European Man Baffled After American Coworkers Refuse To Call Him By His ‘offensive’ Last Name

Working for an international company can get tricky fast: different time zones, customs, and languages can all create tension where people aren’t used to it.

Reddit user Bxhxjxnc shared a now-viral story about a mix-up on his global team that quickly turned into an HR headache .

After he introduced himself, he realized his American colleagues couldn’t handle how his last name sounded in English. He refused to be called anything else, which led to a standoff with no suitable alternatives.

Ideally, our office relationships fall into three categories: those we click with, those we enjoy working with, and those we are on a purely professional basis with

Man with headphones discussing surname refusal with American coworkers during a video call in a home office setting.

But every once in a while, things might slip into a gray area

Alt text: Excerpt from a post about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers in an international workplace.

Text about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers despite mispronunciations in virtual meetings.

Man refuses to change surname for American coworkers, highlighting cultural differences around names and respect.

Text excerpt explaining a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers due to cultural and timezone challenges.

Two men in office setting having serious discussion, highlighting conflict over man refusing to change surname for coworkers.

Text excerpt showing a man refuses to change his surname for American coworkers despite management’s request.

As his story went viral, the worker provided more information on the conflict

Text explaining company policy on using surnames instead of first names due to cultural differences with American coworkers.

Text excerpt about man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers, emphasizing cultural identity.

Text about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers, emphasizing global cultural diversity.

Text excerpt discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers due to pronunciation issues.

Text excerpt discussing refusal to change surname for American coworkers and language challenges in international office.

Text image saying a man refuses to change his surname for American coworkers, emphasizing the rest of the world is not America.

Almost everyone feels they’ve been discriminated against at work

An unbelievable 91% of employees report that they have faced workplace discrimination. Yes, you read that right.

According to Monster’s Workplace Discrimination Poll , which surveyed over 3,000 employees, only 9% of today’s workforce say they’ve never faced workplace discrimination — the rest claim they were, at some point in their career, unfairly singled out based on race, gender, disability, age, weight, or another identifying factor.

What’s more, the numbers reveal that workplace discrimination starts as early as the hiring process: 50% of respondents said they have experienced age-based discrimination in the job application process , while 40% of workers believe they were subjected to racial discrimination.

However, what’s good for our Redditor is that he is already talking about the issue.

Only 44% of workers feel comfortable reporting discriminatory incidents to a company-provided, anonymous reporting resource, the Monster data shows, and even fewer do so in person: only 33% of workers are comfortable speaking about it to HR, and just 21% contact their manager.

Reddit conversation discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers and cultural sensitivity differences.

Reddit discussion about man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers due to cultural and language differences.

Screenshot of a Reddit discussion about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers respecting cultural differences.

Screenshot of an online discussion about surname use policies and cultural differences in American and Czech workplaces.

Many thought he hadn’t done anything wrong

Screenshot of a forum comment discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers.

Reddit comment discussing refusal to change surname for American coworkers despite offensive American surnames.

Screenshot of a forum comment about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers and name Anglicization issues.

Comment from user NanaLeonie expressing refusal to change surname for American coworkers and criticizing American team behavior.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment about a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers highlighting cultural differences.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers at <a target=

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Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers due to discomfort.

Screenshot of an online comment discussing equality law and refusing to change surname for American coworkers.

Screenshot of an online comment stating a man refuses to change his surname for American coworkers.

Some said no one is to blame for the drama

Reddit comment discussing cultural barriers and refusal to change surname for American coworkers due to name pronunciation issues.

Reddit comment discussing refusal to change surname for American coworkers and the cultural challenges involved.

Comment highlighting a man refusing to change his foreign surname for American coworkers due to pronunciation issues.

Screenshot of a social media comment about refusing to change surname for American coworkers and cultural misunderstandings.

But a fair number of commenters criticized the Czech employee

Screenshot of online comment discussing refusal to change surname for American coworkers and respect for cultural identity.

Commenter responding to a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers in an online discussion.

Text post discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers due to cultural differences.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers.

Comment from StarStuffSister discussing refusal to change surname and discomfort with name preferences among coworkers.

Text post discussing name pronunciation differences and a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers.

Or everyone involved

Screenshot of online comment discussing a man refusing to change his surname for American coworkers.

Man discussing surname refusal at work, highlighting cultural respect and challenges with American coworkers.

Screenshot of a comment discussing refusal to change surname for American coworkers and workplace name disputes.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing refusing to change surname for American coworkers in a workplace setting.

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