What should I do
I have a coworker whose name & gender I obviously won’t disclose. Myself and other baristas have had issues with this person (they are a lead and have been with the company for over 15 years). We’ll call them X.
Today there were two Hispanic people at the register and I guess X had tried to help them but there was a language barrier. X has gotten visibly irritated with similar situations before. X then came over the headset and extremely rudely said “(other barista) you’re gonna have to take them because I can’t understand them.” Right in front of them! Very rude and with a tone. Myself and another barista looked at each other like WTF. Another barista then came over the headset and said “X, that was kinda racist of you,” to which X replied “did I say it out loud? Oopsie.” A few of us then proceeded to tell X that yes it was racist and not OK.
Then X decided it would be a good idea to come back on the headset and say “well, would it be racist if I also said that the Miffy collection is for a certain demographic..like ASIANS?” We were all in shock. Then X proceeded to say “Yeah, I saw a black man looking at the collection the other day and I wanted to tell him, that’s not for him.” My jaw was on the FLOOR, dude. Like first you insulted a customer because of a language barrier, got called out, then go on to say how the Miffy collection is only for Asians and how you wanted to tell a black man they’re not for him to look at or purchase.
I told my manager, and she told me that was “on the wilder side,” and that she’s glad I speak up in those situations. But due to issues with this shift lead in the past, and how my manager handled them (btw, didn’t handle them and basically told me I’m lying), I’m unsure if this will be handled correctly, especially since this person has been with the company for such a long time and our store relies on them a lot for behind-the-scenes stuff. I’m considering telling my DM but a) I don’t want to piss off my manager b) I don’t know how to properly go about it. Do I text? Call? Email?? What do I include or not include? Do I mention the previous issues and why I don’t feel that telling my manager was enough? Please help!