Bad day gets better
After realizing last night that I had practically no hard drive space left due to my mad downloading of music and episodes of Charmed I needed to get a external hard drive just to put all my junk on. Staples had one on sale so I went there. I found the device that I wanted at the price advertised and then started walking around the store where I found a desk lamp that I liked. Well really I liked the price. $9.99. I was happy. But the problem was that the lamp that was displayed wasn�t the lamp that I wanted but it was stocked on the same shelf so I went to find a sales person to confirm the price. My luck I found a woman in the normal Staples uniform her back was to me as she was speaking with a customer. I waited patiently not to close but close enough for me to grab her when she was finished. The two women were having a conversation that went like this. For purpose of this story, SA= Staples Associate and CS= Customer.
SA: I can�t believe those two women were killed like that. ( Story here
)
CS: Especially in that area because it�s pretty safe.
SA: I just don�t understand why Black people are so violent. I just don�t get it.
CS: I know. I know.
At this point the CS looks me straight in the eye. We�ve made eye contact.
SA: My husband hates that I work here. There�s so many Blacks here.
CS: (touching SA on the arm) I think.
SA: I swear they�re going to kill us all if we�re not careful. I just don�t understand why they have to be like that.
Now I�m just standing there. At this point I can�t describe how I�m feeling. I was going to just turn and walk away but something made me say.
DB: Excuse me.
SA: (turns around) Hi can I help you.
DB: Actually I need to speak with a manager.
SA: Are you sure there�s nothing I can help you with.
CS: Lindsey, I�ll talk to you later.
SA: By, call me.
CS is gone.
SA: I�m sorry. What can I help you with?
DB: A manager.
SA: Oh, ok. Let�s walk up here.
SA is just smiling bouncing her way to the customer service desk. Where I meet the �manager�. Lindsey leaves me there and I explain to the manager the situation. There�s a black guy standing next to her. He keeps say. �Are you serious.� The manager has a stern look on her face. I tell her that I feel that her statements were inappropriate and racist. She tells me. �Well actually if you want to go by the true definition of racist. She didn�t make a racist comment she stated her opinion.� I agreed. Telling her that if we use the true definition and not the vernacular as I was, the she was correct but as a person who�s just plopped down $500 plus dollars in their store in the last week, I was a little offended. The �manager� then said that she was only stating her opinion and that her comments were not really directed towards me but in a private conversation. I explained to her that the private conversation should have been held in let�s say� Private. The manager agreed. The black employee who was standing next to her told the �manager� that the comment was racist. The �manager� told him to go back to the floor. He didn�t budge. He just stood there.
I told the �manager� that I felt that her behavior was out of line because she was in the public, in her uniform representing the company. The �manager� told me that she only worked for Staples, she didn�t represent Staples. I told the �manager� that I thought that she was playing with semantics and that point was that her behavior wasn�t acceptable. The �manager� then said with her arms crossed. �I�m not sure what you want me to do sir.� I said, � Nothing. Nothing at all.� I left my items on the counter and start walking away. She said. �I assume you don�t want this.� I didn�t say anything as I�m walking out the store. The Black employee follows me out and begs me to stay until the manager comes. I told him that I though I was speaking with the manager and he said that she wasn�t. That she was �like an assistant manager.� He said that manager was to be in at 11:00. I told him that at this point I was tired and I just wanted to go. He begged me to stay to explain the situation.
Then another employee comes out and asks what�s going on. The guy explains to her and the other employee says that I should say. I tell them both that I�m tired and I just want to go and that I will take care of it later. I walk out and towards the car when a woman in a Staples uniform walks towards me. She smiles and I smile too. The guy comes out of the store and starts yelling for me to come back. He tells me that she is the manager. I turn around and explain to her what has happened she is shocked. She asks me to wait while she puts away her purse. She comes back with a pad and asks me again to explain everything. I told her the whole story and at one point said that as a Black person I was offended. She stopped me and said that as a White person she was offended too. She told me that the �manager� that I was talking too was just a cashier and that she would take care of that too. She asked me to come back inside and purchase my items. I told her that at that point; I didn�t feel comfortable purchasing anything from the store. She then said that I shouldn�t judge the whole store by those two employees. Which was true. She walk me back inside and I picked up my items. The �manager� tried to say something to real manager and the real manager told her that she wanted to talk to her and to go to the back. I bought my stuff and the real manager took down my name and number and apologized profusely.
I leave the store and realize that I�m shaking. I�m not mad, I�m sad. I�m tired of having to deal with this whole race issue in Atlanta. I�ve lived in several parts of the country and abroad and Atlanta is the worst place when it comes to racism and bigotry. I�m in the car and I think I�m going to start crying which makes me start crying. Then JAB called and I explained to him the whole story. We had a major fight last night but he came through as always. He calmed me down and said the right things that I needed to hear and convinced me to go own with my plans of buying a sandwich at Whole Foods.
Ok this is where the day got better. I�m waiting in line to order my sandwich. There are two men behind me. I hear them talking. I�m trying not to ease drop as not to have to run out of the store in hysteria. I hear one guy say, so what�s your type. The other guy says I have a whole bunch of types. I turn around, for no particular reason but I purposely avoid them because at this point I�m been crying and my eyes I�m sure look pretty puffy. It�s now my turn to order my sandwich and the other guys are right next to me ordering theirs. I order my sandwich and one of the guys ask me where I got my shoes. I told them and he said nice shoes. I said thanks and took my sandwich. I heard the guy say to his friend that I was his type. The other guy said, �Yeah he dresses well.� That made my day. I decided that I was going to be an ego maniac and concentrate on that all day which made me feel better.
I was in my blissfulness when I received two phone calls first JAB called me. He was laughing real hard. I asked him what was so funny. He asked me if I had watched the news. I told him no. He said that they had found the killer of the two women at the Subdivision. I guess it was good news but since we didn�t know them personally I didn�t see what the jubilation was about. He told me that the SA from above had it all wrong. The killer had been found and he was White and not Black after all. I�m kinda laughing now too just because the situation that happened before seems so pointless now when my call waiting clicks in. I take the call and it�s the �real manager� from Staples telling me that the SA from had resigned and that she was going to send me a gift certificate for my trouble. I told her that I didn�t want it and that I didn�t want the SA fired. She then told me that she had given the SA a choice to either apologize to me or to quit so she decided to quit. Which made me sad for a second but I went back to the blissful stage of being someone�s type so I got past it. I again told her that I didn�t want the gift certificate because it wasn�t about that and she said that she wanted to earn my business back. Which made me feel good.
And finally when I got home I was searching the web and realized that Apple had finally released Itunes for PC. I�d been hoping that they would but I�d forgotten about it. Itunes lets you download music for $.99 so now I can download music and not have that pesky guilt feelings. I downloaded about 10 songs and I�m listening to them now. Enjoying my Sam Adams light and think that my day started out shitty but I�m ok with it. Life goes on and hey, don�t forget that I�m someone�s type.
My Weather
