Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know many of you are non Asians but I would like to know what you think. My two managers were talking and I was there. One manager mentioned Jackie Chan because one of the dogs in the neigborhood is named that. I do not have a problem with that. But the other manager said in a comedy TV show that he saw, this family went to China and all Asians look all alike. The family thought they were seeing Jackie Chan everywhere. I seen that TV show with him and from my memory, it was not like how he described it. One aspect of racism is a remark that a certain race look all the same. As an Asian person I found this insulting. He actually did it in front of me. Also, the manager who made the racist remark gave me a lot of criticsm about my job performance two weeks ago. I am planning to leave my job because of this. Will this be considered a hostile work environment? I know many of you who are reading this are racist themselves but would like to know your opinion. I have an open mind.
The world is full of idiots. When I was young I had large breasts and was blonde. Everyone assumed (and treated me) as though I was an idiot. They were only showing their own stupidity.
If you bristle up every time someone says something negative about your ethnic background you are going to become very defensive in short order. My advice is to ignore it, or perhaps talk with upper management about the situation. The last thing they want is a lawsuit. Perhaps some remedial HR training is in order.
I am confused as to why you wrote "Of course, you bring up the fake war on xmas." That sounded like I mention it every week. I also don't think it is fake. I actually had a manager who wrote me up and threatened to fire me when I said Merry Christmas to someone in the break room during lunch. She didn't believe in Christmas so thought that no one should be able to say the word around her. She also fought to have management remove all paid holidays because if she didn't celebrate them, then neither should anyone else. I am sorry, but that is not a fake war on Christmas. I believe she was being too sensitive about a common belief.
My daughter is respectful. I have taught her to say please, thank you, hold doors, etc. That is beside the point. My point was that if people are this sensitive now, what is it going to be like in 15-20 years? It was not this bad 15 years ago.
If you don't like hearing something, let the person who said it know. That way the person who said it is aware that what they said was disrespectful. They will either respect your request (which means they didn't realize they said anything wrong in the first place), or they will continue to say those things around you (which means they don't care). Either way, I think people need to get thicker skin. In my opinion, unless someone is saying it directly to you or in any other way intentionally trying to be mean, you just need to let it go. Not everyone who makes comments like that are as bad as some would like to believe. Some people are so color/ethnic blind that they don't realize that it could be offensive to someone.
You can have your opinion, I can have mine.
I sincerely doubt the veracity of your first paragraph.
And if you know someone doesn't celebrate xmas, why wish it on them? That's rude and inconsiderate.
No religion is a common belief. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself in the workplace, it's inappropriate there.
Why did you attribute hand gestures and verbal attributes to your daughter if she doesn't have them.
If you treat everyone with the same respect, it's not a problem.
I sincerely doubt the veracity of your first paragraph.
And if you know someone doesn't celebrate xmas, why wish it on them? That's rude and inconsiderate.
No religion is a common belief. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself in the workplace, it's inappropriate there.
Why did you attribute hand gestures and verbal attributes to your daughter if she doesn't have them.
If you treat everyone with the same respect, it's not a problem.
I can assure you that what I wrote actually happened. I didn't say Merry Christmas to her, I said Merry Christmas to a co-worker who was also a friend of mine. It was Christmas Eve. We were also exchanging gifts during our lunch break. The manager happened to be walking down the hall outside of the room at the time. I never wished her a Merry Christmas. My question to you is how is it rude for me to wish a friend Merry Christmas when the Manager was nowhere in sight. How are the Manager's personal beliefs more important than mine? You don't celebrate Christmas? Fine. Don't. Don't make it an offense to say the word Christmas in the office. Now you are pushing your personal beliefs on me.
I wasn't attributing hand gestures and verbal attributes to my daughter. I was using her as an example of the next generation. I have never met someone who is so completely literal about everything written.
I do treat people with respect. I would just like the same respect shown to me. I shouldn't have to walk on eggshells afraid that I am going to offend someone because they took something I said the wrong way.
The OP was talking about someone describing a TV show. The person was describing something they saw. They were not saying that they felt that way. It is unbelievable that someone would get offended by that. If I said that I saw someone on the side of the road flashing drivers as they went by, does that make me as bad as the pervert on the side of the road? I am so sick of all of the PC BS.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,037,511 times
Reputation: 36027
Quote:
Originally Posted by num1baby
I can assure you that what I wrote actually happened. I didn't say Merry Christmas to her, I said Merry Christmas to a co-worker who was also a friend of mine. It was Christmas Eve. We were also exchanging gifts during our lunch break. The manager happened to be walking down the hall outside of the room at the time. I never wished her a Merry Christmas. My question to you is how is it rude for me to wish a friend Merry Christmas when the Manager was nowhere in sight. How are the Manager's personal beliefs more important than mine? You don't celebrate Christmas? Fine. Don't. Don't make it an offense to say the word Christmas in the office. Now you are pushing your personal beliefs on me.
I wasn't attributing hand gestures and verbal attributes to my daughter. I was using her as an example of the next generation. I have never met someone who is so completely literal about everything written.
I do treat people with respect. I would just like the same respect shown to me. I shouldn't have to walk on eggshells afraid that I am going to offend someone because they took something I said the wrong way.
The OP was talking about someone describing a TV show. The person was describing something they saw. They were not saying that they felt that way. It is unbelievable that someone would get offended by that. If I said that I saw someone on the side of the road flashing drivers as they went by, does that make me as bad as the pervert on the side of the road? I am so sick of all of the PC BS.
Amen! I also am sick of PC crap! That was wrong of your manager to try and penalize you for wishing your coworker a Merry Christmas if the coworker shared the same beliefs. This is the USA where freedom of religion is supposed to be respected. Now employees are forbidden to wish someone else a Merry Christmas? Freedom of religion is our constitutional right but freedom from being "offended" is nowhere to be found in our constitution.
Jeez. It always gets into some Christian rants. Some people cannot keep on point, no matter what.
This thread is specifically about whether or not this guy should quit his job over what he perceived as a "racist comment" by his manager. It is not about Christmas.
Jeez. It always gets into some Christian rants. Some people cannot keep on point, no matter what.
This thread is specifically about whether or not this guy should quit his job over what he perceived as a "racist comment" by his manager. It is not about Christmas.
I am sorry if you took my post as a "Christian rant". It was not intended that way. It was an example of the world becoming too PC and how people are becoming too quick to say that something is racist when it is an innocent comment. Just like I am pushing my religions beliefs on someone because I say Merry Christmas to someone else. I didn't even say that I am a Christian. For me Christmas isn't even a religious holiday. It is when family and friends get together and enjoy our time together. Why that would offend someone, I don't know.
I am sorry if you cannot see how my examples are related to the thread. I believe they are related because of the overall theme. People need to get thicker skin and stop crying to Mommy and Daddy (or management) if someone says something they don't like. They also need to think about how the statement was intended. People are too quick to jump to the wrong conclusions these days. So many feel that everyone is out to get them. When did America get so paranoid?
I know many of you are non Asians but I would like to know what you think. My two managers were talking and I was there. One manager mentioned Jackie Chan because one of the dogs in the neigborhood is named that. I do not have a problem with that. But the other manager said in a comedy TV show that he saw, this family went to China and all Asians look all alike. The family thought they were seeing Jackie Chan everywhere. I seen that TV show with him and from my memory, it was not like how he described it. One aspect of racism is a remark that a certain race look all the same. As an Asian person I found this insulting. He actually did it in front of me. Also, the manager who made the racist remark gave me a lot of criticsm about my job performance two weeks ago. I am planning to leave my job because of this. Will this be considered a hostile work environment? I know many of you who are reading this are racist themselves but would like to know your opinion. I have an open mind.
Other than the fact that you don't like the manager because he gave you a lot of criticism about your job performance, what kind of person is he? Do you think he said the "all look alike" story to be deliberately hostile to you, or is he one of those Archie Bunker types who has no clue that what he says could be offensive to someone else? Could he be one of the people who say racist things to bring them to the light to show how ridiculous they are?
At any rate, when you know for sure you are leaving your job, you should contact one of those firms that comes in and does sensitivity training for employees. Give them the name of a high-level HR contact to pitch their services to.
I know many of you who are reading this are racist themselves but would like to know your opinion. I have an open mind.
OK, so wait...the main complaint is the admittedly ignorant supervisor made a dumb comment, generalising about a group of people. Based on a: a 30-minute TV show he watched and b: apparently his own perception.
The OP comes on here and makes a dumb comment, based a: on an online forum he participates in occasionally and b: his own perception.
The remark above would be considered racist and offensive in most situations, no? And there has been no explainer or retraction given by the OP, especially given that the majority of respondents here have been very careful NOT to be offensive or racist. I am personally offended, as a beige person, and don't appreciate the assumption that I am racist. I mean...let's get real: most people, no matter how hippy-granola-liberal they are, are in once sense or another, "racist." As in, we recognise when someone is a different race, even if we try hard not to buy into the whole race construct...but it is there.
OK, I am not really offended...it takes an awful lot to offend me. But my point (I raised this earlier in the thread) is that without CONTEXT it is difficult to determine intent. The OP included in his first post a blatantly racist observation, but few people recognised it as such because of the context. If he prefaced a question in his workplace with "I know many of you who are reading this are racist themselves" then would that not be considered a hostile and racist comment? Since his definition of "racist" is probably "people who are racist towards Asians or people of color or Chinese people."
Last edited by chiroptera; 04-14-2011 at 06:36 PM..
In a cross section of people,"x" amount will be racist. I think he was only stating an obvious fact. He didn't say YOU were racist, just that some people who would be reading probably are. And I think that is a fair assumption.
He has never bothered to comment on why he, himself, has a racist moniker.
The OP hasn't come back to this thread for two days now so nothing that anybody has to say probably means not much to him anyway.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
