To report colleagues for talking about me through our radio?

[TrixieMattel]

Hello,

I recently started working in a shop. A few of my colleagues are Italian and I often hear them talking through the radio, in Italian, making nasty comments about me.

Today they called me “retarded”.

I speak Spanish, they know this, and we have talked before about how similar the two languages are. I’m pretty sure they know I can understand what they’re saying.

AIBU to want to report this to the manager? The thing is, it would be my word against theirs - it’s all verbal so I don’t have any evidence. Any other suggestions on how to deal with the situation? It’s really upsetting me.

Thank you.

You need to set your phone to record and record the radio conversations.

If nothing else it will give you the chance to work out exactly what they are saying (google translate or a very kind MN’er) but mainly you can use the recording as evidence.

If you go in without any evidence and they say that you are wrong and they weren’t talking about you then they may end up being more careful (and bitching behind your back rather than on the radio) and you will never get the chance to record the evidence again.

Je suis un retard

100% report them.

it appears that if her colleagues are habitually conversing in ear shot - be that over a radio or in the same room, in a language foreign to her, it can be construed as bullying by exclusion

I certainly hope not

You need to set your phone to record and record the radio conversations

again, OP could be fired for doing that.

A lot of shops don't allow your phones on you, so the OP might not be able to record anything

If they are conversing during work periods as opposed to breaks then yes, those speaking in a foreign language might be considered to be deliberately excluding the person who does not understand.

Especially when this is done over a radio network as the operation of such implies there is information to be shared among all colleagues on the radio network.

Of course, if the op is working in Italy then this a pretty much a moot point as the onus would be on them to learn the language.