I Went To Buy An Expensive Phone, And Still There Was Racism

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stinguish one face and another? Because, as we are beginning to increasingly find out, AI struggles with this. As I stood there lost in my thoughts, an elderly blond white lady walked into the store. She too seemed surprised that it was packed. She took her ticket and found a place to wait.I looked at all the salesmen, trying to guess which one might be the nicest, and which one wouldn’t be racist. It’s a thing I always do, it’s a thing many Black and brown people do. Look at people and attempt to imagine who will treat you right, who won’t be racist to you.All the employees in the store seemed young, just like the branch at the station, I should be okay, I thought to myself. And then something surprising happened. A brown man probably aged in his mid-thirties came out of the back office and asked who was the next customer in line. There was a number 16 on the monitor, it was my turn. I raised my hand and he ignored me and gestured toward the elderly white lady to come forward.“It’s my turn”, I said politely.He ignored me still, gingerly working toward the other white customer. We were in a small space, it was impossible he didn’t see or hear me. The customer who knew that I was here before her, seemed thrilled that she was going to get help before me, and she didn’t correct him.I had the ticket right in my hand, I could prove it was my turn but I abstained. Why, because I knew that I’d have a negative experience with that brown salesman. It wasn’t worth my fighting for him to help me out. I just gave up. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that. I always want to correct things that are unfair, and unjus

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t, but here I took a step back to preserve my peace.It took quite a bit of time for the next salesman to be available but I didn’t regret the wait. His name was Raphael and he was one of the nicest and most helpful salesmen I have ever come across. We chatted about a number of things while he set up my phone. He wanted to buy his girlfriend some flowers for Valentine's Day and asked me what species I would recommend. He also made a few jokes and we laughed wholeheartedly.Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his brown colleague staring at us, his face contorted into an ugly frown. He seemed to dislike the fact that Raphael and I were getting along well. I was secretly relieved I hadn’t made a scene, that I had waited for someone who treated me like a human being, someone who didn’t discriminate against me based on the color of my skin.I learned a valuable lesson that day that I will immediately integrate into my life going forward. Whenever I am seeking a service, if the person providing that service sends out racist vibes, I will forfeit my position in the queue, I will wait until someone who doesn’t have a problem with me being Black is available.Now, I know that I won’t always be able to do this, but whenever it is possible, I will. Why? For my peace of mind, for my mental health. This is the choice and commitment I am making to myself from now onwards. Racists are not worth my time, and I refuse to let them ruin any of my days. I will continue to go high and even higher while they go low. If I can help it, I won’t let them touch me anymore.Thank you for reading my perspective.</article></body>

And why I didn’t make a big deal about it

I was waiting in line at the Swisscom store in Geneva to get a new mobile phone. I hesitated about going into that branch in particular because I didn’t know what I was going to find, or more I didn’t know if I would face racism.

I knew that the branch at the central station, Cornavin, was racism-free. What do I mean by that? Well, all members of staff there were kind and didn’t display racism, they treated me like a human being. I knew that because I had been there several times. Today though, I was in a rush and needed the new number fast. I wasn’t going to walk an extra 10 minutes to the branch at the station just to get it. Now thinking back, maybe I should have.

I got into the store at 10:30 am, secretly hoping they weren’t too busy, but they were. They had one of those fancy systems where you’d press on a touchscreen to get a ticket which would give you a number in the queue. The monitor also took a snapshot of you so if you left the store, your number would automatically be erased from the queue.

I was wondering how good the image on the monitor would be. Could it detect the features on a Black or brown face well enough to distinguish one face and another? Because, as we are beginning to increasingly find out, AI struggles with this. As I stood there lost in my thoughts, an elderly blond white lady walked into the store. She too seemed surprised that it was packed. She took her ticket and found a place to wait.

I looked at all the salesmen, trying to guess which one might be the nicest, and which one wouldn’t be racist. It’s a thing I always do, it’s a thing many Black and brown people do. Look at people and attempt to imagine who will treat you right, who won’t be racist to you.

All the employees in the store seemed young, just like the branch at the station, I should be okay, I thought to myself. And then something surprising happened. A brown man probably aged in his mid-thirties came out of the back office and asked who was the next customer in line. There was a number 16 on the monitor, it was my turn. I raised my hand and he ignored me and gestured toward the elderly white lady to come forward.

“It’s my turn”, I said politely.

He ignored me still, gingerly working toward the other white customer. We were in a small space, it was impossible he didn’t see or hear me. The customer who knew that I was here before her, seemed thrilled that she was going to get help before me, and she didn’t correct him.

I had the ticket right in my hand, I could prove it was my turn but I abstained. Why, because I knew that I’d have a negative experience with that brown salesman. It wasn’t worth my fighting for him to help me out. I just gave up. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that. I always want to correct things that are unfair, and unjust, but here I took a step back to preserve my peace.

It took quite a bit of time for the next salesman to be available but I didn’t regret the wait. His name was Raphael and he was one of the nicest and most helpful salesmen I have ever come across. We chatted about a number of things while he set up my phone. He wanted to buy his girlfriend some flowers for Valentine's Day and asked me what species I would recommend. He also made a few jokes and we laughed wholeheartedly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his brown colleague staring at us, his face contorted into an ugly frown. He seemed to dislike the fact that Raphael and I were getting along well. I was secretly relieved I hadn’t made a scene, that I had waited for someone who treated me like a human being, someone who didn’t discriminate against me based on the color of my skin.

I learned a valuable lesson that day that I will immediately integrate into my life going forward. Whenever I am seeking a service, if the person providing that service sends out racist vibes, I will forfeit my position in the queue, I will wait until someone who doesn’t have a problem with me being Black is available.

Now, I know that I won’t always be able to do this, but whenever it is possible, I will. Why? For my peace of mind, for my mental health. This is the choice and commitment I am making to myself from now onwards. Racists are not worth my time, and I refuse to let them ruin any of my days. I will continue to go high and even higher while they go low. If I can help it, I won’t let them touch me anymore.

Thank you for reading my perspective.