Invisible Minority
Something That Struck Me
Well, in all honesty it was more like the second time something of this nature has happened, but these two instances affected me more directly. And it gave me the weirdest sensation...
So on Saturday I was working at KFC and this guy comes in and says, "This is the first time I see a white person working here." And I was kind of shocked to hear something like that from just your regular neighbourhood in Canada. The oddest feeling came over me, like some psycho-somatic wave of... something, I don't know, but it so took control over me that I actually (accidentally) spilled some of the water that he had asked for... o.O Anyway, I couldn't think of anything to say except, "I'm Hispanic." I don't know if he took it as the defiance that I had intended it to be, but he replied with an "Oh, really?" and that was that. The sensation stayed with me for a little while longer, though... I don't know, maybe he just meant it as a harmless observation, only God knows, but it was such a startling comment...
Conversely, the second instance gave me the experience of the other receiving end (does that make sense to anyone else?) while I was working at this other KFC (same day, Saturday). This lady calls on the phone and asks about chicken and it turns out that she wants to order something for delivery, so I tell her that this KFC doesn't deliver but I can give her the number for one that does. I proceeded to give her the phone number and at some point (I don't remember too clearly, since the dumb phone was set at a really soft volume... in a freakin' mall... O.o) she said something like "Can I speak with someone who speaks English?" And I got that same weird sensation again, and again my mind went blank for a few seconds and all I could do was repeat, as calmly as I could, that we were sorry we did not deliver but I could give her the number of a KFC that did and proceeded once more to pass the number along. And she mockingly (or at least so it sounded to me) repeated "three-three?" Yeah, I have a faint accent that becomes much more obvious when dealing with "thr-" combinations. So what? Does this lady not live in the Lower Mainland where nearly everyone has some kind of accent? And I swear, I SWEAR, I heard a bit of an accent on her, too...
Anyway, I don't know. I just... This was something new for me, and that feeling (not a feeling feeling, but like some current running through you... maybe adrenaline...?) especially. I'd read about things like this happening to people, I'd seen it in movies, TV, whatever, but I'd never experienced it at such close proximity...
Actually, now that I think about it in a more detached way, I might have gotten that current-like sensation before, although in a much less startling way, upon hearing passing affronts to the Church or Catholic beliefs, but I'm not really sure. It could be hindsight. In any case, Saturday's little shocker was so sudden and in a category all its own, for me anyway...
So on Saturday I was working at KFC and this guy comes in and says, "This is the first time I see a white person working here." And I was kind of shocked to hear something like that from just your regular neighbourhood in Canada. The oddest feeling came over me, like some psycho-somatic wave of... something, I don't know, but it so took control over me that I actually (accidentally) spilled some of the water that he had asked for... o.O Anyway, I couldn't think of anything to say except, "I'm Hispanic." I don't know if he took it as the defiance that I had intended it to be, but he replied with an "Oh, really?" and that was that. The sensation stayed with me for a little while longer, though... I don't know, maybe he just meant it as a harmless observation, only God knows, but it was such a startling comment...
Conversely, the second instance gave me the experience of the other receiving end (does that make sense to anyone else?) while I was working at this other KFC (same day, Saturday). This lady calls on the phone and asks about chicken and it turns out that she wants to order something for delivery, so I tell her that this KFC doesn't deliver but I can give her the number for one that does. I proceeded to give her the phone number and at some point (I don't remember too clearly, since the dumb phone was set at a really soft volume... in a freakin' mall... O.o) she said something like "Can I speak with someone who speaks English?" And I got that same weird sensation again, and again my mind went blank for a few seconds and all I could do was repeat, as calmly as I could, that we were sorry we did not deliver but I could give her the number of a KFC that did and proceeded once more to pass the number along. And she mockingly (or at least so it sounded to me) repeated "three-three?" Yeah, I have a faint accent that becomes much more obvious when dealing with "thr-" combinations. So what? Does this lady not live in the Lower Mainland where nearly everyone has some kind of accent? And I swear, I SWEAR, I heard a bit of an accent on her, too...
Anyway, I don't know. I just... This was something new for me, and that feeling (not a feeling feeling, but like some current running through you... maybe adrenaline...?) especially. I'd read about things like this happening to people, I'd seen it in movies, TV, whatever, but I'd never experienced it at such close proximity...
Actually, now that I think about it in a more detached way, I might have gotten that current-like sensation before, although in a much less startling way, upon hearing passing affronts to the Church or Catholic beliefs, but I'm not really sure. It could be hindsight. In any case, Saturday's little shocker was so sudden and in a category all its own, for me anyway...
posted by Inochi at 11:58 p.m.
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