Well, I am not sure if I should put it this way. I was trying to apply a credit card from one of the banks in Melbourne city. The customer service officer, a young, beautiful white lady was serving me. Uhm…She did not seem to be keen to serve a young Asian guy like me. (Well, I was wearing nice black suit) The attitude was kinda unfriendly, lack of smile, and she did not even want to explain different cards that the bank offers. And she was annoyed when I asked about the requirement of applying a Gold Visa.
All right….3 minutes later…she asked for my income proof. And you can’t believe this, she was shock and asked “SHIT! they pay you $XXX a day!?!”.
Gav: “Yup….that’s my daily rate if you want to know..”
Then, the world seems to be changing. The sweet smile shown on the pretty face of her. I had a smooth process of card application…
What is this? Discrimination? or racism? Oh, or do I look so bad? Come on…
Anyway, this is the only weird experience I have. So far, the city and people are nice and friendly. I have nice time with local people here, in office or in pubs.
Just to note down this experience.
update: I have to close the comment section of this post. It is not my intention to discuss racism issue on here. After all, Melbourne is still a excellent place to live.
Sorry to hear about the bad experience. There is no doubt that some people are racist, in any country. Often times people hide it well, which was not the case with this lady.
I get a similar experience in Singapore when people haven’t seen me but just hear my nationality. Then if we do meet face to face their attitude changes and I can hear their mind going: “oh he’s ang moh!”.
My bank where my salary was going into in NZ didn’t want to give me a credit card since I wasn’t a PR and I refused to put a single cent in deposit guarantee with them. I just used my overseas cards. Then I discovered that Amex is a lot more lenient and I had no problem getting a local card through them.
Congrats on the nice paycheck btw 😉
Sorry to hear about the bad experience. There is no doubt that some people are racist, in any country. Often times people hide it well, which was not the case with this lady.
I get a similar experience in Singapore when people haven’t seen me but just hear my nationality. Then if we do meet face to face their attitude changes and I can hear their mind going: “oh he’s ang moh!”.
My bank where my salary was going into in NZ didn’t want to give me a credit card since I wasn’t a PR and I refused to put a single cent in deposit guarantee with them. I just used my overseas cards. Then I discovered that Amex is a lot more lenient and I had no problem getting a local card through them.
Congrats on the nice paycheck btw 😉
Eyal,
Yeah, I agree with you, racist is everywhere. But I didn’t expect the sentence “Shit! they pay you this amount…” Well, I guess she is too new to banking industry. People are getting much bigger paycheck than mine here. 🙂
Hey, I’m sure you will have better experience in Singapore. Simple reason, Singaporean treats ‘Ang Moh’ better than their own people..asian. 🙂
Eyal,
Yeah, I agree with you, racist is everywhere. But I didn’t expect the sentence “Shit! they pay you this amount…” Well, I guess she is too new to banking industry. People are getting much bigger paycheck than mine here. 🙂
Hey, I’m sure you will have better experience in Singapore. Simple reason, Singaporean treats ‘Ang Moh’ better than their own people..asian. 🙂
Hi Gav,
Welcome back!
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the initially acted snobby probably because she thought that you were not rich enough to be a customer at her bank….
Anyways, I noticed that you have a tape reading book as one of the books that you are currently reading. I am actually looking for a book on tape reading.
Have you finished reading the book? Do you like it? Is it worth buying?
Hi Gav,
Welcome back!
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the initially acted snobby probably because she thought that you were not rich enough to be a customer at her bank….
Anyways, I noticed that you have a tape reading book as one of the books that you are currently reading. I am actually looking for a book on tape reading.
Have you finished reading the book? Do you like it? Is it worth buying?
gav: welcome back
eyal: i never heard that expression, so i had to google it…i never knew u were a caucasian “devil”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ang moh
gav: welcome back
eyal: i never heard that expression, so i had to google it…i never knew u were a caucasian “devil”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ang moh
i didn’t copy the link correctly…here is the correct link…or maybe it was the “devil” playing tricks with my computer 🙂
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ang moh
i didn’t copy the link correctly…here is the correct link…or maybe it was the “devil” playing tricks with my computer 🙂
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ang moh
John: Ang Moh is a translation from chinese. It basically means “Red hair”. Old time, chinese in South East asia called caucasian “red hair” due to their skin color..:)
John: Ang Moh is a translation from chinese. It basically means “Red hair”. Old time, chinese in South East asia called caucasian “red hair” due to their skin color..:)
gav: i saw that, but that link also referenced the caucasian devil…u know that i had to go with that instead
gav: i saw that, but that link also referenced the caucasian devil…u know that i had to go with that instead
Racism undoubtedly exists, but so does discrimination on perceived importance of person sitting opposite. I’m a white guy – English – (check out my pic!) and I get it too. In the UK a lot of people don’t like Americans for example and I’m sure they get a lot of additional hassle just for having an American accent
Racism undoubtedly exists, but so does discrimination on perceived importance of person sitting opposite. I’m a white guy – English – (check out my pic!) and I get it too. In the UK a lot of people don’t like Americans for example and I’m sure they get a lot of additional hassle just for having an American accent
Racism is all around. I’ve had similar experiences to the ones you describe in three asian countries, Singapore included.
Racism is all around. I’ve had similar experiences to the ones you describe in three asian countries, Singapore included.