where do you draw the line?

Hi everybody just want to get your thoughts on an incident I had today. I was on my way to work and like most other people commute by metro. Anyway having lived here many years I have trained myself to be stone deaf to the usual daily dose of racial comments. However on this one instance I made an exception.

You see she was one of the staff at the subway station the one that stands at the service center handling stuff. I was taking my transportation card for a recharge. I handed over my card and a ten yuan and told her “jia shi kuai" (add ten yuan) she took the items looked to her colleague sitting next to her chuckled and said "hei ren shuo shi kuai" (the black man says ten yuan). At first I treated it as the usual in your face irritant laowais occasionally encounter then after I left slowly and surely it started to gnaw away at my innards.

You see I can't have the metro staff adding to the daily dose of inappropriate language or behavior. I like to be nice and cooperative to the metro staff. I'm the kind of a guy that always has the bag on the ready for the scanners while at the same time wishing a happy new year to the guys at the security check. Anyway I thought to myself this is where I should draw the line I can't be disrespected by a uniformed public service worker (no disrespect) and so I reported it to her superiors.

So guys help me, was I being too sensitive? Where do you draw the line when it comes to such inappropriate behavior and let someone know point blank it is inappropriate? For those of you who have stayed for years I know you've grown a thick skin so talk me. All right in her defense I will say it's because I didn't add "qing" (please) before the “jia shi kuai" or maybe she's ticked off because it's only ten yuan. Thoughts?

Ok I'm in Beijing but I'm seriously wanting to know more about these experiences u are having....I mean...with is going on down there in Shanghai.?! That ten kuai incident didn't really seem like anything much but what else has been going on?

Ok I'm in Beijing but I'm seriously wanting to know more about these experiences u are having....I mean...with is going on down there in Shanghai.?!

These "experiences" are the typical expat gripes about interactions with Chinese, many are pretty obvious and can be found in many an expat blog or when you're not in your expat bubble.

That ten kuai incident didn't really seem like anything much but what else has been going on?

A small incident indeed however every once in a while an expat gets the urge to show disapproval.

I wonder why u took this too personal. The best way to handle such situation, is just to ignore, and walk away.  Remember that certain number of them, are uneducated and might not really mean to disrespect you, and for those who intend to disrespect of diss your race,they don't know any better.

I don't know if they meant any disrespect.  But in China, esp. dealing with the Chinese...if you want to make an issue out of something it is more productive if you take the "aww why would you say such a thing " approach rather than the "WTF is wrong with you approach".  That way they get to see a more human side to you.  If you don't want to do that, you're better off just ignoring them.  The lady at the desk was probably just surprised that you spoke in Chinese, rather than in English.

yes she was probably just surprised. i was just having a bad china day.