Spanish worker dubbed 'Manuel' sues for £30,000

[sweet soul]

Spanish worker dubbed 'Manuel' sues for £30,000 over Fawlty Towers taunts .


A Spanish electrician who was allegedly nicknamed 'Manuel' by workmates after the Fawlty Towers waiter is suing his former employer for nearly £30,000.
Juan Ignacio, originally from Barcelona, says he was routinely taunted with the famous 'I know nothing' and 'Que?' catchphrases used by Andrew Sachs's sitcom character.
Mr Ignacio, 33, claims that bullying bosses mocked his accent and jibed 'He's from Barcelona', in front of others - the standard excuse made for Manuel by John Cleese's Basil Fawlty.
He alleges his managers at a private London hospital branded Spain a 'Third World country' and asked whether they had electricity.

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www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1126509/Spanish-worker-dubbed-Manuel-sues-30-000-Fawlty-Towers-taunts.html


i can understand it getting on his nerves, but it seems to be easy money too these days.

[Modified to reduce too much copied text, and avoid copyright issues - SS PLEASE ABIDE BY GUIDELINES AND POST A SENTENCE OR TWO]

[sweet soul]

'Until my resignation, Mr Sweeney and Mr Metcalfe made anti-homosexual remarks against me. I am not homosexual but found the remarks offensive.'

A second hospital worker, Pole Marcin Lukomski, 30, is also suing HCA and the two managers for £23,000 on the same grounds.

Handyman Mr Lukomski claims he had no choice but to quit his £21,000-a-year job in May after enduring a torrent of racist abuse, including the insults 'f***ing Polish', 'f***ing foreigners' and 'useless, stupid Pole'.

HCA and the two managers deny both men's allegations.

The case will be heard next month.

[sweet soul]

ricklinc, i bet you have had to put up with some jibes in your years at work, being a wop ans all : ) so, how did u cope and carry on regardless??

[VikingHumpingWitch]

I hope he wins, I have a personal grudge against HCA.

[radge]

GET A SENSE OF HUMOUR. OR AT LEAST TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE WORLD ENJOYS BANTER!? Que? yes i said Banter Manuel, look it up in a dictionary.

[wetkingcanute]

You spend eight hours a day, five days a week at work. It's is a very important part of most people's lives.

If you're constantly having to face verbal bullying like this from your management it must be soul destroying.

[sweet soul]

i agree with wet king on this one, it must have drove him mad

[radge]

if you call that bullying you need to regress back to school days or go to prison.

[sweet soul]

"If you're constantly having to face verbal bullying like this from your management it must be soul destroying. "



thats the point, it was managment
must have been horrid, cos who can u complain to?

[radge]

its not bullying its banter. there is a big difference. Like prince charles calling his mate sooty heh heh. the question is not about what was said but about HOW it was said. This "Manuel" is just another punter trying to get money for nothing. We dont know how tight the company is, so banter from management could be seen as a very positive thing because it means everyone is in the same boat and trying to have banter and a laugh from the top down. Thats a good thing.

[wetkingcanute]

I disagree Radge.

It's all very well getting banter from your work mates - most people can deal with that.

It is very very stupid for management to go round verbally bullying people.

If this company promotes dickheads into management positions it deserves everything it gets.

[reverend]

so what inconsiderate bs'tard branded the Daego manuel?

[radge]

BANTER not bullying BANTER.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

However it was meant, it's still incredibly stupid for managers to do that and clearly shows they aren't fit to be managers. I know a manager (female) who was reported to HR for "inappropriate physical contact" after giving a (female) team member a hug when the team member was crying in the office. If you haven't realised by now that calling someone names based on their nationality and supposed sexuality is Right Out then you're probably too stupid to be anywhere near any other humans, let alone managing them.

[thenomad]

Remember the PC thought police have designed a whole industry designed to extract cash from you for any reason if someone wants to play the victim card against you.

It is not hard to make yourself out to be a victim. There are loads of professional liars and lawyers (often the same people) out there who will help you make a case. Most companies want to keep the costs down and know that even if they win it will be at huge expense so are willing to give some money away whether guilty or not if it gets the claim dropped.

[radge]

exactly it isnt about conduct of managers or collegues the problem lies in the litigation society we live in where you can get money for nothing. Your example VHW is the biggest farce we see week in week out and we all sit back and think its correct but the fact of the matter is its been taken way too far. Common sense is out the window and anality is high on the agenda. Cest la vie its the way our world works, but it aint right!!!! far from it.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Sure, I agree totally and I think it's bloody appalling. But this is the climate and if you're a manager and don't realise this, then you've been promoted way above your capabilities.

[radge]

The climate is to blame though and not the people managing. We need a revolution against this type of thing. Judges are the ones that coninue to let it be a case when infact they should use more common sense and tell individuals and companies to get a life and make them grovel for being idiots. Oh If i were a judge!!!! I'd be well on my personal crusade tomake muppets cower and learn.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

One of the things I like about Sweden is that compo payouts are generally very small, so there is far less incentive to sue for doing something stupid like falling over a thing you should have seen before walking into it.

My favouritest example of the "gah quick panic fix it somebody might sue!" culture in Britain was at Stansted, having queued for five minutes for the bogs some cleaner came rushing over and declared them closed. The reason being that one of the 8 cubicles had a leak, but we couldn't just let people use the other 7 because some of the leak had spread and someone might have fallen over.

[radge]

exactly...common sense totally out the window.