e-mail
At work, my manager recently hired a new part-timer, and his job is to help me with my job. I’ll call him Oswald. He called me, we chatted… and some weird remarks were made. I told my husband, he said I’m overreacting, and thus, a blog post was born.
The first strange comment came when I told Oswald that the product’s user interface was written by developers in China. I said, “I’m sure that their English is better than my Chinese, but -” then he cut in with a really bad Asian accent “I wanna numah six” – as though he we ordering Chinese food.
O… K…
Towards the end of the call, he said that he usually tries not to work on the weekends, but since he had to get up to speed, he probably would this weekend. I told him that he could call, but if it was nice out, I was going to take my son out. You see, we’ve been having massive rain storms, so we’ve been inside for a long time. Oswald laughed and told me that my son must look like an albino.
Oswald has never seen me. He just assumed that I’m White, and that my son is White. I really didn’t know what to say that, and I got off the phone soon after, but it continued to bug me. Then he sent me an email message that ended with “Have fun with the albino this weekend.”
And then, we had to talk on the phone again. I told him that Manager might call me later, despite the fact that it was 11:30 pm in his country. Oswald affected a French accent and said something like, “Ahh… I am French… I smoke le cigarettes.”
It just seems like this guy goes straight for the ethnic humor.
After a person is hired, I do pull some weight when we decide if we’ll continue to work with him or her. I haven’t seen the type of work he can do yet, but I can’t help but think that it’s got to be pretty darn spectacular to garner a recommendation after the remarks he’s made.
I also don’t really know how to tell him to knock it off. I’m thinking of sending him a picture of Jack the next time he refers to him as “the albino”.
This is just really strange. What bothers me the most is his assumption that Manager, my son, and I are all White. (He said something else about Manager that would take too long to explain here.) Manager is not White, actually, and I wonder if the humor will get Oswald in trouble with him. In any case, I think it’s rude to assume someone’s ethnicity. I steer away from anything resembling ethnic humor, especially in the work place.
So, am I overreacting? And, regardless, how can I tactfully tell this guy to stop?
I don’t think you are overreacting. This Oswald guy probably has gotten away with saying cringe-worthy things for years, with nobody stopping him because his comments are borderline. I really love the thought of you sending Oswald a picture of your son. It might be a way for him to realize he cannot assume what the ethnicity or race is of the other person on the phone, or anyone for that matter.
http://www.thephantomline.com
You are not overreacting. If Oswald is nineteen and this is his first job, then I say “educate him” about the use of ethnic humor and the danger of making assumptions. However, if he is an adult, I say “keep copies or logs of his inappropriate remarks and oppose his permanent hiring. And tell him why AFTER he has lost the job.
This would bug me as well. I find it best to directly let the person know that you are not amused by ethnic jokes/comments/assumptions. I would be “nice” about it, but firm. I agree with the previous comment, if he is a young one, educate him. If he is old enough to know better chances are he will still display this humor, but not around you. In our world of instant, non-personal communication I believe many people have lost their manners!