An Open Letter to My Co-Worker

The BBQ Pit
1

Dear Asshole,

Yesterday was the first time I got to work directly with you, and I have to say that the rumors I heard - as much as I wanted them not to be - were true. You are a prick. I understand that maybe the world hasn’t treated you the way you think it should have, but show me someone who it has. We all have problems, and a lot of us have issues we can’t control.

If I were to make rude remarks to you based on your race - **something you were born with and had no control over **- I would be branded a racist, and rightly so. Why in the hell do you think it’s okay for you to make fun of our co-worker who has Down Syndrome? Is it because he’s not living up to your expectations as a worker? Guess what, pal - it’s not your job to have expectations. It’s your job to make the damn burgers. It’s fast food, it’s not brain surgery.

If you think it’s okay to call him “dumbass” or “moron” or any of the other wonderful things you were calling him yesterday, then do not take offense if someone were to fire back with the “n-word” in his defense. I kept quiet because, just as it is not your job to have expectations, it is not my job to tell you to shut the fuck up. I was tempted, but I value my job.

I have no idea why management has decided to keep you around. Maybe they know something I don’t. Maybe you have compromising pictures or confidential information or something. Maybe you saved the boss’s life at one point in time. Maybe he feels sorry for you. Or maybe he decided that there were too many kind, hard-working, respectful people working there, and he needed a huge fucking prick to even things out. Whatever the reasoning, I hope he realizes (soon) that you are adding nothing but hostility to the situation.

Like I said, it’s fast food, not brain surgery. You are just as expendable as I am or as our Down Syndromed co-worker is. The difference is, he does his job with a smile on his face, because he likes what he’s doing. You bitch and moan about “the stupid-ass ogre” and then claim to be more valuable than the rest of us. My suggestion to you is: before you start making fun of other people’s mental capacity, analyze your own. Maybe once you realize that you sound much more ignorant and much more like a “dumbass” than our co-worker, then you will straighten up. Until then, keep your damn mouth shut and your idiotic ramblings to yourself.

Respectfully Yours,
Dirty (the new guy)

2

Bravo to you on the good rant & for not telling the guy off (which would have been understandable).

The only consolation in this may be that his Karma is shot.

3

But it is your job to voice legitimate concerns to the management about how one coworker is mistreating another coworker.

Failure to do so is tantamount to condoning the behaviour, is it not?

4

The management (i.e., my boss - the store manager) knows about it, but nothing is being done about it. I have only been at this job for less than a week, and have yet to speak to anyone in upper-management. When the time comes, I will do so.

-Dirty

5

Is there a corporate policy regarding handling grievances? Check your employee handbook. I daresay there’s a timeline in there somewhere. Of course, the threat of governmental action can get some folks acting right.

6

Is there any reason why you need to stay at this job? If it’s flipping burgers, it seems like you can find plenty of places to work.

Since you decided to vent here, it definitely bugs you (it would bug the living fuck out of me) and dipwrench there needs to have his head held under the warming lamp until his eyes cross.

But that’s just me.

7

Does the asshole in question ever make his remarks in the hearing of customers? If so, it might be interesting to see management’s reaction to having some customers file complaints about his behavior. Something along the lines of “I couldn’t help but hear what Asshole said about X. I don’t think that’s right; X is a good worker and I hate to see him insulted like that.” Maybe with the suggestion that this upsets them to the point that they may stop eating there.

Friends who “happen” to be in the right place at the right time may be able to help. :wink:

8

Actually, I was out of work for about a month-and-a-half, and the unnamed fast-food place (Hint: cluck like a chicken for 50¢ off) was the first of dozens of jobs I applied at (not just fast-food) that called me back. That’s not saying I didn’t try to find another job; it’s more along the lines of lack of availability or qualifications.

The “kitchen” (I use that term lightly) staff is within the hearing-range of customers, but Asshole generally keeps his remarks quiet enough so that only one or two of us can hear them - I just happened to be one of the unfortunate ones.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t given any sort of employee handbook. It is something I intend on talking to the manager about, however. Whether or not he does anything about it is a different story. He seems to be intimidated by this guy; it was my manager of all people who told me to “stay on his good side because he likes to fight.” (which sounds to me like a whole different problem altogether.)

Thanks for the input. Glad to know I’m not the only one who sees this shmuck as a total waste of a good hard-on.

-Dirty

9

Find out who your manager’s boss is and go to them. This … I’d hate to insult you by calling him your co-worker… is not going to improve his behavior on his own. Sounds like one of the myraid of people with inferiority complexes who has to feel self-important by making fun of someone who can’t defend himself.

Bravo on keeping your cool, because I wouldn’t have had that restraint. Label me whatever you want, but I would’ve likely started a fistfight if ‘He may have Down’s, but at least he’s not a fucking asshole’ didn’t work. I don’t take kindly at all to weak, opportunistic pieces of shit like that guy, and I’m far less reserved about telling them so.

If I were you, I’d probably have been shit canned that day after making Mr. Bigshot cry his jackass eyes out.

(My apologies to all donkeys for that reference.)

10

You should have a number somewhere there to speak to corperate or at least some regional head. Lodge the complaint there.

11

I hate to do a mild hijacking on this, as you’ve got a valid point and gripe… but does it bug anyone else that there’s a Dirty Earthworm flippin’ burgers? :eek:

Carry on.