Neo. The Only. The One.
THE ONE
This is a response to @Seoul Gleou thread here:
As a black business owner... you're right in some of what you say. A lot of us can tighten up and I will be honest and say that I have made mistakes in business. A lot of the time it's because my white counterparts are 4th and 5th generation businesses where it was passed from father to son and they learned from the time they were a jit how to run a business, whereas for me, this is my first time doing this. This is all new to me and most black business owners.
And we have to literally "learn on the job" through trial and error most of the time.
With that being said, catering to black people is hard too. You're looking at it from the perspective of a consumer and customer, and you're saying how hard it is.
But as a business owner, I can tell you right now that we (black ppl) make terrible customers as well. And I chalk that up to the same thing I said above. This is our first time doing any of this, so on both sides, we don't know how to act.
When I tell a white customer my price, he and I are professional with each other and he pays me my money and we keep it moving.
My black customers come in being disrespectful right off the bat.
My black customers sometimes come in scoping the place out. One time it was 2 dudes, one of them was distracting me by asking about products while the other one was OBVIOUSLY scoping the place out. I had to send them on their way before it was an issue.
Not to mention that black customers want to rub it in that they "don't have to support you, they could have gone to [random white business]" and so you should show some gratitude and go down on your prices for them.
Not to mention that my black customers always wait until the very last minute to order something and then come in and say they want something that same day when I know for a fact that they don't do this to my white counterparts in business.
And I can keep going. I could tell yall some horror stories from being in business, such as the time a girl told me she was gonna call her man to come fight me (cause she didn't like my prices or business policy).
My black customers be a mess. I'm actually getting ready to take my prices way up because there are certain types of clientele that I no longer want. And the best way to make them leave me alone is for me to raise my prices where they can't afford me anymore.
I want a higher caliber of client. Both for my sanity and my pocketbook.
But I'm aware enough to realize that this is part of the damage that's been done to our community that has never truly been healed. We don't know how to act with one another.
As a black business owner... you're right in some of what you say. A lot of us can tighten up and I will be honest and say that I have made mistakes in business. A lot of the time it's because my white counterparts are 4th and 5th generation businesses where it was passed from father to son and they learned from the time they were a jit how to run a business, whereas for me, this is my first time doing this. This is all new to me and most black business owners.
And we have to literally "learn on the job" through trial and error most of the time.
With that being said, catering to black people is hard too. You're looking at it from the perspective of a consumer and customer, and you're saying how hard it is.
But as a business owner, I can tell you right now that we (black ppl) make terrible customers as well. And I chalk that up to the same thing I said above. This is our first time doing any of this, so on both sides, we don't know how to act.
When I tell a white customer my price, he and I are professional with each other and he pays me my money and we keep it moving.
My black customers come in being disrespectful right off the bat.
My black customers sometimes come in scoping the place out. One time it was 2 dudes, one of them was distracting me by asking about products while the other one was OBVIOUSLY scoping the place out. I had to send them on their way before it was an issue.
Not to mention that black customers want to rub it in that they "don't have to support you, they could have gone to [random white business]" and so you should show some gratitude and go down on your prices for them.
Not to mention that my black customers always wait until the very last minute to order something and then come in and say they want something that same day when I know for a fact that they don't do this to my white counterparts in business.
And I can keep going. I could tell yall some horror stories from being in business, such as the time a girl told me she was gonna call her man to come fight me (cause she didn't like my prices or business policy).
My black customers be a mess. I'm actually getting ready to take my prices way up because there are certain types of clientele that I no longer want. And the best way to make them leave me alone is for me to raise my prices where they can't afford me anymore.
I want a higher caliber of client. Both for my sanity and my pocketbook.
But I'm aware enough to realize that this is part of the damage that's been done to our community that has never truly been healed. We don't know how to act with one another.
“How much for a poster just like this one?”
“Maaaan I can do that myself. I ain’t paying that much for that.”
“Y’all cant hook me up? I’ll tell people to come spend money with you.”
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