bigot co-workers

[surferboy]

ok, little background first. i work with this 17 year old. he's way smart, and he was homeschooled. he's a hardcore christian. he hates homosexuality. even though i totally don't like, agree with his opinion, i respect his right to hold it. however, what he did on saturday totally blew me away; i thought he was better than this...

on saturday, three totally gay guys came into the store, and one was like, a trans. she had boobs, but hasn't had the facial surgery yet. anyways, one of them came up to me because he had to use the bathroom. so like, as i was walkin him over to it (the door is locked with a code machine thing) he was all "the boy up front is rude"

so like, i was thinkin "drew? rude? wtf?" and i was all "what happened?" so like, the dude was all "well, you saw my friends i walked in with, right?" and i nodded. he was all "well, as we walked in, he started laughing at us, and then turned away and laughed some more" so i was all "ok, i'll talk to him about that"

so, the time came for them to check out, and they were near the magazine rack near the spare register. he called rachael up, and me, bein way nosey, wanted to know what was up. he was all "rachael, i have a favor"

"i need you to ring them up. they're very gay, and i don't agree with their lifestyle. i can't ring people like them up. i just can't do it" (and yes, that is word-for-word). so, rachael rung them up while he stayed up there, pretending to look for something. i was standing there in awe. i couldn't believe what i just saw.

now like, the people here who know me know how incredibly difficult it is to like, piss me off. but i totally saw red. i couldn't believe that someone could be so fucking bigoted that they would basically refuse to do their job because it "offended his christian beliefs"

and it's not because they were gay that i'm upset. i'd be equally upset if he had discriminated against some black dudes, or the crazy people from the crazy house. even though he may not agree with their lifestyle, and again, that's his right to hold that opinion, he had NO fuckin right to treat them like they were less than human.

i'm considering going to my boss about it tomorow when i go in tomorrow. but i dunno if anything will be done. drew is a fuckin suck up. he'll stay until 3 in the morning (which is totally illegal since he's only 17) to help with the truck on wednesdays. because he's so eager to do this, he gets sto stoll in whenever he wants. but if i'm like, 2 minutes late, i get "why are you late?!"

i'm sorry to like, unload guys, but like, i totally had to vent. what should i do?

also, do you have any stories of working with complete asstards like drew?

 

[Sergeant_Torpedo]

His behaviour indicates that he is not a Christian. If it starts quoting from the old testament then the best and most sensible thing to do is to gather your co-workers and inform management that he is damaging business. They may overlook his prejudices (does this include Jews, Islamists, disabled, women?) but be sure they won't tolerate him denting their profits.

I am in the military and straight but in my "management" capacity have to point out to homophobes that their behaviour will not be tolerated. The prospect of them not getting promotion because of their failings soon brings them to their senses. I am in Europe so do not know what the law or social practices are in the US, however the law here allows us to criticise a religious practice or dogma but not to discriminate against the person who holds it. Give the pathetic idiot a taste of his own medicine.

 

[madame_zora]

He refused to do his JOB, the one he's being paid to do.

I'll definitely tell the manager, it's absurd for a fucking cashier to be able to judge what customers are good enough to buy products at the store and which are not. I'm offended by HIS uptight beliefs and behaviors, but I'd still sell him a stripper's outfit. Sounds like he could use one.:tongue:

 

[rob_just_rob]

also, do you have any stories of working with complete asstards like drew?

I've worked with complete asstards, but they were a different variety of asstard than drew appears to be.

It might be worth your while to check whether discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is barred where you live. If it is, that makes your complaint to your boss that much more effective. Otherwise, all you have as an argument is the point that he may be costing the business customers, and if your boss is a bigot too, he or she may not care.

drew is a fuckin suck up. he'll stay until 3 in the morning (which is totally illegal since he's only 17) to help with the truck on wednesdays. because he's so eager to do this, he gets sto stoll in whenever he wants. but if i'm like, 2 minutes late, i get "why are you late?!"

If it's apparent that he's getting favourable treatment and you are not, going to your boss with a complaint about him might be viewed as an attempt by you to take drew down a peg for personal reasons. It's tricky going after the boss's favourite employee, unless you have an airtight argument - see my point about discrimination laws, above.

 

[anon265]

If you can, get a signed statement from the other coworker, with the date and time of the incident. Prepare your own signed statement. Present them to the boss. Present them to the HR division, if you have one. Unless the boss is a complete lunatic, he will act, and quickly. This man is exposing the company to enormous liability.

Now ... I'm sure you realize it, but there is the risk of being looked at as a "troublemaker" in the future. If they do anything overt, that's trouble for them. But even if they do make things a little frosty for you, at least you'll know that you did the right and courageous thing.

 

[naughty]

Ok,

What does being a Christian have to do with him being courteous to your patrons? He needs to check himself and get a serious attitude adjustment. He may not agree for religious reasons, but that is no excuse for not waiting on a customer because he does not agree with their sexual orientation. Unless someone actually propositioned him, that is not his business! Christ dealt with all different types of people.

 

[shad24]

This happened awhile back and while I dont condone it I thought it was funny as hell.
A friend works the counter at menards. he has a definite swish. anyway these jackoffs were giving him hell. Faggot, cocksucker etc.
the guy in front of me had enough ot it, he was avg. in all ways.
He told them "know whats worse than getting your ass kicked in front of your friends?"
"Getting your ass kicked in front of your friends by a faggot" Somehow he took 3 of them out in under a minute.

 

[Nitrofiend]

This happened awhile back and while I dont condone it I thought it was funny as hell.
A friend works the counter at menards. he has a definite swish. anyway these jackoffs were giving him hell. Faggot, cocksucker etc.
the guy in front of me had enough ot it, he was avg. in all ways.
He told them "know whats worse than getting your ass kicked in front of your friends?"
"Getting your ass kicked in front of your friends by a faggot" Somehow he took 3 of them out in under a minute.

Haha, right on!

Anyway, this person is not fit for his job. But just be thankful he kept his feelings to himself because at least he knew better not to be public with his prejudices, and for being a bigot, he took the high road considering how the situation could have unfolded. I'm not justifying his actions, but it does get a lot worse. And some people can't deal with transexuals and flamboyant homosexuals if they're not at all gay or are completely anti-gay to begin with. I would call him conservative, and threatened by change. A transexual can be a like an alien to someone completely inexperienced with them.

And as a Drew myself, he makes us, the League of Drews, look very bad. Though even I have somewhat of a bigotted nature towards Vegans for example that I'm working on. I'm not proud of it, but something about them unsettles me. I'm sure everyone has one type of person that they have problems dealing with on occasion.

 

[Heather LouAnna]

Sounds like he can't complete his full responsibilities at this job by serving all customers that enter. Grounds for dismissal!!!

 

[Heather LouAnna]

he has a definite swish.

lol TOO cute of a statement.

 

[HotBulge]

Wow, Surferboy, it looks as though you have a lesson in life to give. It's for the greater good because your co-worker is so young (17 years old) and insulated in his experiences. Yesterday's interaction with the gay customers was probably the first time being openly exposed to gay people. Remember how many of us were at 17 - filled with dogma and certainty about our views, yet raw and inexperienced.

In the course of 3 minutes, you basically neeed to do the following:

(1) Ask to see him him in private to discuss and important matter

(2) Immediately start with saying that you need to talk about yesterday's incident with the gay and transsexual customers. His behavior is exposing the business to a lawsuit for discrimination. He'll probably look at you with a puzzled look.

(3) Explain that he is ethically obligated to serve all law-abiding customers fairly, even if he doesn't agree with their lifestyle. Being gay or transexual has nothing to do with his ability to ring up a simple sales transaction. His behavior was no different than 50 years ago when Blacks could not eat at the same lunch counter as Whites.

(4) If he starts to argue, tell him that you will have to report his behavior to the manager because it's costing the store $$ and it may lead to a lawsuit.

(5) Give him some sense that gays aren't horrible people and he will probably encounter more of them in the future. Let him know that if/when he goes off to college, he will encounter people from all backgrounds and will need to deal with them fairly.

(6) END OF SERMON. (Tell him that exactly. Maybe he'll understand the religious language).

 

[HotBulge]

P.S. I'm just giving the kid the benefit of the doubt. This is probably the kids first time encountering this issues. If he gets fired, he'll just have a life-long grudge about these matters and will have learned nothing.

 

[surferboy]

P.S. I'm just giving the kid the benefit of the doubt. This is probably the kids first time encountering this issues. If he gets fired, he'll just have a life-long grudge about these matters and will have learned nothing.

no, this isn't the first time he's reacted negatively to homosexual or transsexual customers. it was, however, the first time i've ever seen him react in such a way. granted, he's like, never upfront. another perk of being the favorite. he was put up front because rachael can put up the ad tags faster then he can. but who's to say he hasn't reacted like that before? like i said, it was the first i've ever seen hime react that way. i'm willing to bet he calls people up to ring up gays all the time.

 

[transformer_99]

What a travesty, the world isn't harmoniously diverse.

 

[jfrsndvs]

ok surferboy, here is the deal, go to your boss aobut it, if he doesn't do anything about it, ok fine, don't argue with him about it, just report the sorry ass son of a bitch to the labor board for having a minor working at those late hours, if there is a time card being used, that will be all the proof that you will need for that, in all reality, the ball is in your court, you have quite a bit of amunition right there if your boss doesn't want to play by the rules.

while there are some gays that are worth a laugh here and there, that is no reason to not only laugh in their face but to refuse to serve them, that is just pure stupidity on his part, his balls needs to be nailed to the wall big time.

ok, little background first. i work with this 17 year old. he's way smart, and he was homeschooled. he's a hardcore christian. he hates homosexuality. even though i totally don't like, agree with his opinion, i respect his right to hold it. however, what he did on saturday totally blew me away; i thought he was better than this...

on saturday, three totally gay guys came into the store, and one was like, a trans. she had boobs, but hasn't had the facial surgery yet. anyways, one of them came up to me because he had to use the bathroom. so like, as i was walkin him over to it (the door is locked with a code machine thing) he was all "the boy up front is rude"

so like, i was thinkin "drew? rude? wtf?" and i was all "what happened?" so like, the dude was all "well, you saw my friends i walked in with, right?" and i nodded. he was all "well, as we walked in, he started laughing at us, and then turned away and laughed some more" so i was all "ok, i'll talk to him about that"

so, the time came for them to check out, and they were near the magazine rack near the spare register. he called rachael up, and me, bein way nosey, wanted to know what was up. he was all "rachael, i have a favor"

"i need you to ring them up. they're very gay, and i don't agree with their lifestyle. i can't ring people like them up. i just can't do it" (and yes, that is word-for-word). so, rachael rung them up while he stayed up there, pretending to look for something. i was standing there in awe. i couldn't believe what i just saw.

now like, the people here who know me know how incredibly difficult it is to like, piss me off. but i totally saw red. i couldn't believe that someone could be so fucking bigoted that they would basically refuse to do their job because it "offended his christian beliefs"

and it's not because they were gay that i'm upset. i'd be equally upset if he had discriminated against some black dudes, or the crazy people from the crazy house. even though he may not agree with their lifestyle, and again, that's his right to hold that opinion, he had NO fuckin right to treat them like they were less than human.

i'm considering going to my boss about it tomorow when i go in tomorrow. but i dunno if anything will be done. drew is a fuckin suck up. he'll stay until 3 in the morning (which is totally illegal since he's only 17) to help with the truck on wednesdays. because he's so eager to do this, he gets sto stoll in whenever he wants. but if i'm like, 2 minutes late, i get "why are you late?!"

i'm sorry to like, unload guys, but like, i totally had to vent. what should i do?

also, do you have any stories of working with complete asstards like drew?

 

[surferboy]

What a travesty, the world isn't harmoniously diverse.

whatever. the problem isn't him not accepting the gay people. like i said, it's his right to not agree with the lifestyle. but to deny them service, when it's his fuckin job, is fuckin wrong to the max. he's being paid to be a service clerk, not to be some judgemental bastard.

 

[ledroit]

no, this isn't the first time he's reacted negatively to homosexual or transsexual customers.

In addition to the other good advice about your boss & discrimination laws, I would also think about having a little fun with this guy at his personal expense.

Why don't you say to him in an off moment, "It's a shame you are so worried about being gay."

When he freaks out, you can quickly apologize and say how sorry you are for getting him wrong. Say that two or three times until he believes you. Then tell him you just assumed he was gay because of the way he treated gays in the store. Straight guys usually don't have to put them down quite as much, because they are not very threatened by them.

Then just leave it at that if you can, with a kind of open curiosity about why he is so upset if in fact he is straight. Practice this little maneuver until you get the moves down pat. If you can deliver it in an off-hand, innocent, obvious way, as though it is a purely spontaneous, obvious thought, it can be very effective.

Although he might not want to be your buddy afterwards.

But report back here what happens!

 

[Nitrofiend]

In addition to the other good advice about your boss & discrimination laws, I would also think about having a little fun with this guy at his personal expense.

Why don't you say to him in an off moment, "It's a shame you are so worried about being gay."

When he freaks out, you can quickly apologize and say how sorry you are for getting him wrong. Say that two or three times until he believes you. Then tell him you just assumed he was gay because of the way he treated gays in the store. Straight guys usually don't have to put them down quite as much, because they are not very threatened by them.

Then just leave it at that if you can, with a kind of open curiosity about why he is so upset if in fact he is straight. Practice this little maneuver until you get the moves down pat. If you can deliver it in an off-hand, innocent, obvious way, as though it is a purely spontaneous, obvious thought, it can be very effective.

Although he might not want to be your buddy afterwards.

But report back here what happens!

Bad idea. If this guy is a sycophant and as much of a homophobe as Surferboy says he is, I guarantee he'll report sexual harrassment. Always give people just enough rope to hang themselves.

 

[surferboy]

Bad idea. If this guy is a sycophant and as much of a homophobe as Surferboy says he is, I guarantee he'll report sexual harrassment. Always give people just enough rope to hang themselves.

yah. not only that, but even as much of a trouble maker i am (jana can attest to this hehe), but in this sitch, two wrongs don't make a right

 

[Freddie53]

Surfer Boy I know you are not a practicing Christian. I also know you may not be well versed in what Jesus the founder of Christianity actually said. Here is a quote of Jesus. "If you have done it unto the least of these my breathren, you have done it unto me." So if he really believes in Jesus and what Jesus taught, he just refused to wait on Jesus at your store. There is a story Jesus told about in the afterlife Jesus scolds some people for not taking care of Jesus's needs. Jesus tells in his parable stories about different people while on earth refusing to take care of those in need and again Jesus states that that is the same as not "taking care of him (Jesus) It is a shame that so many who claim to be followers of Jesus have no clue what Jesus actually said.

Jesus never condemned anyone. Jesus was criticized for eating with "sinners" Jesus was all about taking care of the down and out, the fringe minorities. It is a disgrace that so many of Jesus's followers have forgotten what Jesus taught.

My point in all this is to say to you that it might not hurt to know some of the good things Jesus said and when so called Christians act in ways that Jesus doesn't not approve of, then tell them so.

That 17 year old boy is homophobic because he was taught to be that way. But he still was an asshole that night and you need to tell him so. I wouldn't turn him in to the boss, but I would explain to him that federal law does not allow for discrimination. He needs a good ass chewing and I'm sure you can do it.

BTW. Does he know that you are gay? If so, what is his reaction to you.