Sooo, what kind of people do you work with?

jumpy

jumpy

jumpy

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I work for... well, lets not say anything too specific, we'll call it a smallish contractor in the construction industry.
Been in the same field for a number of years now and have come across varying types of people this time, however I don't think I've heard the kind of blatant 'ism' that is here with a couple of staff.

First one is a guy on site. We'll call him bob for the sake of argument. He sometimes works with a black fella, who seems like a nice bloke from what I know. Bob, thinks it's ok to refer to this guy as 'my *****', as in 'wassup my *****?'. Predictably the black lad hates this and now refuses to work with Bob. I don't blame him. I know with some folks these terms can go beyond the face value and be part of deeper friendships, but that's clearly not the case here. Bob, likes ukip and wants all the foreigners etc out.
In the office a few of us refer to bob as 'racist-bob' etc. It's kind of funny to us because that's what he is, but it's not really that funny.

I expect a certain roughness with some of the lads you meet on site - that goes with the territory sometimes I guess.

This morning I heard something from senior management that I'd really not expect to have come from them. Background: we are currently recruiting for a certain position to ease the workload in the office so we can shuffle someone from site to a kind of admin position. There's been a few cv's come through but not that many. Today I heard an encounter from a colleague and a senior manager, we'll call the manager barry. In discussing a recent cv applicants suitability, barry remarks words to the effect of 'I'm not a racist, but I've never come across a *trade name* who's black and hard working.'

Now, as far as it goes, they're going to interview the guy anyway - we need to get someone on board so there's that, I guess.

I know I work for a bunch of jerks sometimes (for other reasons) but I didn't expect I'd hear this kind of attitude from a more senior position, especially coming from barry. I thought whatever else I might think of him, that he was better than that. Barry is a few years younger than me so there's no excuse for him being oldschool, set in his ways racist, old git type. He doesn't make jokes like bob (who make no secret of his beliefs), or any other outward comments. But to me that's somehow worse. At least with bob, you know what he is fair and square. Today barry has shown something of himself I'd not seen before, nor expected to see from him.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I'll remember this.
 
I work with a mixed bunch, as a team of four spending anywhere from a single day with to up to 5 days with. Two of those people I am in occasional contact with, the other I am working in a small room with a locked door unable to "escape". It can get tough.

I get a mixed bag, some I get on like a house on fire, some I cannot stand.

If I get on well with my colleagues my weeks work is hardly like working at all. For the latter it's a case of doing my job and doing it well, no chit chat, no small talk, head down and work. It gets tough after a long day or week of work though and by the end I am desparate to part ways.

I work with people of all ages, demographics, races, orientations etc and I really like that aspect of the job. But there is always that one arse hole who ruins your week, it's inescapable no matter what company, industry or profession you find yourself in.

Racism is something absolutely not tolerated within my company and personally I would never tolerate it too. I know some industries or demographics are more lenient towards it but it's just not acceptable.

The thing is, people go to work, put on a suit or whatever they may be wearing, then stick on the work mask and become holier than thou. People's true colours aren't always visible, especially when it's for their own personal gain.
 
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So moral of the story is don't be surprised by peoples real personalities behind the work visage, I guess in construction it doesn't even matter though.

I once worked with a guy who liked to make it apparent he hated racism then on a works nightout when getting into a taxi someone asked him where he wanted to sit and he replied "It doesn't matter as he'll blow us up anyway" referring to the taxi driver of asian descent :/
 
jumpy said:
I work for... well, lets not say anything too specific, we'll call it a smallish contractor in the construction industry.
Been in the same field for a number of years now and have come across varying types of people this time, however I don't think I've heard the kind of blatant 'ism' that is here with a couple of staff.

First one is a guy on site. We'll call him bob for the sake of argument. He sometimes works with a black fella, who seems like a nice bloke from what I know. Bob, thinks it's ok to refer to this guy as 'my *****', as in 'wassup my *****?'. Predictably the black lad hates this and now refuses to work with Bob. I don't blame him. I know with some folks these terms can go beyond the face value and be part of deeper friendships, but that's clearly not the case here. Bob, likes ukip and wants all the foreigners etc out.
In the office a few of us refer to bob as 'racist-bob' etc. It's kind of funny to us because that's what he is, but it's not really that funny.

I expect a certain roughness with some of the lads you meet on site - that goes with the territory sometimes I guess.

This morning I heard something from senior management that I'd really not expect to have come from them. Background: we are currently recruiting for a certain position to ease the workload in the office so we can shuffle someone from site to a kind of admin position. There's been a few cv's come through but not that many. Today I heard an encounter from a colleague and a senior manager, we'll call the manager barry. In discussing a recent cv applicants suitability, barry remarks words to the effect of 'I'm not a racist, but I've never come across a *trade name* who's black and hard working.'

Now, as far as it goes, they're going to interview the guy anyway - we need to get someone on board so there's that, I guess.

I know I work for a bunch of jerks sometimes (for other reasons) but I didn't expect I'd hear this kind of attitude from a more senior position, especially coming from barry. I thought whatever else I might think of him, that he was better than that. Barry is a few years younger than me so there's no excuse for him being oldschool, set in his ways racist, old git type. He doesn't make jokes like bob (who make no secret of his beliefs), or any other outward comments. But to me that's somehow worse. At least with bob, you know what he is fair and square. Today barry has shown something of himself I'd not seen before, nor expected to see from him.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I'll remember this.
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I work for the complete polar opposite to you. They were crying the day after Brexit and were in a hyperventilating panic when Trump got elected. Some genuinely thought the world was ending. These are intelligent 20'somethings and they were acting stupid children. The complete and total definition of wet liberal crybabies
 
I don't work with anyone, except my students I guess. Turn up 10 minutes before a class, teach, go home.

One school I do see my supervisor on the way in, who is lovely and usually just gives me a heads up about any new students, my other class I've never even met my supervisor or manager. Only ever communicated over Line or on the phone. Suits me perfectly.
 
I work as one of 2 males in a team of 14.

All of us are caucasian, and only 2 aren't British (1 Kiwi, 1 Spanish)

Not exactly diverse, but then I guess it is Surrey :p
 
I generally work with a bunch good guys but like most places there are a few know it alls that are so self opinionated and up there arse it makes the job a struggle :eek: :D
 
jumpy said:
I work for... well, lets not say anything too specific, we'll call it a smallish contractor in the construction industry.
Been in the same field for a number of years now and have come across varying types of people this time, however I don't think I've heard the kind of blatant 'ism' that is here with a couple of staff.

First one is a guy on site. We'll call him bob for the sake of argument. He sometimes works with a black fella, who seems like a nice bloke from what I know. Bob, thinks it's ok to refer to this guy as 'my *****', as in 'wassup my *****?'. Predictably the black lad hates this and now refuses to work with Bob. I don't blame him. I know with some folks these terms can go beyond the face value and be part of deeper friendships, but that's clearly not the case here. Bob, likes ukip and wants all the foreigners etc out.
In the office a few of us refer to bob as 'racist-bob' etc. It's kind of funny to us because that's what he is, but it's not really that funny.

I expect a certain roughness with some of the lads you meet on site - that goes with the territory sometimes I guess.

This morning I heard something from senior management that I'd really not expect to have come from them. Background: we are currently recruiting for a certain position to ease the workload in the office so we can shuffle someone from site to a kind of admin position. There's been a few cv's come through but not that many. Today I heard an encounter from a colleague and a senior manager, we'll call the manager barry. In discussing a recent cv applicants suitability, barry remarks words to the effect of 'I'm not a racist, but I've never come across a *trade name* who's black and hard working.'

Now, as far as it goes, they're going to interview the guy anyway - we need to get someone on board so there's that, I guess.

I know I work for a bunch of jerks sometimes (for other reasons) but I didn't expect I'd hear this kind of attitude from a more senior position, especially coming from barry. I thought whatever else I might think of him, that he was better than that. Barry is a few years younger than me so there's no excuse for him being oldschool, set in his ways racist, old git type. He doesn't make jokes like bob (who make no secret of his beliefs), or any other outward comments. But to me that's somehow worse. At least with bob, you know what he is fair and square. Today barry has shown something of himself I'd not seen before, nor expected to see from him.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I'll remember this.
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just remember a person can have a prejudiced view of a group but a perfectly rational and balanced view of an individual.

like your guys says hes never worked with a black <trade> who isn't lazy, doesn't mean he will judge the black applicant by that standard and if the lad is hard working may be perfectly happy with it.
 
Ever heard the phrase sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?

Jesus, that philosophy has all but disappeared nowadays. Now everyone wants to play the victim group.

Guy who used to work where I do, would frequently refer to be as 'Whiteboy' did I cry about it? No, I took it as banter.

Oh yeah, and you cant be racist to white people, apparently, so its not like I had a leg to stand on if I wanted to cry about it.
 
Mixture of ethnicities and backgrounds in this office. Goverment department so everyone is courteous and gets on well enough from what I've seen.
Due to the nature of this part of the agency, they are all quite mature as its rare to see anyone under 40 in this line of work.
 
CosmicClown said:
Ever heard the phrase sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?
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Hurts a bit more when those words contribute to you not getting a job because your face is the same colour as some lazy ******** the recruiter once knew.

Mentioned this in another thread yesterday, but I used to work for a small employer who would throw out any job applications from people with foreign names. "we're a small workplace, and we need to make sure everyone can get along", as if people who have foreign names are automatically going to cause trouble. Professional workplace too.
 
Tefal said:
just remember a person can have a prejudiced view of a group but a perfectly rational and balanced view of an individual.

like your guys says hes never worked with a black <trade> who isn't lazy, doesn't mean he will judge the black applicant by that standard and if the lad is hard working may be perfectly happy with it.
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I'm not sure about that. If someone is making a correlation between somebody being a certain ethnicity and the manner of their work.. well that's very dubious ground indeed.
 
In the nineties I worked in a factory that because the job was so bad, had a large turnover of staff. People would literally just have a moment of clarity and walk out, most new staff would give up by the first break. I'd estimate that about 80% of people would not come back for a second day. Job agencies would refuse to send people in the end, and they had to start recruiting straight from the job centre. So we would get the people that were forced to come for an interview, and the interview was them being told how bad the job was. For this reason we saw a lot of really awful people.

One guy started a conversation in the break room with the following sentence..
"You know when you're robbing a house, and you have to kick the door in because you have forgotten your gloves..."
That was my moment of clarity!

Beat that!
 
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I work in Maternity. Only dude within my department, aside from a few of the consultants.

Always liked it. Some of the chat that goes down is superb
 
CosmicClown said:
OP is an SJW.
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CosmicClown said:
Ever heard the phrase sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?

Jesus, that philosophy has all but disappeared nowadays. Now everyone wants to play the victim group.

Guy who used to work where I do, would frequently refer to be as 'Whiteboy' did I cry about it? No, I took it as banter.

Oh yeah, and you cant be racist to white people, apparently, so its not like I had a leg to stand on if I wanted to cry about it.
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You seem a bit butt-hurt there fella, you not get a job because of the lazy whiteman stereotype or something?
 
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