Trinidadian Bank Teller Says Guyanese Boss Hates "Trinis"

This Chase bank in Richmond Hill is allegedly a hotbed of Guyanese Vs. Trinidadian trash-talking.

A Chase bank in South Richmond Hill Queens is a serving as a case study of Guyanese/Trinidadian racial tensions. We never realized there was any animosity between the two countries, but apparently there's at least one person from Guyana who thinks people from Trinidad are just a bunch of lazy, thin-skinned no-goodniks. That would be the manager of the Chase branch on Liberty Avenue, who allegedly fired her Trinidadian underling after she complained to HR about the racist abuse. Now the ex-teller is suing Chase—and if nothing else her litigiousness shows how she's fully assimilated into the American way of life.

"You come to the land of opportunity and then you have to face discrimination," Trinidad native Shivana Persad, 26, tells The Post. "It is supposed to be equality for all." (Adorable, right?) Persad claims her boss, Fazeila Mahedo repeatedly made remarks such as: "Trinidadians are lazy compared to the Guyanese." And when Persad objected, she says Mahedo's stock reply was: "Thats a Trinny thing—she can’t take it." Of course, that's typical Guyanese for ya'—trashing people from the islands in order to feel big about themselves. (They're insecure because they have small genitals, and chronic B.O.!)

After Persad reported the alleged comments to HR, she claims Mahedo held a staff meeting to tell all employees that if anyone tried to "bypass [Mahedo] and complained to HR again, [they] should instead pack [their] bags and leave because [they] would be out of a job." Persad was fired last year, and she also claims she was stiffed for more than 400 hours of overtime. Which suggests she's pretty hard working (for a Trinny). To be sure, this is no sexy banker story, but it has exposed us to a heretofore unknown ethnic divide, and taught us a thing or two about history. For one thing, the Wikipedia entry for Guyana is like ten times the size of the Trinidad entry. Come on Trinis, you gonna take that?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on November 12, 2010 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

Pollack. haha.

Re: I don't think there's anything shameful about their staff make-up.

While I agree that race is no guarantee for how people think...and I realize focusing on it to much can lead to a judging a book by its cover type prejudice.

Lets be real.

If you're a media company, if you have pseudo journalists, they ought to somewhat reflect the communities they're reporting on, no?

I just clicked on the staff links on the other 12 or so Gothamist sites...out of what looked to me to be about 50 to 70 people what I did see? 2 black faces and 2 Indians.

3 of those were all in 1 office, in DC.

Look at it yourself...its just a sea of twenty something year old white people and their Asian girlfriends.

The irony is I bet the very same 'liberal' people doing the hiring would be the first to decry racial imbalances in society...

Shame is the name.

OSN!

Trinidadians are cool....it's those wise ass Guyanese you can't trust.

Wza

Nothing new here, been going on for years.

Trinis vs Guyanese

Ricans vs Dominicans

Mexicans vs Ecuadorians

Italians vs Blacks

...Hipsters vs Jews

Cannibal

Of course there's animosity. Aren't you a 'reporter'? Research!!!

Kojak

It's said that Guyanese people have a superiority complex against ALL West Indian people & they stay within their own community. But there's enough hate between Trinies, Dominicans, Jamaicans, etc etc etc that no one can keep track anymore so f it.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

'heretofore unknown ethnic divide'

this isn't surprising.

Look at your staff

http://gothamist.com/staff.php

...not much diversity there.

Its kind of shameful actually.

Dobkin, why don't you step up and hire people who look just a itty bit more like the city you're blogging about? Seriously, walk the walk.

FYI...Trinnies get mistaken for Guyanese alot. They deny it so venimently the Guyanese have become permently offended....the group everyone agrees on hating are the Jamicans cause 'they think they're all that.'

In South America they hate the Argentinos for the same reason...(they're also horrible racists...no wonder Americans love it there)

In Europe, lately they've been big on hating Muslims and Pollacks.

In America we hate all people of color, Mexicans and Muslims. Asians, we all agree are brilliant, but evil!

Dogsbody

I agree with your underlying point that it's kind of dumb that Gothamist thinks "the existence of a racial tension we didn't know about"="humorous/newsworthy event".

However, even if Gothamist had a staff that "looked more like the people it is blogging about" wouldn't put an end to that. eg even if they hired a black guy, it doesn't mean he'd necessarily be familiar with the schisms between Nigerians and Ivorians, or between Carribeans and Africans, or between Camaroonians and Congolese. People can't know everything, and I'm sure Gothamist can't hire a staff of 200 to cover all their bases. I don't think there's anything shameful about their staff make-up.

Also, as a European (of sorts), I would like to clarify that I have absolutely no problem with the works of Jackson Pollack.

mapleT

Great reporting on what you find to friggin' HILARIOUS! Believe it or not, this is something that has been going on since the British, Dutch, French and whichever colonial power had their hands in taking over the islands. It's been a serious issue on top of lighter vs. darker skin racism that takes place within the islands themselves. Do your research!