Summary

A 64-year-old black woman in South Central Los Angeles is calling out the "Golden Market" for blatant animosity, racism, and potential tax fraud after being overcharged and given a falsified receipt.

Abstract

The author, a long-time resident of South Central Los Angeles, has reached her breaking point with the owners of the local "Golden Market," an older Korean couple. Despite previous negative encounters, she continues to patronize the store due to its convenience. However, her latest experience of being overcharged and provided with a receipt listing incorrect items has led her to speak out against the store's discriminatory treatment and potential illegal practices. She suspects that the store owners, who she feels have disdain for the community, may be engaging in tax fraud by ringing up incorrect items and pocketing the difference. The author's frustration is compounded by the broader context of racial tensions and the feeling that such injustices are often overlooked by authorities.

Opinions

The author believes that the store owners, Mr. and Mrs. Golden, harbor animosity and racism towards the black community, reserving pleasantries for a select few and viewing many community members with contempt.
She is angered by the store's practice of obstructing the cash register display, which she questions the legality of, and the subsequent issuance of a falsified receipt that does not match her purchases.
The author feels that the store's actions are not only a personal affront but also represent a broader issue of overcharging and tax fraud that may be systematically targeting people of color in the community.
She is disillusioned by the lack of action from authorities, as evidenced by her rhetorical question directed at "Uncle Sam," implying a failure of government oversight in protecting consumers from such unscrupulous practices.
Despite her anger, the author finds some solace in sharing her story publicly and encourages others to report similar incidents, suggesting a proactive approach to combating injustice within the community.

Injustice In Your Community: How Long Can You Simply Keep QUIET?

I saw something wrong at the Golden Market on Western and I’m determined to call it out!

As a 64-year-old black woman living in South Central Los Angeles, I see injustice in my community damn near every day.

After a while, there are some things you just start to take for granted, and you somehow learn to live with the madness.

In truth, most black folks are used to dealing with all sorts of crap and resolving to take it in stride, thus the saying: “Sh*t happens”.

But sometimes all it takes is one incident to make us finally reach our boiling point, and when that happens, you just can’t stay quiet.

That’s where I am today, at the point where I don’t want to hold my tongue.

In the past, I’ve had multiple negative incidents with the husband and wife team that I’m about to tell you about. They own a business in my neighborhood, and the location is convenient to me, so over the years, I’ve learned to deal with them on a limited basis.

But it never fails; the moment I let my guard down, and start patronizing there business again, I always end up regretting it.

Let me tell you about this little not so friendly neighborhood store…

Golden Market” is not so golden to the community

Don’t be surprised if you catch a bad attitude when you make a quick stop at the little liquor store behind the Jack-in-the-Box on Florence and Western.

This busy intersection is already popular for being one of the worse collision traps in Los Angeles.

Shell Shocked! 780 Collisions and Still Counting!

I saw every one of these car crashes right from my bedroom window.

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I’ve reported on more than one collision that I personally experienced seeing from my unique vantage point as a nearby resident.

I’ve seen more than a thousand car accidents at the intersection, as well as an entire homicide crew and forensic tent, conducting an investigation in the Jack-in-the-Box parking lot.

Talk about a toxic location!

But today, the toxic situation I want to talk about is blatant animosity and racism, from people who come into our communities and gladly take our money.

For instance, take the “Golden Market” located near this terrible intersection.

The proprietors have very little — if any — love for the community they work in. They happen to be an older Korean couple who seem to reserve their smiles and pleasant greetings for a very LIMITED few.

Perhaps it’s because the neighborhood has a large amount of drug addicts and alcoholics living amongst the other homeless and mis-fortunate people living on the streets.

Perhaps the owners get tired of the bad attitudes — to say the least — from what they view as dredges of society, dragging themselves into the store for more beer, wine, tobacco and related paraphernaila.

Maybe the Goldens constantly see some of the same lowly human beings that they clearly look down on, day in and day out; so they start to view the entire black community from the same narrow lens.

For a long time, I allowed myself to make excuses for why store owners like these continue to exist in our neighborhoods, when they obviously feel so much disdain, as evident by the horrible way they talk to and treat customers, and the negative energy they throw off.

I’ve always known that the golden in their “Golden” store title was simply B.S., but I never realized just how deep things went, until today…

Breaking the law in plain sight

It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to be able to simply break the law in plain sight, and no one says a word or seems to care.

The cover photo for this story is a picture of the items I bought from the Golden Market today. After what transpired, I felt compelled to share my story, mostly out of frustration, now that the anger has subsided.

I made the above purchases with my debit card, and I specifically requested a receipt, since the cash register display was purposely obstructed, so you couldn’t see the items being rang up.

That ticked me off when I noticed it, because the whole point of the display is so you can see what you’re being charged. I’m not even sure if it’s legal to obstruct the view.

The husband (we’ll call him Mr. Golden) gave me two receipts. One was from the debit card machine. The total came to $13.98.

The other was from his register, where he was SUPPOSED to have rang up all my items — the ones you see in the above photo.

Instead, of the receipt showing a list of items that I actually purchased, he handed me a receipt that didn’t contain ONE single item that I purchased. The entire receipt itemized a list of nothing but “beer” and “cigarettes”, until it came to the same total as the other receipt: $13.98

Notice the two receipts:

The receipt on the right shows items scratched out, and writing next to the items, is because Mr. Golden wanted to show me that the BOGUS entries on the register were just for the store’s use. So apparently, the prices listed were the correct amounts for the items, but they were identified incorrectly on the receipt (ON PURPOSE).

That’s when I got pissed!

Which was the bigger crime?

Honestly, I’m not sure what made me more angry. The high price for the few items I purchased; the way we’re treated in our own community, or the fact that:

The Golden Market is clearly overcharging me and people who look like me, by ringing up taxable items, and pocketing the stolen amounts.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s nothing personal, and they’re not just cheating people of color. Maybe they’re cheating everyone that comes into the store!

I’m just one customer, in one day, but I’m sure this wasn’t a one time thing. I wonder just how much money they’ve cheated customers out of by doing this — not to mention how they’re clearly getting away with tax fraud.

HEY UNCLE SAME — WHERE ARE YOU WHEN FOLKS REALLY NEED YOU???

Final Thoughts

When I left the store in a huff, I assured Mr. Golden that this wasn’t the last of the issue. He failed to refund me my money when I tried to give the items back, so I brought them home and wrote this story.

What I plan to do now remains to be seen, because the whole incident leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Before I left the store, I wrote down a number I saw: 1800-Ask-4-ID. It’s a hotline for people to report vendors who sell tobacco to kids.

This may not be the same thing, but I’m sure it’s still a tobacco related offense. Someone somewhere must give a damn about what’s happening with this situation.

As I go on with my day, I can allow myself to take solace in the fact that I at least wrote about the incident and made my voice heard.

I feel a lot better already, just knowing that I called out an injustice that I see going on in my community.

Thanks for reading…