Speaking of bigots, I just went off on a young woman at a dollar store, of all places. I got to the checkout to hear the woman in a discussion with checkout clerks in both open stations. I don’t know what item she wanted, but they were out and she wanted to know when they would get more. They both said it was something they usually stocked, but right now they’re out and had no way of knowing exactly when more would come in, but they get frequent deliveries. The young woman kept insisting on apparently a different answer, over and over again. She got really indignant and haughty as hell, accusing the clerks of having an attitude (I thought they were both amazingly patient), demanding to see their supervisor, on and on. It became obvious that she was being a bully just for the sake of bullying people who couldn’t fight back, since her question had been repeatedly and very clearly addressed with the only available answer.

I finally said to the young (white) woman: “Honey, are you stupid or just desperate for attention? They have answered your question several times now,” which was met by snickers and nods by others in line. She shot back “mind your own business!” to which I responded that it was my business because she was wasting my time and everyone else’s and that her bullying of the clerks was not acceptable behavior. She finally paid for her items while lecturing the (black) clerks about their bad attitudes(!) and how they should be fired, when her daughter (about 8 or 9 years old) rolled her eyes and said “No stereotypes, right?” and the women said with a sneer, “No stereotypes, right.”

I was seething, saying “And a bigot to boot, teaching your child to be just as hateful.” She glared at me and started to open her mouth to say something but then looked around to see at this point about 5 of us ready to take her on in the manner in which she was treating the store clerks but without their need for constraint. She wisely shut up and stomped out with a loud hrumph.

What the hell motivates people to behave so badly?