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.
Clients
I would advise potential employees to document everything, provide details to more than one manager, and to keep their payroll records.
I always tried to remain professional. I was a consultant with extensive contact with clients. The hypocrisy of staying upbeat with clients while not respecting the organization that I worked for, contributed significantly to my decision to quit.
I was forced to always put on a happy face, even though he treated me horribly. He had very high-end clients with a lot of money who he treated like gold and as soon as they would leave, he would start blaming me for a document that had not been prepared correctly.
I had a "this is the last straw moment" in 2003 when I was handling a very demanding client. She kept sending us a particular kind of rose and requesting that our cashmere dyeing department exactly duplicate the color of the tip of each petal.
As a summer associate, I was assigned a partner-mentor and one afternoon, I sat in on a client conference call with her.
Most of job tasks are related to clients. I go around and meet people all the time. I go around and have lunch with different people everyday. It's all about networking and it's all about very wealthy people.
I was speaking to a few people at work and telling them that I had not felt discriminated in my workplace. They said my experience may be very different than others because I was referred by someone they trusted.
My internal client told someone he didn't think he could work with me after what I did. What did I do? I challenged him in front of 600 people. And I got an award for it the next day. But as my friends would say, challenging him was a career-limiting move.
