a ubiquitous asian #2
i have a lot of encounters at the grocery that highlight my asianess. is it because the grocery is a level playing field and the meeting place of all races, religions and heights?
anyway, i undergo alot of presumptions by others. at work, i look young. a new hire’s first question to me was if i went to college for my job (omg, how many years ago and can you not tell by the massive university of chicago poster?). after we spoke a little longer, i think she realized that i wasn’t an intern or someone’s daughter working part-time.
another presumption is that i’m asian and not asian-american. at first glance, it’s hard to tell if i was born and raised in the US or again someone’s daughter who immigrated a few years ago to start a new life.
so to bring together both assumptions, on saturday afternoon, i’m in line at a grocery in podunk, VA — which actually has a large asian population (btw, my definition of podunk is anything outside downtown). the cashier asks me if i live in the area, in which i respond i’m just visiting a friend. he’s very intrigued about my friend and asked how i liked my visit, does my friend live far, have i been to the wal-marts down the street. now, the wal-mart question has relevance, as you shall soon see, he then asks if i was filipino. oh, i have so many filipino friends that work at wal-marts. lots of my good friends are filipinos and they work hard and cook very good. he then asks if i just got off work (remember it’s a saturday afternoon) — so he’s now figured i work at the wal-mart-like job as many of his filipino friends. and i said, no. and that’s ok by me. i’m the ubiquitous asian.
