'Big Fat Black Lady' Angered by Gas Station Receipt

Based on the improper grammatical structure of the note, as well as the general profile of gas station attendants in California, the clerk was most likely an immigrant with poor English skills and didn't understand that his/her words would be taken as offensive, particularly if they are from a culture that doesn't place as much value on being sensitive to other people's feelings as ours does. That doesn't make it okay, but I'm just saying...

Of course, it could have just been some ignorant dumbass who didn't think before writing. In either case, I think the woman is justified in wanting an apology, though I'm not sure why this made national news. Seems kind of minor and silly compared to the serious racial/prejudice issues that go overlooked daily in our society.
 
TheWriteAlex said:
Based on the improper grammatical structure of the note, as well as the general profile of gas station attendants in California, the clerk was most likely an immigrant with poor English skills and didn't understand that his/her words would be taken as offensive, particularly if they are from a culture that doesn't place as much value on being sensitive to other people's feelings as ours does. That doesn't make it okay, but I'm just saying...

Of course, it could have just been some ignorant dumbass who didn't think before writing. In either case, I think the woman is justified in wanting an apology, though I'm not sure why this made national news. Seems kind of minor and silly compared to the serious racial/prejudice issues that go overlooked daily in our society.
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yep. I don't expect gas attendants to know culturally-sensitive words on the spot like "African-American female. heavyset."

Clearly - the customer is understandably upset by choice of word. Yes it does warrant an apology from the manager. Problem solved. Nothing to getting all hot and angry about. No need to bring in Al Sharpton. Guess what? at least the gas station was very honest and gave her $10. She should be appreciative of that.

See picture below to see what was written on her receipt.
w7j1bm.jpg

*it's a pix of woman holding up a gas station receipt with 4 big handwritten words - Black Lady. Big fat

I see a crude and accurate description. It doesn't look like it's written with racism in his mind. It wasn't worded in a racist way.

Is she overreacting? yes.
Does she deserve an apology? yes.
Do I expect gas attendant to know better? no
 
I did not see any need to write what race she was , How about just asking the woman what her name is! She would just gave her first name , first letter of her last name!
 
Can tell by the "scrawl" of the writing or the print that the attendant isn't too bright....but, why didn't the lady give him her name, DL # to begin with?
She just walked out of the station, came back the next day to get the $....maybe she was a regular customer, and assumed the attendant would "recognize" her??
 
What does one's handwriting have to do with their intelligence?

Either way... I have nothing to say except-- I think what is occurring here is clashes of different cultures.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I did not see any need to write what race she was , How about just asking the woman what her name is! She would just gave her first name , first letter of her last name!
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rockin'robin said:
Can tell by the "scrawl" of the writing or the print that the attendant isn't too bright....but, why didn't the lady give him her name, DL # to begin with?
She just walked out of the station, came back the next day to get the $....maybe she was a regular customer, and assumed the attendant would "recognize" her??
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why? she paid by cash. there's no name or DL # on receipt.
 
souggy said:
What does one's handwriting have to do with their intelligence?

Either way... I have nothing to say except-- I think what is occurring here is clashes of different cultures.
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not clash of culture. she just simply didn't appreciate the word "big fat"
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I did not see any need to write what race she was , How about just asking the woman what her name is! She would just gave her first name , first letter of her last name!
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The gas stations I went to always asked which car was mine. They rarely describe me on receipts. Actually never. This is the first time I've heard this being done.

And in restaurant, they do ask our name and write it down on receipts.


I think it also may have to do with not able to spell her name.
 
rockin'robin said:
Can tell by the "scrawl" of the writing or the print that the attendant isn't too bright....but, why didn't the lady give him her name, DL # to begin with?
She just walked out of the station, came back the next day to get the $....maybe she was a regular customer, and assumed the attendant would "recognize" her??
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If she walked out, most people usually write down the license plate of the car so they can report it.. it is really illegal to leave without paying gas if that's what she was doing.
 
Cheri said:
...The gas station attendant should had wrote down the color of her clothes to identify her instead of the description of what she looks like.
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I think the reason that they don't use clothing for identification is because people can easily change their clothes.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
If she walked out, most people usually write down the license plate of the car so they can report it.. it is really illegal to leave without paying gas if that's what she was doing.
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no. the article said the gas station shorted her $10... meaning they owe her $10... which is why I thought they were pretty honest. They attached the receipt with a description of her on $10 bill in case she comes back for refund.
 
Reba said:
I think the reason that they don't use clothing for identification is because people can easily change their clothes.
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exactly. what if she came back next day? she certainly will not be wearing that same blue shirt.
 
Jiro said:
no. the article said the gas station shorted her $10... meaning they owe her $10... which is why I thought they were pretty honest. They attached the receipt with a description of her on $10 bill in case she comes back for refund.
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oh, ok, I see, I would just ask for her name (or in my case, being HOH and all, have her write down her name... some names are hard to understand and spell )
 
Lighthouse77 said:
oh, ok, I see, I would just ask for her name (or in my case, being HOH and all, have her write down her name... some names are hard to understand and spell )
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no no. she left already before he can give her $10. that's why he wrote the description of her on the receipt in case she comes back.
 
if she walked out without realizing she was shorted, which happened a lot when I was working as a cashier, I can see why they wrote the description, especially for other co-workers in case that person is not working on that day.

usually I give out description, but white people come with different eye (blue, hazel green, brown, etc.) and hair colors (blond, brown, black, light brown, etc. or freckled, tanned, thin, short, tall) so they are easy to describe. Now black people seem to have brown eyes and brown hair... so we have to give other characteristic trait about them especially on their height and body mass.. or their hair style or we would end up give the money to the wrong person.

yes, he should have used a better choice of wording, but I don't think he means to. I'm sure he'll learn from this...

(btw, I don't really like calling them black... and African American is too long plus they are not from Africa, they are from here)
 
I think the lady was extremely lucky she even got the $10 back....she did not "give her name/phone #......no ID at all......So, basically it was an "honest" clerk that caught the error....The clerk did not know her to ID her in case she came back......

But, in order to be "nice" about it, he could have written on the receipt in case she came back to collect the $....black lady....heavy-set.....short or tall....even try to get the color/make of her car ???

Most places would have ask her to come back when the clerk was on duty to see if he might recognize her. If this happened at Walmart or any bigger store, she would have been out of $10. And the clerk could have "pocketed the $10", since she had no proof.
 
if it was me, I wouldn't even write on the receipt, I would write on a post-it note like I have always done.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
... Now black people seem to have brown eyes and brown hair... so we have to give other characteristic trait about them especially on their height and body mass.. or their hair style or we would end up give the money to the wrong person....
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I don't know where you live but here in the Charleston, SC, area the black population is quite diverse in appearance. :P
 
Here in Jax Florida, it seems black people (at least most) of them dress very trendy and the hair styles are out of this world! But looking at the pix of the lady, she was in an old dress and her hair was not styled. ....(kind of reminds myself of me! HAHA)
 
I usually go by their hairstyle... long, short, braided, etc. There was one person who come in with different hairstyle every time! yes, I know some have different color eyes too. But majority of them who come in have brown eyes and brown hair... I mean if majority of people have blond hair and blue eyes, you bet you will find a different characteristic about them (glasses and such). I try to remember our regular customers name though so I don't have to describe them.
 
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