So, this past weekend, Mr. Ambrya (whom I have mentioned before is half Japanese, and looks it in terms of complexion and the shape of his eyes) got new glasses. On his Caucasian side, he's got a rather long, narrow face (or as he puts it, "mom's meat stretched over dad's bones" -- and no, I don't think he intended that to sound as bad as it did. He was, after all, discussing his parents) and his previous rounded lenses really had a bit of an eggheady/Mr. Peeps thing going on that, while far from objectionable, was just a bit dated. So the new specs are much smaller, rectangular, and all kinds of HAWT! But that's another story.
Today one of his coworkers--someone with whom he rarely speaks--noticed the new glasses and this was the comment they made:
"It makes you look more Japanesey! Is that what you were going for?"
Now, my husband has no issues whatsoever about being half Japanese, but it struck him as being a very inappropriate remark to make to a casual coworker, if for no other reason than it's just really not cool the raise the issue of a virtual stranger's racial identity when the person in question hasn't first raised the issue.
We're both laughing it off as being someone who just put their foot in their mouth without ever thinking about how the words they were speaking might come across, but at the same time, we're both a little aghast that anyone could be that blithely tactless in the workplace.
Makes me wonder what the general consensus is. If you have a casual acquaintance/coworker whose racial identity is by no means a topic of conversation (or for that matter, even a sure thing--he doesn't look so Japanese that one could immediately assume that to be his genetic background) is it tacky or acceptable to bring it up?
Edited, Tue May 16 18:10:31 2006 by Ambrya