9/21/2011

feeling judged?

 A couple of weeks ago me and a few others were at the mall in downtown Strasbourg doing some shopping, which ended up being a success. So I went into Sephora (for those of you who don't know what a Sephora is, it is a huge make up company that has their own brand as well as selling products from other luxury brands) with other bags in my hand and the buzzer at the door that alerts security to thefts went off. This is a common thing because a previous store will have left a sensor tag on one of your items and it's typically no big deal. However, the security guy working the store proceeds to check each of my bags and when he finds that there is nothing suspicious about any of them and gives them back.  Then the kicker is he continues to follow me around the store, as if he knows that I am up to no good. My question is at what point did I ever indicate to him that I may be suspicious of stealing something? Was it when my bags went off but after thorough checking he figured out that there was nothing wrong, or was it the fact that I was a non-French speaking person and that makes me fishy? Is this what all French people think of those that don't speak their language? If so then I find some similarities between them and Americans, because are we not sometimes suspicious of people speaking another language that we can't understand? We kind of have that worried, what if they're talking about us moment when that happens. Maybe I'm just used to thinking about what other people are saying in different languages it never occurred to me that they might be thinking the same thing about me. It kinda places a stereotype on someone when that happens. Although, when everyone is suspicious of everyone speaking a different language, then is everyone typified under that same stereotype? Or is it just me?

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