Politically Correct

As a disclaimer, I try to be as conscious as possible of other people's feelings and am pretty open-minded and race and nationality really means very little to me when it comes to people alllllll being people.

Yesterday, at work, I was helping a customer when I heard my co-worker say (repeatedly) in frustration "I don't understand what you want!" When I finished with my customer, I walked over to see what the issue was. This customer was wanting time for his prepaid phone. Time, with this company, is sold by days, in thirty, fifteen, or seven day cards. The gentleman had forty dollars on the counter and obviously wanted time for his phone but my co-worker could not convey that it is either 41 dollars for fifteen day premium cards (which includes texting and long distance) or 45 dollars for a thirty day card (which is just for talktime). My boss kept telling him "we need someone to come in to speak for you." (apparently not remembering that translator and interpreter work with pretty much everyone) I quickly realized that this gentleman spoke only Spanish as he kept repeating "No comprendo!" Now, I try to resort to using my broken Spanish only in dire need seeing as how whenever I speak one word of Spanish they start trying to hold a conversation with me and I have no clue what is going on. I figured this was a situation where I could try and help, so I walked over and asked him "Trienta Dias? or 15 (idk how to spell it in Spanish, but I said it in Spanish, obviously) dias?" The gentleman then turned to me and said "No comprendo." Me, being frustrated at this point as well, said, "No you can't tell me you don't speak English OR Spanish!"
We eventually figured out he wanted the thirty day card and I that he only spoke Spanish, but I guess he never learned to count.....


This got me thinking about another beef I have with people about being politically correct: If you can call me white and that's okay, there is no reason I shouldn't be able to call another race brown or black or whatever. I am no more WHITE than they are whatever color they are stereotyped. I think that is the fairest way to describe people because no one has ever referred to me as Italian German Portuguese Native American American, so there is no reason anyone else should be called African American unless they just moved here from Africa. Plus, "Asians" are rarely called "Asian American" or Latinos "Latino American"

And I am sorry but no one can ever "reclaim" the N word. It is a bad word and is derogatory and always will be. By trying to make it a common word people are insulting those who endured it as a derogatory term and, more importantly, the lines between safe and unsafe are blurred. Those who do not use the word are more likely to respect people than those who do use it. There is no differentiation between those who are using it with friends or those who are using it to be cruel. I'm sorry, but as a female, the C word will never be okay whether I tried to "reclaim it" or not. And if I did try to reclaim it, I couldn't just limit it to women being able to use the word, I would have to allow men to use it too and I would never be able to tell if they meant it in a "good way" or bad way. It's the same thing with the N word.


Thats my rant....if anyone has anything to say about it, let me know, I am always up to have my views challenged and sometimes changed/corrected.