I’m tired of some people having an attitude toward me just because I look White American (I AM NOT!)
For context, I’m Caribbean. I have an Indigenous grandmother, a Black African grandmother, an Asian grandparent, and mixed-race parents. I don’t have any American Caucasian ancestry, but I look white, I have a red beard, my hair is type 3C, and I have somewhat Asian-looking eyes. In my home country, I’ve never really had any bad experiences because of how I look.
I moved to the South of the U.S. two years ago, and so far, I’ve had some really bad experiences with Black people giving me an attitude or giving me a hard time when I’m trying to help them at work or take care of whatever they need... off course, I’ve also had bad experiences with white Americans, who seem to lose their minds whenever they hear an accent and become immediately rude or harsh towards me, But the proportion of those situations is nowhere near comparable.
But I’ve noticed that I seem to get the most negative reactions from some Black customers. They’ll look at me while I’m smiling or trying to talk to them and immediately roll their eyes or purse their lips. I know I have an accent, but the fact is that most people have an accent, regardless of their skin color.
I’m someone who genuinely cares about customer service and always tries to give people a 5-star experience because I like to treat people the way I want to be treated and solve their problems and it’s really discouraging and exhausting to feel like I’m putting so much effort into helping someone only to be judged based on how I look or how I speak. I understand that Black Americans have experienced a long history of racism, but assuming that someone who looks white is automatically a white American or a racist (and treating them accordingly without even taking a moment to assess the actual interaction) its driving me crazy.