Want Work?

Driving through Limassol Town Center today, I remembered an old incident which happened here about a year and half back. My flatmate and I were walking down the pavement, when a posh Mercedes S class slowed down near us, the driver lowered the window and asked my fiend, "Want some work?". Having been in Cyprus for a while, we knew the Cypriots well, so this didn't really surprise us. For most Cypriots, every coloured guy is a day labourer.

Anyways, my friend answered "No". The man was taken aback, I guess he expected an inquiry at the least. He asked again "You don't want work?". My friend calmly said "I already have work". The man sort of apologized and drove on. Now it so happens that this friend of mine is filthy rich, is from a very well to do business family and his father is a Politician. I was feeling offended at this prejudice and told my friend "You should have said something. How can these fuckers always assume that we are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants?" (now I have nothing against Bangladeshis, its just that there are a lot of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants here). To my surprise, my friend was least bit perturbed, and said calmly, "are Rajat, if I had said something, the guy would think twice before stopping and asking someone else, and some guy in real need of work, would probably not get it". I was taken aback. Now how the hell does one build such a perspective about things?