Two or three weeks into my employment at Café Ah-Roma, a blonde girl walks in through the door and starts talking to my manager. Let's call her Lola. I assumed she was an old friend who comes in the café frequently, but she was actually an employee there. All was well until Lola started ranting about her landlords. Girl I get it, they can be a pain in the butt. However, the conversation took a very different turn when she started talking about their race. Lola assumed my race was White so I guess she felt as though she could comfortably be racist in front of me. She thought wrong! I, as a Korean-American, hear racist jokes all the time. We eat dogs. Haha so funny. We can't drive. Haha so funny. I have heard every Asian joke in the book and I really don't even mind them because they are not personal. This scenario was a bit different.

Lola claimed that her landlords did not "understand the American system" and they "Don't know how to handle money." This doesn't seem racist right? Oh wait, then she ended with "because they are Asian." Racist. I just let it go thinking she was a customer. I told myself it wasn't my business and to just move on doing my job. It wasn't until a week or so later that I found out she was my coworker. Upon discovering this I confided in my other coworker, let's call her Josie. I asked Josie how I should approach the situation and she advised me to talk to our boss if I had an issue with a coworker. She also told me that she hears Lola make racist comments all the time. Josie brushes it off though because apparently her parents are Asian. God forbid a White person is racist if they married into a race. That was sarcasm… you can't marry into a race. You are what you are. Lola will mimic customer's accents when they speak to her, crack Asian jokes all the time, and even make homophobic statements. These are claims made not by one, but at least four other coworkers. Four! Out of a staff of like seven.

I thought about what I was going to do and decided that I would give Lola a chance to show me what kind of person she is. I wasn't going to cause issues because I prefer to be less problematic as possible. I chose wrong! My good friend that I worked with told me Josie decided to spark a conversation while working with Lola and say "So I hear Serena thinks you're racist." My boss, my friend, Josie, and Lola were working at this moment. My friend told me that they started laughing and making jokes because it is so funny that an Asian would be offended by the statements she made… Of course when I heard this I was mad. I was also embarrassed. I felt invalidated. I wanted to walk out the door and just flick off everyone there and yell "The money you spend in this café goes into the pockets of racist employees!" But I didn't.

I texted my boss explaining that what went down during that shift was not okay. And I had a problem. She called me and calmed me down. I didn't walk out because I was working with my friend and didn't want her to close with our boss because she makes her uncomfortable as well. My boss also has made homophobic comments which concerned me and my friend is bi. The next day my employer and I met. I was under the assumption she would come to me with a solution and apologize for what had happened. Again, I thought wrong! Right off the bat my employer starts defending Lola and herself saying they aren't racist. "She was talking about her inlaws not her landlord", "her husband is Asian." I made it clear that there is no excuse for being racist. It doesn't matter who she is married to. My employer then started to berate me with questions about everything racist I have heard Lola say. I told her that was the only time I had personally heard anything but multiple coworkers that work shifts with her have heard her mimicking accents and making racist comments about her in-laws. She then demanded I told her who, so I told her Josie was one of them.

My employer pulled Josie out of work and asked her if she's ever heard Lola make racist comments. Josie went back on her word and said: "no I have not heard Lola say anything racist." Upon realizing the meeting with my employer was pointless, I got up, said we were done, and walked out. My employer then passively yelled "Good luck with your employment elsewhere!" Now I work at Joe Maxx. They have better coffee, AND they pay me better.

My experience at Café Ah-Roma was unfortunate. I understand that racism is something minorities have to deal with basically everywhere but it doesn't make it okay. I hope my experience encourages you to step up to racism; even to your boss. The right thing for me to have done was walk out the door after I heard what happened. I should not have finished that shift and I should not have had to swallow my pride like that just for my boss to handle the situation in a racist and unprofessional manner. I gave my coworker Lola a chance, and I gave my boss a chance. They both proved that they were racist in the end. Racism isn't about pointing fingers like my boss made it out to be. We say things we don't mean all the time, it's about the effort we make to fix our mistakes and assume responsibility.