Local Color

So this is an interesting one...
I walked down to the local 7-11 to get some beers for the house. There were only two guys in the store, one guy standing behind the counter, and one in front of it; both Middle Eastern, both wearing the same color red shirt (7-11 red). I began to step in front of the guy near the counter, to place my beer down, (he wasn't standing right in front of the counter, by the way, but a little bit back from it) when I realized he had some items on the counter he was purchasing. I stepped back, when I realized he was a customer, and not an employee, and said, "I'm sorry, same color shirt." He purchased his items, and afterwards, on his way out, turned to me and said, "Yeah, same color, huh?"
After paying and walking out, seeing him in the parking lot, while he was checking his phone, I said, "You know, you guys really are wearing the same color shirt, it was an honest mistake."
(Because really, who hasn't been mistaken for an employee before- "Where's the canned corn?" "Hell if I know, got any idea where the olive oil is?")
But his response was, "You'll always see us as employees or terrorists."
He caught me off guard for a second, and then I said, "You who? Us White guys? Isn't that just as much an assumption about me, as I made when I came in? And what's wrong with working at 7-11 anyway?"
He was an intelligent guy, and after some minutes of awkwardness, and a little bit of dialogue, we walked up Vermont Avenue together, and talked about it. Even sat on his front step with his roommate (A Chinese Guy, smoking a cigarette out front) where I offered them both a beer, and we all three talked for a few minutes. We had both made assumptions on color. Mine, on a shirt and what his job might be, his, on my race, and what my assumptions might be, and in the end, a lot of assumptions which didn't really pan out. But the thing is, we all do this, as humans, with everything. So, in the end, is there something to be learned from this, by all of us? Aren't we all guilty of being humans and making assumptions?
I assumed he was an employee, he assumed I'm a racist, and all of this is a whole bunch of assuming. I'm glad we had the time to talk. I'm glad this country is a place where people of all nationalities can live. I don't want to hammer this thing home too far, but I think we could all use a little bit of tolerance in our pursuit of tolerance. Because we really are all in this thing together.