'That is enraging on OOP's part': Staffer snaps at colleague because of his winter outfit

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    Facial expression - 'That coworker's behavior was rude, unprofessional, and totally out of line'
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    Font - r/r/BestofRedditorUpdates Posted by u/Smokin_sunbeam 1 day ago 2 OOP dresses for cold weather and coworker reacts poorly (plus an Update) CONCLUDED I am not OP! Original post from r/tifu by user u/hug-a-cat
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    Font - TIFU by dressing casually for work - posted December 9, 2022Original Post I work with marginalized people with complex needs, and my specific role relates to having lived experience of homelessness, addiction and complex trauma. There are a lot of different elements to it that I won't get into because they aren't relevant, but I do some work at a service for rough sleepers which is where I was today. Most of my colleagues dress very casually for work. I try quite hard to be presentable be
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    Font - At the place I was working, there's a drop-in area for the clients and an office area which is staff only. I mainly chill in the client area since they're the people I'm there to work with and only really go in the office area when I need to talk to a colleague or need a computer or something. This week a member of staff I hadn't met before had come back from maternity leave and was in the office. I went to the office to introduce myself. I opened the door and popped my head round and wit
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    Font - Anyway I just got on with things for a bit until I actually had to go into the office. I started walking in and she jumped out of her chair and was like "NO! YOU. CAN. NOT. COME. IN. HERE" and literally started shoo-ing me out the door with her hands. I kinda just allowed myself to be shoo-ed (which probably speaks volumes about my self esteem), but the service manager who I know pretty well had arrived in the meantime and was also in the office she was like "wtf, why are you shoo-ing R,
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    Font - Went home and had a little cry, since apparently the only thing separating R the professional and R the homeless junkie is a poorly fitting hoodie and a dorky hat. Not a good day for my self-esteem. Now I've dealt with the self-pity aspect and I'm mainly just pissed that that's how she thinks she should treat clients. The service manager has emailed me about making a complaint which tbh I probably will even though its the last thing I want to deal with. TI, Dr - I went to work in casual c
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    Font - TIFU by dressing casual to work (UPDATE) - posted January 11, 2023Update Post My original post was here. I got a message asking if there are any updates - there actually are and it's positive overall so I figured I'd make a quick post. So the basic jist of my original post is that I work with marginalised people including people dealing with street homelessness, I'm the "lived experience" guy so I feel a bit separate from a lot of my colleagues. During a cold snap, I had to wear a lot of
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    Font - What ended up happening... I did go ahead with the complaint - mainly because the way she acted when she thought I was a client made me concerned about how she treats actual clients. It was taken seriously and formally investigated. The process wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be, I feel like it was handled pretty well. I feel like people kept getting stuck on the "me being mistaken for a client" part and not the "this lady thinks its fine to shoo clients" part. Like they were as
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    Font - I also think it's the sort of thing that could be useful for absolutely anyone and I'm definitely including myself in that. I have very little direct contact with the lady who shoo-ed me and as far as I can tell she's avoiding me which I have no problem with. Hopefully she finds the training useful?? Part of me is hoping we'll be booked on to the same session because I think the sheer level of awkwardness could be pretty interesting. That's about it for an update. I'm currently half-dead
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    Font - FED Plus_Cardiologist497 - 22 hr. ago Here's my thing. This organization went out of its way to hire someone with lived experience - someone who had been homeless, been addicted, lived that life to help serve those currently in that situation. They 100 percent need to ensure that the workplace is a safe and supportive environment for him. That coworker's behavior was rude, unprofessional, and totally out of line with the purpose and values of the non-profit. And when she was made aware of
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    Font - RumikoHatsune - 20 hr. ago Imagine that you are not homeless, but you are only there to visit an acquaintance who forgot to bring his lunch, you have loose second-hand clothes that do not match because by Murphy's Law the comfort of a winter garment is inversely proportional to its appearance, and you meet this lady. The chick would have ended up with a report anyway no matter if it was OOP or any other employee, or even someone who went there looking for information on how she can sign u
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    Font - megamoze 23 hr. ago The fact someone who works with homeless people treats them like pests is a really huge issue. I would not have let that go.
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    Font - gowithwhatyouknow · 22 hr. ago I can tell you have not worked in homeless services before. Probably 50-75% of the staff behave this way. I have seen a staff member jingle her keys in a resident's face and say "I have a place to go when I leave here, you don't." It's a systemic problem where society thinks it's okay to treat some people like this based on their economic conditions. It's also an incredibly stressful job that pays so poorly that you are always one catastrophe away from being
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    Font - FrostyBallBag 22 hr. ago There's an endless list of professions with people who get in it just to abuse it. I have no doubt this is a serious issue. I don't know the size of the organisation, but the problem seems undetected until this and definitly under-dealt with.
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    Font - SleepyxDormouse · 1 hr. ago So many people have that idea about homeless people. There was a woman in a homeless shelter who posted videos of the moldy bread and expired food they were given at the homeless shelter for the holidays. Their video was basically a PSA that the food was not safe to eat because someone could get really sick. The comments in that video were basically telling her to be grateful she got something to eat and to just shut up. It's appalling the way society views the
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    Font - TheSuite LifeOfChase 23 hr. ago OOP seems very caring towards their cause. We need more of that Reply Share 3.9k kittyroux 21 hr. ago This is one of the reasons "lived experience guys" are super valuable! He's caring toward his cause because he has been in the shoes of the people he's helping. He doesn't need special training to understand that people without housing are still people.
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    Font - montee916 18 hr. ago One of my favorite sayings goes along the lines of.... Those who can afford it the least are the ones who will donate the most, because they're close enough to the edge to see how far the fall is.
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    Organism - throwawaygremlins - 23 hr. ago Whew glad the service manager was there to witness it and wanted to take care of the unprofessional behavior too. 543 Reply Share CumaeanSibyl. 20 hr. ago Yeah, that struck me as well. They clearly recognize this as a bad situation from all angles.
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    Font - Lizardgirl25 23 hr. ago That is enraging on OOP's part it.
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    Font - janecdotes Screeching 18 hr. ago on the Front Lawn Honestly, it is disgusting that apparently they aren't telling this women directly "it is unacceptable to shoo our service users". She needs to be told directly what she did was wrong and I don't see this training actually doing that. In addition, there are some people who have talked about the issues with unconscious bias training. The big one being, it works on the assumption that all bias is unconscious and relieves people of any respo
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    Font - throwawaygremlins - 23 hr. ago Don't people just look like stuffed marshmallows/waddling penguins when they're all bundled up for the winter anyways? I'm curious as to this "homeless look" OOP supposedly had that made the rude co-worker act like that...
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    Font - hug-a-cat 9 hr. ago I'm the OOP... I can't say for certain what my coworker was responding to but I can give it my best guess. The past year is the first time in my life that I've experienced something other than pretty extreme poverty. I wouldn't be considered particularly well-off by most people's standards even now, but to me its a complete other world (I remember getting super excited that I was rich enough to buy the brand name toilet bleach with a fancy scent - turns out it works ex
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    Font - make an effort to be clean and tidy and dress appropriately but my clothes are cheap and I'm sure that's noticeable to some people. When it's cold I layer up because that's the most effective way to stay warm, and really warm winter coats are very expensive. I'm also very skinny with a smaller than average frame (east asian) so lot of the time even the smallest sizes available don't look great. I also think... there are a lot of things that are viewed completely differently depending on w
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    Font - trashy. I think clothing is a BIG one. Where I live, its common for wealthy, white university students to go to the supermarket in PJs and a hoodie. In my workplace, a lot of my (middle class, well educated) colleagues will dress extremely casually and come in with flip- flops and trackie bottoms and matted hair and no one will bat an eyelid. I absolutely cannot get away with doing that. Hopefully that makes sense?

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