Charles has an unfortunate backstory: last year, he was put on leave for a few months after committing some work-related infraction. For months we all wondered what happened and what he did to deserve this. When he came back, he told us that a coworker in his department accused him of looking at p0rn on the job (he says it was artwork on a social media site, and B and I believe him). From what B tells me about their conversations, Charles can be problematic with a hot temper and strong opinions, and a bit of a racist streak as well. He's intelligent and well spoken, and fun to talk to, but there are definitely issues.
Back to today: We were finally able to talk Survivor. At first we were standing by B's desk, but I was originally heading to the cafe for my daily biscuit and it was about to close, so I suggested that he come with me so we could continue our conversation.
Charles mentioned that one Survivor contestant is a member of a culture that according to him, continues to isolate themselves when they move to the States, and doesn't work hard enough to assimilate. He then stopped, looked around us, expressed the hope that "the fairies" weren't around to hear what he was about to say and get him into trouble. Then he leaned over and told me that he considered another race from an Asian country to be "from another planet".
And then he kind of laughed, and then he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.
Not happy about this! The touching is one thing, but I'm pretty sure the racism thing is something that he could be fired for, if I reported it. I didn't react to him touching me - which wasn't good on my part, I should have said something right then - but I was just shocked by his comment and then by the unwanted touch.
I walked back to B's desk and shared what happened. He was unhappy too, but agreed with me that we would let this go, because didn't Charles just finish his punishment a few months ago? Did we really want to get him in trouble again?