Some years ago I was direct mail manager for a department store, and found myself in Jonesboro, Arkansas for a catalog press check. There were problems and I and the printer’s account rep spent several unanticipated days in this unfortunately dry (alcohol-wise) area of the South. At one point, after a new disappointment, the rep pulled me aside and said, “I don’t like to say it, but this is what you might expect.”
What he meant to imply was that the project manager, who was African-American and in an unusually responsible position for a black man in the South at that time, was simply not up to the job. My reaction was not to agree with that observation but also not to disagree with it. I simply looked away, which wasn’t enough. Ever since then I have regretted my non-reaction.
This week I was involved in a complex real estate transaction involving a piece of property in the country and bats proved to be a problem—specifically a huge pile of bat guano in a barn which gives off toxic fumes. Hearing that we were getting estimates from bat remediation experts, the seller’s agent indicated that wasn’t an acceptable cost and “why don’t you just get a couple of Mexicans with shovels and garbage bags” to clean it up.
Everybody on our side of the transaction had the instant reaction that this was not an OK thing to say. Not only because of the statement, but also because of the attitude behind this and several other comments, we ended up abandoning the attempt to buy the property. Several people, from very different backgrounds and perspectives, felt the agent was not someone we could do business with.
Because this blog is about communication, a comment on the subtext behind the actual statements. In Jonesboro, it was “you and I as white Americans have the right to be indignant about being inconvenienced by this S.O.B.” This week it was “I want you to know I am an inflexible negotiator and am making a deliberately racist statement to show why you shouldn’t mess with me.” Since he knew he was offending, maybe this is progress of a sort?