For those of you who don’t live in the southern area of New Jersey near Philadelphia, you won’t understand what the significance of a local “Wawa” means.
See, it’s not a “Quick Chek”, or even a 7-11 with much better coffee.
Your local “Wa” is a much beloved regional stop for milk, newspapers, hoagies (Philadelphian for “subs”), the best coffee in the world and pretty much anything else that you might need…it’s truly “one-stop-shopping”.
And, if you’re lucky enough to fine a “Wa” with a gas station…you’re also going to find some amazing gas prices, too.
I love a “Wa”…always have. They’re always clean and friendly…
And, then today, it wasn’t all about the “Wa”…’tis all about the people that were staffing it as well as the people that were there who made me stop and think.
So, I’m at this “Wa” that I always stop by on my way back from AMF’s place in Oaklyn down in Runnemede. It’s a sort of low middle-income area right outside of Camden and Philadelphia in a mixed residential area, and this African-American gentleman walked in to get some coffee.
I’ve seen this before…all of the “white folk” drew back (I don’t know why), and he was right behind me, asking for directions to the “Franklin Museum”.
Well, that would be the “Franklin Institute”, so I helped him out.
I was the only person in the Wa who was willing to give him directions, and I still don’t know why.
“Thank you so much! Can you write them down for me?” Sure, just let me find a napkin and ask for a pen at the counter.
Ladies and gentlemen, the last time I checked the year, it was 2006…and, do you know…everyone avoided us? I mean, walked “around us”? The 41 year old white girl in the “Eagles” hoodie and the 50-something African-American with the wild hair?
“Here you go! Oh, and don’t forget…the Philadelphia Marathon was run earlier this morning, so that area around the Institute’s going to be a mess.”
“Thank you so much!”
Cheers, mate…have a great time.
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2 comments:
I think it's at worst bigotry but without being able to see into these people's hearts & minds, at best it's ignorance or a lack of common courtesy. Years ago, people used to hold doors for women & older people. Now you have people fighting over parking spots, PS3s and the number of items in checkout lines.
Whatever the case, it's wrong. But at least someone did something sbout it-you!
I just felt awful that no one else even gave a second thought to helping this guy.
I'll blog about this again at one point, but you already know my feelings about how rude I think we've all become.
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