Have You experienced racism at work?

[WhenWhatWhere]

Just wondering how bad this issue of racism in the workplace is.

We all know that there are not enough black, asian and minority ethnic people in board level positions in the work place.

However, I am wondering what sort of racism, be it visible or invisible have you faced at work.

I know this is AIBU, so myAIBU is that there Is more racism in the workplace than we think there is.

Pre-Covid I did a contract and an aggressive customer came to office. Despite me not being permanent I was asked to deal with him - It's not part of my job. Before I could say 'No' the quietest young man in the office - White English in his late 20s told them "No - YOU deal with him it's not the 'scarey black woman's' job!" I knew what he meant. Good man.

Good for him. I'm always in admiration of people who can manage to respond quickly and appropriately to bad situations. He got that spot on didn't he. It's a bit shit you were asked to do it, but it must have felt nice to have someone stand up for you.

Was this racist, sexist or what? I'd appreciate peoples views on this.

A Muslim woman at my work got married, and on return from her honeymoon she informed the managers that she could no longer work with one of her colleagues, as he was male, and her new husband didn't want her mixing with men in the work place.
So, in an effort to respect her religious beliefs, a solution was looked for.
However, the man didn't want to move departments, and he complained of sexism, as this woman was refusing to work with him based only on the fact that he was male.
An agreement was reached that she be the one to move. But she wasn't happy, as she liked her department.

It was explained that she had worked happily alongside this man for about 2 years before getting married, and that it was wrong to expect him to move roles because of her husbands beliefs, but she still felt aggrieved and as if she suffered racism due to her religion.

Was this racist? I'd hate to think so, as the managers spent ages trying to work out how to do the best by everyone involved, but I'm worried it could be seen as such.

@Freddofrogshop

Was this racist, sexist or what? I'd appreciate peoples views on this.

A Muslim woman at my work got married, and on return from her honeymoon she informed the managers that she could no longer work with one of her colleagues, as he was male, and her new husband didn't want her mixing with men in the work place.
So, in an effort to respect her religious beliefs, a solution was looked for.
However, the man didn't want to move departments, and he complained of sexism, as this woman was refusing to work with him based only on the fact that he was male.
An agreement was reached that she be the one to move. But she wasn't happy, as she liked her department.

It was explained that she had worked happily alongside this man for about 2 years before getting married, and that it was wrong to expect him to move roles because of her husbands beliefs, but she still felt aggrieved and as if she suffered racism due to her religion.

Was this racist? I'd hate to think so, as the managers spent ages trying to work out how to do the best by everyone involved, but I'm worried it could be seen as such.

I think this one comes down to majority rules, in a way, although I am inclined to favour the man who did nothing to change a situation both were originally happy with.

By majority rules I mean that in a Muslim country, the man would probably be strongly encouraged to move, with the implication that he was unreasonable if he refused. In a Christian country, the Muslim woman should end up moving as her request is less in line with the cultural norm. Ideally you'd come up with a solution that satisfied both, but it doesn't sound like that was possible in your case. So I'd say it wasn't racism/sexism as much as a cultural clash of expectations.

Este67, thank you for your support. You are right, I am feeling rather low and looking to counselling. Things will not change for a loooong time.

freddofrogshop,
that situation was nothing to do with racism.
she just sounded unreasonable in her expectations/demands.
she wasn't happy with some aspect of her work role, so she should be the one to move.
why should the man move, unless he wants to.
it's a bit like an abbattoir worker who becomes vegetarian, demanding to work in the office rather than the cutting room.
well no, not unless there is a vacancy and it suits the company to move the worker. otherwise, find somewhere else to work.

I went for a meeting at our head office to resolve an ongoing issue my dept from experiencing and first thing the lady said to me when I introduced myself was "I didn't expect you to look like that". I had a managerial role so asked her what she expected and she didn't say anything (I genuinely wanted to know what she meant as that would determine my response but left it).

We have people in India and Philippines who support our team and the way people speak to them is so disgusting. I have pulled people up on it several times but kept getting told their not doing their jobs properly. Does that justify speaking to another human being in a derogatory manner?

FreddoFrogShop I don't think it was racist. I don't think it was even cultural. It was about a disregard for the law of the country in which the man lived. Would you say FGM should be allowed in the UK due to cultural sensitivity. I think not although the authorities have been slow to invoke legal penalty.

@SurrT agree - and 'not doing their jobs properly' is probably not as simple as it seems. As a more hierarchical culture, expectations of what makes a good employee are often different in India to the UK. So it may well be that the UK/ European team just don't know how to manage and guide people effectively across language and culture gaps.

@Freddofrogshop no that's not racism. Strikes me as ridiculous that this woman expected everything to be shifted around her. And why should the man need to move? She/her husband had these convictions, so they need to choose a work situation that fits with them. I think it is even problematic that she got to move to an all woman team. What does that mean? That no man can be considered for a position on that team now? That is surely illegal in this country...? I also don't think it is racist, because this is about accommodating beliefs. She/ her husband choose their beliefs, and beliefs are and should be very much up for debate. There is nothing inherent in her that anybody is showing prejudice against.

I've definitely experienced racism in the workplace, both personally from individuals and also systemic institutional racism and discrimination. The most recent involved a manager giving my work to a white male. (approximately 80% of my work) This is despite working in a field that is explicitly divided into specialisms. Guess what, the colleague now doing most of the work you would normally expect to be done by someone with my specific specialism is white, male, ten years junior to me, has been with the company nine years less than me, and actually attended the exact same educational establishments as me. Just the small detail that he's not actually a specialist in the right field. Raised with HR and have been fobbed off with the situation becoming more untenable by the week. Even though my manager can't or won't justify his decisions with more than "it's my job to allocate work" the company refuses to see that this is overt racism. As a woman of colour life is always going to be harder, but I do wish the supposed laws that are there to protect us from this were actually applied.

Yes, on many levels. Mostly what would be considered low-level, but very insidious. I‘m UK born, speak RP, but am mixed race and frequently have comments/questions ranging from “where are you really from?”, “I bet you go lovely and dark in the sun” etc, to “jokes” about my family being terrorists and comments from one particularly odious colleague about how immigrants are ruining this country, knowing full well that my (hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding) father is an immigrant. For years I ignored it, but now I’m more confident and I see it for what it is, I call it out every time. What’s harder to address is the fact that once I changed my name from a long/hard-to-pronounce “foreign” surname to my husband’s common English surname, I suddenly started getting way more job interviews. Impossible to prove, of course, but I’m sure that’s partly due to racial prejudice.

Sorry you’ve gone through this shit, OP