# It's like having your own black man in the pool!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-like-having-your-own-black-man-in-the-pool/113850>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [June 13, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-like-having-your-own-black-man-in-the-pool/113850 "2002-06-13T14:02:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-like-having-your-own-black-man-in-the-pool/113850/101 "2002-06-15T06:47:37Z")

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Wouldn’t a guy be blue if he was at the bottom of the pool?

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**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-like-having-your-own-black-man-in-the-pool/113850/102 "2002-06-15T11:12:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lobley \*  
> \*\*Scylla did an understandable thing. But all this talk of talking to managers and getting the guy sacked IS OTT! There’s a reason some people (me being one) don’t like to make waves - we don’t know what the consequences are. It is safer therefore to put up with it.

\*\*

Safe for whom? Why should **Scylla** look out for this guy’s interests? He’s the one who **made** the remark.

\*\*

> [@](#):
>
> I’ve seen a lot of good points in this thread. one of them - The guy will get a 7$ph job somewhere else, and be racist somewhere else, but the shop owner will suffer the ball-ache of hiring a new person, someone who may also be racist, or may be an axe-murderer.\*\*

Your concern for the shop owner is touching. But it’s up to hir to decide what course of action to take. S/he can discipline the clerk without firing him. Put him on probation, for instance, or switch him with someone in the stockroom.

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**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-like-having-your-own-black-man-in-the-pool/113850/103 "2002-06-15T15:48:12Z")

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I disagree. There is a power imbalance here. The clerk can’t get you fired.

Now, admittedly, that may be a trivial matter. But you don’t know that. The most correct approach is personal, direct, citizen to citizen on an presumed basis of equality, as in:

“I don’t understand why you made this remark. Is there something about me that led you to believe that I would approve of a racist remark? Does it reflect your actual beliefs in this regard? In either instance, you are wrong.”

An apology should end the matter, then and there. Reprove, correct, forgive. “Judge not…”, etc.

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