Race

Office vet #1: Lisa* was showing me how to use chopsticks at lunch today, you know, cause she’s Asian.
Office vet #2: Lisa*?
Office vet #1: You know, the girl we work with in third party…I don’t know what kind of Asian she is, apparently there’s different kinds, you know…

St. Paul Plaza
Baltimore, Maryland

Black female coworker: Oooh, honey, I love me some fags. Fags is the best girlfriends.
White queer coworker: That’s ’cause we all want to be black women!
White female coworker: Can the rest of us get workplace diversity hours for listening to this shit?

Columbus, Ohio

Overheard by: Giggling in my cube

Male peon: You feeling better today, Jim*?
Jim: Yes.
Male peon: Well, you look a lot better. We were worried about you yesterday. You were turning white.
Jim: Yeah, that’s not a good sign when you’re a black man.

Newport News, Virginia

White coworker, with food in mouth: Are you going upstairs?
Black coworker: I’m sorry, what? I don’t speak cracker. [White coworker gasps.] I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant you had a cracker in your mouth!
White coworker: Sure you did!

D Street SW
Washington, DC

Lady peon with eye patch: Yeah… Once you go black, you never go back.

45th Avenue and Vermont Street
Portland, Oregon

Overheard by: WOW

Waitress #1: What’s with your couple at table five? It’s impossible to tell how old they are. They could be in their 20s or 50s.
Waitress #2: That’s ’cause they’re foreign. All foreign people look like vampires.

River Street
Savannah, Georgia

Sales agent, about Arab Muslim client on phone: Jesus Christ, is it those people with the capes again?!

745 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts