Retail Racism

            Working in retail for almost a decade, I have witnessed my fair share of discrimination. It seems that for some reason, people find it more appropriate to discriminate in the retail setting (both customers and employees.)

            Racial stereotypes are so very active in the retail setting that some don’t even attempt to be secretive about it.

            Once I even witnessed a screaming match between two angry customers where the white woman viciously screamed the ‘n’ word (can we work on creating a better reference for that word, please?) at her African American opponent.

            Discrimination and stereotypes, however, seem to be most graciously given amongst the employees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIGFx31Xqjs

            It is assumed by the employees that when someone is caught stealing, that person is black. Security calls are made on black customers substantially more than they are made on white customers.

            While I have no real evidence or numerical proof of these sorts of things, it has caught my attention over the years.

            It almost feels like some sort of secret society that no one talks about. The severity of racial stereotypes that happens in the retail world is out of control.

            I can’t tell you how many times a fellow employee has made some sort of racially offensive comment to me with that ‘don’t you agree’ look in their eye.

            To be honest, the fact that someone would even make that sort of comment to another person without even considering his or her disproval of such comments shows how serious of an issue this is.

            It’s completely normal for an employee to sigh or roll their eyes when a black woman approaches their register… then begins the awkward dance of ‘who’s gonna ring this lady cause I don’t want to.’

            I guess other than the obvious (that it’s completely fucked up) the point of discussing it is to show that racism is thriving.

            A black man running our country is not enough for me to believe that we have progressed into equality.

            In my eyes, we most certainly have not. In my eyes, we are in an even more dangerous state of racism that is brushed under the rug or hidden.

            So what’s a girl to do? My initial reaction to discrimination in the work place is to politely express my discomfort with rude comments i.e., ‘Hey, that’s not cool.’

            It seems that most of the time, such comments are made on a one-on-one basis with coworkers who I actually get along with. This makes it a bit awkward at times because confrontation is something I avoid when dealing with coworkers.

            However, when being polite doesn’t work, what can I do to show these people that I am 100% not cool with it?

            This predicament led me to a quick and fun solution: pretend my husband and children are black.

            This is effective in all aspects: my coworkers (who eventually find out I am neither married or with children) know it is not okay so make shithead comments in front of me and customers who do not know me are left feeling the guilt of saying something stupid.

            Usually the exchange goes something like this:

Coworker or Customer: [Racist, malarkey garbage]

Me: Oh, well my husband is black so….

Coworker Customer: Really? Wow…(awkward silence.)

           

            I don’t expect this little fib to solve racism in retail, but it does give me great pleasure knowing that I didn’t just sit back and allow someone to be ignorant. And hey, maybe they get so embarrassed by the exchange that they’ll stop tossing out racist comments.