The internet and all its gloriousness allows us now to get almost anything and everything under the sun we want, including our groceries, without even leaving the couch. It's not perfect - we still have to open the door to get the deliveries - but we are pretty damn close.
Every now and then, however, you may need to go to the store to pick something up for yourself. Trips to the store can be enjoyable though, you get some exercise, you may meet someone famous and you could get some deals not available online. You can also meet some pretty sh*tty people that will make you wish you never opened your front door.
This story doesn't feature a typical store, but it does show that no matter where you are, people can be crap. Last weekend, a Portland food cart owner named Islam El Masry was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges after allegedly assaulting Carlotta Washington, a black customer who had been attempting to purchase food from him.
According to two witnesses, El Masry called her the N-word and sprayed her with Sriracha hot sauce. In a video taken by Washington, El Masry appears to throw a Gatorade bottle at her, which caused her to drop her phone.
According to one of the witnesses, Amanda Dodge, the alleged assault started when Washington tried to pay El Masry for her food with change. Bear in mind, we're not talking a wheelbarrow here like that guy from the DMV - regular change you have in your pocket from that machine that didn't have fives.
Talking to Insider, Dodge said she had already ordered from El Masry's cart, Small Pharoah's, and was waiting in line for her food when she saw Washington, who was next in line, attempt to order food from El Masry. Washington had some change on her and tried to pay for her food using a combination of dollar bills and coins.
Dodge said that El Masry refused to take the change. "I'm not taking your f'ing change," he allegedly said to her. "Get your f*cking n***** ass off my step." Washington responded by telling him not to talk to her that way and she was just trying to pay for her food. But El Masry continued to yell at her, calling her the N-word repeatedly, as well as a "stupid f*cking b****."
"Just because you didn't want to take coins, you're calling me out on my name, you're calling me a n*****. What else do you want to call me?" Not that Washington was trying to achieve this, but the phone getting hit and falling to the floor really does add to the weight of the altercation, to the point that it's hard to argue this isn't discrimination and assault.
In the background, other people can be heard saying: "Dude, that was uncalled for", "That's assault" and: "That's wrong!"
"Somebody call the cops!" Washington can be heard saying. as El Masry continues to shout at her to "get the f*ck out from here."
The video ends there, but Dodge told Insider that shortly afterwards, El Masry pulled out a bottle of Sriracha and started spraying Washington with it. Rachel Good, another witness to the alleged assault, had been getting lunch with her co-workers when she heard people screaming and saw a woman "sobbing and covered in hot sauce".
"There was hot sauce on her neck and shoulders," Good said. "It even got on her face and eyes." Washington said that the hot sauce "was burning terribly" when it got in her eyes and on her skin. A security guard from across the street called the police and officers were "compassionate" towards her.
A refreshing change of pace from recent police intervention, at least.
