Unbelievable - apartheid still rules near Gatwick!

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I do hope some of you pick this up. I'll try and be quick. This afternoon I stopped off for gas near my home. A baby beamer was parked in front of me, and when I went in to pay, the driver - an elderly white woman - was standing at the till, in animated discussion with the two men serving. They were both Asian. She was well-dressed and - this is important - had a strong S. African accent. Here is how the conversation went: She: "Do you have one of those, you know, electric blower things here?" He: "Electric blower things?" "Yes, you know - for when the inside of my car is dirty." "Oh, you mean a vacuum cleaner. Yes, it's outside, next to the air and water." "Oh." A long pause while she considers this. It appears the word "vacuum cleaner" is foreign to her. "I thought it would be here, in the shop." "No." He explains to her how a commercial vacuum works, the 50p token etc. She begins to look horrified. "So, you don't take the vacuum out to the car and do it, then? I would have to drive the car to the machine? Why is there not a machine that you carry to where the car is parked?" He looks bemused, and tries to explain it would make life very hard for the customers. She looks equally bemused. "But the customer wouldn't do it, surely? I mean, that would be your job? You do that for me, don't you?" "No. We don't vacuum the cars. We just sell the tokens." "Yes, but -" She is talking to the man as if he is an imbecile. Up to now I have been thinking she is a helpless old lady who just needs a bit of help, but now I'm getting the picture. "You will do the vacuuming for me, yes? That is what you have to do! I will pay you, and you will come out and vacuum my car!" I left her arguing the toss. I might have stepped in with a few truths about life now she's left the old home country, but he was coping just fine. The amused look as he caught my eye said it all - although, had he been of African descent, things may have gone very differently. Apparently, when she first arrived she sat in her motor waiting for a 'kaffir' to come out and wait on her. Putting her own petrol in was a new and foreign experience for her, and it was obvious the operation of a petrol pump was as foreign as the switch on a hoover. She was evidently totally unaware that in the UK we a) tend to do things for ourselves and b) the fact a person has a dark skin does not mean they are servile to anyone who is Caucasian. I grew up in the UK as Apartheid was coming to an end in Africa. It was so long ago I had assumed it was gone for good. I honestly thought I had fallen into a time slip. I won't tolerate the likes of Mugabe, because he is just as bad. But thank god dinosaurs like that rich b***h are at last getting the derision they deserve.