Wow. Let me walk through the events earlier. Remember, I'm in central Texas, and not so far away an idiot was shot/killed in Austin over this BLM baloney.
At a big store, have a cart with 10-20 items. Find a lane with one fellow in it (30 y.o. black male). Start unloading my cart, checkout lady (40-ish) asks me to maintain distance (6 ft from fellow in front of me, everyone is wearing masks). Ok, fine, I stop unloading and stand 6 ft away looking back into the store. She finishes with his items, he pays cash, she says how they don't have change so anything under $1 will get donated. Great. After ringing him up, and packing the items, she realizes he has a couple of cases of soft drinks still in the cart, and has him hand them over to scan. Rings him up again, and both times it was over 50 cents change due. He wants his dollar. She says because it was two transactions, she can't re-combine them. He demands his dollar and asks for a supervisor.
At this point, I'm loading my stuff back into my cart, I can see this is going to be an issue. It had already gone on too long as he couldn't find more cash in his wallet. I have my conceal carry on me but I can't get out of there quickly enough. The supervisor arrives, listens to both sides and repeats the statement from the clerk. Both sides repeat themselves, over and over as I'm quickly rolling away. I don't care how it ended, I just didn't want to be there and I was not getting involved in that man's stupidity. He basically tried to steal $10 or $20 in drinks, got caught, and was going to pay a $1 stupid-tax for it. Unless he wanted to extend that debt to an arrest for assault. I could hear the undertone of "I'm black, you owe me" with every time he said "I want my dollar." Neither employee was racist in words or deeds, it's just how the computer works and he agreed to not get change before the transaction started. But I can see how an idiot like this guy would punch the lady cashier and take his dollar from the register. I considered for a millisecond saying how the lady is right, but he would take it as one more white person stealing his money, and he'd more likely start trouble with me as a 'white male'.
The whole interaction screamed 'race vs race'. Black guy trying to steal (in a subtle way, but it's still stealing). White middle aged woman trying to make a living at a job that clearly doesn't pay enough, and stressed out about avoiding getting sick. He was wearing dark sunglasses in a store in the middle of the day (and based on how he was talking/acting, I suspect he was stoned). It did end without violence, but it could have easily gone either way.
My reference to Austin. Last night was another idiot BLM rally. A white guy was carrying an AK47. They were blocking an intersection as they were pouring across it (see videos), it didn't look like they were permanently blocking it, but traffic with a green light were stuck. Horns honked, and the idiot with the AK47 approached one of the vehicles. Chest-strapped. Driver took it as an act of aggression and shot 5 rounds (from what I can hear on the video). He will need a good lawyer, but he's got a great point given all the other BLM attacks nationwide. The idiot was declared dead at the hospital. He had been interviewed earlier, and asked why he was open carrying an AK47. His answer was that his right to protest was being hindered, so he was exercising his other rights. Well, that didn't end well for him. His quadriplegic black wife was being pushed with the protest (saw her in the background at the interview). I'd say her life will not get better as a result of BLM. My point being that these things happen really quickly, be alert and ready.
At a big store, have a cart with 10-20 items. Find a lane with one fellow in it (30 y.o. black male). Start unloading my cart, checkout lady (40-ish) asks me to maintain distance (6 ft from fellow in front of me, everyone is wearing masks). Ok, fine, I stop unloading and stand 6 ft away looking back into the store. She finishes with his items, he pays cash, she says how they don't have change so anything under $1 will get donated. Great. After ringing him up, and packing the items, she realizes he has a couple of cases of soft drinks still in the cart, and has him hand them over to scan. Rings him up again, and both times it was over 50 cents change due. He wants his dollar. She says because it was two transactions, she can't re-combine them. He demands his dollar and asks for a supervisor.
At this point, I'm loading my stuff back into my cart, I can see this is going to be an issue. It had already gone on too long as he couldn't find more cash in his wallet. I have my conceal carry on me but I can't get out of there quickly enough. The supervisor arrives, listens to both sides and repeats the statement from the clerk. Both sides repeat themselves, over and over as I'm quickly rolling away. I don't care how it ended, I just didn't want to be there and I was not getting involved in that man's stupidity. He basically tried to steal $10 or $20 in drinks, got caught, and was going to pay a $1 stupid-tax for it. Unless he wanted to extend that debt to an arrest for assault. I could hear the undertone of "I'm black, you owe me" with every time he said "I want my dollar." Neither employee was racist in words or deeds, it's just how the computer works and he agreed to not get change before the transaction started. But I can see how an idiot like this guy would punch the lady cashier and take his dollar from the register. I considered for a millisecond saying how the lady is right, but he would take it as one more white person stealing his money, and he'd more likely start trouble with me as a 'white male'.
The whole interaction screamed 'race vs race'. Black guy trying to steal (in a subtle way, but it's still stealing). White middle aged woman trying to make a living at a job that clearly doesn't pay enough, and stressed out about avoiding getting sick. He was wearing dark sunglasses in a store in the middle of the day (and based on how he was talking/acting, I suspect he was stoned). It did end without violence, but it could have easily gone either way.
My reference to Austin. Last night was another idiot BLM rally. A white guy was carrying an AK47. They were blocking an intersection as they were pouring across it (see videos), it didn't look like they were permanently blocking it, but traffic with a green light were stuck. Horns honked, and the idiot with the AK47 approached one of the vehicles. Chest-strapped. Driver took it as an act of aggression and shot 5 rounds (from what I can hear on the video). He will need a good lawyer, but he's got a great point given all the other BLM attacks nationwide. The idiot was declared dead at the hospital. He had been interviewed earlier, and asked why he was open carrying an AK47. His answer was that his right to protest was being hindered, so he was exercising his other rights. Well, that didn't end well for him. His quadriplegic black wife was being pushed with the protest (saw her in the background at the interview). I'd say her life will not get better as a result of BLM. My point being that these things happen really quickly, be alert and ready.
