Rachel Green from Friends has earned a notable place in pop culture history. Her character arc isn't only limited to a brat-turned-heroine trying to make it in the fashion industry, it's also about becoming a well-rounded person.
As it happens, cultural, gender, and social norms evolve with time and so, "the well-rounded" character that Rachel was, with some of the best and most memorable storylines, became fallible in the end, to some degree. Rachel Green is celebrated to this day. That said, she shouldn't be exempt from scrutiny. Modern-age fans, therefore, find it timely to dissect certain things she has said on Friends.
When She Clogged The Trashchute & Offered Stale Food To The Super
"I'm Sorry. It's A Little Old But ..."
Rachel offers Treeger leftover pizza slices in "The One With the Ballroom Dancing" which she herself says is stale. It's almost painful to watch her walk into the garbage room and clog the trash chute right in front of the building Super. When interrupted, she has the nerve to offer him stale pizza.
Rachel really lives in a world of her own, in that, she's insensitive to the labor the working-class puts in to make things easier for her. Her excuse is that she doesn't come into the garbage room a lot, but Treeger isn't wrong when he remarks she's not at liberty to leave a mess behind for the man in the coveralls to clean.
When She Took Pictures Without Consent
"Sorry, It's For Human Resources. Would You Just Stand Up?"
Rachel behaves unethically while interviewing Tag Jones for the job of her personal assistant in "The One With Rachel's Assistant." It's clear from the very beginning that she fancies him, and after a couple of nonserious questions, she grabs her camera and takes his picture without his knowledge.
Tag is visibly disoriented when the flash goes off, but Rachel lies to him saying the picture is a Human Resources requirement. She makes him stand for a full-length photo, which is meant for her personal use. She is so over the line and the incident is one of the many times Rachel should have been fired.
When She Conducts An Inappropriate Interview
"Although When I Was A Kid, We Had A Maid. But This Isn't The Same Thing."
Speaking of Rachel's prejudice against the working class, she displays no restraint, whatsoever, in equating an interviewee with a domestic helper who once used to work for her family.
In season 7's "The One With Rachel's Assistant," Rachel has the task of hiring an assistant to strictly help with official work (but it all goes south). It's her first time interviewing someone, so the nervousness is excusable, but what's inexcusable is equating the job profile of a seasoned professional with that of domestic help. Though they both demand mutual respect and are both equally important, they are undoubtedly two different job profiles.
When She Was An Exploitative Boss
"First Thing I Need You To Do, Find A Woman Named Hilda, And Tell Her To Go Home."
At the end of the hiring saga, purely dictated by her physical attraction, Rachel asks Tag to rush downstairs and inform Hilda that she needs to go home. Besides the out-and-out unprofessional behavior, Rachel is also an unkind person who thinks it's worth someone's while to be hired and fired.
She also deems it fit to toy with someone's emotions and expectations, and modern-age viewers can't help but wonder where HR was in all of this?
When She Conformed To Stereotypical Ideas Of Masculinity
"You Are A Tough Guy. You Are The Toughest Paleontologist I Know."
Rachel also buys into the whole "tough-guy" male stereotype, which is evident by her snarky words in "The One With All the Rugby." Granted, she is not the one who starts the conversation, but she certainly weighs in with her outdated comments. She brings up the one time Ross got hurt playing badminton with her dad and validates the gender stereotyping by laughing in his face.
Traditional masculinity expects men to be tough and aggressive for them to be desirable and it's a concept that's long been outdated, so Rachel's comments really did not age well here.
When She Didn't Consider Monica's Feelings About Her Parents
"Ross's Mom One Time Actually Said I Am Like The Daughter She Never Had."
In "The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song," Phoebe came to Monica and Rachel for suggestions on how to impress Mike's parents. Rachel got a bit carried away and by the time she reached the end of her how-to-impress-the parents-speech, she said these hurtful words to Monica's face.
Knowing full well that a sad aspect of Monica's life was that she often got the short end of the stick in the Geller household, Rachel still chose to speak without tact. Having highly critical parents can lead to unresolved childhood anger, as seen with Monica, and therefore is never to be brought up without consent or made a cheap joke out of.
When She Encouraged Her Friend To Be Someone Else
"Oh, Yeah. She Can't Be Herself."
In the same episode, while Monica tells Phoebe to be herself (which is what her boyfriend, Mike Hannigan wanted), Rachel said these words once she learns the Hannigans are Upper East Siders.
Her comment is callous on two grounds - one, she assumes every Upper East Sider is unfriendly and unwelcoming and two, she strictly believes her friend should be someone else. For some reason, Phoebe doesn't seem to mind Rachel's offensive comment and fans immediately hear a laugh track to stop this "comedy" from falling flat.
When She Reinforced A Negative Stereotype & Lied To Mr. Green
"Yes. Yes, He Says I'm Damaged Goods."
In "The One With the Stripper" Dr. Green raises a ruckus when he finds out his daughter is going to have Ross's child out of wedlock. His reaction is pathetic, but what Rachel does next is even worse. She lies about Ross's refusal to marry, adding that he called her "damaged goods."
Alluding to past relationships and just generally being a problematic person, calling anyone "damaged goods" implies that a person can be "used" without any chance of self-improvement or healing, and it just doesn't really work in this day of age. Not to mention, Rachel was dishonest with her father rather than just saying that it was her who didn't really want to marry Ross. Of course, Rachel, later, has to straighten the whole thing out, but it's one of the small things Rachel did that sticks out more today.
When She Upheld Misogyny & Didn't Support Her Female Friends
"Oh, That's Okay. Girls Tend To Not Like Me."
Except it's not okay and it doesn't have to be that way. At one time or another, Rachel harbored hate for a particular woman who was competing for the same thing as her. After she developed feelings for Ross, she acted badly towards his girlfriend, Julie, (the sweetest person in the room). She mistreated women who walked into her office to talk to Tag, even though she'd hired him purely for the same reason.
She even stole Jean-Claude Van Damme from Monica. In season 9's "The One With the Donor," she slandered Phoebe in front of Charlie in one of the more shocking things Rachel ever did. The pretty feuds between Rachel and each of these women were regressive and so gendered that they are no longer acceptable to conscientious viewers today.
When She Judged Phoebe
"And I Missed It Because I Was Giving A Makeover To That Stupid Hippie?"
Rachel says these words in "The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song," implying she dismissed Phoebe's quirky personality. She, in no way, is as loving and as giving as her friend, Monica. And while there's no pressure on her to be a remarkably giving person, she's sometimes callous with her words. If Rachel does a favor for a friend, like in this case, and takes Phoebe shopping to help her buy something 'appropriate' for a soiree, she immediately regrets it, although it is because she missed Emma's first laugh.
Friends, no matter what, should wholeheartedly embrace each other's human qualities and not pass off an endearing personality trait as a joke or something to judge, let alone behind their back.