Bonnie & Clyde

I gotta word this carefully otherwise I’ll get flamed.

Let’s face it. NYC is huge. They don’t call NY ‘The Big Apple’ for nothing. This is where things happen. People make it big here. This is a land filled with opportunities. All the glitz and glamour oozing out of every manhole. There’s no where else on earth like NYC.

Thank goodness for that.

If you look hard enough, there are always flaws to every beautiful painting and for a country, it’s the inhabitants that makes the picture complete.

It is true you can’t expect all of the people to be nice to you all of the time, but at least some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, no? It is a different country with a different culture and I sense the different treatment given to me faster than you can say ‘racism’.

Incident #1:
The moment we arrived at Newark airport, we queued for a cab. There were 2 African Americans handling the ‘orders’ and we were the only Asians in line with a Caucasian guy right behind us. The AA’s carried the caucasian guy’s luggage into the taxi boot and we were left to fend for ourselves although (get this) we were first in line. Now howddaya like that?

Incident #2:
I ventured into a MAC cosmetic boutique at Soho. There were 2 sales persons at the lippy counter but both were too engrossed in an intense convo to service me. After waiting for a good few minutes, I rolled my eyes and started to walk off when one of them finally helped me with my purchase. I was led to the counter and paid the cashier, an AA gal. She gave me my change and promptly walked away. My lipstick sat on the counter, without a bag, a receipt OR a thank you. I just stood paralysed to the spot. I asked for a receipt if not a bag, but she just mumbled a lame ‘sorry’ and continued with whatever she was doing. Another girl came over and handed me my receipt. I have never, EVER been treated this way by a sales person, especially not when I’ve just purchased branded goods. MAC is a popular and reputable brand and I don’t expect champagne and roses but THIS?! Unbelievable. You can’t say the shop’s too upmarket for me because the sales people at Armani and DKNY were efficient and friendly. I certainly wasn’t wearing my Sunday best but I think I look decent. People who treat others according to what they wear are just SAD. If it's the colour of my skin then, well, nothing much can be done about it, is there?

There were incidents #3 and #4 but at this moment I feel too dispirited to go on about this.

I realised I mentioned the race of the people I thought who were racists, but it’s an interesting observation I think. Maybe the oppressed becomes the oppressor? Kinda like abused children who grow up to be abusers themselves. It takes a great deal to break the cycle, and it starts with us. If you’ve read my earlier post on UK, you will be glad to know I took my very first step to change within.

I am not perfect, but I am working on it. :)

Well, I hate to admit it but there is something I miss about NYC; the all-american breakfast. :P