It was a scorching day in 2006. England was playing in the World Cup. If I remember correctly, it was a Saturday.
I was at work at our fish and chip and kebab shop, located just north of London. I knew we would get a massive rush of customers at half time from the pub, so we all prepared for that.
It was one of the hottest days, probably in the 90’s Fahrenheit. With two doner machines, a grill, a hotplate and three frying pans all on full blast inside the shop, it was literally like working in an oven and I was absolutely soaked with sweat.
As expected, the shop was soon packed. A regular ordered his kebab, and while cutting it, I made friendly conversation, asking him, ”How are we doing mate?”, he replied, ”What do you mean?”.
I said ”How’s England doing?”. He snapped back, “What’s it got to do with you? You’re not English! You’re just in England to take our jobs!”
I was shocked, but knew I had to remain calm as the shop was full of customers, so I smiled as if I was amused and said, “First of all, I’ve probably paid twice as much tax as you will ever pay, but if you want my job, you are welcome to it. You can come to this side of the counter, serve me a kebab and chips, and I can go to the pub, have a lovely cold beer and enjoy the match.”
He was clearly caught by surprise by my response. He said, “No thanks. You must think I’m stupid to work here in this heat.”
I started to laugh, and said, “Now hang on a minute. You said I’m here to take your job, I’m happy to give it to you, ‘cos I would love to have a nice cool beer and enjoy the football.”
He opted to keep quiet, but many in the shop started laughing.
I finally finished serving him and after he left the shop, other customers told me how stupid he was to talk the way he did.
One couple asked me, “How on earth did you stay so calm?”
I responded with a smile, telling them, “I’m not so silly as to reduce myself to his level”, and then I joked that, “I may have Mediterranean hot blood in me, but I prefer British diplomatic etiquette”.
Many customers smiled warmly when I said that.
The sad thing is, I still remember the exchange like it happened yesterday. Privately, I was more annoyed and upset than I let on.
Despite his racist attitude, this idiot of a man still carried on coming to buy his kebabs from the shop until the end of February 2020, when I sold the business and retired.
Thinking back, I’m proud of the fact that I made my point and confronted his nasty racism in front of his peers but without starting a fight, as the news would have spread and our business may have been badly affected.
Ultimately the exchange exposed what a racist bigot the man was, and what a low IQ he had. He thought he was smart to put me down, but hearing everyone laugh at him instead must have been terribly humiliating, which is exactly what he deserved.
