I am 58 years old and this has never happened to me until today.

[iemitsu]

152. Once, about 20 years ago, I attended an educational conference

in New Mexico. I and two co-workers (both women, an elderly blonde and an AA woman. I am German and Irish.) drove to the event from the northwest. On our return trip we passed through Montana and somewhere in the mountains we stopped at a busy diner for lunch. The sign at the counter asked customers to seat themselves, and so we did. There were dozens of people in the place and a full wait and kitchen staff was available to meet their needs.
We sat and waited for service. We watched as those, who came in after us were served, and attempted to get the attention of a wait person. They, the restaurant employees, all successfully managed to avoid noticing our need.
It was as if we were invisible.
We were there for a bit more than an hour and no one ever addressed us or responded to our attempts to get attention.
Eventually, we just left.
Businesses, and their employees, don't treat customers that way in the Puget Sound basin. None of us expected to be treated like that, in Montana.
Our culture (probably driven by our economic system) does stress that victims are themselves to blame for their own victimhood. I suppose it is our way of dealing with life, in an environment where we can't meet the needs of too many. Rather than examine a system that creates such need we blame the needy.