What would you think of this incident at work? Xenophobia

[Dietstartsnextweek34]

In a Teams group at work with a number of other teams, working in a public facing role.
I'm one of the very few with a 'European' surname and basically a surname that isn't Smith, Jones, Roberts etc.

A woman made a joke about a certain nationality, she had some customers that were suspected of fraud and she wrote in the chat 'And of course they're _ nationality, no surprise there 😂'

I was quite surprised she put this in a public Teams chat with over 40 people on. I saw she deleted it 2 minutes later then literally right after that I got a private message from a manager saying, 'Oh just out of interest, where's your surname from?' 🙄

Clearly trying to check it wasn't the country she'd made a comment about. It isn't but it's a neighboring country, tbh it's made me think a bit less of the woman who posted it, people can have their opinions but to voice it so publicly says a lot.

YANBU I have a European surname too, I get all sorts of… but I give it back 😉

She also made a comment like 'AND she had 6 kids'!

She sounds small-minded and not the brightest. Don't let her ignorant comments get to you.

It sounds as though the manager is onto it. Everyone saw it. She's a complete idiot and I reckon her days are numbered there.

There is still a bit of racism about unfortunately..people with a slightly different name or culture being 'othered'

At our work (which has a very international workforce) we are told that we aren’t even allowed to make a joke about the stereotype of our own nationality

it sounds like she was told and everyone will have seen. She made herself the idiot there - both for her comment but also the unprofessionalism of saying it about customers. How can she maintain professionalism if she’s profiling her customers that way.

you could of course raise it with your manager so they are aware the comment did indeed make people uncomfortable

I would definitely feed back that the comment made you feel uncomfortable. People need to be told.

I would've said 'why 'of course'? Surely they could be from anywhere on the planet?'

YABU to have been surprised. She has obviously been told off, that's progress.

You don't need to go further than MN to find an unreal deep level of racism, xenophobia and no one is really that bothered about it. Threads and comments against Romani Gipsy are deleted quickly (as they should), but anything against the French/ German/ Swiss/ Italian .. that's fair play on here.

It's disgusting.

I would absolutely feed in that it was inappropriate, although unless you screen shotted it there's no evidence anymore.

I disagree with other that your manager was on it. Your manager should have reached more forcefully not 'Oh where are you from' - which is clearly an attempt to try and find out if you have links and thus if you're more likely to complain. I certainly would have said something along the lines of, "I don't know if you saw that comment, but please rest assured it will be handled appropriately and we do not tolerate comments like that."

I just had just had to go through a disciplinary procedure with someone in my department after they made inappropriate and similar comments on a teams chat (entire department on it - and clearly meant for a private chat) - they deleted them within minutes, but I had already seen them and someone else had already screenshotted it. Quite frankly, if I had my way they would have been sacked (particularly given I work internationally) but HR thought a written warning would suffice...

I hate people who minimise things like this. It's never acceptable.

I would not be impressed with your colleague. Is she only of those people who say “I’m not racist but..” whenever she says something racist?

I agree @TheHungryHungryLandsharks the manager is trying to minimise and make it go away. Their response should have been as you said, to assure the OP that this would be dealt with fully.

Thank you. Sadly I didn't get the chance to screenshot as it was very quickly deleted, agree the manager didn't handle it in the best way, I saw what they were doing.

Ugh. Your colleague sounds vile. And yes, it's absolutely racism/xenophobia.

Even if there was nobody with non-British heritage in the team, it would still have been offensive of her to post something like that and I would have complained.

This

It's definitely made me a bit wary of that colleague, luckily I don't really need to work closely.

It sounds like the manager has clocked it but it also sounds like they're more worried you will be offended by it and are guarding the company rather than addressing the behaviour. I think you're well within your rights to complain about it. It's worrying that she is potentially dealing with an investigation and is harboring this level of open xenophobia.

Yes I agree..the manager is seemingly very pally with this woman too.
The comment about having a lot of kids was telling too, seemed to be hinting that she thinks they're 'benefit scroungers'..

How did people react to the comments? It sounds like somebody 'had a word' if it was deleted after 2 mins.

2 people put a laughing emoji, then that was all I saw before it was removed.

That's so inappropriate! What did you say in response to your manager's message? Did you mention you saw it?

Even if you're not from there, it is just unacceptable.

Take it to HR. It’s disgusting behaviour

Tbh if this were to be made general knowledge it would strongly suggest that your employer allows profiling of their clients and it would be a PR disaster!!

You sometimes have to be willing to call people out on the spot... That was quite ignorant, Jan... right there in the chat, where everyone knows what you're referencing.
It also highlights that the idiots laughing with her are morons too.

And yes, report that it has made you uncomfortable too. Disgusting behaviour.

Well that's 2 extra people who you now know are twats.

If this is how someone treats their colleagues, then I wouldn't want to be a customer ...