Re SELF-DEPRECATING HUMOR & RACISM: IF THEY HATE YOU, SELF-DEPRECATING HUMOR DOESN'T WORK
8/5/10 @ CVS, 1050 W. Sunset, 90012 AF AM SECURITY Helped me w/ the SELF CHECK after I had a few "failed attempts"...bc the machine said press "return" & was talking abt the LCD screen when I was looking at the key pad & the green enter button (sometimes "return" & "enter" are used interchangeably)...& then also I couldn't easily scan my credit card b/c the scanner was too close to the mechanism next to it, making it difficult to get your hand in there...
So this black security guard who I've seen previously & who just stares blankly all the time, & never shows a hint of friendliness or familiarity (despite the fact that I've been stopping in here periodically for years now, usually before I go to a dodgers game) sauntered on over & indicated the return button on the LCD screen & then he took my card & slid it for me...without a problem even tho he had bigger fingers..
So I tried to make light of it with self-deprecating humor & said "I guess im just dumb"..he was suppsd to laugh at my self deprecating humor but said, "Oh naw, don't put yourself down like that" indicating he actually did have a sense of "black superiority" & a sense of being superior to whites, I guess. He tipped his hand. That's racism, for you.
Self-deprecating humor is supposed to "break the ice" & not be taken literally, but when there's racism & racial superiority or other forms of aggressiveness at play it doesn't work.
For more about self-deprecating humor see
http://ezinearticles.com/?Im-Such-a-Moron---Self-Deprecating-Humor-Basics&id=385150
