I am accustomed to being the only white person in the room. I don't get nervous about it. I don't recall ever seeing another white person at my laundromat in 10 years. But today was different, maybe because the other customers were young, Black men. Well, also one old Black man.
There had been a couple Black women, but they left to do errands while their dryers ran. So, the guys all congregated on the other side and were mostly having fun, except every time they got a little loud or laughed, they would hush each other.
Obviously, Karen has been enough of a problem that I made them uneasy about being themselves. The women came back to get their stuff, and alas, the whites had not dried. So they put some more money in and she folded up the rest of her stuff and heading out the door..
she said the whites didn't dry. So I said, "Dang whites, always screwing things up." And then after a moment of silence, the whole place just cracked up with laughter and after that, the guys were relaxed and not worrying about whether I was going be an asshole.
I had thought of saying "I'm not a Karen," but then I thought that was EXACTLY what a Karen would say.
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