Today I found out that my hair stylist really hates people from India. This always happens to me, some conversation like:- Her: "Yeah, when I flew home to Vietnam over Christmas, i connected through Singapore and the plane was completely jammed with Indians"
- Me: nervously laughs; "Heh heh... well, I guess, um..."
Now, it's at this point that I wish there was some kind of universally recognized hand signal that I could flash, something that means "Yes, I see that you are looking for an invitation to continue with your racist diatribe in which you expound some insane theory about how eating spicy food makes a nation of people mean and ugly, but I'm not interested in hearing it, please could we talk about drapes or something?"
But instead, I just cower, which makes these people feel free to continue:- Her: "Yes, and also I had this Indian neighbor once that parked his ugly car in front of my house all the time. I had to move away!"
- Me: "Oh, yes well I suppose every nation has its jerks..."
- Her: "And I had this friend who is a landlord, and she said that once an Indian family has lived in a place, you have to replace the whole kitchen because of their smelly food!"
- Me: "Good heavens, well that's really a shame... *squirms in chair*"
And it went on like that for the entire 30 minutes that she weilded her scissors around my ears and throat. What was I to do? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm as racist as the next guy. But I regard it as a character flaw, not a conversation-piece! Geez.
I've had this problem with coworkers, my realtor, bag carriers at the grocery store (!), you name it. Maybe I just look like a racist sympathizer. So, how about that hand-signal?
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