I am an RN that works in the Behavioral Health field. I am Italian and my hubby is AA. We have 4 beautiful children and are very happy together. My problem is the staff I work with keep making derogatory racial statements/slurs in my presence. They all know that I have a racially mixed family yet this still continues! I have told them on numerous occasions that I am extremely offended by their comments, yet the behavior continues. Last night one of my co-workers was talking about Obama, and he said "I wouldn't care if we had a mixed race president, I just wish he wasn't half ******!" I was infuriated and I told him so!!!!!!! :argue::argue: The jerk then tried to apologize to me for making that comment. I told him I didn't accept his apology, because he continues to make these same statements over and over! Unfortunately, he is not the only one that does this, there are several others guilty of doing the same thing! I have told my supervisor on numerous occasions, and she has talked to the staff several times yet it continues on an almost nightly basis! The supervisor brought in administration and they supposedly "counseled" them, yet this still continues! Please tell me how to handle this! I am almost ready to quit my job, because I think one night I am really just gonna lose it and end up getting fired for killing one of them!!!!!!!!!
It is very sad to me that racism is still so prevalent in our society. It is even sadder that it exists in health care professionals! How can a health care worker give quality care to every pt. if they are so racist??? This not only infuriates me, but it also makes me extremely sad!!:crying: Please give me some advice!
There was a documentary on BBC2 a while back called, "Are you 100% English?" They interviewed and DNA tested a number of British people who claimed they could trace back their linage for x amount of years in England. The people that they interviewed were almost all very prejudice--especially towards people of Middle Eastern descent. It was very funny when the DNA results came back--some of the most prejudiced people were, in fact, hardly English at all. The researchers traced one woman's roots to China, someone else had African linage. One of the most racist women that they interviewed had about 30-40% of her DNA traced to Roma Gypsy. The look on her face when she found out she wasn't what she thought she was was priceless.
I find this hillarious. You know i am from the UK living in the US and when people ask me what is my heritage I say pure English as far back as we can go. I am white but tan very easily, wild curly brown hair, dark brown eyes and my mother even darker we know that some way back there has to be some other influence.
I would love to know where my heritage came from and if it was middle eastern or black or any other nationality I would not be ashamed or disgusted I would be proud to stand up and be counted.
My dh is a heinz 57 he is English, Irish, Spanish and Romany gypsy:yeah:
I am an RN that works in the Behavioral Health field. I am Italian and my hubby is AA. We have 4 beautiful children and are very happy together. My problem is the staff I work with keep making derogatory racial statements/slurs in my presence. They all know that I have a racially mixed family yet this still continues! I have told them on numerous occasions that I am extremely offended by their comments, yet the behavior continues. Last night one of my co-workers was talking about Obama, and he said "I wouldn't care if we had a mixed race president, I just wish he wasn't half ******!" I was infuriated and I told him so!!!!!!! :argue::argue: The jerk then tried to apologize to me for making that comment. I told him I didn't accept his apology, because he continues to make these same statements over and over! Unfortunately, he is not the only one that does this, there are several others guilty of doing the same thing! I have told my supervisor on numerous occasions, and she has talked to the staff several times yet it continues on an almost nightly basis! The supervisor brought in administration and they supposedly "counseled" them, yet this still continues! Please tell me how to handle this! I am almost ready to quit my job, because I think one night I am really just gonna lose it and end up getting fired for killing one of them!!!!!!!!!
It is very sad to me that racism is still so prevalent in our society. It is even sadder that it exists in health care professionals! How can a health care worker give quality care to every pt. if they are so racist??? This not only infuriates me, but it also makes me extremely sad!!:crying: Please give me some advice!
Thanks!
Time for a lawyer. You have gone to your Supervisor, your Administration, now it is time for the law.
You also need to control your anger and keep your own behavior and words above any reproach. Management will probably try to set you up once they know you are taking legal action. Watch your back. Do not let anyone slip any dirty syringes, controlled substances, illegal drugs, or whatever into your purse, car, coat, or locker. Find out about the legality of carrying a concealed tape recorder and camera. This is war and you have to defend yourself. Trust no one. You might do well to gather evidence of the hostile nature of your work environment. Dot every i and cross every t.
You will likely be leaving your job but only when the lawyer tells you. You will likely go out on sick leave due to the stress. Know the cost up front, should you decide to litigate. File a police report so that the police will have some suspects if you happen to get hurt or if there is an invasion of your home. I hope these coworkers do not know where your kids go to school or where you or your loved ones live, where your husband works, etc. Even if they do, you might still want to go to war.
Do forgive the evildoers in your heart. But do take action, as described above. Say little and only discuss work. Forget discussing politics, religion, or anything personal. Be friendly and collegial as always, just simply stop talking about difficult topics. Be as phony as you have to be. Do not tell anyone you are taking legal action. Learn to keep your mouth shut about your views and beliefs. When you think about it, it would have been better to not have told anyone about your family, wouldn't it? Keep this in mind and do not repeat this mistake in the future. Your personal info is nobody's business. The job is the job. You're not in high school any more and not everyone is your pal. You're at work; the big league. You're there to make a living, not to make friends. Friends are great if they happen but do not expect any.
You should not have to endure this miserable work environment but fighting it is also stressful. I wish you the best of luck. I pray that time will change hearts and minds.
Of course, make sure your own hands are clean. And, as others have said, make a written statement to your boss, his boss, that one's boss, etc., and to Admin and HR. Now. And forget feeling sad. Just be about the business of getting this corrected.
this also drives me crazy! i cannot believe the uneducated comments that come out of my "professional" coworkers mouths. racism crosses all ethnic boundaries. just because a person is a member of one minority doesn't mean he or she doesn't have prejudice towards another minority. or towards majorities. btw, minorities are going to be the majority in a few years, according to time magazine. then what?
i used to work with a caucasian nurse who was married to a latino. she frequently would make racist comments about hispanics and whenever i would call her on it she would excuse herself by saying, "i married one." as if that makes it right.
well, it does shed sort of a different light on the issue, doesn't it?
One of my acquaintances, who is AA, is currently experiencing something similar at the workplace. A Caucasian male coworker referred to her nine-month-old infant son as a "black thug." She reported the comment to management, and they merely swept the issue under the carpet by transferring him to a different jobsite. No disciplinary action was taken. No apology was offered.
Ever since she reported the comment, she is now receiving lateral harassment from other employees in the organization who are angered she "snitched" on this man.
To the OP (original poster): If management is ineffectual at handling this situation, I would go over their heads to various entities. Human Resources, administration, JCAHO, the Labor Board...keep climbing the chain of command until you achieve results.
Don't forget the ACLU, SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center, if it's still around), Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, anyone else you can think of to go to bat for you, your state attorney general, and surely there are federal resources as well. Write down all the dates and incidents you can recall. Name names, be specific. Do this on your home computer, not at work. Give a hard copy to someone you trust or put one in your safe deposit box.
To the OP, you owe it to your children to take this further. They deserve to grow up and go to work in a respectful and tolerant atmosphere and you have the opportunity to contribute towards this by taking action and setting the standard, now. Good luck, and please don't let this go, you and your children deserve better.
There was a documentary on BBC2 a while back called, "Are you 100% English?" They interviewed and DNA tested a number of British people who claimed they could trace back their linage for x amount of years in England. The people that they interviewed were almost all very prejudice--especially towards people of Middle Eastern descent. It was very funny when the DNA results came back--some of the most prejudiced people were, in fact, hardly English at all. The researchers traced one woman's roots to China, someone else had African linage. One of the most racist women that they interviewed had about 30-40% of her DNA traced to Roma Gypsy. The look on her face when she found out she wasn't what she thought she was was priceless.
Funny what war, migration, and possibly errant science will uncover.
I find it so hard to believe that in 2008 people are saying such racial slurs and getting away with it, and why are people listening to it and not defending their work collegue.
I find it intollerable and where I work we would not allow our fellow workers to be treated like this and we would close ranks and defend.
That would be great (closing ranks and defending) but you might be surprised at how fast ranks open and running for the hills in self-preservation happen when defenders learn the true and painful costs of getting involved in someone else's battle. I hope you never have to find out and I hope I'm wrong. I've just seen and experienced too much to believe that anyone will actually stand up for me if I need help. Maybe I'm reacting too extremely because I know there are plenty of good and decent people in the world and I know I, at least to some degree, help others.
This qualifies as a hostile work environment, and harrassment. Your co-worker has offensive behavior, you've asked him to stop, and he continues. Talk to HR or management ASAP!
I am an RN that works in the Behavioral Health field. I am Italian and my hubby is AA. We have 4 beautiful children and are very happy together. My problem is the staff I work with keep making derogatory racial statements/slurs in my presence. They all know that I have a racially mixed family yet this still continues! I have told them on numerous occasions that I am extremely offended by their comments, yet the behavior continues. Last night one of my co-workers was talking about Obama, and he said "I wouldn't care if we had a mixed race president, I just wish he wasn't half ******!" I was infuriated and I told him so!!!!!!! :argue::argue: The jerk then tried to apologize to me for making that comment. I told him I didn't accept his apology, because he continues to make these same statements over and over! Unfortunately, he is not the only one that does this, there are several others guilty of doing the same thing! I have told my supervisor on numerous occasions, and she has talked to the staff several times yet it continues on an almost nightly basis! The supervisor brought in administration and they supposedly "counseled" them, yet this still continues! Please tell me how to handle this! I am almost ready to quit my job, because I think one night I am really just gonna lose it and end up getting fired for killing one of them!!!!!!!!!
It is very sad to me that racism is still so prevalent in our society. It is even sadder that it exists in health care professionals! How can a health care worker give quality care to every pt. if they are so racist??? This not only infuriates me, but it also makes me extremely sad!!:crying: Please give me some advice!
Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.
I agee, hostile work enviroment, your employer is leaving themselves wide open to litigation by allowing this to continue. No-one should have to deal with this at work, or anywhere else for that matter, but we can at least walk away from other idiots in public. You can't walk out on your job. Start with human resources, document every occurance and watch your back. Seems this place really needs a wake up call that the 50's are over. Keep your ignorant opinions to yourself on the job.
Where I work they would be "progressively" disciplined.
First remark or compaint would be a counsel, then a writeup, then maybe a suspension, and so on.
The problem now lies with your supervisor or management.
Keep going back to them and demanding that something be done. Or file a complaint with ACLU. I am not a big advocate of ACLU due to some things they promote, but in this case, I would be, and they might be able to help.
However, you need some good documentation and/or witnesses.
Keep pushing for something to be done.
That is ridiculous to have to work under those kind of conditions.
I have told them on numerous occasions that I am extremely offended by their comments, yet the behavior continues. Last night one of my co-workers was talking about Obama, and he said "I wouldn't care if we had a mixed race president, I just wish he wasn't half ******!" I was infuriated and I told him so!!!!!!! :argue::argue: The jerk then tried to apologize to me for making that comment. I told him I didn't accept his apology, because he continues to make these same statements over and over! Unfortunately, he is not the only one that does this, there are several others guilty of doing the same thing! I have told my supervisor on numerous occasions, and she has talked to the staff several times yet it continues on an almost nightly basis! The supervisor brought in administration and they supposedly "counseled" them, yet this still continues!
Please tell me how to handle this! I am almost ready to quit my job, because I think one night I am really just gonna lose it and end up getting fired for killing one of them!!!!!!!!!
madwife2002, BSN, RN
26 Articles; 4,777 Posts
I find this hillarious. You know i am from the UK living in the US and when people ask me what is my heritage I say pure English as far back as we can go. I am white but tan very easily, wild curly brown hair, dark brown eyes and my mother even darker we know that some way back there has to be some other influence.
I would love to know where my heritage came from and if it was middle eastern or black or any other nationality I would not be ashamed or disgusted I would be proud to stand up and be counted.
My dh is a heinz 57 he is English, Irish, Spanish and Romany gypsy:yeah: