Recently I was sitting in the waiting room of a rental car agency. The two employees behind the counter kept scanning the waiting area, looking at their computer screens and muttering to each other. Finally one voiced my name, his voice rising at the end into a question as he looked in my direction. I acknowledged my identity and laughingly told him, "You're having trouble because my appearance doesn't match my name". Yes he admitted he was looking for someone latina or hispanic and I look more like a Jane Smith.
That disconnect between my name and my apparent ethnicity has happened to me more than once but I've also done it myself. I had a painter come to my house who I had not met before, just spoken to by phone. He had a german name, blond hair and blue eyes but spoke with a spanish accent. I kept staring at him trying to reconcile the appearance with the accent and finally had to ask where he was from. He confirmed that he was of german extraction but born and raised in South America. A few years ago I was in the Netherlands and always did a double take when I heard someone with dark hair, eyes and skin speaking dutch and then realized they were indonesian.
So we all need to expand our horizons. Jane Smith could be any color.
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