I live in a city that is pretty much segregated. It kind of reminds me of one of them 17th century villages where the rich live in the center of town and the pheasants live on the outside except in modern times everything is in reverse. The poor now live in the inner city, the wealthy now on the outskirts. In my neck of the woods, the majority of blacks live on the east side, Asians got their little spot off the lake, the Hispanics congregate on the west side, and the whites predominantly occupy the surrounding suburbs. We all have a clique mentality where we live. If you got caught outside your zone, its not uncommon to get the what the hell are you doing on the wrong side of town look sometimes. With the recession and people losing their homes, its less common that people are getting the looks, but any who here's my interview stories that I've experience. I'm trying to tell the story without making it sound like I'm demonizing anyone, but I just want to share it.
I am of mixed origin and I have the unlucky name that someone associates with white people. Now, usually most people know that you can associate a name with a person's nationality. For example, if your name is Mohammed, a lot of people assume they are Arab, if your name is Jose, they might think you are Hispanic, etc. I'm extremely well spoken and I have a (what the interviewer might consider) a "white" name. Often some people also associate well spoken-ness to them also. I would get called for an interview and I would show up. They give me this look like what the hell are you doing here. Then they would go "Err, can I help you?". I would tell them that this is __________, I'm here for the 2pm interview. They would jump half way out their seats when they find out that I'm not white and they would have to do a double take like they got the wrong person and they are looking for someone else not my race but with the same name to show up. They nervously usher me into the interview room and when I walk in there the interviewer looks at me like he's acting like he's on Candid Camera ready to be pranked. This mainly occurred when I would apply in the suburbs. Has anyone had similar experiences?
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