[thank you first for taking the time to visit here Precious Reader, we haven’t had the pleasure of seeing you for some time, hope the feeling is mutual! ]
THE STRONGEST memory/s we have of work-related abuse in New Zealand, sadly, is race-related as well. We’ve told you this more than once in this space Precious Reader, but for our collective benefit we’ll repeat it right here and right now.
The first, we actually saw a boss/supervisor slap his counter person across the back of her head, the latter making a mistake on her till / cash register. Adding to the shock was the worker ignored the slap, choosing to concentrate on her work. This was around ten years ago but we know my memory’s not playing tricks with us, as we were with wife Mahal, and she saw the exact same thing. This was between 2010 and 2012
The second is hearsay and not our personal knowledge but there’s no reason to doubt it: our former flatmate for lack of a more accurate term was kinutusan (flicked with an open hand across the back of the head) by his supermarket supervisor, for nothing more than a very minor mistake. Flatmate wanted to quit right there but thought about his responsibilities and restrained himself. Looking back, walking out would’ve sent an effective message. This was before 2008.
In both incidents, not that it matters too much, the offender was from the same migrant race.
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Nothing against other migrants, there are always good eggs and bad eggs, and one bad apple shouldn’t spoil the whole bunch. But it’s human nature to generalize and judge people according to nationality. The act of one defines the acts of all, and this is entirely subjective we know, but that’s the way it is.
Is it racist when we try to generalize how a race or group of people is expected to behave, based on our experience and how we’ve been treated? Here’s an idea: we’ll describe the most impactful that we’ve noticed for every race, without mentioning who it is. Ultimately knowing which countries they’re from, we leave to you my friend:
This group of people are decent enough when talking and working with you, but make no mistake: they’re only in it for two reasons: to learn whatever business they’re employed in, and to further their own interests. they may or may not admit it, but they’re happy to start and finish their tour of duty with no friends whatsoever, its no issue to them. but you’ll notice one thing though: every single aspect of the business of the employer (not just the job), from supply, production, delivery and marketing, they will know about it. and the day they finish working with you is the day they start their own business.
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This second group of people will never say it out loud, but they think they’re better than everyone, especially on the technical side of things. They think feelings, attitudes and relationships are not part of the productivity equation, and pay attention to those things only in the abstract. because in their own country the divide between races is a problem that remains unsolved, they think that race issues and divisions should remain hanging in other countries, even in the country/s they migrate to, including this one. Sad, but we’ve found many of this group, feeling and acting the same way.
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We save the best for last, and this last class of people we fear you’ll guess correctly with a lot less clues: they’re known the world over as clever and smart, but that STILL isn’t enough for them, they never fail to take the opportunity to let others know they’re super-intelligent and because “super-intelligent” is for any reality too much, their credibility sometimes gets challenged. probably as a result of their too-high regard for their mental powers, they sometimes get accused of being lazy and know-it-alls. And at least half the time, they are.
Before you accuse us of typecasting and prejudging groups of people based on limited experience, we can only say: it’s done all the time. For different reasons, including instinct, intuition, and survival. We do it, they do it, everyone does it. It isn’t even a question of right or wrong, good or bad, correct or incorrect. the better questions is: after believing how people behave based on race, will we all, migrants or not migrants, still get along?
Thank you for reading, mabuhay!
[ btw, we can’t tell you based on your final guesses whether you guessed right kabayan, but just looking at your eyes and your reactions, you probably are 🙂 ]
