The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

            In 2009, I met my husband Foizal in Guyana while on vacation. I do not travel often to South America because my parents migrated from there when I was four years old. I do not have many memories of my birth country. During my vacation, I fell in love and returned to Guyana, three months later and we married in a simple ceremony. I made frequent visit to see my husband and always enjoyed learning more about the country where I was born. Each trip was a new adventure and I was ready to take in all the knowledge. My last trip to Guyana, I had a terrible experience in a local village shop.  I usually pack my suitcase very carefully each time I take a trip, but unfortunately this time I forgot my perfume.

            My husband took me a shop where they sold perfume from the U.S. because I would be more familiar with the brands. The store was lovely and there were two local village girls working there. When I arrived in the store, they were both assisting other customers. I began to walk around and look through the different bottles. I felt a strange vibe but I ignored it without making a big deal. My husband was looking at men’s colognes as I continued to browse. I noticed one of the girls had finished with her customer and then I heard her say she is taking her break now. The next young lady was done with her customer, but she never approached me or acknowledged that I was waiting. Another customer walked into the store and she offered assistance to her. In a slightly assertive voice, I stated I was next and would need assistance just in case she really did not notice me. She looked at me and said I thought you were still browsing.

            My husband asked what happen, I told him the sale woman is ignoring me and that is mean. My husband told me maybe she did not honestly know you were ready to be attended too.  Finally when she did come to where I was standing, I asked her to see a few different perfumes, and she spoke to me very rudely and would not pull out the ones I wanted to see. I asked my husband to take me somewhere else and he agreed. As I was leaving the store, I decided to ask to talk to the person that was in charge. I told the manager, that his workers refused to serve me and I do not know why. As I proceeded to leave the store, I could hear them arguing and I heard one of girls say she is not Guyanese, she is a foreigner. I was insulted and I could believe that I was judged based upon my looks and my language.

            My feeling of equity was diminished by the lack of service I received. I was not seen as a customer, but as a nuisance to the two girls. I was treated as if I had not right to be in the store and my money was of no value to buy in there. I told my husband that this incident made me sad because, I always had positive interactions wherever I went. I enjoyed visiting different stores and learning about Guyana, through his eyes. But during this incident I felt single out and de-graded as a human being. In order to have the opportunity of equity, there needs to customer services rules that regulate the worker’s behavior. Your personal biases should be left outside your professional working environment. When dealing with any business that requires face to face interactions with people, you learn to show respect for all differences and present fairness as one of your abilities. Customer services is a job that many people perform all over the world and if we all portrayed the way we feel, our business would not succeed.

              I was unfortunately single out by the two women because they felt I should not be shopping in there store, even though I am a paying customer. I was targeted by biases and prejudice feelings that made me feel inferior. I was very sad, but I ended up going to another store where I was treated with respect. I just keep thinking if I am Guyanese by birth and I was treated that way, how the people that are facing severe poverty in Guyana treated by their own people. In this world we are all connected because all of us face the same problems and we are all looking for a solution to make our worlds full of harmony and respect for all people.