A customer (not the SC) asked me while at service desk if I'd heard about the shooting at the Wallyworld just south of here. I inwardly pancked; I have friends who live in that town and shop there all the time. I decided to get on with the rest of my shift and deal with the fear later.
A few minutes later a coworker came by and asked if I'd heard, and the SC overheard him and immediately started into a rant about the kind of people who commit these crimes, according to her. She was very emotional and rambling, and I was having trouble figuring out what her deal was, but I got some key points:
--she was just there at that store
--73% of the crimes in this country are committed by a certain racial group
--said group is "moving in"
--the dominant group doesn't want to talk about that, but talks about it "behind closed doors"
--when she runs for mayor, "you'll see"
--something about Jesse Jackson and someone else, not really sure
She just kept going on and on, repeating herself while my line piled up. I was trying to tell her I'd have to listen to the story later, and make a judgement then, and other innocuous statements such as "Well, you have to be careful" and "I'm glad you weren't hurt" (which gave her pause for some reason). I was too appalled to get annoyed, actually. I don't talk about certain racial groups behind closed doors; race doesn't largely occur to me, and I have friends of all backgrounds. And how does she know what people talk about?? I know I got roped in and made some statements that didn't steer her away from her diatribe, and I'm frustrated about that. I just didn't know what to say. I mean, here I was worried about whomever was involved, and she was on a political rant. Somehow I don't think anyone will want to vote for her for mayor.
A few minutes later a coworker came by and asked if I'd heard, and the SC overheard him and immediately started into a rant about the kind of people who commit these crimes, according to her. She was very emotional and rambling, and I was having trouble figuring out what her deal was, but I got some key points:
--she was just there at that store
--73% of the crimes in this country are committed by a certain racial group
--said group is "moving in"
--the dominant group doesn't want to talk about that, but talks about it "behind closed doors"
--when she runs for mayor, "you'll see"
--something about Jesse Jackson and someone else, not really sure
She just kept going on and on, repeating herself while my line piled up. I was trying to tell her I'd have to listen to the story later, and make a judgement then, and other innocuous statements such as "Well, you have to be careful" and "I'm glad you weren't hurt" (which gave her pause for some reason). I was too appalled to get annoyed, actually. I don't talk about certain racial groups behind closed doors; race doesn't largely occur to me, and I have friends of all backgrounds. And how does she know what people talk about?? I know I got roped in and made some statements that didn't steer her away from her diatribe, and I'm frustrated about that. I just didn't know what to say. I mean, here I was worried about whomever was involved, and she was on a political rant. Somehow I don't think anyone will want to vote for her for mayor.
Comment