Watching out for the white people.

I was at the local Starbucks getting some coffee, today. Okay, it was a latte. Whatever. And, yes, Starbucks is yet another one of those evil empire kinds of places. But they make good lattes. Plus I can sneak in a smoke, read something, and other than the initial robotic, cheery corporate greetings I am left pretty much on my own.

So I'm sitting there, outside, trying to soak up what little heat the winter sun affords, and I happen to look over at where my truck is parked. I own a 95 nissan p/u with a cracked windshield, a thin layer of dust over everything (cat footprints not withstanding) and a seat badly in need of steam cleaning from numerous spilled coffees, softdrinks, sweat and dirt.

Anyway, I glance over at my truck and notice that someone has placed a large fountain drink on top of it. What the?! Then I notice that the someone in question is still at the scene of the crime. This someone is, in fact, an upper-middle class blonde woman with perfect hair, and she is climbing, ever so nonchalantly, into her SUV.

I hate SUV's. I hate perfect hair. I really, really, really hate discourteous behavior.

Now here come's the dissappointing part: I did absoulutely nothing.

Why? My first instinct was to yell at her, "how 'bout it?" and dart over towards her and her accomplice (male passenger). But, as I played that scenario out in my head, I came to the conclusion that nothing I've said would've made a dent. She probably would've wondered what the fuss was about - and either been insincerely apologetic, to get rid of me, or maybe even tried to turn things around on me as being unreasonable.

Would it have been unreasonable? Maybe. Maybe this is all overblown (and better left as a blog rant than a parking lot tantrum) but there is a small point I'd like to make:

If my car had been a Beamer or some other high dollar vehicle, I don't thing she would've thought twice about putting anything on it. Maybe she would've (gasp) put the drink on her own car! However, given the state and status of my vehicle, she felt no such restraint.

My father has a saying: "Watch out for the white people."

He says this whenever I am getting ready to disembark on a long journey. I should mention that my father is white, I am white, my whole family is white. Really, what he means is, "watch out for people with an overdeveloped sense of self-entitlement based on socio-economic class." These are people who will screw you, knowingly or not, to get what they feel should be coming to them. It just so happens that in my experience (and my father's) most of these people are upper-middle class white folk.

Don't get me wrong - a differing creed or or color does not exclude you from this status. All you have to do is feel privileged (usually, based on money and background), then go out and belittle as many people as possible: be rude to your server at any restaraunt or bar, cut off the guy in the next lane for no good reason, or, in this case put a drink on top of the neighboring car. Then you, too, can be one of those - "Watch out for the white people!" people. Eddie Murphy had a point.

End of sermon.

Now if I could just find a really hep place to get those lattes.