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.
Coworkers
I was a Sr. Leader at my company and I had high hopes of going far. I worked very closely with another Latino straight man during a project.
Throughout my experiences in multiple industries, it is my opinion (so far), that people can be very difficult in the workplace when they are competitive and extremely self-interested.
Since my departure for that one week, I have had many positive interactions with my staff, peers and my boss, the CEO.
I had a run-in with a prima donna coworker who was not really liked by many, but was valued by the executives because he brought in a significant portion of the business.
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.
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.
At Kaiser, I continued to devote myself to making the lives of my colleagues better. I took the initiative to help people out when I saw the opportunity and let them know when I saw problems that should be brought to their attention.
I am a female attorney who worked in the corporate environment amongst mostly men. I finally excused myself from Business/Legal Affairs meetings because the other men would ignore me and literally speak right over me as I was speaking even though I was the representative of the department who had the pertinent information.
I would have stayed if my managers appreciated the hard work I put into my time with their organization.
I had a coworker who consistently asked me out on dates (despite my telling him I wasn't interested).
