A Mildly Disturbing Incident

Yesterday I ran around town doing various errands, and finished off everything by stopping at the Inno near my apartment - I was planning on making fresh guacamole from scratch, and I had already bought everything except for the tortilla chips.

I found the chips section but could only find teeny bags of tortilla chips, so I ended up buying 3 small bags so I could have the amount of chips in a regular large bag. Then I went to wait in the "express check-out line" where one can have a maximum of 10 articles.

Of course, the express lines were a mess, with no semblance really of a line, but I managed to find a spot behind an elderly man.

Unfortunately, the express line was not really moving at express speed, but I patiently waited anyway because what can you do?

Suddenly I heard a woman's voice screeching out: "This is unbelievable! This is the express line?! How ridiculous! Imagine making people wait this long just to buy one item!"

I turned around to check out who was making the commotion and saw a rather large, white-trash type lady who seemed to have just recently appeared (and was probably waiting for all of 2 minutes - there were at least 3 - 4 people between us). I didn't really think much of it because the French have this tendency to complain loudly when something doesn't please them, and then they calm down once they have aired their grievances to everyone within hearing distance.

The elderly man was now putting his articles on the check out counter when I distinctly heard, "Yeah, I hate Chinese people. They really annoy me." I turned around to see the same fat lady chatting to some other old woman who was waiting behind her.

My first thought was "Oh no, she did NOT just go there!" Then I thought maybe I misheard her - it was noisy after all. Except then I heard, "I know what you mean, I feel the same way about black people." This was coming from the old woman the fat one was talking to.

Then I thought, "Huh. Well this is weird," because no one else seemed to be outraged. Then I saw the black woman behind me look over at them and then turn forward with an expression that said, "Oh, she did NOT just go there!"

I had this urge to go up to the two women and give them some sort of a lecture, something along the lines of, "Excuse you, but this kind of racist behavior is not acceptable!" But then I was thought, okay, that would be weird and I would be making a scene.

The thing is that although most people consider me to be bilingual in French and English (to the point that I was recently told by BILG (brother in law's girlfriend) that the in-laws always forget that I'm American) I have always found it to be extremely difficult to defend oneself in a foreign language. I don't think it's something that ever becomes easier - I have met foreigners who have lived in France for 20 years or more who say the same thing - that it is just really difficult to defend yourself in a language other than your native one.

So there I was, thinking that if the whole thing were taking place in English, I might have gone up to the old ladies and given then a stern lecture, but because it was all taking place in French, what should I say? The French are all about witty, cutting remarks and comebacks and take much pride in finding the right words to do it all with, and while I know the right words to say, they are not right enough.

I didn't really have much more time to think about it all because then it was my turn to pay for my three items, but I could clearly hear behind me "Chinese cashiers are the worst because they make you wait a really long time and they are slow" and the response "Yeah, I agree, but the blacks are just as bad about it." I could see the black woman standing behind me turning to stare at the two old ladies, but she wasn't really reacting; the Asian cashier swiping my three measly bags of tortilla chips was pretty nonchalant too, though I'm sure she must have heard as well.

I guess it was just even more surreal because not only have I never seen something like this back in the U.S., but also because no one really seemed to care.

In the end, I suppose I just felt more pity towards the ignorance of the old ladies rather than anger.