"Cracker" is a hurtful racial slur that we must reclaim

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I found myself standing in front of the customer service desk being "helped" by a belligerent and rude person of color. I had been nothing but polite to this person but like many BLM type of people could simply not ignore the color of my skin. She kept slipping in various "white people" and "As a black woman..." type comments while giving me intentionally bad service. Things like telling me she is going to go to the back to check stock and then going on a bathroom break. I actually saw her walk to the bathroom and back without ever going to the stock room. I was taking the high road though because I wanted my new grill, not racial justice. This all came to a head when I said "look if you can't find any stock in store can you at least tell me when it will be re-stocked?" And her response was "You white people... always expecting house niggers to bend over backwards."

This was the first direct insult aimed at me in specific and I was having none of it. In a flash of inspiration I said "Whaterver Cracker. Go get the store manager." She clearly was confused by this and did not know what to do

"...What?"

"You heard me Cracker. Go get the store manager.

Confused by angry she said "Did you just call me a Cracker?"

I interrupted and said "You are not allowed to say that word because of how hurtful it is to white people. We are reclaiming the word and owning it for our own use. Now go get a manager Cracker."

I think I actually saw her burst a blood vessel in her forehead. She flipped out. Yelled, screeched, called me every insult available in her limited vocabulary. Made a half hearted grab at me over the counter... nothing serious be enough that I could get her arrested with the security footage.

The manager showed up in record time. He could hear her across the store. When the Manager showed up she called me a Nazi White Supremacist.

"What did he do?"

"He called me a Cracka!"

"...what? Is that it?"

"...yeah! But he clearly meant it to be an insult!"

"But that is all he did? Call you a, cracker?"

"yeah!"

The manager made eye contact with me and I gave a little shrug. He sighed, clearly thinking "I don't get paid enough for this shit." I said "Look I will make it easy for you. Give me 10% off my grill order and ship it to my house for free and I want to see her escorted out of the building. Or, I call the cops, we review the security footage and I have her arrested for assault. Your choice."

The manager had to give me the standard "disciplinary actions are internal matters and we do not disclose them to the public" speech but I'm cooking on a new grill tonight and I don't think she has a job today.

Cracker. The word has been a horrible racial slur for generations. We need to reclaim the word and own the word and redefine it for our own use.

Recently I had a really bad retail shopping experience. It involved a large retailer, an on-line "pick it up today at the store" order for a large high price item. I had been getting the run around for many hours and had driven to more than one retail location that "have multiple units in stock" only for the stores in question to be unable to find the stock. I found myself standing in front of the customer service desk being "helped" by a belligerent and rude person of color. I had been nothing but polite to this person but like many BLM type of people could simply not ignore the color of my skin. She kept slipping in various "white people" and "As a black woman..." type comments while giving me intentionally bad service. Things like telling me she is going to go to the back to check stock and then going on a bathroom break. I actually saw her walk to the bathroom and back without ever going to the stock room. I was taking the high road though because I wanted my new grill, not racial justice. This all came to a head when I said "look if you can't find any stock in store can you at least tell me when it will be re-stocked?" And her response was "You white people... always expecting house niggers to bend over backwards." This was the first direct insult aimed at me in specific and I was having none of it. In a flash of inspiration I said "Whaterver Cracker. Go get the store manager." She clearly was confused by this and did not know what to do "...What?" "You heard me Cracker. Go get the store manager. Confused by angry she said "Did you just call me a Cracker?" I interrupted and said "You are not allowed to say that word because of how hurtful it is to white people. We are reclaiming the word and owning it for our own use. Now go get a manager Cracker." I think I actually saw her burst a blood vessel in her forehead. She flipped out. Yelled, screeched, called me every insult available in her limited vocabulary. Made a half hearted grab at me over the counter... nothing serious be enough that I could get her arrested with the security footage. The manager showed up in record time. He could hear her across the store. When the Manager showed up she called me a Nazi White Supremacist. "What did he do?" "He called me a Cracka!" "...what? Is that it?" "...yeah! But he clearly meant it to be an insult!" "But that is all he did? Call you a, cracker?" "yeah!" The manager made eye contact with me and I gave a little shrug. He sighed, clearly thinking "I don't get paid enough for this shit." I said "Look I will make it easy for you. Give me 10% off my grill order and ship it to my house for free and I want to see her escorted out of the building. Or, I call the cops, we review the security footage and I have her arrested for assault. Your choice." The manager had to give me the standard "disciplinary actions are internal matters and we do not disclose them to the public" speech but I'm cooking on a new grill tonight and I don't think she has a job today. Cracker. The word has been a horrible racial slur for generations. We need to reclaim the word and own the word and redefine it for our own use.

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