Every situation is different for sure. I wasn't there. But I have seen the devastating ill efffects of being too sensitive. When people "dish it out" they expect to get it back in return. It's just a game most of the time. If you get all huffy.... it makes you appear like a spoiled brat without a sense of humor. Of course there are limits.
One friend's son I know was a young skinny white man. He was working side by side with a seasoned older Mexican man who was constantly asking him when he was going to start working....... no matter how hard the kid worked. It wasn't personal. But, the skinny white dude felt that he was being disrespected for being a skinny white dude & not as strong and as used to manual labor as the other guy. He quit his job over it. No sense of humor.
A few days later I had this same young man up on a roof unloading some materials and we both overheard the materials company labor giving another skinny white kid a hard time. They kept asking him when he was going to start working. Instead of taking it personal, he dished it right back. Later, I asked the mouthy Mexican guy about the skinny white kid and he assured me he was just joking. He said that the "kid" was the best manager they ever had and that he was very highly educated and was making the company a lot of money.... which increased job security for everyone. The mouthing was just a game to pass the time, no big deal. It was his boss!
Later, I looked at my friends' son and told him I thought he quit his job over nothing.... just being too sensitive and not having a sense of humor. He agreed after he saw nearly the exact same thing, but handled differently.
