Wherever the heck that is!

A friend and I were having dinner recently, in a nice restaurant. At the next table were three older women, who got their desserts as we were ordering our food. When they finished their desserts, a Latino man came to clear away the empty plates, and they exchanged a few words with him.

After the expected exclamations of how tasty the desserts were, one of the women asked where the man was from. He said he was from Mexico, and added the name of the place — I think he said it was Oaxaca, but he was speaking quietly, so I’m not sure.

“Wherever the heck that is!”, exclaimed the woman who had asked.

My friend and I looked at each other.
“Did she just say...?”
“She did.”
“But... how rude is that?”
“Mm, hm.”

The employee just briefly gave a little more information — something like, “It’s in the south of Mexico,” and perhaps that it’s a beautiful place — and then excused himself to go about his job. And I’m sure the ladies thought they were being nice to the help.

Oy.