ignorance sucks

I didn't buy any fruit again today, but I did change a couple things. I prettied up the tables a little with bread plates and glasses, and I made the menu/food display and the entrance a little more aesthetically pleasing. I doubled my sales.

I expected the owner to come in and make me put everything back the way it was. She came, she asked who did it, I said I did, she said "gud idea, eet looks much better". The host and I exchanged looks, and both wondered out loud if she was sick or had a fever.

Unfortunately, any ground I may have gained, I think I lost double by confronting their racism and managerial deficiencies. We got tripple sat, no problem, except that before I could turn around, the bartender had one of the tables, and the host had another. I got the six-top, they got a three-, and a two-. Mine and the bartender's three-top were black. The three-top that the bartender took, while he wasn't making my drinks, turned into a very bad mess. They ended up walking out.

The owner said to me that it is always with black customers that we have problems. I told her, no, that they were black wasn't the problem, the problem was she told the bartender to take the table, and he doesn't know how to serve. He needs to make drinks,and let me serve the tables, but that's just what I think. She said she thinks it was because they were black. I told her that was her problem...oops.

I almost walked out. But my table, really cool people, had a very large tab, and they ended up over-tipping me a lot. One of them asked if I would be her server for her wedding reception if she booked our private room. They really warmed my heart, and softened the anger I was feeling.

I realized as I left the restuarant that I needed to think about how I could help them overcome their racism. Afterall, racism really is just ignorance. I didn't really like black people much until I fell in love with one. I was upfront with my soulmate about my prejudice, and also I tried to learn a little more about her culture. Now, I can't say I am a negrophile (?, like anglophile), but I have a lot of respect for american blacks. Like gays, jews, and homeless people, they have had to come to terms with a white, christian, middle-class, heterosexual majority. I'm not going to tell you what I like about american black culture because I want to challenge you. If you are white and uncomfortable with blacks, find out for yourself. If you are going to be prejudiced, make sure it is out of knowledge of who you don't like, not out of ignorance.

I think that's all I have to say about that.