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.
Fed Up
It is assumed that African Americans are less intelligent or worldly. When someone is speaking to you and uses a term they assume you are unfamiliar with, they will give you the definition or explanation without you asking for it.
I was always professional to everyone I worked with. The stress did take its toll, and caused me to leave.
I am now totally turned of with the work environment and I am desperate to leave.
I hate this place.
Upper management, supervisors, (men in the workplace when women got catty with me) did more to step in.
Four years after coming out of college, I accepted a technical position with IBM where I spent the next 12 years.
The change in work assignments made me feel marginalized, demoralized, under-utilized and I felt that I had been put into a dead-end job that more than doubled my daily commute.
There were two male attorneys who blatantly were hitting on me (at the same time), in spite of my explicit expressions that I was not interested in them.
I would have stayed if I had felt more valued as an employee. My boss got laid off, and a few months later, my job was "transferred.
My desire to do a good job waned over that year and a half, as I felt my talents were underappreciated (along with the rest of the work staff) and the manager was often quick tempered, unreasonable, and unpleasant.
