Black man projection
Today, I was working alone during my shift. I went to clean the lobby, and as I was doing so, I looked out the window and saw a Black man passing by. I noticed that he looked at me twice, so I was pretty sure he was heading into the store. I kept cleaning as he entered. I had left the kitchen door open so I could walk straight in the kitchen straight so I finished cleaned went back to the kitchen without saying a word and headed to the mid-house to start packing orders. The man was standing at the front, so I approached him and asked, “Sir, how can I help you?” He responded, “I’m not talking to you.” I was straight-up shocked and thought, What just happened? I kept packing, but he started talking again, saying he was a regular customer and claiming he’d never seen me before. He said I was rude and that I had gone to the back and talked about him. I was thinking, What on earth? With so much else to do, all I wanted was for him to stop, but he kept going. He said he’d think about me and talked about me in a negative way. The cook then came over to ask how many chickens we had, and I told him. The man then said I had talked to another worker and made a face. I was boiling inside but just kept replying politely, “Okay, thank you, sir, for the feedback.” It reached a point where I finally explained everything that had happened, but he didn’t want to listen. He then said he’d get me fired, I try hard to fit in look around you. I tried to hold my tongue and thought to myself, Since I’m the only Black person here, I should try to fit in. I was tempted to reply, “At least try to fit in yourself, but where do you fit in?” but I chose not to, not wanting to hurt his ego. Instead, I told him to do whatever helps him sleep better at night.