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My white Manager says my ringtone makes him uncomfortable

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SamuelSupreme

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Im at a job where we require the use of our cell phones. Everyone has their own ringtone. I recently changed mine to this.

https://youtu.be/WFY2kJ96jNY

My manager pulled me aside and said that it makes him uncomfortable and to have to change it or risk a write up.

Gaf what are your thoughts? Is my ringtone offensive? Should I fight or comply?
 
Some fights aren't worth fighting. Depending on the job you may just want to change it rather then fight it and be on everyone's bad side afterwards. It's just a dumb ringtone.

It's probably not appropriate for most workplaces anyways.
 
Enter The 36 Chambers said:
Whats your ringtone?

Some people can't watch videos at work or on mobile networks..
Click to expand...

tumblr_mxmibrSlsr1svn82uo1_500.gif
 
That is discrimination to me. There are barely any lyrics in that ringtone. What if it was a recording of you saying the same thing? You can't call yourself black? Fuck him, cb4 is awesome.

Sure there wouldn't be any fucking issue if you were white and the ringtone was saying I'm white yall.
 
That was my old ringtone years ago. I don't know why it makes him uncomfortable since the song is super dumb in the first place but I don't think you'll get very far trying to fight it.
 
Old Gimlet Eyes said:
That is discrimination to me. There are barely any lyrics in that ringtone. What if it was a recording of you saying the same thing? You can't call yourself black? Fuck him, cb4 is awesome.

Sure there wouldn't be any fucking issue if you were white and the ringtone was saying I'm white yall.
Click to expand...

I.e every country song ever made.
 
OP you should ask your boss to have a private talk and then pull out your phone and play it while you stare him down
 
Start recording every "talk" you two have. Something more is going to happen. Also, don't change it. Don't even entertain the bullshit by taking about what makes him feel uncomfortable. You know what the situation likely is. There's ZERO offensive lyrics, so he'd have to lie about the ringtone to genuinely write you up about it. That being said, know where you are. If you work around mostly white folks, know you are in hostile waters. People will likely range from indifferent to agreeing with your manager, for the most part. Oh, and start looking elsewhere for work. Though you can easily fall somewhere worst.
 
At my office we're all basically required to have phones on vibrate, but I mean if everyone else has their phones turned up I don't really see how that's offensive in any way. There's no swearing. I'd ask for the request in writing.
 
I'd honestly ask him why he feels uncomfortable about it. Nothing explicit in the lyrics nor is there anything political. Just a dude repeatedly saying he's black.
 
What are the other ringtones of coworkers?

Do customers here it?

His wording is suspect but if yours is the only sort of joke-y ringtone it might not be worth fighting .
 
You could just turn your phone to vibrate while at work like every other human on the planet. Unless you're at a job where your phone ringtone is vital, like a hospital as an ER surgeon, in which case, yeah, the ringtone may be in poor taste.
 
As others have said, put your phone on vibrate anyways. It's not professional to have your phone blasting a song.

But I still would have loved to hear the conversation.

"uh Steve, how's it going"

"it's going good boss"

"fantastic, how swell. Listen Steve, you know I am a fan of the fellow human beings and know I don't see people as ethnicities"

"... "

" but Steven, stevearino, some of the guys on here are feeling uncomfortable. How would you feel if I played some Taylor swift? I'm not singing about my skin color, not that it matters because I see no race as I told you"

"uuuuuh huh"

"coolio Steven, glad we could come to an agreement"
 
Does he understand the context? If not, he might lighten up if you let him know.

Either way, as a honky, I don't find it offensive at all, but some white people just can't handle having race brought up, period, and a ringtone like that could trigger their anxiety about it, maybe?

I dunno. I think if he just asked you as a favor, and not with the threat about a write-up, I'd advise getting rid of it. But he's being a bit of a dick about things, so I'd understand if you wanna fight it.
 
I'm more curious as to why your phone isn't set to vibrate, personally. Other people's ringtones going off in the middle of work is kind of annoying to me.

More on topic - That's a pretty good ring tone (FYI - I'm white)
 
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