There's some Jew in you

[lavendertook]

Coworker: And your pocketbook is purple, too!

Me: Yeah, I like it. I got it from the street vender up the block. I actually bargained him down for it.

Coworker: So you got some Jew in you.

Me: I AM Jewish.

*nervous giggle from her and other coworker*

Me: Watch that stereotype there.

*she goes to talk about other coworker about business and ignores me*

Comments

[moondancerdrake]

Ah hell, more fail in the air. And then when you tell them they just pretend not to hear ya anymore. Frikken clueless and want to stay that way.

[lavendertook]

Yup, pretty much. Maybe I can get through to her that today's shooter would be happy to kill either one of us.

[morgan_dhu]

Wow. That's a heaping shovelful of very unpleasant fail.

I hope that this person is not someone you have to work closely with.

[lavendertook]

Yup, it is.

Not most directly, but close enough.

[spiralsheep]

Ew. I've certainly encountered people who wouldn't dream of using obvious racial slurs against black people but who'll cheerfully use "jewish" for "mean" and it's not as if that's an obscure slur.

::hates on them for you::

[lavendertook]

Well, she is black, so I hope she wouldn't, but you never know when Uncle Ruckus will pop up. As you know, experiencing one form of oppression doesn't mean you understand or aren't actively promoting another, and I actually hate when we expect of each other, "But you're X, how could you be -ist against Z? You should know better!" because we just let straight, white, able-bodied men off the hook that way, instead of demanding as much from them as we do from other oppressed people.

Thank you! *hugs*

[darkrose]

It would probably be inappropriate for you tell her that she clearly has some Stupid in her, wouldn't it?

[lavendertook]

Heee! It would have been fun, but it wouldn't have helped. (-; Oy.

[trouble]

I would be jaw-droppingly shocked (and am most definitely jaw-droppingly appalled) if I hadn't spent last summer working with someone who thought it was awesome to say (to the only Jewish person working on our floor) "Don't jew me!" over and over and over.

I'm so sorry you have to work with such an unmitigated ass.

[lavendertook]

Oy! How did that someone deal with this continued harrassment?

Thank you. *hugs* But since I don't always have my pants all the way on, we'll see if her pantsless state is temporary or her modus operandi--I don't really know yet.

[mererid]

What a willfully offensive and ignorant jackass. I'm sorry that you had to deal with such asshattery today. *hugshugshugs*

[lavendertook]

It has been piling on lately from all different quarters, hasn't it? *hugshugshugshugs*

[crantz]

Ohhh dear.

[sophinisba]

Ugh, I'm really sorry she said that and that neither of them acknowledged when you called them on it. :(

[shirebound]

My mom gets SO angry when she hears that stereotype. I hope your coworkers' discomfort will keep them from using it again.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I don't think she was particularly uncomfortable. Thank you for the support, hon! *hugs*

[belleferret.livejournal.com]

*smacks her for you*

--Belle, also Jewish and pissed

*would reply with my "oy gevalt!" icon but it's only on my dw account*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you--you sure get tired of it. Hers definitely wasn't a good reaction when someone points out they were offended, and made me feel more spit upon. I did talk with my other coworker just now--she is aware it's "something you don't say at work", but I really don't know how she feels about Jews and antisemitism, but she knows I was upset and she is a very decent person, so we'll see what she does with it. I don't know the offending coworker as well, so will decide if I want to take on talking with her about it later.

[anneheart.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

*hugshugshugs*

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

Report her ass to HR. Wtf?! Who says something like that especially in a work situation??? *hug*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

*hugshugs* You know, it is possible she may not have known using "Jew" like that affects real Jewish people, but she has at least been made aware now, if she gives a shit. She's a little bit older than me, and I was brought up using the word "gypped" for "being ripped off"--of course I thought it was spelled "jip" and didn't think it affected real people, but I was fucking wrong.

Or she might just be an antisemitic fuckwad. I'll decide later if I have the energy to spare to talk with her about it. My workplace is full of people interacting badly with each other in many other areas--yay federal gov't!

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

Heifer needs to siddown somewhere. Far from you.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I felt right after she said it and then preceded to not acknowledge my comments. I may want to talk with her later, or I may not. *hugs*

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

*smacks your coworker hard until she gets some brains*

Ah, stereotypes, what would we do without them? /sarcasm

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I just won an auction on ebay for a 12" warg to menace my poor hobbit dolls with so happy comfort can follow, so life is better, although disturbingly like that.

*hugs*

[supergee.livejournal.com]

When we hear about newly fashionable stupidities like transphobia, it is well to remember that the old stupidities never die.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they're a much too renewable resource. Sometimes they nurse themselves for 88 years and creep down the street with a shotgun way too close to here. *hugs*

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

I think you should hit her with your handbag.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! You've seen the size of that bag--I don't wanna go to jail for murder.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

The least she could've done is say Sorry for being a jerk.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I love your icon!

A muffled, embarrassed "uh, sorry" would have sufficed. I'm not assuming she's not embarrassed, but I can't tell if she gives a damn either. And with quite the timing of the horrid object lesson a few blocks away, she needs to get off her butt and make an apology. We shall see.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Well done on your part, quite badly done on hers.
*hugs you warmly*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you--I am relieved that I spoke. In my younger days, when I was still made out of wood, it was hard to get sounds out of my mouth when I was confronted with bad behavior until the moment passed. Getting better. *snuggles*

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

WHAT THE-- omg I am so enraged by this! How could anybody think that was appropriate talk *anywhere*, much less in the workplace? Thank goodness you had the presence of mind to call her on it. I would've resorted to spluttering and then slapping. *g*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

And in a federal workplace too--DC is just the best place to be antisemitic today, apparently. I am glad I'm getting better at not being stunned into silence on a regular basis as I get older. *hugs*

[annwyn55.livejournal.com]

If you had smacked her one, I'd have said mazel tov. Jeez.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

That would have been good. (-:

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Heh. You are better than I. I'd have gone OFF.

Ivanova is not amused.

Report her if she's not directly above or below you.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

It's not being able to react that is always my worry and the place I work away from.

Not necessarily a good idea when you're just working as a contractor and working with fed employees.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is some jerkass stuff.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Wish it were more unusual.

[monkey5s.livejournal.com]

I was not familiar with that as... any kind of usage. Personally, I would associate bargaining with any kind of marketplace culture anywhere in the world, so I'm a bit nonplussed to see that it is supposedly associated with the Jewish religion? Sometimes, my small town Ohio whitebread upbringing works in my favor, I guess.

But still, how jarring, at your workplace where people are supposed to know better.

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

"To jew" is, sadly, a common way of saying "haggle" or "bargain" among some clueless/racist people. Usually it's in a negative sense (ie, "stop trying to jew me down" = "I don't like it that you're trying to haggle with me over this transaction"). My mother, OTOH, uses it when bragging about her successes at haggling with merchants, so it's not always negative in intended connotation. Sadly, repeated attempts to explain to my mother that it's an offensive turn of phrase have not been successful.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

That is outrageous and completely unacceptable. What's worse is that she didn't even apologize.

You should report her to the HR department.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yup. Her friend at work thinks she may not have even registered I was angry.

For a number of reasons, that's not a good idea. Be careful about giving that advice to someone--I've probably given it to people in the past who I shouldn't have given it without qualifications either.

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

Bravo on keeping your cool and still saying what had to be said to stupid coworker. I know from bitter experience how hard that can be without making a huge fuss that derails everything and accomplishes nothing.

My mother likes to refer to her triumpths of haggling with merchants as "jewing them down," and responds to me or morgan_dhu pointing out that the phrase is offensive and racist by denying that it's offensive (she does the same when I try to explain to her that it's wrong to refer to taking back what has just been given as "being an indian giver"; that's my mom, an all-around bundle of clueless offensiveness) -- so I am sadly not shocked that you experienced this from your colleague. You can't buy "niggerhair" brand cigarettes anymore, but there's still a lot of prejudice that, for a lot of people, is totally invisible, part of the background, something they can't or won't see even if you point it out to them.

Hmm... is it possible for you to request a sensitivity training seminar for your workplace? That might be the best followup if your next conversation with your coworker doesn't have a satisfactory conclusion.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I felt satisfied with my tone, ironic as that is. *sigh*

Yeah, I have a feeling I may get that argument from her.

No, I'm just a contractor--second class citizen status there--like when they have potlucks even, we are not allowed to attend. I'm getting tired of how many realms of my life that is true in.