My Sister's Skirmish with an Ignoramus at Work!
My sister got into it with a White coworker this week. They work in an office with lots of staff and with lots of visitors. My sister has worked at this company for over 20 years. Well, this White coworker was expecting an important item in the mail and didn’t see anything in her mailbox. So…
She begins asking around the office to see if anyone saw my sister, the only Black worker, “go into my mailbox and take anything out.”
So, not only was she a racist to assume that the sole Black person in the office stole something from her, but she was planting seeds of doubt in other workers’ heads about my sister’s trustworthiness.
To take it to the next level, another White woman yells across the room to my sister, in front of visitors, “Stephanie [my sister’s name], did you take something out of Leia’s mailbox?” And, that was it. My sister went right up to Leia to confront her with the following:
--Going in someone’s mail, unauthorized, is criminal behavior.
--Don’t ever go behind my back and accuse me of stealing from you.
--If you have something you want to know, ask me yourself!
--There is absolutely nothing anyone could send you that I would be the least bit curious about, so I have no interest in your mail.
--Why didn’t you ask any of the White people in the office if they went in your mailbox?
Well, Leia had nothing to say, until she thought of this gem, “I didn’t ask if they saw you in my mailbox, I asked if they saw any visitors go in my mailbox.”
So, my sister was supposed to believe that the visitors were known by the collective name of “Stephanie,” which is the name she used. She asked if anyone saw “Stephanie” in her mailbox.
Her next comment was, “Well, it’s just that I’m expecting something really important and I don’t see it.”
Okay, heifer, you’re expecting it. That doesn’t mean the mailman delivered it. That doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t take it or that it wasn’t placed in the wrong mailbox. There were so many other scenarios to account for her not having her mail, but the first thought was that her Black coworker took it. And, that shows just how easily racial stereotyping can cause issues at work. People love to scream about race cards and sensitive Black people, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate being wrongly branded as a thief or POTENTIAL THIEF—which is just as bad. Every time something comes up missing, who’s going to be looked at? That’s why it’s a big deal.
FYI: The boss didn’t appreciate the question either and confronted Leia and the woman that shouted the question across the room about their behavior and accusations. They, of course, deny singling my sister out. But, they couldn’t name a single person they asked about the mail—other than my sister!
In case you’re wondering what happened to the mail:
The mail was sitting, down stairs, on another White woman’s desk! The mail was on that desk for 3 days! So, my sister was getting blamed because one White woman had been sitting on another White woman’s mail. You gotta love it!
She begins asking around the office to see if anyone saw my sister, the only Black worker, “go into my mailbox and take anything out.”
So, not only was she a racist to assume that the sole Black person in the office stole something from her, but she was planting seeds of doubt in other workers’ heads about my sister’s trustworthiness.
To take it to the next level, another White woman yells across the room to my sister, in front of visitors, “Stephanie [my sister’s name], did you take something out of Leia’s mailbox?” And, that was it. My sister went right up to Leia to confront her with the following:
--Going in someone’s mail, unauthorized, is criminal behavior.
--Don’t ever go behind my back and accuse me of stealing from you.
--If you have something you want to know, ask me yourself!
--There is absolutely nothing anyone could send you that I would be the least bit curious about, so I have no interest in your mail.
--Why didn’t you ask any of the White people in the office if they went in your mailbox?
Well, Leia had nothing to say, until she thought of this gem, “I didn’t ask if they saw you in my mailbox, I asked if they saw any visitors go in my mailbox.”
So, my sister was supposed to believe that the visitors were known by the collective name of “Stephanie,” which is the name she used. She asked if anyone saw “Stephanie” in her mailbox.
Her next comment was, “Well, it’s just that I’m expecting something really important and I don’t see it.”
Okay, heifer, you’re expecting it. That doesn’t mean the mailman delivered it. That doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t take it or that it wasn’t placed in the wrong mailbox. There were so many other scenarios to account for her not having her mail, but the first thought was that her Black coworker took it. And, that shows just how easily racial stereotyping can cause issues at work. People love to scream about race cards and sensitive Black people, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate being wrongly branded as a thief or POTENTIAL THIEF—which is just as bad. Every time something comes up missing, who’s going to be looked at? That’s why it’s a big deal.
FYI: The boss didn’t appreciate the question either and confronted Leia and the woman that shouted the question across the room about their behavior and accusations. They, of course, deny singling my sister out. But, they couldn’t name a single person they asked about the mail—other than my sister!
In case you’re wondering what happened to the mail:
The mail was sitting, down stairs, on another White woman’s desk! The mail was on that desk for 3 days! So, my sister was getting blamed because one White woman had been sitting on another White woman’s mail. You gotta love it!
posted by S. Mary Wills at 1:02 PM
1 Comments:
when is someone going to do a pbs doc on the insanity of american white people?
it should be run once a month every month except february.
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