The Po Show

Wow, It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I've encountered THIS situation.

I was at Costco, ordering new lenses for my sunglasses (I lost them in the bathroom at the zoo in D.C., and when I got them back there was a big scratch across one lense). The guy helping me in the optometry section (I swear, it really said on his name tag "Stan the Man" with no last name!) looked at my name on my membership card and SAID, "Oh, you married an American!"

I smiled good-naturedly and replied, "I'm an American too!"

He got that slightly embarrassed "You know what I meant!" look that people get when I call them on this and said, "Oh, you know, you, you, you..."

"I married a white guy," I helpfully supplied.

Then he said, "He's not Jewish, though, is he?"

Really hoping that this was an "in group" thing, and that Stan the Man was a Jew himself, I replied, "No." To which he replied, "Oh, good!" ?????

Then he decided to prolong this embarrassment, and said, "You know the show Dancing with the Stars?" I admitted that I did.

"You know Kristi Yamaguchi was on that show. She's Japanese, you know, you know, a Japanese AMERICAN. I didn't know this, but she has two kids, and you know, she married, as you said, a white guy too. You know, an American."

I stated that I did not know that, and waited for the conversation to die a timely death.

Really, isn't it 2008? Am I STILL having this "American" conversation with people? Admittedly, Stan was about 60, but come ON.