Over the weekend, Roxane Gay, professor of English at Purdue University and an acclaimed author, chronicled her shopping while black experience when she was humiliated by a racist Best Buy employee.
In her own words:
Some racist shit going down at best buy.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
I have a receipt and this kid is like not believing I bought what I bought.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
About to make a scene.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
He is calling for the guy who sold me what I bought because he doesn't believe I bought it. @BestBuy this is insane. And racist.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
The sales guy came up and verified the purchase and good the door guy "it should be on the receipt." Door guy said "yeah it is but…"
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
As if I would walk into the store, get into the back where they keep what I bought, snatch someone's receipt, and try to leave.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
He also waived through a white couple who set off the alarm while detaining me. So. Thanks. @BestBuy
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
Then Best Buy attempted to step in:
@rgay I don't understand- are you making a return? Do you have a receipt? ^Brendan
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) August 1, 2014
.@BestBuySupport no. I was walking out of the store with a purchase. There is nothing to understand.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
@rgay I see. Did he ask to see your receipt? Our front end associates often ask to see them on the way out. ^Brendan
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) August 1, 2014
@rgay Oh my, that is rather poor service to put it lightly. I am sorry about this. Did you ask to speak to a manager? ^Brendan
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) August 1, 2014
.@BestBuySupport I did and was ignored. The salesperson came and verified. I walked out. I had been humiliated enough. By a child.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
The best part is that I kept talking to the kid trying to understand the problem and he ignored me. Like I wasn't there.
— Roxane Gay (@rgay) August 1, 2014
But of course there’s always those people (ahem white) who want to scream it’s not always about race:
.@rgay This is a prime example of crying racism without knowing it was a factor. Maybe the security guy was just an asshole.
— Chris Ar (@LBL72) August 2, 2014
@rgay @BestBuy That happened to me too, didn't know it was racist. I guess it wasn't because I'm White. Who knew?
— Perry (@BAMAPERRY) August 2, 2014
Gay has chronicled the full incident on her personal Tumblr account:
I have NEVER in my life experienced something like this. My receipt was right there. My purchases were plainly identified. For whatever reason, that was not proof enough?I asked him what the problem was and he ignored me. I asked to speak to a manager and he ignored me. He literally acted like I was not there. I was calm and quiet. I shouldn’t even have to note my demeanor but nonetheless, there it is. An older couple strolled out of the store, set off the alarm, and he quickly deactivated the security device on their purchase and waved them out of the store so that was also infuriating.Because I thought he might have been confused, I explained that the video game was part of a promotional package I had purchased. He ignored me.All the while, I was on Twitter because I was so frustrated. I was kind of vague about what I was buying and later this would become a Thing because people are the worst. I was being vague because I was embarrassed to be 39 years old, buying a Play Station. I felt guilty for being so consumeristic. I am struggling with no longer being broke all the time and what that allows me to do. I was also feeling awkward because I only use my Play Station 3 to watch movies and Netflix and play Lumines so the purchase felt extra ridiculous. (As an aside, this makes my brothers so mad and I like that part.) There’s no fucking conspiracy here. I just didn’t feel like telling the Internet what I was buying.
It’s always funny to see white people scream, “It’s not racist”. By the way, Gay’s book “Bad Feminist” is available for pre-order on Amazon!
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