Valet parking?

[jamesqf]

(Hope this doesn't qualifiy as, or degenerate into, politics. I intend it as general social commentary, and at least tangentially related to cars :-))

I expect most of you who follow at least general news headlines have seen today's remark from Pres. Obama about being mistaken for a parking attendant:

There's no black male my age, who's a professional, who hasn't come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn't hand them their car keys...

Now that really struck me as an example of reality disconnect, in several ways. First, I'm about his age, equally a professional, yet have never been to the sort of restaurant where valet parking* is provided. So what does that say about some people's rather blinkered social expectations?

Second, even though I've never been in a position where I could have been mistaken for a parking attendant, there've been a number of occasions where I've been taken for a similar sort of service person. Now even though a preference for an active outdoor life means I usually have a pretty good tan, I'd suspect my blond hair & green eyes would keep people from thinking I'm black, so I'd think that sort of mistake is hardly evidence of pervasive racism.

So I'm curious: how many of you sometimes get mistaken for service persons (not counting times when you actually were working as such, of course), and how do you react?


*And I certainly wouldn't trust my car to a random parking attendant. Would you? And do you ever go to places where such is expected?

[nemo]

Here valet parking is quite common malls, restaurant, casinos and even hospitals have valet parking. I avoid valet parking.

[cowmeat]

Valet parking?

There's a good way to kill a "best tank"!

[mcrews]

First, I cant remember seeing a black valet attendant.

Second, read what michelle said about being 'asked for help' at Target.
Had nothing to do w/ being black.

This is what happens when you become 'entitled' because of race.

[Cobb]

I use to wear a white oxford long sleeve shirt and tan pants. I was often mistaken as a manager at Sears of all stores.

I too avoid valet parking, I rather drop off my passenger and go fish for a spot.

[Nigel_S]

I think it is fairly obvious why he gets mistaken as a servant!



If you dress and behave like a servant then you should expect to be treated as one.

[Frank Lee]

^And the devolving begins... :/

Back in H.S. I didn't have an FFA jacket; at a State competition some thought I was the instructor.

Some random stranger rang my doorbell recently; he mistook me for a service garage- could my car/parts/stuff hoard have something to do with it? He wanted his son's SUV hauled 60 miles away... so I did it. Too bad I didn't find out until after the fact that he and his son were both doctors; I would have charged them $1000/hr like they do to me. :/

[freebeard]

It reminds me of Bush 41 being astounded by a laser scanner at the grocery checkout.

[jcp123]

I get mistaken for an employee strikingly often when I am at Walmart. Has happened at Target and Home Depot a few times too.

I stayed at an upscale hotel this summer, valet parkig was mandatory there. About 1/3 of the attendants were black. And about 50+% of the guests were black. Nobody got mistaken for anybody that they weren't.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by jcp123

I stayed at an upscale hotel this summer, valet parkig was mandatory there.

That was part of my point about reality disconnects, or maybe it's more just an obliviousness to how lots of other people live. There's the blanket assumption that being a "professional" means that you naturally go to the sort of upscale hotel, restaurant, or whatever that would have valet parking. Now what with conferences, business meetings, and the like, I've been to a few such places over the years, but they're far from being my natural habitat. So what does that say about a person who can & does frequent such places, yet claims to be a victim of discrimination?

I also can't help but wonder about my chances of even being allowed into many such places, if I went as my normal self. Not high, I think.

Oh, yeah: maybe even better than the being mistaken for an employee trip is the one where you stop to offer some one a hand, and they try to tip you.