There is a racist where I work...

Bluefoam

Here's something I want to get off my mind. Not really a question & I'm not looking for answers. I just want to get this off my mind.

I'm living in The Middle East, & working in a very mixed office. Its a UK company, The senior management are British & the rest of the company are made up of Philippinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, both coloured and white South Africans, Me (Irish) & three English. All of the English work on one project team together, while all the other management of various nationalities run their own teams.

In general I get on with my colleagues & socialise with allot of them regularly & because we get on so well, we actually laugh at the idea of racism within the group. Although the English team tend not to socialise much with people from the office.

I was a bit peeved with one of my colleagues, who has been here about three months. He keeps spouting casual racism about the Irish. stuff like:

• I love to sit outside pubs and watch Irish Catholics & Protestants beat the **** out of each other
• The Irish just constantly fight each other
• What was your first job? Laying tarmac?
• Irish are all drunks etc...

This stuff doesn't really bother me most of the time (water off a ducks back), but its a bit much in the workplace. I actually believe that this guy is just a bit socially inept and doesn't mean any real harm by what he says - maybe he doesn't actually realise what he is saying could be offensive...

Anyway, I'm over his comments, so on to the real story... We were out on a work night last week & this guys boss takes me aside & says he wants to discuss something with me. He says the senses the tension between us & he wants to sort it out. I tell him that I've no issue with him, never had & am happy to work along side his team in the office (our two teams have a certain amount of crossover), he says there is an obvious tension & he had instructed his team to hide things that would be beneficial to my team and my projects. I didn't know what to say to him, but to reassure him & to tell him to get over it and share everything for the benefit of the company... He then goes further and says that he can tell there is tension, because I'm Irish & he's English - I honestly didn't know what to say to this beyond telling the guy to get over it. I have always had English friends & colleagues and have no problem with the English. He then asked if I was a 'Proper Irish Catholic'? To which I replied 'I suppose so', he was in shock... Started telling me that his parents had some experience of someone who had been caught up in the bombings in the UK & that he hated the Irish because of it. I asked him how come he has an Irish friend 'Aine', & he tells me, she's okay, because she's Northern & is protestant. I'm completely taken aback & don't know what to do about this. I've made it clear that I've no problem with the guy & that he needs to get over his issues - in fairness, I think thats what he was trying to do by bring the matter up...

I'm sure I can go on about this for pages & let you all know why I've no problem with English people in general. But that would be a bit boring. But its amazing how we have to deal with racism in everyday life...

Fenian Army

Tell him to fcuk off and go over his head to complain.

smash

So go to HR and make a complaint.

Show Time

Smack him around the place.

Fenian Army

Or wind him up by threatening him with the 'RA for the laughs

chin_grin

Sectarianism =/= racism.

mathie

Bluefoam wrote: »

we actually laugh at the idea of racism within the group

Racist.

old hippy

You can travel all over the world and still meet idiots. Travel doesn't broaden the mind, in some cases, sadly.

old hippy

Fenian Army wrote: »

Or wind him up by threatening him with the 'RA for the laughs

Hilarious if you're about 12, I suppose

micropig

Blast him with p1ss

fishy fishy

ask him is he a little stressed out, after all he must be overworked, trying to organise the english hooliganism gangs for the upcoming football. :D

aaronjumper

I'd like to give you advice but this guy seems too far gone to help. At that stage in life can you really change what someone wholeheartedly believes?

Best of luck either way.

Rocky_Dennis

Bluefoam wrote: »

He then asked if I was a 'Proper Irish Catholic'? To which I replied 'I suppose so', he was in shock... Started telling me that his parents had some experience of someone who had been caught up in the bombings in the UK & that he hated the Irish because of it.

How can he hate a whole nation because his parents knew someone caught up in the bombings, idiot. You should definitely report him to HR.

Teyla Emmagan

If his issues are preventing you doing your work properly (which they must be if he is 'instructing his team to hide things from you'?!) then you should definitely report him. He sounds like a bit of a nutjob TBH.

Dravokivich

Get drunk outside a Pub, kick the shíte out of him and bury the fúcker under a freshly laid stretch of tarmac. It's how he would of wanted to go...

aaronjumper

Dravokivich wrote: »

Get drunk outside a Pub, kick the shíte out of him and bury the fúcker under a freshly laid stretch of tarmac. It's how he would of wanted to go...

I get the feeling you have never had to deal with conflict resolution before

antodeco

'Ah sure I had a choice to either work here or in London. Apparently they can't find enough English with a good enough education to offer them jobs, so they've been crying out for the Irish to the jobs, and been leaving the English to the mickey management roles'

old hippy

When I first moved to the area I now reside in in London; I found a nice local with mostly nice, friendly people. There's a few of course, who tend to spout ridiculous xenephobic nonsense which used to bother me but now I tend to ignore it. There was one fella, in his 20s who was pretty cold and unfriendly towards me because I was Irish. Couldn't figure it out, until someone else told me - he'd been visiting relations in Stillorgan and got a bit of abuse (he's mixed race) and no amount of explaining that it's a minority of eejits who indulge in it would thaw him out.

I'd try and ignore this guy - you can't win 'em all.

And I'm not dismissing your situation lightly, I work with some people with very questionable views...

Dravokivich

aaronjumper wrote: »

I get the feeling you have never had to deal with conflict resolution before

I eh, used to be a complaints manger, during my tenure the rate of complaints recorded decreased.

Make of that what you wish.

:pac:

Cee-Jay-Cee

Send him a ticking alarm clock and strap a few batteries to it for effect.

BTW he sounds like a biggoted sectarian not racist.

Also you refer to some of your colleagues as 'coloured' which is a racist term.

complicit

I live in Anglia and meet these dickheads all the time . I tend to play the Fred West angle a lot - just bring Mr West into every conversation with this knob .
I also like to tell them proudly about my grandfathers adventures with the IRA back in the day . Another angle is to ask if he is part of the gentry / peerage . No? Then he is just a commoner like most folk

golden lane

racism exists......and always will exist, and he has the right to think and feel how he likes...but how he acts in the worlplace is a different matter.......

get some advice from the management........

leggo

It is quite distressing when you see it in action, especially when you are essentially powerless to do anything about it. I'm quite outspoken in general and will pull people up on the likes of bad manners, deliberate rudeness or being a dumbass in general: but in work you're in that awkward position of having to protect your job so you have to pick your battles.

Just yesterday, an African lady asked one of the girls I work with if the place was still open and was met with a rude, abrupt reply. It was a simple enough question and she wasn't looking for any favours. Similarly, in another shop I've worked in, I've seen black people get deliberately ignored for ages when waiting at the till.

I have pulled people up on this before and have been met with replies like, "Have you not seen the mess they make?" etc. And yeah, to be brutally honest, there are some black women who would make your blood boil with the disregard they have for other people's property. It happens with such frequency that I have to assume it's a cultural thing. The behaviours and profiles are too consistent with each other for it to be coincidence.

But, then again, I've also seen it happen with Eastern Europeans and Irish people (what Irish people tend to do is drop something on the ground, look around to see if anyone has noticed, and if they haven't they'll walk swiftly away regardless of the mess someone else now has to clean).

What I say is, "Yeah, I hate messy and inconsiderate people. But being black doesn't make you messy and inconsiderate by default." In fact, the vast, vast majority of people cause no bother whatsoever. It just so happens that the small majority cause such anger that it, perhaps, confuses people.

It is shocking to see, though, and a very real reminder that racism still exists en masse in modern Ireland. It's just evolved, gone undercover if you will. The attitude is still there in many, otherwise normal and decent people.

CL7

smash wrote: »

So go to HR and make a complaint.

Agree with this. If he can't put his bigoted attitude aside for the sake of his job then tough luck for him. You don't owe him anything.

johngalway

Ask him how the Empire is going now that all the natives have followed the great white man home and are living at his cost in his country.

If that don't wind him up, get drunk and hit him with a shovel, preferably on tarmac :cool:

Pushtrak

Well, that's an awkward one. If I were you I'd got talk to Aine. Have her as an intermediary. It's obvious that "proper Irish Catholic" to him carries the connotation of "IRA supporter" and all associations. If you were to say what he said to you to her, up to you if you want to have him there at the time.

golden lane

old hippy wrote: »

When I first moved to the area I now reside in in London; I found a nice local with mostly nice, friendly people. There's a few of course, who tend to spout ridiculous xenephobic nonsense which used to bother me but now I tend to ignore it. There was one fella, in his 20s who was pretty cold and unfriendly towards me because I was Irish. Couldn't figure it out, until someone else told me - he'd been visiting relations in Stillorgan and got a bit of abuse (he's mixed race) and no amount of explaining that it's a minority of eejits who indulge in it would thaw him out.

I'd try and ignore this guy - you can't win 'em all.

And I'm not dismissing your situation lightly, I work with some people with very questionable views...

as you said.....it's just a few eejits......well. he is one of those eejits.....they are everywhere......

Bluefoam

Fenian Army wrote: »

Tell him to fcuk off and go over his head to complain.

smash wrote: »

So go to HR and make a complaint.

The company doesn't have the best structures in place to allow me to complain + workers rights are not great in the Middle East... The guy is a company Director & I am only a manager, he's been here about four years & worked for them in London previously, I've only been here 12 months. It would be easier to get rid of me, to remove the problem.

The South African guys grew up under apartheid and are shocked at this guy...

smash

Bluefoam wrote: »

The company doesn't have the best structures in place to allow me to complain + workers rights are not great in the Middle East... The guy is a company Director & I am only a manager, he's been here about four years & worked for them in London previously, I've only been here 12 months. It would be easier to get rid of me, to remove the problem.

The South African guys grew up under apartheid and are shocked at this guy...

Then make a group complaint if there are more people involved.

Duggys Housemate

chin_grin wrote: »

Sectarianism =/= racism.

In this case it is as Irish Catholic has nothing to do with the OP's religion - he is most likely an atheist.

Pushtrak wrote: »

Well, that's an awkward one. If I were you I'd got talk to Aine. Have her as an intermediary. It's obvious that "proper Irish Catholic" to him carries the connotation of "IRA supporter" and all associations. If you were to say what he said to you to her, up to you if you want to have him there at the time.

She could be the problem.

Bluefoam wrote: »

The company doesn't have the best structures in place to allow me to complain + workers rights are not great in the Middle East... The guy is a company Director & I am only a manager, he's been here about four years & worked for them in London previously, I've only been here 12 months. It would be easier to get rid of me, to remove the problem.

The South African guys grew up under apartheid and are shocked at this guy...

It seems like you have few options, but.... ask the boss whether he hates all muslims because "they are terrorists", loud and in public. If you dare.

c_man

Call in a bomb threat with the codeword 'Kerrygold'

Plazaman

All his "stories" about the Irish seem quite knobbish which there are a particular breed of English people (usually men 25 - 40) like that. You could either ignore him and report any knob like behaviour to your team boss and/or his team boss if he's holding information.

Plan B is to stoop to his level and freak him out by developing a nervous twitch when he's around and when in his company with no one else start mumbling about the "potato famine" and "800 years of oppresion".

Then tell him a long winded story about how an English Landlord threw your grandparents out of their house and off his land and now you hate the British because of it.

Make sure after all these stories, you slap him on the back and say only joking and laugh heartily. Then suddenly stop laughing and when walking away mumble "or am I".

chin_grin

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

In this case it is as Irish Catholic has nothing to do with the OP's religion - he is most likely an atheist.

Wut.

starbelgrade

Have sex with his sister.

It might not do the situation any good, but at least you'll have gotten your hole.

Duggy747

Have a watery shìte on his desk. He won't be expecting that from an Irishman.

Duggys Housemate

chin_grin wrote: »

Wut.

Oooh you posted a link to a picture the internet, that really makes your point. Let me spell it out. The OP is probably not a believer because most Irish people of a certain age group are not, these days, and the English guy means the pre-plantation Irish when he means Irish Catholic. His Protestant friend is probably not a believer either. This aggro has nothing to do with transubstantiation. It would happen to a member of the Irish atheist group who worked in the UK. He means, by Irish Catholic, the Irish. All Southern Irish, and about 40% of Northern Irish.

jimmycrackcorm

Remind him that the "Irish" people who bombed the connections he has were from the British part of the Ireland

Jonti

You have two choices woos, tell him to shut the feck up or stop whining! When you go abroad to work (which I did for 20 years) you meet all types. Either put up, or shut up. Your nice comfortable rules and regs do not apply when you're overseas, that's one of the reasons why you are getting big money. Whiners they don't need.

Chamone MF

Well its a work situation isn't it, ipso facto - the three monkeys.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. ergo sum, don't rock the boat - it never happened.
trust, creativity, integration.........coming together. none of these.

laughter aside. Treat him like Brent. This guy is the anti-laugh. Think 'bad smell'.
Yes and no answers, his arrival might cause you to actually have to go get something from the stationary cupboard/downstairs/Zimbabwe.
Maybe your opinions on his direct open questions are incredibly banal and neutral.
His emotional behavior is met with downright lack of meaningful response.

mikom

Sounds like a knob.
Encase his stapler in jelly.

Bluefoam

Jonti wrote: »

You have two choices woos, tell him to shut the feck up or stop whining! When you go abroad to work (which I did for 20 years) you meet all types. Either put up, or shut up. Your nice comfortable rules and regs do not apply when you're overseas, that's one of the reasons why you are getting big money. Whiners they don't need.

Who said that? I'm not living in poverty, but I'm certainly not on big money... Like I said. I'm not looking for answers. I was more interested in documenting the fact & moving on...

Faolchu

prove all his stereotype opinions correct, get drunk and kneecap him

starbelgrade

Bluefoam wrote: »

I'm not looking for answers. I was more interested in documenting the fact & moving on...

Then surely a blog would be more suitable medium for this than a thread on a public forum?

rgmmg

If her name's "Aine" she isn't a Protestant?

In any case, you get "ruddy buggers" like that all over London. "Paddy" this, "Mick" that. It doesn't offend me (that much), but it is condascending imo. One night, a manager from work used the term "Paddy" in front of my brother who was visiting me at the time. My brother went for him and my colleague hasn't said similar since

I know it's annoying but try and turn a blind eye to it. Make sure you get a slag in yourself now and again!!

Dravokivich

starbelgrade wrote: »

Then surely a blog would be more suitable medium for this than a thread on a public forum?

Or the Ranting and Raving forum where all the whiners and moaners post.

RWCNT

Bluefoam wrote: »

Anyway, I'm over his comments, so on to the real story... We were out on a work night last week & this guys boss takes me aside & says he wants to discuss something with me. He says the senses the tension between us & he wants to sort it out. I tell him that I've no issue with him, never had & am happy to work along side his team in the office (our two teams have a certain amount of crossover), he says there is an obvious tension & he had instructed his team to hide things that would be beneficial to my team and my projects. I didn't know what to say to him, but to reassure him & to tell him to get over it and share everything for the benefit of the company... He then goes further and says that he can tell there is tension, because I'm Irish & he's English - I honestly didn't know what to say to this beyond telling the guy to get over it. I have always had English friends & colleagues and have no problem with the English. He then asked if I was a 'Proper Irish Catholic'? To which I replied 'I suppose so', he was in shock... Started telling me that his parents had some experience of someone who had been caught up in the bombings in the UK & that he hated the Irish because of it. I asked him how come he has an Irish friend 'Aine', & he tells me, she's okay, because she's Northern & is protestant. I'm completely taken aback & don't know what to do about this. I've made it clear that I've no problem with the guy & that he needs to get over his issues - in fairness, I think thats what he was trying to do by bring the matter up...

First of all, greatest of respects to you for not chinning the dickhead right then and there.

Anyway, approach that fella again saying you want to "clarify" the conversation you had on that night, record what he says somehow, and use it to sue the **** out of the company.

Bluefoam

starbelgrade wrote: »

Then surely a blog would be more suitable medium for this than a thread on a public forum?

I'm sure, but

1. I don't have a blog, nor do I intend to start one
2. I get to laugh at allot of the after hours comments

I did debate whether AH was the correct location to post this, but it has proven very entertaining so far.

As for the seriousness of the situation... I'm pretty much over it. I find it a little discomforting, but now that I know whats in his head I have an advantage over him. I will continue to go about my business and leave him to his.

Mickeroo

Dravokivich wrote: »

I eh, used to be a complaints manger, during my tenure the rate of complaints recorded decreased.

Make of that what you wish.

:pac:

Suuuuuuuure, the rate of recorded complaints decreased :pac:

Ush1

So he assumed you were a protestant rather than a catholic for what reason? Does he not realise the vast majority of Irish people are considered catholic?

How is this guy director of a company??

king_kong_ill

i was a victim of sectarianism while working overseas many years ago , the offender was also british only it was a female superior , i went to the top but they made a token gesture and no more , the antagonising became worse so i just left in the end , HR is a bit of a toothless tiger , deliberatley or otherwise , more often than not , the top brass will circle the wagons and try and marginalise the victim in the hope they quit , by taking on the bully , they risk a long drawn out messy affair

az2wp0sye65487

Bluefoam wrote: »

I'm living in The Middle East, & working in a very mixed office. Its a UK company, The senior management are British & the rest of the company are made up of Philippinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, both coloured and white South Africans, Me (Irish) & three English.

I'm sure I can go on about this for pages & let you all know why I've no problem with English people in general. But that would be a bit boring. But its amazing how we have to deal with racism in everyday life...

Fenian Army wrote: »

Tell him to fcuk off and go over his head to complain.

smash wrote: »

So go to HR and make a complaint.

Good one!