I pit racist neighbors!

The BBQ Pit
1

Bear with me…I’m more than a bit drunk at this point.

Ok, first off, let me say, I have a pretty thick skin where race comes in. It takes rather a lot to set me off generally speaking. This weekend I was definitely in ‘set off mode’. This is really just me venting here, though if you feel I’m in the wrong feel free to blast me…or join in. Whatever floats thy boat.

Starting on friday I’ve been doing some home improvement in the back yard. I and my dad and several of my cousins were building a ‘rumble wall’ (gods only know why its CALLED a ‘rumble wall’) and putting in a sprinkler system for what will hopefully be grass soon (its a new house so the back yard is basically a desert wasteland atm).

Ok, so we are working in the back there and one of my new neighbors comes up to the wall and looks over. No prob. After a while he beckons me over and asks ‘Any of you boys speakee english’ (yes, he actually said ‘speakee’…as if this is spanish for ‘speak’ I guess). I informed him that yes, I speak perfect english, thanks. He looks surprised.

Next he asks basically what we are doing. I’m thinking ‘Doh! Kind of obvious guru!’, but I nicely tell him we are putting in a rumble wall and a sprinkler system. We talk for a bit and then he asks me if I know the owners and if me and my ‘crew’ would like to come do his yard next, since ‘mexicans do such nice work’. I’m trying not to get offended at this point, as perhaps he means it as a compliment…and he IS going to be a neighbor after all. So I tell him that I’m the owner, and the ‘crew’ is just basically guys from my family and a few friends. He askes me (again surprised) what I do then if not construction and I tell him I’m a network engineer and own my own consulting company…now I get both surprise AND a tinge of disbelief (and I got the feeling that this guy hasn’t a clue what a network engineer IS).

Then the thing that REALLY set me off…though perhaps I’m over reacting here a bit. He says, ‘Isn’t your wife white?’, AGAIN with the surprised and almost shocked look. :mad: !! Yeah asshole…she is! Whats your point exactly? (at a guess I think he believed I was lieing about being the owner…or something like that. Gods know).

I thought we were generally past this stage to be honest. Especially in THIS part of the country. Appearently we aren’t. What was so strange though was the expressions and the attitude this bozo was giving off. You almost had to be there…I really was thinking I had been put in some kind of time machine or something. I haven’t seen anything like that since I was in high school or just after I graduated.

This all probably seems minor to ya’ll…and in truth it WAS minor. Just one random idiot out there, dumber than most. Perhaps it just caught me on a bad day when I was REALLY tired (and hung over from LAST nights after work party :stuck_out_tongue: ).

In any case, just wanted to vent and seems this is a good place to do so. Only my second REAL vending here on the board…and have to admit I feel much better now. THough perhaps its the scotch… :wink:

-XT

2

Vent, xtisme, vent. Remember that they’re not from around here. He’s probably an idiot from California. (Rule #1 of growing up in New Mexico: The idiots are always from either California or Texas.) Though I’m told more and more idiots are moving in from the Midwest and the East coast.

What are you planting? Fescue or buffalo grass, perhaps?

Did I ever tell you about the time I was working at a Chevron in Albuquerque and was treated to wonderfully bad Spanish (and I don’t speak much Spanish myself) by a couple from New Jersey who assumed that since the place was called New Mexico, of course nobody spoke English, especially nobody working retail? I was simultaneously pissed off and laughing my ass off for a good fifteen minutes after that one. I just wish one of my Spanish-speaking coworkers, or, even better, my boss, had been there to tear them a new one.

3

My next door neighbor was a young woman in her thirties who lived alone, and once a month or so a man a generation older would show up in his rickety pickup truck with a lawn mower in the back and bags of fertilizer and what have you, and work on her lawn. One day I approached him and asked if he was interested in doing my lawn, too. He didn’t seem too interested, but it was only after the fact that I found out that he was her father.

He was a white guy, so it’s not necessarily the case that your neighbor is being racist. I mean, he sees a group of guys he hasn’t seen before doing yard work, it’s not completely illogical to think they’re yard guys.

But yeah, given everything else you’ve said, it sounds like he’s a bit racist. With any luck, he’ll learn something from you and improve.

4

At a guess I’d say he’s from out east…sounded like a North Eastern accent to me (maybe Maryland or further north). I think he works at the Intel plant, so its possible he’s from recently from California…or Texas for that matter.

Not sure yet actually. Going to be sod of some kind…probably put it in sometime in the next two weeks. Fescue is top of the list atm.

Well, I didn’t really get upset by that part (though the ‘speakee english’ and the ‘mexicans do such nice work’ thing was a bit odd). Its the summ total of the conversation, plus the things I can’t really explain well…the body language and the facial expressions and such. This dude best never play poker is all I have to say. :stuck_out_tongue:

-XT

5

I feel bad that you have to live with such an idiot for a neighbor, but your story reminded me of this one.

If it happens again, maybe you could try that response.

Sgt Schwartz

6

Perhaps he was just surprised at you taking a break from crotch and boobie watching.

7

Fescue looks nice and is fairly thifty on the water. I helped my father lay some fescue sod a couple years ago and it looks nice, though I’m not sure about how much water he’s using. Seems like a lot to me.

8

Wow…life imitates art. I wonder if the guy was pulling my leg and has heard this store (first time I’ve heard it). Too bad I’m not a famous celeb…c’est la vie. :stuck_out_tongue: Thanks for the link btw!

Yeah, water is definitely an issue. Last month our water bill was like $75. :eek: Somone told me that Burmuda does well too and looks really good. I’ll probably shop around and see what the various plant vendors have to say before deciding. The hard part was putting in the sprinkler system and building the wall and planter this weekend.

-XT

9

Buffalo looks nice when it’s wet enough for it to stay green. You can probably get away with watering it once or twice a week to keep it green, but it’s still alive when it goes brown. Desert grass, after all. It also seems to do better in August and September when there’s actually some rain.

10

We had fescue grass when I was a very small child, and all I really remember about it is that when I went about barefoot (which I did constantly) it gave my feet thousands of tiny grass-cuts, that would burn like the dickens in the evening.

Just putting in a word for tender little feet.

11

I’m so damn sick of all these Mexicans stealing our network engineering jobs. That and the goddamn Indians staring at my crotch all the time.

12

Don’t post when drunk.

13

I’m glad you vented here instead of at the neighbor. Maybe he had been drinking and wasn’t thinking straight. Give him a chance to notice that you are a regular guy and not a stereotype.

(No mariachi bands, brightly colored clothing or burro riding in your backyard until at least the Fourth of July.) :stuck_out_tongue:

14

:confused:

Anyway, sounds like the guy is a veritable douchebag, and I’m not defending him, but I wonder if maybe he saw your wife (assuming she’s “white” in the way I think your neighbor meant) before he spoke to you, figured you two weren’t married because of the ethnic disparity, and further assumed you must be hired help, the house being owned by a “white” lady. Otherwise, the question is from outta nowhere, and not only is he a douchebag, but an oddly nosey one at that.

15

Xeriscape Council of New Mexico
New Mexico Water Conservation Program: The Enchanted Xeriscape

We don’t have quite the water problems you do out here on the butt end of the midwest. However native landscapes are pretty, drought resistant, and a legal way to piss off obnoxious neighbors.

16

For anybody wondering were **rayh ** and **Excalibre ** are coming from:

It is just suezeekay’s racist idea that Mexicans can not be assimilated because of behavior like that.

17

Wait a minute. Since when have there been latinos in the south west?

Marc

18

Ah, I was wondering what that meant. Thanks for the link and the illumination. Wish I had seen that thread when it first started. Unfortunately I don’t spend a lot of time in this forum and miss a lot that goes on here.

Hopefully my neighbor isn’t of the same mold as suezeekay…though it seems to be pointing that way atm. But…hope springs eternal and the jury is still out. As I said I have a relatively thick skin and don’t offend easily (some of that stuff from the thread you linked too would have had my blood pressure rising though…hard to believe there are folks like that today :frowning: ).

Anyway, thanks again for the link!

-XT

19

You are far kinder to your neighbors than I would have been. I would have been seriously tempted to “vent” with my shovel to his noggin.

There is an advantage to living in my Queens neighborhood. On my block, we have representatives from 3 Eastern European countries, at least 3 Latin American countries, at least 2 South Asian countries, Southeast Asia, the Far East, and some plain old vanilla and chocolate Americans. It’s hard for outright racists (of any stripe) to find traction.

20

Your neighbor is a total ignoramus. Eberyone knows “speakee English” is Chinese. Also Japanese, and any other East Asian language. Sheesh.