What Happens When Two Annoying Racial Stereotypes Collide?
It all went down at the FDR Post Office.
Another day, another mass mailing in pursuit of comedy bookings (or at least putting in face time at the post office so if I need to apply for a job in late 2010 they will have gotten to know me and may put me on the fast track). As I stood with dozens of padded envelopes holding DVDs and headshots I thought to myself, “Hmmmm, I have not written a posting today. I wonder if my 19 loyal readers (yes, readership is up) are pissed that their weekend is almost here and they have not had any J-L wit and wisdom. And faster than you can say Bensonhurst, Brooklyn a Jewish woman with an iPhone and a black, female postal employee with some unwanted lessons in manners met.
Now there are some stereotypes that are really well known and overdone and then some that are not so overdone, but are still well represented in society, or at least New York. For lack of a more significant trait the first stereotype in this incident is the annoying mid-forties Manhattan woman who claims her manicurist “loves” her an “cannot live without her cell phone” even though she did for thirty-five years already (beware – unless the EPA opens up hunting on this species its numbers will grow out of control in this city in the coming decades). The other is the woman of color (often black, but occasionally Latina) working at menial, to semi-menial job that is quick (usually too quick) to play the “respect my authority” card.
Well at 6:10 pm these two titans collided at the FDR Post Office on 54th Street and Third Avenue.
The annoying woman (AW) was at the counter speaking on her iPhone for several minutes, apparently hoping to multi-task, despite the fact that she really only had 1 task, when the postal worker (PW) said, “I will not assist you while you are on the phone. Next (she said this a few times,)” Another person came to PW’s window after being called at which point AW began saying “ok, ok I’m off the phone.” Some mumblings ensued, when PW stated quite loudly – “you will not speak to me like that or I will not help you at all.” More arguments ensued, while a few of PW’s co-workers (African-Americans) gathered around. Apparently the Asian postal employees could give two sh*ts what was going on. In an effort to foster a better blog story I yelled out, “hit the white bit*h” while throwing my voice. No one heeded my advice, but the clash ended with the following exchange:
AW: You bitch! (walking away)
PW: That’s Ms. Bitch (cackles from her non-Asian co-workers).
AW: No, you’re a bitch.
Me: Ding ding ding – the winner by sarcasm and by not repeating the same insult twice – Ms. Bitch, USPS!
If this exchange proved anything, compared to previous clashes between different cultures and races it is this: women are just not as funny as men, whether intentionally or unintentionally. (check my Spring 2006 entries if you doubt it – racism + men + public place = hilarity):
Ahhh, the classics.