Serenity Now, Insanity Later

I do not like dealing with the public. It's like having a box of chocolates, except one of the chocolates has a razor blade in it, and you never know when you're going to get it. I try my best to be awake and chipper for all the customers at the restaurant I work at, regardless of how my day is going. Recently, a group of "ultimate frisbee" players came into the restaurant and ordered drinks. One of the players had gotten a lemonade which I started to refill with water. "Hey, stop pouring that," he snapped at me. One of the other players heard what he said and responded innocently, "Way to be an ass, Mike." Apparently this had confused the lemonade drinker because he then turned to me and said, "Was that rude?" I was momentarily taken aback by his brazen inquiry of his own manners. I don't remember what I said but it was probably something to the effect of "Nah" or "Of course not." Mr. Lemonade then turned and said something I will never forget, "Oh, well I can't ask you, you're from the South. You have to be nice." Cut to my fantasy sequence where I dump the picture of lemonade on his head and say, "Well you got half of it right."

Some would argue that I should have taken the statement as a compliment. I did get voted nicest in my high school, after all. It's not the word "nice" that bothered me. It was the principle behind the comment. Just because I am working in a restaurant in the South does not mean I'm from here. I like to think of myself as a chameleon, able to blend in anywhere and capable of getting along with anyone. I could have as easily been from Colorado, California, Canada. However, I am from the South and believe it or not, that is not why I'm nice. But believe this, I don't talk slow or like country music. I detest sweet tea and rarely go to church. I'm also a liberal-minded Democrat. But I am from the South and I'm proud of it. Just don't expect the slue of Southern cliches to follow me. I can't be labeled; moreover I've decided I don't want to be. I can't help it if all your knowledge of the South came out of a Faulkner novel. You're wrong about me.

Stereotypes by definition are a way to group people by labels. It's an inconsiderate way of judging people the first time you meet them. It is also a complete insult. If you look at someone and think you can tell what their personality is like, what type of music they listen to, or anything about them, you are as arrogant as you are inconsiderate. People are complicated, multi-faceted beings. To think you can tell someone who they are is a slap in the face.

If I could go back in time to the ultimate frisbee player incident, I would have probably handled it just as I did, by laughing and saying nothing. I'm a forgiving kind of person. I know that everyone makes generalizations and forms stereotypes from time to time. Besides, ultimate frisbee is a pansy sport anyway.