Am I Racist?

jiggyjack

OK My crew and I were working on a job.

The general told me the roofer should show up sometime today.

About 1 PM a little after lunch a Mexican comes walking into the backyard.

I say "You must be the roofer."

He says "No I am the Cable guy."

My guys gave me so much **** about this.

Was this Stereotyping or just a bad guess?

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dirt diggler

i dunno ... what do you have against Cable guys??

JohnJ0906

Well... you WERE expecting a roofer. Ask yourself if you would have asked any other person showing up on the site whether or not they were the person you were expecting.

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"One Day at a Time"
All replies based on the 2008 NEC

BigMikeB

Hmmm, then I must be prejudicial too, I would have thought he was the roofer. But, then again I just don't care for Mexican contractors.

mdshunk

I don't think you did anything wrong, but I wouldn't have missed the chance to razz you about it for the rest of the day either.

Glasshousebltr

Cable guy? ........are you sure he wasn't the gardener, just being a smart a$$.

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Bob

mickeyco

Yes it was racist, but as luck would have it, I just formed a new business where you can purchase racist offset credits that will cancel it out, each credit is only $99, send cash or money order to: Mickeyco, PO Box 123, Chicago, IL 60610

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RYANINMICHIGAN

depends. Were you thinking " Look at this ileagal, Must be the roofer" Or here comes a guy must be the roofer. I reserve my awnser to that.

Grumpyplumber

OK...the catcalls when women walked by were outta line..k, fine got it.
The language...sure, K...got that.
Not harrassing, or hazing co-workers..fine...that too.
Soon we'll be legally obligated to exude proper etiquette at lunch-time or face potential lawsuits over the effects of belching on co-workers mental health.
The politically correct stuff is gonna put me in a rubber room.
You made a judgement call based on what's likely a demograph.
Marketing firms use the same info to sell products to specific target audiences, based on ethnic background, age group, sex, race, and occupation as it relates to all the above.

KillerToiletSpider

I was recently on a job, a four million dollar condo renovation, and I was the only person working on the job, the GC stopped by in the morning, and says, the homeowner will be here today, as will the framing inspector, and the heating guy, please let them in when they buzz the door. About an hour later a black guy in a three piece suit walks through the door, without being buzzed in, so I assume it is the homeowner, and continue doing what I was doing. After ten minutes of wandering around the unit the guy walks up to me and starts asking questions about ceiling heights and if I knew where the can lights in the hallway were located, I ask him if the architect did not go over this while it was still in the design phase, and he looked at me like I was nuts. So I finally ask, aren't you the homeowner? No he says, I'm the heating guy.

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knothole

I don't know if it is racist or not , but with the information you had I would have made the same assumption.

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wackman

You're a total racist, but who cares...

wackman

Just kidding, sterio types stem from fact and reality. Don't give it any more thought.

mdshunk

Why on earth would the heating guy be doing his as-built initial walk though with a suit on? Maybe he was on his way back from a funeral or something? Weird. I'd have guessed him for the homeowner too.

roofwiz74

hey they aren't the roofers,they are the laborers.just cuz a bunch of illegals can bang on shingles doesn't make them roofers.
hell as far as I'm concerned if all you can do is shingle that's what you are,a shingler.Not a roofer.

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dayspring

I don't believe you are racist if you look down on a man that is in this country illegally, not paying his taxes and reaping the benefits of our country and don't even speak the english language. If he is legally here and making an attempt to become a citizen, including learning to communicate in english, he has every right to be respected as a equal and recieve all the benefits of the average American. People used to say, "They do jobs nobody else wants to do." That is not true. They are framing, Americans do that, They are siding installers, Americans do that, They are drywallers, painters, plumbers, electricians, roofers, cable guys and the list goes on, these are all jobs the american citizens once held. They have brought the labor rates down in many areas of the country to where an american can't make it doing these jobs anymore. I refuse to hire illegals PERIOD!
DON"T HIRE 'EM and they won't stay!

RACIST? NO, JUST FED UP!

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KillerToiletSpider

I actually asked, it turns out he is a minister, and was at a meeting of local ministers that morning, and came directly to the job after the meeting. We both laughed about my misunderstanding.

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A flush is better than a full house.

BigMikeB

AMEN BROTHER

BuiltByMAC

The real question is...
Do you feel animosity towards him when you notice his skin is brown and he is shorter than you and speaks very little, if any, english?
If yes, than that is also your answer to your initial question.
If no, then you are merely stereotyping him. Stereotyping isn't necessarily bad - the reason stereotypes exist is because a whole lot of people fit that description.


Mac

rocco

I would have said the same thing you did, mainly cause I don't know or see many mexican heating contractors, it's very simple and innocent. People of color will call this stereotyping or racism but I am just making an educated guess based on my experience, nothing more.