Las Vegas, 2004. My friend and I arrived at the lunch hour, meeting up from different coasts of the country after a few years apart. Both newly married with small children at home we needed to break from the mundane daily obligations we were learning how to navigate.
The buffet at the hotel we were staying at had just opened for lunch and we were the first in line. We grabbed our booth, got some food from the lunch platters and sat down to begin our weekend of catching up.
A group of security guards came to our table and asked us both to walk with them to the security office. Confused and too young to know any better, we walked with them calmly to find out what the issue was. In the office, we were told two girls the prior night were there and got into t huge altercation. Someone in the buffet identified us as the girls who were there prior causing the issues.
After showing our travel information and they understood clearly we weren’t there at the time – we were furious and demanded a credit from the hotel for the inconvenience during our vacation. We were treated unfairly for LOOKING like someone. I was so far away from home – at the mercy of people who didn’t care enough to validate assumptions before violating my rights.
Ever since then, anytime something is in the news that was the result of mistaken identity it triggers that horrible feeling.
Recently, there was a jogger gunned down because he was mistaken for a robber. We all need to look really carefully at other people and make sure that the group you’re putting them in is not the result of our own ignorance. Not paying attention can impact so many other lives. That’s someone’s son, brother, father, cousin, husband, nephew, teacher, and best friend. It’s worth pausing and taking your time to make sure assumptions can be validated.