To think colleagues joke was NOT acceptable?

[LaurenkI]

My team has a meeting every Monday (virtual) and there’s always chat at the start about weekends etc. One of my colleagues said he’s worrying because his holiday plans for the year include already booked trips to Cyprus and Dubai. Another colleague then said ‘any chance you can book a trip to France next’ and he got a few laughs.

I have family in France, as does another colleague I’m aware of. Is it me or is this type of ‘joke’ really inappropriate given the current climate?

Oh good, maybe he'll get fired. That'll certainly be proportional and make the world a better place. When he's having a shit day and feeling rotten, you can feel smug that you've made the world just that little bit more tiresome and difficult!

Rather naive. I lived in France for a while. They joke about us English, believe me. Usually when invited for dinner they jokingly announced they had already eaten as they know what bad cooks we are.

Before a meal:

In France - Bon appetit
In Germany - Guten Appetit
In Italy - Buon appetito

In England - Never mind

Well that’s ridiculous! Of course there may be idiots in France making jokes about Britain. Just as there are Brits would “be hospitable” to French tourists.

I was on your side actually with reporting this “joke”, but cannot agree at all with this silly remark 🤣

It would be a great way for OP to be seen as, well, a bit odd and for colleagues to give her a wide berth

Just what I was going to post!

Now you're just being ridiculous...get over it for Christ's sake

If one of my employees reported to this to me, I’d think the person reporting it was being a bit petty to be honest and wouldn’t look too favourably on it.

I wouldnt be taking any culinary advice from anyone who eats snails 🤢🤢

OMG, literally either relax by about 180o or deal with tiny trivial issues like this yourself (politely and like and adult btw)

My wife is Japanese, and when she pulls a face at the concept of, say, black pudding, I remind her that raw chicken meat is considered a delicacy in her country.

@LaurenkI stop over thinking it!

You seem to live in a bubble OP. I'm in NZ and we trade insults with Aussies, and they with us. We even make disparaging remarks about Dorklanders (people from Auckland). It's natural to do with neighbouring countries, how can you not be aware of it?

OP, if I were your boss I would be looking for a way to fire you, or at the very least encouraging you to take early retirement. Overly sensitive is an understatement.

I think you are right. It's too ridiculous to be anything but a wind up.

I think it’s just a joke.

Its sort of a joke on a joke - because everyone knows the British don’t actually hate the French any more - we’re sort of like sibling countries that will always have a jokey rivalry but don’t actually dislike each other any more. We’re allies when it matters.

I’d have laughed (but obviously have assumed it was ironic, as above)

Oh and just to be clear - I really like France and the French, have been there many times and have friends there.

I would equally laugh if they said it about us.

It funny because neither country is vulnerable, fortunately for us, or in any way downtrodden or oppressed.

As a manager, I have never received a 'mummy, please sort this out for me' email. Had I done so, I would have told the sender that they were in a workplace, not a primary school, and offered to be the 'joker' as they role-played being an assertive grown-up.

A professional workplace? One in which the women are all secretaries and shorthand typists, people call one another 'Miss Brown' and 'Mr Jones', and Miss Brown gets slapped on the bum by Mr Jones every time she opens a filing cabinet?

DFrench 😂
I hope French Mumsnetters refer to Brits as DBrits.

@LaurenkI Do you really want to see this guy get potentially sacked over this as you are putting in a grievance? I'm asking you this in the kindest way but are you menopausal? I was put into a chemical menopause after 1 round of IVF and I got offended by stuff like this! No one could put a foot right! I was only 35. Anyway look; whatever it is, you have not only sent a message to your manager waiting to be picked up but you have also come onto a forum / platform (maybe not just this one?) and asked if you are being unreasonable? If you know in your heart that your male colleague was being unreasonable then speak to the male colleague tomorrow, pull him aside and just ask him outright and express how it made you feel, there is no harm in that and what you got to loose? Your colleagues and manager might have all interpreted it differently too - so I wouldn't set the hares running

Mais non! C’est les CBretangne! (Chere Bretangne)

But of course! 😆

I am glad retirement is on the horizon

As is your manager I suspect, although probably wishing for more immediacy than ‘horizon’.

Seriously, as a manager, I’d be so pissed to return to such a piece of tripe if someone in my team did this. Whilst I’d ‘have’ to deal with it, I’d be thinking the colleague was either not quite right emotionally, or must be very bored and I’d really be looking at their workload (and no, not retaliatory, just can’t imagine a busy person’s would have time for such shite).

An email to the manager would be sufficient. A grievance and all the work that comes with it is OTT.