Immigrants and a Car that Has Needs, Too

I'm going to preface this by saying I quite literally have no problems with immigrants. I don't even really give a rip about their status. The reasons for this are many but to summarize: the legal immigration process is absolutely ridiculous and takes around ten years and a few thousand dollars and in addition to that, immigrant workers support the bulk of our industries. So if you like your dollar hamburgers and cheap clothes at Wal-Mart, you support immigrants, too -- legal or otherwise.

I saw an interaction yesterday that kind of surprised me. Maybe I'm naïve but I'm always surprised that people who are in the same situation, but of a different race or demographic, have a tendency to dislike each other instead of support each other. This was somewhat evidenced by the 2008 Presidential Election. The hispanic population, which is traditionally a democratic vote, actually shunned Obama. I don't want to be called a racist or talk about prejudices here; this is statistical data. It is a proven fact. It is neither opinion nor speculation. A group of people known to vote democratic did not vote for a black presidential candidate. They are both minority races, but they generally don't get along.

This is all just a lead-in to what happened yesterday. I went to the gas station to purchase some beer provisions for the evening. The man behind the counter (it's almost always the same dude) is Indian. Dot Indian, not feather Indian. A Mexican dude was at the counter making a purchase, and I walked back to get my beer. I toted it up to the counter and waited in line behind the Mexican dude. The Indian guy looked somewhat agitated but honestly, his customer service skills could use some work so he usually looks that way. The transaction was taking a long time, and I wasn't sure why but I wasn't really paying attention. A lot of independently owned & operated convenience stores use older technology, so often the approval process for credit cards takes longer.

Anyway, the Mexican dude asked for a plastic bag after his card was approved. He said this in a very thick accent and in broken English. The Indian dude quite literally took a plastic bag in his hand and tossed it in the air in the general direction of the Mexican. It landed haphazardly on the counter and the Mexican guy took it, looking confused.

"You want receipt?" the Indian asked. The Mexican nodded. With a flourish, the Indian tore the receipt off the printer and tossed it in the air towards the guy. It floated to the counter dramatically. The Mexican blinked and then asked "Why you throw?" -- not in an accusatory tone even, but just confused as to why the guy was being a total dick. The Indian only glared at him. The Mexican left, looking irritated and bewildered.

"He must've really pissed you off." I said, fishing for information.

In a thick and almost incomprehensible accent, the Indian replied something along the lines of, "I ask him debit or credit he no say."

Okay. The Mexican dude clearly didn't speak English that well. And while I know the Indian's native language is probably "English", it's certainly not American English. You would think that someone who, surely, has had difficulties communicating with others would be a little more understanding of someone who doesn't speak English? I mean, you would think one immigrant to another there might be a little leeway? Apparently not. I'd also think that if you were working late at night in a gas station by yourself you wouldn't go out of your way to be a dick to anyone, but that's just me.

In other news, I am having car problems. I don't like cars. I mean, I love cars, of course. But only when they work and do not require any attention from me whatsoever. I'm like a mean girlfriend to my car; I only want to give it enough attention to survive but not enough for our relationship to be healthy for it. So the horn doesn't work. And at first I didn't really care because how often do you use your horn? Answer: Only when you need it. And if you NEED your horn, and it's not there, it could be very bad. Someone's backing up into you? No horn?! It's not like you have time to roll down the window and shout HEY FUCKER SOMEONE'S BACK HERE! Or someone's coming into the lane you're in and trying to occupy the same space you're in? No horn, you're outta luck. You have to swerve out of the way and hope for the best.

So I did some troubleshooting. I learned about fuses today which are amazingly simple and replaced the two horn fuses that are under the hood. But that didn't fix the problem. To make matters worse, my car started making a horrible squealing sound on the way home from the auto parts store. Most of the time the sound wasn't there but it seemed totally random except that braking would make it stop (sometimes just until I quit braking, sometimes permanently). My dad says it's probably just a sign I need new brake pads, so next weekend I'm going to San Antonio and we're going to try to get the horn working and then replace the brake pads. Hopefully we can get the horn working on our own. The safety inspection is due by the end of this month, and it won't pass safety without a functioning horn.

Other than that things are the same as they ever were. I finished my summer LIT class and made an A. ECON is going for another four weeks, I'm hoping to pull an A or B in that. Work is still tremendously busy and I'm beginning to hate college students more than I already did. Why do you fuckers wait until the last day something is due/can be done before you do it? Then don't complain to me you're running out of time. Additionally, if you ask me a question, and I answer it, and you don't like the answer, asking the question again but in a different way is NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE ANSWER.

Fffffs.