I scream for ice cream covered microaggressions
DD's time as an ice cream shop cashier went very sour
The following story is by an anonymous writer who we’ll call DD.
I live in a pretty white area for college. I don’t make enough on my work study so I started working at a mom and pop yogurt shop not to far from my dorm. It could have been fine but obviously I would not be writing this if it was.
I told the owner I have very little experience as a cashier but that I’m a fast learner and I’m also really good with customer service. I was a restaurant host before this so I was pretty confident. He offered me the job shortly after my interview and I started that same week.
My first week I did a lot of training, like learning how to make the yogurt myself since I’d usually be the only one in the shop. The owner taught me how to use the POS (cashier system) and then finally, week two, I was on my own.
It started out fine. Just a handful of customers would come in during my weekday shifts. Weekends were busier. I live in a college town so weekends would usually mean parents of students were in town from all over. You might know where I’m going with this.
Literally my first weekend on my own, a student and their parents came in and I was immediately uncomfortable because the mom gave me a look. I kept it cute and asked them what flavors they might be interested in and if they wanted samples. They liked what they tried and ordered and I had trouble logging the order in our system. I apologized and told them I was new and still learning, and finally figured it out. The student was chill about it but the parents seemed annoyed. Still, I figured it out within like five minutes and was thinking everything was fine.
But then a few days later I come in for my next shift and the owner calls me talking about they just got a bad review for “unprofessionalism.” So I’m like, okay, I know this woman wrote the review and I’m mad because I was very honest about how I’m still learning, and it wasn’t even that much of an issue.
So the owner gives me a warning about lack of professionalism and how he can’t be having these kind of reviews because they negatively affect the shop and I’m like WTF.
And really I guess this is just about the lack of grace people extend to Black folks in spaces that they think are supposed to be for white people. Like I really feel like me being the person behind the counter made them uncomfortable from jump. But anyway, fuck that.
How can you support DD?
COMMENT BELOW. Share your thoughts, questions and affirmations with DD and the H2C community.
SHARE THIS POST. Tell ya friends DD’s story, and about here to complain.
All Black, Indigenous and Brown folks interested may submit to here to complain by emailing wereheretocomplain@gmail.com. You can also check out our FAQs for any further questions.
here to complain is a community-run publication with totally free posts.
To help support our writers, consider becoming a subscriber.
 | A guest post by
|