i asked a girl in my office if her mother had made tamales this christmas the girl is hispanic my boss went off saying that i was profiling her i told her it was a simple question and that if i had said "i bet your mother made tamales for christmas" that that would be racial profiling.my boss did not agree . alot of hispanic families as a tradition make tamales during christmas i was just asking her if her mother did. am i worng
2006-12-28 11:12:25 · 12 answers · asked by Unfrozen Caveman 6 in Social Science ➔ Sociology
Nope, yet it doesn't shock me. There is a fine line between tact and being politically correct in today's society. Far be it from me to draw such a line. For whatever it is worth, your question seems harmless to me. I am Mexican, by the way.
2006-12-28 15:20:05 · answer #1 · answered by Diesel Weasel 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No it is not racial profiling. IMHO yours was just an interested question!!!
You can not know from outside what someone is or that he/she wants to be of another race. // he/she can not be from a different race - we all are human lol. There can be only cultural profiling .. ;-)
p. s. & it is not wrong - to me - it is a just a polite question ( maybe interested in her? / or a seasonal question & You pretend not to know - even when You do know ... / IMHO ).
I am sorry for You that she was reacting like that.
And that some ppl at Your country try to missunderstand it that way.
A question for which i do not care to spend points: is the US back that far in such things, so that someone really serriously thinks that You intend someting not nice?
guenter from a country that has more % recent imigrants than the US ever had. But here i am: white (like most ppl here) speaking the language, belonging to one of the 3 religious "in" groups = none would try to missunderstand me.
SORRY I WAS: both emotcional & abstract ... still You are right - all other idea would be silly. At face value You only asked ...
The others should prove more... can they? They can not.
But & sorry to say - a boss is always right - even when not - try to tell Your friend /"the girl at work "that You ment it dfferent, do so in a friendly way or better shelf it (hide & forget to mention it ).
best new year & sorry to hear of your beeing treeted with injustice.
2006-12-28 20:42:23 · answer #2 · answered by Yttl 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I guess in an office setting where your boss might be really worried about law suits, that comment could cause problems. It really shouldn't offend people, but you never know. I will tell you that I made a similar mistake and asked a hispanic student I was tutoring the same question. Turns out that her family didn't even celebrate Christmas. Ooops.
2006-12-28 23:54:44 · answer #3 · answered by KS 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
political incorrectness these days is horrible... no you werent wrong by any chance... and he was wrong in going balistic over it but o well deal with it its everywhere u ask a jew if they have any money to go to the mall they flip out saying what like im a jew so all i do is have money and care about money... blacks, hispanics, mexicans, whites, handicapped people, basically its everywhere so its pretty hard so either think of what you say to whom and if there is no way around it then i guess just deal with it unfortunatly as crappy as that sounds... this reminds me of when i was a little kid we had to draw our own superhero in school and i made up mexican hat man who when he puts on his mexican hat he can fight crime and salsa very well and he can shoot taco torpedos... i got a bad grade on it saying that it was politically incorrect and stereotypical and profiling and all that crap.
2006-12-28 19:46:20 · answer #4 · answered by T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
why did it matter to you whether or not she did? you're telling me you just walked up to someone and asked if their mother made tamales and you don't think that's wrong? not only is it stereotypical, it's none of your business. That's like someone asking me if my mother made chitterlings, because they feel a lot of blacks make chitterlings (i don't eat pork by the way)
besides, in corporate America things are VERY touchy. Didn't you have to go through HR training?
2006-12-28 19:41:57 · answer #5 · answered by smm 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ya it seems making the assumption that all Hispanics make and have the tradition of making tamales
2006-12-28 23:34:12 · answer #6 · answered by El 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
In this day of age sensitvity is the key. To get to the answer you wanted, a safe way to go about it would have been to say...Does your family serve tradtional mexican dishes?
2006-12-28 19:45:44 · answer #7 · answered by Monchichi 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your boss is hyper sensitive.
You better kiss his *** tomorrow though, cause now he's watching you for no reason.
Can you say "Tightrope"
2006-12-28 19:28:48 · answer #8 · answered by Soundjata 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There was nothing wrong with that statement. I think what you said was just fine.
2006-12-29 12:14:04 · answer #9 · answered by robee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not wrong, but some people have thin skin.
2006-12-28 21:01:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋