unkosher snack attack

the scene seemed harmless: a hot dog kiosk situated at the entrance of the home hardware. who would have guessed i’d be offered bigotry with my condiments?

in order to lessen the load of coinage in my wallet pouch, i doled out what i thought was 2 dollars and 75 cents. it turns out, i was a penny short. an honest mistake, one that didn’t warrant a racist comparison.

‘only four pennies here. you trying to rip me off?’

a good-natured ribbing, i determined. comfortable, i playfully retorted:

‘i figured this hot dog was worth about $2.74, not a penny more’

inexplicably, without missing a beat or carefully considering his company, the tide turned.

‘fucking jews.’

i was shocked. was it my slavic features, or my inadvertent shyster manoeuver? luckily, he explained:

‘the other day, i need to pay this guy, but i can’t pay all at once. i want to pay over time, but he doesn’t let me, wants all the money right away. what’s with these people?’

still stunned, I shook my head, appearing in agreement but silently protesting.

‘where are you from?’ he inquired, in a tone that suggested that my answer would satisfy him as long as it didn’t indicate an ashkenaz origin. as if I could mention any country without prominent jewish ancestry, and suddenly we’d be allies in prejudice.

‘canada’, i finally uttered. i turned on my heels, unable to defend or admonish. i bit into the bitter tasting processed meat, and wondered if there was something wrong with me.