Words like "I think" and "just speculating" projecting how she looked to be factually how she was thinking etc all means she has NO IDEA what the poor clerk was thinking, what rules she was required to follow, etc.

In other words this was just a big projected guess but since it's called racism it must be fact.

I miss the days when Hollywood studios would force their stars to behave.

This lady is making sure I won't pay a dime to watch another Spider-man reboot.

Coleman said what was on her mind. And since she is convinced she was treated poorly due to the color of the clerks skin it is quite clear that Coleman is a racist. Can't say if the clerk is one as well.

Eh her entire career is based on this. She isn't a particularly good actress or signer, well known, or of any significance except because she speaks out about racial issues all the damn time. Her mom is white and her dad is black.

Alot of the gossip sites I visit love her but admit she's a pretty mediocre actress who hangs out with Taylor Swift. She got a role in Spiderman as a love interest so it's sorta working out.

I personally think she looks like a typical Disney cast-off, bubble gummy and not really interesting enough for me to watch her in a movie.

Also if a retail person gives you the stink eye it's because they work in the burning hell hole that is retail.

"Long story short, there's so much progress to be done in our world."

Yep, there is a lot of progress to be done in our world; and it should start with that young girl checking her privilege!

Calling a white person in the US a racist is almost as bad as calling a black person the "N word" as it takes the entire history of bad race relations and heaves it upon the "accused" person's shoulders.

And, that is a very ignorant thing to do.

Vons is doing damage control in apologizing. Did the employee actually display racism or did she just get miffed at a customer who demanded that the rules not apply to her.

As I just put it in a tweet of this link:

@amyalkon
Clerk Racist Or Fed Up wHollywood Princess Attitude-ism? #Zendaya racially profiled or profiled as entitled asshole?

Many liberals feel a need to have been a victim of something, even if they have to stretch things a bit to achieve their victimhood.

There's enormous fraud in gift cards... ~ Amy

So much so that Visa and MasterCard recently told merchants that they would not cover fraud losses if the merchant did not install a chip reader. Those merchants that rely on their old school mag strip readers must cover their own fraud losses.

The gift card industry is ripe for money laundering and fraud. Illegitimate cash can be turned into legitimate cash with the simple purchase of a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express gift card, for less than $5 and then be spendable anywhere. Many pot dispensaries are putting their money into gift cards since they cannot use regular banks.

With gift cards and reloadable debit cards, grocery stores are becoming banks for people who cannot (or will not) use regular banks.

Vons is doing damage control in apologizing. Did the employee actually display racism or did she just get miffed at a customer who demanded that the rules not apply to her. ~ Amy Alkon at September 8, 2016 6:48 AM

It may not have been Zendaya displaying Hollywood attitude or even racism.

Gift cards are difficult for cashiers to process. In addition to a cash/card transaction, they must activate the card at the register and that takes time. Meanwhile, a line of irate customers builds up behind the gift card purchaser, irate customers the cashier must later placate. Many low-level cashiers don't have the authority for a high value purchase and must requires manager approval. This also takes time and leaves the waiting customers irate. Most cashiers would rather avoid having a gift card purchase at their registers. Zendaya's cashier may simply have been exasperated at having to conduct a difficult transaction. She may not have been properly trained for it.

Interestingly enough, Vons' parent company, Safeway, pioneered the selling of third-party gift cards in grocery stores.

Safeway spun of the gift card arm into a stand-alone company which sells gift cards in stores and online, processes gift card exchanges, and manages employee and customer reward programs for companies.

It's a fascinating business model, making money by selling other people's money.

Yes, gift cards have become a common method of laundering money. There was a news story here last week of a guy who was trying to buy a truck from a seller on Ebay. The seller claimed that he was in the military in Tuscon, and was willing to ship the truck -- but the buyer had to put up the purchase price, $3500, sight unseen. And the kicker: the buyer had to pay in Ebay gift cards. The buyer realized at that point that it was a scam.

"With gift cards and reloadable debit cards, grocery stores are becoming banks for people who cannot (or will not) use regular banks."

Everything old is new again... Back in the day, a lot of working-class people didn't have bank accounts. When they got their paycheck on Friday, they took it to the grocery store, bought their groceries, and used their payroll check as payment. The store accepted the check for the groceries and paid back the balance in cash. It worked out for both parties: The worker got their paycheck cashed without having to pay a bank fee, and the grocery store was able to reduce the amount of excess cash on hand.

Had a 10 year old Black kid give me the finger as I was driving by him yesterday.

Blacks and SJWs are dooming themselves to a bitter disappointing life w/their presumptions and assumptions.

As if I really care whether the clerk was "racist", having a bad day, at the end of her shift and dealing w/a difficult customer, or whatever.

Time to go back to the attitudes of the '50's w/this stuff (the '60's were "live and let live" and the Golden Rule picked up in the '70's and beyond).

"Oh grow the f*&K up." "As if I give a damn." may soon be our (my) standard response instead of "Oh you poor dear.".

Notice this does not have to do with the clerk doing anything concrete to convey a racist attitude. This was entirely based on Zendaya's (presumably biased) interpretation of the clerk's posture, facial expression, and general lack of interest in Zendaya and her purchase.

Zendaya wanted to talk about being a victim of racism and so, she found a way to be one.

What is a Zendaya, and why do I care about the feelz of this snowflake ?

Gift cards (better referred to as stored-value cards) are indeed a ripe vehicle for fraud, but all this talk about 'money-laundering' cash into gift cards is (mostly) nonsense.

Think about it - why would you turn untraceable, immediately-negotiable cash into traceable, defeatable plastic? Criminals try and turn their ill-gotten gains into cash (often at a discount), rather than trying to turn their ill-gotten cash into plastic.

The attraction to gift cards for a few fraudsters is that they can be immediately negotiated anywhere, often electronically. The scam described above wasn't some criminal trying to turn cash or other ill-gotten gains into gift cards - it was a con-man trying to get something for nothing, and avoiding the conventional banking system.

Most gift-card fraud is some variant on a long con or straight theft of credit cards, with people buying gift cards with credit cards. That's why Visa is looking a lot closer at gift cards purchased with credit cards - with the current predominant swipe system, a stolen or cloned CC can be used to buy a lot of gift cards quite quickly. But that's not 'money laundering'.

Gift cards are also used extensively to create illicit payments such as bribes and kickbacks, so in that sense they are one form of money-laundering, I suppose. But there's very few criminals wasting their time turning envelopes of cash into plastic.

My personal favourite gift-card trick.

Buy Amazon gift cards at Kroger. Kroger has a 'fuel points' promotion, which can earn you up to a dollar-a-gallon discount on fuel purchased at their fuel docks, which are already the cheapest in town. The Amazon gift cards have full cash value. And then pay for the gift cards with a Costco credit card, earning 2% cash-back from them on the purchase. Puts $40 a month in my pocket, directly off the gas bill, and it's all 100% above-board.

llater,

llamas

"What is a Zendaya, and why do I care about the feelz of this snowflake ?"

Wow, how did you post that without an Internet connection?? What is it with people here weighing in just to brag that they don't know who the "celebrity" is?

Last year Zendaya got TV hostess Giuliana Rancic of the show "Fashion Police" burned at the stake. Rancic, as part of her job on the show, was critiquing a red-carpet photo of Zendaya wearing dreadlocks and joked that she could "smell the patchouli." She was mocking the over-the-top boho look.

Zendaya cried racism on social media and was offended on behalf of all the black women who always are told "their own hair isn't good enough" (even though Zendaya herself was wearing a head full of extensions--it wasn't even her real hair).

Rancic had to make a public apology and went on hiatus while it all died down.

http://www.people.com/article/zendaya-blasts-giuliana-rancic-oscars-dreadlocks-fashion-police

IP, obviously Rancic thought she was equal to or above the 'big dogs' and that had to be stopped. She was there to say "nice" things about "nice" people and she did not.

Gotta know your place in the world and even then 'sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you'.

Bob, that's the best part. The show (which I admit is mean spirited, even by my standards) is all about viciously mocking celebrities. Actually, at first it was just their clothes, but Joan Rivers made it increasingly personal and never apologized. Then she died, and I guess the remaining hosts were no longer shielded by her moxie.

But they weren't there to say nice things about celebrities. They say awful things about celebrities.

By comparison this jab was mild.

...but all this talk about 'money-laundering' cash into gift cards is (mostly) nonsense. ~ llamas at September 8, 2016 10:09 AM

I worked in the gift card industry for two years. Money laundering using gift cards is real and profitable, especially with the reloadable cards. At least according to the Treasury Department mandated ALM training I had to undergo.

Large bundles of cash attract attention. Gift cards, even in larger denominations, do not. Since they can be purchased or reloaded anonymously in multiple retail locations using cash, they are virtually untraceable. Gift cards can also be purchased with stolen credit cards before the cards are reported stolen and used long after the card is blocked.

They can, once loaded or reloaded, be used like credit cards, but without the paper trail and the interchange fee.

Some retailers have stopped selling high-value gift cards to combat money laundering and fraud. Try getting a $500 American Express gift card at your local grocery store.

Criminals try and turn their ill-gotten gains into cash (often at a discount), rather than trying to turn their ill-gotten cash into plastic. ~ llamas at September 8, 2016 10:09 AM

Turning your cash into clean cash can cost you up to 50% of your haul. Turning it into plastic can cost you $5 per card. Unless you're a drug kingpin laundering hundreds of thousands, this is a pretty fast and convenient way to turn your ill-gotten gains into immediately usable and easily portable money.

My personal favourite gift-card trick. ~ llamas at September 8, 2016 10:09 AM

You can also purchase in-store gift cards (i.e., Kroger cards at Kroger) if you don't need a stack of Amazon cards and pull the same trick. The cards can then be used to purchase groceries and you get the fuel perks and the cash back. That's what we used to do with Safeway cards.

"Actually, at first it was just their clothes, but Joan Rivers made it increasingly personal and never apologized. Then she died, and I guess the remaining hosts were no longer shielded by her moxie."

Joan Rivers, in her day, was a friend of damn near everyone in Hollywood. When she made snarky comments about other celebrities, most people understood that it was an act, and if anyone ever actually had a problem with something she said, her friends protected her and smoothed it over. With some people, it was a game; Phyllis Diller deliberately wore tacky clothes and made sure that Joan saw them. No one can do that anymore because nowdays, everyone in Hollywood hates everyone else.

I wonder if the Oklahoma State Patrol will drain your gift cards, then make you prove they were yours?