Am I Racist

[max power]

ok dont know what why to approch this but here goes,

does it get up anyone elses nose that when you walk into a store and ask for soemthing of a member of staff that they stare at you as if you have two heads, a lot of workers have no english and i personally feel its a bacis right to walk into a shop and for the staff to be able to speak the same language as you.

maybe its more the employers fault for not insisting that all staff members have a basic level of english, perhaps its just their sheer greed in wanting to raise the profit margin by reducing wage levels.

one light recently i was in store in dublin and i had a problem with something, i asked the staff for the name of and number of the manager as he was not on duty at the time, here is the response i was given.....

"you write it down, its your language". i nearly fell over, i was so pi$$ed off that anyone could say that to me, afterall i go to work in france i learn french etc.

at that moment i wished every foreigner in the land would just fcuk off home.

now maybe this was a flash in the pan moment but i do have problems with certain other aeras of foreign society within this country which i dont want to go into at the mo cause i'll be here all day.

BUT

i do have similar problems with irish people, so i ask, just because those others are foreign nationals of different race and colour , would i be conisdered a racist

[aido_b]

I've had that problem a couple of times both in Ireland and over here in England too. I think that every staff member who has to deal with customers should have at least basic english.

It happenend to me in a supermaket in London recently. I went around the shop asking nearly every staff member where a product was and eventually got the manager who turned out to be the only english speaking person in the store, bar the cashiers. I told him that id had difficulty with his staff and he just told me that they were the only staff he could get so I think thats what it comes down to. Employers are just desperate for staff now and will hire anyone that can do the job regardless of their race and language.

[Block G Raptor]

You are entitled to an acceptable level of customer service, people in this country are afraid to stand up and say fcuk this it not good enough. example yesterday at lunch my colleague asked for a soft brown roll and got a white baguette he didn't complain because he "felt sorry for the guy who had feck all english at the deli counter and was worried that he'd look racist if he complained " well I say Fcuk that if an Irish person gets my order wrong I'll tell them so I dont think its racist of me to do it to the foreigners

[max power]

Thanks tommy, the debating team in your school must have been top notch.

[Block G Raptor]

Racist.

Are you taking the P!ss or you just naturally an Ignorant fool

[max power]

tommy as we are talking about basic levels of english try putting, "you are" before racist. its called a sentance

[wws]

Fair point Tommy. Bloke asks a question gets an answer and starts moaning. What's the problem with the racist cant??

[noby]

Being peeved over bad service in a shop etc. is understandable. Wishing people to "**** back to where they came from" is dodgy ground to say the least, and is probably what Tommy was responding to.

[max power]

Being peeved over bad service in a shop etc. is understandable. Wishing people to "**** back to where they came from" is dodgy ground to say the least, and is probably what Tommy was responding to.

what if that person was from dublin and living in longford ????

[jebus]

First off I think Tommy's answer was acceptable in that he got to his point so there's no need for the insults.

Secondly Max Power I don't think you're racist based on those sentiments. When I was working in France I made a good attempt to learn French (even though my job didn't involve me ever having to actually speak it) and by the end of my time there I had a fairly decent understanding of the language. The English workers that were on the same job as me however made no attempt whatsoever to learn the language and consequently didn't fit in with our french co-workers as well as I did. The simple reason for this being that the French appreciated that whilst my French itself was not up to scratch, that at least I were making an attempt to improve it. So why were are not allowed to apply this very reasonable sentiment to our own culture without the Left Wing Nazis crying to the media is beyond me

[Risteard]

On first reading, i would say yes, you are indeed a racist maxpower. But cop on would tell me you were just a bit ****ed off.

i personally feel its a bacis right to walk into a shop and for the staff to be able to speak the same language as you.

Technically, you don't have a basic right to walk into the shop at all. Admission is at the managers discretion i believe.

Nearly all the sales assistants in my area are non-nationals. The only reason for that is even 16year olds in school now wouldn't take on those jobs in garages etc (Dunnes would be a different scenario and a step up.)
From my experience, they have all been well able to communicate.
You've a right to be ****ed off if they're unable to process your transaction and understand what you want but i have never been in that position.

I'm glad that for once, nobodys yet used that Fox-news manufactured 2-letter term used nowadays to encourage pardoning racism. (think police constable)

[Dodge]

at that moment i wished every foreigner in the land would just fcuk off home.

That comment is outrageously racist.

There's no easy answer to the customer service problem. I can guarentee you that pretty much every Irish shop/restaurent owner in Ireland would love to have 100% Irish staff but Irish people, on the whole, don't want to work there. Its not like the non English speakers working there deliberately don't try to learn English. Look at it from their pov. They need money, the only job they can get is McDonalds so they work there. Why should they be told to "fcuk off home" because of that?

[Peadar]

We've had a huge influx of different nationalities into the country recently. Many of them needed to find work quickly and certain sectors are more than willing to hire people if they think they can pay as little as possible.

We've got to be patient while things settle down and our new arrivals gain the confidence to speak English. That wont happen if they are intimidated by irate customers. Deep breaths, count to 10. Life is too short for anger.

[noby]

what if that person was from dublin and living in longford ????

If in that case you also felt " at that moment i wished every foreigner in the land would just fcuk off home.", then, to me, whether they're from Longford or not is not the issue.

[Risteard]

Well Maxpower didn't say it, did he?
He's telling us he felt like saying it at the time, frustrated at having to write out "Can i have one pack of Smarties please?" to the guy.
It's not a rational conclusion to draw from the episode though.
And the way you write about it would tell me that you knew that. Hence why you did not say something along those lines.

[max power]

but i also said i feel the same about irish people some times, the main thing i'm saying if i have a peoblem with and irish person and with a foreign national.....should i be considered racist becuase one of them is a foreign national.

if i call someone a dublin w@nker......

if i call someone a Polish w@nker......

just becuase of where they are from society considers one worse than the other, the peas & carrots mentioned comes to mind.

[Block G Raptor]

A question was asked and i answered with my honest opinion so u can cut out the insults.

My humblest apologies. I thought you were trying to be funny/controversial
but at least if you are going to label someone with a tag(which is basically what you've done with your one word answer)I suggest you back it up with reasonable cause

[Risteard]

but i also said i feel the same about irish people some times, the main thing i'm saying if i have a peoblem with and irish person and with a foreign national.....should i be considered racist becuase one of them is a foreign national.

No, of course not.

Thing is you said one of them.
If you were to gain an opinion (positive or negative) out of the guys entire race/ nationality that would be racist.

What's racist and what's not isn't really a blurred line imo.
It's pretty straightforward.

[noby]

but i also said i feel the same about irish people some times, the main thing i'm saying if i have a peoblem with and irish person and with a foreign national.....should i be considered racist becuase one of them is a foreign national.

if i call someone a dublin w@nker......

if i call someone a Polish w@nker......

just becuase of where they are from society considers one worse than the other, the peas & carrots mentioned comes to mind.

Calling someone a w@nker isn't racist. Wishing (even if you didn't say it out loud, Risteard)
all those foreigners would "go back to where they came from" is not the same as calling someone a w@nker. This point you don't seem to get.

[Dodge]

but i also said i feel the same about irish people some times, the main thing i'm saying if i have a peoblem with and irish person and with a foreign national.....should i be considered racist becuase one of them is a foreign national.

if i call someone a dublin w@nker......

if i call someone a Polish w@nker......

yeah but you wouldn't call them a Dunblin w@nker would you? And don't lie, I've heard you call people w@nker before. If the polish guy is a w@nker,why not just call him a w@nker