I don't know how many people are racially biased in this country (probably a lot), but when someone becomes overly sensitive about such people till they start seeing everyone else as prejudiced, then it gets annoying. Not sure what I mean? Well, today I had a "chat" with the owner, together with this other guy (who's doing a H&T training) and a few other colleagues. The topic? Prejudice. Or to be exact, racial prejudice. WTF. I don't know how the hell it just came up, but suddenly there was all this hoo-ha about people who thought them better than other races, and it seemed directed towards me and the trainee (Eddie), which frankly, makes me a little confused, because never have I in the restaurant made a disparaging remark against a particular race. My theory is this: They saw me chatting with Eddie (talking softly actually) and probably assumed that we were forming some exclusive clique of some sort meaning to keep out everyone else. Which, you know... might seem pretty ridiculous, but I assure you, I'm probably 75% right on target.

You see, since me and Eddie were talking softly, they probably thought we were talking about foreign workers and stuff. The truth is, we were actually discussing the manager and owner, which obviously you don't talk loudly about to the whole friggin' world. Well, whatever. But I was a little offended that they made it seem as though we weren't cooperating with the colleagues because we thought we were "better than them". Which made me realize the two ironies in this situation.

The first:
It is ironic that by trying to close the "gap" between locals and foreigners, the gap inevitably widens due to the fact that we are constantly reminded of it. Now, if they had stopped reminding me that everyone's prejudiced in some way, I wouldn't even be thinking "Okay, they're Burmese, I'm Malaysian". But now that they've drilled it in your head, you're constantly aware of how different you are. Like... you're supposed to always be nice to foreigners, or else they'll start thinking that you're fucking prejudiced. I mean, seriously... WTF?! It's like saying that you can't dislike someone because then everyone's going to think you're some racist bitch. What happens if you just plain dislike them because of their friggin' personality? Too bad? It's truly quite silly. Now I'm going to start feeling like I'm not supposed to talk to Eddie (who happens to be Chinese) simply because they're going to start thinking that I'm ostracizing everybody else. Do you know how fucking ridiculous that is? Do they even realize the impact of constantly reminding everyone of some bloody gap? To be fair, I do understand that there are racists out there, but you know, if you haven't seen any proof of us being that, stop acting as though we're all born that way. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that jazz. There's no point calling someone innocent when you're treating them like they're guilty.

The second:
Racial bias? Try language barrier. Being the rare Chinese in the entire restaurant makes you the odd one one. Fuck superiority complex, you start feeling ostracized. Why? Because they start speaking in Burmese and God knows if they're bitching about you in front of your bloody face since you sure as hell can't understand a word they're saying. So if they're suggesting that we Chinese are acting superior, think again. Majority rules, and the majority are Burmese. It's really ironic that they think we ostracize Burmese, when it's really the other way round. Well, not per se, but you know... No one is really ostracizing anyone, but when the ratio of Chinese to Burmese is 1:5, really now, I would say the ones capable of shunning colleagues aren't really the Chinese. And (if you want to call me racist for this, go ahead) is it really a crime for me to want to be able to discuss something with someone without having to explain every single word I said in simpler English?

You know, I'm really tired of being treated like a criminal. I can't even count the number of times the manager and owner have asked me if I have a problem working with Burmese, when not once have not tried to be friendly. It pisses me off.

Other than that, there isn't much to blog about. Well, if you want... Now I know how it feels like being asked out by some drunken 40 year old. Here's the story: four guys were drinking lots of beer and started singing along to ABBA like they're in some karaoke bar. How wonderful. So what happened? I got called over to they're table and they started introducing themselves to me. I know, WTF? I shook all their hands, smiled pleasantly and thought to myself "What kinda fucking morons drink themselves silly before 6pm?" Told them my name, and they failed to pronounce it, coming up with the oh-so-conclusive "R-U-T-T" while I corrected them. Then this slightly nerdy looking 40-ish dude took out his phone and asked for my number. I smiled and said I don't hand out personal info to random strangers as the other guy who had graying black hair started babbling on about how they were "captivated" by me. Serious "WHAT THE FUCK?!" moment.

At least they didn't start puking on the floor. It's absolutely disgusting to see middle-aged men drinking themselves drunk. Why? Because they're always the loudest, and all end up looking like sleazy perverts.

Oh, and I had a dumb blond moment today.

Girl: Can I have an ice honey lemon please?
Me: Yeah sure. Would you like it hot or cold?
Girl: Uh... It's iced.

Talk about embarrassing.