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.
Reviews
I was stereotyped as a man hating lesbian, while serving as the manager of a corporate chain restaurant.
In my last performance review my supervisor told me, "You're doing a great job and I don't have any issues with your performance but you need to better manage perceptions.
I'm really sick and tired of all the bullsh*t that goes on. Instead of being worried about job performance, we employees have to worry about which college you attended, what your hobbies are (God forbid if it's not golf), whether you're too fat or too thin, whether you're muscular or scrawny.
I was the only African-American in their management team and their fund accounting department. I was doing a wonderful job until a survey was sent out to rate our superiors. It was supposed to be confidential.
Six months after starting my job, I had a mid-year review. My manager said, "You know what. There is something I can't put in your review, but I just want to tell it to you. You have changed how we think about Arab Americans.
At the law firm I was at, anyone who looked at you in the hallway could write you a review. One guy who I never talked to wrote me a review that said, "She smiles too much. She is not serious enough.
The review is always the first thing. People are scared to talk to you and be honest with you. For example, I teach legal writing and one of my students was a clerk at a large law firm. Right before she left to study for the bar she got a really bad review.
My evaluations were never an issue, except for one criticism about managing perceptions. As a result, when bonus time came around, my bonus was reduced by two-thirds. So I asked, "Well, what happened? I had my best year ever and you've reduced my bonus by two-thirds." No one could explain why.
