Massive Clerk Fail

[BookBint]

Went to fill up the car last night, and an elderly black man (race is important) was in the queue two people ahead of me. He seemed a bit out of it, but not rude, just a little slow about finding change etc. Just before the clerk finished the transaction he suddenly remembered he needed milk, went to the other end of the store and fetched some. The man behind him was by this point getting irritated and wasn't afraid to show it, the usual SC foot tapping, long sighs, under the breath 'for God's sake'.

Eventually the old man left, and the impatient guy stepped up. He shook his head at the clerk and said, at least I am 99% sure he said 'f*cking kaffir'. For those of you who don't know, kaffir is a racial slur. Acceptable maybe 50 years ago. These days, no way. Now, while we can expect SCs to behave like that, the kicker was that the clerk didn't just blank him or even look disapproving, as one would expect a professional to do. Instead he nodded and laughed really nastily. Total fail. The rest of us in the queue were totally shocked.

[sms001]

to do. Instead he nodded and laughed really nastily. Total fail. The rest of us in the queue were totally shocked.

yup. total.

My (boss approved) line in this situation was usually something along the lines of "That's not so. Bad customers come in all colors/religions/creeds/etc." Gets the point across w/o being confrontational.

[GiftShopGirl]

Maybe the clerk didn't know what a kaffir was and was just doing the "smile and nod" routine? Personally, I've heard the word kaffir until this post, so if someone said it me at work before now, I would have no idea what they were talking about, and probably smiled and nodded too so the obviously-impatient SC would leave. But I'm just speculating.

[Naaman]

Maybe the clerk didn't know what a kaffir was and was just doing the "smile and nod" routine? Personally, I've heard the word kaffir until this post, so if someone said it me at work before now, I would have no idea what they were talking about, and probably smiled and nodded too so the obviously-impatient SC would leave. But I'm just speculating.

As far as I know kaffir is only used by South Africans, and they hung onto the institutionalised racism a longer than most

And to be fair they seemed to shed it a lot quicker as well

[Caffienated_Caramel]

Whats a kaffir? Is that supposedly the equivalent of... negro?

*ducks for cover* pls don't hurt me.

[lobo94]

It's the South African equivalent to the n-bomb.

[chainedbarista]

wow, more racial slurring; i can be impatient at sometimes with elderly, but unless they were rude/nasty/abusive, i just wait until they're done and take my turn.

this guy was a piece of *work* but unless the cashier was just doing the nod and agree routine, he's even worse for lack of professionality (nod and agree routine isn't acceptable in this situation either, though).

for some reason, i was thinking 'kefir,' the yogurt drink...*ducks*

[gremcint]

I'm going with smile and nod, I've only ever heard that word in one place and one place only. Lethal Weapon 2, that's it, it is not a commonly heard word, the guy was probably just nodding along to get the guy out of there faster.

[AccountingDrone]

Maybe the clerk didn't know what a kaffir was and was just doing the "smile and nod" routine? Personally, I've heard the word kaffir until this post, so if someone said it me at work before now, I would have no idea what they were talking about, and probably smiled and nodded too so the obviously-impatient SC would leave. But I'm just speculating.

Only reason I know what it means is I had a co-worker that was a *very* bigoted south african white. She refused to stay in the break room alone with a black guy once and she told me it was because kaffirs couldn't control themselves and would rape any white woman they were alone with if they thought they could get away with it

When the company transferred both of us to the third shift, which was 90% black, hispanic and oriental, she went in to a freakout and quit.