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In my workspace of 4 people there is one open racist and one open homophobe

HomokHarcos

Member
Jul 11, 2018
2,447
Canada
In my workspace there are 4 people, and one has clearly made his racist feelings known and the other one is homophobic.

The racist guy said it "pisses him off" when black and white people have children and also said it's not fair that black people can say the N word and white peoples can't.

The other one is clearly homophobic and he was talking about how he used to be able to say the word "gay" without people being offended and also complained about straight people not being able to have pride parades.

It's just strange actually witnessing these types of people in person.
 
Almagest

Almagest

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,447
Spain
Sounds about right tbh. In my experience, most people out there don't care to educate themselves around any of these issues beyond their pre-existing prejudices and even trying to reason with them logically ends up in confrontation.

Places like Era literally are safe spaces, for the most part, def not the norm.
 
F2BBm3ga

F2BBm3ga

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,083
While i typically havent experienced openly racist co workers at the many corporations I have worked at, as that would be a big no no in regards to HR.

I still experience "lowkey" homophobia tho, where, if they know you're not gay, they'll say their gay jokes or anti gay stuff.
But if the gay co worker is around, they wont say that stuff. (Which is still a big no no but they dont seem to be as scared to do this as opposed to racist stuff)
 
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Retsudo

Retsudo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,077
I work in a small place now, and its the same op. I've worked in big companies, and there are always more than a few of those idiots around.

I may or may not have been fired from one of those companies because i spoke out against that kind of behaviour and attitudes.
 
Saganator

Saganator

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,064
Motherfucker you have a straight parade everyday you walk down the street without worry about what someone will do to you because of who you choose to have sex with.
 

Deleted member 16657

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,198
In both situations they feel like something was personally taken away from them by "the blacks/gays/jews/etc"

Even something as small as a word. That's white fragility for you.
 
Spinluck

Spinluck

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
28,480
Chicago
HR is useless in most cases but I'd go to them or a supervisor. Hopefully you supervisor isn't a closet racist or homophobe.
 
Malleymal

Malleymal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,301
How dare you make me learn a whole different adjective because the one i used for so long is considered wrong now. Ugh
 
Box

Box

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,629
Lancashire
Can relate OP. I'm working at Brighton Pride with one of the most homophobic blokes I've ever met. Makes me smile tbh. So many happy people here and he's locked himself away with his misery!
 
jerf

jerf

Member
Nov 1, 2017
6,236
TBH only 50% of your co-workers being shit bags is pretty good these days.

Sorry op it sucks I know
 
rjinaz

rjinaz

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
28,408
Phoenix
So Trump supporters. Something like 40% of people that vote are exactly like these people. Mathematically speaking your situation isn't unique at all.

If it's legal where you are record their asses when they say straight out racist shit like Blacks and Whites shouldn't mix.
 
totowhoa

totowhoa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,223
rjinaz said:
So Trump supporters. Something like 40% of people that vote are exactly like these people. Mathematically speaking your situation isn't unique at all.

If it's legal where you are record their asses when they say straight out racist shit like Blacks and Whites shouldn't mix.
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Yep. Most know not to say that shit though, so we interact with people all the time who are like this without realizing this. Of course, this adds to their persecution complex. It reminds me of growing up in church - seemed like every little thing that was deemed anti-Bible was seen as a form of "persecution."
 
demondance

demondance

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,808
people are definitely more comfortable saying this kind of stuff unprompted lately. I've worked with many racists/homophobes/etc. but almost all of them would try to feel out the room before dipping their toes into being open about it. Now I regularly run into people yelling horrible stuff without a care.

Obviously the Trump situation has brought a lot of people out of the closet but I think it goes deeper than that, because I'm latino and they're still comfortable being this way around me and in conversation with me. A lot of right wing media puts a ton of effort into finding token right wing POC/LGBT to platform. I think that's contributed to this feeling that if someone comes across as likable in any way they're "one of the good ones" who will agree with whatever awful racist/homophobic/etc. nonsense conservatives are fixated on that week.

Seriously, ask a regular Fox News viewer in your life about how black people feel about Trump. It's a vanishingly small number that have any positive feelings towards him at all, but Fox viewers somehow have this nearly universal impression that there's broad but repressed support in the black community.

This is why the fact checking obsession on the liberal end is so pointless. A lot of the most potent elements of conservative media have nothing to do with lying, it's more about signaling ideas like this without directly lying about anything. And when they do lie, it's usually something vague like, "the blacks love Trump!" that is hard to assign a specific number of pinnochios to.
 
Mulciber

Mulciber

Member
Aug 22, 2018
5,217
Thinking about both of them complaining about not being able to use a slur reminds me of the expression I've heard (and used) which goes something like "Equality feels like oppression when you have privilege." I feel like we see that kind of thing a lot. Not just with race and sexuality. Christians will get furious that other religions (or atheists) get equal treatment to them, such as giving invocations, having signs up at the court house during the winter holidays, etc. "All Lives Matter" is pretty much this, too.
 
TooBusyLookinGud

TooBusyLookinGud

Graphics Engineer
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
7,964
California
Kindly suggest to them to go say it to their faces or don't say it at all.

I'm black and my wife is white and we have a child. Guarantee he wouldn't say it to my face 1:1 or even 2:1.

That's a trait of all wimpy racist. They are weak and insecure.
 
Jebral

Jebral

Member
Oct 29, 2017
389
So I work in a hardware store in a small town in Alabama. I cannot express my lack of surprise. This sort of thing is so common that it may as well be the bog standard attitude down here. There are so, so many confederate flags, open carry nutjobs and people who default to republican because Jesus is a republican I guess? Because you know, being "conservative" is good and right and being liberal means you're a gay weirdo libtard.

It's my everyday world.
 
demondance

demondance

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,808
DumpsterJuice said:
Kindly suggest to them to go say it to their faces or don't say it at all.

I'm black and my wife is white and we have a child. Guarantee he wouldn't say it to my face 1:1 or even 2:1.

That's a trait of all wimpy racist. They are weak and insecure.
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There's a reason these people are so obsessed with guns in particular.
 
MilesQ

MilesQ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,490
guilhermessg said:
in my experience these people are the majority in real life
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I wouldn't say majority but there are certainly more of them than I thought when I went into the corporate world.

There's a client I have to deal with who is worth upwards of $200m and he's always saying some truly awful shit about transgender folks. He also thinks climate change is caused by the sun getting bigger. This fucker knows politicians and loves to talk about he has dinners with them and talks policy.
 
Wojo

Wojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
457
Buffalo
How about stop being a coward and confront them. You're being part of the problem by giving them a safe space to sprout that shit.
 
Kernel

Kernel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,889
I've seen those but I've never seen anyone openly against interracial relationships.
 
skipgo

skipgo

Member
Dec 28, 2018
2,568
Every time you see people say shit like that and you don't take the opportunity to try to talk sense into them, you're helping things get even worse for others.

Same for men and misogynistic comments, if you recognize it as bad behavior you should call them out, otherwise how would people learn.

But on the other hand it's good that they are bothered by not being able to be openly racist and homophobic, it means on some level things are changing for the better albeit in very small increments.
 
BringBackSonics

BringBackSonics

Member
Oct 27, 2017
45,240
Seattle
HomokHarcos said:
In my workspace there are 4 people, and one has clearly made his racist feelings known and the other one is homophobic.

The racist guy said it "pisses him off" when black and white people have children and also said it's not fair that black people can say the N word and white peoples can't.

The other one is clearly homophobic and he was talking about how he used to be able to say the word "gay" without people being offended and also complained about straight people not being able to have pride parades.

It's just strange actually witnessing these types of people in person.
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Reach out to your manager/HR. This is a hostile work environment
 
GungHo

GungHo

Member
Nov 27, 2017
6,136
crimzonflame said:
HR in small-medium sized companies are useless. They only exist to protect the owners.
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HR in all companies only exist to protect the owners. The only positive I have gotten out of them is when I can find one who will drink. I can get blind items out of them. Auditors are also great for this.
 
Miles X

Miles X

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
710
Wojo said:
How about stop being a coward and confront them. You're being part of the problem by giving them a safe space to sprout that shit.
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Fuck this. Any type of discrimination sucks, but you don't know the OPS circumstances at all.

I'm gay and I wouldn't expect anyone to confront a homophobe if it meant negative effects on them.
 
disparate

disparate

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,904
HomokHarcos said:
In my workspace there are 4 people, and one has clearly made his racist feelings known and the other one is homophobic.

The racist guy said it "pisses him off" when black and white people have children and also said it's not fair that black people can say the N word and white peoples can't.

The other one is clearly homophobic and he was talking about how he used to be able to say the word "gay" without people being offended and also complained about straight people not being able to have pride parades.

It's just strange actually witnessing these types of people in person.
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Do you think HR would appreciate them vocalizing homophobia and racism in the workplace? I can tell you right now, any whiff of this at my office would get people shitcanned so fast...
 
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