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Original poster

Would you go to HR about work colleague’s budget comment

143 replies

Rayaj · 28/11/2025 17:17

I brushed this comment off but a colleague I spoke to earlier thinks I should look to report it.

I am a Northerner working down South. My line of work meant our team had a close eye on the budget.

On our team call on Thursday, someone was being very vocal about benefits. I spoke up to say I’m glad that those who need looking after in Society are taken care of. He basically replied ‘typical scouser, always wanting something for nothing’ which I refuted there and then.

I didn’t really think anything more of it until my colleague mentioned it to me today.

Was I right to brush it off and not report?

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 29/11/2025 13:08

I don't think it's his politics that the OP was considering reporting but his slur on being a Liverpudlian. It would have been possible to discuss different opinions without him resorting to that.

SatsumaDog · 29/11/2025 12:45

Don’t discuss politics at work. You are both entitled to your opinions but work is not the place to voice them. What would you want from reporting him to HR? Do you want him to lose his job?

ItsameLuigi · 29/11/2025 12:42

Sharptonguedwoman · 28/11/2025 18:23

I can never think fast enough. I lack what the French call 'esprit de l'escalier'
Repartee thought of only too late, on the way home.

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This is why I'm grateful my older siblings terrorised me my entire life. My sarcasm and come backs are top notch thanks to them. 😂

MrsSlocombesCat · 29/11/2025 12:27

workshy46 · 28/11/2025 17:23

I agree 100% with the above and what you said was full scale virtue signalling which would wind me up too.

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What kind of world do we love in when caring about our fellow human beings is called virtue signalling.

CaptainMyCaptain · 29/11/2025 12:06

loulouljh · 29/11/2025 12:04

No for goodness sake. People are entitled to have a view. Surely you can deal with him without running to HR...

Lazy stereotypes about a person's place of birth are not opinions. They are slurs. I would report it if it happens again.

loulouljh · 29/11/2025 12:04

No for goodness sake. People are entitled to have a view. Surely you can deal with him without running to HR...

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 29/11/2025 08:52

Rayaj · 28/11/2025 17:23

I did, but my colleague has given me food for thought

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If that had happened to another person in a meeting that I attended, I would report it myself if I thought it needed reporting. It's your call, OP, if you feel you dealt with it satisfactorily in the moment you've no obligation to get involved in a formal complaints process unless you want to.

CaptainMyCaptain · 29/11/2025 08:49

My mother was from Liverpool so I resent hearing comments about this. My Dad was from a town in the NorthEast that receives the same kind of comment (monkey hangers). I hate it.

Bobcat246 · 28/11/2025 22:47

His comment about Scousers was out of order but you were being both political and sanctimonious, so his reply about benefits was fair debate. I'd chalk this one up to experience and let it go.

PigeonsandSquirrels · 28/11/2025 22:25

Barms155 · 28/11/2025 21:54

I wouldnt report it but plan a comeback for next time. But as a scouser
I don't think other people realise how tiresome it gets everytime you met another brit they say something like oh watch your wallet or some other 'funny' joke.....not quite the same as being considered rude if your from London.

As a Yorkshirewoman I usually get jokes about being cheap. Even if I’ve just bought a round it’s ’oh look who’s stuck her hand in her pocket, that’s a rare sight’ when I never fail to buy my round!

PigeonsandSquirrels · 28/11/2025 22:24

I’d report it. They were classist and showed regional prejudice towards a colleagues origin.

boxofbuttons · 28/11/2025 22:22

If they were a generally nice coworker trying to be funny I'd ignore it but raise a bit of an eyebrow. If they had form for being a dick I'd tell their manager. I get my hackles raised by some of the stuff southern industry peers think and say about northerners, tbh. Some are genuinely convinced the second you get outside the M25 it's a post industrial wasteland of scroungers and layabouts.

GumFossil · 28/11/2025 22:16

FGS. Deal with it at the time. Does everything have to be reported? MN would have you believe everyone is rushing to HR over absolutely anything.

Knowsley · 28/11/2025 22:10

Agree.

Bedtelly · 28/11/2025 22:08

Barms155 · 28/11/2025 21:54

I wouldnt report it but plan a comeback for next time. But as a scouser
I don't think other people realise how tiresome it gets everytime you met another brit they say something like oh watch your wallet or some other 'funny' joke.....not quite the same as being considered rude if your from London.

And it is all the time. So tiresome.

socialdilemmawhattodo · 28/11/2025 22:06

Rayaj · 28/11/2025 17:17

I brushed this comment off but a colleague I spoke to earlier thinks I should look to report it.

I am a Northerner working down South. My line of work meant our team had a close eye on the budget.

On our team call on Thursday, someone was being very vocal about benefits. I spoke up to say I’m glad that those who need looking after in Society are taken care of. He basically replied ‘typical scouser, always wanting something for nothing’ which I refuted there and then.

I didn’t really think anything more of it until my colleague mentioned it to me today.

Was I right to brush it off and not report?

I would. It sounded inappropriate ( not racist or nationalistic but you know what I mean) and might affect how this individual perceives you and your worth in this workplace.

Dgll · 28/11/2025 22:02

If you don't want to piss people off and be insulted then don't engage in political discussion.

Barms155 · 28/11/2025 21:54

I wouldnt report it but plan a comeback for next time. But as a scouser
I don't think other people realise how tiresome it gets everytime you met another brit they say something like oh watch your wallet or some other 'funny' joke.....not quite the same as being considered rude if your from London.

OneTealSheep · 28/11/2025 21:25

workshy46 · 28/11/2025 17:23

I agree 100% with the above and what you said was full scale virtue signalling which would wind me up too.

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Since when is giving a shit about other people 'full scale virtual signalling'? What a bizarre take.

musicforthesoul · 28/11/2025 21:21

Avoiding talking about politics at work is generally a good idea.

No I wouldn't report it, I don't think getting HR involved in petty arguments is a good idea. I'd have dealt with it at the time if it bothered me or just move on now the moment has passed.

notallwhowanderare · 28/11/2025 21:20

ThisLittlePony · 28/11/2025 21:16

And Dolores will then additionally report you for imbibing a poor innocent righteous one!

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Dolores well might report my fair response, Dolores types do hate it when their attempted burn falls flat - but I am not keen on being a member of the Stasi, so won't be reporting their pointless attempt to silence/shame/demean me for making a valid point.

ThisLittlePony · 28/11/2025 21:16

Evaka · 28/11/2025 21:12

Pour me a glass of whatever you're glugging.

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And Dolores will then additionally report you for imbibing a poor innocent righteous one!

AceKitten · 28/11/2025 21:15

When you talk politics your going to hear shit you don’t want to

avoid sex politics and religion for work harmony

notallwhowanderare · 28/11/2025 21:13

Evaka · 28/11/2025 21:12

Pour me a glass of whatever you're glugging.

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Hi Dolores! I often find that people who project about drinking have a drinking problem themselves. Good luck with that.

Evaka · 28/11/2025 21:12

notallwhowanderare · 28/11/2025 21:09

Your colleague is hoping to become a member of the Stasi. At one time, in East Berlin, the number of citizens reporting on each other reached epidemic proportions. The UK is heading the same way.

"A significant portion of the denunciations had to do with plans to flee East Germany, particularly people who had permits to travel to the West and who had no intention of returning. But the smuggling of hard currency and excessive consumption of alcohol also caught the eye of observant DDR citizens. Receiving packages from the West was likewise viewed with suspicion -- and those who were assigned an apartment or car more rapidly than others were often targeted for revenge by envious neighbors. Even extra-marital affairs were reported"

"A West German businessman, for his part, offered his services as an informant during a convention in Leipzig. "I would like to give you a tip pertaining to the smuggling of pornography into the DDR. Write down the following: ... was a former DDR resident who has since emigrated to West Germany. The smuggler is currently in Leipzig...This is a small payback because he badly harassed me and talked very poorly of your country. This is a bit of revenge!"

www dot spiegel.de/international/germany/east-german-domestic-surveillance-went-far-beyond-the-stasi-a-1042883.html

Only a vicious, bullying creep would report anyone for a daft, offhand remark. I am often very offended by jokes and offhand comments about Scottish people, but as a normal person I just move on.

Such wannabe Stasi members will use slurs to try to defend their awful behaviour - but only a wannabe member of the Stasi would even consider such a report.

Dolores Umbridge and her supporters are alive and well and loudly and proudly moving among us.

Edited

Pour me a glass of whatever you're glugging.