Racism at the farmers market

Ya'll I'm pissed. We went to the farmers market last Saturday. My husband went, which he doesn't always do because Saturday is his day to sleep in. So it was all 5 of us on the hunt specifically for pickling cucumbers because my plants were destroyed by hail. We find a stall that has nice looking ones. The kids go down the tables and pick out what they want. Plums and peaches. My husband goes down the line and adds the cost all up and prepares the money. I'm standing with the baby. He's helping people in front of us, totally cool. Then some people come up and kind of push their way in and he helps them, annoying but cool still. Eventually everyone is helped. We've been waiting a bit but willing to wait, we are. Then the guy lights up a cigarette and walks away. He just left us standing there. Refused to help us. My mouth dropped. We were going to be spending around $50 at this stand and he's just going to pretend we don't exist??? I looked right at him, right in his eyes. He was not going to help us. So, I grabbed my beautiful family and marched tf out of there. My hubs said next time I can just go alone but hell no I'm never going back to that place.

Now, how do I know it's racism. Well it's Wyoming, it kinda happens to us a fair bit and we were the only brown people at the farmers market. So if he's just flat out ignoring us I don't see what other reason he could have to be doing that then the brownness. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and he was just a general arse, but I doubt it.

That's nasty. I would be mad too.

How upsetting, Elle. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment.

That's awful. I understand wanting to have nothing more to do with the market.  However, if you think it is worthwhile, maybe complain to the market management so they might take some steps to remind vendors/staff that public accommodations cannot discriminate. (Unless that guy IS the management?).  

It certainly may be racism.  But, I have had at least 4 similar experiences in recent years and I am Lilly white.   I suspect part of my problem may be personal space.  I think I may stand too far from the counter/cashier to give the non verbal signal that I am next in line. Now at 6’ 3” and 250 pounds, I don’t exactly blend in with the wall paper, but I do, too often, get ignored.

Well, that's a fair comment. It happens to me. Introvert syndrome. I've learned to smile, step in and engage. But I'm white bread too, so it's different.

John F Dean wrote:It certainly may be racism.  But, I have had at least 4 similar experiences in recent years and I am Lilly white.   I suspect part of my problem may be personal space.  I think I may stand too far from the counter/cashier to give the non verbal signal that I am next in line. Now at 6’ 3” and 250 pounds, I don’t exactly blend in with the wall paper, but I do, too often, get ignored.

I could understand that if the kids weren't loudly asking when they were going to get their plums and peaches. I was right there. No one was around as he'd helped every other person. It was just us standing there, under his tent by the table. Blah

P.S. I am also white. My hubs just isn't.

elle sagenev wrote:I was right there. No one was around as he'd helped every other person.

Yeah, that's the bottom line: you were there. What is it with some people? I have met the same type, they are hopelessly small and the only way they can build themselves up is to tear others down. Grrr.

BTW, I am certain John F was not being dismissive, only offering a perspective on how body language is sometimes a big part of the mix. Some people are naturals; others, like me, have to work at it in a deliberate and calculated way.