The other day, as I was hanging out at the Revue cafe, typing a way on an essay and enjoying a 20oz latte that was served in a cup the size of a cereal bowl, I happened to look up and notice an older gentleman, who looked a bit like Mark Twain in a pair of Stetsons, walk into the only single-occupancy bathroom that the institution had. A few moments later, another guy walked up, checked the door to the bathroom and found it locked. This guy then looked over at me and asked if anyone was in there, to which I replied that some guy had just walked in. He shrugged his shoulders turned around and walked out to the patio area. In the mean time the Mark-Twain gentleman left the bathroom and walked out the front door of the cafe. A few moments later the guy who inquired about the occupancy of the bathroom came back in and found the door locked. Meanwhile, the lady who worked at the cafe noticed him pulling on the door, grabbed her keys and opened it for him. The guy then walked in and did his business. Afterwards, as the guy was leaving the café to go back out to the patio area, the lady who worked there told him to let her know the next time the door is locked. In response to this, the now-relieved guy looked over at me and said, “MacBoy over there said it was occupied” to which lady of the institution responded that very likely there was somebody in there, and that when that somebody left, he or she probably forgot to unlock the door. The now-relieved, name-calling guy just shook his head as if to say “whatever” and turned and left the building, leaving me to ponder at his calling me “MacBoy”.

Please note, I wasn’t offended by being identified by a product I use. I like my Mac. I mean, I wouldn’t want my whole life to be summed up by the phrase “He was a Mac user”, but in the brief context of trying to identify me amongst other patrons, I figured this was fine. However, beyond feeling unjustly accused, I did wonder if would I ever be tempted to call someone “PC Boy” or for that matter, “Dell Boy” or “Sony Boy”. I also wondered if all PC users tend to be as rash in their judgments as this guy, as I don’t think I would have responded similarly had the situation been reversed. I must admit that I do not know for sure that he was a PC user; rather, I am making the assumption that he was based upon the fact that he referred to me as “Mac Boy”. The implication of this from the perspective of the now-relieved, name-calling guy was that I was “the other”, the one who was not in his category; moreover, I was the one who was wrong, which to him was probably further reinforced by the fact that I used a Mac.

In closing, since I am already operating in stereotypes, I want to say that as I think back upon the appearance of the now-relieved, name-calling guy, for some reason I envision him wearing a yellow polo shirt with the collar popped, shorts that are a bit too high above the knee, and white tennis shoes with the laces done up halfway and the tongues sticking out. I also remember him as having dark blond hair that was a little long in the back (bordering on a mullet). If you fail to get the significance of this guy’ appearance, my guess is that you probably use a PC.

🙂

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 27th, 2007 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Everything Else. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.