A video of a Korean restaurant worker sharing his awkward experience with an old white couple who questioned his Asian origin has gone viral on TikTok.
What happened: The Laotian American worker, a content creator who goes by @dragonfacedkiller, said he was serving the couple and making conversation when they asked for his name. He said he gave them his birth name, to which they allegedly replied, “That’s not very Korean.”
After informing them that he was not Korean, the couple allegedly went on to ask which part of Asia he was from.
“I’m like, I’m from the part of Asia called Hartford, Connecticut,” he said. “I was born and raised in America. I never left the East Coast of America.”
The takeaway: @dragonfacedkiller acknowledged that someone “so old” could say something that can be construed as “racist” by other age groups. Still, he found his experiences with similar non-Asian couples “weird.”
He called his video a “PSA” and dedicated it to non-Asians whose parents go to Asian restaurants.
“People that aren’t Asian that go to Asian restaurants, they tend to have some idea that every Asian employee at that restaurant is like some hard working immigrant…struggling,” he said. “I get it, they’re trying to make conversation and be nice, but don’t assume that all of us are coming from the same background and stuff. That’s why I just think it’s a little weird and all.”
Reactions: The video has received more than 311,000 views as of this writing, with Asian TikTok users relating to it and sharing their own similar experiences.
“That’s called a microaggression,” one pointed out. “We know it’s not hostile racism but it gets exhausting.”
Another echoed a common question, “Where are you REALLY from?”
“Lady at Walmart called me ‘Oriental,’” one user shared.
“I’m a nail tech. Shi happens to me everyday,” another noted.
