No Backpacks Allowed!

After school today, I went to Circle K to buy a drink. As I walked in, the cashier didn't say anything which didn't seem like a big deal to me until a few minutes later when a group of mexican high school students came in. As soon as they entered, the cashier told them to leave their backpacks next to the entrance. Here I am with my backpack on and they had to take it off? That didn't make any sense to me. As I walked up to pay for my drink, I was expecting the cashier to tell me to leave my backpack by the entrance the next time I come but instead, he smiled at me and started making conversation with me, asking how my day was, what grade I was in, and other trivial questions. I answered politely but in the back of my mind, I was thinking about his unfair treatment. I didn't stay to find out but I was pretty certain that he wouldn't have been as cheerful serving them as he was with me.

Now, I don't mean to sound judgemental here, but the group of mexicans looked like what someone might call a sterotypical "gangster" with their clothes and appearance. I'm not saying they are. I don't even know any of them. But with the way the cashier acted, it was as if he believed they were, immediately judging them on their looks only. Whereas me on the other hand, in his eyes, I probably looked harmless based on my appearance and nice clothes as I was wearing a fancy sweater at the time. Maybe I'm overthinking things as it simply could be the fact that they entered in as a group and so it would have been eaiser for them steal something whereas I entered in alone but regardless of the reason, at the very least, he should have been fair and consistent with his treatment and told me the same thing as them. As for the cashier himself, he was a white man, not Asian like me which otherwise would have made him seem even more biased although this still does not excuse his unfairness.

This kind of thing has been going on for a long time now and it isn't just Circle K telling teenagers who enter to leave their backpacks behind as almost every store does this. You never see them telling adults to leave their bags behind but they do this to teenagers because they are viewed as trouble makers whereas adults are viewed as more mature. Once again, this is judgement based on looks and appearance. Just because some teenagers shoplift doesn't mean every single teenager shoplifts and just because someone is an adult doesn't mean they won't shoplift. I can't blame them however, as they have to take precautions in order to prevent as many shoplifts as possible but I still think they need to be fair and incorporate this to everyone rather than just a specific group of people.