There’s a basic level of human decency that we all wish people would hold themselves to, but some people will just never learn.
Or will they?
Many thanks to the Redditor who shared this story.
This story begins when I was a freshman in HS. After school on most weekdays I would walk to my uncle’s house to babysit my little cousin. My cousin was about 2 or 3 years old at the time and liked to go to the public park that was directly in front of my uncle’s house. It was a simple park, about the size of a football field with a playground in one corner and the rest being all grass. One particular day my cousin is begging me to go to the park so I take him.
For a while we were the only ones there. My cousin was too scared to go down the slide from the top by himself so I was picking him up and letting him slide from about half way. He was having a great time and laughing. Soon a lady comes up with her daughter and they start playing on the swing set. Well, the lady was sitting on the bench and her daughter was trying to play on the swing set.
Now here’s an important point to the story. When I speak with my little cousin I speak in our native language. He can understand English, but I’m just so used to speaking my native language with my family that it just happens naturally. So I’m speaking to my cousin trying to encourage him to go up to the top of the slide and he’s on his way up psyching himself up.
Then I hear the lady yell out: (continued…)
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Lady: “Hey you need to speak English when you’re around me”
Me: “huh? I’m just telling him to -” she cut me off
Lady: “THIS IS AMERICA WE SPEAK ENGLISH HERE”
Me: “uhhhh I’m just trying to play with my cousin he doesn’t speak English too well” (I lied he understood English)
Lady: “I don’t care! You speak English when you’re around me and my daughter”
So I’m pissed off.
I’ve had my experience with racism especially post 9/11. I’m Indian, but I look very Arab and got harassed a lot after 9/11. This however was different. I’m just here with a child and he was visibly having an awesome time playing at the playground. There was no reason for this lady to impose her bull crap on me. So I decide, screw it, if she wants me to speak English here have it.
Me to my cousin: “Hey let’s ignore the jerk” and continue to speak in my native language to tell him to slide down
Her: “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!?!”
Me: “Oh, I called you a jerk because that’s what you’re being.” (continued…)
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Her: “OMG I’M CALLING MY HUSBAND HE’S GONNA KICK YOUR BUTT!”
At this point I feel the need to try and get out of there so I start telling my cousin to lets go. While I’m trying to leave she keeps yelling and screaming at me about how her husband is on her way and he’s gonna kick my butt blah blah blah and even says she’s gonna call the cops because she thinks I’m a pedophile and who’s kid am I with. Anyway I leave and get home.
I was paranoid for a few weeks after that incident thinking the cops were going to want to talk to me or something. I avoided the park for a while. I told my uncle what happened and he agreed that I should avoid the park for a while too.
So let me get to the revenge part of the story.
Now we’re in the present and it’s been over 10 years. I’ve graduated HS and got a job at this plant. The thing about this plant is that it’s one of the few places in my city that pays well over minimum wage. A lot of the people in my city try super hard to get into this plant, but few do. Most people end up moving out of my city or commuting over an hour where all the good jobs are at.
Another important note and I’m not trying to brag or anything, but through a series of promotions I got due to actually having computer skills and being at the right place at the right time when certain key people retired I ended up becoming the #2 at the plant. I have a really good plant manager who has a lot of faith in me and he’s took me under his wing.
So one of my job responsibilities is hiring people and making sure they get trained properly. A couple weeks ago we had to let go of one of our office ladies because reasons. So I called up the placement agency I use and let them know I need an office administrator type person on Monday. (continued…)
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Monday comes around and guess who shows up? Yup you guessed it. It’s the racist lady from the park. She for whatever reason doesn’t recognize me, but be assured I recognize her. Her face is ingrained into my brain. I go through the typical introductions and pass her off to HR for a bit to make sure she fills out some paperwork.
After all that I give her a tour of the plant and let her know which areas she’s allowed to go and which areas she’s not and etc. I pass her off to the ladies in the office and let them start training her. That’s most of my interaction with her. I’d pop by the office throughout the week to see how she was doing and get any updates on her performance.
I start to think about what I’m going to do. Do I want to keep this lady on staff? Is it even worth taking any revenge? If yes, what should I do?
I finally made my decision on Thursday. See through my conversations with her I’ve found out she’s been wanting to get into this plant for a LONG time. This was like a dream job for her.
The placement agency was sending her over an hour away to commute and she’d end up quitting and letting the agency know she preferred a shorter commute. I decided I’m going to lead her on and make it seem like she’s going to be staying with the company and then let her go unexpectedly.
So on Thursday I set up an appointment with her to finish up some training. I just had a power point presentation I went over with new employees. In the training I get to talk to her a little more and ask her if she’s been living in the city for a while. She says yes and I ask her what part? She mentioned she lives near the park near my uncle’s house. (continued….)
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I let her know “Oh! I used to go to that park all the time!! I used to take my little cousin, but I stopped because I ran into this racist lady one day who threatened to have her husband beat me up because she wanted me to speak English”
Her face changed. It’s a weird thing I noticed. Her face went from kinda happy to straight scared. I think she finally remembered me. I concluded the training and didn’t say anything else. Friday came and she showed up to work.
When she went to lunch I called the placement agency and told them to call her and let her know not to show up after lunch, we won’t be needing her anymore. I could do this because she wasn’t an actual employee, we just had a contract through the agency and didn’t need any valid reason to let her go. There was also just something very satisfying about firing someone while they were at lunch.
I’m sure the office ladies aren’t too happy with me because they’re going to have to retrain a new person starting Monday, but it’ll be okay.