Adventures in racism at the supermarket checkout

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://boingboing.net/2015/07/02/adventures-in-racism-at-the-su.html

To excerpt:

Writer of piece is at supermarket checkout. In front of her are three AA women
First one attempts to use her EBT card-rejected for "incorrect PIN"

Other two attempt same, with same results, machine rejects all three PINs.

Shoppers say "We entered correct PINs" Cashier says:
"No, NSF or you all used wrong PINs" Bystanders pass hat, pay for groceries. Then:

I'm not telling you this story to give a warm fuzzy about the good Samaritans of Giant Eagle. I am telling it because of what happened next, after my stuff was checked out.

“I hate to say it,” the cashier said, which means she didn't hate to say it at all, “but people like that just don't keep track of their money. They think they have all of it on their cards, but they just don't budget well.”

As I went to pay, I took out my debit card and entered my PIN.

Declined.

“My card was declined. It says I'm not using the right PIN.”

She looked at me blankly for a moment. Then she said this:

Need I add that the writer is white?

[blue neen]

1. Powerful story.

Unfortunately, I can completely picture this whole scenario.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I wish I were surprised

thanks

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. Me, too. I've had other white people say all sorts of racist things to me, I think because...

...I'm an older guy, have short hair and dress somewhat conservatively (don't judge a book...)
so presumably in their bigoted minds are "one of them"

[MattBaggins]

6. If I had a nickel for every time

Somebody whispered "happy james earl ray day" to me.......

[SheilaT]

7. OMG!

I have never heard that said! I'm glad I never had, and I'm horrified that anyone would actually say that.

God, I hate bigotry.

Says the older white lady.

[KingCharlemagne]

14. That is truly awful. I've never heard that before and hope I never hear it in person, as I'm

not sure I would be able to hold myself back.

[SusanCalvin]

23. Horrible.

I feel sorry for you, having to deal with people like that.

[nilesobek]

4. I've seen the clerks be mildly abusive

to white people too. At the local grocerteria I watched a male clerk humiliate and delay a couple buying groceries for their growing family on their WIC card. The clerk was dragging his feet and saying the WIC card #s didn't work. I was behind the line and protested LOUDLY about the way he treated this woman and her husband, an obvious combat vet home on leave, in uniform.

I caught myself behaving in a similar fashion when I worked for a year up the street at a convenience store. I was perturbed that a local woman, a tweaker, was spending her entire food stamp allowance, about 280$, in a convenience store.

Quickly I realized that the circumstances people live under are none of my business.

[SusanCalvin]

22. Even in this case,

they are being abusive to people they can tell are different from them, and to whom they feel superior. Ah, humanity......

[gratuitous]

5. Oddly enough

I'd still rather have my tax dollars going to feed people than bomb them.

[abelenkpe]

8. +1000 nt

[Grey]

10. ^THIS^

Thank you, That is the best response of all....!

[Tree-Hugger]

11. +1,000,000 nt

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. What's truly odd....

is the number of people in this country that feel the exact opposite.

[malaise]

19. +one million

[angel823]

20. Feed, educate and provide medical care

Absofuckinglutely.

Angel in Texasperated

[SheilaT]

9. I think I am reasonably aware of my

luck in life. I was born white. I can recall even as a fairly young child, looking at the very few African Americans I saw, how difficult it must be to have dark skin in our culture.

While I have at various times been relatively poor, I've always known that for me it was a temporary condition, that I could get a better job, could go to school, could improve my lot in life. In short, there were no structural barriers for me.

Don't get me wrong. I've experienced plenty of discrimination as a female, but it's not ever been as terrible as having dark skin, or being sufficiently poor that I couldn't get out from under that.

I try very hard to remember that I have the privilege of white skin. I like to tell tales of how when I get stopped for some minor traffic offense I don't get a ticket because of the privilege of my age, but I also understand that my race also helps. Even though I live in a state that is very Hispanic and Native American (New Mexico), being Caucasian matters.

Every single person out there should have the same privilege that I do.

[romanic]

13. Definitely agree with you're last sentence.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. Missing from this narrative is what the writer said once the manager appeared.

I would hope that she related the whole story.

[Sheldon Cooper]

16. And yet, even on this website, I hear that white privilege doesn't exist.

[madokie]

17. Amazing

the shit the blacks have to put up with in this country. First they were rounded up and captured and loaded onto ships and if they survived the trip they were sold into slavery then forced to work for nothing except a meal and a place to sleep. Not much has changed for them in all these years. If I was black I'd be pissed way more than I am as it is.

[AngryAmish]

18. Good ole prole racism.

Damn proles.

[SusanCalvin]

21. I had figured out the ending before I saw the punch line.

In what world does three declined PINs in a row not arouse suspicion that the *machine* has an issue, no matter who was using it? Ours, unfortunately.