17 10 / 2009
A disgusting homophobic story from my morning Starbucks today.
Today, something happened that absolutely disgusted me.
I was at Starbucks buying my regular everyday Chai Latte. In line directly before me was a little old man, and in front of him was a young man with a U.S. Army outfit on. The older man tapped the younger on the shoulder and said, “Hey there, I just wanted to thank you for what you do for our country” and shook his hand. The Army man was friendly and thanked him and asked the old man if he too had served in the military. “Yes, I was in the Navy for 30 years.” The friendly conversation continued on and ended when the old man bought the young man’s coffee for him, thanked him again for his service, and made his way out.
Upon obtaining my Chai and walking out of Starbucks behind this young Army man, his phone rang while we were walking down the sidewalk. Being 5 feet behind him, I heard every word he said to whom I assume was his girlfriend or wife.
“Hey baby. How are you?….I’m great thanks, guess what just happened? This fucking old faggot at Starbucks just bought me a coffee, trying to hit on me. God it sucked.”
I was FUCKING STUNNED. First of all, just because you’re in Hillcrest doesn’t mean EVERYONE is gay. This little old man didn’t seem gay at all, and definitely wasn’t flirting with this guy. He was being APPRECIATIVE of this kid’s service in the Army and bought him his fucking Venti Soy Carmel Macchiato no whip nonfat not-so-hot. He was being NICE.
This guy stopped on the sidewalk and dawdled there on the phone and I walked past him. I caught his eye and he recognized me as the girl who was in line behind him. He looked down with an embarrassed look on his blushing face.
“You are fucking disgusting,” I said to him and walked on past. He never said anything back to me, but I could sense his humiliation.
What if it had been ME who bought him that drink and thanked him for his service and shook his hand? Would he have told his girlfriend I was flirting with him, or would he have brought it up at all? Would he have seen it as a good deed and appreciated it? I am so thankful that this honest and kind old man didn’t see how this kid behaved, and went home proud of his act of generosity today. Sigh.
