Shanghai Shorts: Racial Silliness Redux

So, I yelled at a white guy today.

I was on the metro, playing on my DS, and at Nanjing West Road station, on comes this white dude and his Asian coworker. They talk mostly in English but with snippets of Chinese, and from what I can tell the dude is either American, Canadian, or possibly Dutch.

Anyway. Jingan Temple, my station, comes up. I step forward to the door as the train slows down and the station appears beyond the train window. I very softly murmur "excuse me" to the white guy, who was standing just in front and to the side of me.

No response.

I say it again, slightly louder, still with polite tones.

No response.

I say it a third time and he responds, but not with a reaction I'd become accustomed to in all the other parts of the world I've visited or lived in. He moves out of the way and snaps, "We're not even there yet" in Chinese. ("我们还没到。")

So I frown and without turning to look at him, I say very casually but clearly, "Well, we're close, and where I come from that means you move toward the door so that you don't hold up traffic when it comes time to exit."

No response.

"I thought I was very polite. No need for the attitude," I add, with the unmistakable aggressive tone that I often use when crossed.

The doors swish open and I step out, hearing his Asian coworker (who sounded like he was from Hong Kong from his accent) laugh as I do so.

What I was tempted to say was, "If I were a white chick, you'd have gotten out of the way the first time I asked instead of thinking you've better manners than me just because I'm Chinese. You are the kind of foreigner that gives all the rest of them (us?) a bad name."

But I didn't. I had better things to do than deal with stupid little boys.

Now I don't go around looking for reasons to be mad (when I'm sober). But I don't think any of you can deny that if I were in fact a white chick, he wouldn't have had the nerve to snap back at me for just politely saying "excuse me" while getting ready to get off the fucking train.

Where *I* come from, when someone says "excuse me" to you, you apologize and get out of the fucking way.

This sort of silliness really does come from both sides. Sigh.