AITA for not speaking Hindi?
I (28f) was working as a business manager at a very big international business factory and there were these two bitches, both in their late 40s, who seemed to have made it their life’s mission to make me feel unwelcome.
For the context, I'm tall, with a very beautiful long blonde hair and blue eyes, I'm gorgeous and I take pride in my appearance. They, on the other hand, are ugly: dark skin, black hair and one of them is even fat. I know that nowadays almost everyone agrees that Hitler was a bad guy, but at least he set the objective beauty standards and it's not my fault I have huge perky boobs, I was born like that! And I know they’re just jealous.
They constantly spoke in a foreign language erupting into fits of cackling laughter. They were playing it smart, never looking directly at me while talking, so I had no proof that they were discussing me, but, hey, let's think a bit, an ugly woman in her 40s, she clearly has nothing interesting going on in her life, so what were they laughing at if not me? Right?
I tried to handle it professionally. I first approached a British coworker, I mean, he is white and British, he must have understood my issue, but he didn't. I was saying that everyone should speak English in the office and he made a silly face and asked "because we are in England?", so I snapped and said that actually, yes, we are in England. The new one. Because obviously the old one wasn't good enough to preserve our culture. He said "you must be kidding", but he wasn't laughing, and I wasn't kidding! He just walked away and I guess I learned the hard way that famous British humor isn't really a thing.
I was frustrated but not hopeless, I went straight to HR to report the overwhelming hostility in the office. And you know what that old fat prick told me?? She said it was my "last chance" to "quit my bullshit immediately" and that I'm not fired yet only because everyone loves and respects my uncle (he's the vice-president of the business). At that point I was fucking mad and decided to take matters into my own hands.
That evening, I went to a local grocery store owned by a man with a thick, dark beard. I said, I needed him to teach me a specific phrase in Hindi. I wanted to say: 'Stop talking shit about me, you bitches.'
The owner gave me an odd look and suddenly started rambling about turkeys. He was saying something like he was "Kurt form turkey" or whatever nonsense that I have no idea what it was even supposed to mean?? It was so annoying! I told him that "I don’t care about poultry. It’s not even Thanksgiving", like maybe you should learn a bit more about the local culture before you start obsessing over turkeys in May?? Like, will you help me or not??
He laughed and said "Fine. Come back tomorrow. I will have someone here who can help you"
The next day, I returned. The first man was there with a second guy, also dark-skinned with a prominent beard. He spent twenty minutes coaching me on the phonetics, I repeated until it felt confident enough.
The following week, the factory hosted an international "Town Hall" event. All the executives were there, and the entire floor was gathered for a presentation. As we were waiting for the CEO to take the stage, the two women were at it again. They stood three feet away from me, whispering in Hindi, glancing at my dress, and snickering.
This was it.
I stepped into the center of the circle, took a deep breath, and shouted the phrase they taught me, loudly, clearly, and with total confidence, directly at their faces. I said it three times for maximum impact.
The room went dead silent for a heartbeat and then a guy started laughing hysterically, I never paid much attention to him, but I think he works in the IT department, he isn't handsome at all and he wears glasses. He was laughing and the two bitches were like "what's going on?". He laughed so hard that he struggled to speak but he finally managed to say "she is saying in Hindi 'I'm a dumb racist scum'." Then everyone started laughing and the fat bitch went "Yeah, we've noticed, but why in Hindi?" and a black guy (not even remotely good looking) said "Hindi, Hispanic, who cares?" and all of them laughed even harder. The irony!! It was the exact same thing that I said at the recent meeting about our products localization but when it was me talking, nobody was laughing and the HR even told me to be very careful with my words. Like wtf??
They fired me on the spot and my uncle refuses to help me, he's mad at me for "ruining his reputation" and all my family is blowing up my phone. It's just crazy, I don't get how any of it is my fault?? Please, tell me, AITA?