Joke at my expense at networking event

[Reubensway]

I am self employed and attend various business/network events, this morning I went to one I hadn’t attended before but had heard positive things about.

There was about 25/30 people there, and it is essentially ‘chaired’ by one man. After I have my presentation about my business, he made a comment about where I am from (Liverpool). He said that anyone with their purses or wallets in front of them on the table should hide them immediately, to some muffled laughter from a few others.

Am I being unreasonable to expect professional standards as opposed to stereotypical jokes? I won’t return to this particular meeting.

@Tangyfan

The context is getting completely missed in a lot of these responses. Joke being funny/offensive etc etc is one thing. But OP had just finished delivering a presentation at a corporate event and the Chair of event then said something that belittled her, in front of the audience

This. It's the same type that do sexist 'jokes' as well, I bet, but he'd be too scared to that in front of an audience that probably contained women.

I’m not willing to be the butt of someone’s joke at a professional event. And neither should anyone else be.

@Reubensway if it was not from someone from a similar place (endlessly slagged off) I would be furious tbh!

It wouldn't bother me terribly , but I would have eye rolled

This

I'm sure everyone there clocked him as a dickhead OP.

Yes, I didn’t emphasise that sufficiently. He deliberately put her down after a presentation. What a jerk.

I'm originally fromanother country - lived in UK for 35 years.
I still get the same "jokes" about my "hilarious" accent & other cliched trite things & people think they are hilarious.

They don't realise how wholly unoriginal & unfunny they are.

Id say its a know your audience type joke. As it was a networking event I dont think its acceptable. I have also had a"has anyone got a knife" " (my name) will have one, shes from hull" joke at work. I did laugh it off but at the same time said jesus type thing. Hasnt happened again

But this is not a joke. It is an insult.
if he’d have ‘joked’ about a Welsh person shagging sheep, an Irish person being thick, a Scot’s person being tight - the are all insulting stereotypes. Maybe ok in the pub? But not at a professional work related meeting.

Thsi type of prejudice was never okay. Outdated in that it was more commonplace, even though always 100% wrong. People used to be more comfortable bringing their biases and prejudice out in public.

Imagine traveling a couple of hours down/up? the road and having a full-blown existential crisis because people have an strong UK accent and a lotta lotta personality.

Try getting it constantly, for your whole life. It’s boring. It’s tiring. It’s frustrating. We are fiercely proud of our city and its people and it hurts to have people constantly slagging you off and pretending it’s a joke.

The Hillsborough families were forced to fight for justice for decades for their loved ones simply because of these untrue, unfounded accusations and ideas that the rest of the country persist in holding. I very much doubt that the same evil accusations would have been made against Arsenal or Villa fans. But people believed it simply because they were scousers.

Imagine if someone said those things out loud to a person of colour, or a disabled person. “You’re all lazy thieves who are on the dole. Lolz”. They’d be sacked on the spot. But scousers are fair game because it’s just ‘banter’. It’s not, it’s discrimination.

Studies have shown that people from Liverpool are perceived to be untrustworthy and unintelligent, and are less likely to be recruited for jobs outside of Liverpool.

So forgive us for being a bit ‘touchy’ about it. Maybe you should try challenging your own negative bias instead of parroting tired old tropes.

As I said. Liverpool won't miss people like you.

Totally different when referring to yourself!

Don’t blame me for you being a bigot. Own it or STFU and educate yourself.

Exactly this.

I'm Australian and in a professional regulated role with multiple postgrad degrees. I once posted on here that on my first day in a new office my boss 'joked' that evryone better hide the petty cash tin because everyone knew all Australians were thieves and descended from convicts.

It was fucking offensive then, yet people told me I 'couldn't take a joke'.

(Oh and by the way, apparently all Australians are racist and we can't take a joke about that either).

FUCK OFF.

The irony is that there is nothing graceful in your comment above, @Everanewbie.

He chose to make a woman, that he didn't remotely know, the butt of a joke at a professional presentation in front of an audience. Anyone who thinks that's acceptable on any level has frighteningly low standards, or has travellled here from the 1950's.

Oh mu God! Livid! I was expecting a mention of the accent, football club or so, but this! What on Earth?
Mind you, I have been on training where the trainer said he did not like people from my country of origin! Not directed to me, but to the managers! I wrote him an email and he apologised. You need to tell this guy this is not right.

It was his job to put people at ease/ encourage questions or discussion and facilitate people to showcase their business.
If he was trying to be light-hearted then self-deprecating humour would be much more appropriate for this context. Sounds like he just doesn't have the skills for the role.

If this was a small gathering of friends at the pub I wouldn't have raised an eyebrow. But in a professional setting with strangers it's totally unacceptable. Just after her presentation as well. Awful @Reubensway - but he was the one who embarrassed himself here - not you.

Doubling down, are we, good luck with that.

Same thing happens to me almost everyday as an American.

President jokes, religion jokes, accent jokes, jokes about the country, the food etc. Not sure what to say but glad I have thick skin and don't care.

Completely unacceptable.

Can you report him to the organisation or professional body that put this networking event together?