Employee Asks If He’s Wrong For Making Comments About Coworker’s Food, Gets Put In Place By Users

Today’s OP, who is a 32-year-old white male, had to deal with a workplace dilemma. His colleague, Anna, a 23-year-old Asian woman, brought a home-cooked meal to the office one day which OP commented upon. While he intended to warn Anna about potential microaggressions related to her choice of food that she could face. Despite expressing his own appreciation of her food multiple times, some coworkers overheard his statements and later criticized him for it. Anna then went to HR, hurt by the conversation. Is OP r*cist? Find out for yourself by scrolling down to see the whole story:

Source: u/foodconundrum

#1) Is OP the AH in this work scenario? Let’s find out together.

#2) OP, who is a white man believes he doesn’t deserve the trouble he’s getting at work. OP has a new co-worker who is Asian and brought stir-fry to warm up in the microwave.

#3) It smelled amazing, so OP asked for the recipe.

#4) OP told her how good it smelled but mentioned that racist people might not like it and commit microaggressions so she should not bring ethnic food to office anymore.

#5) OP’s other co-workers told him that what he said was inappropriate after Anna left the room.

#6) OP defended himself and his request to Anna to stop bringing “ethnic” food.

#7) One of OP’s co-workers said that he was the only one who had har***ed Anna.

#8) OP says he just wanted everyone to make Anna feel welcomed but the next day he found out that she had talked to HR about it.

#9) OP was frustrated and felt upset because he wanted to work things out but Anna was ignorning him.

#10) OP’s co-workers are calling him r*cist.

#11) OP provides an edit and confesses to being the AH.

#12) OP plans to apologize in an HR-friendly way.

#13) OP then thanks all the Reddit users for helping him figure his mistake out.

Source: u/foodconundrum

OP unintentional albeit insensitive comment created a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere, and led to a complain registered to HR by his co-worker. OP should provide a sincere apology to his colleagues, reflect upon the whole situation, make every effort to educate himself on cultural sensitivity, and exercise caution with what he says in the workplace and otherwise. It’s crucial for OP to cooperate with HR and use this mistake as an opportunity for personal growth and strive to grow into a more compassionate ally. Here’s what Reddit users are saying:

#14) This is very true, she did not need the reminder of racism.

#15) Anna seems uncomfortable around OP, he should take the hint and f**k off.

#16) OP harassed his co-worker to “save” her from har***ment. The irony.

#17) A very good point to make.

#18) Absolutely agreed here as well, the analogies make the scenario easier to understand for people who think OP didn’t do any wrong.

#19) Apologizing through HR would probably be the best choice.

#20) Props to HR for taking it as serious as it is. Blatant r*cism.

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