So, I was at work recently. It was the middle of the week, middle of the day and I was the only one in the whole bar/restaurant. We rarely get much business in the middle of the day and I was sort of hanging out behind the bar.
A guy comes in and sits down at the bar. He takes off his hat and his head is shaved. He gives me a nod and orders a burger and a beer. I pour his beer and go to make his food.
When I get back he starts talking about random stuff that’s on the TV. Just small talk, nothing personal or weird or anything, just talk. He starts asking me about what brand of razor I use to shave my head, complaining that he can’t get a really close shave. Now, if you know me, you know that I am always happy to extol the virtues of any product that I really believe in. SO I tell him all about the Headblade (my razor of choice) and their fine line of head shaving accessories. I even give him a business card. We continued to chat while I did the behind the bar, cleaning up and so on that all bartenders do. Not really paying attention to him besides the chit chatting.
After he’s done eating, he pays his tab, asks for direction to highway 26 and thanks me for the conversation and food.
As he’s handing me the $20 to pay his check he says “Always nice to meet a brother†and smiles as I take his money. Now, I am used to guys who shave their heads, or wear kilts, or play bodhrans making references like that to me. We tend to consider ourselves outsiders in a way and so naturally attempt to reach out to others of similar interest with a sense of belonging. Nothing all that weird.
But as I’m at the register getting his change I glance over at him and I notice his hands. His knuckles are tattooed. You’ve all seen the ( L | O | V | E ) ( H | A | T | E ) tattoos across peoples hands before. Well, if this guy had made fists and put them side by side, his hands would read:
( | R | a | H ) ( o | W | a | ) and his pinky knuckles had a little swastika on each one.
For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym RaHoWa , it’s skin head code for “Racial Holy Warâ€.
While I was getting his change he went to the bathroom and as he's coming back out he's putting his coat back on... I look and his arms are covered in crosses, swastikas, and fire image tattoos.
As he left, he’s almost out the door when he looks back at me, rubs his hand over his scalp and says (with a smile) “You picked the right side, brotherâ€. He left his change on the bar for me as a tip.
The right side? WTF?... But I’m not... I never said anything about... what &^%ing “side� dammit... idiot.
Now, this guy never said one, single racial word to me. Never used any slang, never gave any verbal indication of his opinions on the subject of non-white races and I certainly didn’t either. If he hadn’t called me “brother†I doubt I’d have even paid attention to his crappy tats.
I keep running my mind over the whole encounter again and again. I didn’t say or do anything to indicate to anyone that I might be a racist (which I am definitely not) other than to have no hair on my head.
Now, you’d think that someone with opinions that are as widely unpopular and potentially dangerous to talk about as being a freakin’ “skinhead†would want to be certain that he was in like minded company before making such an assumption. You’d expect that it’s the kind of thing you need a secret handshake to identify one another by. But no... apparently because I am Caucasian and I shave my head, I must be his “brother†and on his “sideâ€. Which couldn’t be further from the truth of the matter.
Racism pisses me off and racist groups and their members even more so. I can’t stand those idiots, they make everybody of the same skin color look bad. Hell I’ve gotten into more than one actual FIGHT with those jack asses. I mean, come on, how dumb can you be?
Anyway.... I thought I’d share this little story with you guys. Apparently my haircut makes people think things that simply aren’t true, and they don’t feel the need to find out whether they are or not.
Am I the only one this happens to? Why do people gotta suck?
