I lived in the US for about 5 years on an H1 visa. Because I have sort of ethnically-ambiguous looks and a weird accent it was almost random how I was treated. I was an Englishman, a hispanic labourer, a muslim, an Aussie, a south African, an Italian, a jew, a New Yorker (!)... it became a bit of a hobby to see how people's attitudes to me changed when they learned a little about me--sometimes even an about face. "He's not a towelhead, who I hate, he's an Aussie! We love Aussies!"
A colleague once subjected me to a monologue about all these damn foreigners, coming here and taking jobs from Americans.
"Uh, you do realize that I'm one of them, right?"
He looked me right int he eye and said without a trace of embarrassment, "You don't count."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2008-08-16 04:56 am (UTC)I lived in the US for about 5 years on an H1 visa. Because I have sort of ethnically-ambiguous looks and a weird accent it was almost random how I was treated. I was an Englishman, a hispanic labourer, a muslim, an Aussie, a south African, an Italian, a jew, a New Yorker (!)... it became a bit of a hobby to see how people's attitudes to me changed when they learned a little about me--sometimes even an about face. "He's not a towelhead, who I hate, he's an Aussie! We love Aussies!"
A colleague once subjected me to a monologue about all these damn foreigners, coming here and taking jobs from Americans.
"Uh, you do realize that I'm one of them, right?"
He looked me right int he eye and said without a trace of embarrassment, "You don't count."
-- JF