Sunday, October 29, 2006

An amusing story:

Another facet of working at a store in the Mall:

Obnoxious, rowdy or "callous" teenagers/youth.

The store's first manager would always act 'nervous" whenever young , black, men would walk into the store to browse. (in 20-20 hindsight this is funnier when I found out his "politics" - thats another thread or post).He would always ask me to be "cautious" or extra careful when they browsed, even more so if they were dressed in those droopy white T-shirts and baggy pants.
Well I decided to "HELL" with what my manager thought....unlike him I graduated from a High School that 80% black. I would treat EVERY walk-in like they should get respect or that they might buy something from us.

"End" of story : After 2 years or so ....discovered something that I should have remembered from my High School days: AFrican-American teenagers /youths are agressive CHESS players. We sell all sorts of Chess sets and CHESS supplies. Word of mouth got around - so now thats a steady seller for us.

The real problematic "Kids" , have been white kids between the ages of 15 and 24. Why that big a range in age ?? - because some guys NEVER seem to grow up . Young Black men are some of my politest and nicest customers.
I love stuff like that .,..and my original manager being proved wrong about stuff like that. Might seem like minor "profiling" - but it IS a noticeable pattern at our mall and the store.

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