Is This Racial??

I have been pondering what to do about a certain situation in the office here in Sears store 8185 here in Orlando Florida. I have a great friend who is also the only black manager here and his immediate supervisor did something, in my opinion, that was racially motivated.

My friend had gone to a large apartment complex, owned by one of our clients, to address concerns about the appliances. My friend was able to rectify 99% of the concerns by repairing a small problem on the appliances himself. His supervisor called him to ask what was going on and my friend replied that he was able to repair the majority of the appliances quickly so as to save a technician a long drive and to save man-hours. My friends supervisor became enraged and said, verbatim, "I pay you to sit at your desk and work on the computer not to repair appliances. What did you do, take a couple of hundred dollars under the table to fix the appliances?" Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a violation of most large companies general ethics as well as occupational laws concerning harassment? By the way, the supervisor I'm speaking of has known affiliations with someone known to be racist.

Your take on the situation???

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SouthernProgrammer (08/10/2007) The comment was stupid but I can't see ANYTHING racist. I once had a VERY similar situation happen and I darn near lost my job due to a short sited manager. I was asked to write a program to help an area track problems. I wrote it in two weeks and it worked great. What I did NOT know was that another managers group had been writing a simiar software package for the last SEVERAL YEARS and had spent MILLIONS of dollars (I am not making this up!) and dumb old me made them look like idiots! My boss came down TO FIRE ME. However, two days before that the VP of the company came to see the software program and LOVED it. I explained that I was in hot water and he said "I'll take care of it!". As my boss was chewing me out in a conference room, the VP knocked on the door and walked in with a committee to HAND ME AN AWARD. He shook my hand, then shook the VP's hand and said "Fantastic work! We need more people like him!" He then left. My boss just stared at me and said "Dismissed.". True story! The point of this story is, if your client is happy...maybe he can write a letter to that effect that will defuse the situation. twiz (08/10/2007) I don't see anything racial about his comment. It may not have been appropriate to accuse the person of such activities... particularly when they were saving the company money. He should have simply stated the company policies on such an issue and asked he not do that in the future... There is probably some insurance/liability reason or something. In any case... just my opinion! cnubelevit (08/10/2007) I can understand your opinions, even though I may not agree with them. Fortunately, my lawyer and the NAACP agree with me. avid reader (08/10/2007) I really don't see anything racist about it either, sorry. I am white and I have been told "I don't pay you to..." And the money under the table comment could be applied to any race in many circumstances. It doesn't matter that he has racist friends. That makes him no more a racist that having catholic friends makes me a catholic. p.s. Why do you say "fortunately" they agree with you? dumber than a catbox full of sh*t (08/10/2007) Definitely NOT a racist thing about the post--and when people play the race card--or try to--those are the ones to watch out for! dumber than a catbox full of sh*t (08/10/2007) Your friend now knows that it doesn't matter if their moment helping to prevent company time, money,etc...being wasted DOES NOT MATTER! It is company protocol, and makes the Boss pissed because it undermines his authority. They are not paying you to be creative--they are paying you to obey/kiss their ass. If you want to be creative, change fields like I am. CookieHooker (08/10/2007) I have to agree with everyone above... I don't see anything from just the direct quote that is racist. There may be other factors involved though. I want to say I admire the loyalty to your friend. If it is something that you witnessed then I would suggest that you report it, if not as racist, just as harrassing behavior. However, if it is something you just repeated to you, then you have no way of knowing if it really is a direct quote, and I would encourage your friend and any witnesses to report it as harrassing behavior. Other than that I agree above, have the client who recieved the free service write a glowing thank you note, and then the boss really can't get upset. Have your friend request that this is placed in his personnel file too. Hmmmm (08/10/2007) I don't necessarily think that the comment was racist but I do think that it was uncalled for. Personally, if a supervisor said that to me, I would contact the hour and labor board and a really good attorney. Long time mgr. (08/10/2007) Just remember that some people become managers by the sweat on their brow and others by the sweat on their pillow. Abusive managers are a dime a dozen and karma always get's it's due. cnubelevit (08/10/2007) Thank everyone for the input. It is greatly appreciated. Maybe I was a little overzealous because my friends supervisor has a habit of abusing the people under him, you know cursing them out, petty names and things like that. I guess we'll just leave it to the powers that be. randomfrog (08/10/2007) Hi Cnube! long long time you old rascal. On the surface it does not look racist but very peculiar. This IS Florida after all. A very honest man had a very close call in another FL town. Your friend better watch the other guy. SouthernProgrammer (08/11/2007) > and said, verbatim, "I pay you to sit at your desk and work on the computer not to repair appliances. What did you do, take a couple of hundred dollars under the table to fix the appliances?" > Again, I don't see how this can be considered racist. Reverend Belevit (08/11/2007) Unfortunately, being the single minority can lead people to see things this way. If the supervisor is truly racist, it will come up again. Also, it seems, the further south you go the worse it gets. dontask 0 (08/12/2007) Guys; I showed this entry to somebody who worked in Florida, was stationed in the South etc for years. And he was livid. He practically yelled red faced "This guy is racist" his reason: The manager does not want him outside working where others can see him, and on top of that accusing him of taking money. Verdict is in: RACIAL RACIST!!!!!!! Cellophane Girl (08/12/2007) I just fail to see it. dontask 0 (08/12/2007) Yeah Cello. The manager does not want this employee to be seen with his clients or customers. He does not want him out there but hidden, stuck in an office somewhere out of sight. Hard to imagine if you have never seen it. It's old time bias. He also may be holding off repairing appliances for other reasons. It could be prejudicial. Depends on the customer's creed and sex. He also could be holding out for a tip or an extra payoff to repair the appliances. Women and minorities get jacked around a lot by these bullies. Just adding a bit of personal observation here. dumber than a catbox full of sh*t (08/13/2007) NOT RACIST!!! The employee is paid to sit at the desk and work on the computer, not do repairs--this is what the Poster said in the Post. Would you want the cafeteria worker at the hospital cafeteria filling-in for your doctor? The employee was hired for a particular job--and did a job he was not hired to do. The Boss was right in getting upset. Granted--maybe the boss could've commended the employee on trying to save time and money for the company, and for trying to give service to the customer--but the Boss was right--the employee overstepped his bounds and did a job that was not HIS job. SouthernProgrammer (08/13/2007) Guys, I have been thinking about this and I believe the reason the supervisor was mad was because he was made to look bad. The SUPERVISOR should have paid a personal visit or scheduled someone to come in a reasonable amount of time. Because the desk jockey did it, this guy looks bad. The supervisor is also afraid the client will want this type of service in the future and will then say "Well [insert friends name here] was able to drop by!". Again, the posters friend did a good thing but I understand why the supervisor was mad. I still say - NOT RACIST. cnubelevit (08/14/2007) O.K., O.K. Southern Programmer we get your point. Geez. Let me explain something.My friend is a "technician manager" like me. We have to be able to work on the product as well as do paper work, manage the techs and deal with the clients. The point I was trying to make is that none of the other managers have ever been talked to like that, I know...I've talked to all of them. Maybe it's not racial but it is certainly prejudicial against a single individual. SouthernProgrammer (08/14/2007) CNUBELEVIT - Sorry I keep harping on that but I get riled where people try to say something is racial (especially in the South) when it is unfounded. A lot of people perceive the South as a bunch of uneducated buffoons with Rebel flags, guns, dawgs and a hatred for non-whites. I also get upset when I see people talk about filing a 'racist lawsuit' when it is unfounded because that only perpetuates the behavior. Freedomringer (08/14/2007) I had to comment on this, SP is correct. This does make the manager look bad and part of playing the stupid game and being successful is to make your boss look good and this does not make his manager look competent. Playing the race card, or the sex card, or reverse racism card does not apply here. Crying racism at this is like the fable of the Shepard Crying Wolf: when it really does happen, no one will come running to save the day. Use it when it really does happen, and I am sure it still does and it does not matter if you are below the Mason-Dixon line, it can happen in many so called enlightened places. Your friends work ethic should be applauded and the world needs more people like him, he just needs to deal with his managers insecurities better. SouthernProgrammer (08/14/2007) cnubelevit , I admire how you stick up for your friend and still believe the managers attack was unfounded. This may have gone better if your friend would have asked the manager "Would it help if I stopped by to see our client?". Again, the attack was wrong but not...oh never mind you get the idea... HaveADamnNiceDay (08/14/2007) I'd have to agree with SP. It does look like the poor guy just made his manager look bad. At least, that's the impression I got when I read the post. For what it's worth, I'm a white person and my spouse is black. We often have discussions about stuff like this. My mate is discerning enough to truly know when something is racial, and we are like-minded on a lot of issues like these. It sounds like manager guy was just mad because he was made a fool--perhaps it WAS his responsibility to be involved somehow, but perhaps he drops the ball alot. We both hate it when the race card gets thrown down when race is not an issue. It burns ME up, because sometimes people are just plain ignorant, and it has nothing to do with one's skin color. I worked with one guy who accused EVERYONE in our office of being racist, when really their issue with him was that he made too many mistakes in his work. His reason for his accusations? He was the ONLY black man in the office at the time, and since he'd gone to school in Alabama, his attitude towards white folks had been severely soured. I really feel bad for him. After being abused by people with real racist attitudes, he started seeing it in people who had none at all. If one thing can be said of any of it, abuse makes people paranoid. It is what it is. cnubelevit (08/14/2007) Well,well,well...it seems that now my opinion or anybody elses really doesn't matter. H.R. got a hold of this schmuck and he recieved a written reprimand put in his file. LOL. Karma rocks. This so called "supervisor" is on thin ice now. According to H.R., it's not the first time that he's made an off color remark to someone of "color". Freedomringer (08/15/2007) That is great everyone should be judged on their ability and competency and not their race, sex, or religion. What a great world it would be if the most competent and suited person for a job was hired instead of looking at the percentage of different kinds of race one has in a work force. I am one of those people who wish slavery never happened then we would not have this problem. But it did and now we have to pay for it, and that is the way it is. I am happy for your friend, I am sure the manager had it coming. You know the old saying, "What goes around, comes back around." Karma dude, it happens to everyone eventually. SouthernProgrammer (08/15/2007) Obviously this guy had a history of abusive behavior and this was the last straw. Good for your friend! He truly did nothing wrong. HaveADamnNiceDay (08/15/2007) If this guy has a history (a detail I think you forgot to mention) of harassing our darker-skinned brothers and sisters, then he deserves to get a boot in the seat(I'd forego that and just kick 'im in the head...)! Indeed what goes around comes around!!!! POST A COMMENT »