Quote:
Originally posted by Sistermadly
Maybe this should go under politics, but I wanted to put it where a lot of people would see it. It might be kinda long, so I apologize in advance.
I work in an office where I'm the only Black person. I'm also the only American, the only woman, and the only non-Christian, but those are different topics for different threads.
The CEO of the small start-up where I work is Chinese. He was educated in the US but he has limited experience with African Americans. Before he left on a business trip to Hawaii, I heard him talking to one of the partners on the phone. He said "When I come back you might not recognize me. I might be as dark as Sistermadly!" -- and I was sitting right there.
The other day, the subject of religion came up (I was dreading it). He asked me whether I'd found a church home in town, and I told him that while I had some ideas about God, that I don't like churches and church politics. He said "Oh, that's surprising. I would have assumed that a person from your group would be deeply religious. Isn't that usually the case?"
Now - I've learned to let a lot slide since moving up here from the US, mainly because there aren't that many of us (black folks) in this neck of the woods, so I really didn't think anything about it. However, when I told a few other people about it, they got really mad. What do you do when people make assumptions based on your race, religion, or gender in the workplace?
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Your boss is testing your limits. How far can he go to piss you off based on his ASSumptions about your heritage.
That is why your few other people got pissed off because they may have had him say some isht to them, too.
Just like James said, you need to "turn the tables on him" and see how far he climbs if you want it nipped in the bud. Otherwise he will continue and disrespect you the more he does his so called poking and proding.
The "I will be just as black as Sistermadly comment"--I'd a said something crazy like, "you know, no amount of SPF can protect you from malignant melanoma..." Or even more profound, that you can only dream of fathoming the quality of my complexion... Just to let him KNOW that you are on to his little gameplan... Then you can see how far he wants to be FCUKin' with you...
And his bewilderment of your choice in religion, I dunno, cuz I walk in the Spirit and I don't understand why some folks choose not to. But I'd a said something on the lines of, "Oh, what church do you go to." Then see what he says. Then I'd ask him some series of religious and philosophical questions. Just to see what he says. Then, I would say, well, "I'll pray for you..." The African Ancestors believed that "incantations" would ward off evilness with actively acknowledgment of one's ugliness--just with saying they will pray for them... That is Afrikan American Spirituality...
So, whether he is stupid or not, either way, he is your boss and he knows that it is inappropriate to vocalize those kinds of statements in the workplace...
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