You're sitting in a staff meeting. There's you ( black woman), you're Asian boss - male, a black man, another black woman. Two white gay men, three white woman, one is gay.
You're discussing a manager in another department that has been having some performance issues lately. One of the gay white men makes a comment and ends with " She just doesn't know when enough is enough. I wish I could hang her from a tree and lynch her."
{silence}
No one says anything. A pregnant pause....
Then..
The meeting goes on as if nothing happened.
The next day you say something to the co-worker about the incident, offline. He gets upset and plays the victim. The next day he pulls you aside and apologizes profusely, almost to the point of tears. You brush it off. But, it still bothers you. Why is "lynching" a part of his vocabulary. You can't let it go. You've never blatantly dealt with 'race' issues.. or had to play the color card. But this bothers you. What do you do?
Do you go to the VP of the area and voice your concerns? Or do you let it go....
12 comments:
In my opinion, you have done enough. You felt strongly enough about it to go to him and although there was initial hesitation, he did apologize for it. How much further do you want to take it? If he is not a repeat offender, I would let it go.
Well, I'm in the "field" and I know the rules so I would report it. Not only did he say something racially offensive, but he said something quite violent as well.
I would report it. I don't like to take things like that lightly. If he felt comfortable enough to let that slide out in that situation, what else is he letting slide out in other situations? No matter the races of the other parties?
At this point, you've done enough BUT I'm only giving him a pass because he apologized profusely. Hopefully he won't make flippant remarks like that again.
As far as race issues, it is still a fact of life in the South. In fairness, things are getting better with the exception of Mississippi and Louisiana. With that said, I don't tolerate chit like that and will address it immediately.
Welp.. at this point I plan on saying something because he only apologized because something was said to him. There is also some history here.. a few months ago my boss (the Asian) made a slide show for a training and used a picture of a staff member eating watermelon. Totally innocent. The boss made a comment about being 'sensitive' about things like that, but said NOTHING about this!
I was about to say what you said. I think he apologized because YOU said something to HIM. He should be reported! I have NO tolerance for racial ignorance in the work place! You mentioned he was gay,I'm certain you would be reported if you said a gay slur. They are extremely sensitive about that.
I say report him, that should not be tolerated. That was a racist statement. If you made a remark about the gay people they would've come down hard on you. I don't think that should be tolerated in an office setting.
I say slap the shit outta him....
or on a more civilized note..I would report it. it is not ok, it made you feel uncomfortable and you still feel some kinda way about it.
Report it!
This is something that should be reported. Rules of employment are blanketed, not isolated. Had you said this it would have been reported and you would have been gone without a second thought.
Oh hell NO!
Apology or not, that would definitely be reported.
File a complaint! This incident needs to be documented and on paper. If you said anything remotely offensive such as this, a nice piece of paper (the start of your document trail) would be in your file. No excuses. -- p.s. Nice blog, I will be returning :)
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