#huffpost-personal

I’ve seen a few things over the past couple of days about people in the service industry. (This article and someone telling a story about a semi-famous person being rude to a supermarket lady.) As someone who spent way too many years in service fields, I would say this article doesn’t even touch the depths of rudeness service people endure. When I am assessing someone else’s character, this is a major aspect that I factor in. If they are rude once during a special circumstance, like dealing with major life events, then that’s one thing. But if it is a continuous behavior to treat service people like they are less than or use them as your emotional punching bag, then that person isn’t someone that I would want to be around. 

I am a Black woman who for most of my life has often been mistaken for white. And I’m here to tell you that for four decades white people have openly, even sometimes proudly, expressed their racism to me, usually with a wink and a smile, all while thinking I’m white too.

The incidents pile up, year after year — at a friend’s wedding, when I met a new roommate, at the grocery store, while riding in a taxi, and during innumerable other events from daily life.