You people!!

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"You people" is not offensive if you are addressing a group of actual humans in front of you (you're workmates in the break room say).

"You people!..Dont ANY of you EVER empty the waist basket?"

I thought you were addressing all of us on WP in the title of this thread. I wasnt offended.

If the speaker is addressing one person then that person has to deduce what group of plural "people" the speaker is placing them into. It could be racial, or not.

The folks you talk to while phone soliciting probably resent you for being a phone solicitor and not for being of any race. It "works" because your comment just confuses the hell out them, and leaves them momentarily speechless. Not because it touches their conscience. Lol!

Lol...thank you.

Sort of like the way that some people seem to think that every social slight is related to how they look ...

HIM: "I'm sorry that your invitation was lost."
HER: "It's because I'm fat, isn't it?"
HIM: "Wha ... ?"

... a classic non-sequitur.

So...you are annoying people without provocation, you know you are annoying said people, you enjoy annoying said people - and then you are bothered when they say something derogatory?

...something that groups you in with all the other cold callers,
...who typically have to work off a script and say the same thing over and over,
...and get a narrow VOIP bandwidth so their voices sound fairly similar?

Might I suggest that perhaps a therapist would indicate that your job invokes a fair amount of stress in your life and your way to vent is to play games with the people you've cold called?

Thanks for the analysis.

Maybe you could answer my question next time.

You people should really stop worry about people using you people. Gosh you're starting to sound like those people.

I think I might actually mind though, because the only two contexts I could see someone referring to me as "you people" would be in a derogatory sense.

Last edited by Feyokien on 25 Oct 2015, 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This.

If someone aggressively cold called me and when I objected to it, pulled the race card in order to manipulate me, you can bet I'd be connected with the person's supervisor toot-sweet.

I'd be REALLY careful with all this if I were you...you are interrupting them and being invasive (that's what cold calling does, basically)...that's tricky enough (your boss should have already told you something along these lines); then basically calling the person racist and indeed, doing so specifically to manipulate, well, I don't know...you're in dangerous waters there.

If you like your job or at least want to keep it whether you like it or not, honestly, I'd stop doing that. It's not going to "work" with every single person forever. I promise you that somewhere along the line you'll get the person who makes enough of a stink to get you fired, no matter what that takes...demanding to speak to your supervisor, calling back repeatedly to follow up, going to your place of business to find an email to make sure s/he is actually being heard by a supervisor and not just being switched around, or whatever that is. At least one of the people you call will have a lot of time on his or her hands, a lot of anger at being manipulated and called a racist, and may be in a place where you were the straw that broke the camel's back among a long line of other cold callers. It's only a matter of time, so if so far you haven't been called to the carpet and disciplined for calling your potential customers racists, it's coming, I'd bet my bottom dollar on that.

Just my $.02.

By the way, no, I don't think there's at all a comparison to saying "you people" when one means race or disability, and saying "you people" when talking about a group of people who electively choose to do what they're doing. One doesn't choose race or disability. One definitely chooses whether one opts into a position where s/he makes a phone call intended to get something out of someone else (money for goods or services). Incorrect comparison so even if pulling the race card weren't offensive all by itself (not to mention kind of a slap for people who DO deal with racism and bias based on their disabilities), your M.O. just wouldn't make sense anyway in the context in which you're using it.

p.s. You don't "make a point" with people when you've intruded on them (whether it's for your job or not). That's not your place. You graciously hang up, or else you do what your boss tells you to do in the situation - i.e. "If someone is upset, ask whether you may connect them to person X" or whatever.

Last edited by NowhereWoman on 25 Oct 2015, 6:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I don't give a damn lol I think it's funny when the other person gets annoyed.

And btwo to be a good cold caller you must be the type who doesn't get offended.

lol...very good.

Thank you.

But really though....I was using my job as an example.

The question was/is...Do you see the term "You people" as being derogatory?

That's ok... you are entitled to have your say. I actually choose to work for very unprofessional companies who don't play by the rules so much. This gives me more of a free range of what I can say and I am very unscripted.

My boss always sticks up for me and the other staff.

But My works was only an example anyway. there is no need for anyone to worry about me and what I say.

The question goes for anyone in any circumstance and it is (once again)...Can the term "You people" be seen as derogatory?

Is your boss the very top at your company?

If not, at some point some really angry person will be getting you BOTH fired.

But I guess you can find another "unprofessional" company, so if you don't mind that you're being manipulative and hurting other people, I guess it's all good.

Just please don't come on here the next person manipulates and emotionally injures you and look for sympathy, that's all. You won't have much of a leg to stand on.

IMO.

Just make sure one of those houses you're calling isn't mine... Because I can assure you with 100% certainty that the one who hangs up crying won't be me.

,,,I see you're Commonwealth , I guess " you people " seems to hjave this sometimes-in
terpreted-as demeaning m,eaning in Commonnea;lth English too , I thought maybe it was more American ?
Thhat's ma shame , it's helpful to have a usage where you can make clear you're addressing a collective/organization ~ English I guess has few if any such phrases ~ Beyond American Southern " y'all " , which I use ! , though I'm not exactly what people consider Souther-accented sounding (My8 parents were , though .)
I'm on a semi-broken computer with extremely little time and I'm not correcting many,mistypes here .

What are you talking about?

I asked for a simple answer to my question.

I think you might have taken things a little bit out of context here.

Thank you ASS-P.

Yes you could have a point there. I have heard people other than myself question peoples intent when they have come up against said term. This is one of the reasons I asked the question.

As for whether it's derogatory, I'm sure each person will have his or her own opinion on this. As for me, I already answered it but here it is again. No, the "you people" as directed toward you, a cold caller utilizing manipulative tactics, is not derogatory in the way racist or anti-disabilities "you people" could/would be, as in the former, it's a choice and it's bad behavior (a habit of interrupting people and aggressively attempting to get money out of them based on manipulative and sometimes scripted tactics - in your case non-scripted but also manipulative tactics); it's based on a choice to behave in an intrusive way. In the latter it's based on a condition of being that the person has no control over. These are two very different things. HTH.

Now...it may be inaccurate to automatically group a person based on others' behavior (i.e. saying "you people" even if you haven't said or done a single thing, and/or automatically holding it against the person when that person isn't acting as the group generally does...for example, telling someone at a party or randomly that you are a cold caller and having the person launch into a "you people" speech bringing up things you've never personally done in your job) but of course in your case it is accurate as you are in fact, by your own admission, being manipulative, deliberately misrepresenting the situation with full knowledge of what the person you invaded means, and indeed are apparently enjoying it.

Again, other people may have a different interpretation.