[dontknownuthin]

I made a real of myself and was not sure how to fix it. It was entirely inadvertent.

Here's what happened... I was shopping in Sears, and was absolutely exhausted. I had picked up 7 things at a 2 for 1 sale, and thought I had 8. The clerk, who was from India (I could tell from his name and accent), advised me of this and suggested I get one more item for free.

When I came back to the register, there was a huge crowd of people waiting in line for his assistance. There were also several managers near the checkout talking to one another in some sort of meeting that appeared to involve a stroll through the store. Everyone in line seemed to notice that these managers - all caucasian by coincidence - were ignoring this huge line of customers instead of jumping in to help.

I got to the front of the line again, and the clerk apologized to me for my having to wait in line again after getting my additional item. I said it wasn't a problem. He then said that he wasn't able to summon more help because the managers were all in a meeting.

This is where I made a dumb remark and said, "I understand...not enough Indians". I was thinking of the saying, "too many chiefs, not enough indians", which in retrospect I realize is offensive even when used as intended. But, given that the clerks in the store - throughout the store - appeared to be from India, and the managers were all white, this stupid remark came off like a led zepplin. It was within a nanosecond that I also realized that this young man who was clearly not born in America probably had never heard this dated saying before.

I was so embarrassed I could have died on the spot. What could I have said to make it right... if anything? It seemed the more I said, the worse it got, so I ultimately shut up, said thank you, and left the store!

[Alty]

Yikes, open mouth, insert foot. I've been there.

I don't think you could have said anything to make it better, in fact I think just moving on would have been the best thing to do. Hope that he didn't hear what you said. Or you could apologize and then explain what you meant and why you said it, but that might have been lost in translation.

Don't feel to bad, the fact that you are embarrassed about it shows that you are a good human being, all of us make mistakes, live and learn.

[KalFour]

I'm not allowed to agree with Alty again, so here it is:

I agree with Altenweg

[kcn7]

You may have learnt to keep your tongue in cheek. Thank you or Sorry are the best "after the event" words. You did it.
The clerk may even taken it as a compliment. Clerks are used to worse, and would have moved on.

[Scleros]

Being conversationally nimble I would have, without skipping a beat, extoled the superior work ethic of Indians and non-Americans in general and criticized the lazy American management group... :cool:

Unfortunately, I'm not conversationally nimble, and would have more likely muttered something about "chiefs" and "old sayings" and slunk off as you did... :(

Hey, 1 insulted out of 6.6 billion ain't too shabby.