Bigotry rears its ugly head at Valvoline

[NightTrain]

Earlier today, I took my delivery vehicle in for an oil change. As I sat in the waiting area, another customer came in and sat down a couple of chairs down from me. He had your typical, run-of-the-mill, gruff, working-class look to him.

"How ya doin'?" he greeted.

"OK," I replied.

"Hey, ya know what ya call a nigger sitting in a tree?"

I looked back at him. "Yes. A better person than someone who tells racist jokes to a total stranger."

His face became a mask of shock. He got up and walked out of the waiting room, muttering, "Asshole."

I called after him, "I'm an asshole? You're the fuckin' racist, pal!"

[RandomKoolzip]

1. Damn, NIghtTrain! Shut 'em down!

I wish I was that quick...Great response! You rock like a milkshake!

[CanuckAmok]

Good for you!

I wish I was that quick-witted. All I would have done is got up and left.

[bluestateguy]

2. Um, that tends to not be the place to discuss politics

I learned that lesson about 10 years ago at a Jiffy Lube in Redding, CA. They had Pigman on the radio in the wait room and this wiry little twerp came in raving about how wonderful Rush was and how Bill and Hillary Clinton were "communists".

[CanuckAmok]

7. I hate that, too!

I'm a gearhead, and I hate that most people who share my interest are RWers. But I've come to learn that it's just like everywhere else in society; it's not that they are the majority, it's just that they crow the loudest. I've gotten into politics (bad idea) on some musclecar forums, and It's always me against ten or so raving dittoheads, but I usually get a few PMs saying "I'm with you, but I stay out of it". As usual, the progressive doesn't feel safe speaking his mind.

My barber once had Dr. Laura on when I came in for my haircut. She was quacking on and on about how the "PC police" were trying to steal Christmas, blah blah blah... I told him to turn that shit off or I'd never come back.

He did.

[DrWeird]

8. Good thing he didn't talk politics.

He just pointed out the guy was a racist.

[GOPisEvil]

3. WTF?!?!

Damn, the nerve of some people. You handled it well. :thumbsup:

[Loonman]

4. Some delivery guy came into my work last year

Talking about how Ollie North said this or that on his radio show.

I told him that I don't care if Ollie says the sky is blue and the sun is hot, he's still a damn liar.

[jonnyblitz]

5. you know what always gets to me when that happens?

when the racist person is comfortable enough to assume he can make comments like that in front of others with the presumption everyone will agree or go along or not be offended.

[NightTrain]

6. That's exactly what pissed me off!

That guy's attempt at humor was a more extreme example of how these right-wingers assume that everyone agrees with them, and that they're free to spout their bullshit at any time without fear of repercussion. Talk about "asshole!"

[Fleshdancer]

9. great response! n/t

[underpants]

10. He must not know that some people aren't racists

or at least don't practice it.

[Zuni]

11. not just offensive but totally inappropriate

Why in the world would he just say something like that to someone he has never met?
It boggles the mind.

[Draven]

12. I would've punched the asshole in the teeth.

[NightTrain]

33. I didn't want to get that green stuff on my knuckles!

}(

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. They're fishing. Hear this:

I sometimes (and keep in mind Brazil is a much less racist country than the USA) get people randomly making racist remarks at me, expecting me to join their little underground of hate. I have a theory: their views are universally despised and they know it. I am VERY white compared to the average Brazilian, and have blue eyes, so I guess in their minds that makes me a more likely guess for a closet fellow racist.

July 2002. Much to my glee, Brazil won the soccer World Cup. Sports magazines here publish center page spreads (see below) in such occasions. I bought a magazine, carefully detached the page and took it to be framed. It was ready the following day.

When opening the picture, the store owner came to me, pointed to goalie Dida (#12 in the pic, a very tall fellow) and said, "heh, wouldn't you be scared if you met this guy in a dark alley?" Not taking the bait, I said, "nah, not at all, he looks like such a calm, polite person. That German goalie Kahn, on the other hand, wow, looks like they got him straight from Alcatraz!"

Frustrated but not giving up on me yet, the asshole then pointed to reserve attacker Vampeta (smiling, standing, between the two goalies) and said, "did you see him jumping and doing somersaults in front of the President (Cardoso) when the team received medals from him? You can always count on niggers to act like clowns".

At this point I just left. I like that picture, I didn't want to smash it on that moron's head.

Edit: Trying to get the picture link right. S**t, guess I'll have to embed it after all:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Talking to myself here... on the same train of thought...

...might it be this guy was KKK / white supremacist? As in, the real terrorist deal? He may be, quite literally, looking for troops (unlike that moron I met, who was just looking for a sympathetic ear to vent his racism into).

[NightTrain]

16. Not only is Brazil much less racist than the U.S....

...but you have a much cooler president than we do. Much cooler!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. And one of his cabinet is even cooler:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,992160,00.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. ROTFL! Excellent response

Good for you on both responses to him.

[scottcsmith]

17. Good job

What part of the country are you in? I can't believe someone would tell that "joke" to a total stranger.

[NightTrain]

19. I live in the ostensibly liberal Connecticut

But we have our racist losers here, too.

[beanball]

18. KKK in America

don't the racist scum in our country realize the harm they do when they spew out their mindless racism?.We have black men and women in placing their lives in harms way while racist practice their craft.(SHAME,SHAME ON YOU THAT DO.)

[jpgray]

21. Nice! (nt)

[Ilsa]

22. Way to go, Night Train!!! n/t

[Logansquare]

23. Attempted bonding with homophobia

Had that happen several times as well. I work at a university, and a woman on the maintainance staff asked me, in a shocked whisper, if I had "seen all of the funny people" last night. I was initially puzzled--was there a circus in town? Then it dawned on me. She was talking about the Gay and Lesbian Homecoming dance that had taken place the previous evening in the student center. A few of the kids cross-dressed and others smooched in the quad before the dance.

I asked her if she realized that about a dozen of my coworkers were gay, including people she liked and talked to every day. She was doubley shocked. "Who?" I said I wasn't going to tell her because I thought she'd be mean to them. I think it really gave her something to think about.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Another fisher

She fished... poorly.

[Kat45]

24. I'm surprised someone was so open in Connecticut; I'm in Mass,

and I'd say people around here are careful to only make those comments among like-minded friends.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. Good for you!

I bet he went right home to the trailer and slapped his wife/cousin.

[populistmom]

27. There's a lot of closet racism here

When I was in high school, I was in semi-affluent suburb south of Hartford, which at least in the late 80's was very Caucasian. I grew in the midwest until I was 15, but in a more diverse area. People are so much more racially separate here. When I first moved here, I had a friend who was one the the few young males of African decent in the town and I have never been pulled over by police in that town except for when he was with our group. I would openly hear racist jokes and was simply dumbfounded. I would say something or stand up for what was right and was quickly labeled "a rude bitch". I've lived in Manchester since young adulthood (its semi-diversity is about the only good thing about it), I don't know how many times I have heard people say they're moving to South Windsor or Tolland or Glastonbury because "the blacks are taking over". I set them strait really fast what kind of person I am, but it galls me, it fucking galls me that people look at me and because I'm blonde and WASPy looking, that I would share their racist views. It's just wrong.

[CanuckAmok]

30. I hate closets! What's your point?

n/t

[populistmom]

32. We need more armoires

:shrug:

[buddhamama]

28. you know what is really disturbing

about this? the guy probably doesn't even realize he is racist. or, you'd hear the standard excuses if you were to press him on it, "AiffirmativeAction made me a racist" "I grew up around black people that were violent,etc.,etc." I have heard 'them' all before. never ceases to amaze and shock me though.

but he is a racist, of that there is no doubt. why else would he tell a complete stranger this joke. the only thing he had in common with you NightTrain, was the color of your skin.

ugly. sad.

thanks for speaking up.

[cmf]

29. You're awesome

Thanks for speaking up and shutting him down. :yourock:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. "But...but...but...

Republicans are in power now, so it's supposed to be ok to hate again!"

What an ass.

:hug: for you