The United States is a vast and culturally diverse nation. Anyone who becomes a citizen can be considered American, regardless of where they were born or grew up, and the country prides itself on welcoming residents from all over the world.
But despite how diverse the nation is, some citizens seem to forget that there are a million different ways to be American. (And that even if someone isn’t from there, there’s still a good chance they can speak English!) Below, you’ll find a story that was recently shared in the Petty Revenge subreddit, detailing how one man got back at a server who made assumptions about him based on his appearance.
Unfortunately, many minorities still experience racism today
Image credits: s_kawee / Envato (not the actual photo)
So when a server assumed that this woman’s husband couldn’t speak English, he decided to get revenge
Image credits: GalinkaZhi / Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: littleredbird1991
Later, the woman clarified why her husband was bothered by the waitress' tone
The United States doesn't actually have an official language
Given that the United States boasts how multicultural the country is, it’s surprising that this woman would assume that a patron wasn’t American simply based on how he looked. How should an American look? And when it comes to speaking English, you might be surprised to find out that the country doesn’t actually have an official language.
English is certainly the most widely spoken, and some states have designated it as their official language. But on the federal level, the US doesn’t have one language. In fact, people in the United States communicate in more than 350 languages, between friends, family and more. After English, the most common languages spoken in the US are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic.
Many Americans also speak different languages at home than they’ll use out in the world. Lingoda reports that 66 million people in the US don’t speak English at home, however, most of these people are bilingual and can speak English perfectly fine when needed. Over 91% of residents in the US speak English "very well," and it's likely that many of the remaining 8.2% speak enough to communicate.
About one in every five people on the planet speak English
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Plus, even if the man in this story happened to be from another country, it would be quite likely that he could still speak English. According to Words Rated, approximately 1.46 billion people around the world speak English, meaning about one in five people around the planet. This makes it the most commonly spoken language around the globe, despite the fact that it’s the third most common native language.
English is expected to be spoken by 2 billion people worldwide by 2050, and it is considered the predominant language in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Yet there are 53 other nations that list English as a de jure official language by law, including India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and more.
But another aspect of this story is the fact that the server made assumptions about the patron based simply on how he looks. Unfortunately, racism is still alive and well in many parts of the globe, and the United States is no exception. The Pew Research Center reported in 2023 that the majority of Asian Americans say they experience racism in their day to day lives. 65% of US-born Asians say they have experienced racial discrimination, while 55% of foreign born Asians in the US say the same.
Racism against Asian Americans is still a prominent issue today
Image credits: Min An / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Nearly 40% of Asian adults say strangers have called them offensive names in the United States, and 18% say that strangers have “acted as if they thought they were dishonest.” 12% even report that people have acted like they were scared of them. And sadly, 1 in 5 Asian Americans have felt the need to hide parts of their heritage, often to avoid being called offensive names.
While it would be nice to assume that racism and discrimination is decreasing every year, that has unfortunately not been the experience of many Asians in the United States in recent years. The pandemic seemed to spark even more hate and harassment directed towards Asian populations, and one third of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders report that they’ve been targeted due to their race or ethnicity during 2023. 15% even say that they’ve been the victim of a hate crime.
There’s never any excuse for racism or discrimination. While there’s no way of knowing whether the waitress in this story learned her lesson or not, we can only hope that she won’t treat a customer the same way in the future. We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation in the comments below, pandas. Then, if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article discussing similar themes, look no further than right here!
Amused readers shared their thoughts on the story and suggestions for how to handle future situations like this
Some even had similar stories of their own to share
