Thanks Brook, I will make a point of it!!! I was sure happy at my purchases yesterday. Even ate the best Mango I have tasted in years that I bought there!
Well I really think they mean to sell their products to other Asians or Hispanics. I don’t think it’s their intension to sell it anywhere else. I think that’s why they keep the prices low. More like it was in the old country. If it happens then ok but they aren’t really looking for a racially diverse clientele. I think they for the most part do only get their own ethnic group shopping there because when I walk into the Asian market all 5’10” of me they STARE! They don’t even try to play it cool they just look straight up at me and gawk. I get a similar reaction in the Hispanic grocery. I don’t mind though. I think it’s funny.
Jfain, that sort of thing stops when you become a regular.
When we walk in to the Asian market where we shop we're greeted with a smile and a how are you?
Been my experience that this is true with any ethnic market. When I was growing up there was a small Italian store nearby, and I often saw how their was a coldness towards strangers. But that passed if you shoped there regularly.
In addition, learning a few words of the language helps.
When we walk in to the Asian market where we shop we're greeted with a smile and a how are you?
Been my experience that this is true with any ethnic market. When I was growing up there was a small Italian store nearby, and I often saw how their was a coldness towards strangers. But that passed if you shoped there regularly.
In addition, learning a few words of the language helps.
Interesting observations. I enjoy conversations comparing experiences like these...
As someone born & raised in a tiny farmtown w/ pretty much zero cultural diversity- imagine the looks I have gotten over the years on trips back home (where I now live near, again) when doing business in such places w/ friends and sometimes dates of color and various ethnicities (not to mention- the same sex as I) at my side. (insert "Ha!" here, if need be!)
I should say too- I've never in my life anywhere experienced rudeness/harrassment (nor worse- though many have and do) thankfully- but the stares are sometimes there. Doesn't necessarily bother me, per se... but it is noticed.
I cannot imagine the difficulty of being treated rudely or worse due to my skin color- or whatever else... by anyone- especially the majority. The discomfort must be a real & terrible burden. I know some things still occur as isolated incidents in certain places- all over, really, but I'm glad I didn't live in an era where widepsread, blatant misbehavior was the accepted norm- even for "good n' "regular" folks.
When a simple smile, or a welcoming gesture brings comfort, relief, or feelings of safety- I'm not sure if what that says is "good" or not. I've never been comfortable w/ seperation- no matter whose turf it's on. Even when I was as young as 5, I sensed a wrongness in some of the things I grew up hearing back then- I don't know what it is that makes some people adopt those behaviors and attitudes- versus those 5 yr. olds that reject them as wrong. I guess some just don't have that fear and mistrust of difference, that for others seems almost natural.
I choose to find interest in it and try and pick it apart and analyze it- rather than critique it- which isn't always easy to do. Afterall, it doesn't all come from a mean or hateful place- though if left unbridled, can definitely go there quickly.
Anyway, interesting stuff...
As someone born & raised in a tiny farmtown w/ pretty much zero cultural diversity- imagine the looks I have gotten over the years on trips back home (where I now live near, again) when doing business in such places w/ friends and sometimes dates of color and various ethnicities (not to mention- the same sex as I) at my side. (insert "Ha!" here, if need be!)
I should say too- I've never in my life anywhere experienced rudeness/harrassment (nor worse- though many have and do) thankfully- but the stares are sometimes there. Doesn't necessarily bother me, per se... but it is noticed.
I cannot imagine the difficulty of being treated rudely or worse due to my skin color- or whatever else... by anyone- especially the majority. The discomfort must be a real & terrible burden. I know some things still occur as isolated incidents in certain places- all over, really, but I'm glad I didn't live in an era where widepsread, blatant misbehavior was the accepted norm- even for "good n' "regular" folks.
When a simple smile, or a welcoming gesture brings comfort, relief, or feelings of safety- I'm not sure if what that says is "good" or not. I've never been comfortable w/ seperation- no matter whose turf it's on. Even when I was as young as 5, I sensed a wrongness in some of the things I grew up hearing back then- I don't know what it is that makes some people adopt those behaviors and attitudes- versus those 5 yr. olds that reject them as wrong. I guess some just don't have that fear and mistrust of difference, that for others seems almost natural.
I choose to find interest in it and try and pick it apart and analyze it- rather than critique it- which isn't always easy to do. Afterall, it doesn't all come from a mean or hateful place- though if left unbridled, can definitely go there quickly.
Anyway, interesting stuff...
One thing to understand, Kevin, is that despite what the sociologists and bleeding hearts insist, people do want to be with those of like kind.
There's an automatic comfort level living with those of your own kind, and the oppostie living with strangers who are different: they eat different foods, and worship in different churches, and wear weird clothes.
The fact is that we were never the "great melting pot" of legend. Look at the history of our immigration patterns. What we had were cities composed of ethnic neighborhoods: Chinatown, and Little Italy, and Germantown, and Spanish Harlem, and.....well, you get the idea. This has continued even today.
Back in the 50s and 60s, when bussing was an issue, what did we immediately see in the "integrated" schools? The blacks tended to group with each other anyway, and the whites with the whites.
This didn't necessarily reflect racisim, but, rather, a clear-cut (and recognizable pattern to everyone except liberals) cultural imperative that we've always followed. Our loyalties go, in this order, to: ourselves, our family, our tribe, our nation.
Of itself, this is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong. It just is.
There's an automatic comfort level living with those of your own kind, and the oppostie living with strangers who are different: they eat different foods, and worship in different churches, and wear weird clothes.
The fact is that we were never the "great melting pot" of legend. Look at the history of our immigration patterns. What we had were cities composed of ethnic neighborhoods: Chinatown, and Little Italy, and Germantown, and Spanish Harlem, and.....well, you get the idea. This has continued even today.
Back in the 50s and 60s, when bussing was an issue, what did we immediately see in the "integrated" schools? The blacks tended to group with each other anyway, and the whites with the whites.
This didn't necessarily reflect racisim, but, rather, a clear-cut (and recognizable pattern to everyone except liberals) cultural imperative that we've always followed. Our loyalties go, in this order, to: ourselves, our family, our tribe, our nation.
Of itself, this is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong. It just is.