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My white 65 year old wife today was hassled by her Uber driver for asking for help to put her suitcase in the trunk - you'd think that a suitcase would be known FOR A UBER RIDE TO THE AIRPORT......
We all get profiled. I'm well off but dress very sloppy and casual and I am certain Salespeople don't come and help me first.
Basically I have long ago stopped expecting service. I think most people would be better off taking more upon themselves and asking less from such shopping situations.
Maybe 40 years ago people got service when they bought things. Not today.
No I didn't try anything, but she'd hand me just 1 shoe too, to save face.
My friend didn't want to film the encounter, it is quite sad that he resigned the fact that the suspicious treatment was because he figured it was about his race. He has mentioned previously of being racially profiled in various shopping incidents (like being watched like a hawk), at grocery stores too. He is bi-racial too and looks like Tyson Beckford, so he always has leering eyes at him, but actions speak even louder.
But if she handed you one shoe as well, how do you know it would just be to save face? Couldn't it be that she was just following store policy? I am white, but the few times I ever looked for expensive jewelry I was shown only one piece at a time---insurance regulations and preventative action to avoid theft. In some stores there are security measures for saffron because it's a really expensive spice. Whites use saffron, as do Latinos and Indians---I can't see that the stores decided to discriminate against these three groups---but that too many small containers of saffron (it's $500 to $5000 a pound) were disappearing, so that's why they did it.
I'm not clear whether said shoes were athletic or regular/dress shoes, but it seems to me that all types of people of all races, genders, sexual orientation, ages, socioeconomic status, etc. wear these types pf shoes, so I can't see that they would develop a specific policy just because they might serve people of a specific color, etc. What I can see is that the store must have experienced a larger than normal amount of shoplifting and this is what they have to do.
On the Atlanta forum there is a thread about a Kroger grocery store in an almost exclusively AA part of town that has now added a second set of glass doors, closing off the grocery aisles because of all the shoplifting. They are being called racist for doing this. It is very true that they haven't done this in more diverse or mostly white parts of town. But it's not like they built the store and said "Uh oh, we better put in extra security measures because our customers are black." After years of shoplifting getting worse, they had to take this action. While some folks are calling it racist, some customers admit they have seen tons of shoplifting and that people will buy some products and sue them in the bathroom!
So let's just assume that the shoe store had to take this action and that they apply it uniformly across the board---until we have proof that they only single out AAs. There still is racism for sure----but we don't have to insist it's there when we really have no proof/nothing to compare it with. Sometimes bad customer is just bad customer service, regardless of who the customer is. Sometimes customers just aren't trusted with merchandise, regardless of their particular characteristics.
African American... but probably American who is black unless one of his parents were African or if he was a dual citizen. Like the op, I think I’m reading too much into this.
go back and try it again and see if this is a consistent policy from the store. notice if other shoppers are treated similarly especially from multiple ethnicities.
My white 65 year old wife today was hassled by her Uber driver for asking for help to put her suitcase in the trunk - you'd think that a suitcase would be known FOR A UBER RIDE TO THE AIRPORT......
We all get profiled. I'm well off but dress very sloppy and casual and I am certain Salespeople don't come and help me first.
Basically I have long ago stopped expecting service. I think most people would be better off taking more upon themselves and asking less from such shopping situations.
Maybe 40 years ago people got service when they bought things. Not today.
An Uber driver is there to drive....not to load goods. Never had an Uber driver get out of their car to open my door much less put suitcases in the trunk.
I was with an AA guy friend at a shoe store a few days ago and when he asked to try a few pairs of shoes, the lady clerk came back with just 1 side of each pair. My friend asked for the other, as he has 2 feet, and she refused to let him try the others together. She said he can try the one shoe first to determine size.
The implication was that he may walk out with them, so she didn't feel comfortable to give him all the shoes to try, it was her way to curb theft. There were a few customers around and at that time it appeared she was the only clerk. It was suspicious treatment, so I suggested to my friend he should begin filming the encounter with the clerk on his phone, to question why he was refused the other shoes to try, but he is not one to make a scene and we left.
It wasn't until we got back to his place that I thought we should have observed if the other customers were also only given 1 shoe first to try, to determine if it was just the AA customers being "racially profiled". My friend just said he was not surprised and that he will just order online.
Also the clerk herself is Hispanic so she should have been mindful of racial profiling/ discrimination herself.
And I should point out my friend did not dress in a manner that could deem him suspicious.
Other thing, is we are gay, you would not be able to tell with him based on his looks/ voice/ mannerisms but me, yes. So I wonder if that was an element as well even though this is a fairly progressive area, micro-aggression still rears its ugly head...but I think in this case, was it more about racial profiling than anything else?
Sounds like you're looking for a payday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
More than one customer with one clerk to keep an eye on all of them while going in and out of the storeroom, I think it was very possible that no one was getting both shoes.
Some shoes are quite expensive and shoes are one of those favorite shoplifting items. That might have been store policy and it might have been her own way to try to control inventory, especially if that was one of those stores where the clerks get in trouble when inventory disappears or the till is short.
Sometimes people are too sensitive and actively hoping to find an insult where none was intended.
Very good point.
I was in pub/restaurant and the young woman behind the bar wanted a credit card to hold onto as she had several customers at the bar and many tables. Totally understood why and she even said it was to prevent people from drinking and dashing.
I'm guessing the OP is young and looking for things to be offended about.
There were other customers "around" but they were not trying anything on, he was the only one trying on shoes.
After the encounter, it would've been too strange to just "wait and observe" at the corner of the store and he is not one to make a scene, and we had a few other things to do that day.
Though I pointed out later maybe we should have, to see if others or just AA customers (or just him) were treated like that.
You said in your first post It wasn't until we got back to his place that I thought we should have observed if the other customers were also only given 1 shoe first to try, to determine if it was just the AA customers being "racially profiled". My friend just said he was not surprised and that he will just order online. .
So which is it? Now you say no one else was trying on shoes. How would you know that unless you were observing?
You said in your first post It wasn't until we got back to his place that I thought we should have observed if the other customers were also only given 1 shoe first to try, to determine if it was just the AA customers being "racially profiled". My friend just said he was not surprised and that he will just order online. .
So which is it? Now you say no one else was trying on shoes. How would you know that unless you were observing?
You contradict yourself....hmmmm.
Sounds like you're making it up as you go along.
NO. I said there were other customers around but none were trying shoes like my friend AT the time, it is a pretty small store so it is clear he was the only one trying..but YES had we waited, we could've observed if others would be treated the same but as mentioned my friend doesn't make scenes and we left instead of waiting in the corner for the "next" customer
So don't try to twist or question a situation and then downplay to "oh another person-of-color just looking for things to be offended about"
I was in pub/restaurant and the young woman behind the bar wanted a credit card to hold onto as she had several customers at the bar and many tables. Totally understood why and she even said it was to prevent people from drinking and dashing.
I'm guessing the OP is young and looking for things to be offended about.
If you look hard enough you will find them.
YOU don't get it. The bartender keeping the cards aside is akin to the clerks checking for counterfeit cash. It is not racial profiling. Your pub anecdote is not at all cast in the same light as...
The experience of minority individuals getting just 1 shoe instead of both to try on, the implementation of these measures directed to specific groups in specific neighborhoods IS racial profiling. The implementation of additional security measures in grocery stores in minority areas also has racial overtones.
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