I'm trying to decide if this woman in my office is racist or just a dumbass.

Backstory: We have this Russian chick in my office that barely speaks English. We have many problems because of this. Most recent problem is she's having issues with her international calling card and can't get it to work, likely because of the language barrier.

Her ESL tutor comes up to me today demanding that I get the card to work. I tell her I can't get something to work if I don't even know what the issue is in the first place, other than it not working.

Her: Well she needs to make a phone call to Russia.
Me: So why doesn't she download Skype in Russian and use that? I'll even let her borrow my headset. Language barrier solved.
Her: Not even Native American people can figure out how to use Skype. I know, I'm a computer scientist.
Me:

11/8/2011 11:53:08 AM

yeah that's pretty goddamn racist.

(im native american btw).

11/8/2011 11:55:30 AM

Making fun of Native Americans is never racist. Its actually encouraged in most provinces.

11/8/2011 11:55:51 AM

Shes a moron.

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 11:57 AM. Reason : .]

11/8/2011 11:56:56 AM

To be honest, I have no idea what Native Americans had to do with our conversation whatsoever

11/8/2011 11:57:40 AM

Um, she's talking about people born in America

AKA "Natives"

Like what NC State students call the people who were born in and live in Raleigh.

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 11:59 AM. Reason : ]

11/8/2011 11:58:08 AM

That was my fist thought

11/8/2011 11:59:01 AM

^^ I hope so, but then why wouldn't she just say Americans rather than "Native American people."?

11/8/2011 12:00:41 PM

Is that a new stereotype?

11/8/2011 12:02:20 PM

If an innocuous comment disparaging one of the smallest minorities in the country bothers you, I'd hate to see you out of your PC cocoon.

11/8/2011 12:02:37 PM

11/8/2011 12:03:38 PM

Quote :

"why wouldn't she just say Americans rather than "Native American people."?"

Because she probably knows a lot of immigrant American citizens who don't know as much about America but still consider themselves American.

This wasn't at all racist.

In fact, even if she was refering to indigenous American people (which she is not), it wasn't an insult since it was implying that they are the most likely to know how to use skype.

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 12:06 PM. Reason : ]

11/8/2011 12:04:11 PM

because she's not native to America maybe?

11/8/2011 12:04:22 PM

yeah, let's draw the conclusion that's the biggest stretch rather than what actually makes sense.

Do you go around looking for reasons to be offended?



[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM. Reason : @ the OP]

11/8/2011 12:05:42 PM

Yesterday a coworker mentioned the IRS coming into existence in part due to the Revenue Act of 1862 (my company has a vested interest in the IRS), saying, "See, the Civil War wasn't all bad", before he could really think about it.

I was like

11/8/2011 12:08:58 PM

AHA, wolfpackgrrr, you musta been really annoyed with this tutor to jump to the conclusion that she was talking about American Indians.

In the future, the tutor should probably say "people native to America" or "people born in America" to be more clear.

^LOL

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 12:10 PM. Reason : ]

11/8/2011 12:10:06 PM

^^ That is offensive

How could he imply that the IRS is in any way good?

I'm shocked and appalled

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 12:10 PM. Reason : ]

11/8/2011 12:10:26 PM

who the fuck says "I'm a computer scientist"?

11/8/2011 12:10:29 PM

Quote :

"who the fuck says "I'm a computer scientist"?"

lol yeah I was like wtf to that.

Quote :

"If an innocuous comment disparaging one of the smallest minorities in the country bothers you, I'd hate to see you out of your PC cocoon."

Because a post in Chit Chat means it bothers me I was more bothered that she was trying to push part of her job onto me

11/8/2011 12:14:00 PM

Sounds like you are a dickbag of an IT support person

11/8/2011 12:16:57 PM

Good thing I don't work in IT support.

11/8/2011 12:22:06 PM

^^ op is a teacher or a TA I believe.

11/8/2011 12:24:18 PM

:that's racist gif:

11/8/2011 12:26:41 PM

Good go tell her to contact it support and that what she's asking u to do isn't ur responsibility instead of bitching about it on here in a piss poor thread

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 12:35 PM. Reason : Z]

11/8/2011 12:31:43 PM

I'm just wondering if the ESL tutor is a "computer scientist", why couldn't she get it to work on her own? obviously her scientific approach to get the computer working failed. She needs to get her money back for her "computer scientist" award or degree back and replace it with something equally useful like the Justice League of America authenticity membership card.

11/8/2011 12:37:48 PM

Yeah who the hell knows. I didn't think calling cards were all that difficult. Either they work for a country or they don't.

11/8/2011 12:42:38 PM

Quote :

"Not even Native American people can figure out how to use Skype. I know, I'm a computer scientist. "

does not compute lol

11/8/2011 12:44:17 PM

just a dumbass

11/8/2011 1:08:02 PM

Quote :

"Her ESL tutor comes up to me today demanding that I get the card to work."

More back story. Do you work for AT&T or something? How are you responsible?

Edit:

Just got this far ITT:

Quote :

"Good go tell her to contact it support and that what she's asking u to do isn't ur responsibility"

Ok. So I don't even see it as being an IT support responsibility. She's having trouble with personal calls. How is an IT group even responsible for that? Maybe I'll phone up IT to go pick up a few things for me from the grocery store.

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 1:13 PM. Reason : -]

11/8/2011 1:10:08 PM

the word "native" was not needed.

and skype is pretty goddamn simple to use- sounds like she was just flustered.

(and wanted you to do everything for her, obviously).

11/8/2011 1:12:17 PM

1.)wolfpackgrrr speaks russian
2.)ESL tutor believes wolfpackgrrr is a lesbian
3.)Russian chick is in fact a mail order bride
...

I got nothing conclusive.

11/8/2011 1:14:38 PM

^ hahaha

Quote :

" How are you responsible?"

Good question

I think y0willy0 summed it up best:

Quote :

"and wanted you to do everything for her, obviously"

11/8/2011 1:24:57 PM

Quote :

"I know, I'm a computer scientist."

1) if you can't figure out Skype and you consider yourself a technology specialist, then you need to be hit in the face with a tack hammer.

2) WHO THE FUCK REFERS TO THEMSELVES AS A COMPUTER SCIENTIST?


she's a fucking idiot

11/8/2011 1:26:50 PM

help desk

11/8/2011 1:27:20 PM

Back off man I'm a computer scientist.

11/8/2011 1:29:11 PM

can you post up a picture of said russian chick if she meets the "mail order bride" physical beauty stereotype...

11/8/2011 1:32:16 PM

She kind of looks like a younger Kathy Bates.

11/8/2011 1:33:40 PM

^ ugh
yeh that's normally the thing. you are either a complete 10/10 smokeshow, or ^that


also why don't you guys use google translate. have her carry an ipad around and turn on the Cyrillic keyboard for her



[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 1:36 PM. Reason : ,]

11/8/2011 1:35:44 PM

^ She already does that and we still have serious communication issues

11/8/2011 1:38:05 PM

I, too, am a native American.

11/8/2011 1:38:10 PM

so her name is Hulga? lol

11/8/2011 1:46:24 PM

^you mean olya? (sometimes spelled olga b/c americans are retarded and cant pronounce O-L-E-E-A. right)

i'm not sure what's funny though

these girls are named olya also:






[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 1:59 PM. Reason : ,]

11/8/2011 1:54:43 PM

Hulga/Helga/Olga and other derivatives (Hege, Helle, Helge, Helga, Helka or Oili) is a common eastern euro name more often than not associated to fat women... atleast in pop culture references.

11/8/2011 1:59:59 PM

so you're openly admitting to being a redneck

i mean that's cool too.

but if you ever get the chance to get out of amuricah, you'll quickly realize that 'fat women' are isolated to the united states. lol



oh and thanks for your reference to that definition lol.

for what its worth
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=olga
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=olya

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 2:07 PM. Reason : ,]

11/8/2011 2:05:30 PM

its american pop culture... so the joke is on all of us... and if you think I'm red neck. LOL

I'm Asian and I'm a real "computer scientist"... I grew up in Japan and probably have been to more countries than most people here. lol


Also, it just reminds me of this photo the technician did like in 07 of this homeless russian woman that was living on hillsborough named Hulga, it was captioned as "Hulga is sitting on a bench looking at her bottle of orange juice on hillsborough street."

11/8/2011 2:12:45 PM

Quote :

"but if you ever get the chance to get out of amuricah, you'll quickly realize that 'fat women' are isolated to the united states. lol"

Don't be such a retard pack_bryan, there are fat women everywhere

Also urban dictionary entries of names are worth nothing

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 2:16 PM. Reason : ]

11/8/2011 2:15:51 PM

If someone's gonna be racist to Native Americans, would they call them 'Native Americans'?

11/8/2011 2:15:55 PM

i just want somebody to explain why the name olga has a reference to 'fat' all the time around north carolina.

i understand that it definitely has some followers. my ex boss a few years back was going to hire a russian girl and his exact reaction was "ppfpfffffffffttt i bet her name is olga puhohohooo pffffffftt spit chuckl chuckle"

he was a piece of shit redneck from these parts who happened to have rich parents or some garbage.

and its funny b/c the girl comes in for the interview and literally was some stunning 10/10 and the dude was slobbering the whole interview. she turned down his offer. pwnt

11/8/2011 2:18:47 PM

Cool story bro.

Let me tell you a story I made up now.

11/8/2011 2:20:24 PM

whatever dude. its a moot point. obviously don't get the pop culture reference. move along

11/8/2011 2:21:11 PM