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

[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!

[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*

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

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

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

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

[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*

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

[belleferret.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, anti-semitism is alive and kicking. :-(

Did you hear about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum today?

*weeps at the evilness and stupidity of some people*

[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*

[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*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

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

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

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. It's right across the Mall from where I work. I had thought of taking a walk earlier today down 14th St--would have taken me right past there--very glad I didn't. To make it 88 years and do this . . .

[annwyn55.livejournal.com]

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

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

hmm...makes me want to write about hobbits and stereotypes that men make about them...*contemplates*

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

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

she is aware it's "something you don't say at work"

Wow, I wonder if she stopped to think that if it's "something you don't say at work" maybe it's something you shouldn't be saying anywhere...

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

omg, I remember when I was younger thinking that "gypped" was "jipped" and having no clue and my mom being stern about that and I felt bad. But you know, now I try to correct other people when I hear it because I would rather assume ignorance than malice or bigotry (in most cases).

[seaya.livejournal.com]

I read warg as wang first off. ;)

[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.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is some jerkass stuff.

[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.

[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*

[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*

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

OH GOD THANK YOU I read it as wang until I saw this comment. *headdesk* That really made the sentence--and claudia603's comment--sound completely different...