I was infuriated with him and I argued with him.

One day at work a man came in and I greeted him as I would anyone. He was at first glance the epitome of a southern cowboy; big black cowboy hat, shiny Texas belt buckle, tight blue jeans and a big blue pickup. He was being very friendly and we were talking casually until his eyes wandered to one of our many wall decorations. We had an old beer tap of a wooden shark with the name of an outdated beer "Mudshark" hanging on our wall. And his eyes got really big, and he leaned over to me and he said "Do you know what a mudshark is?" And I said, "No!" And he said it was a very derogatory term for a black man who married a white woman. I was shocked and embarrassed. I immediately took the trinket down. I profusely thanked him for letting us know and apologized to him. He didn't personally seem offended; more shocked that there was such a decoration still around.

However the most shocking part for me was still to come. After the man had left the restaurant, I went to the back to tell my boss all about what had just happened. After telling him the story, expecting some kind of recognition or reassurance I had done the right thing, he stared at me upset. He took the shark and put it back out in the restaurant muttering that no one had the right to tell us how to decorate our workplace and we didn’t even know if he was telling the truth.

I was infuriated with him and I argued with him. I took the shark back and put it in my purse. I argued with him fairly heatedly and asked him why he was acting in such a way. It eventually ended in me calling headquarters and placing the issue in their hands.

 - Leigh Halverson, Beaverton, OR, USA