"I don't watch the black channel." - Eryikah Badu So I'm speaking to customer service for a student loan issue, and it didn't take long to realize I was talking to a black guy. First of all because he had that deep, casually penetrating vocal tone that my beautiful brothers tend to have. But mostly because he was the the most annoying version of an annoying stereotype annoyingly attached to my beautiful brothers. He initially greeted me with a cool, "How you doin?", which I found to be very welcoming and casual, despite the missing conjunction. He verifies my information including my email address (nubianwordsmith) and realizes he's speaking to a black woman.
"Ooooh, what an exotic name..where you been at all my life?" He says. Being that I was at work and never find it amusing when men of any caliber hit on me for any reason as ALL, I ignored his comment, hoping he would take the hint or assume I was 50 years old and married with kankles. However, he continued.
"Can you hold the line, little mama I gotta get this dude off the other line, he trippin." He states before placing me on hold. A woman comes to line, and I'm assuming she is taking over the call. The phrase, "Calls may be recorded for quality assurance" really has meaning! But she only came on the line to re-verify my info. She places me on hold, then I'm promptly returned to JJ from Good Times.
"Hey I'm back. That chick is trippin, next time they let someone else pick up your line let them know you want to talk to me."
After a shower of words and phrases commonly found in 'Mo' Urban Dictionary' he finally confirmed my reason for calling and took care of business. I quickly got off the line.
Being black is not a gimmick. It's not a hat, or a cape. It's a race. It doesn't make you exempt from being professional at work. It's not a way to make the white folks laugh. We are decedents of Kings and Queens. Let's not play the role of 'jester'.
This posting may seem a bit dramatic, but please note I had this phone call right after reading this:
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3 comments:
You sound like the parents of my friends. They're both in a band, and they're father is upset to read his eldest son using curse words in interviews. He says he didn't raise them to be ignorant n*****s. I guess it helps to point out his father was a Black Panther.
Well I hate to be compared to some old ass retired Black Panther, and I'm far from an extremist. I'm just saying, when your customer service don't hit on the customer. Also, I don't use the n-word, that word in itself displays ignorance. Thanks for the comment!
Hey - didn't mean to compare you to a Black Panther. Reading it over again I could see why you'd think I was going for that, though that was just an anecdotal bit of information. My biggest point is that I like seeing anyone holding their kids to a higher standard and not acting like 'them other folks', and I saw parallels in this to what you were saying. Nothing more. I'm sure you're not an extremist! Later
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