Discrimination at it's finest?
Hey, lovelies! I hope everyone is having an amazing week & a beautiful day. My day is a little rainy, but good nonetheless. My week, on the other hand, could be a bit better but it still beats last week I'll tell you that.
Last week I experienced a couple things I've never in my life experienced before. A couple things that taught me something in which I'll share with you at the end of this post.
Last Monday night, at around 9:00, my boyfriend La Rome & I were shopping at our local Kroger. Now, prior to that, we had a nice night on the town. We decided to stop at Kroger on the way home to get a few things for us and his mom, so as you can imagine, we have quite a few groceries. We go to self-checkout to pay for our things, as we always do. We finish checking out and start putting the bags on the back of my wheelchair because that's the easiest way to haul them. After the bags are on my wheelchair, I then tell Rome that I'm going to go look at what's on Redbox right outside while he gets his bike. (I live in a very convenient area). At this point, I'm looking through "New releases" on the Redbox machine when all of a sudden I hear this man with a deep voice say "ma'am". It doesn't click in my head that he's talking to me because let's face it, I look 17, I rarely get called ma'am. I proceeded to look through Redbox then I hear the deep voice again, this time, sounding more irritated, "ma'am!" I turn around to see a police officer with an angry look on his face, "Did you pay for that?" He asked, fiercely pointing to the bags on the back of my wheelchair. In disbelief of the way he approached me, I was dumbfounded. "...uh yeah, he..." I said, immediately pointing to Rome, who was coming with his bike. "What's wrong?" He interrupted, with a confused look on his face. The officer came up to me and started to snatch the bags off my chair, "ya'll didn't pay for these, we're going back in the store." "Yes we did!" I said anxiously as the officer proceeded to snatch the groceries. "Show me your receipt!" He demanded as he starts towards the door. "We didn't get one." Said Rome. "Go back inside, we're talking to the manager." The officer said, obviously irritated with us. As we go towards the door alongside the officer, an employee approaches us with a receipt. "We got it, they paid for it." She said with a smile, handing the officer the receipt. "Oh, okay..." He said, glancing at the receipt He puts the bags on the chair then hands Rome the receipt. As he walks back in the store with the cashier I hear him say "y'all need to get that fixed." I look towards Rome as he starts to ride off on his bike. "What the eff just happened?" I said to myself aloud. I later realized that I never received an apology.
This next story is not as long but I'm going to try my best to get straight to the point.
Last Wednesday I decided that I wanted to go get my nails done at a salon because my best friends wedding is coming up, so I want to look nice. I've never gotten my nails done at a real salon before, simply because my mom used to be a cosmetologist so it was easy to just ask her but now it's not so easy anymore. I went to the salon near my apartment and asked the lady how much it would cost to get a manicure. "It's $25." She said as she looks down at me. "But we can't do that hand." She said pointing to my left hand, which is somewhat limp because of my mild CP, "It can't reach table." She said with a thick Asian accent. Shocked & disappointed, I replied, "Alright." and left. I couldn't believe someone denied my services like that.
Both of these situations caught me off guard. At first, I didn't know how to react. Initially, I was angry & kind of hurt by the way that I was treated but then I realized, Had I reacted differently in both situations, It could have ended differently. I don't want to add kerosene to the flame that this world has created. Though I wanted to go back to Kroger and tell that cop what he can do, We can't always go ham when bologna is being thrown at us. We have to be better than the world expects us to be. We're homo sapiens sapiens for christ sake, we have the ability to be unique and grow as humans. I'm going to try my hardest to continue down this positive path I'm headed & see where it gets me.
Well, that's all I have to offer you guys today from my personal experience to yours!
Much Love
Last week I experienced a couple things I've never in my life experienced before. A couple things that taught me something in which I'll share with you at the end of this post.
Last Monday night, at around 9:00, my boyfriend La Rome & I were shopping at our local Kroger. Now, prior to that, we had a nice night on the town. We decided to stop at Kroger on the way home to get a few things for us and his mom, so as you can imagine, we have quite a few groceries. We go to self-checkout to pay for our things, as we always do. We finish checking out and start putting the bags on the back of my wheelchair because that's the easiest way to haul them. After the bags are on my wheelchair, I then tell Rome that I'm going to go look at what's on Redbox right outside while he gets his bike. (I live in a very convenient area). At this point, I'm looking through "New releases" on the Redbox machine when all of a sudden I hear this man with a deep voice say "ma'am". It doesn't click in my head that he's talking to me because let's face it, I look 17, I rarely get called ma'am. I proceeded to look through Redbox then I hear the deep voice again, this time, sounding more irritated, "ma'am!" I turn around to see a police officer with an angry look on his face, "Did you pay for that?" He asked, fiercely pointing to the bags on the back of my wheelchair. In disbelief of the way he approached me, I was dumbfounded. "...uh yeah, he..." I said, immediately pointing to Rome, who was coming with his bike. "What's wrong?" He interrupted, with a confused look on his face. The officer came up to me and started to snatch the bags off my chair, "ya'll didn't pay for these, we're going back in the store." "Yes we did!" I said anxiously as the officer proceeded to snatch the groceries. "Show me your receipt!" He demanded as he starts towards the door. "We didn't get one." Said Rome. "Go back inside, we're talking to the manager." The officer said, obviously irritated with us. As we go towards the door alongside the officer, an employee approaches us with a receipt. "We got it, they paid for it." She said with a smile, handing the officer the receipt. "Oh, okay..." He said, glancing at the receipt He puts the bags on the chair then hands Rome the receipt. As he walks back in the store with the cashier I hear him say "y'all need to get that fixed." I look towards Rome as he starts to ride off on his bike. "What the eff just happened?" I said to myself aloud. I later realized that I never received an apology.
This next story is not as long but I'm going to try my best to get straight to the point.
Last Wednesday I decided that I wanted to go get my nails done at a salon because my best friends wedding is coming up, so I want to look nice. I've never gotten my nails done at a real salon before, simply because my mom used to be a cosmetologist so it was easy to just ask her but now it's not so easy anymore. I went to the salon near my apartment and asked the lady how much it would cost to get a manicure. "It's $25." She said as she looks down at me. "But we can't do that hand." She said pointing to my left hand, which is somewhat limp because of my mild CP, "It can't reach table." She said with a thick Asian accent. Shocked & disappointed, I replied, "Alright." and left. I couldn't believe someone denied my services like that.
Both of these situations caught me off guard. At first, I didn't know how to react. Initially, I was angry & kind of hurt by the way that I was treated but then I realized, Had I reacted differently in both situations, It could have ended differently. I don't want to add kerosene to the flame that this world has created. Though I wanted to go back to Kroger and tell that cop what he can do, We can't always go ham when bologna is being thrown at us. We have to be better than the world expects us to be. We're homo sapiens sapiens for christ sake, we have the ability to be unique and grow as humans. I'm going to try my hardest to continue down this positive path I'm headed & see where it gets me.
Well, that's all I have to offer you guys today from my personal experience to yours!
Much Love
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