All tall black men are thugs and/or basketball players, are involved in drug deals, and blast their gangsta rap out of their low rider cars.
All gamers are patheticly lacking in social skills. Drives me frickin’ nuts, and tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, or, at the best, circular. Don’t wanna deal with us cos we’re gamers? Then wonder why no one will deal with us? Weird, huh?
As a Black woman, for some reason, some white people take it upon themselves to “speak my language”. As in saying ‘hey girlfriend!!!’ with the whole finger snapping neck rolling thing. Ummmm…nooooooooooo. don’t do that. Its one thing to do it if you’ve just met me, but what REALLY bugs me is when they continue doing after seeing that I DON"T speak or act like that. So would you get off that already!!!
Another one…I’m Ghanian-Canadian. A country in West Africa, for those of you getting ready to say “OHHHHHH…you’re from GUYANA!!”, anyhoo…people are always saying things like “oh! you don’t LOOK african!” “You look pretty good for an African” or “you don’t have an accent!”. WTF??? I do realize that people of African descent (and I mean born in Africa of nergroid parents) have a certain ‘look’ about them. But, am I supposed to be relieved that I dont’ look like or sound like THEM???
Another stereotype I would like to dispel; not all of Saskatchewan is boring, golden, waving fields of wheat (fully half of the province is covered with deep forest and pristine lakes), and not everyone from Saskatchewan is a dumb hick who desperately wants to move to Toronto. (Some of us move to Calgary. :D)
And just for the record, those of us from the Prairies actually love those wide-open spaces; you might not see the beauty, but please don’t deny that it’s there for those of us who were raised with it.
Amen.
Ever had someone offer you one of those useless self help books like its the holy grail and then when you patiently try to explain to them that your problems are a bit too big for a mere self help book to solve they whine that you aren’t trying hard enough to get better?
Right on, sister!
Never before have I worked so hard, earned so little, done so much and have had such overall satisfaction most of the time.
And I get to wear my pajamas too. 
My personal stereotype irritant.
That Germans are exacting, hard to work with/for, chain smoking, humorless, anal-retentive,my-way-or-the-highway- worker drones.
Not true. Some of them have given up smoking recently.
I’ve shot back nearly the same line, " Why should I pay someone minimum wage to raise my children and teach them bad habits when I can do it for free?"
That shuts them up. 
Good point. I wasn’t reading things properly.
However, I wasn’t having an attack at you, more the morons who do assume that I am a solicitor.
Wolfgirl, thank you!!
Ryan Liam, I get that stereotype from most people. The most common method of expressing it is “but you don’t look like a physicist”. To which I tend to reply, “Oh, and what should I look like?”
Not exactly a stereotype, maybe, but I’m getting really tired of the whole “liberal media” cliche.
The folks who use this phrase use it as a crutch for not learning about the world they live in and/or avoiding unpleasant truths – “Why should I believe that? It was reported in the liberal media.” And then these morons turn around and bemoan the low voter turnout and overall political apathy in the world, as if they’re doing anything to improve things.
I’ll second that. I’m a Christian who believes in the literal truth of the Bible and so I’m assumed to be a bible-thumpning, narrow-minded, science-ignorant, frothing-at-the-mouth, Jack Chick clone.
Nope.
I’m a single hetero female, hence I must be a man-hating closet dyke or a bitter, fat and lonely hag who lives for the opportunity to demean my sista’s SO’s.
The reality is that far too often I have to listen to gf’s bitch and moan and since I’m not ‘entitled’ to express empathy, I’m left with no option other than generics “Well, I’m sure he didn’t mean it” or “He is a good father though.” Yes, I walk away repeating ‘and this is why I’m single’ to myself, but it wouldn’t help her to hear that.
I love being a chick and being able to share fully with my girlfriends, but sometimes we share far too much. I really don’t need to know specifics about your man’s intimate habits or whatever, thanks. But the men who get antsy that their women might ‘catch’ the idea of independance from me slay me.
The male version of that is the assumption that
“He’s over 30 and single so he must be gay”.
The stereotype of the stupid/loud/rude/“ugly” American. Drives me up the fucking wall when I travel.
If it makes you feel any better, southern accents make me melt. And when women have them? They just sound so sweet and charming.
I do like to entertain the thought that when large green monsters stomp over Tokyo, it sends its citizens into quite a panic.
I’m sure there are some Japanese Dopers who hate this image, but for me, the stereotype works.
I work for all of you. Well, all of you who live in the USA, and/or pay federal taxes.
I’m a federal employee. I spent almost ten years with Uncle Sam in the 1980s before I quit (for a lovely personal reason) and moved to Australia for another ten years. When I returned to the USA, I did not return to federal service right away. But I’m back, because I enjoy public service and what I was taught public service really is all about. I was also specifically recruited by the federal government to return because of my IT skills.
I have extensive private employment, academic employment and government employment (at all levels) under my belt, in two countries.
I am not a government employee with a “typical government attitude.” I work hard, often putting in more hours in the day than my timesheet shows. No, that’s not being a glutton for punishment, or being unable to put in 8 hours of work in a day, and it isn’t brown-nosing. I really do like what I do, and my workload is full beyond belief.
I also put my customers first. That’s you! Every time. I place you ahead of my boss, even ahead of the agency that employs me. My boss knows it. The agency knows it. In fact, I’m a strong advocate for the public and the taxpayer. You see, the IT work I do has direct and tangible benefits for the public because I what I actually do is in the public eye 24/7. (Yes, there are stereotypical federal employees, who do very little, often poor quality work, and would never make it in “the real world.” They are a real stain upon the majority of us who do work hard. I know these scum bags quite well because there are a few I know personally.)
I’m good at what I do. In the year plus I’ve been back in federal service I’ve gone from being in charge of one specialized IT function in one location to a merit promotion being in charge of an entire geographic region across several states in my IT specialty in my agency.
I hate it being sterotyped as a lazy federal employee, who never works hard, could never make it in private practice and gets a great salary with a great benefits package. I have news for you. I’ve done private practice and I can keep up with them, even today. My federal salary in my specialty is about half, if that, of what a private employer would pay. My benefits are not bad, but not great. Congress did away with those “great” benefits back in 1984. That’s almost 20 years ago!
So why return to federal employment? Notice the first letter at the beginning of every paragraph so far in this post, except this paragraph. No, I am not being self-centered. The fact is the work I do has direct benefits to the American People. I respond to queries from taxpayers all the time and make sure you are satisfied with the services I perform. I receive two or three compliment emails every day, day in and day out, from taxpayers because of the work I do. If I cannot do it well the first time, I will not do it, because everything I do I must sign off with my signature. I will not compromise on that last statement.
And so far, every time someone else picks up something that I’ve signed off, it works every time with no problems, and 100 percent guaranteed support forever, for free. Not just co-workers, supervisors or subordinates. The guarantee applies to every taxpayer as well.
I hate it when people find out how old I am. So what if Im 27 with three kids? So what if I got married when I was 19? This does NOT make me eligable for a prime spot on Jerry Springer! Yes Im still married, yes to the same man and yes he is the father of all 3 kids! No, Im not on benefits, no I dont live in a high rise, I have my own house, own car, LIVE WITH IT LOSER!
phlosphr:
That sure rings a bell
As a single mother I’d like to bust a few stereotypes:
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I’m a gainfully employed, middle-class chick in the IT field, where I make enough money to keep my son dressed in decent clothes, and good food on the table…that was bought retail.
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And no, I’m not able to afford these things via child support. I do not receive child support. And I do not receive child support because I declined, not because the state kept it from my greedy grasping single mother hands.
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My son is a well-adjusted child, involved in many activities, with lots of friends. He is, in fact, lacking in a lot of the problems I see in children who come from homes that are not “broken”.
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Lastly, I feel fulfilled and happy in my single mother status. I’m not waiting for a man to come and rescue me.
Yeah, single parents can have it hard. So can families where the parents are alcoholics, or when one parent becomes crippled, or when LIFE happens. We all have our burdens to bear: single parenthood is not the one-way no-stop road to hell people love to paint it out to be.
Color me guilty. Except the power and water part. And the local serial killers, I’ve never heard that one.