Straight up, I can be pretty racist. It mostly stems from my own issues revolving around my ethnic background, but the point is that I'm fairly tolerant of intolerance.
Enter Mr Mandelowitz, current resident of Room 212, registered citizen of the state of Florida and a proud New Yorker. He complimented me on my smile; compliments always put me on edge. I'm gorgeous and I know it, but when other people (mainly men) bring attention to it, I assume they want in my pants and it grosses me out. But that was not the worst of his offenses.
He asked why we ask for photo IDs at registration, which I find odd because EVERY hotel asks for identification (or at least they should). Ever tried to use a credit card at a store without a pinpad? They're gonna ask for ID... not even a question. In this industry, we HAVE to know who we're doing business with, both for financial purposes (this is just common sense with identity theft and credit card fraud being so rampant these days) and for security purposes. Much time and money are invested at every hotel property... beds and towels and electricity don't pay for themselves, and we sure as fuck aren't going to extend our courtesies to anyone without some kind of identification.
I thought I had sufficiently explained the necessity AND utility of having photo IDs to supplement guest records, but this ignorant bastard replies, "It's because of all the blacks, isn't it?"
Before I had a chance to life my jaw off the floor, his verbal diarrhea continued. "Listen, I'm from New York. I grew up in the ghetto. I lived my life around blacks and Puerto Ricans. But I never seen a place worse than here. You have the WORST people here. And I can say that, 'cause I'm a Jew."
I have NO FUCKING IDEA how being Jewish qualifies him to label an entire city's population as "the worst," nor am I even clear on the criteria on which he based his judgment. I've lived in the corn long enough to consider myself a native, I am I-O-W-A to the point of having the default mindset of being a Midwest girl who has no idea what it's like to live in "the city." I always thought of places like New York as being a mystical and civilized place or worldly and learned people. The close-minded, over-opinionated racist shit (in my mind) comes from homogeneous places like Alabama and wherever Michelle Bachmann's family is from; New York is supposed to be the colorful explosion where people of all varieties tolerate each other and keep their bigotry behind their rent-controlled doors.
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