Of Stereotypes and Shallowness: “This treatment is reserved for …”

Today I went apartment hunting and encountered two disappointing facades of the human nature.

The first one were the two owners of the first apartment I viewed who smiled halfheartedly and then proceeded to ignore me while my negotiator and I went through the place…but when I asked about the rental and they realized I was a prospective tenant and not a co-negotiator the guy almost jumped up from his expensive leather sofa and apologized for not greeting me earlier. So, the message was if I was not a prospective tenant I wouldn’t have deserved that courtesy?

The second one was when I texted another negotiator to arrange for a viewing after seeing his online posting. Everything went ok until he asked:”May I know your race?”

I replied: “Argghh how are we ever gonna achieve a Malaysian Malaysia like this?” I humored him and added: “I am Chinese with Thai blood.”

He must have been satisfied with my answer because he went on to say he would confirm the viewing time and asked me for my name. I did not bother to respond.

Nothing personal, all about principles.