Racism as an excuse in the workplace now?

Hugh Freaking Dillon
Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
edited July 2013 in A Moving Train
My boss is Asian. He speaks very broken English, and can be barely understood half the time. No problem. That's everywhere (one coworker of mine keeps bitching that he needs to take English classes if he wants to be a manager in Canada-good lord).

The problem is, he's an asshole. Whenever someone bitches about him, it never fails that I hear "it must be a cultural thing"; I also got this from HIS boss when I went to her to talk about something he did. WHAT? Does no one realize that this is basically using racism as an EXCUSE? How is this acceptable? This is no different than if I said to my boss "he probably did this because he's Asian". I'd be fired on the spot. Turning it around for use in benefiting someone is the same damn thing as trying to use it against someone.

Does anyone else get this at work?
Gimli 1993
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • aerial
    aerial Posts: 2,319
    Yes. Well sort of. There's a woman manager that is the worse manager you have ever seen. She happens to be black. She is a pretty nice person but a bad manager. She sits around on her ipad shopping, she has certain things she is supposed to do yet does none of them. She wears Very bright shirts, huge matching earrings and big gaudy necklaces. We are supposed to be conservative at work, only certain colors are acceptable. Well people have said things but mostly about her lack of working and human resource accused them of racism. Well her niece works there and she went to the regional guy and told him this manager is the joke of the store explaining everything she does not do. Now that a black person said something they are on her ....and she has stepped up 80%. I think human resources was scared that she would claim racism until her niece stepped up. I work for a very large grocery chain.
    “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
  • Godfather.
    Godfather. Posts: 12,504
    wow....interesting..
    we have a guy at work that has been here for 40 years and I have worked with him the last 10, the man is as lazy as can be and even braggs about how little he works and how much money he makes, a few years back the company and union tried to fire him so he hired a lawyer and when the lawyer couldn't get it done (video of him sleeping in the gym during working hours) he called NAACP and pulled his race card and sued the company and got his job back with back pay including over time and a settlement,this guy is a pro at playing the system but I guess after as many years as he has been here you have to be good at something.


    Godfather.
  • JonnyPistachio
    JonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,219
    not exactly racism, but my boss told me 7 years later that he hired me because he thought I was Jewish because of my last name. I have a Jewish sounding last name, but I am not Jewish. Ridiculous. :fp:
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • Snakeduck
    Snakeduck Posts: 1,056
    HR folks proceed cautiously when dealing with the protected classes... That can be perceived as a type of reverse discrimination at times, but we're trying to do the right thing AND keep the company out of court.
  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,961
    Snakeduck wrote:
    HR folks proceed cautiously when dealing with the protected classes... That can be perceived as a type of reverse discrimination at times, but we're trying to do the right thing AND keep the company out of court.

    I agree, although its not about doing the right thing, it's about keeping the company out of court.
    hippiemom = goodness
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    cincybearcat wrote:
    Snakeduck wrote:
    HR folks proceed cautiously when dealing with the protected classes... That can be perceived as a type of reverse discrimination at times, but we're trying to do the right thing AND keep the company out of court.

    I agree, although its not about doing the right thing, it's about keeping the company out of court.
    And this is a damned shame.

    (as is the fact that the term "protected classes" even exists)
  • Last-12-Exit
    Last-12-Exit Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    I was told by a superintendent that I got passed over for promotion because the company needed to hire a black man. I'm all for equal opportunity, but it isn't right for the better qualified candidate to get passed over because of race.
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,391
    JonnyPistachio wrote:
    not exactly racism, but my boss told me 7 years later that he hired me because he thought I was Jewish because of my last name. I have a Jewish sounding last name, but I am not Jewish. Ridiculous. :fp:
    Pistachio doesn't sound Jewish to me. Pistachowitz ... well that would make sense. :ugeek:
    Be Excellent To Each Other
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  • JonnyPistachio
    JonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,219
    Jason P wrote:
    JonnyPistachio wrote:
    not exactly racism, but my boss told me 7 years later that he hired me because he thought I was Jewish because of my last name. I have a Jewish sounding last name, but I am not Jewish. Ridiculous. :fp:
    Pistachio doesn't sound Jewish to me. Pistachowitz ... well that would make sense. :ugeek:

    :lol::lol: Well, perhaps Pistachio is just short for Pitachowitz? I have to throw you all off my trail somehow.. :P
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • Snakeduck
    Snakeduck Posts: 1,056
    hedonist wrote:
    cincybearcat wrote:
    Snakeduck wrote:
    HR folks proceed cautiously when dealing with the protected classes... That can be perceived as a type of reverse discrimination at times, but we're trying to do the right thing AND keep the company out of court.

    I agree, although its not about doing the right thing, it's about keeping the company out of court.
    And this is a damned shame.

    (as is the fact that the term "protected classes" even exists)

    Yeah, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all Title VII employment laws are totally unneccessary... says the white people.
  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    Snakeduck wrote:
    Yeah, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all Title VII employment laws are totally unneccessary... says the white people.


    of course those laws are necessary, but I'm getting sick and tired of people being allowed to act like assholes or inappropriately and get away with it because they aren't white.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    and I guarantee you, this other guy I work with, who's Filipino, should have been fired a LONG time ago. He used to be nice, we all got along. Then something changed. He snapped. He has yelled at his bosses, his colleagues, but he gets away with it, I'm convinced, because he has already preemptively used the race card. He has told whomever with ears that he "knows" people hate him because he is Filipino.

    Sorry pal. I used to like you. Was that because I thought we you were white? People don't like you because you're a dick, not because you are brown.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,961
    Snakeduck wrote:

    Yeah, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all Title VII employment laws are totally unneccessary... says the white people.


    Who said that?
    hippiemom = goodness
  • Snakeduck
    Snakeduck Posts: 1,056
    cincybearcat wrote:
    Snakeduck wrote:

    Yeah, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all Title VII employment laws are totally unneccessary... says the white people.


    Who said that?

    It was implied. You just said that HR folks are only interested in keeping the company out of court and not doing the right thing. I find that offensive; I take my role of doing the right thing very seriously.
  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    Snakeduck wrote:
    cincybearcat wrote:
    Snakeduck wrote:

    Yeah, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all Title VII employment laws are totally unneccessary... says the white people.


    Who said that?

    It was implied. You just said that HR folks are only interested in keeping the company out of court and not doing the right thing. I find that offensive; I take my role of doing the right thing very seriously.

    I think the point is that you can't do the right thing AND keep the company out of court. If there is a choice to be made, out of court will always trump the right thing in big business. Do you disagree with that?
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • Thirty Bills Unpaid
    Thirty Bills Unpaid Posts: 16,881
    At some point in time, the world will need to stop categorizing people by race if it ever truly hopes to keep racist attitudes from developing. At the moment, parts of the world are trying to right the wrongs of the past, but as admirable as this might be... the strategies need to change at some point in time.

    In the workplace, when you create categories that distinguish people from one another... make special considerations for various categories... and then provide a generous and perhaps unique acceptance for behaviours given one's category... the idea of everybody being the same is somewhat negated.

    Don't get me wrong... left unchecked... racial attitudes might flourish in certain areas; however, integration and inclusion laws are feel good band aid solutions to a much more profound problem. When children are raised to view some as inferior, those children grow into fully indoctrinated adults who's attitudes are strongly forged. Then they have children and the cycle perpetuates itself.

    The long term solution lies with education and an intolerance of poor attitudes by all. Much easier said than done.
    "My brain's a good brain!"
  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:
    At some point in time, the world will need to stop categorizing people by race if it ever truly hopes to keep racist attitudes from developing. At the moment, parts of the world are trying to right the wrongs of the past, but as admirable as this might be... the strategies need to change at some point in time.

    In the workplace, when you create categories that distinguish people from one another... make special considerations for various categories... and then provide a generous and perhaps unique acceptance for behaviours given one's category... the idea of everybody being the same is somewhat negated.

    Don't get me wrong... left unchecked... racial attitudes might flourish in certain areas; however, integration and inclusion laws are feel good band aid solutions to a much more profound problem. When children are raised to view some as inferior, those children grow into fully indoctrinated adults who's attitudes are strongly forged. Then they have children and the cycle perpetuates itself.

    The long term solution lies with education and an intolerance of poor attitudes by all. Much easier said than done.

    completely agree, and very well said.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • Snakeduck
    Snakeduck Posts: 1,056
    Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:
    In the workplace, when you create categories that distinguish people from one another... make special considerations for various categories... and then provide a generous and perhaps unique acceptance for behaviours given one's category... the idea of everybody being the same is somewhat negated.

    Can we still provide reasonable accomodations for the disabled/injured or should we toss ADA laws out as well while we are trying to treat everyone the same?
  • Snakeduck
    Snakeduck Posts: 1,056
    Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:
    I think the point is that you can't do the right thing AND keep the company out of court. If there is a choice to be made, out of court will always trump the right thing in big business. Do you disagree with that?

    Yes, and it stems from the word "always".
  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    Snakeduck wrote:
    Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:
    I think the point is that you can't do the right thing AND keep the company out of court. If there is a choice to be made, out of court will always trump the right thing in big business. Do you disagree with that?

    Yes, and it stems from the word "always".

    ok, let's change that word to "usually".
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014

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