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Sign In on Weekend-Concern

 
Old 12-10-2008 at 09:03 PM   #1
sarah1111
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Sign In on Weekend-Concern
Hi..well I don't know how to explain this and I won't tell you which residence Im in but the situation is this...a couple weeks earlier..I attended a religious festival for which I had to wear traditional Indian clothing and also had fancy makeup put on..when I returned to my residence to sign in..one of the residence sign in people made a rude remark saying " Make sure you remember to wipe your eyelids off". I did not appreciate this being said to me and I found it disrespectful to my beliefs and culture. I have another religious event this Saturday and I am concerned if a similar occurence happens again. Should it happen again, is there anything I can do or am I left to be racially discriminated against because my culture is different?
Old 12-10-2008 at 09:13 PM   #2
kokosas
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You're right Sarah, what that person said to you was wrong. Whether they meant it in a mean way or not I cannot tell because I wasn't there.
If this was Building Access Staff (BAS) or a CA you should go straight to your Res Manager, you can get that persons information off the Housing Website this is the RM listing. The listing is old... sorry I can't find the newer information but the building extentions should be the same, it just might not be the person that it says on that website, or you can always call the office and ask for the RM of your building. Set up an appointment and talk to the RM, explain the situation and how you felt. They will deal with it and keep you up to date about it.

If the person was a student, go talk to your CA, it will probably end up with the RM anyway but talk to your CA first

As for a repeat experience: I personally would confront the person if they do it again. We as Canadians are so quick to tell everyone that we are multi-cultured but so many of us do not truly appreciate it. Call him/her out on it infront of everyone else and tell that person that you shouldn't have to descriminated against because of how you are dressed. You do not have to tolerate racist comments, ever.
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Old 12-10-2008 at 09:14 PM   #3
nicole.h
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Hi,

I am sorry that this happened to you. It is completely out of line for the guest-sign in staff to be saying something like that. I would bring it up with your community adviser and then let know what has happened and hopefully they will be able to bring it up to the residence manager or they will be able to have a chat with the guest sign in staff.
Old 12-10-2008 at 09:57 PM   #4
FireDragoonX
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maybe he was trying to make a joke, it's late, don't forget to wash your face sort of thing... idunnolol
If he/she sounded like he was making fun of you or something then yeah, that's not right.
Old 12-10-2008 at 10:16 PM   #5
bauhaual
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That could be possible - it sometimes happens that people are being extremely rude and disrespectful towards other cultures and other people and may not even realize that they are doing so - However, I agree with what has been said above, that you should most certainly talk to the Residence Manager. It sounds like from your post that the person was one of the GRS sign in staff, in which case, you could also go to your CA's, that way they could relay the information to their RM and stress the importance of this situation.
Also, try not to worry about this past occurence ruining your upcoming night because it will most likely not be the same person at the desk - but just to be sure, a preventative measure of talking to the RM and\or CA would be good - also because it would be good for the person who said it to know that it was inappropriate and disrespectful.
Old 12-10-2008 at 10:53 PM   #6
kokosas
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The only reason why I suggest the RM before the CA is because if it was a CA that made the comment there could be a conflict of interest, they are usually friends after all.
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Old 12-11-2008 at 09:56 AM   #7
sarah1111
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The person was dressed in a purple shirt...that had the McMaster name/emblem in one corner...does this mean they were a C.A. of the residence? Im not too sure or do all the BAS wear the purple shirt
Old 12-11-2008 at 10:26 AM   #8
bauhaual
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Oh...if they were wearing the purple collard shirt then it was a CA...and I would go directly to the Residence Manager Johnathan Flemming (whos office is located in Matthews Hall - but lives in Moulton).
Old 12-11-2008 at 10:27 AM   #9
bauhaual
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Oops...well I live in Moulton so my Residence Manager is Johnathan Flemming, but he may not be yours.
Old 12-11-2008 at 12:45 PM   #10
kokosas
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Yeah if they were wearing a purple shirt then it is a CA and bauhaual is right, go to the RM.
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Old 12-11-2008 at 12:58 PM   #11
Ownaginatios
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sarah1111 View Post
...one of the residence sign in people made a rude remark saying " Make sure you remember to wipe your eyelids off".
I'm having trouble finding any racist connotations whatsoever in that statement. I doubt whoever said that was trying to offend you, then again, I have no idea what kind of tone the person saying it had. Whoever said it was probably just bored out of their mind.

What I think is much worse is the cashiers in the student centre. Every single time I go up there they've got to make some joke that I'm normally too half asleep to understand. Now that's annoying. I'm going off on a tangent here :p
Old 12-11-2008 at 01:26 PM   #12
kokosas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownaginatios View Post
I'm having trouble finding any racist connotations whatsoever in that statement. I doubt whoever said that was trying to offend you, then again, I have no idea what kind of tone the person saying it had. Whoever said it was probably just bored out of their mind.

What I think is much worse is the cashiers in the student centre. Every single time I go up there they've got to make some joke that I'm normally too half asleep to understand. Now that's annoying. I'm going off on a tangent here :p
Well, we weren't there so we don't know. The point of the matter is that Sarah was offended, which should be brought to the CA's attention.

I think the cashiers are just teasing you cause you're a student and we're usually bad with the whole sleeping thing.
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Old 12-11-2008 at 02:04 PM   #13
ferreinm
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That is definitely disrespectful and should have never have been said. One of my friends had a similar situation occur in her residence this year. I'm sorry that this happened. I hope everything is straightened out after you speak to the RM.



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