WWYD! Monkey in the office

[kp78]

So, business is not in a good place. The department in particular is literally at breaking point with change and poor service and a Management team who have a poor reputation. Today I walk in to a life size life like chimpanzee sat on a pedestal wearing a company hat. I discussed with Director who was not in office and he arranged for it to be taken down by one of his Managers. Turned out one of the Sr Managers thought it would 'lighten the mood'. I am offended, my colleague was more offended due to years of racist comments made to her and we have requested a formal investigation . Are we overreacting?

Plenty of you deserve banning for your language.

MadameButterface I misunderstood the thrust of your post that I was critical of - apologies.

I'm really sorry OP, but I laughed at the idea of a giant chimp right up til I got to the years of racist comments part of your post and thought about it properly, I really hope whoever put it there just didn't think.

Poor monkeys. Seem to be always accused of racism. They can't help it, they are just monkeys.

BarbarianMum, I am with you in spirit, but to be fair, the way the OP describes it, it sounds more as if someone is having a dig at the managers or owners or board.

We can't answer the OP's question 'am I over-reacting' on the basis of her post. Are the management black / is the chimp in a black person's chair, or wearing a black person's hat...if so, incredibly and probably criminally offensive.

A stuffed chimp on it's own isn't racist per se. It's just a chimp. It becomes racist if someone references it in a racist way.

There have been a lot of posts about whether or not something can be seen as racist on mumsnet of late.

Generally they go like this:
OP "Is this racist should/can the person who is on the recieving end be offended."
80% of mums net who appear to have no clue about racism its origins or acceptance of its existence respond with a resounding "NO"
The remaining 20% give a more considered " yes its possible depends on the context"

Given the plenthora of racist remarks over the last 200 years at least, where a black person is refered to as a monkey or characterised as one in a derogetory way, especially when it comes to football where fans have been known to throw banana skins at black football players I would say placing an image of a monkey mascarading as staff in an office where black people are present is worth investigation and you where within your rights to complain.

Hope you get it sorted.

no apologies needed Bette

I was hoping that the irony would be obvious, but the state of threads about race on here lately, I should have known better, it's me that should be sorry, being flippant like that

Hang on... the phrase 'he calls a spade a spade' is that racist? I thought it meant a garden spade. I am foreign though 😬😬

oh
my
god
here
we
go
a
fucking
gain

Youre right knots. Youd need further information in order to determine if there was racist intent or not. Yet so many posters feel no need of further information before telling her she's being ridiculous. Not to mention all the faux wide-eyed innocence ignorance.

What sort of hat was it wearing, did it have any clothes on, did you take a photo love to see it.

KarlDilkingtonlooks like you are trying to detail.the post with questions from another forum

the phrase 'he calls a spade a spade' is that racist?

No, it isn’t. However, it is incredibly insensitive to use it in a conversation involving racism or about a black person which the “I didn’t know spade was racist !” poster did on another thread. It’s all about context and not being an idiot.

Rose tinted sorry I'm not sure what you mean by detail another thread.

I see, thanks Soup. I've never heard the word spade in any other context than a garden spade or bucket and spade etc, I had no idea.

YANBU. I would have expected the racist comments to be nipped in the bud pretty quickly though, that its gone on for years is utterly appalling.

I’ve read through entire post, can anyone please explain why it’s racist?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/3359515-Daughter-accused-of-being-racist

KarlDilkington and all others who wish to start a discussion on the word spade please see link above rather than repeating it here. (Detail was a typo, I meant de-rail)

I was also disappointed to discover that the OP didn’t have an actual real life monkey in the office. I instantly thought of Ross’ monkey, Marcel!

Also agree with this. Was genuinely expecting the thread to be about someone working in a more exotic country and having a monkey wreaking havoc in the building, much like when the bar I worked in had a pigeon come to visit and it took hours to get out

Aintnothing start at the post by Shatnersbasson at 22.26 and read to the end of the thread. And this time engage your brain.

Thanks Madame. My irony-radar is usually better honed than that, but it's possibly blunted by precisely the things that you mention (and that we're witnessing here).

He calls a spade a spade is nowt to do with racism.
It just means someone is direct and to.the point. It's a spade.. Not a digging. Implement or a shaped shovel or anything else its a spade!!
So if something is bothering them they will say it right out loud
Nothing to with racism

The OP has posts about her workplace going back years.

To those who don’t believe such a comparison could be racist, just google it. I would rather not describe why it is racist, because it is just awful.