Jiga Who? Jiga WHAAAA!!!

I can't believe I forgot to post this. I was working a temp job at Allied Waste Management (BFI). There was an older gentleman named John who sat one cubicle away from me. Our cubicles went almost to the ceiling, so I rarely got to see John's face. There was a young 22/23 year old girl who worked part-time as the front receptionist when not working customer relations. When I first started working there, something struck me as a little odd. It seemed that everyone had a fish tank on their desk, working filter/air bubbler, various tank decorations and a live fish. Well John's Birthday was that week (July 24'th, I remember because that's my Dad's as well). So, the receptionist girl got John a Siamese fighting fish (a.k.a Betta) for his birthday. I guess it was an attempt to get him to fit in with the rest of the fish crew.

He was a dark fish, almost blue-black, elegant. This beautiful tortured soul was destined to live out his life in a glass bubble, subject to warped giants repeatedly thumping against his glass house, calling out his name. When I heard his name, I about damned near fucking fell over.

The young girl, we'll call Cindy, had stopped by John's desk to see how the new fish was enjoying his new home. That's when I heard the two of them, singing out loud in unison, "JIGABOO! Hey Jigaboo! Who's a good jigaboo?" My mouth hit the floor.

I commented over John's cubicle, "what did you guys just say?" Cindy said, "it's the fish's name, Jigaboo." I let out a loud, "what! I can't believe you're saying that out loud!" Brilliant Cindy came over to my cubicle. She says, "what's wrong with Jigaboo!?!" I said, "you need to stop saying that out loud. I don't think you know what it means." She said, "I know what it means, do YOU?" I said, "well then tell me what you think it means." Cindy says, "it's from that John Brown song, 'Jigaboo'. Get it? J.B.? Jiga-Boo?" I was like, "no, it's a derogatory racial slur towards blacks. It's like screaming "Jungle Bunny," "Spade" or "Coon". You might as well be screaming Nigger. She looks at me like I'm a complete moron. In her best Rosie Perez voice, she says "don't even start with that racist stuff, my best friend is Puerto Rican." I said, "it doesn't matter if you're racist or not, you can't keep saying it because it's insulting, disparaging, extremely offensive and inappropriate in the workplace." Cindy cracks a half-smile and says in a "you're too old to know what's cool anymore" tone, "Uh, no it doesn't." With that she walks away. Meanwhile, the older guy, John, who's cubicle abuts mine, is completely quiet. I was really pissed at him because he knew better. I don't know if he thought it was funny to watch this stupid little white girl sing up and down the hallway, "Jigaboo!" or if he thought it was OK to say such shitty things at work. What an asshole.

Minutes later, Cindy returns to my desk. She's sucking on a lollipop now. She looks like a BRATZ doll. She reveals to me that she went upstairs to one of the older ladies to ask her what it meant. The older woman, also, damned near fell out of her chair. She told Cindy that although the word is hardly used anymore because it is a racial slur, but confirmed that it is in fact, a racial slur. Cindy didn't admit she was wrong, she just said that it's a song, and that's not how she meant it. As if she used the *N-WORD* with an "aaa" ending, like "Nigga". Alright Dog, it's different coming from a white honkey ass, jive turkey. Knock it off crack-ahs.