I don't want to comment on racism. Having worked retail for many, many years now I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I have reactions to people based on a number of superficial initial impressions. There are types of people that are mroe likely to try to cause trouble, and I concentrate more energy on keeping an eye on those people than on people who are less likely to cause trouble. (Though I never discount the strong likeliehood that the polite white middle-aged gentleman in the expensive suit could be stuffing DVDs in his case when I'm not looking.) Race, age, dress and demeanor all influance how I react to people. But I TRY to be universally suspicious of everybody.
That said: I have encountered entitlement issues from people of every walk of life. There are people who want a special break because they think I'm being racist to not give it to them. There are people who want a discount because they're old (not uncommon, but Blockbuster does not happen to have any senior citizen discount, so why do they make such a big fuss about it?) There are people who can't understand why I won't just give them whatever they want because they're clearly rich and deserve a break (and let's face it: nice people don't get rich. Only greedy bastards do. This is a fact of life, I think.) I even had a hard of hearing (but not deaf) gentleman threaten to sue me for discrimination because I wouldn't give him a free rental when he claimed his DVD player could not display subtitles or closed captioning on a disk (I tested it in the store DVD player and it had both subtitles and closed captioning.. he just was used to getting free rentals because he couldn't hear good... though I didn't say so to his face.)
So to conclude: work retail and you will realize that most people are scum, want to steal from you and want free stuff. Oh, and they look down on you because you are there only to serve them, take their shit and thank them for it. And the race, gender, sexuality, age, physical ability or disability and creed of a person is only one of many factors that influences in what way that person is mean, embittered, and needy.
no subject
That said: I have encountered entitlement issues from people of every walk of life. There are people who want a special break because they think I'm being racist to not give it to them. There are people who want a discount because they're old (not uncommon, but Blockbuster does not happen to have any senior citizen discount, so why do they make such a big fuss about it?) There are people who can't understand why I won't just give them whatever they want because they're clearly rich and deserve a break (and let's face it: nice people don't get rich. Only greedy bastards do. This is a fact of life, I think.) I even had a hard of hearing (but not deaf) gentleman threaten to sue me for discrimination because I wouldn't give him a free rental when he claimed his DVD player could not display subtitles or closed captioning on a disk (I tested it in the store DVD player and it had both subtitles and closed captioning.. he just was used to getting free rentals because he couldn't hear good... though I didn't say so to his face.)
So to conclude: work retail and you will realize that most people are scum, want to steal from you and want free stuff. Oh, and they look down on you because you are there only to serve them, take their shit and thank them for it. And the race, gender, sexuality, age, physical ability or disability and creed of a person is only one of many factors that influences in what way that person is mean, embittered, and needy.
Yes I'm bitter.