My Blood Is Red

Last week I stopped at Thrifty's to pick up a few items for my lunch. It was around 9:00 p.m. and the store was quiet. The customer in front of me was just leaving as an Indigenous woman came through the door and went directly to the adjacent floral department. She came back to the till and asked the young cashier if there was someone that could help her there. The cashier replied that the woman in that department was on her break. She offered no apology or any other assistance. At this point, because she was ringing my groceries through the till, the cashier’s curtness was possibly excusable. I say “possibly excusable” because I believe that retail workers exist because shoppers exist. The cashier might have seen the Indigenous woman’s request as an interruption to her work, but in my veiw, shoppers should NEVER be seen as interruptions or in the way. We are their raison d'etre.

A few minutes later, the Indigenous woman returned and asked if the person in the floral department had returned. The cashier said no. The Indigenous woman asked then if there was someone else who could help and when the cashier said no I interjected that it was hard to believe that there was no one else who could assist. The Indigenous woman said that she would try to find flowers at another store and quietly left.

I repeated my assertion that it was hard to believe there was no one else who could assist and the cashier told me (not the Indigenous woman) that she could, in fact, have helped by wrapping flowers or scanning items through the till. I then told the cashier that I wondered if she might have been more helpful in a similar situation if the customer had been a “classy looking white woman.” She replied that she was offended that I was accusing her of being racist.

I hadn’t actually said she was racist; I had merely pointed out my observations and had suggested that perhaps when she had a quiet moment that she might reflect on this situation and consider if she might have unconsciously treated that customer rudely and if she would have been more helpful to well-dressed white woman.

The cashier continued to deny that there was any racism behind her action. I pointed out that the store was very quiet and that there were employees standing around appearing to chat with each other. Also, the cashier had to call a supervisor to approve a transaction and her supervisor arrived within seconds to swipe a card illustrating to me that the supervisor was apparently available to assist with this task.

Racism happens not only with actions but also with inactions. In my view, her behaviour was rude. It was also likely unconscious.

I KNOW that this situation would have played out differently if I had been the one wanting to purchase flowers. I would have asked for the cashier to find someone and if no one appeared, I might have opened the fridge door and started helping myself to flowers.

Today, thinking about the scene last night, I feel badly that I didn’t go and stand beside the Indigenous woman and let her know that I was an ally and was most definitely NOT condoning the ungracious behaviour of the cashier. Most of this scene took place after the Indigenous woman had left. I hope the cashier she went home and reflected on her behaviour. The Indigenous woman's reflections on that scene?