I’ve been talking about stereotypes for quite some time now in this blog and today I was a victim of being stereotypical. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I have lunch in the International Village simply because my 1:35 class is right there, plus the food is pretty good and there is variety. As I have mentioned before, most cafeteria workers at Northeastern University are Latinos. I have even developed a good relationship with some and talk to them all the time, others do not know I talk or understand Spanish and unfortunately I have heard things I shouldn’t have. Trust me when I say there is a lot of drama behind those walls.
Anyways, today I go to one of the bars and ask this man for my food. He asks me something in English, but I immediately assumed he was Latin, thus started speaking to him in Spanish. He did not seem to understand me and I stepped back, looked at him and he said: I do not speak Spanish. My heart sunk! I cannot explain how I felt. I felt so stereotypical! This is what I have been arguing against the whole time and it happened to me. So there you go, stereotypes are everywhere. Just because a majority of workers talk Spanish, does not mean they are all Latinos.
