Today in Odd Notes of Questionable Provenance

by Prince Of Petworth June 7, 2016 at 12:55 pm 111 Comments

odd note

“Dear PoPville,

Starbucks napkin racist parking rant

The subject line and picture kind of says it all. I work downtown and park in your typical public garage with tight spaces and columns everywhere. I noticed that I had parked next to an enormous SUV that was only a couple inches off the dividing line (I was about six inches to my side in my Civic). The ginormous beast of a car was gone by the time I left. Halfway home, I noticed a Starbucks napkin flapping around on my windshield. I thought maybe they had dinged me and left a note with contact info. so imagine my surprise when I got home and saw this.

Odds that this is actually an “angry black man,” or actually a racist white person? I’m guessing the latter.”

justinbc

You guess the latter, and provide no explanation as to why…and yet we’re supposed to assume that the note writer is the racist one rather than you?
- Anon
  
  +1
- transplanted
  
  Okay Justin, I’ll walk you through it. The trope of the “Angry Black [Wo/]Man” is a prejudicial stereotype originating outside of the black community. It’s not something that black people routinely say about themselves, but rather is said by non-black people about black people. Therefore it would be incredibly odd for this note to be signed by an angry black man embracing the stereotype, as opposed to a random white person hiding behind the balance of a courage that comes from anonymity and the cover your ass alternative found in the “blame a black man syndrome,” which is an unfortunate American standard.
  - justinbc
    
    Thanks for the explanation, I’m admittedly not up to date on all of the black male stereotypes. (and based on the other comments, plenty of others are in that same boat) It still seems a bit disingenuous of the OP to assume something (unexplained) of one race while also assuming that person is a racist. What if they were Asian? Why just default to “it’s the White Man trying to keep an entire race of people down through passive-aggressive windshield notes!”
    - LittleBluePenguin
      
      It’s a pretty widely-known stereotype, but I think the whole thing is just so bizarre, that while I don’t know about defaulting to “the White Man keeping everyone else down…”, I can understand the OP being so confused, and feeling like the “signature” had to be some sort of nasty racist “joke”? I mean who would actually sign off like that, even if they were black and/or angry?
    - neighbor
      
      Statistically speaking it’s just far more likely the note writer is white vs. asian in this region.
      - General Grant Circle
        
        Well if you are going by “statistically speaking” it is also more likely that he is black than white
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Washington,_D.C.
      - Brighwoodian
        
        What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? What do you mean, an African or a European Swallow?
      - stevefarfromdc
        
        Both this comment and Grants reply assume that the subset of the population “writers of notes left on windshields” reflects the general demographics of the area. We have no way of knowing if this is a valid assumption
  - CapHillNative
    
    I am black and this argument makes very little sense to me. This is likely an angry black man. We use the term angry black wo/man within the community all the time. We are well known for snatching racist insults back from the white men and owning them (i.e. the n word)
    - On Capital Heels
      
      But be honest though. 9.9 times out of 10, the only time these words come out of a black person’s mouth would be to validate their legitimate and present feeling/opinions/grievances and reject whites’ outright dismissal of these as being an ABM or ABW. Black folks don’t walk around en masse calling themselves an ABM or ABW. #notbuyingit
      - CapHIllNative
        
        Based on your pronouns I am going to assume you’re not black, yet your expertise on when and how we use language surpasses mine. So much so that you claim some a number of 9.9 times out of 10, based off a sample size of what? Its ok to defer to black people for the insights of what a black person might do AND respect their uniquely qualified experience over yours. Non black love to tell black people what is actually true about their community, listening would be better. – Angry Black Woman
      - caphillnative
        
        Also see examples of the black commmunity’s internal use of the phrase
        
        here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dominique-matti/why-im-absolutely-an-angry-black-woman_b_8398228.html
        
        here: http://theangryblackwoman.com/about/
        
        here: http://madamenoire.com/143037/dealing-with-dating-an-angry-black-man/
        
        and here: http://thejournalofanangryblackman.blogspot.com/p/about.html
- Peter Jones
  
  Yep – sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
transplanted

This might sound weird, but based on the handwriting I’d be surprised if it’s a man at all. Seems quite lady-like.
- Anonymous
  
  +1
  This is an entitled GOP Hill Staffer or lobbyist (or the SAHW of such a person) from the Deep South/Texas.
  That bubbly handwriting made plenty of sorority signs back in her SEC days.
  - Jay Cutler
    
    Definitely, because every single Republican staffer/ lobbyist from the Deep South or Texas is a racist. Let me guess- you studied sociology at Vassar? Or was it Brown?
    - Southern SK Dem
      
      Or because every Southerner or sorority girl is a racist? Or because every racist comes from the South and/or was Greek in school?
      - Southern SK Dem
        
        PS, I went to college and grad school in Mass, and I knew way more racists up there than I have ever come across in the South.
    - Homer Simpson
      
      I’ve had just about enough of your Vassar-bashing, young lady.
      - DCReggae
        
        +1
- pjl35
  
  Ugh. I hate this stereotype. I’m a man who has nice penmanship and it is mistaken for a woman’s all the time. I don’t “write like a girl”; I write like a human being with legible handwriting.
  - textdoc
    
    There’s a difference between “nice”/legible handwriting and a sort of deliberately stylized handwriting. I vaguely remember in late elementary school that it was a fashion among some girls to write their print letters (and maybe cursive too) in a very bubbly-shaped manner, dotting i’s with big circles (or sometimes even hearts)… and some girls continued writing like that through junior high and beyond.
    .
    My first thought when I read the note was that it looked like a woman’s writing, so I was surprised to get to the bottom and see “Angry Black Man.”
    - pjl35
      
      Haha apparently not much of a difference though when I’ve experienced the assumption pretty much since elementary school onward… ;)
      - textdoc
        
        Are your letters especially circular/bubble-shaped?
      - pjl35
        
        @textdoc: No they are not
  - v
    
    you likely don’t dot your i’s with hearts or participate in bubble penmanship, which usually is attributed to women. i’m not prejudiced, but men with good penmanship usually don’t write like this. and this is NOT an example of good penmanship, it’s just legible… in that very sorority girl sort of way…i was in a sorority, just saying… this penmanship goes hand in hand with rhyming your date night invitations. Trust.
  - navyard
    
    Re: pjl35’s comment “I don’t “write like a girl””
    
    It sounds as if you think it’s an insult to be told that you do something like a girl. (write, throw, sound, etc). I wish people would stop perpetuating the myth that doing something “like a girl” is an inferior way of doing something. So please don’t be insulted, just accept it and then ask, why would people think that men are incapable of nice handwriting?
    - the totten.
      
      I didn’t read it that they were taking offense at the assessment, rather the way i read it was that PP was taking offense that something, anything, is so quick to be attributed a gender. It’s extremely frustrating for those of us who have repeatedly been told that we “do something like a woman/man” when we are actually not of that gender at all nor should gender even enter into the conversation in the first place with regard to whatever is being discussed. it’s penmanship ffs.
      
      i don’t walk like a man or dress like a man or write like a man… i’m a woman regardless of my gait, my outfit or my penmanship.
      
      this person wrote a note and signed that they were a man. who are we to question that aspect of the note? i’m more curious about what they want to do with a crow bar.
Stink Eye

I literally have no idea what this note even means? What makes the OP think its a white person posing as an angry black man?
Anon

Perhaps you should be less racist in your assumptions about who wrote it.
anon

They drive a hulking SUV and leave a message on a Honda Civiv??? Nuts… Guess they wanted two spaces all to themselves.
K

Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t see how this is questionable or racist. You parked to close to someone. They got annoyed and left you a passive aggressive note. I’ve only been enraged enough to leave a note on someone’s car once and I can truly say that my rage probably clouded my ability to write a well reasoned message. If they were annoyed enough to write a note they probably were to annoyed to care how they came across.

Don’t park near that truck again and throw away the note. That is really the only thing to do in this situation.
- K
  
  Also, I should clarify that I was placing no parking blame on the OP. I should have said that two cars were parked to close together.
- Anon
  
  “to” and “too” have different meanings.
  - K
    
    grammar police are the worst.
    - stcohi
      
      Seriously — how many copy editors does the world need?
      - timmyp
        
        The weird thing is they all have the same name, Anon. How bizarre.
- Anon
  
  They guy paid for only one parking space, just like everyone else. If his parking needs don’t fit within the confines of a single space that’s his problem, not the OP’s.
- Anon
  
  I was confused too, but I think the racism comes from OP’s assumption that a racist white person wrote this instead of an actual black person.
  .
  I don’t know if the writer was white, but I also find it hard to believe it was actually a black man. Way too stereotypical (you take up extra space with your large car, write off an angry note threatening harm and then sign it with the very trope white people would use to describe you? come on). I find it even harder to believe it was written by a man of any race as others have noted, given the penmanship
  - On Capital Heels
    
    +1,000,000,000,000,000
    
    Hits the nail on the head. The handwriting seems like that of a woman, and the “Angry Black Man” signature line seems like a classic, Susan Smith move. My money is on this being a white (or other non-black) woman.
Hukiyoyo

By the handwriting alone I’d guess that was written by a female and not a man. I’ve got a guess as to race but wouldn’t put it out there based on handwriting alone. Hope you don’t get any more angry notes like this when all you did was park between your lines. Sorry this happened!
- Anon
  
  Yea, I’d bet money this was written by a woman. Either way, I’d just forget about it. Even if the perp catches wind of this, I doubt the Internet shame would do much to change their outlook on life.
- pjl35
  
  #stopthegenderbasedhandwritingstereotype
  - Hukiyoyo
    
    I’ll go further…it looks like writing of a female under the age of 30. This handwriting is just “flowery” and young looking. Immature just like the note itself. Many men have great handwriting. Depending on the industry, like architecture, penmanship can be both flawless and gender neutral
    
    .
    - transplanted
      
      I let it go the first time, but why are women described as “females” and men “men”?
      - Anonymous
        
        Why is it that when men are described as “males”, no one points it out?
      - textdoc
        
        Probably because the writer doesn’t know any better and doesn’t realize it’s offensive.
      - Hukiyoyo
        
        And I’m a “female” and I don’t find it offensive at all.
      - transplanted
        
        A female what, Huki?
      - Hukiyoyo
        
        A female who avoids unnecessary drama, Trans. Enjoy your day.
      - justinbc
        
        “Why is it that when men are described as “males”, no one points it out?”
        @Anon, I think the female/male pedantic bickering is a tired, ridiculous argument to make (which is nonetheless made on this blog repeatedly), but to help answer your specific question, I’m guessing it’s because men rarely ever have to fight for equitable respect through any means necessary, so we don’t feel the need to be slighted (even if I thought that were a reasonable reaction) whenever someone uses the term male.
      - transplanted
        
        Actually, it’s because men aren’t routinely called males in the way that women are called females, see this comment thread as a perfect example.
      - justinbc
        
        By routinely you mean colloquially? Because every “routine” situation that I can think of (crime reports, court briefings, medical examinations, etc) where the sex is used as a descriptor / function of the job the terms male / female are used, not man / woman.
      - transplanted
        
        Using male/female in a police report is not in any way equivalent to persistently calling men men, and women “females.” For an example, as already indicated, please refer to THIS VERY COMMENT THREAD. Furthermore, when male is used in police reports, et al. it is as a modifier to the main term (“suspect,” “patient,” etc.) not a standalone description.
      - justinbc
        
        You mean this very comment thread where a woman is the one using the supposedly offensive term…?
      - transplanted
        
        Yes, in this comment thread. The fact that a woman is doing the sexist thing doesn’t make it unoffensive. Congrats on making absolutely sure you didn’t learn anything today, that’s another one in the books.
- woman
  
  I have never seen a woman driving an ‘enormous’ SUV in DC.
  - neighbor
    
    Are you trying to compete for the stupidest comment on this thread?
    - Anon
      
      Lol
  - jaybird
    
    You obviously haven’t ventured north and west of DuPont Circle.
Mark

Yeah, doesn’t really look like a guy’s handwriting.
- pjl35
  
  handwriting is handwriting is handwriting.
  - dcd
    
    This really struck a nerve for you, didn’t it?
    - pjl35
      
      Haha I guess…particularly when it has shown up on this post multiple times and when I have just enough free time to care.
    - Hukiyoyo
      
      +1
  - On Capital Heels
    
    Stop the nonsense! The fact of the matter is, one can look at certain styles of handwriting and a judge (quite correctly) that it was written by a woman…or a man…or a child. To insist that this handwriting is not even characteristic of a far greater proportion of the female population than the male population is to deny reality.
    - On Capital Heels
      
      *adjudge (not a judge — darn autocorrect)
anonymouse_dianne

Well, I drive a two door Mini Cooper and more than once I have come out to find someone has parked too close to the driver’s side door. Just because it is a small car doesn’t mean I don’t need room. I need at least a couple feet to open the door all the way out. More than once I’ve had to get in from the passenger’s side and crawl across the console. Now, I make a concerted effort to park next to a column or wall.
- Anon
  
  I park very close to other cars sometimes, but always so the other person has enough space to open their driver’s side door and get in normally. I can squeeze out of my own car if the door is cracked open six inches, or crawl over to the passenger side, but not everyone is that small or that agile.
SaraEP

Dumb. People really need to learn to curb the reactivity. Who cares about their appearance? Trash the note, roll your eyes and keep it moving.
- Glen
  
  +1000
General Grant Circle

Well black men are capable of being angry just like anyone else, and I have a hard time imagining a racist white person using strange passive aggressive notes as their race-war weapon of choice so Ima guess the former, or that OP was bored and made the whole thing up.
Cam

Do angry black men sign notes “Angry Black Man”? I’d guess not often.
- Anonymous
  
  I’d guess no one signs notes that way very often.
MarkQ

Hmm…Coming from an black man who occasionally gets angry, this seems too obtuse and clever-by-half to be an actual ABM.
- Anon
  
  That was my thought as well
Anon

Sounds like the guy from the rental post from yesterday.
samanda_bynes

it was me, sorry dude. i was referring to the sludge metal band crowbar, and i was gonna jam to it in my truck.
- timmyp
  
  +1 Well done Sam.
- textdoc
  
  Actual LOL!
RV

Everyone involved, myself included, has way too much time in their hands.
- Leeran
  
  This should be the only comment.
  - blue peter
    
    on their hands…but yeah, between this one and the one about “help popville, what do i do about mosquitos”…i just don’t know about popville users…what’s next, “help popville, i have a pile of dirty laundry and nothing to wear – what do you suggest i do?”
    
    maybe i have too much time on my hands…
textdoc

Many people in D.C. get way too heated up about issues involving cars — driving behavior, parking spaces, etc.
.
If I were the OP, I would try to avoid parking near this truck in the future. It doesn’t matter that the truck driver was in the wrong and the OP was in the right — it’s not worth risking getting keyed/deliberately dinged/bumped/whatever over.
.
The OP should probably hold onto the note, just in case the truck driver retaliates in the future.
- CHGal
  
  When someone drives in a way that puts others’ safety at risk, you should get heated up.
  - textdoc
    
    It’s understandable to be annoyed/irritated/upset about someone else’s unsafe driving… but it’s best not to get too worked up about it. You can’t do anything to change that person’s behavior. Confronting the person could easily result in your being threatened or injured. In the end, your getting worked up over someone else’s driving hurts only you.
- Hukiyoyo
  
  +1 Not only heated up about the original post but causing turmoil within the comments as well. Some people need to take a break and go out for an ice cream…if that’s not offensive.
  - justinbc
    
    What about those are lactose intolerant? Or vegans? Won’t you think of every possible scenario when posting something on the Internet?!
    - Hukiyoyo
      
      +1 All the thin skin these days is really pathetic. Accept others and live your life. Don’t like someone/something? Move along until you find someone/something you DO like. It’s really quite simple.
      - justinbc
        
        But will there be high chairs? And a place for people with dogs? And a place for people who are allergic to those dogs? The PoPulace must know!
      - anon
        
        +1000
  - blue peter
    
    don’t you know: EVERYTHING is offense these days…don’t you dare walk next by someone in a wheel chair lest you be accused of a microaggression
  - Anonymous
    
    How dare you assume that I like ice cream. In fact I’m lactose intolerant so I take that as a personal attack. How dare you. /s
- textdoc
  
  Incidentally, I was thinking of the truck driver in this situation as the unnecessarily heated-up party. Unfortunately, you can’t really do anything about people who react like that — best to avoid them if you can.
v

also guessing a woman based on handwriting… sorry, no man i know writes like that. that’s a girls penmanship.

signed,

a girl
- justinbc
  
  Do effeminate men write in this manner, or do they still default to their “masculine” training?
  - v
    
    I don’t know, I’m not an effeminate man… I’m just saying, my ex is a graphologist and used to do a lot of work for the FBI and brought home work with him. I’m not trying to be offensive, just observant
    - anonanononon
      
      so because your ex was a professional in a field and sometimes did work around you, you are now an expert in said field? i hope you realize how ridiculous that assertion is.
      - HaileUnlikely
        
        Not an expert, but quite possibly slightly less un-knowledgable than the typical commenter on some blog.
bruno

Looks like a woman’s handwriting to me…..
- bruno
  
  P.S. Kids are not learning how to write by hand anymore :^(
Anon

Like I said above: the guy paid for only one parking space, just like everyone else. If his parking needs don’t fit within the confines of a single space that’s his problem, not the OP’s.
anon

If you are so concerned with the person’s ethnicity and gender, he/she is clearly stating he/she will be there tomorrow.
- bruno
  
  All that’s missing are little hearts dotting the “eyes.” ;^0
- Anon
  
  This made me laugh… and now I feel bad
- textdoc
  
  And I think the OP was referring to a note he/she had received yesterday (Monday), which means that “tomorrow” would be today (Tuesday).
Dan

WE are living in a crazy society today. It appears too many people in this country are angry or unhappy. You have the Donald Trump haters, Black Lives Matter radicals, cop haters/killers, racists regardless of race, homophobes, or just angry people. Maybe the person was having a bad day and he, she, or it had to let out their frustrations. I wouldn’t park my vehicle in the same location tomorrow to be on the safe side because the angry person might key or damage the vehicle. SMH on this and all that’s going on in this city, country, and world.
- On Capital Heels
  
  Yes, it is “radical” indeed for American citizens to insist that they be treated as such and not subject at any time to random execution by white male cops acting as judge, prosecutor, jury, and executioner for any reason whatsoever — including breathing, playing, walking, jaywalking, running, driving, or otherwise existing while black. Given the history of this nation, it is indeed “radical” for these folks to believe that the Constitution of the United States does, in fact, apply to them, too.
  - Brooklyn Brawler
    
    +1Billion
s.patrillo

Hm….99% sure this is a woman’s handwriting. (This napkin makes me angry for various reasons, but mostly for the poor pen(wo?)manship. Just f**ing awful. I judge people who write like this, I’m sorry…..Too bubbly and borderline sloppy.)

But if it is indeed a man, i’m curious to know if OP showed up the next day to see if SUV driver (alleged ABM) returned…… Please find out, Dan!!!!

Subscribe to our mailing list