Etiquette School is in session! > Complete Silence

Unanimous group silence. Warning: Racism

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Nikko-chan:
BG-- I am in college, and in order to get to school I rely on the public bus system. I take one bus from home, and then take another bus to school about fifteen to twenty minutes later. This means I have to be at the station for a bit before I board the second bus.

So, today I am waiting in the bus station, and a woman comes out from the back area of the station and starts asking people for a lighter. Caps just to show the loudness. I'm gonna white this out because it includes racism so if you don't want to read..

Woman: HEY YOU, YOU GOT A LIGHTER?
Man she was addressing: No.
Woman: *asking a young man standing far away from her* HEY WHITE BOY, YOU GOT A LIGHTER?
*cue silence and mortification from everyone that heard her*
Woman: *trying to defend herself* HEY I WAS RIGHT! HE'S A BOY, AND HE'S WHITE, SO I CALLED HIM WHITE BOY!


We unintentionally did a Group Complete Silence on her and she got flustered... I don't really know what else we could have done in this situation other than ignore ignore ignore.

Just wanted to share that with you all.

jaxsue:
Having been on mass transit often, I ignore the people that act like this. Honestly, I worry that engaging them in any way would make things worse; some of them (IME) seem unstable.

BeagleMommy:
Sounds like the group response had the desired effect (in a way).  She was forced to defend her uncouth statement and unnecessary loudness.

Nikko-chan:
Thank you for your responses... sorry I am so late in responding but my computers been a bit... erm... under the weather.

RiverSong:
Wow  :o I think the response was definitely appropriate.

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