This happened to me a while ago (Janurary 2021), and I've told plenty of friends but I think yall might

enjoy hearing this wild story too, its a little long but still wild. For context:

I am a Korean-American woman, and I was the only East Asian student staff member at the time, my
workplace is majority mixed/black.

I was a manager at my university common space, my workplace had gotten front door security when
reopening in COVID to check that people would wear masks properly before entering.

I usually closed the building so I only ever met night security, but I heard through the office gossip that
opening security was not as kind as night security. There were minor complaints but admin had stated
that there was no action to be taken just because they were cold.

This happened my first opening shift in two weeks, and my first time encountering opening security. Our
main character today is a woman we will call "Sally". Now, I had no issues opening, and went back to my
desk with no real concerns compared to what I had heard. Sally came up to the front desk, completely
ignoring the front desk assistant asking if she needed anything. After hearing no one respond to my
coworker, I look up and see Sally staring at me intently (still ignoring my coworker) and beckoning me
with her single finger.

I go up and asked what was so wrong that Sally couldn't talk to my coworker, Sally goes, "You have been
the first manager to really engage with me and I appreciate it. You are so polite and I just wanted to
personally thank you for that, where are you from?" I tell her I'm from [home state], which people
usually accepted as an answer since I was an out of state student. She just shakes her head.

She said "No, like, your parents and family and such, where are they from?" I physically buffer and don't
process the words. No one had ever asked me that question like *that* in my 22 years of living, and I
didn't even know how to react. Unfortunately, I answer that I am Korean. Sally brightens up and smiles,
then goes "Oh I figured you were! There's just a kind of politeness that comes with you people. My first
cousin married a Korean woman, she was so polite just like you :)"

I'm fully short circuiting and almost going to black out. What is this woman talking about. She then goes
on to tell me how not only is her token Korean woman dead, but that those kids are now Blonde and
very white presenting, how she loved how Exotic and Exciting Korean food is during the holidays, all this
unnecessary information. I'm rooted to the ground, just, in shock at the words being thrown at me. Me
and my coworker just share a stare of 'what the fuck'. There was no good way to interrupt her freak-
fixation word vomit, so I just stand there and nod, hoping it would be the fastest way to get her away.
Then Sally just goes "I just know you're mom would never let you be rude, you were bred to be polite!"

I was thankful for my mask being able to hide how far my jaw dropped after hearing that. I genuinely log
out of my body. I ran on auto pilot and just kept nodding and going "ah ha ha" before she finally leaves
back to her station, where she should have been the whole time. This all happened before 9am. I hadn't
even eaten breakfast yet. I was convinced I had entered the twilight zone but cursed.

I think what had made this experience more impactful on me was the fact that this was not out of
explicit hate. Anytime people had called me a slur or pulled their eyes back at me, it was easy to brush
them off. It was easy to think 'oh they're just ignorant and bigoted' and walk away. That morning, it
wasn't out of hate, Sally was fully talking to me thinking she was complimenting me and speaking with
love and admiration.

It's easily the most racist, freak fetish comment I have ever had to receive in my life. I always read about
these experiences online, but I never thought I'd be in it. I was so in shock I couldn't even talk back to
Sally. The only thing I could do was talk to my boss and admin and let them handle the situation from
there, which had very fortunately been resolved at light speed, the morning security being switched out
the next day.

Bye Sally, you are grosser than any Tinder yellow-fever hound and I hope to never ever see you again <3

TLDR: An old white woman at work told me that I was bred to be polite and that my mom would never
let me be rude.