„True Stories“ is a movie that came out in 1986. It was directed by Talking Heads‘ lead singer, David Byrne who also was the movie’s main character.

Despite bad reviews (I think that the movie was way ahead of his time), I really liked the movie, but it was also released at a time when I thought Byrne couldn’t do anything wrong.

There is one scene in the movie, taking place in a fictional place in Texas, that I remember very vividly. There are two white people sitting in a mall. The camera is following what they are staring at. First, they are looking at three old white women, and then their stare, and the camera, wanders to three young and very attractive black girls.

„What do you think?“ One of them asks the other.

„Hmmmm, too old for me,“ comes the answer.

Yesterday I went to buy a costume for Maya’s carnival party in Kita. After she had chosen the parrot, we went down to the ground floor of Kaufhof Galleria and waited in line at the beef counter.

There were four customers ahead of me. When a middle aged German woman joined the line behind me, there were only two people ahead of me. The beef clerk served them, and now I was the first in line. For those of you who know me, it is very hard to miss me.

The jerk-clerk went right away to the lady behind me. I was waiting for a couple of seconds as I was thinking this is some kind of a joke. When I realized that he is actually serving her, I called him three times, and he ignored me. I was asking why he was skipping me, and he smirked at me that he doesn’t understand English.

So, I explained myself in German. after pointing out to him his behavior, I told him that if he doesn’t like dark customers he should just say so.

„I don’t understand why you have to be so aggressive,“ he responded.

And I was thinking: this is what irony looks like.