How would you discipline this racist joke from someone you manage

[davidbrent]

This is identifying but I don't care.

So a work colleague was complaining that her computer was running really slow to which another colleague piped up:

'paint it black it will run faster'. Then everyone burst into fits of laughter and it was forgotten. This colleague does like to have a joke at work but it good at the job.

Locality manager didn't seem to have any issues and didn't mention anything. I'm sure it's forgotten within the office. Everyone working here is White British. Luckily a Nigerian colleague was on a visit at the time.

Would you be concerned by this joke. Would you discipline the employee? I would certainly have at least called him into the office but let locality manager take the lead as he was in the room too.

What would you like to say that you're afraid to say Patricia?

Indeed ilovesooty
That's a question I always want to ask too when people start bleating on about being scared to say things for fear of being called racist.
Surely if you don't make racist comments.....you should be A-OK

Ok well quite frankly I find your user name racist. Are you going to change it because I find it offensive?

No you don't. Nice try though.

I've dealt with that question before and can't be bothered to repeat myself.

Now what are you and everyone in the UK wanting to say but are too scared to?

I am sick to death of the ridiculous PC attitude where everyone in the UK is scared to death of saying something that will be classed as racist

None of us are remotely scared. Only racist things are classed as racist,and only racists are scared.

My point exactly. It's ok for you to have a user name like that because you don't see the problem. A racist comment is only a racist comment if someone takes offence to it.

A racist comment is only a racist comment if someone takes offence to it

Nope. It's not a tree that falls in the forest, it either is or is not. If someone tells a racist joke to a bunch of people who laugh, its still a racist joke.

So what are you and everyone else in the UK wanting to say but are too scared to Patricia?

Exactly right Narky. Exactly right.

Patricia, someone did take offence to the comment, a visitor to the office complained. Did you not read the op? So now do you accept it was racist?

Also someone doesn't have to be offended for a comment to be racist. I could shout racist comments with nobody to hear them it wouldn't change the fact they were racist.

That said, as a (former in house) lawyer, I have also seen the repercussions of a former member of staff suing a relatively well known firm for giving a formal sanction in comparable circumstances without good legal basis (without being too specific you can end up with issues re breach of contract, constructive dismissal etc).

Janesmom, that sounds like you didn't do your job well then and someone got fired with loopholes (enabling him to sue.)

Agree with the pp who said it was racialist but not racist. Racialist as it implies that black people are able to run faster than people of other races. Not racist as it isn't derogatory or implying anything negative about black people.

Still not necessarily the best joke for the workplace, though, so probably worth pointing that out....

No answer to my question then. Nor to the one I posed before it. Patricia you really are becoming personally unpleasant.

Natalia stereotyping is unacceptable in any decent workplace.

@troolspoopglitter Thanks for the vote of confidence but neither my watch nor my team!

Let's just all agree this stuff isn't funny or a great idea. Sure we could spend all night arguing over what is/isn't racist (answer as a matter of law is obvious but I get that ppl's concerns are wider that this) but I'd still think whoever said it was, at best, a prat.

I don't want to engage with someone who has a racist user name that I find personally offensive.
Go away and goad someone else.

Oh. I thought you had been engaging with me and that was what the personal attack was about. This is a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted really...

I find myself idly wondering if the "joke" would have been construed as racist had it been a black person who said it ?

ilovesooty. I don't disagree - but then that's the conversation to have with this employee. Which is a different conversation from the one that would be necessary had he made a derogatory (and therefore racist) comment.

As an aside, I think it's more important to look at intent rather than get completely focused on semantics. Look at the uproar caused by Benedict Cumberbatch saying "coloured" rather than "of colour", for example. He was in fact making a much needed point about the lack of opportunities for black actors, but this got completely lost in the furore over his having used the wrong terminology. Fair enough to say a term offends - but not always fair to ascribe prejudice.

Sorry Natalia - as I said I think the whole incident suggests that casual racism is acceptable in this workplace and it needs tackling on a serious level.

I don't want to engage with someone who has a racist user name that I find personally offensive

Are bear puppets a race? Why so offended? Poor old Sooty.

I love Sooty too.... And Sweep and Soo. Rather miss Matthew Corbett as well. Takes me back to my childhood. Sigh....

exhausted now but trying ONE MORE TIME

This type of stereotyping is not a compliment. It is not positive. It is not helpful. It is deeply problematic and rooted in vile racist attitudes, comes from beliefs and also sadly genetic realities caused by SLAVERY.....it IS racist. Saying "it is the being said in a racist way" or "he didn't mean any harm" further pushes the situation where people think it's ok to make a remarkable hat is offensove or racist as long as "they didn't mean anything by it".
This belief and the protection of those who get upset when called in their racism are in themselves racist because they prioritise the feelings of the person who made the racist comment over people who would have e been the target of the racist comment who may wish to stand up for themselves or be stood up for without being shouted down as being oversensitive, hysterical, playing the race card or any other such shite.

Meanwhile. For the last time. The stereotype of the athletic black man is racist. Whole academic texts have been written oh the matter. Entire books have been written about it. It's not something good that I have just pulled other of my arse this afternoon.....it is a recognised racist narrative. "Darwin's Athletes " is a book all about exactly this.

"DARWIN'S ATHLETES focuses on society's fixation with black athletic achievement. Hoberman argues that this obsession has come to play a troubling role in African American life and our country's race relations. Rich, flamboyant superstars lend credence to age-old prejudices, recycled "scientific" theories denigrating black intelligence, and stereotypes of black violence. This portrayal of black identity encourages a disdain for academic achievement already too widespread among black males. Darwin's Athletes is a powerful indictment of modern sport's racial spectacle."

Stop pretending stuff isn't rated Istanbul because your own personal prejudice makes you uncomfortable....start changing the way you think and get to a point where nothing you want to say would offend someone as racist....because you won't have anything racist to say.
Intent is NOT RELEVANT in this instance....normal was it when BCN called people "coloured" . Honestly.....he needed to know that's not an appropriate term. If he had been talking about women and saying that he thought that "chicks" or "girlies" should be better represented in film would we be trying to excuse him that because heel was fighting for women underneath his innappropriate language soon that's all fine then?
Think about it please.
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