Cleaning My Office

Moving is not for the faint of heart. Whenever you move, you have to clean too. I hate cleaning almost as much as I hate moving, BUT I like things to be clean and orderly. The current chaos that is my office is a multi-week challenge. while I was working on a particular pile, I came across something from 2004(!!!!). The title is “20 Ways to Know You’re Black in Corporate America”. Which ones are still valid, 16 years later? Here are some of them:

• A coworker sees you and several black colleagues at a casual lunch. Back at the office he/she asks, “What was that meeting all about?”
• You arrive at work on time as usual. Your boss, making her rounds, peeks in and remarks with surprise, “Oh you’re here!”
• A colleague says “You know, I like you. When I see you I don’t see color. I don’t think of you as black.”
• After a staff meeting, your boss suggests that you need to work on making others more comfortable with you. It is suggested that you emulate the behavior of a non-person-of-color colleague.
• You continually get more responsibility but no authority.
• People comment about your hair – or want to touch it.
• Your name is shortened to one or two syllables without your permission. [The corollary is that you are introduced by your first name while everyone else is introduced with a title and last name.]
• After a coworker returns from a weekend in the sun, they come to you and extend their arm to touch yours and say something about their skin color comparing with yours.
• You realize that you must “dumb down” appearing to be dependent and unaware so that your manager and peers feel they are helping you.
• Company management feels they must address you using slang such as “yo.”
• You have to document everything. You’ve learned the hard way.
• You are told to train a non-person-of-color subordinate who is then given the promotion you’ve worked diligently for.

I have my own favorites, including some that were omitted. Do any of these resonate with you?