Where Do We Go From Here?

I’m sitting in my cubicle waiting for my next client. I sit near the front, so I hear clients discussing everything. 

One of my coworkers has had a traumatic brain injury in the past. He’s not always all the way there, but he’s friendly, he works hard, and frankly, he’s not incapable of doing the job, he just gets to the result a little slower.

Some clients are complaining about him up front. He’s slow, he made errors — that sort of thing. Then, they say something that really bothers me. One of them says:

Client #1: “I can’t believe they let that r****d work here.” 

Client #2: “I heard he had a traumatic brain injury! He should have just retired and not kept working. He’s incapable of the job.”

Every year, we’re required to take workplace harassment training. The training is very clear on what to do in this situation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a client or a coworker; if someone is being discriminatory about a protected class — and disabled people are a protected class — report it to Human Resources immediately.

I call the Human Resources phone number and report it. The clients are sitting right there. I know who they are. I pull their names from the schedule.

Human Resources listens to my complaint.

Human Resources: “Okay. And… what do you expect us to do about it?”

Me: “Well… I don’t know. Isn’t it your job to figure out what to do about it? Training said to report everything to you.”

Human Resources: “Well. Consider the report made.”

Then, he mutters, so quietly that it is hard to hear over the phone:

Human Resources: “Thanks for wasting my time.”

And he hung up.

I feel like maybe I need to make a second report to HR.