Originally Posted by
Honky Tonk
First off, I'm a little surprised @ the title of this thread, and the fact that it's allowed to continue. Maybe it's me, but it sounds just a bit racist. As I've posted before, having been on both sides of the Lexan, it's no picnic. People think you deal all day long with poor but proud folks, and it isn't like that for the most part, though some do "get it" and do act respectably. People walk through the door antagonistic from the get, feel they have a right to either credit, free merchandise, or short-changing you, [["Hey man, I'm $.50 short, let me have a ......."), and it goes on all day long, day in day out. People get attitudes, and tempers run short. You're always keened and honed, and can't let your guard down for a second. To the people that don't have a choice to "go somewhere else", it becomes a game, somewhere to go for a confrontation with "the man". Remembering what it was like when gas station and party stores weren't exclusively run by middle-easterners, you couldn't find operating party-stores or gas stations in Detroit. As the exodus began, no one stepped up to the plate. Middle-easterners WEREN'T given credit by established banks. They had to pool their money together from benefactors from the old country, took out a promissory note, and began buying, opening, and running stores and gas stations. Some even went as far as building new stores and gas stations in the most decrepit neighborhoods. I remember watching the scenario with apprehension. As people left for good they came in to fill the void.