Up until I started working, I didn’t really encounter that question. When I did start working, people started asking me that question.
Them: Where are you from?
Me: Canada.
Them: Where are your grandparents from?
Me: Canada.
Them: Ok, where are your great grandparents from?
Me: Canada.
It’s irritating sometimes. I just want to exist, do my job and go home, like anyone else. Once is ok, twice is odd, three times is weird, and the fourth time is a pattern.
The only accent that I might have would probably be from Newfoundland, Canada, as I grew up with a lot of people from there. I also talk too fast sometimes.
Have you had similar experiences, and if so, how did you handle it? Can fast speech patterns cause this? Why do random people care so much?
they’re trying to figure out your race or whatever
I mean, there is a chance that somewhere along the way someone was sneaky, so 🤷♀️
He says in another comment that he’s a white newfie, so, doubtful, unless he now lives in like, Kolkata. More likely, he has a slight accent or is just upset about small talk.
As a white guy myself,
whiteall kinds of people constantly ask things like “where you from,” in the same cadence of “nice weather we’re having, huh?” It’s a part of getting to know people, what’s your name, where you from, what kind of music you into, etc. I don’t think they’re trying to find out if I am originally of Saxon or Angle stock, I think they’re just trying to make small talk.I would agree with you in when they ask where you’re from. Once they start asking where your parents and grandparents are from they’re trying to figure out your race. I also agree with you as a white guy I don’t usually get extra probing but there are a few, mostly older, that are trying to figure out what specific type of white. It occasionally ends with a comment about how some group isn’t really white even though they have light skin.