midfuckepiphany

my boss from London is in town. we went out to diner last night. hanging out with him, especially in the US, means listening to endless put-downs of all things american. everything - airport's inferior, food's inferior, every person he encounters is dumb, road signs and gas stations are aesthetically displeasing, every routine customs procedure is proof that america is an evil police state on the verge of collapse, while enlightened britain keeps getting better and better, soon to retake its rightful place as world leader as soon as people of the world wise-up and come to the long-overdue realization that americans are backward scum two-thirds of everything that comes out of his mouth has the same theme - things british are superior to american scum, and you're scum for being american. he gets this sneer on his face as he talks about it. i've worked for him for years. he promotes less-competent british people, who've been at the mag less time than me, over me. always has. i am a european nigger.

but what can you really do about it? i just smile and nod and try to be an example of how a person who doesn't think that way behaves and communicates. in subtle ways i try to expose him to things here that might counter some of his stereotypes. i'd like to think that i'm having some impact. for example, i finally got him to hang out at my apartment last night - he would never do that before (ye gads! step into an american's apartment? i'd have to shower afterward ). we hung out, listened to music, drank beer, smoked cigarettes and talked about music. although i must admit, somewhere in the back of my brain i derived some fiendish pleasure from the appalled look on his face when the beer i fetched for him was a can of Bud Lite. haha - my own quiet form of torture