Posts Tagged ‘WORK’
A Share via Freeman Institute:
1. A coworker sees you and several black colleagues at a casual lunch. Back at the office he/she later asks, “What was that meeting all about?”
2. You arrive at work on time as usual. Your boss, making her rounds, peeks in and remarks with surprise, “Oh, you’re here!”
3. A colleague says with a broad smile, “You know, I really like you. When I see you, I don’t see color. I don’t think of you as black.”
4. After a staff meeting, your boss suggests, “you need to work at making others more comfortable with you…why don’t you smile more often?”
5. You tell your manager about a problem you are having and the response you get is “You’ve got to be exaggerating! I find that hard to believe.”
6. You are told you are “rough around the edges” despite your completion of many professional development programs and it is suggested you emulate the behavior of a non-person of color colleague.
7. You continually get more responsibility, but no authority.
8. You are being recognized at a company banquet. As you approach the stage to receive your company’s highest achievement award, your corporations’ top executive exclaims, “Yo homeboy, congratulations”.
9. You arrive at an offsite business retreat dressed in business casual attire. Your non-persons of color peers approach and ask why you are always so dressed up?
10. You are told you are decreasing your effectiveness with your aggressive style.
11. You are frequently asked why you change your hairstyle so often.
12. Your first name is arbitrarily shortened to one or two syllables without your permission.
13. You are asked every summer if black people tan.
14. After a coworker returns from a weekend in the sun, they run to you on Monday morning and extend their arms to touch yours and say, “Hey I’m darker than you”.
15. Walking through the hall with colleagues, you exchange greetings with two other blacks you pass along the way. Your colleague says in amazement, “My you know so many people.”
16. You are told your attitude is affecting others. You are asked to…”lighten up, not be so serious about the work. Smile and laugh more often, to make others more comfortable working with you”.
17. You realize that at times you must “dumb down” appearing to be dependent and unaware, so that your manager and peers feel they are helping you…
18. You have to perform at 250% just to stay even.
19. You have to document everything. You’ve learned the hard way.
20. You assumed that all that was required of you was to work hard and get the job done.
Corporate AMERICA! There are just some classic moments at work. These days people are leaving left and right. Someone sent me this. THANK YOU! Just to give you background, this email was sent to over 30,000 people across this company! Talk about going out with a bang!
Well it is finally my turn to be sooo arrogant that I send a goodbye message to a HUGE alias thinking like more than 2 of them give a crap…wheeeeeeeeeeeee
Also, after finishing reading this please “reply all” with your warmest wishes so once again the other 99.9% of the people who could care less about you or I and happen to be on this alias have to see how nice you are to my goodbye and maybe we can get a email spam thread going (reply all – please remove me from this list……reply all – STOP replying all….) that will crash servers. If nothing else, it always provides hilarity to the 60% of us that are still part of a team. Anyway, I am hoping it is 60%, I had my days especially the last 5 years or so, where I would see people like or in place and think to myself…..nope we’ve gotten so big we are going for bottom 10% now.
On to the goodbye:
I have been here for 16 years (2 days)
And really enjoyed 15 of them, really worked 8, maybe 12 depending on your work ethic, of them, really believed in this company for 7.5 of them, really had some good times, but most importantly really met some great all around people, that helped to offset the buttheads I had to put up with other times, really wished HR never invented PC crap so people could have continued to call idiots…idiots; ooops I digress, we have a bigger HR than payroll staff so we all know what this company “cares” about.Today is my last day. I can receive your emails to my personal account or you can find me on facebook if you know me and have 2 brain cells to rub together.
If you don’t know me, too bad you missed out on a great guy (mwhahahahahaha), if you do know me, I’m sorry you had to put up with me, if you knew me before I hit my 10 year anniversary here and prior to the HR and PC jerkwads sucking all the fun or putting the FU in fun however you want to look at it, then we probably had some good times and feel free to contact me.
Speaking of anniversaries, I would just like to take this moment to really thank them from the bottom of my heart for giving me 3 GIANT Candles for 15 years of service, plus the huge plastic stand to go with them. You really let me know what I meant to the company with that one, and to whoever the nepotistic POS in HR is that got their uncle or cousin or whatever the monster paycheck for making giant candles for this company…..truly I wish you step in a pile of dog crap every day for a month!
With that goodbye, adieu, auvedersain….ok don’t know how to spell the rest of them. I’m out.
Now tell me that aint #hardinthepaint?!!!
How many times has this happened to you?
Racial Stereotyping in the Office
By: PATRICIA HAYLING PRICE & ORLANDO ASHFORD
Kim is a promising young African-American executive ascending the ranks at a Fortune 500 company. Despite her success she regularly encounters situations where colleagues or clients assume she is a junior-level employee. They often express visible surprise upon meeting Kim for the first time. Kim is sure the reaction is because she is African-American.“The situation is always awkward and embarrassing for both parties,” says Kim. “I can’t help feeling angry and disappointed to be on the receiving end of obvious racial stereotyping by otherwise intelligent and worldly people. I am tired of feeling like I have to justify my presence in the room every time I meet somebody in the course of doing business.”
Kim asks:
• What can I do at the outset to preclude these judgments?
• Do I have a responsibility to address these reactions? How can I do so without appearing “reactive”?
• How can I recover my equilibrium and steer the relationship in the right direction?
Patricia Hayling Price: Kim, you’re not alone. Among African-American women surveyed in 2004 by Catalyst – a non-profit research and advisory firm that works to advance women in business – 56% reported encountered persistent, “race-based” stereotyping and a third felt that their authority and credibility had been called into question.
On your way up, managing preconceptions of you as an African-American woman can be critical to your success but, as you acknowledge, the way you manage them is just as critical, both to your career and your personal well-being. You can make the situation worse by reacting in an angry manner, or you can use your knowledge and gifts to put it to rest in an elegant way.
Orlando Ashford: It really comes down to one question: “Does this person have any influence over my ability to achieve my goals?” My dad gave me some very good advice when I was in college: If the person who has misjudged you or questioned your worth is someone who can significantly influence your life – a professor who is going to give you a grade, a boss who is going to evaluate your performance and determine your compensation– then you need to figure out how to correct them, in the smartest way possible. I find that you usually have three choices: Ignore it, laugh at it, or make it a “teachable moment”.
On the other hand, if the person who misjudged you doesn’t have influence in your life—and most people don’t have any influence, unless you give them that influence—then you need to figure out how to let it go. Otherwise, it will chip away at you.
Patricia: Think about someone like President Obama. Think of how many times in his life he probably found himself in situations similar to yours. Obviously, he didn’t let the preconceptions of others keep him from achieving his goals. You are in good company. Relate your experience to something positive. Otherwise your frustrations may mount and blow up on you one day.
Orlando: So what kind of practical advice can we give Kim?
Patricia: A simple and practical way to avoid awkwardness is to immediately introduce yourself so there is no mistaking your position at the firm. Also, humor may be hard to muster but it can often serve a dual purpose: diffusing the situation and providing a subtle nudge.
Orlando: I agree. As you move up in your career, positively positioning yourself and building good relationships is key; it’s important to categorize these experiences and select the appropriate response. And it’s really important to gauge intent. For example, a brief look of surprise is much different than, say, a person being dismissive or condescending.
Patricia: Always be prepared, elegantly confident and so not bothered by their reactions that any awkwardness becomes their issue. When you develop that state of mind, the situation becomes amusing and highly manageable as opposed to corrosive.
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