by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Watercooler is the section of the blog in which we share with you real-life horror stories from the frontlines of race in the workplace. This week, we have a story from Sara:

A very gorgeous woman walked into our coffeeshop, ordered a latte, walked out. I was on a break and my shift lead came into the back room babbling about how gorgeous she was. I agreed with him, because she -was- extraordinarily beautiful.

Then he said, “What do you think she is? She doesn’t look full Asian. Some kind of half-breed?” and, flabbergasted, I managed “I don’t know.”

He didn’t appear to notice that he’d said anything offensive and a silence descended as I tried to figure out how to tell him that I didn’t appreciate his language (I’m half-Pinay myself, so it … hits home), when he came out with “God, I love Asian women.” And I warily asked, “Why?”

And his answer — “Because they’re so fucking HOT, and they just look so submissive you know, like they’d do anything you want, but you know they’re total nympho freaks in the sack!”

I was stunned.

And I like this guy, normally; I mean he can be a bit testy but otherwise he’s a good guy. I don’t know who else to talk to — I don’t want to get him fired, and if I report it anonymously he’ll still know it was me because it’s based on a conversation only we had.

Please email team@raceintheworkplace.com if you’d like to send in a story, put “watercooler” in the subject line, and let us know what name we should use for you. Pseudonyms and first names are totally fine. You can read more Watercooler stories here.