I've had to endure some earlier iterations of such corporate "sensitivity training" back in the late
90's (the only time I've ever worked for a mega-corporation).
My last was the time the huge minority lady with a king-sized chip on her shoulder came to our
office in Knoxville (population - eh, around a 190k for the whole area).
we were told to keep quiet, stay awake and sign the roster attendee sheet at the end and all
would be ok.
Well, it was a younger iteration of ME there among the attendees, keep in mind...
She starts with the whole bit about how we needed to "aggressively enter the global marketplace"
and "accept the diversity" in the fact that in the world as a whole, us "white guys were the minority".
She worked that point HARD...repeatedly, until
I couldn't take it anymore; it was quite apparent
she liked being in charge and this was her time to eek out a little revenge of the past, right there.
My boss looked at me like
"oh hell, there goes Ed..."
I interrupted the lady long enough to state that, as a local branch office, OUR market was limited
by the corporation itself to our assigned "turf" - which consisted of the immediate metro area.
She looked at me for a moment, dumbfounded...apparently we were the first office of dozens
she had been hired to do this "training" on and she had been informed we'd be silent, good little
boys and girls - and things had just taken an unexpected turn.
I saw others in the room, many of them my superiors, start to be encouraged by my actions...
How DARE I speak up! *snicker*
Score: Ed 1, She-devil 0
Without so much as a retort, she shifts gears to the next topic of punishment - namely, our "racist
hiring practices" and how our "employee base didn't reflect accurately the racial background of the region".
I'm sitting in this little circle she had made us sit in right next to my division manager, a known
blowhard with an ego to match...and before I can even speak up again, he grabs my arm as if to say
"I got this one, Ed" and stands up himself - and basically says "if they don't apply for the advertised
jobs AND if they're not the best qualified for the opening, not much else we can do about that."
I was proud of him for a moment...
She-Ra starts to retort, but I cut her off mid-stream, not even bothering to stand this time:
"Lady, all that kumbaya is nifty and all, but we're in a VERY competitive business and everyone here
needs to be as productive as possible so we can compete - albeit with the added albatross of a
corporate burden hanging around our necks that the competition doesn't have."
She's getting riled up at this point, but all she can manage is some sort of a repeat of the prepared
material, stuttering away...we're getting to her.
She tries one last time to go to the well of "you white guys should be ashamed, you didn't EARN your
positions, it's because everyone is racist!"
I could feel about half the room ready to pounce then, so I figured me already being the recipient of
whatever punishment from above for speaking out, I'd be sacrificial lamb one last time....
maybe save another fella from a similar fate, you know.
I basically told her, with some emotion and volume this time, that I damn well EARNED my position in
the business and had, in fact, been in some sort of practical training or practice of it since high school -
you know, when other kids were out being kids, I was one who spent the extra time after class, in
apprenticeships, after schools, etc. since about age 14.
Punch line to my diatribe: "Now tell us how you "earned" YOUR job, lady?"
Well, that was the end of that session. In a huff, she packed her ****, snatched the roster sheet off the
table and left in a tizzy.
Me? They didn't fire me, but I did hear from some higher ups I'd never heard from before...
and I was a hero to the three offices that had gathered that day to be tormented.
Suffice to say - I have no racial bones in my body, but I don't have ANY tolerance for revisionist history
or "social re-educating" either.
Me done...