Salaam and hey everyone..
So, I wanna share with you my experience last night when chilling out with my friends. I was at a cafe slash bookstore, trying to kill some time while waiting for them to come. It was nothing unusual, just some cordial greetings from one of the employees. And so when my friends finally came to where I was sitting (note that my friends are non-Muslims and they are Chinese, quite pretty and very much of a risque-dresser!), I can't help but noticed that almost every employees rushed to their service and greeted them with wide, beaming smiles. Oh well, for as long as I stayed there, I never did get the same welcoming gesture!
But I shrugged it off, thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal anyway so I went on chatting with them.
After that. we decided to walk to a cinema, buy tickets and get some popcorns while waiting for the screening time. I got to a counter to purchase some drinks and all I got was a cold response! One of my friends came up to me, offering help with the drinks and the guy who served me no longer than minutes ago started chatting up my friend and just like one of the employees at the cafe, literally smiling so wide at her (who clearly was so attentive to her every word and enjoyed having her attention!). I stood awkwardly by her side, waiting for them to finish talking. He then offered her complimentary snacks and smoothies (which my other friends and I ended up eating on whatever free stuff that she got since she's lactose-intolerant). At this point, I was so hurt and offended throughout the whole day, I started to reserve myself and keep quiet.
As a hijabi, I understand that wearing a hijab or covering yourself fully is meant to ward off unwanted attentions but judging from what happened, the whole situation was almost on the borderline offensive and crosses into the unfair zone..
I don't want people to view my hijab as an instant barrier in term of communication and socialising. I want them to still view me as an individual. I know one of my hijabi friends experiencing the same thing too when working with her attractive counterpart. Most of the questions from the employers were addressed to her and my friend's opinions certainly don't matter to them. Again, I do not command anyone's special attention whatsoever but their respect for me as a person, customer.
Questions to everyone; Muslims and non-Muslims:
Do you ever give someone (especially hijab-wearing Muslims or Muslims in particular) the same biased treatment? Do you ever get embarrassed being seen with Muslim friends or hijabis especially (since I know most people like being associated with cool looking friends)? And please, I do not want responses along the lines of, 'Then, you better take off your hijab', 'This is not an Islamic country so why do you still wear that?' etc. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions but I'm expecting a more substantial one. Please respect my decision of wearing it as this is my identity as a Muslim.