I work at Cargill Foods, one of the most profitable companies in North America, bar none (they brought in over 4.6 BILLION (yes billion) dollars last year. My position there is in the lower levels of management, but I still do some heavy labor with the guys. Now this plant I work at is very culturally diverse, with Arabs, Indians, Polish, French, the list goes on.

Where I work is shipping, or more specifically, Box Loadout, where we push the packaged product "out the door", and onto trailers. One of our loaders happens to be either from the Pakistan area, of even closer to Africa, not sure. I was bringing pallets over for the trailer, and this employee kept staring at me. So I said "get the pallets on, hurry up, let's go!". That's my job BTW, to push the product out as fast as we can.

So I went (still on my forklift) and got another stack of pallets, and he's still staring at me. I repeated what I said. So he comes up to me and says, "what, fo you have a problem with me, huh? do you have a problem with me?"

He wouldn't listen to me and things got heated very fast. The only thing I did wrong was to jab him in the chest with my finger. I broke my hardhat in the jabbering over this guy, and was ready to just deck him. A lot of this very heated conversation I forgot in the midst of an adrenaline rush. In our statements afterwards, he claims I pushed him, hard . I told him that if I pushed him, he would be flat on his keisher. I mean I throw 100 pound boxes all day, for at least 8 hours a day. Imagine how big I would HAVE to be.

Anyways, after meetings with my supervisor, superintendent and the union, I was suspended the rest of the day without pay.

Where does racism fit in? I touched him, and now the foreigners think I'm racist, when I'm not. One of my best buddies are african. Go figure.

I dunno. I was ranting again, and every time I talk about this, my blood just boils. I was just doing my job.:confused:

Whoa, hard luck.

Why exactly was he staring at you? Do you know?

... thank you USA

If you were the boss, should of fired him :p

Kill him.

Can't. This is a Union environment. I guess touching someone is not allowed.

Fork-lift accident.

well it was your job to tell him to get to work, i don't really see the problem. they should make this guy get some kind of medical report to prove his accusation; if you did indeed hit him hard, it would have left some kind of bruise.

That sucks, big time. The race card is such bull**** these days.

At least he didn't accuse you of sexual harassment. Although that would've been as funny as hell.

*South Park voice*

"They-took ur job!"

Welcome to America, where anyone who wasn't born in or isn't of American descendance has every possible legal advantage over you.

Back home, the aluminum plant is doubling its production. Half of the new jobs are reserved for the local amerindians. Sure, you're not allowed to discriminate against them, but it's okay to discriminate against the majority. Pretty soon, you won't be able to get a job if you're not foreign, part of a minority, a woman, or gay.

Wow, that sucks. Sounds like that guy is a total moron.

Sorry. Had to do it.

BAM! That's called affirmative action. It helps those who are disadvantaged get a foothold.

You don't actually support affirmative action, do you?

Ofcourse I do. I think that people who are disadvantaged should be able to be given the same oppertunities as anyone else. For example, hiring someone with a physical disability. Where it might normally be harder for them to find a job, if the company has a policy of affirmative action it then becomes more easy for that person to get a job.

How could you not support affirmative action?

There is a huge difference between helping someone out and suppressing their competition.

Most people don't support affirmative action, because it is discriminatory. Its whole premise lies on being discriminatory against people who are qualified for the job in favor of those who are not.

When it exits the realm of helping the truly disadvantaged and enters the realm of PC egalitarianism.

Because it doesn't just help them get a job. Back home (keep in mind I'm away at school), some places won't even look at you if you're not a minority, like the aformentioned aluminum plant. I'm all for giving them a hand, but when I get turned down for a job in a corner store with my résumé (3 years in customer service with many perfect evaluations) only to see the next week that the brain dead native (not being racist here, just stating what happened) that they hired can hardly count the fingers on his hand, is damn insulting.

However, the law here states that an employer is not allowed to discriminate against any minority (race or physical ability). Some places take it too far. McDonald's in Sept-Iles has a policy of having at least 4 natives on hand at all times. If one of them leaves, forget it if you're qualified for the job, 'cause if you're not a native you're not getting hired.

ARGGH

Now I'm pissed off remembering the idiot they hired instead of me. Equal opportunity, my ***.

So you are saying that being disabled makes you not qualified for the job? Or being gay makes you not qualified for the job? The idea of affirmative action is to hire someone who is qualified but might not normally get the job because of some disadvantage.

There's a difference between equal opportunity and affirmative action. Affirmative action means that I could not get a job because the company I'm applying to doesn't have enough black people, and, as it turns out, the other guy that's applying for the job is black. Now, I may have graduated with a B-average and have two years' work experience, and he a C+-average and no work experience, but he's black, and the company has to fill its quota!

On the flip side, if the company doesn't have enough white people, and I've got a C+-average and no work experience, and the other guy has an A-average and four years of experience, I've got a guaranteed job. Sure, it probably hurts the company's productivity, and it means that the guy who worked harder than me for a better grade average doesn't get the benefits of his efforts, but I got a job because I'm disadvantaged! Whoo-hoo!

That's what I meant to say in non-rant form.

That's what it was intended to be, ideally. In the real world, women, hispanics, and others got promoted through the ranks too quickly to know what the hell they're doing. My father suffered at the mercy of affirmative action for several years needlessly. Hell, he was even asked to *train* some doofus women who got promoted over him because she was a woman. Think about that one for a second.

I don't think you realize how racist you actually are. You refer to non-white people as "disadvantaged" implying they do not have the skills to compete with white men on a level playing field so they should be giving advantages.

Yeah he said what I was thinking.

Guten morgen Klaus...

I'm not the one being racist. I only say "disadvataged" in the sense that it is statistcally harder for them to get hired. Infact, I believe I said that they had the same qualifications as anyone.

In an ideal world, employees would be hired based on qualifications. Unfortunatly, its not an ideal world and sometimes its harder for people who aren't physically-abled straight white males to get a job.

Yup. Every one now has to be equal. Just minorities are more equal than every one else. It makes sick when rabble rousers get on the TV and talk about how the black/hispanic community is being taken advantage of by the evil racist whites. Now who's being racist. So much for ole’ Martin's dream.

Assuming you meant "aren't."

So that means that I should just accept that I may not get a job because I'm a heterosexual white male? I'm not seeing how the situation of discrimination has improved -- affirmative action simply reverses the situation.

Not reversed, per se. Just a little different. And if you can't handle it, maybe you should try harder to be gay so you can be hired based on that.

/me mansecks Wolfy

...

What, I'm just giving you a hand! :p

Doing anything Friday night, Wolfy? I want to help you on the path to economic success.

[edit: damn you CoW!!! :D]

Everyone wants Wolfy's manboobs. :p

Prior to recent years, if were homosexual, a female, or belonged to a racial minority, you automatically had a decreased likelihood of getting a job. At times, this policy was federally endorsed.

Because I am not homosexual, not female, nor belonging to a racial minority, I automatically have a decreased likelihood of getting a job. Under affirmative action, this policy would be federally endorced.

It's a little different, alright. The solution to the problem of discrimination isn't disadvantaging the majority to "even the playing field" -- it's to allow corporations who practice such discrimination to be prosecuted by the federal government.

[ Edit ] This thread is quickly becoming disturbingly homoerotic. [ /Edit ]

It's reversed hinch.

You remember a couple years back, those Michigan State kids not getting in because the other guys were black? (seriously, they saw the kids who got in--worse grades, worse test scores, etc, but they were black) Remember them suing? I do believe they lost because Michigan State had to fill it's "quota" for affirmative action.

What kinda bull**** is that?

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

your bull****:D