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Old 03-29-2014, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Seattle, Washington
2,533 posts, read 4,594,119 times
Reputation: 2820

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Had a little workplace drama yesterday afternoon.

About an hour before i was due to leave at 530pm I walked up to a guy who works the night shift and asked him about a part that I was working on... I had never met or talked to him or seen him talk to anyone else. I've been on this job 3 weeks.

I was supposed to finish the part and give it to him when I was done so he could weld it... Anyway... I was standing right next to him and he looked right at me.... Didn't say a word and walked away. He is an Asian.

So I asked another employee "Does that guy speak English? He didn't acknowledge me at all when I asked him something."

Well 20 mins later I hear the Asian guy cussing up a storm and yelling at me to F off and everything else from all the way across the shop. Yep, the other employee went and told him what I asked.... (And who knows what else)

I called my boss about it after work and he said not to worry about it. Just to let it go and he would deal with it Monday if it's brought up.

I didn't mean to offend anyone and it damn sure wasn't racially motivated. Not sure what I am supposed to think when I ask someone whom I've never met before a question and they don't respond... The Asian population here is pretty big and the people I know most DON'T speak English. My hairdresser has a translator!

The whole thing was stupid drama stirred up by the other guy who told him what I said just to incite a bunch of crap.

Thoughts?
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Old 03-29-2014, 10:32 AM
 
1,107 posts, read 2,274,181 times
Reputation: 1579
i have found that some people resent new employees. its like they are threatened that they will lose their job. its his problem, not yours. breathe deep.
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Old 03-29-2014, 10:32 AM
MJ7
 
6,221 posts, read 10,708,428 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees View Post
The whole thing was stupid drama
About sums it up for me. Don't be surprised if someone is jealous of you or if they just don't like you.
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Old 03-29-2014, 10:37 AM
 
Location: St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
24,665 posts, read 69,567,744 times
Reputation: 26727
It's entirely possible that, if he doesn't have a good command of the English language, he may have heard whatever you said to him as some sort of insult in his own language, thus the reaction. Heck, in my first office job in the US you could have heard a pin drop in the embarrassed silence when I called over the partition to ask if anybody had a rubber. I asked again until some kindly person came over to tell me that the American word was "eraser". I had to ask him then, "so what's a rubber"? He was kind enough to let me know.

Ask your boss again on Monday and get it sorted out.
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Old 03-29-2014, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Seattle, Washington
2,533 posts, read 4,594,119 times
Reputation: 2820
Thanks for the responses.

As said I didn't say anything to him directly... He got word from the guy who took it upon himself to notify him what I had asked.

I'm fine with it and honestly don't care if he dislikes me. Not here at work to make friends. I do what I can to get along but if someone wants to be a prick that's their problem.

I feel like walking up to him and saying "So you DO speak English! You just chose to not acknowledge my question because you were having a bad day!" But I won't...

I'm not going to say anything else about it... Backstabbers and drama... Bleh.
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:09 PM
 
Location: Southern California
3,455 posts, read 8,326,183 times
Reputation: 1419
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees View Post
Thanks for the responses.

As said I didn't say anything to him directly... He got word from the guy who took it upon himself to notify him what I had asked.

I'm fine with it and honestly don't care if he dislikes me. Not here at work to make friends. I do what I can to get along but if someone wants to be a prick that's their problem.

I feel like walking up to him and saying "So you DO speak English! You just chose to not acknowledge my question because you were having a bad day!" But I won't...

I'm not going to say anything else about it... Backstabbers and drama... Bleh.
sounds like an awful environment. My dad is a tool maker and I've heard all kinds of stories about loose cannon unprofessional men. I'm not sure what kind of job it is, but it seems like in fields like this (assuming its some type of manufacturing) personalities like this are allowed to make more waves than they would in white collar environment.

I'm not sure if you have human resources there but it might be something to look into. The fact that he started cussing up and storm and ignored you is actually a problem. Your duty was to talk to him since you needed to hand a part to him to weld. You did nothing wrong and were not racist. It's completely fair to question if speaks english since he ignored you!

I can't imagine this type of thing happening in a professional enviornment then just being ignored. His behavior would never be tolerated (and the guy who talked to him and stirred up drama is kinda somewhere in the middle -- its unclear what he did but I'd still question him if I were the boss).

If you tolerate this it will get worse. I would talk to HR or your boss and make sure they know the situation and that you were simply trying to get your work accomplished, that is all.

If you react the way that they are reacting things will decline.

The guy who was cussing and ignoring you was beyond unprofessional and was clearly in the wrong here.
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,114,326 times
Reputation: 5860
Yes, it was offensive. Assuming because someone is "Asian" that they don't speak English is pretty racist. Just ask yourself (and try to be honest) ... if the guy was Caucasian, would you have said that?

You might have said ... "what's up with that guy ... why didn't he answer me when I asked a question?"
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:21 PM
 
Location: SW Florida
14,888 posts, read 12,049,150 times
Reputation: 24681
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees View Post
Had a little workplace drama yesterday afternoon.

About an hour before i was due to leave at 530pm I walked up to a guy who works the night shift and asked him about a part that I was working on... I had never met or talked to him or seen him talk to anyone else. I've been on this job 3 weeks.

I was supposed to finish the part and give it to him when I was done so he could weld it... Anyway... I was standing right next to him and he looked right at me.... Didn't say a word and walked away. He is an Asian.

So I asked another employee "Does that guy speak English? He didn't acknowledge me at all when I asked him something."

Well 20 mins later I hear the Asian guy cussing up a storm and yelling at me to F off and everything else from all the way across the shop. Yep, the other employee went and told him what I asked.... (And who knows what else)

I called my boss about it after work and he said not to worry about it. Just to let it go and he would deal with it Monday if it's brought up.

I didn't mean to offend anyone and it damn sure wasn't racially motivated. Not sure what I am supposed to think when I ask someone whom I've never met before a question and they don't respond... The Asian population here is pretty big and the people I know most DON'T speak English. My hairdresser has a translator!

The whole thing was stupid drama stirred up by the other guy who told him what I said just to incite a bunch of crap.

Thoughts?

Yeah, it sounds like stupid drama. It's not worth getting worked up over, IMO. I'd take your boss's advice and let him handle it..
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Seattle, Washington
2,533 posts, read 4,594,119 times
Reputation: 2820
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgb123 View Post
sounds like an awful environment. My dad is a tool maker and I've heard all kinds of stories about loose cannon unprofessional men. I'm not sure what kind of job it is, but it seems like in fields like this (assuming its some type of manufacturing) personalities like this are allowed to make more waves than they would in white collar environment.

I'm not sure if you have human resources there but it might be something to look into. The fact that he started cussing up and storm and ignored you is actually a problem. Your duty was to talk to him since you needed to hand a part to him to weld. You did nothing wrong and were not racist. It's completely fair to question if speaks english since he ignored you!

I can't imagine this type of thing happening in a professional enviornment then just being ignored. His behavior would never be tolerated (and the guy who talked to him and stirred up drama is kinda somewhere in the middle -- its unclear what he did but I'd still question him if I were the boss).

If you tolerate this it will get worse. I would talk to HR or your boss and make sure they know the situation and that you were simply trying to get your work accomplished, that is all.

If you react the way that they are reacting things will decline.

The guy who was cussing and ignoring you was beyond unprofessional and was clearly in the wrong here.
I think so too. His problem. I've already told my boss and he said he'll deal with it Monday should anything else be said about it. I tried to apologize for offending the guy and he showed his ass so I walked away... And called my boss afterwards to fill him in before someone else did.

As for the job environment it's actually very nice. It's a steel fabrication shop. I work the 5-530 day shift... He works the 1-130 night shift so we cross paths 4 1/2 hours at the end of my day. I've never met him or talked to him... Every time he walked by he was silent... And I didn't even know his name. He's part of the night shift crew that is unsupervised after 530pm.

The day shift crew is quite nice... The night shift crew which also includes the guy who decided to instigate the whole thing is a whole different ball game.

It was an honest question and he obviously was offended... Then decided to get rude and aggressive afterwards. I will most definitely mention all of it should it go further but I doubt it will.

Quote:
Originally Posted by EnricoV View Post
Yes, it was offensive. Assuming because someone is "Asian" that they don't speak English is pretty racist. Just ask yourself (and try to be honest) ... if the guy was Caucasian, would you have said that?

You might have said ... "what's up with that guy ... why didn't he answer me when I asked a question?"
That's what I get for assuming that the guy wasn't just being a rude prick right?

Can't agree with you. It wasn't anything close to racism. When I lived in the south we had a large Hispanic population and it's no different than asking them if they speak English because they sure spoke a helluva lot of Spanish.

My sister has a degree in Spanish and teaches school... With a Hispanic husband named Manuel. I'd ask him the same question if I had to.

Doesn't have a thing to do with racism.
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:42 PM
 
4,983 posts, read 3,282,979 times
Reputation: 2739
So because he isn't blonde haired and blue eyes he must not speak English. Nothing racial about speak English at all.
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