ahhh, stereotypes

Over the weekend, we went to an automall and test drove a Toyota Matrix. The salesman who assisted us was very nice, patient, not pushy, soft spoken...all the things you WISH car salesmen were. His name was Al and he was from Pakistan.

When Al realized that we were not inclined to drive away that afternoon in a brand new car, he had his Sales Manager come talk to us. i don't remember Sales Manager Man's name, but let's call him JimmyBob, and he was obviously from the USA. JimmyBob was unctuous, impatient, and pushy. All the things car salesman ARE, and you wish WEREN'T.

While Al left to shoot the breeze, we sat in the little cubicle with JimmyBob discussing our vehicle situation. Since it was a day that ended in Y, the subject of fuel prices came up. JimmyBob expressed his frustration, relating a story in which he went to buy gas and it was $4.60 and the gas station attendant said at least it wasn't $4.75, like the station across the street. Harmless, pointless story right? Could've been replaced with the statement 'i dislike the current cost of fuel.' Except that if JimmyBob had just said that, he wouldn't have had the chance to 'quote' the gas station attendant using an awful middle eastern accent. (Yes. He did.) He, who only had us in there in the first place because his Pakistani sales associate was good at his job, used us and our whiteness to attempt camaraderie and make himself seem savvy and funny by being mildly discriminatory toward people of middle eastern ethnicity.

It was kind of nauseating.

We didn't buy the car, obviously. The plan is, if we decide we want it, to go back and deal only with Al, not with JimmyBob.