What were you and Richard talking about earlier ? It looked intense .   Yeah , Richard said something to me that I didn't appreciate .   Oh , no . I know how insensitive he can be . What has he done now ?   He asked me how long it took me to learn English .   But , you were born and raised in California !   Yeah , but I get that sometimes . It doesn't matter how many generations my family has lived in the U . S . , we'll always be foreigners in their eyes .   What a racist ! How can you stand working with the guy ?   You know , Richard isn't such a bad guy . He made the comment out of ignorance , not malice .   So , what did you say when he asked you how long it took you to learn English ?   I told him 28 years . And , he knows I'm 28 years old since I just celebrated my birthday last week . He was puzzled for a minute , and then he got it .   Are you sure he really got the message ? 