![\"racistseverywhere\"](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/racistseverywhere.png\" "\\"racistseverywhere.png\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Got the last bill from Verizon today.<\/p>\n
Which is funny because they claim they bill a month in advance. When I cancelled the service the lady I was speaking with said sh thought I\u2019d be getting a refund.<\/p>\n
The young man I spoke to this morning said \u201cWe bill a month in advance, but because you cancelled service mid month you owe us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way I understand those terms, I take it to mean that since I was on a fixed rate plan, my payment in Late Feb, would pay for March, and my Payment made in late March would pay for April.<\/p>\n
When I mentioned to the young, obviously black man on the phone that I don\u2019t think the terms they\u2019re using mean what they think they do. He got just a little annoyed and told me I don\u2019t understand English.<\/p>\n
![\"Verizon\"](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Verizon.png\" "\\"Verizon.png\\"")
<\/p>\n
It took all the power I could summon to not respond to that line with;<\/p>\n
At least I speak the language without an accent that obviously identifies me as a minority, thereby inciting racist behavior<\/p>\n
or I\u2019m sorry my translator is broken what did you say?<\/p>\n
or No, I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re sayin<\/p>\n
or any of the 1000 other things I could have said that would have been construed as racist. Some of which would truly have been racist and meant as such.<\/p>\n
![\"baltimore\"](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/baltimore.png\" "\\"baltimore.png\\"")
<\/p>\n
Instead, rather than Verizon calling me a racist again, I cut this guy off with, “So what I owe you is $60 and we\u2019re freakin done is that correct? ”<\/p>\n
It suddenly occurred to me that I was probably talking to Verizon in Missouri. Which is the place I was talking to when I was accused of being a racist. Since then I\u2019ve given up trying not to be labeled a racist.<\/p>\n
My speech patterns identify me as a white male as surely as the predominant African American speech patterns identify a black person.<\/p>\n
Regardless of my intentions, or what is in my heart, \u00a0I will always be judged on the phone through whatever lens the person on the other end of the phone chooses to see the world through. Since I sound white, the black person assumes that I\u2019m a racist and thus I am. There is no way that can be undone.<\/p>\n
![\"talktothehand\"](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/talktothehand.png\" "\\"talktothehand.png\\"")
<\/p>\n
Rather than continuing a losing conversation it was easier for me to write a check and be done with Verizon. After all it\u2019s not my freakin job to educate people who aren\u2019t remotely interested in what I have to say.<\/p>\n
Time to cut my losses and get on with life.<\/p>\n
“Booolahmuwanaboola\u201d<\/p>\n
Sorry man, I didn\u2019t understand what you were saying, I\u2019d already turned off the translation matrix.<\/p>\n
You were talking to THE HAND!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Got the last bill from Verizon today. Which is funny because they claim they bill a month in advance. When I cancelled the service the lady I was speaking with said sh thought I\u2019d be getting a refund. The young man I spoke to this morning said \u201cWe bill a month in advance, but because … <\/p>\n