An Employee Quit Because She Thought Her Coworkers Were Gossiping—So Another Coworker Filed an HR Report to Expose the Bullying
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Imagine working at a company where everyone speaks English, but some of the employees also speak Spanish. Do you think it’s okay for the bilingual employees to speak Spanish to each other, or should they only speak English since everyone understands that language?
In this story, this exact scenario is playing out at a hospital. Some of the employees think everyone should speak English, but the person who tells us about it disagrees. In fact, she is so upset by what they’re saying that she decides to report her coworkers to HR.
Let’s read all about it.
English only workplace? Enjoy culture sensitivity training
I work at a public hospital where a large portion of our patient population speaks Spanish.
A few weeks back, I overhear 4 coworkers complaining that Spanish shouldn’t be allowed at work because it’s “unprofessional.”
OP explains why the coworkers don’t want anyone speaking Spanish.
Context: this started because some Spanish-speaking employees were speaking Spanish in front of a non-Spanish speaker.
The non-Spanish speaker thought they were talking about her (spoiler: they weren’t).
This offended coworker quits because she claims she was being bullied by the 2 who routinely speak in Spanish to each other.
OP doesn’t seem to miss the coworker who quit.
She was one of the most dramatic people I’ve ever met, so good riddance.
But the 4 are discussing how they think she was bullied out of her job and that Spanish shouldn’t be allowed to be spoken at our job unless it’s to speak with patients.
Otherwise only English should be spoken,“they had to be able to speak English to get this job so that’s what they should speak since it’s the language everyone understands”.
OP spoke her mind.
As someone who grew up in a home where 2 languages were spoken, I obviously took issue with this.
I asked, “How do you know they were talking about her? Do you speak Spanish?”
They don’t, they said “you could just tell they were talking about her”
I said “how could you tell if you don’t speak Spanish?”. I told them they need to mind their own business or learn Spanish, you don’t get to dictate whether someone speaks in their native language or not.
They didn’t change their minds.
That didn’t go over well, and they got very defensive.
They doubled down on their stance and told me I was getting “too heated to talk to” (I had raised my voice slightly because they kept repeating “if they can speak English they should speak English, it’s not that deep”)
I’d had enough at this point.
Over my lunch break I went to my car and wrote a detailed email to HR and my direct supervisor. Now they all have to complete cultural sensitivity training in order to keep their jobs.
It really is ridiculous to think you know what someone’s saying if you don’t speak the language. It’s not a problem to be bilingual, in fact, that’s a real asset. But, I can see how someone might think it’s rude if coworkers are speaking in a language they don’t understand when they’re in the room. But at the same time, the complainers sound paranoid about nothing.
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Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person’s mom had a similar experience.
Someone who speaks three languages shares their thoughts.
This person knows that it’s useful to know more than one language.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who changed their minds about donated items, only to return to the shop to find them all sold.
This person loves her revenge.
If the coworkers are chatting with each other in Spanish, it’s pretty paranoid for another coworker who doesn’t speak Spanish to assume they’re talking about her. However, it’s also kind of rude to speak in a language you know not everyone understands. You’re intentionally excluding some of your coworkers from the conversation, which, as we read, can lead them to possibly feel a little paranoid.
HR to the rescue!
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