# Be Honest. \[Dealing with races other than your own in customer service\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027 "2014-03-06T17:41:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/1 "2014-03-06T17:41:05Z")
If you’ve ever waited tables upon an ethnicity not your own, or given any kind of retail service…do you find yourself trying to do an extra good job so you wouldn’t be perceived as racist? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/2 "2014-03-06T17:51:26Z")
No. I was a dick to _everyone_ equally. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/3 "2014-03-06T17:58:42Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > If you’ve ever waited tables upon an ethnicity not your own, or given any kind of retail service…do you find yourself trying to do an extra good job so you wouldn’t be perceived as racist? I found that sometimes I was hyper aware of someone’s race, and other times I wasn’t. Even the same person. The same is true now. (It was a bridal shop, so we usually saw people multiple times.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/4 "2014-03-06T18:05:30Z")
I have never waited tables nor given any kind of retail service. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/5 "2014-03-06T18:09:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I have never waited tables nor given any kind of retail service. I appreciate your honesty. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/6 "2014-03-06T18:28:28Z")
Is practicing medicine considered giving retail service? Then yes. I have gone out of my way to be extra reassuring to those patients who are very much out of their element, due to ethnicity or language or social differences. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/7 "2014-03-06T18:32:14Z")
No, I didn’t bother. They’re lousy tippers anyway. Regards, Shodan 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/8 "2014-03-06T18:38:56Z")
What’s this “extra good job” concept you’re promoting? It sounds kind of scary. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/9 "2014-03-06T18:45:45Z")
Well, it’s been three decades since my waitressing days but I cannot recall ever being extra nice and attentive to anyone because of race. I lived & worked in a very ethnically diverse area (Hollywood in the early '80’s) so that may have something to do with it. I did make a point of being extra nice to a couple people who were obviously “different” and other servers didn’t want to wait on them. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/10 "2014-03-06T18:57:57Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > No. I was a dick to _everyone_ equally. Yep. I tended bar in a dump. As long as you didn’t cause any trouble I was happy. Even happier if you actually tipped. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/11 "2014-03-06T19:06:00Z")
No, I was the opposite. I tended bar in a gay bar in the early 80’s and I would give very minimal or no service to straight people; usually kids from the local university who came in looking for a fight or to stare and laugh at the “fags”. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/12 "2014-03-06T19:07:06Z")
As a kid I worked in a convenience store, and I pumped gas. I pretty much just did what was expected. And anyway there were no other races where I grew up. Well, so few that you could go weeks or months without even thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/13 "2014-03-06T19:19:02Z")
No, I like to be just slightly rude to them so they’ll know I don’t have any racism to overcompensate for. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/14 "2014-03-06T19:41:11Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > No, I like to be just slightly rude to them so they’ll know I don’t have any racism to overcompensate for. Best ban them from the store completely - maybe put up a sign - just to prove how not racist you are. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/15 "2014-03-06T19:46:10Z")
I haven’t worked in customer service since I was in high school, but from the other end: yes, I as a customer find myself being extra-friendly to customer service people of certain ethnic groups that are not my own. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/16 "2014-03-06T23:10:02Z")
I’ve made the title more clear with what the thread is about. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/17 "2014-03-07T02:11:00Z")
Nope, doesn’t matter to me what color they are. All money is green and that is the only color that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/18 "2014-03-07T18:56:05Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > If you’ve ever waited tables upon an ethnicity not your own, or given any kind of retail service…do you find yourself trying to do an extra good job so you wouldn’t be perceived as racist? Which, ironically enough, would be a racist action. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/19 "2014-03-07T20:14:37Z")
Yes. I’m extra nice to those in the racial minority in my area when they shop with us, partly to show I’m not one of \*those \*kinds of white people. Which is, as noted above, still racist. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027/20 "2014-03-07T20:17:59Z")
I once told a client that I suspected that I was “too White” to be able to help him much. Which I believed was the truth. I think he appreciated my honesty as we had many conversations. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-honest-dealing-with-races-other-than-your-own-in-customer-service/683027.md?page=2)