A Human Resources manager—you know, the person you're supposed to go to if someone in your office did something racist—got fired for doing something racist.
Emily Huynh, an 18-year-old in Seattle, shared a disrespectful, degrading email her dad got from a prospective employer.
Bruce Peterson, the now-former HR manager/Hiring manager for Dash Delivery LLC, responded in an email to Mr. Huynh:
Let me tell you know, if you no speak English, I will send you home-
Jeez. Emily tweeted that a professional (nay, a person) shouldn't talk to another person in such a manner.
Emily's father, Minh Huynh, immigrated to America in 1995 and owned a restaurant before working as an overnight truck driver for 13 years. According to Next Shark, Mr. Huynh was laid off after being unable to get a certain license on time. For the past two years, he's been working day and night to try and find work, using Google Translate when he needs to.
Emily also shared her father's reaction.
Update: My dad isn’t that hurt, he just doesn’t fully understand the concept of someone not hiring him for his lack of English when he has more experience than most people. pic.twitter.com/xa2DA9kn7h
— wowie its emily (@staleboba) January 23, 2018
Correction: to everyone that says Chinese isn’t a language, I meant Cantonese. He’s Vietnamese but speaks canto to my mom :)))
— wowie its emily (@staleboba) January 24, 2018
Emily's tweet went viral and people with immigrant parents shared how they can relate.
My dad's an immigrant who had a lot of trouble finding a job in America because of the Bruces of the world, and he's an engineer who had a Bachelor's. My dad even had to work overseas at one point. It's so sad when people don't realize how they hurt others this way.
— Jordan Saïd is trying. (@StabbinsMcGee) January 25, 2018
My moms English isn’t perfect either and seeing this makes me want to cry. You can file a lawsuit which you guys should!
— Nicole Tran (@Nikki_Trann) January 23, 2018
The Huynhs' story was shared on the website Next Shark, and Mr. Huynh was overwhelmed by the amount of support he's received. Finally, the internet is good for once!
Update: he’s reading his article and is overwhelmed by the amount of support everyone is giving him! pic.twitter.com/fNnxYof6Kf
— wowie its emily (@staleboba) January 24, 2018
The story has a happy ending: Peterson was fired for his sh*ttiness.
Emily also shared an update from her dad, who's grateful for the support but working hard to move on with daily English lessons.
Check up: Even though we appreciate all the encouragement to make it a law suit, my dad has forgiven and wants to move on. He says he doesn’t want to be confrontational, what happened has happened. Btw this is my dads notebook he keeps near his laptop, he teaches himself daily :) pic.twitter.com/0tWFl5H9Hx
— wowie its emily (@staleboba) January 24, 2018
And the family got an apology from Peterson himself.
Take a lesson from Mr. Huynh: learn from your mistakes and your ignorance.
Update: Bruce himself has apologized with an email stating that he understand his wrong-doings and he begged for forgiveness. My dad forgives him and just hopes that people learn from their ignorance. pic.twitter.com/6OZWN7sxES
— wowie its emily (@staleboba) January 25, 2018
Emily told BuzzFeed that since the tweet went viral, her dad has received numerous job offers.
She also said that her dad wants to thank the internet for their support, and that she was grateful to "to shine a light to this serious problem of workplace discrimination."