So I have been sacked for racial abuse...

BritRael

ringo_24601 wrote: »

...I'm of a firm opinion that the only people that should complain about being 'racially abused' are those that are abused - you should not be getting upset on behalf of other people. If the girl with the 1970s nickname didn't like it.. it was up to her to complain; not other people.
...

Absolutely. Eavesdropping should not be the basis for dismissal when the 'victim' has not even lodged a complaint.

lazer

Firstly - I don't think you were being racist or sexist.
If the person had ginger hair - you could have called them ginger Dave - noticing something about someone is not racist and as long as they are not offended by it - no harm done.

Regardless of whether or not you were being racist - I do not believe your work has followed the correct disciplinary procedures - do you have an employment handbook or anything?
They have sacked you on the basis of statements of 2 other employees without even asking for your side of the story - for all they know the whole thing could be a lie from the 2 other employees - they should have at least had a disciplinary meeting woth you before sacking you - otherwise it appears to be unfair dismassal.

paddedjohn

^^^^^^ Agree with this in post #10 most people who find offence in other people's conversations or actions are trying to be offended on behalf of someone else who most of the time doesn't give a flying f##k. It's getting beyond a joke now where you can't have a joke or a conversation without looking over your shoulder to make sure someone isn't offended. People should be allowed to say what they thing without fear of reprisal even if its not what others agree with. Racism was about not putting down other races, not treating them badly, making out they are inferior to yourself but now you can't even say black without eyebrows being raised but blacks can sing about being n......, a word that is totally taboo to anyone else. At the end of the day we are sharing this litte space we've got so should all try and get on.Too many liberal minded nimby pambys telling us all what we should do or think, these are the people we should be stopping.

Matikata

lazer wrote: »

Firstly - I don't think you were being racist or sexist.
If the person had ginger hair - you could have called them ginger Dave - noticing something about someone is not racist and as long as they are not offended by it - no harm done.

Regardless of whether or not you were being racist - I do not believe your work has followed the correct disciplinary procedures - do you have an employment handbook or anything?
They have sacked you on the basis of statements of 2 other employees without even asking for your side of the story - for all they know the whole thing could be a lie from the 2 other employees - they should have at least had a disciplinary meeting woth you before sacking you - otherwise it appears to be unfair dismassal.

That's kinda the angle I was going with haha! In my mind, calling her Dave when her name wasn't, was an obvious ironic statement that I find funny, in the same way I would find it funny if I overheard it between other people. Black dave is merely observation.

Well the other two clearly have lied by saying that I don't like to take orders from my boss because he's black... That came out of no where over the phone and I was literally like !!!!!!? That definitely hasn't left my mouth...

rtho782

Ignoring the alleged racial aspect, how is refusing to buy a girl a drink sexist?

If a girl told (rather than asked) me to buy her a drink I'd probably tell her where to go too.

Matikata

Drinks were free all night.

LannieDuck

rtho782 wrote: »

Ignoring the alleged racial aspect, how is refusing to buy a girl a drink sexist?

If a girl told (rather than asked) me to buy her a drink I'd probably tell her where to go too.

Saying something like "go get your own drink" is very different from saying "I don't take orders from women".

I wouldn't want to work at the place you describe, OP. Sounds like everyone's expected to put up with these 'funny jokes'.

spacey2012

Didn't they employ the killer of james bulger ?

Matikata

LannieDuck wrote: »

Saying something like "go get your own drink" is very different from saying "I don't take orders from women".

I wouldn't want to work at the place you describe, OP. Sounds like everyone's expected to put up with these 'funny jokes'.

Not at all. As I said, the jokey part of saying I don't take orders from women was the fact that I do take orders from women. Her being the woman who gives me orders. I'm 21, she's about 25 ish.

The place of work is actually really nice. Nothing like this goes on during work hours, only out of hours and only if you choose to socialise with people from the different areas of the venue (Security, backstage, bar).

It's not like what I said was shouted in order to gain attention or belittle anyone, one was a one on one conversation, the other was in a room of 4 or 5 people.

LannieDuck

Matikata wrote: »

Not at all. As I said, the jokey part of saying I don't take orders from women was the fact that I do take orders from women. Her being the woman who gives me orders. I'm 21, she's about 25 ish.

The place of work is actually really nice. Nothing like this goes on during work hours, only out of hours and only if you choose to socialise with people from the different areas of the venue (Security, backstage, bar).

It's not like what I said was shouted in order to gain attention or belittle anyone, one was a one on one conversation, the other was in a room of 4 or 5 people.

The trouble is that, whilst it might be jokey to you, are you sure it was jokey to her? Does she often have to put up with jokes like that about her authority over others?

You might find these things you've been saying funny and inoffensive, but they have the potential to really undermine your colleagues.

Yes, it was on your own time, but people have certainly been sacked for things they've said/done out of work hours - bringing the company into disrepute and all that.

And is there any element of being expected to stay on after work and socialise with your colleagues? If people choose not to stay, are they seen as not being team players? In which case, they're effectively being forced into the supposedly 'funny' environment you describe as part of their job.