I May Have Been Offensive

I would never be deliberately offensive but I may have done it accidentally.  My family knows I'm not racist but not everybody does and that may have been my mistake.

Anyway, the other day I put out some shelving with a "free" sign on it.  Unfortunately for me, it was also garbage pick-up day and the person who took the shelving also took my new garbage box that was sitting right by the shelving.  Honest mistake.

I had no idea who had picked up the shelving until my neighbor came over and I mentioned losing the garbage box.  He said he'd seen who picked up the shelving and it was a black man.  Now, I was very happy because we have only one black family in the park which made them easy to find.  I asked around to find out where they lived and drove my little self right up there.

Now comes the "maybe offensive" part but I'm still not sure.

I knocked on the door and Artie answered.  I asked if he was the one who picked up the shelving and the box and he said he was, laughing as he realized he shouldn't have taken the box.  I said, in all innocence and with no offensive intent, "I'm so glad it was a black person who took it because you're the only black family in the park.  I'd never have found it otherwise".  Now I'm wondering if I mentioned that my neighbor told me it was a black man.  Oh, crap!  Maybe he thought I meant that only a black person would have taken it.  I hate having to worry about my words being taken the wrong way!

Anyway, I'm not sure if I should approach him and try to explain myself or if that would just make matters worse.  Crap!!

Okay, here is what I'll do.  Artie's wife, Dee, is often at the clubhouse so I'll ask her if her husband told her about the garbage box incident.  Then I'll tell her that my neighbor told me he saw a black man take it and say that really helped because I knew there was only one black family in the park.  I'm either going to dig myself a deeper hole or make myself understood.  I'll hope for the latter.

Update:  Sometimes things sort themselves out and they did this time.  My friends told me to not say anything to the couple because I'd just make matters worse.  I didn't think they were right but I'm often wrong (obviously) so I stayed quiet.

During my Friday morning coffee get-together, Dee joined us for the first time and I was so happy.  It meant that I hadn't offended her husband and that meant a lot to me.  I wisely said nothing to her about the incident and we all enjoyed or coffee time!