I grew up in New Jersey where there were a lot of ethnic shops, mostly Eastern European of different types, some different kinds of Spanish, some Italian, etc. Some were first gen immigrants, some 2nd or beyond. Sometimes I wouldn’t get served in the order in line I was in. Somebody comes from the back, “Ayyyy, [word in language]”, scoots in front of me, gets service. Might be a friend, might just know that it’s possible to get up front easily. It was what it was. There was no EXPLICIT sign on the door: “You may be served second if you’re not ethnicity” but actually there kind of was: “Italian-American [shop]”, “Portuguese [shop]”, etc. So, maybe we grew up with different expectations. As a white English speaking American, I get priority service in most things; for every one ethnic spot, there’s 50 that will cater to me; I don’t need all of them.

Some were first gen immigrants, some 2nd or beyond.

Sometimes I wouldn’t get served in the order in line I was in. Somebody comes from the back, “Ayyyy, [word in language]”, scoots in front of me, gets service.

Might be a friend, might just know that it’s possible to get up front easily.

It was what it was. There was no EXPLICIT sign on the door: “You may be served second if you’re not ethnicity” but actually there kind of was: “Italian-American [shop]”, “Portuguese [shop]”, etc.

So, maybe we grew up with different expectations. As a white English speaking American, I get priority service in most things; for every one ethnic spot, there’s 50 that will cater to me; I don’t need all of them.