a harsh, crazy, bigoted world out there

[Stinky The Clown]

I was out running errands today. On the way home, I stopped at a produce pick-up truck that is parked by the local library pretty much every day. Some young college age woman runs it, selling local produce that she buys from local farmers or the local wholesale market.

Anyway, I pull up and get out of the car. As I was walking back to her truck, a white woman stops across the street and trots across, arriving at the pick-up a step or two ahead of me.

Okay ..... I'm in no hurry. She starts speaking to the young woman running the stand. The young woman has a decided Eastern European accent. As they're talking and I'm idly listening, a Hispanic woman stops across the street and walks over. She ignores the woman who was there first, and she ignores me. She asks the vendor if it is Silver Queen corn.

"Yes" says the vendor, interrupting her first customer to answer this woman.

"How much a dozen?" asks Ms. Interruptor.

"$5.25 a dozen," says Vendor Girl.

"Can I have a bag to pick out my own?" replies Ms. Interruptor.

"Excuse me, but there's a line here," says Stinky (me), his voice mostly devoid of kindness.

"Where?" says Ms. Interruptor.

Incredulously, I ask her, while gesturing toward the other two woman, "Are we invisible???"

Older White Woman, simultaneously, says, "Right here," pointing to the ground behind me.

Ms. Interruptor stands behind me .... and then her empty plastic bags floats past my head. She had thrown it in a bit pique and was walking away. "Never mind," she says to Vendor Girl.

"Have a nice day," snarks Stinky.

"You too," Ms. Interruptor snarks back.

"Go back where you came from," says Older White Woman.

Stinky and Vendor Girl stop and freeze, as if simultaneously struck by electricity.

Stinky looks at Older White Woman and says, "That was way out of line." Looking at Vendor Girl, and then back at Older White Woman, Stinky adds, "All of us are from someplace else. Being rude is not limited to immigrants."

Vendor Girl smiles. Stinky glares. Older White Woman pays for her corn and tomatoes and leaves quickly, as red in the face as were her tomatoes. As she walks toward her car, she was heard to mumble, but it was unintelligible.

Stinky moves ahead and asks where the tomatoes were grown ...........

[stellanoir]

1. the suspense of what happened next is killing me

:rofl:

But seriously, I never thought we'd see this degree of bigotry resurface really.

The pendulum will swing back to center. This kind of crap is total bull. IMHO

[MissB]

2. Wow.

Isn't it funny how the older white woman made an assumption?

You did great, stinky.

[Robbien]

3. I really blame hate talk radio for making bigotry acceptable

I still remember reading a while back how one guy said he felt out of step with the world until he found Rush Limbaugh on the radio.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Ah, I just love that stuff.

Silver Queen, but I digress.

It is amazing how bigots misunderstand the difference between calling out an individual's bad behavior and blaming a whole group for something because to them it's always about race or ethnicity or religion etc. and not just bad manners.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Yeah. The last time I looked, rudeness is rudeness

has nothing to do with anything else. I've known plenty of white folks who were rude, and plenty of non white folks who were rude. On the flip side, kindness and helpfulness is not confined to one group, either.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. And?!

So....where were the tomatoes grown?! Do we have to wait for part two?!

(BTW...great job!)

[Stinky The Clown]

6. The tomatoes were from Maryland's Eastern Shore

Or so she said.

Given the severity of our drought, I kinda wonder.

But the one I ate already tasted pretty good.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I have a different kind of story

I work for a small company in a very red section of the country-red and racist. So I was pleasantly surprised and shocked when we hired our usual part time summer worker--he was one of the few black folks around here. The boss hired him because he knew him from baseball (my boss is a coach for teen baseball and is always helping out baseball players), and told me, "Anybody on our customer list, ANYBODY, who objects to Reg working for us this summer-you just take them off the list. We don't need them for customers." This from a guy who is always worried about business and the bottom line. Reg worked for us that summer-next year, he got a better paying job. He still remembers me when I see him around town.

[Swamp Rat]

9. Good for you!

:applause:

[Raine]

10. Disgusting that it

always comes down to race etc. The woman could've just yelled "get some manners" or something like that but no she had to make it in to racist bigotry. :-(