It’s A Race To The Top

(I am working on the tills as a cashier, while one of my coworkers has just gone up to being a manager, despite the fact that I have been here four years and she has been here two and a half. I talk to her during break.)

Me: “How come you got the job? I’m not complaining; I’m just confused.”

Coworker: *smirking* “Well, it was between [Other Coworker] and me and we did… I guess roughly the same in our areas, but I wanted the job, so I told [Manager] that she called me a [racial slur].”

Me: “You can’t do that! You could seriously have ruined her job here!”

Coworker: *nearly laughing from spluttering* “So what? You can try it, as well. Just say that a coworker you don’t like — maybe [White Coworker #1] or [White Coworker #2] — called you a [racial slur] and the management will have them demoted.”

Me: “But it’s wrong! You can’t do that! And I don’t even have anything against those coworkers.”

Coworker: “I can and I will. And do you know why? Because we’re [race], and they’re too scared to fire us.”

(She got fired, surprisingly enough.)