Called Racist

[tenzilkem]

Ok normal day, taking calls and getting computers fixed. Well got a call from a customer, tried to verify her info, nothing matched our records, then she gives information that she bought it from a pawn shop, ok no problem, it needs to go to our customer care dept so it can get registered into her name (dont handle that job in tech support) as soon as I told her that suddenly I'm a white racist cause she as a proud black woman bought her computer to make herself a better person and I'm trying to hold her back because she needs to be transferred to another department, I don't want to help her with her problem cause I'm white?!? That's pretty much what she said without all the cursing. Ummm overdramatic much...all she had to do was get it registered into her name then I could help her. She really really really kept going off on how I was an evil white man. Ok yes I live in the south, yes I'm white, but I am far from racist, lord knows my coworkers can attest to that, as well as friends of mine from a Doctor Who viewing group.

Love it when folks try to make folks help em by playing the race card.

[Hotelboy]

Personally, I think all people who pull the race card are moronic cry babies. The only people I can recall who've accused me of being racist, were of native Canadian decent (Cree, Iroqois, etc). I just let them bitch and moan til they're out of breath and then inform them that I'm technically Metis Cree since my grandmother was pure Cree even though I don't look it. That shuts em up pretty good.

...and how the hell could you be discriminating against her based on skin colour when you're over the phone?

[Ljt09863]

i was called racist cause i didn't touch a customers hand when handing her change back to her.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

People like her hold in their fondest desire, their most cherished wish, that racism is alive, well, and rampant. They love nothing more than to revel in the rosy glow of hatred and comtempt, be it real or imagined, from other people.

Because if this racism WASN't the cause of their problems, they'd have to take responsibility for their screwed up life choices themselves.

[ladodger34]

This is gonna be longish...

I once had a guy that I respected accuse me (well, not me, but the city) of racism. For many years, I scheduled all the officials (refs, umpires, etc) for the sports leagues that the city ran. We went through some really rough budget cuts. My boss was promoted (it was a good thing) to an already open position and her old position was essentially cut. She retained some of her old duties and I took on some of the others. Many of the hourly workers (including myself) also had hours cut. Essentially, we had the same amount of work to do with one less person and fewer hours to do it.

As a result, one of the first things we decided to do was contract with an official's scheduler to take care of all our sports leagues. It would cost us nothing and free up a bunch of time. When it became official, I mailed all of the officials a letter explaning the move and gave them the scheduler's contact information because he still wanted to use them. More or less, the old officials weren't going to lose out on anything, except they wouldn't be paid directly by the city.

A week or so later, I get an e-mail from one of the officials. By this time, he had worked for me for a few years and seemed to be a pretty good guy. His e-mail more or less said that he couldn't help but think we were being racist because most of the basketball and football officials were black. I e-mailed him back and told him I was sorry that he felt that way and explained in depth our reasons for making the move. I didn't hear back from him after that.

[Kiwi]

I was called racist once when two teenage girls (of the native people from my country) drop a scrap of wool onto the counter and want the same kind.

No brand
No ply
No information what so ever... because "We brought you the scrap"

I couldnt match that scrap if they were french, danish, south african or japanese.... we sold close to 300 types of wool

my (wonderful beloved) manager comes who and happens to be the same ethnicity as these two girls and they comment to her that I wont (but really cant) help them match the wool. She doesnt believe them (well of course not, 1. im not racist and 2. she couldnt believe they expected anyone to match the stupid wool from a scrap) but because of our evil and idiotic store manager she didnt want them to cause any trouble.

So me and her trudge up and down the wool aisle pulling out every single red wool ball we can find and dump it infront of the girls onto the counter and tell THEM to match it. I picked out the correct ball straight away (im just that good) and left but overheard them thanking my boss for actually helping them, because she MUST understand because shes one of them......

ARGH why is it most of my sucky customers came from the craft store!!!

[Barefootgirl]

I am far from racist, lord knows my coworkers can attest to that, as well as friends of mine from a Doctor Who viewing group.

For some reason, this strikes me as far and away the funniest thing I've read today. I think it reminds me of Terry Pratchett's claim that there is no racism on the Discworld because "black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green". Thank you, Tenzilkem, for giving me a laugh on a Friday afternoon.

[Tria]

I just let them bitch and moan til they're out of breath and then inform them that I'm technically Metis Cree since my grandmother was pure Cree even though I don't look it. That shuts em up pretty good.

Metis? The offspring of two garou? Sorry, WoD RPer.... What's a Metis?

[Crow The Robot]

Wow. she doesn't sound like a professional. a guy tried that w/ one of our cashiers, and our manager(who's black, as was the SC) said, "Your race card has been declined." I love that saying.

[Mr. Rude]

Metis are the offspring of a native parent & a french canadian (usually) parent....
A term from long ago used during the furtrapping era up here. And yes....I am also part Metis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9...e_%28Canada%29

[Mighty Girl]

You know, I love how she assumed you were white.

She couldn't see you, she only heard your voice. My husband works with a guy who is black, and sounds like the whitest guy I've ever heard.

Sounds to me like she's the racist.

[heather124]

I was called racist once by a lady who came in asking for a DVD which I knew for a fact we didn't have, so I told her no sorry..and she started going off on me saying I wouldn't even check because she was black and I just didn't want to do business with her!

After that I always made sure to pretend to look something up on the computer even if I know we don't have it in.

[Moirae]

When I worked the phone, I was called a racist because this guy had been having continual problems with his connection to the internet. He thought we had it out for him.

Some people are nuts.

[jb17kx]

I can't remember who said it, but I'd love to say it:
"Sorry sim/ma'am, but you race card has been denied. Do you have any other form of entitlement?"

[Crazyredhead]

I used to get called a racist when i worked for the warranty and exchange dept over the phone. One guy called me a racist cause "he" dropped his phone in a lake and I couldn't help him due to liquid damage. I had to refer him to care to purchase another phone and to see if he qualified for a discount.