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Original poster

new job - everyone is racist.

35 replies

VicarInaBooTu · 22/10/2009 18:24

i started a new job recently.

i work with several other woman - all very nice but they are absolutely dreadfully racist.

today, one of them asked me to vote BNP as a protest vote, i said i would rather die.

ive tried to ignore the comments but its starting to get to me - its all day everyday. the comments are not aimed at me - but to the people we deal with regularly. its all very very anti immigration. i get the feeling they dont really understand the truth behind it the myths.

ive tried to say - lightheartedly that i dont agree etc, and that all the scaremongering is exactly that - but to no avail. im new - i cannot rock the boat and i absolutely need this job - but its getting to me. i want to get on with them but im getting tired of the constant jibes and asides all day from all of them. one of them today pretended not to be able to read a name because it was "foreign" - it was actually very easy to read, just a different spelling of a traditional british name...
im getting very pissed off. i cant say anything to senior management, they would know it was me. im the only one who isnt racist. do i just block my ears?

OP posts:
Original poster
VicarInaBooTu · 22/10/2009 22:40

you know mithered i hadnt thought of that. ill look through this again tomorrow...need to run through my options.

OP posts:
Mithered · 23/10/2009 18:05

Hi just wondering how you have got on today? Was thinking of you today and what a horrible position you must be in. However you have to think about situations you will be in as a police officer and look at it like that. You have to challenge people like this and not allow them to behave in this manner imo.

Original poster
VicarInaBooTu · 23/10/2009 19:26

well i stood my ground a bit more today. they were all wittering about that poor little BNP leader being ganged up on

i told them i thought he was a twat and that i abhore the BNP and all it stands for (in fact i said it in front of one of the partners - oooops...

i was really really nice to the foreign people who came in today

and i made my views quite clear. they stopped talking about it and trying to get me to agree with them. i hope they realised they wouldnt get far

but one thing really pissed me off - the manager was gossiping with a client about the influx of immigrants - and she said that one of the new girls was shocked by it etc etc...i got quite pissed off by it but couldnt for sure she was talking about me, but if she was it was an out and out lie.
everytime they say anything i just rebuke it. maybe theyll stop if i say it often enough.

OP posts:
Mithered · 23/10/2009 23:48

Vicar - well done! It takes a lot of guts to stand up against the majority.
Hope you realise from the posts on this thread that they are in the wrong and not you. It is your decision on how you deal with it. I really couldn't be happy working where a manager was overtly racist without challenging it but that is something you will have to make a decision about as I know you need the job.

Keep us updated

Goblinchild · 24/10/2009 07:31

I suppose the tricky thing for you is that low level ignorant prejudice isn't against the law and is very wearing to deal with . My mother-in-law worked in a shop and she and other friends were racist, but in a muttering, curtain-twitching Daily Mail sense.
Mispronouncing names, negative comments about P**s, eye-rolling and supporting the BNP are not illegal.
So you can't report it.
Keep your temper and disagree with them, and I've had my fingers crossed for months that you get the job you really want.

Original poster
VicarInaBooTu · 24/10/2009 23:50

goblin - im really hoping your gonna come back to this cos i have...i did it. i passed the assessment centre, so ive only got vetting and fitness to go. found out today. am very happy! (and i got a very high score for respect for race and diversity! lol)

OP posts:
Goblinchild · 25/10/2009 06:18

That's fantastic news, I'm delighted you have finally got what you wanted after all this time.

mabh · 27/10/2009 12:38

I'm a bit late to this thread but THANK G*D you got the better job! Your current colleagues sound horrendous. Make sure that you mention racism in your resignation letter and send a copy to your regional head (public sector, you said, I think?) and the equality body.

Good luck, and well done for being decent against the odds!

GrumpyYoungFogey · 30/10/2009 22:14

Isn't it terrible when one has to work with people who have different political opinions to you (and are working class to boot!).

You should shop them to their superiors for their deviant opinions! Hopefully they will get sacked or at least sent for re-education as they are obviously so ignorant and ill-informed, especially compared to yourself.

Thank goodness you have a new job, and can once again work amongst people of exactly the same mind! After all, diversity is wonderful (except diversity of opinion).

GColdtimer · 30/10/2009 22:21

grumpy, are you for real. These people were being racist. They didn't have a different political opinion.

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