Racial Profiling?

The Lin Chun Market is a variety store near my hotel something like Target but larger and on several floors. I went there to buy yogurt, biscuits and laundry detergent. After paying for my purchases, I took the escalator to electronics, since I’ve been having trouble with my camera and may need to buy a new one.  As I attempted to leave, I had the small plastic bag with the detergent and yogurt, and I had a receipt.

I was stopped by a stern looking guard who took the things I had bought away and locked them in a blue canvass bag with a gizmo on it that looked like an ink tag.  He motioned me toward the checkout line. My Chinese wasn’t up to this, and the man spoke no English.  I kept pointing to the bag and saying “Fa paio,” the word for receipt.

A saleswoman saw what had happened.  She spoke no English either, but directed me to a second guard by the door who unlocked the bag and handed me what I’d bought without comment. He, apparently, was the door checker.

The procedure is not routine. The first guard must have had some question as to whether I’d actually bought the items and suspected shoplifting.  But why?  I had a receipt.  However, as a racial minority, I was under suspicion. Happens all the time in the US.

Westerners are welcome in China, but occasionally people distrust us.