does anyone think this is unfair?

Question

i work at a job where certain things are easy to do while other things are harder and more time consuming. we have a set goal to reach and doing the easy work makes it a breeze to hit goal. well we just had a shift alignment and a worker from another shift came on mine. he refuses to do any of the hard work and will pick a fight with me and the other workers if we do anything easy. the catch is he's black and the other 4 of us are white. when we confronted our boss about this problem, he ran to human resources and accused us of racism.

they told us to let him have all the easy work . so now me and the other workers have to work three times harder while he has an easy day everyday. you can call me a racist if you wish, but i think its just wrong to use your race as an excuse to get your way. anyone else agree?

please note that before he came, me and the other workers shared both the easy work and the hard so nobody would get screwed.

Answer 1

I agree, that is unfair. I would try to explain to him that the work was evenly divided between the workers so that no one was burdened w/ the difficult work all of the time. if he is a reasonable person he will agree that it should continue that way, if not I would push the issue w/ my supervisor and his supervisor if necessary until the issue was resolved fairly. My question to you would be did you confront the man prior to taking it to your boss if not why and do you think that would have had a baring on the outcome? I don't think either of the parties involved should use the race card. The decision should be made on the basis of fact and fairness. I'm assuming you're all adults, work it out like adults. After all everyone in the workplace has to deal w/ adversity and a number of personalities-that's life, but race should never be a factor.

Answer 2

I would just grab the jobs as you guys usually did, If he tries to pick a fight tell him that it isn't appropriate work behaviour and ignore him.. hopefully if you all stick to this for a few weeks then he will realise non of you are going to back down and kneel before him as soon as the racism card gets played.. (He is probably used to people tip toeing around him because they don't want to offend him because they think it's racism) it's not it is just work ethics.. you are not demeaning him in anyway, just trying to sort out an even work flow.. maybe implement a roster with say 10 easy jobs ea and 5 hard jobs ea a day or whatever.. and if this other guy complains to the boss you can prove that it is purely just a workload problem and the other 4 of you think that system works the best and if the other guy has a problem with it you don't know what to do... really is you boss going to fire 4 hard workers over 1 slack-*** looking for trouble??

Answer 3

A couple of stories.

First, I witnessed my grandmother doing some labor intensive work that I refused to do because of an argument with my mother. I felt like an ***. My feebale grandmother doing hard work because of how I felt. You will find that true for most anything. Do the hard work and ask for more hard work. Soon enough, others will see what you are doing and offer to help. Too many chiefs and not enough indians.

Second story:
When I was in the military, It was cold out and I took the easy route by just doing what I was supposed to do. Another guy from our platoon took the hard route. He went out and made sure everything was running and did his best to help everybody. He recieve an ARCOM and damned if eveybody in the plattoon didn't think he deserved it. He went the extra distance and deserved what he got.

The second story goes like this.
One day, it was freezing cold, deep snow, etc. The president walked his way through all that cold, wind and snow to make it to the white house. He then called his constituents and asked why there was nobobdy else in the white house. They said things like "It's cold, etc etc". He said it was there job to be at the white house to take care of the rest of the people.

I try not to let others get to me. That is most difficult thing to do.
When you work hard, other people will see that you are a hard worker. Sluff off and they will see that too.
What comes around goes around. Be a motivater. Show them how to do something difficult and not complain all the time.

Answer 4

I would also feel like it was unfair but I'm not sure race is as much as a factor as it might seem. What is unjust is the manner in which your boss dealt with the situation, which was done ineffectively, poorly, and irresponsibly. This type of management style only contributes to stress in the workplace. In most work settings one is supposed to follow the "appropriate chain of command." If the problem cannot be resolved with your boss after discussing it with him then it is best to proceed to the next higher person in management. It may be time consuming but no one will take you seriously "unless you follow the rules," no matter how much you get screwed.

Answer 5

I just don't understand the race issue in the USA.
If what you are saying is true, he played the race card and won. In Canada there isn't any way anyone would get away with that - no matter the race

I'd probably hire a lawyer if I was you 3. Your human resource team needs to give their collective heads a good shakeup.

record everything you do - every day. And everything you know he does everyday. Take pictures if you have to. document everthing and take it back to the board. If they still don't see there's a problem, you have a case (in my opinion)

if this would be too diffucult to do - I'd be looking elsewhere for another job.

Answer 6

I totally agree.This is not fair at all & the superiors should have never agreed to this.You should talk to them again calmly but directly & probably with the others & say it has nothing to do with racism & that they should be fair in which everyone does all the required duties equally. He is oviously threatening them with a racial complaint on the company & Im am surprized that they are falling for this for they have grounds that everyone is to share the duties period.

Answer 7

i love the perception of equivalent rights, yet i do not imagine meaning we should be a similar in each way. i love our changes, and that i'm satisfied we are attending to the bottom of rights vs. mere concepts. i decide on the right to vote. yet i extremely do not care if I have the right to make stronger a beard as a woman. i think I do have the right, yet i imagine i ought to nonetheless extremely not LOL. i imagine adult adult males take position to be the perpetrators of a lot of this social rigidity. and that i do not imagine it really is totally unfair or unfounded and the following is why: You and that i, as females, we do not care if a guy is ingesting an apple martini. yet there are a range of adult adult males available mocking one yet another for lack of what they offer concept to to be masculinity in some adult adult males. it really is not the apple martini. those adult adult males purely sense the martini guy is a few style of affront to their very personal version of manhood. Is there, purely possibly, something female about the guy ingesting the apple martini? because my husband ought to drink one and not in any respect be girly about it. What we extremely decide on to resign doing is judging eachother -- all individuals. no matter if he's drining a fruity drink or wearing a skirt would not count number. What we are indignant via is the shown reality that he should be style of female, or gay, or leaning in that route. And that, my friends, isn't any man or woman's corporation. it really is unfair to guage poeple in preserving with something yet their moves.

Answer 8

thats sad man, im sorry about this but that human resources guy is an incompetent. He should be able to distinguish victims of racism and jrks. Its not that hard to notice the difference

Answer 9

Does your firm have an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP)? If so, all of you can go and sit with a mediator to reconcile this problem. I agree that it seems to be a problem of political correctness, but it should be brought to the managements' attention.
Good Luck!

Answer 10

I totally agree with you. By all means, no matter the race of a HUMAN BEING, we all need to work equally. We are all humans, but we have different color of skin, SO WHAT!?! I've seen racism, and you sir/ma'am, are NOT racist. (That just peeves me!)