I was minding my own business at a store when a rude customer confronted me... I will never forget the shocking interaction
A dentist has shared his shocking brush with racism after he was targeted by a random shopper in a gift store.
Peter Nguyen visited the Footscray store in Melbourne at the end of last week, searching for picture frames to match his recent home renovations.
The young Australian said he had never experienced blatant racism in the country until that day.
He said the saga began when he was squeezing down a tight aisle and saw an older man standing in his way.
The man did not appear to have noticed Mr Nguyen approaching with five picture frames under his arms.
'I had to go past him to pay for my frames. As I'm walking towards him, I see that he hasn't moved,' he said in a TikTok video.
The dentist thought maybe the man had not noticed him approaching in his peripheral vision, or was vision impaired – but when he said 'excuse me', he was still ignored.
Mr Nguyen squeezed himself and his items behind the man, making sure not to touch him.
'I got to the cashier, and suddenly he walks behind me.
'He was like 30, 40 metres from the cashier, and now as I'm at the cashier, he walks behind me, then he goes, "Are you really going to push in front of me?"
'I didn't know he was in line, and he wasn't there before me and, I'd been waiting, but this is an old dude, so I was like, "Alright, go ahead please".'
But Mr Nguyen said the interaction did not end there as he had hoped it would.
'He looks at me, and he goes, "What do you even do for a living? Wasting taxpayers money, you immigrants?"' Mr Nguyen said.
'Then he hears the cashiers talking to each other in Vietnamese and he goes, "Speak English, we're in Australia".'
'So I kind of, I get what's going on here now ... and just try and stay classy, you know.'
But despite Mr Nguyen's efforts to de-escalate the situation, the man kept asking what he did for a living.
'He keeps going, keeps badgering me like, "What do you do for a living? I bet it's nothing smart",' Mr Nguyen said.
The Melbourne dentist refrained from answering the man.
But when he greeted the Vietnamese cashier in their shared language, the man asked what he was speaking.
'I'm like, "Vietnamese", and then he goes, "Vietnam! Communist country",' Mr Nguyen said in disbelief.
'That was my first proper interaction with blatant racism, especially in a very multicultural area. I want to end by saying I've felt very welcome in Australia.
'Most people I've met have been so lovely, but this is definitely something that was a bit of a shock to me.'
Social media users apologised for the man's 'disgraceful' behaviour, with many arguing 'blatant racism' was on the rise.
'I'm sorry you experienced this. Australia likes to pretend we're so much better than other places, but the racism here runs deep, and when people refuse to acknowledge that, it only gets worse,' one woman wrote.
'Individuals like this don't even deserve a minute of your time. I'm an Aussie mum with an adopted daughter from Vanuatu. Racism towards her from others is horrid. I'm so sorry you've experienced this,' another said.
'Sorry to hear, Peter. I feel like it's getting worse. I'm of Indian heritage and have lived in Australia for 40 years,' a third said.
'The last five years have been horrendous. It used to be present but not blatant – now people can't even be bothered hiding it.'
Others said they were surprised the man had been in the highly diverse suburb of Footscray in the first place.
'As a Footscray resident, why the hell would he come to Footscray if he has a problem with immigrants? Sorry this happened to you,' one wrote.
'Good on you for not biting and giving him a reaction.'
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