Yes, I am an Asian-American but not Chinese.

There's nothing worse than having some ignorant fool who tries to say something in an Asian language that you don't speak. Especially if he's a white guy.  Let me explain.

Yesterday some delivery guy from UPS came to drop something off at the office in D.C. and I ended up signing for it since the secretary was unavailable.  I gave him my last name which is not Chinese and he says to me, "Ahhh. Xie xie".  I was stunned like a deer caught in headlights because I hadn't heard someone say something so ignorant in such a long time.  After he left I was a little ticked off.  I started to wonder if he was being yet another racist white guy or was he just trying to be friendly.

The way he said it though sounded like he was trying to be funny, but its just sounded really tasteless and racist.  Is this how the rest of America outside of the westcoast and NYC still view Asians?  Would you be offended or give him the benefit of the doubt that he was making an earnest attempt to connect with you? Apparently, Dave Chappelle thinks Asians all look alike so I wouldn't be surprised if others do.



What do you think?