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Our department head left this week. He was very awesome and will be missed. He was replaced by his equally awesome underling, and she will be just as good. But to send him off properly, we had a party this week for him, complete with potluck. We were allowed to take food back to our desks during the potluck.
I came in on my day off for said potluck, and was corralled into working 2 hours overtime. I didn't mind; only two hours and I got paid for it, while eating yummy food in between calls. I was sitting near the lead stations and got to overhear this gem.
A man had called in and spoken to one of us. While speaking to us he overheard in our background noise another rep walking by say "I heard Jamal brought us fried okra!" Customer took great offense at this, stating that A) We have no right to talk about food while working, because we're supposed to be 'serving the customers' and B) this random statement was very offensive as Jamal is a stereotypical black man's name, and how dare somebody mention such a name and 'fried okra' in the same sentence.
I mean, this guy got livid over this. He was transferred to a lead and was just yelling himself hoarse at the lead about how we 'might as well wonder if he brought watermelon too!' and was just beside himself. He accused the lead of being a closet racist for not having a problem with this. The best part of this is that the lead, Jeff, is black. Jeff was having a blast with this guy, putting him on mute and doubling over laughing in his chair. Jeff said he never did figure out what race the caller was, whether he was an upset black man or a guilty-conscience white man.
Jamal, apparently, got a big kick out of this when he was told later. Jamal is this 20year old kid from Baton Rouge who came out here to live with relatives and go to college last year. He brings authentic southern food to every potluck we have, and he is a damn good cook, so everyone gets all excited about what he brings. He's made red beans and rice and Jambalaya for us before, and this time, yes, he brought fried okra. The boy's got half the women in this department at his beck and call, 'cause he's just adorable. He jokingly promised next potluck he'd bring fried chicken and watermelon.
I came in on my day off for said potluck, and was corralled into working 2 hours overtime. I didn't mind; only two hours and I got paid for it, while eating yummy food in between calls. I was sitting near the lead stations and got to overhear this gem.
A man had called in and spoken to one of us. While speaking to us he overheard in our background noise another rep walking by say "I heard Jamal brought us fried okra!" Customer took great offense at this, stating that A) We have no right to talk about food while working, because we're supposed to be 'serving the customers' and B) this random statement was very offensive as Jamal is a stereotypical black man's name, and how dare somebody mention such a name and 'fried okra' in the same sentence.
I mean, this guy got livid over this. He was transferred to a lead and was just yelling himself hoarse at the lead about how we 'might as well wonder if he brought watermelon too!' and was just beside himself. He accused the lead of being a closet racist for not having a problem with this. The best part of this is that the lead, Jeff, is black. Jeff was having a blast with this guy, putting him on mute and doubling over laughing in his chair. Jeff said he never did figure out what race the caller was, whether he was an upset black man or a guilty-conscience white man.
Jamal, apparently, got a big kick out of this when he was told later. Jamal is this 20year old kid from Baton Rouge who came out here to live with relatives and go to college last year. He brings authentic southern food to every potluck we have, and he is a damn good cook, so everyone gets all excited about what he brings. He's made red beans and rice and Jambalaya for us before, and this time, yes, he brought fried okra. The boy's got half the women in this department at his beck and call, 'cause he's just adorable. He jokingly promised next potluck he'd bring fried chicken and watermelon.
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