"Do you know what you're buying, white boy?"

[muckefuck]

The Neanderthal (so named because of his skull measurements) was a year ahead of me in high school. He hosted me as a prospie at his college and did more than anyone to talk me into going there. In any case, he's an avid biker and used to ride all around the city. Once, he was biking through Cabrini-Green--at that time the worst neighbourhood in Chicago (and, thus, one of the worst in the nation)--when a cruiser pulled up behind him. The cop asked, "Do you know where you are?" He said he had a rough idea. The cop gave him the shortest directions out of the ghetto and said, "I'll follow you all the way."

I told this story to a former co-worker who liked to take Shank's pony anywhere and everywhere in the city. He said, "Yeah, I've heard that lots of times. Do you know where you are, white boy?". This is something like the reaction I sometimes get when checking out at ethnic groceries--the clerks can't quite believe that I really intended to buy what I did. Like that time at the gift shop that the woman flipped through the pages of my Chinese calendar to show me that, actually, it's in Chinese. "Is that okay?" Um, that's the whole reason I'm buying it so, yeah, that's okay. As you may have guessed from my previous posts, this still amuses me every time.

It happened again at the Korean grocery on Sunday. I put a package of songphyeng, a snack I buy every time I'm in Koreatown, on the belt and she picked it up and explained what they were. When I asked if she had Paykseycwu by the box, she immediately directed an employee to fetch one, but then, as I was paying, said, "If you don't like the wine, bring it back and we'll give you something else." I smiled and assured her that we like Paykseycwu very much and had no intention of returning it. Then she threw in a set of Korean drinking cups for free.

(She didn't question my natto purchase. Perhaps even she didn't know what it was?)

Has this ever happened to the rest of you? Have you ever had a checkout clerk turn to you with concerned look and ascertain that, yes, you know what it is you're buying and, yes, you have every intention of consuming it or otherwise putting it to its proper use?

Comments

Re:

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

What caps the story, however, is that five minutes later, a U of C undergrad gets off the train, carrying a cello. He waited calmly for the bus, totally oblivious to what a moron he was.

Moron, or just someone with a divergent risk analysis?

For years, when living in Indian Village, Nuphy and I got off at Garfield and then had to switch busses or walk to get north to where we lived. Finally, he suggested getting off at the 47th St stop and catching the bus there. I told him he was crazy because it wasn't safe, but I humoured him. We used it for two years, at all hours, alongside matronly Black women and moronic undergraduates alike, without a single incident.

Re:

[gopower.livejournal.com]

If you were using the Red Line 47th St. stop, again that's high traffic by the Expressway (though not as much as at 55th) and reasonably OK (though I always went to 55th, took the Garfield bus and walked the extra four blocks). If you were using the Green Line at 47th, then your guardian angel was working overtime.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

When I lived in BJ and had to go up to IIT all the time, I just took the Green Line all the way to 63rd & University. I did it early mornings, during the day and during the evening, and never had a problem - never even got so much as a cross-eyed look.

[gopower.livejournal.com]

If you were making frequent trips to IIT, I'd guess you were a ROTC guy, which may indicate you have a somewhat different view of danger than we civilians.

I still recall vividly a comment by the woman who conducted my alumni interview for admission oh so many years ago. Commenting on the safety issues, the interviewer (Class of '70 or so, I think) said that the campus and surrounding neighborhood were safe, but you had to be careful where you went. "There's this great Chinese restaurant on 63rd Street," she said, "but if you go there, you will be mugged. People thought they could go if they were in a large group, but no, they would all be mugged."

I never tried to find the restaurant; years later someone told me it had been closed a long time ago.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

Navy ROTC specifically (it's not just a job, it's a job with a funny suit).