This Question From Surgery Jokes | 16 Answers
A couple of months back I had my eyes lasered so that I can see better. Anyways when I came back into work, everyone wanted to know how they were, what it was like to be able to see normally without contacts lenses etc etc.
Anyway while everyone was gathered around, one guy asked ‘What differences do you notice now?’
And I said, “Well you see John over there” as I point to John, a strapping lad who happens to be …. how can I say this …… a man of colour. The guy nods and I said “Well before the eye surgery, I had absolutely no idea he was black”
Now some of the people laughed at this, but others took a sharp intake of breath.
Was I right to joke like or is it racist?
16 Comments so far
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V funny and if people are so PC not to accept this then get a life!
lol that’s funny!! I can understand why some people would be offended though, especially John. My partner does stuff like that all the time. He doesn’t mean anything by it though- it’s just his way! lol his friends know that. Be more careful in future though lol
If you were on my staff, I would have fired you.
Totally uncalled for remark.
Did you imply in any way that he was inferior because of the colour of his skin?
Sounds to me like a perfectly harmless joke, any taking offence at that really needs to take a chill pill.
No don’t worry about it, people who didn’t say anything just don’t wont to get in trouble so by not laughing they think they weren’t part of the conversation : )
The problem with stuff like this is context. On the face of it, no, that’s not racist, unless you are always making “innocent” comments like that. However, in a work environment, the perception of racism is what matters. And the best (and most professional) way to avoid that is to simply make no references to race at work.
If it was intended with no malice and, which I’m sure it wasn’t and you know John well enough to know that he would not be offended then i do not believe it is racist as Racism, I believe, is persecuting someone based on race or culture. Were any of the people who took offence black or from any other ethnic minority?
I like the little joke in your title. clever!
There was nothing wrong with that joke. Overly sensitive pc people gasped, normal people with a sense of humour laughed!
As there was nothing racist in your remark I can’t see a problem.
lol,a bit off colour.
Hmm well I would have laughed but these days folk take offence so easily a joke back fires
Put it this way, if John was anaemic and you commented on his paleness there would have been no problem. As your remark was not in anyway derogatory I don’t see a problem.
While it is humorous it probably wasn’t very PC for the office. Maybe you should just ask John if he was offended by your joke and explain to him that you meant no harm. It sounds more like a joke about the actual color of someones skin than it was about his race but some people have no sense of humor and turn things like that into a big deal. But I would say its a pretty funny joke, I mean you are all adults that can obviously see different shades of skin.
In effect you did not notice John’s colour as he happened to be an employee of your team who carried out his job as normal, spoke good English and with whom you could have had a banter. Which is cool.
OR
From another point of view your attempt at spontaneous humour could be seen as crass as you are merely perpetuating the stereotype that black people cannot hold down full time jobs, be a team player and unable to speak English.
Which side are you on?
It’s only really racist if it’s malicious or designed to make John feel uncomfortable. If you know John to be someone who would take such a comment in good humour, it’s OK.
I still wouldn’t recommend it if you work for a largish company that has “HR departments” and “diversity targets” though. Still less if you work in the public sector!
It reminds me of something I heard on the radio once. There’s a guy who has been presenting a phone-in programme on our local BBC radio station for probably more years than I’ve been alive (and I am in my 30s now).
One day he appeared on the local BBC TV news programme, I forget what it was in connection with. The next day, a guy phoned in to say he’d seen him on the TV, and said he was surprised: “I didn’t know you were a black lad mate! You don’t sound black on the radio!”
Blacks are always looking for an excuse to stir up trouble. It’s the only way they know to take power and more money. Ignore them.
You have done absolutely nothing wrong. You hear it on Tv and radio every day, white man, black man and so on, perfectly good English with no offence intended, or are we to obliterate the word “black” from our language. I have read that it’s NOT PC to use the word coloured, the word black is preferred. So you work with some funny people, you don’t work for the Lib Dem’s by any chance.