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.
Compensation
I am an older woman who decided to enter the corporate world because the career I had chosen was no longer viable due to the extreme amount of physical labor it took to complete each day.
I was with a male coworker whom I got along great with and we were both doing well. We knew we were both about to receive a $10,000 bonus for doing such a great job with a huge project.
I felt dissatisfied with my company management in Shanghai because my direct boss was the director's wife, and had little background in the area.
In addition to my former boss's obvious mental problems, I believe that I was treated so terribly because of my young age.
I would have stayed at my previous job at Bank of America...if I thought I was helping people in my job, not contributing to suffering, being compensated fairly for my labor, and being allowed to get a proper night's sleep.
For Bank of America, I would make inquiries and even visited different departments. When I was there, BofA was a loose bundle of many kingdoms: if you start off in a low value, cost-center department, the pay will be almost as bad as MacDonalds, and the managers will be extremely patronizing because a large part of the staff in those areas will barely have a high school education.
I made a big sacrifice and relocated to North Carolina from New York. I was told that the people who volunteered for the relocation would be compensated, but I never was and when I brought it up to HR they automatically replied, "It's not a racial issue.
Be prepared to work many hours of overtime without being paid. Do not expect to be rewarded or complimented for outstanding work.
I worked for a large consumer goods organization about 4 years ago and quit because I was literally the lowest paid employee in a department of 25 despite the fact that I had a degree and my counterparts in the same position did not.
I left after I was transferred to a different department to do work for one of the top executives. Initially, I was told that this position would come with a significant raise.
