Why some things will never change...

An experience of "The Baroness" from earlier this week...

One of our friends recently bought a $10 CD-ROM at a store, and later discovered that it was incompatible with her computer.  She attempted to return it, but was informed that software, once opened, cannot be returned, only exchanged for another copy of the CD.

This led to a heated argument that soon enveloped several managers and the threat of a lawsuit (?), until eventually they gave in and gave her $10 store credit.  Afterwards, she called my wife and complained mightily about how poorly she had been treated, and how racist Americans are towards Asians like her, and other non-whites.

My wife pretty much had to bite her tongue instead of stating the obvious:
(1) All software has the system requirements clearly posted on the outside of the box for the express purpose of telling you before you buy it whether your computer can run it or not.
(2) All stores have the same policy towards software--due to piracy, you can't return software after you open it.
(3) Since the store was nice enough to give her money back anyway, despite the fact that she was clearly at fault and that the store had a clear posted policy on software purchases...it's hard to see how she was treated 'poorly' at all

Now, of course, she also threw in the racism angle...  This is why some things will never change in society--there will always be the problem of racism as long as there is the perception of racism.  (See my original article on this topic here)  There is nothing to suggest that she was treated badly because of her race (nor that she was treated badly at all), but, of course, to her those clerks and managers are racist for not giving her what she thought she deserved (...fast enough, anyway).  How can you eliminate racism, when some people are always going to be able to find 'racism' wherever they look? How can you prove that race didn't play a factor in the things that happen?  How can you prove that it did?  What can you do when to some people everything is always "someone else's fault"...