Warehouse incidents... seeking advice *please help*

scooby088

What can I say, you get all sorts in the working environment just get on with and be more concerned with your own performance and forget what others do, if asked why you aren't reaching targets then elaborate to team leaders or managers.

cord123

jobneeded wrote: »

Thank you!!

He didnt actually say he was black - he said he was coloured.... I assumed he was blue?? Also, are you transparent? Didnt think so... then surely you are coloured?
Totally ignorant!

mildred1978

jobneeded wrote: »

I've already pointed this out!

if the shoe had been on the other foot, what would the other person have described me as? he doesn't know my name, where I come from. I don't stand out as I where clothes that are very much the same as everyone else I work with. So... would he have said " white 6ft2 with dark brown hair, aged between 20-25?" obviously he would, otherwise what other description can be given?

I'm not bothered about being called a coloured yes, I'm white, I am a colour. that's the end of it. it's hardly a racist remark now is it, if you can't describe somebody without being called a racist then YOU explain to me, how do people work together?

.

But you didn't need to describe him!! Does it matter if he's 8 ft tall with a northern accent and a fetish for wearing ladies underwear? No!

You chose to describe him only by colour (and the correct term would have been black - "coloured" is exceptionally offensive) but its not relevant to the issue you're having.

dickydonkin

sniggings wrote: »

If those trucks are like cars then it's up to the driver to not move until the way is clear, same if the car in front slams on their breaks and the car behind goes into the back of the car in front, it's the front car's fault.

No it isn't.

You are supposed to keep a safe braking distance from the car in front. If you slam into the back of a car - for whatever reason - you are obviously not travelling a safe braking distance and will almost certainly be deemed as at fault.

scooby088

OP i am probably from a different mindset to yourself maybe you could've worded you original post better as other posters now believe you to be racist and have turned the thread it bashing you for being racist which I don't believe you are.

All I can advise you to do is wait until you probation period is over, no matter what incidents have happened I am sure your superiors will know that your work rate is excellent, I am also sure that they would've given you notice by now.

Jox

It is strange to hear a 20 year old using the term "coloured", sounds so 70's and 80's.
This is all part of the experience of working with other people, developing understanding and patience towards others, no matter how slow or "ignorant" they may seem.
To get into such incidents during your probationary period doesn't bode well for the rest of your employment there.
You sound quite intelligent (other than the "coloured" comment - sorry) so perhaps this particular role wouldn't stretch you intellectually enough but I would worry about you working with people who are of a different ethnicity / race as you seem to fixated on the colour of their skin and it should be irrelevant.

cord123

I didnt call you racist at all - I simply cant understand the phrase 'coloured' everyone is coloured... not every one is black, white, bi-racial etc ....

If you do feel that people are getting different treatment due to their skin colour then yes, I agree, there is an issue there. But I cant help but feel you need to choose your words more carefully in order to get your point across. Black, white, asian etc are excepted terms for describing someone. I would not have an issue with someone saying to me 'its just behind that black lady' but I would have great exception to 'its just behind that coloured lady' perhaps I am in the wrong?!
Using the way someone looks to describe them is perfectly acceptable (as long as it is relevant to know what they look like) but how you phrase things can mean the difference between getting what may be a valid point across and coming across like an ignorant person.....

fwor

I too find it unusual that someone in their twenties would use the word "coloured".

There are a number of reasons why a black person would be offended by that - the most notable being the use of the word "coloured" to mean a specific thing (i.e. neither black nor white) in a certain apartheid regime.

But back to the OPs situation: the one thing that you can do to help the most is to talk to that colleague. Not about the problems, but about anything - football, olympics, pretty much anything will do. Once he gets to see those around him as real people he'll almost certainly start treating them (and you) as real people, and the problem will go away.

dseventy

Are we not all "coloured"?

D70

mildred1978

Jox wrote: »

It is strange to hear a 20 year old using the term "coloured", sounds so 70's and 80's.
This is all part of the experience of working with other people, developing understanding and patience towards others, no matter how slow or "ignorant" they may seem.
To get into such incidents during your probationary period doesn't bode well for the rest of your employment there.
You sound quite intelligent (other than the "coloured" comment - sorry) so perhaps this particular role wouldn't stretch you intellectually enough but I would worry about you working with people who are of a different ethnicity / race as you seem to fixated on the colour of their skin and it should be irrelevant.

In many parts of South Africa and Africa it's a derogatory term for a bi-racial person. People there are generally categorised as black, white or coloured.