Bullying Support Group
Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others, through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways, but one thing is clear: no one deserves to be bullied. If you or someone you know is coping with bullying, this is the place to share your feelings and get...
Hi, everyone. I would like some advice on avoiding racial bullying in the workplace.
I haven't held a real job since September 17, 2001. Back then, I had this really great job. I worked in a fast-paced call center where I took hundreds of messages from callers each day and typed them up to send out as email and pager messages to business people. I did my job well enough that I got bonuses and raises. I liked the challenge of doing things fast and accurately.
It all went terribly wrong, and I wasn't smart enough to take the right action to prevent it. A few months before I lost my job, the company closed the location where I worked and moved everyone to another work site. When this happened, many of my co-workers disappeared. I don't know if they quit or were laid off or what, because at that time I guess I wasn't wise enough to ask questions and I was just grateful to have a job. At the new location, I was one of the few remaining white Americans. The majority of my co-workers were now Mexican citizens. They didn't like having what they considered to be an intruder in their territory, and I was bullied and mistreated for not being one of them. Spanish was the language of the workplace, and many if not all of my co-workers now had little Mexican flags mounted in their cubicles. I couldn't eat my lunch in the employee break room anymore because I wasn't welcome there, so I would go out to the parking lot and sit on the curb to eat my lunch. My supervisor didn't like me because I wasn't one of his people, so I did not get paid holidays off as they had promised me. When I would go into work at the start of each day, the first thing I would do was to check the computer keyboard, because my co-workers would use knives from their pockets to pry the plastic keys off of it. I could describe some of the instances of bullying I encountered, but I want to keep this short.
I lost my job, became depressed, and went on disability right up until the present time. I now want to return to work, but I don't want to end up in another job where my co-workers make it impossible for me to keep the job.
Does anyone have advice on how I can find and keep a job without being racially harassed as an American with reddish-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a light-skinned complexion? I really am desperate for ideas, because I am living in San Diego, California, where white Americans are in the minority and most of the jobs here that I am qualified for are held by Mexican citizens who live in Tijuana and cross the border each day to work in the U.S. I don't have the money to move out of California as many Americans have already done.
I haven't held a real job since September 17, 2001. Back then, I had this really great job. I worked in a fast-paced call center where I took hundreds of messages from callers each day and typed them up to send out as email and pager messages to business people. I did my job well enough that I got bonuses and raises. I liked the challenge of doing things fast and accurately.
It all went terribly wrong, and I wasn't smart enough to take the right action to prevent it. A few months before I lost my job, the company closed the location where I worked and moved everyone to another work site. When this happened, many of my co-workers disappeared. I don't know if they quit or were laid off or what, because at that time I guess I wasn't wise enough to ask questions and I was just grateful to have a job. At the new location, I was one of the few remaining white Americans. The majority of my co-workers were now Mexican citizens. They didn't like having what they considered to be an intruder in their territory, and I was bullied and mistreated for not being one of them. Spanish was the language of the workplace, and many if not all of my co-workers now had little Mexican flags mounted in their cubicles. I couldn't eat my lunch in the employee break room anymore because I wasn't welcome there, so I would go out to the parking lot and sit on the curb to eat my lunch. My supervisor didn't like me because I wasn't one of his people, so I did not get paid holidays off as they had promised me. When I would go into work at the start of each day, the first thing I would do was to check the computer keyboard, because my co-workers would use knives from their pockets to pry the plastic keys off of it. I could describe some of the instances of bullying I encountered, but I want to keep this short.
I lost my job, became depressed, and went on disability right up until the present time. I now want to return to work, but I don't want to end up in another job where my co-workers make it impossible for me to keep the job.
Does anyone have advice on how I can find and keep a job without being racially harassed as an American with reddish-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a light-skinned complexion? I really am desperate for ideas, because I am living in San Diego, California, where white Americans are in the minority and most of the jobs here that I am qualified for are held by Mexican citizens who live in Tijuana and cross the border each day to work in the U.S. I don't have the money to move out of California as many Americans have already done.
You don't have to put up with the kind of crap that came your way on your last job. What happened to you was terrible.