Question: I work as a dishwasher. I was hired along with this other guy from my country. The cooks don’t like us and are always saying mean things to us about our country. One night the comments got to be too much, and the other dishwasher and he flipped out. He picked up a knife and stabbed one of the cooks. I feel bad for him because he’s going to jail and, then, the manager fired me for nothing. What can a normal good person do about this?
Answer: In every country, there are good people and there are bigoted idiots. Unfortunately, you and your countryman found yourselves working with the latter.
The lesson is that if you push the wrong person too far, you get hurt or worse. This cook got taught this lesson.
You can’t change other people. You can only change your reaction to them. From the first day of abuse, you got the message. The idiots in this restaurant don’t respect you and that was unlikely to change. Look for another job. Work very hard, save and invest. Your success will be your revenge.
