Ah, The Melting Pot: A Farce in One Act...
Austintown, OH
Yeah, so I, like, almost became a fugitive today.
I stayed last night in Milford, CT which is about an hour or so north of NYC. This morning, I had to deadhead my empty trailer through the city to North Bergen, NJ which is just the other side of the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. My company has a drop yard there where I was going to drop my empty trailer and pick up my next load which had been relayed there the previous evening. I pulled into the yard and passed the guard shack where I was waved through by a nice black kid. I went back to the Schneider section (Schneider is my company, BTW), dropped my empty, found my load and made preparations to haul ass. It was about 6 AM and I wanted to get out of the city before the traffic began in earnest. I made my way back out to the gate and got waved through by the same black kid. I mention his race only because it has bearing later in the story.
I left the yard, which is at the end of a dead end street. I turned onto Tonelle Ave and began to make my way to the Jersey Turnpike. Then I saw a small gold-colored car flashing his lights as he came up behind me. I had get over due to a construction lane closure. This crazy guy came up around my right side and managed to get in front of me before he ran out of lane. He stuck his head out the window and motioned for me to stop. I couldn't really stop, though, because I was in the only open lane of a major thoroughfare. But, being the highly observant driver that I am, I spied a hole in the orange barrel barricade several hundred yards up and motioned to this guy, who was clearly Arab and not the same guard from the drop yard, that that was where I was headed. I wondered if, perhaps, I had hit him making my turn. So I pulled over and waited for him to catch up. He came up the side of my rig with a determined step and a clipboard in his hand. The following conversation had to be heard to be believed. I'll try to give it to you as much verbatim as my memory will allow. I never did get the guy's name, so I'll just call him Habib:
Habib: I call 911!!
Me: What?
Habib: I call 911!!!!!!
Me: (pause) Who are you?
Habib: (indicating security badge on chest) Is my responsibilty!! I have authority to call 911 and Schneider!!
Me: What are you talking about?
Habib: You did not stop!
Me: Where??!!
Habib: AT SCHNEIDER!!!!!
Me: Because the guy waved me through...
Habib: Yes.
Me: (mild puzzlement) Okay?
Habib: You did not stop!
Me: Because the guard waved me to go!!
Habib: Yes!!
Me: (still puzzled) Okay??
Habib: (motioning back to the yard) I think you come back now!
Me: What??!!
Habib: I think you come back now!!!
Me: I can't turn this thing around in the middle of the street!!
Habib: (sigh of disgust) Next time you stop!!
Me: Yeah. Okay.
Now, I know that last reply from me seemed flip, but it really wasn't. I had pretty well figured out what had happened and had moved on to other things in my mind. Namely, how to get this guy off my truck so I could get moving and out of the middle of the road. Nevertheless, the "Yeah. Okay." really pissed him off. I think he thought I was dismissing him. And I was, in part. Mostly, I just wanted to placate him and get him away before he lost his mind or something. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a bit nervous when he first came up. He was dressed in black from head to toe with a sock cap and a windbreaker which covered up his security badge. I assured him that everything was indeed "Okay". Once I convinced him that the Infidel wasn't high-browing him, he calmed down, took the necessary information and I took off.
The yard I picked up in isn't owned by Schneider. It is owned by another company from whom they lease space and I guess Schneider maintains their own separate security checkpoint within the complex that I didn't see. I laugh about it now. That guy was all set to sick the law on me for stealing my own company's trailer.
It never ceases to amaze me how much store many foreigners, but especially many Arabs, put into rules and procedures. I guess that's the mentality that comes of a culture where they'll kill you if you don't do as you're told. When I lived in San Diego, I had two friends in school who were Iranian. They were both children of families that fled when the Shah was deposed in the late 70's. They were good enough guys, but I've never in my life, before or since, met anyone more square than these two characters. Everything had to be precisely in it's place or order or they would get...a bit cranky. Just strange people.
In Good Morning Vietnam, Robin Williams has a great line at the end of the film. He looks his uptight, holier-than-thou commanding officer square in the eyes and says "You're in more dire need of a blowjob than any man in history". So, it would seem, did the guy I met this morning. As for Arabs in general? What is the mass societal equivalent of a blowjob? Any ideas?
I know, I know. I'm dealing with some pretty heavy-handed stereotypes. I'm just relaying my thoughts and perceptions based on my own personal experience. You know what the sad truth about stereotypes is? They have a basis in general, general, mind you, fact. That's how they became stereotypes in the first place. Stereotypes, in and of themselves, are harmless. What's insidious is allowing stereotypes of the group to influence your judgement of the individual.
Any Questions? Any Comments? Be Quiet as You Go...
Yeah, so I, like, almost became a fugitive today.
I stayed last night in Milford, CT which is about an hour or so north of NYC. This morning, I had to deadhead my empty trailer through the city to North Bergen, NJ which is just the other side of the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. My company has a drop yard there where I was going to drop my empty trailer and pick up my next load which had been relayed there the previous evening. I pulled into the yard and passed the guard shack where I was waved through by a nice black kid. I went back to the Schneider section (Schneider is my company, BTW), dropped my empty, found my load and made preparations to haul ass. It was about 6 AM and I wanted to get out of the city before the traffic began in earnest. I made my way back out to the gate and got waved through by the same black kid. I mention his race only because it has bearing later in the story.
I left the yard, which is at the end of a dead end street. I turned onto Tonelle Ave and began to make my way to the Jersey Turnpike. Then I saw a small gold-colored car flashing his lights as he came up behind me. I had get over due to a construction lane closure. This crazy guy came up around my right side and managed to get in front of me before he ran out of lane. He stuck his head out the window and motioned for me to stop. I couldn't really stop, though, because I was in the only open lane of a major thoroughfare. But, being the highly observant driver that I am, I spied a hole in the orange barrel barricade several hundred yards up and motioned to this guy, who was clearly Arab and not the same guard from the drop yard, that that was where I was headed. I wondered if, perhaps, I had hit him making my turn. So I pulled over and waited for him to catch up. He came up the side of my rig with a determined step and a clipboard in his hand. The following conversation had to be heard to be believed. I'll try to give it to you as much verbatim as my memory will allow. I never did get the guy's name, so I'll just call him Habib:
Habib: I call 911!!
Me: What?
Habib: I call 911!!!!!!
Me: (pause) Who are you?
Habib: (indicating security badge on chest) Is my responsibilty!! I have authority to call 911 and Schneider!!
Me: What are you talking about?
Habib: You did not stop!
Me: Where??!!
Habib: AT SCHNEIDER!!!!!
Me: Because the guy waved me through...
Habib: Yes.
Me: (mild puzzlement) Okay?
Habib: You did not stop!
Me: Because the guard waved me to go!!
Habib: Yes!!
Me: (still puzzled) Okay??
Habib: (motioning back to the yard) I think you come back now!
Me: What??!!
Habib: I think you come back now!!!
Me: I can't turn this thing around in the middle of the street!!
Habib: (sigh of disgust) Next time you stop!!
Me: Yeah. Okay.
Now, I know that last reply from me seemed flip, but it really wasn't. I had pretty well figured out what had happened and had moved on to other things in my mind. Namely, how to get this guy off my truck so I could get moving and out of the middle of the road. Nevertheless, the "Yeah. Okay." really pissed him off. I think he thought I was dismissing him. And I was, in part. Mostly, I just wanted to placate him and get him away before he lost his mind or something. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a bit nervous when he first came up. He was dressed in black from head to toe with a sock cap and a windbreaker which covered up his security badge. I assured him that everything was indeed "Okay". Once I convinced him that the Infidel wasn't high-browing him, he calmed down, took the necessary information and I took off.
The yard I picked up in isn't owned by Schneider. It is owned by another company from whom they lease space and I guess Schneider maintains their own separate security checkpoint within the complex that I didn't see. I laugh about it now. That guy was all set to sick the law on me for stealing my own company's trailer.
It never ceases to amaze me how much store many foreigners, but especially many Arabs, put into rules and procedures. I guess that's the mentality that comes of a culture where they'll kill you if you don't do as you're told. When I lived in San Diego, I had two friends in school who were Iranian. They were both children of families that fled when the Shah was deposed in the late 70's. They were good enough guys, but I've never in my life, before or since, met anyone more square than these two characters. Everything had to be precisely in it's place or order or they would get...a bit cranky. Just strange people.
In Good Morning Vietnam, Robin Williams has a great line at the end of the film. He looks his uptight, holier-than-thou commanding officer square in the eyes and says "You're in more dire need of a blowjob than any man in history". So, it would seem, did the guy I met this morning. As for Arabs in general? What is the mass societal equivalent of a blowjob? Any ideas?
I know, I know. I'm dealing with some pretty heavy-handed stereotypes. I'm just relaying my thoughts and perceptions based on my own personal experience. You know what the sad truth about stereotypes is? They have a basis in general, general, mind you, fact. That's how they became stereotypes in the first place. Stereotypes, in and of themselves, are harmless. What's insidious is allowing stereotypes of the group to influence your judgement of the individual.
Any Questions? Any Comments? Be Quiet as You Go...
posted by twistedyoda | 4/28/2006 09:43:00 PM
1 Comments:
The mass societal equivalent of a blowjob for Arabs...?
Nukes.
(Hey... we were all thinkin' it and I just said it.)
Don't know if you and I have ever had this discussion, but I have a bit of a problem with racism. I dislike it tremendously when it interferes with individual freedoms. But, I also think that no one has any right whatsoever to dictate another's prejudices, only their lawful behaviors. I know guys who have been in prison and you can not convince them with any hammer that blacks are any good. They have seen overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
I take everyone at 100% initially, no matter their skin color or race. But, many people seem to rush to lower that percentage within seconds of our meeting. And, eventually some make their way into a stereotype category and I have to call a spade a spade.
Was that a poor choice of terminology? Screw it.
Post a Comment
<< Home