Somehow this was my fault ...

The Elephant and Castle - nice ...

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and now for one of those posts that probably could mark me down as a bigot:

I just popped round to my local convenience store on the Brixton Road. It's run by a couple of young Indian brothers.

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A black guy being served ahead of me was 45p short on a £3.50 bill

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Black Guy No.1: 'I'll owe it to you'
Indian Guy: 'Sorry, can't do that'
Black Guy No.1: 'It's only 45p.'
Indian Guy: 'Sorry, I really can't do that'

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Two friends appeared

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Black Guy No.2: 'It's only 45p. You've got ten of thousands of pounds of loads of stock (no he hasn't). What's your problem'

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Black Guy No.1 takes an item out of the bag and walks off behind some shelves. Indian guy eyes the shelving, clearly suspecting that he's put the item in his jacket.

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Black Guy No.2: 'If a white man came in and asked for 45p off you'd give it to him'
Indian guy points at me and says: 'This guy comes in every day. He lives around the corner and I wouldn't give him a discount'

Black Guy No.2 points at me: 'I don't know him from Adam. We live in a community. The Oval community'
Indian Guy: 'Precisely and I don't know the guy who's asking for the discount'

Black Guy No.2 looks confused and mutters something about living in a rascist country.
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By this time the shopkeeper was noticeably shaking (the tone of the conversation was menacing) and had put an unwanted packet of tampons in my carrier bag, along with my milk and bread.

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The 'conversation' carried on for another 2 or 3 minutes, by which time the shopkeeper had been bullied into submission. Strangely, neither of the two friends offered to make up the difference from their own pockets.

What essentials was the guy buying? Two bottles of Guinness and two cans of Red Bull
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I despair, I really do
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and if you don't understand why the whole interaction upset me deeply, just forget it, and no I'm not offended about not qualifying for a 'discount'.

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