I went into the chip shop around six in the evening for my regular friday night fish and chips. Small queue – lots of fish in the cabinet – so should be quick service. There was a woman at the front of the queue, who is being extremely slow counting coins out on the counter – she seems to be having problems – so the Hong Kong Chinese counter assistant talks to the woman next in line “That will be six pound fifteen.”
The woman hands over a note.
The woman with the coins, stops, she looks up, stares, picks up her purse and then slams it down hard onto the counter.
“Don’t you fucking push in.” she screamed and turned very aggressively. The woman she is shouting act cowers back.
“You’re fucking serving me – don’t serve anyone else.” Shouts the woman at the counter assistant.
She then muttered to herself and started counting through the change painfully slowly.
She was a penny short.
An old chap in the queue moved forward and put a penny coin on the counter.
“There you are. That’s the right money”
The woman stopped. She looked at him angrily.
“Don’t you fucking touch me.”
He was no where near her.
“Fuck off”
She then grabbed the vinegar bottle, upturned it – and then looked like she was going to smash it on the counter.
Everyone backed off.
The counter assistant picked up the coins and said “That’s right”
She put the coins in the till and then started wrapping up two fish in paper.
“Don’t fuck with me.” screamed the woman. “I want them in a fucking box”
The assistant, very submissively, unwrapped the fish, put them in a container before putting them in a carrier bag.
The hostile woman snatched at the bag, yanking it out the assistant’s hand.
She shouted. “Fuck off” – to no one in particular.
She turned and people quickly moved out of her way.
The incident really concerned me as this is not a normal situation that happens locally – in fact I have lived in quite a few dodgy areas and I have rarely such an unpleasant scene.
The other concern was that the woman was black. This woman is wrecking the image of black people in the area.
I felt angry as I had spent a lot of time as a lecturer, helping black and Asian students trying to get jobs – a lot of employers were reluctant to give my students a chance – often a fear of the unknown. But one incident like this will cause a lot of white people to be suspicious of black people. This incident will be related in the local pubs and social clubs before the weekend is out.
I stayed out of the incident. I was scared of getting involved. Thinking back this was the right thing to do. At a minimum I would have got a lot of verbal abuse – and I stood a great chance slapped – or slashed across the face by one of the many rings, she had on her fingers. Had it become a police matter I would have been defending myself from being a racist.
Another thing that concerned me was that I am pretty sure this woman was well aware that she was using her race to be abuse others.
On a good note – the fish and chips were excellent.