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Coworker fired, not sure how to feel about it.
The Coworker that was the topic of this story was let go yesterday. I'm not sure how to feel, because he showed in insane level of insensitivity and bad judgement, but I'm not sure he should have been fired over it.
One of our new coworkers is a nice lady; very upbeat and sweet. Apparently, the day before yesterday she was filling out some paperwork and mentioned to Coworker that she didn't like that the choices only had 'white, black or other' for races, as she considers herself African American. He apparently told her that the proper term was 'Negro.' and that that's what she was. She was upset.
Now I came in after this happened and had no back-story when she came up and asked me what would I think if she referred herself to African American. I thought about it and said that I know that different generations prefer different terminology and I always wondered about the appropriateness of today's choices, but if that's what she preferred to call herself, that was her choice and if someone had a problem with it, tough. She thanked me and that was that.
I'm not sure if I had anything to do with it. I'm not sure if either of us should have been put in that situation. He probably shouldn't have made a comment (and he always speaks sharp and rudely), and I probably should have said I wasn't comfortable answering the question; but would that have upset her and would I then have been just as bad a person.
She was about the 4th coworker he'd pissed off though, so it's probably for the best. He'd also been really rude when checking-in people.
One of our new coworkers is a nice lady; very upbeat and sweet. Apparently, the day before yesterday she was filling out some paperwork and mentioned to Coworker that she didn't like that the choices only had 'white, black or other' for races, as she considers herself African American. He apparently told her that the proper term was 'Negro.' and that that's what she was. She was upset.
Now I came in after this happened and had no back-story when she came up and asked me what would I think if she referred herself to African American. I thought about it and said that I know that different generations prefer different terminology and I always wondered about the appropriateness of today's choices, but if that's what she preferred to call herself, that was her choice and if someone had a problem with it, tough. She thanked me and that was that.
I'm not sure if I had anything to do with it. I'm not sure if either of us should have been put in that situation. He probably shouldn't have made a comment (and he always speaks sharp and rudely), and I probably should have said I wasn't comfortable answering the question; but would that have upset her and would I then have been just as bad a person.
She was about the 4th coworker he'd pissed off though, so it's probably for the best. He'd also been really rude when checking-in people.
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