What's Up With the Racist Supermarket?

[roaringfork]

Not being a Dallas native and not owning a GPS, I tend to spend a lot of time during my hobby-trips in wandering around the city, trying to locate various strip joints and houses of ill repute. A few months (or years) ago I'd stopped at a grocery store, hoping to fortify myself for the next erotic encounter with a couple of bananas and a bottle of V-8. I noticed that the signage in and around the place was exclusively in Spanish, but figured I'd have no trouble negotiating the simple transaction I'd planned. After I'd paid and was gathering up my purchases, I heard one of the female cashiers say to the one who'd checked me out, "You served him?" (This was met with a sheepish shrug from her co-worker.)

I won't take time here to make the obvious points about what would happen to any white-owned business which refused service to a darker-complected customer, but for some reason I'm now a little curious as to the exact identity of the place. Is anyone else aware of what goes on there? Is this sort of thing common in the Big D?

[Chung Tran]

it is not common, and it's hard to evaluate your experience based on what you presented.. if you did hear "you served him"? I imagine it was not about race, but something else.. could be a lot of things..

it must have stung though, for you to be bringing it up here.. any reason you didn't say something at the time?

[DSK]

Originally Posted by roaringfork

Not being a Dallas native and not owning a GPS, I tend to spend a lot of time during my hobby-trips in wandering around the city, trying to locate various strip joints and houses of ill repute. A few months (or years) ago I'd stopped at a grocery store, hoping to fortify myself for the next erotic encounter with a couple of bananas and a bottle of V-8. I noticed that the signage in and around the place was exclusively in Spanish, but figured I'd have no trouble negotiating the simple transaction I'd planned. After I'd paid and was gathering up my purchases, I heard one of the female cashiers say to the one who'd checked me out, "You served him?" (This was met with a sheepish shrug from her co-worker.)

I won't take time here to make the obvious points about what would happen to any white-owned business which refused service to a darker-complected customer, but for some reason I'm now a little curious as to the exact identity of the place. Is anyone else aware of what goes on there? Is this sort of thing common in the Big D?

Everyone is racist - just ask WTF

[jdkees]

The struggle for being a white man is real...

[Roger.Smith]

Originally Posted by roaringfork

Not being a Dallas native and not owning a GPS, I tend to spend a lot of time during my hobby-trips in wandering around the city, trying to locate various strip joints and houses of ill repute. A few months (or years) ago I'd stopped at a grocery store, hoping to fortify myself for the next erotic encounter with a couple of bananas and a bottle of V-8. I noticed that the signage in and around the place was exclusively in Spanish, but figured I'd have no trouble negotiating the simple transaction I'd planned. After I'd paid and was gathering up my purchases, I heard one of the female cashiers say to the one who'd checked me out, "You served him?" (This was met with a sheepish shrug from her co-worker.)

I won't take time here to make the obvious points about what would happen to any white-owned business which refused service to a darker-complected customer, but for some reason I'm now a little curious as to the exact identity of the place. Is anyone else aware of what goes on there? Is this sort of thing common in the Big D?

All I read was a post of someone with a victim mentality who read what he wanted to into a situation. One cashier asked another cashier a question. OMG! The world is ending. It's a conspiracy. We all know cashiers are at the top of the food chain in any business. It must be so hard on you when an employee asks their co-worker a question. Being persecuted like that, the horror. LOL.


The cashier who rang you up obviously thought nothing of it. Talk about jumping to conclusions.

[jdkees]

Yeah, if you walk into a specialty market it's kind of weird to expect something other than what it is: a specialty market. Not a whole lot of sympathy for describing what seems to be discomfort for reasons that are unclear and undefined.

[Prolongus]

Maybe it was like this: "You served him? I thought your shift was over..."

[oldbutstillgoing]

Based on what you wrote, your reading way too much into it. They probably thought you were some damm yankee.

[Hélène Stone]

All the signs in and around the store were in Spanish, but the cashiers asked if you were served in English? Hmm... Interesting.

[AmericanIdiot]

Originally Posted by Hélène Stone

All the signs in and around the store were in Spanish, but the cashiers asked if you were served in English? Hmm... Interesting.

I just had the same thought. Or maybe he understands Spanish?

And hasn't he seen Avenue Q? Everyone's a little bit racist.

[Roger.Smith]

Originally Posted by AmericanIdiot

I just had the same thought. Or maybe he understands Spanish?

And hasn't he seen Avenue Q? Everyone's a little bit racist.

He quoted the random cashier and also thought he'd have no problem "negotiating the transaction" even though all the signs were in Spanish. No need for the mental gymnastics, his story speaks for itself.

[roaringfork]

"You served him?" was in English. The tone of the utterance left little doubt as to its intended effect, just as the squirminess of the cashier's shrug made clear that she was dealing at that moment with deeper and darker issues than, say, a change of shifts.

Yeah, Chung--for a long time after the incident the best response I could imagine was something along the lines of "WTF? A racist grocery store?" Now I think I should have gone with, "How would you two ladies like to make more money in the next two hours than you usually make in a week?" I was probably restrained by the same motive which makes me spend my $200 at the amp rather than on surf-n-turf for some civvie chick: fear of a freakout by the other party, followed by an arrest for something a lot more serious than a class B misdemeanor.

(My apologies for the delay in replying: had to leave the house at 6:30 this morning so I could clock in on time for my own shift in a richly diverse multicultural bilingual working environment....)

[Roger.Smith]

Originally Posted by roaringfork

"You served him?" was in English. The tone of the utterance left little doubt as to its intended effect, just as the squirminess of the cashier's shrug made clear that she was dealing at that moment with deeper and darker issues than, say, a change of shifts.

Yea, you're not overly dramatic at all. After asking the question, the cashier probably let out a "Mwhahahaha" while beating a piñata of Donald Trump and pointing at you.

The cashier may have just thought you were a weirdo.

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by Roger.Smith

the cashier probably let out a "Mwhahahaha" while beating a piñata of Donald Trump and pointing at you.

[ithyphallicus]

Originally Posted by roaringfork

... A few months (or years) ago I'd stopped at a grocery....

A few months (or years) ago? WTF? Can you even name what part of town you were in, remotely? What a strange off the wall post.