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why is it frowned upon to describe a person according to appearance and ethnic background? (linux.community)

submitted 3 days ago by vestmoria@linux.community to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

On an email with my manager I described a coworker I only worked with once as a small, thin woman that was either born in an East Asian country or has East Asian parents. I don't know this person's name. I don't see a better way to describe her all things considered.

The managers answer: it is disrespectful to describe people according to ethnic background or physical appearance.

My next question for this manager: dear manager, how should I describe this person then?

I don't know if I'm being genuinely disrespectful or this is a very thin skinned manager. Either way, I had to work with another coworker I didn't know either. This conversation with manager B ensued:

manager B: 'today you're working with mike'

me: 'who's mike?'

manager B: 'that fat guy'

make it make sense.

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[–] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

At a workplace, aren't there other identifiers? Their job title, their boss, how long they've worked there etc that can be used to identify them?

Who's Mike? He's in the sales team under Sally. I'll introduce you.

[–] meerstyler@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago

It's simple: You describe the clothes they wear on that day