A place a friend worked a few years ago had an interesting one:
A new girl started, and a couple of weeks later they all ended up down the pub on a Friday evening.

Somehow a tea-towel got involved, and silliness ensued.

Someone put it on their head (not the new girl), and one of the old hands said, amused "You look like a terrorist!"

Monday morning, the old hand was hauled into HR, and fired on the spot, because the new girl had complained.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 29 May 2014, 15:23, 25 replies)

This sounds true.

(Roger McGough-Pipe, Thu 29 May 2014, 15:50, closed)

In it's entirety, I assure you.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 29 May 2014, 15:58, closed)

Not much of a stretch to class this as racist behaviour, which is gross misconduct in most workplaces
particularly if the employer was already looking to get rid.
(sarcastic fringehead feet of clay, buns of steel, head of lettuce, Thu 29 May 2014, 17:16, closed)

In what way could it possibly be construed as racist?
I'm confused.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:02, closed)

It isn't racist.
Discrimination based on someones religion isn't racist; it isn't even unfair or wrong, since religion is a learned behaviour, which people maintain by choice.
(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:15, closed)

Religion?
I'm assuming she was catholic then, what with being in a pub and all.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:25, closed)

What the fuck has wearing a keffiyeh got to do with religion?
It has everything to do with race. If you are an Arab or Kurd, you are likely to wear a keffiyeh, so by saying someone wearing one looks like a terrorist, you are saying Arabs are terrorists, which is clearly racist.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:33, closed)

There is nothing in your genetic makeup which codes for "wear this headgear".
Absolutely nothing racist about taking the piss out of a hat.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:43, closed)

But race is more than genetics; it's also culture.
Taking the piss out of a hat is fine. I, for one, think baseball caps are ridiculous. Taking the piss out of a hat, especially one worn as a symbol of cultural solidarity, in a way that seeks to reinforce detrimental and incorrect stereotypes about that culture is racist. It's like saying,'You look like a sand monkey/raghead.' It's not the same as saying hahaha, people who wear keffiyehs look like they have a tea towel on their head, which is taking the piss out of the hat.
If you intend to take the piss out of a culture at work you need to be careful. Calling the French bloke a cheese eating surrender monkey is going to get you in trouble, and saying someone who wears a keffiyeh is a terrorist falls into the same category. It's offensive, so you need to save it for when you out with mates, rather than colleagues
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 29 May 2014, 19:09, closed)

Culture is also a learned behaviour that you can choose not to do.
So, it is perfectly acceptable to take the piss out of it.
(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Thu 29 May 2014, 20:29, closed)

Exactly.
If I decided tomorrow that "my culture" was to wear a strap-on dildo on my head it would be as valid as any other "cultural costume".
We ought not to live in some feudal iron-age society where a head-dress is some kind of untouchable "holy icon".
If it's OK to take the piss out of a crap dress sense (it is, I checked) then it is equally as OK to take the piss out of silly head gear.
I'm also still not sure how any of this is "racist"?
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 29 May 2014, 20:35, closed)

It is ok to take the piss out of head dress.
It's not ok to take the piss out of it in a culturally sensitive way when out for a drink with colleagues. Can you not understand that? I'm definitely right on this. The evidence is the bit in the story where the person got sacked. It's basically not ok to say anything that could possibly be construed as offensive to anyone anywhere in front of your colleagues, because it's racist. Anyone who can't grasp that fact is a fucking idiot and deserves to be sacked. Racist here meaning saying anything that could possibly be construed as offensive to anyone anywhere.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 29 May 2014, 22:21, closed)

Not really.
Racism is about race - which is something you can't choose.

Culture and religion you can choose.

I don't see the problem with taking the piss out of people's culture. Crusties having dogs on string, for example, or chavs being chavvish.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 30 May 2014, 9:37, closed)

yerr ... you could always just Google and learn what the rest of the world and the law understands by racism
or ... you know ... just make shit up
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Fri 30 May 2014, 10:44, closed)

Argumentum ad populum, eh?
Most of the rest of the world are fucking idiots (particularly the legislators).
(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Fri 30 May 2014, 13:48, closed)

I love it when thick people use Latin terms they don't understand.
An appeal to the masses clearly isn't fallacious when it is supporting a social convention or legislation based upon democracy.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Fri 30 May 2014, 14:42, closed)

Disagreeing with a law doesn't exempt you from it.

(Eukanuba, Fri 30 May 2014, 14:45, closed)

The key word is 'race'.
Culture isn't race. Religion isn't race either.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 31 May 2014, 10:57, closed)

Are you brain dead or just a troll?
Racism is not "offending somnebody about something" it has a very specific linguistic meaning and its legal meaning is becoming nothing like that due to morons like you.
Again -- there is nothing in somebodies genetic makeup that means they wear a silly headdress.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 31 May 2014, 16:14, closed)

So calling yarmulkes "yid lids" is alright, then?
Thanks!
(sarcastic fringehead feet of clay, buns of steel, head of lettuce, Thu 29 May 2014, 19:28, closed)

Alright in my book.

(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Thu 29 May 2014, 20:27, closed)

Mein Kampf?

(sarcastic fringehead feet of clay, buns of steel, head of lettuce, Thu 29 May 2014, 22:53, closed)

The Penguin Classics Book Of Hillarious Culturally Insensitive Gags

(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Thu 29 May 2014, 23:04, closed)

... except it happened in the pub ... outside work hours ...

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 30 May 2014, 9:24, closed)

I would guess thats unfair dismissal as it was said out of hours.
Good luck on getting a freebie lawyer wanting to take it on though.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 29 May 2014, 18:00, closed)