I don't want foreigners in my house...

[one_voice]

that's what a customer said to my husband this evening.

My husband got a call during dinner from a customer complaining about an installer that was to address a problem she has. She was very upset that the installer "sounded" foreign, and she didn't want any foreigners in her house. Through the course of the conversation she asked my husband to come and address the problem rather than the foreigner. My husband said of course he'd come and take a look at the problem, he then gave her his name (he's Hispanic). He said there was an audible "oh shit" sigh, and then she said "so you're a foreigner too?". My husband tried to explain that he's not a foreigner he was born in this country, she said "but you don't have an American name". My husband assured her he was as American as she is. But she continued on with the whole "foreigners are bad, not be trusted etc".

The call ended with her thinking about if she could let him in her house.

My husband had to be polite and put up with this ignorant sack of shit bigot. You could see that it upset him that she acted like this, and he had to take it (not a lot of jobs out there right now).

I don't think it would make a difference if he told his boss about the problem, because the company he works for is connected with Home Depot...need I say more.

I think these kinds of things are going to be seen more and more, and I blame the fringe right for this kind of stuff. They've made every bigot, racist, homophobe nut case think it's ok to say horrible things to whoever they deem to be "different/wrong".

I'm sad because I feel like we're going backward instead of forward.

I just felt like getting that off my chest. Thanks for "listening"

[Uzybone]

1. We are going forward

The numbers of racists are reducing, not increasing. They are dying off much faster than they are being created.

[matt819]

30. I don't think you're right

I think they're getting bolder, and that's going to embolden others to behave in this way. I do not share your optimism. I think it's getting worse, and it's going to continue getting worse.

[Robb]

2. Sigh. Damn.

I was really hoping that kind of mentality was getting old and dying off. :(

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Unless the lady was Native American, she can STFU.

[handmade34]

17. yup!

[RKP5637]

41. +1000 +++ n/t

[donheld]

42. She must have been calling from a Teepee

[mzteris]

4. he shoulda said

oh wait - that's my MARRIED name, my maiden name is JONES... When my partner and I married I took his name. :loveya:

Wonder if she has a problem with the gays, too...

[Control-Z]

31. Now, that's funny.

Can you imagine? Poor idiot bigot woman would have probably messed her pants. lol

[CrispyQ]

32. DUzy!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[aquart]

5. How old was the crazy bigot?

Makes me think of Eva Longoria's roots. Family has a land grant from the King of Spain. Fifteen generations here.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly how I feel too. "I'm sad because I feel like we're going backward instead of forward. " I'm

so fed up with the fringe right working to destroy this nation. IMO they are the ones that are foreign. I think the fringe right should be deported to hell.

[LakeSamish706]

7. We need to find a F***ing planet for these people that will take them....

They are so screwed up, words have not been created to describe them.

[RKP5637]

11. +1000 +++ n/t

[j420norcal]

12. I heard on Venus it rains sulfuric acid n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Yes all this crap is on the upswing and it is

predictable. Bad economy leads to this crap being almost fashionable... and it is not just the US.

[handmade34]

9. I used to think

progress was a natural trend of humans... then I thought it was 2 steps forward and 1 back, now I just see it as a constant struggle to beat down the knuckle draggers...

I'm sad too, of course, some days are worse than others and then once in awhile I am actually upbeat and hopeful... I have come to absolutely resent the 'fringe right' the unthinking and the willfully ignorant.

[RKP5637]

16. I don't think it's age related either. I come across young ones, medium and

old fart toads. I'm old, I'm certainly not like that and none of my friends are... we are products of the 60's. Some of these people are so F'en gross. My one goal as I aged was to NEVER look or act like these damn ignorant fools that the media likes to show. They drive me up the wall.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[handmade34]

22. a state of mind, I say

I remember 40+ years ago fighting for rights for all people, trying to convince people around me the need to conserve, helping to grow organic gardens and........ thankfully my kids picked up on the smart stuff and they are continuing the struggle as well as they can, but we need more and more people to understand the need to work together and not fight against each other.

I remember 'separate but equal' after just separate, and I don't want any of it in my world anymore.

[CrispyQ]

33. "now I just see it as a constant struggle to beat down the knuckle draggers..."

Sadly, I completely agree with your assessment.

[Kerrytravelers]

10. What a horrible experience.

Sadly, I bet this wasn't the first nor will it be the last. These people have been emboldened in their bigotry by the teaklanners.

[ljm2002]

13. Good grief!

Your husband must be a saint. Even with my job on the line I'm not sure I could put up with that.

In fact, I'm not sure he's obliged to. It's racist and there is no getting around it. He is not a "foreigner" and she is an ignorant and hateful bigot. If they fired him for refusing to go out there, I think he would have a good case to sue them.

Maybe you ought to talk to a lawyer and see if he can refuse to go without risking his job.

[LakeSamish706]

18. Yeah but with the job market like it is, sometimes you just have to let shit

like this slide. One hates that, but who wants to loose there job over some dizzy racist troll or end up fighting in the courts to keep your job?

[ljm2002]

20. Very true...

...sadly.

[one_voice]

35. Yup that's it in a nutshell...

the job market is still a mess. It took him almost a year to find this job. Thank goodness he was able to find side jobs to keep us afloat. But it got pretty hairy.

I still look everyday, but it's very depressing. And to have him have to be nice/polite to people like this is so demeaning for him.

Funny thing is he had to go to Arizona (Phoenix) for 5 weeks to train for this job. I wonder if he were there now, would he look like "an illegal". Would someone ask him for his papers?

Like I said, very sad.

[blondeatlast]

14. They are no longer ashamed. Hate radio and FAUX News enables them.

I'm so very sorry your husband had to quietly endure this. I saw it happen with my brown-skinned ex-husband quite often as well.

[Mojeoux]

15. When I lived in New Mexico

All of my Latino Neighbors were from families that were here before the Mayflower!!!
This racist crap is getting crazier and crazier.
My heart goes out to your husband.

I think one aspect of racist thought is, if the situation were reversed, they would hate their oppressors and try to hurt them and get revenge all the time. This seems logical to them.
It's a flaw in their character that they obsess that people who are not white, must be pissed and ready to get revenge, because that's how they would feel.

This is a revelation that deep down, they know how un-fair, un-American, and corrupt that racism is and they suppress this and just assume that all "foreigners" would be out to get them.

[EFerrari]

19. Yep. They project their hatred all over other people. nt

[depakid]

21. Oldest Church in America: 1610

Puritans land at Provincetown: 1620.

[tavalon]

23. Actually, these are angry death throes you are witnessing

Racism along with homophobia (and can we dare to hope - femaphobia?) is dying, generation by generation. While each individual (like the person your husband is having to deal with) has no idea that that is the reason they are becoming so strident and frankly, frantic, the collective unconscious understands all too well. They are winning some battles (Prop 8 and that awful AZ bill, for instance) but the war is soon to be over and they know they've already lost. They've lost because they haven't been successful at passing their prejudice to their progeny and with each passing generation, the prejudice is becoming less and less. Ask most kids these days if blacks are inferior to whites or if it's wrong for gays to marry and most of them just look at you like you've lost your mind. They don't get it and the next generation will understand even less about why it was ever even thought to be so.

Sure, there are kids (the Westboro Baptist kids come to mind) who are being taught to still hate and fear such silly things and they may be able to pass it on a generation or two further but it's still just a dead man walking.

The war is over. It's sad that the last skirmishes have to be so strident and furious but I guess that's just the way of the hairless monkey. There are many times I have wished that we were more like the Bonobo and less like the Chimpanzee.

I'm not trying to diminish your frustration. You have every right to be angry. None of us signed up for this craziness that the right wingers are throwing at us, but I hope it helps to know, that at least on this front, the left has already won.

Addendum: To any who think that my treatise means I think we should be complacent about these things, the answer is a resounding no. I'm only saying that as we fight these fights, take comfort in knowing that the trajectory says that it will end in time, perhaps even in our own lifetimes.

[tigereye]

24. that's awful - I always think "well, we all came here from somewhere else"

except for Native peoples. The intolerance is terrible - we are all Americans. :( Diversity is what makes us strong.

[tavalon]

27. Even the natives came from elsewhere

We know where the birthplace of humanity was and it wasn't America. But yeah, they have a bigger birthright. But frankly, it's way past time for America to grow up and get over our bad selves.

[tigereye]

28. true, I was going to say that we all come from Africa...

[tavalon]

29. Yes, we did

[Mopar151]

25. F'n morons

What nationality is her family? The nitwit in-laws I hear this crap from are 3rd gen. Acadians, mostly.... And yes, they've been empowered by the right wing blowhards and their own ignorance.

[gleaner]

26. Sorry you had to put up with that.

Instead of listening your husband should have been able to tell her to do the job herself. I really don't like it when people, are treated as you were. Especially good people.

[MindandSoul]

34. I admire your husband for keeping his cool! But, you're right. . .

it seems that Maher was right: The teabaggers want to "take our country back". . .
What we need to do is "take our country forward!" as Maher said!

[Raine]

36. Jesus Christ!!!!!

:wow: How unbelievably sick this kind of thing is and maddening! :mad:

[izquierdista]

37. For stuff from Home Depot

I suppose it never occurred to her that the crap she wants installed is Made in China and will probably blow up/fail/poison her within the year. :eyes:

[KonaKane]

38. What the hell is "an American name"?

This stupid woman reminds me of an episode of All In The Family, where Michael Stivik ("Meathead") was complaining that there was not enough ethnic diversity in American politics. Archie scoffed and picked up some campaign literature for a local election that was on his reading table.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about! Look at all these people running for city council chair - McDonough, Lu, Doricelli, Weintstein and Anderson. See there? Ya got a Mick, a Chink, a Wop, a Kike, and a regular American!"

(to those with their finger already on the alert buttonm I am certainly not endorsing the slurs above, but reporting them as I heard them so you could get the greater point. Thank you.)

[Kerrytravelers]

39. OMG. I remember that episode.

:rofl:

We actually own some of the seasons and are in the process of collecting all of them. I love AITF. Still relevant after all these years.

[lunatica]

40. They're getting bold in their brashness

They think it'll make them feel better about their mediocrity. Soon they'll find out they're still low lifes and that their lives haven't improved one iota. Ugly is ugly only now they're not hiding it anymore. They'll live to regret showing their only color.

[Name removed]

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