Shopping While Asian in an Asian Store: Jim Chow Laws Applicable Here!

[ravenmanifesto]

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So today I listened to a disturbing encounter my mother had at our local Korean grocery store. Now, we've been shopping at almost all the local Asian stores where we live because they've got all the goods we need for all the tasty Asian food we make. We've always had better prices, service, and selection in the various ethnic stores here. However, at a festival this particular store was having to promote their sales and community bonding, my mother was given a coupon that happened to be entirely in Korean. Now, she speaks/reads a lot of different languages but Korean isn't one of them. So, she went up to the customer service desk and asked if they could tell her what the coupon said so she could use it correctly. The girl behind the counter took the coupon from her, said, "Oh, well you aren't Korean." Now, I can understand her taking it from my mother and switching the coupon for something bi-lingual or English and saying "Oh, you aren't Korean (as an observation), do you need one in English or Spanish?" But no, just "You're not Korean" = no help/no helpful coupon. So that meant no business/no job for this girl because the Communal Mother got livid, found one of two store managers and started yelling at him about what happened and "Do you treat all your non-Korean customers this way? Maybe if that's how you like it you should just go back to Korea and that way you can serve ONLY Koreans because this is my country and we try our best to serve EVERYONE despite their race!" Well, since it was at a festival, a bunch of people heard her and returned their merchandise. Apparently she saw an E. Indian guy who had a cart full of coconut milk. She thinks he runs a restaurant somewhere in the area because this particular store caters to small business people. He heard her and turned his cart around and demanded his money back. The girl in question was taken to one manager's office while the other dealt with my mother who was trying to return her purchases as well. The next time my mother saw the girl, she was leaving the store bawling.

I think this is the second time (although I was not involved this time) I've ever had an Ethnic-While-Shopping Experience. It kind of makes me worry a little bit. I'm very glad my mother could stand up for herself and do the right thing even though I don't entirely agree with everything she said, I'm not sure a more 'peaceful-passive' stance would have really done anything or sent any kind of message. She must be getting more activist in her old age, and I in my middle age.