Tops "Friendly" Markets

I recently became a cashier at Tops and I've been having a very good experience.  However, today I ran into a situation that still leaves me feeling quite shaken up.  I was cashing a man out today when he asked me if I could give him five twenty's if he gave me one hundred dollars in a variety of bills.  While he was asking me this I realized that a man two people back was watching intently.  The man I was taking care of made me recount the money he gave me numerous times so I was sure I had the right amount, he was safeguarding my job for me, which I thanked him for.  Meanwhile the man who was intently watching this transaction started to get rather irked.  He yelled to me that the man at the register was scamming me and was speaking "devil's talk."  I ignored his comments and continued to count out the twenty dollar bills for the very polite man and then yelling started to happen.  The man who I was taking care of hear what the other was saying and was very offended.  This is where our class comes in.  The man I was taking care of was African American and the other man who was telling me about the "scam" was an elderly white man.  The men started to scream and the one I was taking care of said in disgust "I know what this is about. It's because of the color of my skin!"  The other man just laughed and an older lady and myself were stuck in the middle of this interaction. I became very uncomfortable, but just then the one man, the one who I was taking care of, decided to walk away, after thanking me, rather than to deal with the discrimination he was being put through. I then had to deal with the aftermath of the man who decided to say all of this stuff in the first place.  He went on and on and I had to be polite and cash him  out with a smile, but what I really wanted to do was tell him he was in the wrong. This was the first real, in my face case of discrimination I ever remember witnessing and it left me with a terrible feeling.  I wanted to run after the man who was so nice to me and apologize for the actions of someone else.  No one should have to deal with anything that happened today.