Grrr
February 3, 2015, 12:59pm
39
monstro:
If “You’re a pretty chocolate lady” is the first thing that comes out of your mouth when you see someone, then you might want to come up with a better line.
Otherwise, no, there’s no problem if skin color is the first thing you notice. Just keep it to yourself is all I’m saying.
The aforementioned coworker does the “brown sugar” stuff with me. I don’t flirt with him (I don’t have a flirting bone in my body). I am not the color of brown sugar (more like turbinado). I am frequently conscious of both my racial and gender minority status. For these reasons, I wish he’d joke around with me in a different way. But my irritation has never to risen the level where I felt like I had to go to HR. This doesn’t make me “cool”, though. Just someone who hates dealing with HR.
So that’s another thing the OP needs to remember. Even if no one has ever gotten in trouble doesn’t mean that everyone appreciates that kind of humor. And it’s easy to mistake a polite laugh for a genuine laugh. My coworker thinks he’s a comedian since everyone is always laughing at his jokes. But he doesn’t know that sometimes I inwardly groan when I bump into him in the hallway, because I know he’s going to say something borderline inappropriate to me. I’m guessing (hoping?) the OP is a lot cooler than this guy, though.
Well, I think the unspoken rule at my job is if you don’t initiate, you’re not going to get flirted with. At least that’s MY rule and I’m pretty sure everyone else lives by that rule too but I can’t say for certain.
It’s also worth noting I work in manufacturing, I’d venture a guess that the culture here is way different than say a cubicle farm.