Why do men think they can scream at me on STX?

OK - pop psych answer here...because the culture on StX is so woman dominant that when ever men get an easy target they vent. Uuuuh, the white guy was an assh.l.e?/?
Seriously...there are rude people everywhere. Crucian culture does tend to support open argument, vociferous and loud and immediate. This might be hard to take for those raised in the passive aggressive and repressed Northern climes.
Blow it off and shout "next!"
PS. get another doc

Jane,
thank you for your reply! I needed that, especially from another woman. I guess it's so difficult because there are so many wonderful, sweet people that I have met it's SO frusterating when you come across the blatantly rude, condescending, ***hole types...
I need to form a Woman Coalition against "Idiot men who disrespect women!"

Uhh

Guys and woman have gone off the deep in a time or two here towards me as well. I dont think its always a gender issue.

Good thing you didn't say "excuse me" to someone who blatantly ignores your place in line and cuts in front of you. I've had a shout down come on me with such rage he almost hyperventilated. I watched in disbelief but said no more. After the tirade and the fellow left (yes he was served before me), the person behind the counter said "you shouldn't have said ANYthing"... like it was my fault. I don't think it is a gender thing, but probably a culture thing. I'll tell you another time about being chased down the street by a Rasta screaming at me that I was "the White Devil"... too weird.

Was that the loud singing Rasta with a stick in C'sted?

As in any "neighborhood", you quickly find out who the crazies are that you don't mess with. In my neighborhood in Louisville there was a woman who traveled with a shopping cart full of her belongings. If you made eye contact, she just went off!!

But I would dump the doc -- right now!!

LOL... Jane.
No stick... he had a machete. He was clearing some brush and doing a good job of it. A friend (a local) and I were walking by, and my friend and I greeted him and my friend then spoke with him some. He was fine until I spoke... I don't think I said anything in particular to provoke him, if I remember I answered a question he asked. He got fired up and went on a rant about me being the White Devil. Like I said... too weird.

A lot of these people you see around in town aren't necessarily Rastas. They just have locks and are not clean shaven. It takes a lot more to be Rasta.

DL - too true! Rastas are the nicest people you could hope to meet. There's a whole bunch of dumb idiots out there who sport dreads because they think it's cool and they're NOT Rastas and they don't have a bloody clue.

Segueing back to people yelling, I was in Plaza Xtra on STT today and only had a few items so went to the Express checkout. The lady in front of me was having her things totalled and I was about to put my few purchases on the belt when the cashier said, "Excuse me, Sir, this is Express checkout, only ten items!" For a heartbeat I thought she was talking to me and was getting confused until I looked and saw that the man behind me had a cart with about twenty items in it.

He looked at her, looked at me, looked at my cart and exploded with, "She in front o'me got more than ten item, what you problem?"

Before the cashier had time to react, I quickly pulled out the items from my cart, put them on the belt and went, "I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9! I know how to count, you have a problem with that?"

He sucked his teeth but quietly went to the next register. The cashier thanked me but in turn I thanked HER for keeping her Express check-out just that because so often that isn't the case.

Oh well, island living. Yes, there are some cuckoos around and you just have to learn how to deal with them. Don't get your knickers in a twist, just ignore and walk away and then will come the time when you can reply to them in their vernacular and blow them away in a heartbeat. Cheers!

You are so right DL. In my post, the fellow told us he was Rasta. Later I learned a little more about Haile Selassie I (why they say "eye" instead of 'the First"... to denote a personal relationship with him) and how he claims to be Jah or Jehovah, and how reggae music relates their doctrine and culture.

Funny story... a friend had his mango tree, which grew in a fenced in a portion of his yard and was full of almost perfectly ripe mangos, stripped of EVERY piece of fruit one night by some Rastas. When he heard them outside (they pulled down his fence), he went to his balcony and yelled at them about what they were doing. They told him "God gave the fruit to ALL men", but they left him with NONE. I bet they were sold the next day at every corner in town. LOL

and I don't mean berry, but didn't he become the Jamaican Jehovah while visiting Jamaica after the island went through a long drought and afterwards or while he was there the drought ended?

Star: There is a subculture of intimidation here. I am not going to try to give reasons or explanations, but it does exist. Turn the other cheek?

I had an experience where I was waiting in line, with about 30 locals and tourist, to board the ferry from down town, Charlotte Amalie to St. John. Two local white males, dressed in business suits, arrived at the last minute and skipped everyone in line and proceeded to the very front of the line. Everyone watched in disbelief. Some of the locals sucked their teeth and shook their heads saying that it was not worth it to say anything. The two men was oblivious to the people around them and was the first to board the ferry. Incredible since most of us had waited on line for about 15 minutes.

These men did not scream and shout their way to the front of the line, but their silence spoke loudly that everyone present was invisible and did not exist.

Uhh people cut lines everywhere, its not unique to the island, I promise you that!!

And while I agree you need to choose your battles wisely... Bad things happen when good people do nothing.

Its the TRUTH.

I didn't realize that being "white" & "Crucian" were mutually exclusive...

Can't be. I'm white and consider myself Crucian. What else would I be? This is where I live.

If I was white and lived in Italy would I be Italian.....if I came from the USofA???

The first year I was here I did find people more abrasive here. I don't think people that live here are necessarily overjoyed with newbies and I don't blame them. Everytime winter rolls around now you have the winter residents driving around actually doing the speed limit of 25mph i forget why tourist dollars are good 😉 I did find other transplants to be warm and welcoming and you kinda stuck together to figure out the lay of the land. Everyone I knew that came in when i did is now long gone though.

I forget Betty how long have you been on Island now?

I imagine it takes awhile and a lot of face time for the locals to start treating you as one.

I don't think I would consider myself a Crucian no matter how long I had lived there, if I ever decide to move there in the first place that is. (grin)

I hate line cutters, but I have to laugh when it riles people up. I mean with all the heinous stuff happening in the world line cutting gets your dander up?

When I live in Paris I am not a Parisienne. Neither am I a Frenchman, I am still an American, living in Paris.
I am an expat, if you really want to label me.

I lived in Germany for 8 years and was not considered German or considered myself German. I was as you said an ex pat.

3yrs 3months on the rock.