It has always driven me crazy when I hear people make rude
stereotypical comments about other nationalities. Whether it’s commenting on the laziness of a
Mexican who has lived in the US for a few years and doesn’t speak as much
English as you think they should (Have you ever lived in a foreign country? If
not, don’t judge. It’s intimidating when your language skills mirror those of a
child!) or asking a Colombian if they have cocaine (one of the fastest ways to
offend them), the comments are simply ignorant and offensive. Being a middle class white girl growing up in
America I’ve been extremely fortunate that I haven’t had to deal with that sort
of comment being directed at me. So it
was a bit shocking today to find out exactly how personal those comments
can feel.
I’ve mentioned before the interesting laundry situation I've got going on in my
apartment. The washer and dryer are
locked up in a cage and there is a man that will come to open the cage on
Mondays or Thursdays if you call him to make an appointment. So I’ve been having fun with that all
year. Then two weeks ago, a lady who
works for the apartment building caught me as I was leaving and informed me
that she had my laundry bill. Since the
school pays all my utilities and I had been living there for nine months
without receiving a bill I assumed the school must have been paying that bill as well and told her she needed to
talk with them. Long story short, the
school does not in fact pay my laundry bill, no one ever informed me there was
a charge to use the washer and dryer, and they apparently do billing in nine
month cycles.
So when I called the landlady today, in the politest Spanish
I know (so as not to come off as a rude American. Fail.), I tried to explain to
her why I thought it was unfair to be charging me for something that no one had
ever told me there was a fee for. And
that if there was a charge why had the bill accumulated for nine months before being given to me? Why hadn't I been informed of the charges after the first month like a normal bill?
Her response was that I was a typical American. We always think we’re right and that I just
think I shouldn’t have to pay the bill because I’m American and I’m right. Still trying to remain polite I told her that
this had nothing to do with my nationality.
She again responded that she was absolutely sure it DID have to do with
my nationality. She works for a
multinational corporation and the Americans always think they right. So she knew that’s why I thought I didn’t
have to pay the bill. When I told her
that that was a rude thing to say, she said she was done talking to me and hung
up on me.
Now mind you, nowhere in this conversation had I actually
said to her that I wasn’t going to pay the bill. I was
going to try to see if I could work something out with her where I only paid
part of it. Because really, a nine month bill for something you never told me there was a fee for? However, really I just wanted to be able to
wash my laundry again and if she was insistent, I was ready to pay the whole
bill. But I hadn’t even gotten to any of
that yet before she starting spewing ridiculousness. She just assumed I wasn’t going to pay.
This woman’s comments are so off the wall ridiculous that
hearing the story from anyone else I would laugh at the absurdity. But it is surprising how personal and hard
hitting the comments are when they are directed at you. I have a lot of esteem for the many people
who have to put up with such ignorance on a daily basis.
Because the fact of the matter is while you can find Mexican
immigrants in the US who haven’t made an effort to learn English, most of them do learn, and there are
American expatriates living the world over not speaking the language of the
country they live in. And while some Colombians
certainly do use and sell cocaine, most of them don't and you could absolutely find many more
Americans and Europeans that do. And while there are Americans that think they
know it all, it could certainly be argued that this Colombian woman also thought she
knew it all. Bottom line is these are character flaws (or
sometimes sheer idiocy) of individuals that show up across nationalities, but
they are not characteristics of nationalities.
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