General Chat

I am certainly not a racist but was amused by this story and wanted to share it and see what others thought.
I went into my local supermarket the other day and asked for "20 black superkings" (this being the brand that I shamefully smoke). The girl on checkout looked at me and laughed and said "you've said that word.." "what word?" I asked. "Black" she said.

Seems a day or so earlier a (non white) woman had gone in and asked for a certain brand of cigarette. The girl had said "do you want the black ones?" to which the woman replied that she thought that was offensive and wanted to see the manager to make a complaint. Who on earth would think that this warrants a formal complaint against a member of staff merely doing her job?

I asked the shop assistant what she was supposed to say if I just asked for 20 Superkings (for the uninitiated they come in green, blue and black). Her management guidance is to ask "what strength would you like?". Well I'm sorry but I couldn't answer this so would just say "the black one"

Am I alone in thinking that this is political correctness gone mad?
When I went out with my daughter yesterday and ordered a coffee I did not take exception to being asked if I wanted black or white.

What happens if I want to buy grapes which come in various colours? Dare I not ask for black in case I offend?

Hi Lady in Red

I also (without any shame whatsoever) smoke Black Superkings

My son in law is from Zambia and, if he heard of this kind or rubbish, would've put this woman right in her place.

This kind of stupidy has no place in a sane society

Sue x

You're not alone!
Blackboards became 'chalkboards' ( for PC'ness) - but have been superceded by...'whiteboards' .. lol

Should I complain?

I smoke rollies - with liquorice papers!

No, it isn't political correctness gone mad, or political correctness doing anything.

It was one individual being rather foolish, possibly because she simply didn't know there were "black" cigarettes, and possibly because she had endured a whole lot of racism in her life and grown to expect it.

Nonetheless, it was -- at least if we believe the report -- one individual, and one store manager's response to an incident that he wanted to avoid, in the interests of sales.


Now google

"I'm not a racist but".

Hours of entertainment.


And I swear, if I have to hear that tired nonsense about "blackboards" three more times ...

When I was in school, quite a long time ago, the blackboards had mostly become green. But I guess we should have kept calling them blackboards, just so we didn't look politically correct or something.

I used to buy Niger seeds (like black grass seed) to feed the goldfinches in my garden. My local pets at home store had them labelled as Nija seed following a complaint from somebody whose ignorance of English grammar had led them to believe the word Niger was pronounced in the same way as the similar word with two "G"'s in. One can only assume that the manager of the store was equally deficient in his knowledge of the English language.