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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
And then he came onto me
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- Caucasian
- Information Technology/Internet
- Left & is now Self-Employed
- Management Consulting
- Bad Boss
- Coworker
- Ethics
- Promotion
- Sexual Harassment
- Unbelievable
The guy who promoted me interviewed every schmo in the world before giving me the promotion. He hired me for whatever reason. And then he came onto me. He talked to me about his affairs and tried to have an affair with me, but I didn't let him. He also had an affair with his secretary. Some of the women who were my peers were rumored to be having affairs with the top managers. So I stayed out of it. I didn't do it that way, but many women around me were doing it that way.