Commuter's Corner and ARGH (and ick!)!

It's not even noon and already it's a doozy of a day. But first, a new feature I'm going call "Commuter's Corner--Thoughts on the Way to Work."

CC #1
The striking hotel workers should rethink their chants. It's probably in poor taste to criticize them, after all I sympathize with them, but the tired old, "What do we want? Health care! When do we want it? NOW!"? Sure, it's catchy, it clearly outlines what their demands are, and it does have a nice rhythm. But the second part seems…I don't know, unnecessary? I kind of get that you want it now. See: strike. I'm waiting to hear, "When do we want it? Well, we've consulted our Outlook calendars, and we're thinking that a week from this Thursday would be a pretty good time. You?"

CC #2
After watching the first half of Season 1 of "Alias" in three days, I can't pass a Bloodmobile without thinking it's a cover. I'm half-afraid to go in there for fear of stumbling across double agents and getting killed because I heard too much.

Now for today's work-related doozy: one of my "beats" at work is monitors, so I often get e-mail directly from readers asking me things like "what CRT is best for graphics" or "what should I consider when buying an LCD." In my inbox this morning was a standard, if grammatically challenged, e-mail to the effect of "I get eyestrain from working on a computer all day. What kind of monitor do I need?" I responded professionally, but received a very unprofessional—and sort of shocking—reply. He basically said, "Thanks for the advice. By the way, are you Asian? I've been to [several different Asian countries]. I love Asia and its culture and family values and I love your country! We have a lot to learn from your ways. Did you grow up here?" And the best—or worst—part of it? He included a picture. A photograph. Of himself. Yeah, I don't know where to start. I mean, "I love your country"? My country of ASIA?! And its single culture? If you haven't already noticed, Asia = lots of countries, therefore lots of cultures and beliefs and practices and religions and people. And what the fuck with the picture? I'm sorry, did I stumble across an Asian fetishist hook-up site? Does he think I'll call him and want Mr. Strong White Man to take care of li'l ol' me? And then, "your ways"?! My way of…brushing my teeth? Wiping my ass? I fully expected a soundtrack on the e-mail that includes a resonant gong and a picture of him bowing to me. What an asshat.

This reminds me of a regular customer at the café in New Haven. He was a hairdresser (and a poor one at that) who would make some sort of reference to Asia or China every single fucking time he saw me. He'd talk about China's history or culture—as though it was the only thing I'd be interested in discussing because I'm Asian, or the only thing he and I shared an interest in. Oh, and then, in an attempt to show his lack of bigotry and understanding that Asians are just like everyone else, he went on about how "Asian hair" is a myth and there's no difference. Uh, what? Actually, I said, there is. Oh no, he says, it's no different. And I wouldn't know because why again? Again, asshat.