Summary:
Discrimination by social class and mistreatment of customers. Note that I'm not the one being mistreated.
The male worker (presumably boss/manager) is the one discriminating, while the female cashier is relatively friendly.
Noone was there at the counter when I first arrived.
After school today, I went to the donut shop to get some boba to drink while I did my notes, and I noticed this dark-skinned Asian looking man sitting at one of the booths with flies buzzing around him. His face looked shiny from sweat (presumably from a labor intensive job or from scavenging all day) and he had a cup of coffee that he bought from the shop. Noone manned the booth, so I asked him where the people were, using body language to illustrate what I meant. He replied in a plethora of mumbles, and I caught on to the phrase,"裡面", which means "inside" in Chinese. Concluding that he was speaking some sort of Chinese dialect, I moved on with the thought that asking him where the workers were would be pointless (I only speak Mandarin). After buying my boba and finishing a section of notes at one of the booths, yelling rose from the counters, and I saw the disheveled man standing in front of the counter with the glass panels, showcasing dozens among dozens of donuts, absorbing the wrath of the (presumed) manager/boss of the donut shop. Like a dad violently using a child as the scapegoat for all of his problems, this manager roared at the seemingly homeless man: "WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING ME?". The nameless man would not answer him as he had answered me, for he was frightened and could not understand English. Anyone in that situation--you or me--would be astonished, even disappointed, at the lack of respect the manager had for the helpless, aging man. I couldn't see him, just as he couldn't see me, nevertheless, his voice boomed throughout the tiny shop. My mouth dropped at the sight of the appalling injustice. Do you denounce him solely because he looks poor? Because he does not speak the same language you do? If he spends the same amount of money as another student does at this shop, would you not treat him the same? A valid point that some may bring up is that the manager does not want a potential beggar or homeless man to chase away future business. However, this man had done nothing to insinuate that he was a beggar. He merely stood still in front of the counter, without saying a word. But say he were a homeless man. Would he truly chase away other customers? His presence is the only thing that exists in that shop, and if a customer cannot stand his presence, they must not be able to tolerate the run-down, fly-ridden state of the donut shop either. I don't expect most people to empathize the way I do with this man, because I am often described as "overly emotional"; however, I need you to leave knowing that there are people out there who will chastise others, whom they have just met, for their impoverished presence. I need you to realize that wage gaps do exist, but they do not define who we are, what we are worth, and what we deserve in life. And finally, I need you to take note of this pain, and empathize with this man. Please. Understand where he is coming from, and why his life is worth equally as much as yours. read more