Striving to Catch Up

PICTURE THIS: Imagine our surprise a couple of days ago when we learned that CJ was featured in an email that went out to tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people.

The email was sent by our credit union, BECU (formerly Boeing Employees Credit Union), announcing their annual Day of Service on Oct. 8.

In the email was a big ol' photo of CJ with a BECU employee. The picture was taken this summer, when we attended a BECU-budget workshop for teens in the basement of Safeco Field. After the workshop, we got free tickets to a Mariners game. Both the budget activity and the game were big fun, and the price was right. ;)

Apparently when we signed up, we signed some waiver allowing the kids' photos to be used. 

A WRONG TURN: It was a lovely fall afternoon, so we put the harnesses on the pups and decided to walk to a 7-11 store not too far from our place. CJ has been eager to see if they have any of the Taco Bell hot sauce-inspired chips in stock (a 7-11 exclusive).

We made our way there and as we approached the store, I said to the kids, "School must have just got out," as there was a small crowd of kids about CJ and Annabelle's age outside the store.

As we got closer, it became obvious that the kids were standing outside the store, waiting to go in. We hung back for a bit to see what the deal was. 

The experience wound up with us coming home a little confused and upset, and CJ sharing an account via 7-11's website.

Here's what he submitted. ... 

At around 3:05 P.M, on 4 October 2018, we (a mother and children ages 13 and 15) visited Store #17486. At the time we arrived, we noticed 10-12 black youths waiting outside the store, facing the store, wanting to go in. (They were not just loitering.)

We wondered why they were waiting outside of the store, rather than going in. A couple kids in the group explained that they were only being let in two at a time. They encouraged us to go ahead of them and we declined, as they were there first. 

One of the students waiting had told us that after another youth had picked up an item in the store and was accused of stealing it. The student told us the other youth had put the item back, and pointed that out to the store worker.  As a result of this incident, apparently (per the students outside) the cashier said students could only come in the store two at a time. 

During our four or five minutes on the sidewalk with the students, they were all polite and well behaved, and encouraged us to go in ahead of them. We, however, were really not comfortable with that. Whether or not it was the case, by appearances it looked bad, frankly. The kids were all black, middle school or young high schoolers, and there was no way we (a white family with kids exactly their ages) were going to go traipsing into the store ahead of them. Honestly, even if they were all white, we still wouldn't have gone in ahead of them. It doesn't seem like fair treatment. It just seemed like the situation was potentially racism, ageism or some combination of the two, and we wanted no part of that.

Details that aren't in the account include the tone of the young man who told me why they were being forced to wait outside. I could tell he was upset - he seemed a mix of angry and confused. It certainly sounded like he thought they were being treated unfairly. When he told me his version of what happened, I wasn't sure what to say, so I simply replied, "I'm sorry that happened to you."

Multiple young women in the group urged us to go in. I pointed out to them that if only two students could be in the store at a time, my kids were their age, so that should apply to them, too, and they should wait in line. One girl said CJ and Annabelle would be OK since they had a parent with them. I quipped, "How about if I tell him you're all my kids?" :)

Anyway, we walked away from the store without our chips and feeling a little sad. I know we only heard one (well 10 or so, really) sides of the story, but it sure looked bad from the outside looking in.

Of course, as I sit here now, I'm wondering why I didn't go in the store and ask the manager what the hell was going on. That would have been the better thing to do. 

WAY BEHIND: I still have hundreds of photos from our trip in September to edit and share, and did I mention we went to Point Definace Zoo last week? They have a fabulous new aquarium there. These jellyfish were stunning!