Dealing with people in the inner city.

I live on the border of the county and inner city. Its a medium to high crime area. I generally do my shopping in the county in the better area and work in an industrial area.

Well, now that I can drive, I had a nagging for rice and other foods I did not have. It occured to me I can drive, a name brand chain store was less than 2 miles from here, and I could get what I want there.

I went there and first of all, I forget about how hard it is to find parking for an extended body cargo van in the city. I found a spot when an island on the edge of the lot with lawn behind me, so I can back the vans tail in and not take up part of the driveway.

Went inside and the first few carts I grabbed had locked up front wheels. Seems they use a security brake in the carts with an invisible fence around the store to keep you from stealing the carts. Much like my few days behind the wheel of a drivers ed car, folks just walking all around me, ignoring my 6 foot 3 315 lb figure. Normally I command some respect.

I got a basket and went around grabbing what I needed, nodding to other folks there and excusing myself to get around others. Despite my best effort I could not lose a mixed couple who were constantly stopping and kissing loudly in front of me. I do not think they were shopping for anyone, just walking the store. I just kept looking around, going about my business getting what i wanted. Bread, lunch meat, rice, chicken, potato chips, razor.

I finally made it to the check out where the mixed couple decided to go back around walking the store again than following me. They had a few registers open, a few 12 items or less, which I avoided since I was borderline the limit. One register I got in line for and placed my basket on the table. As I came up to the cashier in line, she told me she was closed. I again excused myself and went to another line.

Standing in line was fairly uneventful, however the lady who told me she was closed was still checking out customers that were behind me. I just kept aimlessly looking around the store holding my basket waiting for room to put my basket on the counter. About that time happened and the lady in front of me started to say something about using a basket and cane around the store or something to that effect. I just nodded and put mystuff on the counter and waited.

Everything runed up ok, cashier forgot my cash back option, had to show her the receipt. She saw it and gave me the amount I asked for.

Man, what an interesting experience. How do you deal with such a cultuer clash like that?

:huh2:

sounds like a perfeckly norbal day on planet earth to me..somewhere..

which culture, clashing where?

cobb said:

Everything runed up ok, cashier forgot my cash back option, had to show her the receipt. She saw it and gave me the amount I asked for.

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Oh yeah, I had a cashier who "forgot" my cash back also. I reminded her and she apologized and forked it over.

I no longer select "cash back" at grocery stores because of this. :tsk:

Sounds like you've got a problem assimulating into your geographic area. If the area doesn't suit your preferences, you might want to consider moving; the neighborhood isn't going to change just because it doesn't meet your standards.

Huh? The cahser is a member of a different culture than me and since she told me the isle was closed, I should pick up and move to another area? Almost sounds like discrimination to me, but thats just me.

Cobb, the same thing happened to me awhile back, probably for the same reason. I made sure the manager knew about that cashier's behavior. The next time I got into her aisle a few weeks later I got treated MUCH better.

I'm guessing Brighteyez means shop at a different store.

I've had some experience with this when I lived in Chicago. Generally being low key and respectful worked okay for me. It sounds like that is just what you were doing. In rare cases I was just completely unwelcome in a particular neighborhood and I quickly learned to stay away from there.

My advice would be like Brighteyez. If the experience isn't to your liking, find another store where they treat you the way you want.

You better get used to it. Multiculturalism is coming to a neighborhood near you.

stupidy has no bounderies!

It affects us all. i shop in a "bad area" Walmart every Sunday and think it's a hoot.

The rudeness, no english and ignorance just adds to my fun. Maybe i'm just sick but when I go to the one in my town it's just boring.


Weird, huh?

Probably not weird, probably you are just young. If a choice of stores with various levels of excitment was all there were to it, that would be okay.

When I was young I liked to live in cities. Now I think that's weird And it's not just "inner cities" that bother me, just too many people. Too many bars on the windows, too many locks on the doors.

Manzerick said:

stupidy has no bounderies!

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Yup.

I think that there may be other things going on here besides multiculturalism. IMO many of the "technological improvements" that we've experienced in the last few decades have resulted in poorer service for the consumer, contrary to the claims originally made about them. Let me give an example.

There has been only one chain grocery store in the French Quarter for as long as I've been around New Orleans. It's right in the center of the Quarter. Great location. They have always done lots of business. I can remember going in there often in 1980 and buying things. The checkout people were something to behold. Some of the older readers will remember the days before scanners and what the old, big, clunky grocery store cash registers used to look like. I used to go in there and standing in line for checkout I'd watch these people, with their hands just flying over the keys of these dopey machines -- and it was really something to see. Those people were really on top of their game. Because the Quarter was a high profile place, the checkers were all hot dogs.

The old clunky registers are now long gone. They've been replaced by electronic registers that are linked to laser scanners and scales. Of course, the real reason for switching to these machines wasn't to enhance the experience of the customer -- it was so they could fire the competent people and replace them with people that could be paid less money. The idea was that the new improved machines would take up the slack. It never happened that way. Watch what happens when one of those checkers has to manually key in a vegetable. Sometimes it's not pretty.

It's even worse than that in some fast food places. Some of them don't even have ANY numbers at all on the registers -- just little icons of burgers, fries, drinks, etc. Heaven help you if you are trying to pay for a meal in a place that only has icons of food on the register and you're nuts enough to throw in a $2 bill as part of the payment -- you'll stop the whole line while you wait for the manager to finally come over and try to figure it out -- and you'd better hope that the manager is smarter than the checker is.

Anyway, my point is that checkout isn't pretty and generally if there's going to be any kind of brain present -- you're going to have to bring it yourself.

Ohoooo, I feel a little better, now. Thanks.

</rant>

Yeah, it sounds like there's a problem there. But I'm confident that you can learn to overcome it one of these days.

With regards to the cashier, that's not an uncommon approach, as uncouth and unprofessional as it may sound. Companies like Wal*Mart and K-Mart doesn't exactly go after the cream of the crop when they hire associates; in urban areas, they often only speak English as a second language, they have little to no manners either in their own cultures or that of their adopted countries, and they're not very well educated, nor to they necessarily exercise good judgement. That's just life in the city.

Or perhaps it was discrimination of sorts, but don't arbitrarily assume that it was racial. She may not have liked the way you looked, the way you acted, or considered you a threat because of your size, or just didn't like the way you smelled, or didn't like your appearance (you said you used a cane?), or just wanted to be mean; who knows?

cobb said:

Huh? The cahser is a member of a different culture than me and since she told me the isle was closed, I should pick up and move to another area? Almost sounds like discrimination to me, but thats just me.

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Ya just gotta mingle in da mix! That's all folks!

There are still pockets of white separatists spread throughout the country.

But if one wants to live in the big city, getting used to understanding other cultures is a means of urban survival. Contrary what the hate-freaks may preach, it ain't going to change any time soon.

eluminator said:

You better get used to it. Multiculturalism is coming to a neighborhood near you.

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Maybe? Just maybe? Man, you've either got a lot of patience or you're really really sick.

It's the same thing at our Costco stores. They bring two or three generations of their families, clog up all the aisles walking six abreast, never look where they're going with their shopping carts, mill around the food sample tables trying to feed their entire extended family, and are usually chattering away on a cell phone at the same time. Then they plant one of their many family members into a spot in the checkout line, and then they jump in front of a line of people saying that their kid/grandmother/sister/whatever was saving their place. Then once they get outside, they're usually the ones with a cell phone glued to their ear while trying to pass you on the right-hand side at the freeway on-ramp using the shoulder.

Manzerick said:

The rudeness, no english and ignorance just adds to my fun. Maybe i'm just sick but when I go to the one in my town it's just boring.

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I honestly don't understand why some people have to be glued to a cell phone during all of their waking hours. Usually they're talking about nothing in particular.

I'm waiting to see the spike in the number of occurrences of brain tumors in a couple of decades. :shakehead

PhotonWrangler said:

I honestly don't understand why some people have to be glued to a cell phone during all of their waking hours. Usually they're talking about in particular.

I'm waiting to see the spike in the number of occurrences of brain tumors in a couple of decades. :shakehead

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Those are the ticket punchers setting up the next scam.

Brighteyez said:

It's the same thing at our Costco stores. They bring two or three generations of their families, clog up all the aisles walking six abreast, never look where they're going with their shopping carts, mill around the food sample tables trying to feed their entire extended family, and are usually chattering away on a cell phone at the same time. Then they plant one of their many family members into a spot in the checkout line, and then they jump in front of a line of people saying that their kid/grandmother/sister/whatever was saving their place. Then once they get outside, they're usually the ones with a cell phone glued to their ear while trying to pass you on the right-hand side at the freeway on-ramp using the shoulder.

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And people wonder why white seperatists exist...

I was up in a Home Depot near BAttle Ground, Washington. The people there were polite and very conscious of where they are going. Then the only two Asian beside myself in the store were these two really loud men that were practically yelling at each other in Vietnamese and running into everyone. THen one of them took out his new looking cellphone and proceeded to yell even louder into the phone in Vietnamese. Needless to say the people around them were visibly irritated at their behavior.

True story.

So that they can say "not my fault, not see, too busy with phone" when they run into another car, or run over a person.

PhotonWrangler said:

I honestly don't understand why some people have to be glued to a cell phone during all of their waking hours.

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Quote: "Then one of them took out his new looking cellphone and proceeded to yell even louder into the phone in Vietnamese..."

Maybe looking for GI father from 60's or 70's?