Who Do WE Believe? You or Our Lying Eyes

Alas, another episode in my WFFS or White Folk Fatigue Syndrome. Being quasi educated, literate, and of course black, somedays catches whitefolk off guard. Take for example last night. A former work colleague and went out to celebrate his last day as the chairperson of the faculty senate where I used to work. Being a chairperson of a work constituency, a faculty senate, a staff council etc is really a thankless job if you are one who actually believes, one person can make a difference. During dinner I offered my philosophical point of view on radicalism, social justice, and self liberation. (When you get to the academy, one of the perks is that you are allowed to pontificate and paid for it) I said, people like us have got to be masochists. We are ministers of idealism trapped between the worlds of "what is" and "what ought." Mind you as i was saying this, I was stone sober. He was like what do you mean? I continued by saying, look at us; we are considered radicals and outcasts because we take moral stands. Our friend Freddie was the walking talking living breathing personification of Diogenes. He quit his job as assistant dean in protest to my wrongful termination; a month later, he died. You put your career on the line not only for me, but countless others and they (your friends now foes) throw you under the bus. You're like Julius Caesar, who constantly has to pull the knife out your own back because Brutus has a constantly changing face. People like us are in short supply with a limited life span. So anyway as we are going on about the morality play well more like morality car wash at this unnamed private HBCU in Raleigh, NC (I didn't name names) the waitress, who I initially thought was cool presents us with the check. We in turn present her with a $10.00 off coupon. Now my friend who incidentally has a Ph.D. in mathematics looks at the bill, which came to $27.00. He's thrifty, and I honestly need to be more like him. When we pay the bill he looks at the at the final bill and we both look at each other like Andy Brown and George Kingfish Stevens. He's like, if the bill was $27.00 and I gave her a $10.00 off coupon, why is the final bill saying $21.00. I'm thinking and even say, you know I think she made a mistake. My friend is like yeah but last I checked, 10 minus 27 does not equal 21. Mind you, I did have to take Geometry twice in high school, but in matters of money and simple arithmetic, something didn't add up, and I wasn't about to argue with a mathematical Ph.D. So our waitress comes back and my friend asks in all earnest for an explanation. WARNING: White Supremacy + Jedi Mind Trick = BS.
In a southern cheerleader accented voice, like the daughter on King of the Hill, she says, "Oh well when you gave me the coupon, for your meal, your meal didn't come to $10.00 where as his did. I still gave you a discount though, its right there." Picture the bullet time special effect in The Matrix when Neo bending backwards to avoid being shot because she was shooting some serious bull. My friend insisted the coupon said $10.00. But sir you didn't have an entree, you had appetizers. By this time I was shocked I mean just plain stupefied. In comes Dr. Overly Analytical (thats me). If I may, I just want to make sure I am understanding this, you're telling us that it is up to the sole discretion of the restaurant to determine the actual amount of discount of this coupon up to the value of $10.00 as opposed to what I clearly see printed which says $10.00 off of an entree? By this time, the look on her face clearly said the N-word to both of us. She responded, "It's not that big of a deal, I'll give you the $10.00 off." Among the many "one things" I know, when a person has been made to look like utter damn fools and say its not a big deal, it's a pretty damn big deal. The racial and gender politics of this episode really play a serious french connection within the united kingdom of the mind. Basically she just patronized us. How dare these two Niggras tell me I'm wrong, best me in verbal and analytical acrobatics. I graduated from community college damn it! Anyway she comes back with the modified receipt, saying thank you, have a good night without looking at us. There was no, yall come back now ya hear. I think I might need to send this to the owner/manager of the restaurant. Then again, I don't want her to be fired. She may have children and no child should have to pay for the stupidity of their adult parents, myself included.