I Can't Think of a Good Enough Title, But Read This Anyway
*Due to the holidays and presents, there will be a high amount of vagueness in this post.
Today I went to a store to pick up a present (finally!) and an Asian couple tried to cut in front of me when it was my turn.
The husband explained that he wanted the store to hold his product for him. They would come back tomorrow to pick it up.
The cashier was Asian too. "We close at 6 p.m. Anything that hasn't been picked up by then is treated as returned. We can only hold this for you until 6 p.m. when we close, no later. Sorry."
The cashier went back to helping me. The Asian woman smoothly tried to elbow me out of her way. I hate when people don't say "excuse me" so I didn't move for her. She elbowed me harder. I still didn't move.
In broken English the Asian woman told the cashier she wanted her item held until tomorrow. Again, he explained the store policy.
As the husband started to say some variation of "Okay, thanks anyway" the wife whipped around to him, and in rapid-fire Mandarin, told him something I took to mean, "I'll handle this! You're obviously not getting us anywhere."
She turned towards the cashier again and said several sentences in Mandarin. He shook his head, and said, "I don't speak Mandarin, sorry." His mouth twitched, and he bit back a smile. His eyes darted over to me, then down, then back to the woman. He went back to processing my purchase.
I don't know if he really doesn't know Mandarin, of course. Maybe he's just one of those people who hates when people try to pull stuff like that. Maybe he just hates when Asians try to cut in lines. Maybe he feels like it gives them a bad rep.
Today I went to a store to pick up a present (finally!) and an Asian couple tried to cut in front of me when it was my turn.
The husband explained that he wanted the store to hold his product for him. They would come back tomorrow to pick it up.
The cashier was Asian too. "We close at 6 p.m. Anything that hasn't been picked up by then is treated as returned. We can only hold this for you until 6 p.m. when we close, no later. Sorry."
The cashier went back to helping me. The Asian woman smoothly tried to elbow me out of her way. I hate when people don't say "excuse me" so I didn't move for her. She elbowed me harder. I still didn't move.
In broken English the Asian woman told the cashier she wanted her item held until tomorrow. Again, he explained the store policy.
As the husband started to say some variation of "Okay, thanks anyway" the wife whipped around to him, and in rapid-fire Mandarin, told him something I took to mean, "I'll handle this! You're obviously not getting us anywhere."
She turned towards the cashier again and said several sentences in Mandarin. He shook his head, and said, "I don't speak Mandarin, sorry." His mouth twitched, and he bit back a smile. His eyes darted over to me, then down, then back to the woman. He went back to processing my purchase.
I don't know if he really doesn't know Mandarin, of course. Maybe he's just one of those people who hates when people try to pull stuff like that. Maybe he just hates when Asians try to cut in lines. Maybe he feels like it gives them a bad rep.
posted by Green at 12/03/2006 10:24:00 PM
4 Comments:
It probably had a lot to do with getting the rude, pushy woman off his case. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't quite telling the whole truth about the store's policy.
I hate line jumpers!
Serves her right! It's women like her that give Asian (or any, for that matter) women a bad name!
I would have elbowed her back!
Post a Comment
<< Home