My (Ethiopian) coworkers at the resthome told me how to say the word "boss" in Amharic, so whenever my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker is working in the supervisor position now, I call her that, in conjunction with basic Amharic phrases like "Hello," "Thank you," "Excuse me," and "You're welcome."
Usually, she says something like, "No, I am not aleyka, I am your friend."
A few weeks ago, her and my one (cool) (Muslim) (Ethiopian) coworker and my one (heavyset) (Ethiopian) coworker were sitting around towards the end of shift talking about something, and as I was coming up by them and greeted them each in turn, including with "aleyka," my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker said something definitively and finally in Amharic and the two others of them gasped, and then she turned to me with a mischievous look on her face and was like, "Say that instead."
"No," I was like.
So, she said it again, and was like, "Say that."
"No," I was like. "That's a word for an aleyka, it's not a word for me. An aleyka can say that, no problem, but if we say it, we get in trouble."
And at that, I pursed my mouth seriously and shook my finger and was like, "No no no no, I will not say that."
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