WWYD? This outside-the-box staged reality show is an interesting program that invites us to check ourselves on how we would respond to someone being horrible to someone else in our everyday lives. This video focuses on customers of a grocery store where one of the workers has a disability, and how the customers treat him.
One grocery shopper shared the story of an abusive customer getting exactly the comeuppance she deserved. Our shopper was at the checkout, and her groceries were being bagged by an employee with a mental disability. The bagger is just about the sweetest man in the world, and he also does his job really well.
When he sees that one of the canvas grocery bags has a hole in it and asks the shopper if she wants him to use it anyway. As our shopper thanks him and asks him to use another one, an impatient woman in line behind her barks, “God! Hurry it up!” Our shopper explains, “I just finished paying. He’s fine.”
The impatient woman: “Oh, so you’re slow like him, too? God, all you special people need to stop interfering with normal people.” Looking offended, the bagger himself cuts in: “She’s not not-smart. She goes to…” (he points to the university logo on her clothing) “…She’s real smart.” Our shopper returns his favor: “And he’s the best bagger here! He’s very careful ma’am, which is a good thing with groceries.”
As the bagger hands our shopper her groceries and tells her to have a nice day, the impatient woman simply says, “Retard.” This whole time, the cashier has been silent. But now she says calmly, “Refusal of service for massive discrimination towards a valued employee, as well as a regular customer. You may leave your items here; we’ll shelve them later. Please leave.”
Instead of leaving, the impatient woman causes a huge disturbance. A shelf gets broken, and she actually has to be physically restrained. Meanwhile, the bagger leads our shopper and another customer to safety behind the cigarette counter.
The story inspired a social experiment on the television show called “What Would You Do?” to explore this exact scenario. In the video we’ve posted below, you can see how different people act in this same situation. Is treating everyone with respect important to you? Being kind should be our natural instinct, and certainly, we should never discriminate against those who can’t go through life as easily as others.
