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Antiwork

HR is racist (Story)

Ha. So, few years back I'm working at this company in Spain and their rules about fancy dress were, shall we say, liberal. Halloween is an opportunity to dress up, and a fair amount of people participate. Mostly aliens, witches, pirates etc. This white Spanish guy comes into work in full black face, big afro wig, as Jules from Pulp Fiction. The vast majority of non-Spanish employees (very diverse business) are appalled, including our black teammates. By afternoon, we have a strongly worded email signed by a dozen employees saying that some outfits are absolutely not acceptable nowadays. And even though Spain has a long track record of black face (as The Three Wise Men in nativity scenes), this is really not enough of an excuse to allow blackface in an international, multicultural business. 1hr later, HR responds saying that the fancy dress with blackface was fine; it wasn't racist…


Ha.

So, few years back I'm working at this company in Spain and their rules about fancy dress were, shall we say, liberal.

Halloween is an opportunity to dress up, and a fair amount of people participate. Mostly aliens, witches, pirates etc.

This white Spanish guy comes into work in full black face, big afro wig, as Jules from Pulp Fiction.

The vast majority of non-Spanish employees (very diverse business) are appalled, including our black teammates.

By afternoon, we have a strongly worded email signed by a dozen employees saying that some outfits are absolutely not acceptable nowadays.

And even though Spain has a long track record of black face (as The Three Wise Men in nativity scenes), this is really not enough of an excuse to allow blackface in an international, multicultural business.

1hr later, HR responds saying that the fancy dress with blackface was fine; it wasn't racist because it was a film character. Absolutely no apology or attempt to fix their policy for next year.

PS another employee came in in blackface as Michael Jackson the same day.

smh

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