African Americans Need to Stop Shopping Where They're Disrespected

**brizee** · May-02-13, 11:23 AM

An article from Deadlinedetroit that captures my feelings on the subject perfectly.

Demand excellence, it's the only way you'll get it.

**downtownguy** · May-02-13, 12:39 PM

Incredible. Thanks for posting.

**tetsua** · May-02-13, 12:49 PM

It really did get to the point for me where I refused to shop at certain corner stores for getting similar treatment.

**dtowncitylover** · May-02-13, 12:52 PM

Incredible is the right word for this. Gotta love the comments that say he's complaining because he's black and wants to start schitt. No, customer service is customer service. And in the retail business it is imperative the seller/cashier put everything down to the receipt in the bag. It doesn't matter if it's the east side of Detroit or Saks Fifth Avenue.

**Scottathew** · May-02-13, 01:03 PM

Great story. Speak with your dollars.

Maybe the guy was being racist, maybe he was just being an ass. Regardless, he lost.

**SWMAP** · May-02-13, 01:08 PM

I agree. Don't go there. I am not African American and I stay away from lots of places. For example, I don't stop to buy coffee at the McDonald's on Ford Road because there is something wrong with their burners and the coffee is always just lukewarm. Since they won't address it - I won't buy from them anymore.
I won't buy gas from any station that charges 10c per gallon to use a debit card. That includes most stations near my house in SW Detroit.
Is the place never picked up? Is there grafitti left from weeks or months ago? I just don't go there.
I wonder, though, if Dawsey is certain that the party store owner bags the purchases of white people. If not, all this is some sort of temper tantrum. Just don't go there anymore.

**iheartthed** · May-02-13, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

I wonder, though, if Dawsey is certain that the party store owner bags the purchases of white people. If not, all this is some sort of temper tantrum. Just don't go there anymore.

I don't think that's what he's getting at. It may the case be that he doesn't bag the purchases of white patrons either, but money from white patrons isn't keeping him in business. And you'd be hard pressed to see that type of behavior in a store that is patronized by a predominantly white customer base.

**Detroitnerd** · May-02-13, 01:15 PM

Being a white guy, I haven't experienced this. But I do know some of the guys behind the Plexi haven't exactly read Sugrue.

I remember one time I told a dude I didn't want a bag. He went into this harangue about how "some" customers always wanted a bag, and the parents told the kids to "get a bag" even for small purchases. I believe his line was, "Why make sure kid get bag? Why not make sure kid not smoke crack!?" Umm, OK, man.

**Johnnny5** · May-02-13, 01:16 PM

I'm sorry, but I think the entire story is just a bunch of whining. The guy is complaining that because he's black the cashier didn't automatically give him a bag?

That's how half of my transactions go at party stores and I'm a white guy out shopping in the exburbs. The difference is when I don't get a bag and would like one I politely ask "Can I please have a bag for that?" not stand there silent with a stupid look on my face and my hands in my pockets. That's another thing. Why have your hands in your pockets when you're in a store? If you don't want to look suspicious take your hands out of your pockets and don't assume that every cashier is a mind reader.

Now that being said, I totally agree with the title to this thread. If you think you are being disrespected by the owners or employees or of a store by all means go elsewhere. I learned a long time ago that you're rarely ever going to get anywhere complaining about lousy customer service. if you don't like the service go elsewhere. It's not like there's a shortage of party stores to choose from around Detroit.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-02-13, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by brizee

An article from Deadlinedetroit that captures my feelings on the subject perfectly.

Demand excellence, it's the only way you'll get it.

"Demand Excellece" politely.

**Det_ard** · May-02-13, 01:26 PM

The first half of Dawsey's post was a complaint about poor service, and the need for customers to assert themselves by not accepting poor service. OK. Good point.

The second half devolved into Dawsey's trademark life-as-seen-through-black-victimization-glasses. Guess what? Dawsey has no way of knowing whether the poor service he received was due to his blackness or was just business as usual at a shitty-service ghetto store. No one dropped the N-word or did anything to suggest it was racially based.

Oh so typically, Darrell "Chip" Dawsey stirs the race pot, and those with an interest in seeing the world through victim's eyes lap it up.

**p69rrh51** · May-02-13, 01:26 PM

I see it quite often around town its seems many stores to not want to spend any extra money if they do not have to. My favorite wine/beer store always asks if I want a bag/box, maybe the other stores around town should start asking also. I work hard to treat all of my customers the way I would like to be treated when I buy goods and services.

**Zacha341** · May-02-13, 01:30 PM

And or the 'familiar' treatment. I don't like merchants who refer to women as 'baby' and 'honey'.... inappropriate and too familiar, especially in light of knowing what some of them say behind closed doors on open internet portals as we've seen!

Originally Posted by tetsua

It really did get to the point for me where I refused to shop at certain corner stores for getting similar treatment.

**Detroitnerd** · May-02-13, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Det_ard

The first half of Dawsey's post was a complaint about poor service, and the need for customers to assert themselves by not accepting poor service. OK. Good point.

The second half devolved into Dawsey's trademark life-as-seen-through-black-victimization-glasses.

I know! That's how I felt about that movie "Amistad." At first, it was this movie about bad guys kidnapping people, and there was all this action and it was very exciting to see them take over the ship.

But then it turned into this whole "blacks as victims" thing, as if they were somehow going to blame all of society for their little problems. Hey, don't blame ME for your alleged inability to be free. Now you're just stirring the pot trying to get this "we're all victims" thing going.

**SWMAP** · May-02-13, 01:33 PM

A little digression: Dawsey's mother's advice to always make sure he gets a bag is just a little out of step with the times. Aldi led the way and, in the interest of conservation and ecology, many cities are banning the plastic bags at least.
In Windsor and Essex County a shopper has to pay a few cents extra for every bag he requests.
Just yesterday at the cupcake store in the Dime Building the cashier asked me unenthusiastically if I wanted a bag for my small purchase. I didn't.

**MSUguy** · May-02-13, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by Det_ard

The second half devolved into Dawsey's trademark life-as-seen-through-black-victimization-glasses. Guess what? Dawsey has no way of knowing whether the poor service he received was due to his blackness or was just business as usual at a shitty-service ghetto store. No one dropped the N-word or did anything to suggest it was racially based.

Oh so typically, Darrell "Chip" Dawsey stirs the race pot, and those with an interest in seeing the world through victim's eyes lap it up.

Yeah there go those whiny blacks again, it's not like there is a history of this or anything.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22048258/black-customer-photos-with-racist-remarks-posted-on-social-media

**Detroitnerd** · May-02-13, 02:10 PM

It's not unique to one color, even though slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, institutional racism and uneven sentencing provisions all fell on one color.

Right. You blacks are just whiny and uppity. Probably made it all up to blame nonblack people for his problems. It's not like we nonblacks have any special advantages.

I would write more but I have a frat party to go to right now. Good thing I was a legacy pledge.

**antongast** · May-02-13, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by coracle

I couldn't find the time to read it all.

And you felt the need to comment on an article you didn't read because...?

**Det_ard** · May-02-13, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

Yeah there go those whiny blacks again, it's not like there is a history of this or anything.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22048258/black-customer-photos-with-racist-remarks-posted-on-social-media

You apparently have fallen into the same trap as Dawsey. Because racist incidents occur, even incidents with NO racial overtones or even apparent undertones must nonetheless be race related.

Isn't it possible that poor service was received because that's what that store does? To every one? Regardless of race?

If that's even conceivable, which any reasonable person will agree it is, why defend the assumption that the poor service was because of race? I thought we had too many race-based assumptions already.

If a customer acts like an ass, should a store owner assume it's because they're an asshole, or should they jump to the racial conclusion that you and Dawsey do, that it's due to their race.

**Drexciya68** · May-02-13, 02:20 PM

People are putting up with much WORSE conditions and treatment in the streets of Detroit than in any gas station or party store. I grew up in the hood and faced the same sort of treatment in certain stores as my friends who happened to have darker skin. Though when I since I am not being treated as I think I should be I cant blame my color of skin for it.
Dont shop there if you dont like it. Simple. Im wondering when more will be proactive instead of reactive and actually take the risk opening their own businesses.

**brizee** · May-02-13, 02:23 PM

"Chip on his shoulder".

I remember the first time a white passive aggressive snake in the grass manager said that about me. I was and remain a courteous and honest person, but certain people do love to label you when their bullshit runs thin!

People know when they're being condescended and talked down to. Black people are acutely aware of unspoken code words and actions. Even today me, my brother and all the young men that look like me could wind up dead or in jail if we choose to ignore we're viewed differently.

That some white people [[and a few black folk TBH) wanna play this gaslight foolishness where racism is some negro mental illness matters to them, and only them.

**Detroitnerd** · May-02-13, 02:24 PM

"Just because we're rude to you doesn't mean we're racist! Stop it with your race-based assumptions!"

**Eber Brock Ward** · May-02-13, 02:26 PM

Why the straw men on both sides?

We've already gone through this whole thing with Dumas, just a few months ago.

**coracle** · May-02-13, 02:32 PM

I couldn't find the time to read it all. It just seemed a diatribe by somebody who's feelings were hurt so he went to the fail safe reason that it must be racism. Usually in cases like this you get back what you give out then whatever color you are becomes a multiplies. It's not unique to one color even though some would like it to be.

Shollin · May-02-13, 02:36 PM

This exact same thing happened to me at a gas station in Sterling Heights. Instead of chosing to fight a battle, I just bagged my stuff and left. I'm white and the clerk was foreign, I'm assuming Arab. Never did I think it was racism but I guess after reading this it was. This is common in places with bullet proof glass. It happens in the suburbs too. Not every time someone is rude to you is it racism.