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Tonight was Midnight Madness at Blick, which turned out to be closer to Midnight Sadness because nobody really showed up. Such is life. It doesn't affect my paycheck. The economy sucks. What can you do?

Around 11:00 pm the store gets a call - I pick it up to relive the person at the front. The guy on the phone asks, "Do you have a Caucasian flesh tint oil paint by Winsor Newton?" That would be a peachy-ish oil paint color. I reply, "I'm not sure, but I can go check. Were you looking for the student grade paint or the artist's grade?" He says he wants the artist grade, very politely, so I put him on hold and head to the shelf to check.

I find the color I'm looking for, and I tell him we have that in stock. He says, "Wonderful. Do you have an African American flesh tint?" Very awkward question, but I say, "I'm sorry, we don't. I know that the Caucasian flesh tints are really politically incorrect, and many different lines of paint have discontinued them in an effort to be more PC." He says, "I think that's ridiculous. We just got a new President." I said, "I agree, it's something that should have been done away with fifty years ago. "

To which he replies, "Well, you can take your company and shove it up your ass!"
To which I reply, "FUCK YOU" and slam down the phone.


*deep breath*
To have someone swear at me is not something I deal with very well - I feel I dealt with this pretty well at the time. I ranted to a manager and asked if I'd get fired for saying "Fuck you" to a customer, and they told me I had the right and whatever.

What truly bothers me is that for someone to know the difference between artist grade and student grade paint (they never hesitated), to know a particular brand that would carry such color (when that company is one of maybe 2 that still consider it a "flesh tint"), and to be so patient as to wait on hold while I actually gathered all that information. You'd assume that someone who could think that far ahead would realize that I have nothing to do with Winsor Newton, or making paint, or naming paint for that matter. Fuck, if we had an "Obama Umber" it would sell out in a flash. We even had Obama merchandise when it came out.

But to call and swear at me just to push my buttons when that person was so well educated in fine oils, it pisses me off. Waste of my time. Especially on a night we're open late.


I could end the rant there, but it hit me a little harder than I had planned. I grew up as one of 3 white families on my entire block, going to schools where the white population was fewer than 10%, and finding myself at the back of the classroom with no one to talk to because I didn't belong. I know what it's like to be harassed because of your skin color. I've had people follow me home and throw rocks and tomatoes at me because I'm white.

I just don't like that someone wouldn't expect me to sympathize with racial bullshit just because I'm white. Racism is something I grew up with, and it just makes me so sad to know that some people haven't evolved beyond it yet.


So fuck that guy. He can stick his flesh tint up his ass.