One line over at Safeway, a young brown man wrote a check for a few items and handed it to the (also) brown checker-ess. Unfortunate timing being what it is, there appeared to be some malfunction in the cash register's check verification function. These things are generally cleared up in a few minutes, a person's groceries are bagged, and they make their way out to their car, navigate their way home, and consume their beer and potato chips in peace.
Not so for this guy.
For this guy, minute after minute passed until everyone within listening distance grew uncomfortable. I was genuinely feeling for him until...until...until he said this to the checker-ess: "This isn't happening 'cuz I'm brown is it?"
Fifteen seconds of silence.
The checker-ess, who looked for all the world like she could have actually birthed the young customer, then assumed a voice so frosty I will never forget it. She said, "I'm brown, too."
At this point, I was almost overwhelmed by my maternal instinct, which was directing me to walk firmly over to this boy-man, take him by the shoulders, and say, "Look at me. Look at me, right here in my eyes. Okay, this is unacceptable behavior. What's the right thing to do now?"
And he would say, "I dunno."
And I would say, "Yes, you do. Think about it for a minute."
And he would mumble a pouty, "Sorry," to the checker.
But I didn't do that. I left with my bags, and have been thinking about it ever since.
2 comments:
yikes!
so you don't know if there was any other exchange?
did the guy direct hostility to the checker when asking his question, or was it in a curious voice? i'm asking this because i'm wondering if the boy-man asked that, not to accuse the also-brown checker, but to wonder about why the whole store, or perhaps just the person in charge who could actually fix the problem, was taking so long to do it. (i'm assuming it was out of the checker's hands at that point?)
nevertheless, i can imagine how unnerving it was to witness that. yikes, ver, yikes.
Yeah, he was definitely hostile. I think it was exacerbated by the fact that the store was quite busy at the time, and there were lots of people on hand; he was understandably embarrassed. On my way out, he was starting a, "What? You don't think I have any money..." type thing. It was a genuine glitch in the system, and I think the store was partly to blame for not explaining the situation. It was definitely not a case of the checker thinking he was shady. But if it were, I think she would have been within reason to pause because when does anyone—regardless of color—under the age of 25 (or 45, for that matter) write a check?!! Life is all about the debit card! Anyways, the whole thing was icky.
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