Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyson
Medusa, congratulations on your promotion. The class thing.... Initially as a child I thought much of what I saw as unfairness was more about race, ethnicity, not class. Honestly, I just did not see many poor white people where I lived. If you were poor, you most likely you were brown or black.
As I grew into my adulthood, I began to realize the big unspoken is class. Here in the USA there is the ethos of "Pull Yourself Up by the Bootstraps." This can be a hard one to live up to because one person's "boot straps" are anothers bare feet.
Something that impacted me greatly in the not so long ago past was when I took a position in the evenings and weekends as a security guard. During the day I have worked as an Planner for many years. This is a white collar profession. I have been in this profession since 89.
One day I was attending a meeting for my day job and at the other end of the table was an African American gentleman and graduate of Wheaton at this meeting. He came up to me during the break and asked me if I was not in fact the security guard that worked in the exclusive High Rise where he resided. I told him "Yes, it is me." He was clearly surprised. I tell you his interaction with me after that was very different. Subtle things. Now when he saw me at the security job, he would make a little small talk with me about my day ecetera. Previous to him realizing that the security job position was not my primary job, he never talked to me.
I am rambling a bit. The point that stayed with me is that here wan another "POC" and yet the perceived class differences did impact the nuances of our shared communication and I am sure our lives.
I just threw this out as an example. It is one incident but not exclusive to this one person or situation. "Class" is not something that has been openly acknowledged much in some cultures, but it is a marker that is defined and used in our institutions, decision making processes and so on.
|
Oooh Greyson! This is a GREAT example.
I actually had a rather similiar experience about 6 years ago.
Jack and I were trying to save up money to move in together and between the $400 - $500 a month cell bills and the $4500 it was going to take for the Penske and move, I took a second job at Office Depot.
During the day from 8am-5pm, I worked in a very corporate environment state job as a Project Manager with a $10million budget. At night from 6pm - 11pm, I sold office chairs, stocked pens and pencils, and worked a cash register. Ive never thought of myself as "too good" for any kind of work and I didnt even think to be embarrassed the night a colleague showed up at Office Depot with one of her children to buy school supplies.
She was clearly embarrassed on my behalf and assured me that she "wouldnt tell anyone" about my 2nd job. I assured her there was nothing to hide and that I had no issues with anyone knowing I was working a second job.
Imagine my surprise when my then boss called me in his office a few days later to discuss with me why I was working a second job and how it "looked bad" to have a high-level manager working a "menial" job.
He also advised me in the same conversation that it was "inappropriate" for me to be so friendly with our janitor. Miss Jay had been at that job on the same floor for 30-something years at that point and was a fucking BAD ASS woman who was raising 4 grandchildren and who also didnt take shit from anyone.
After his tsk-tsk'ing, I advised him that he could either give me a raise or shut his trap and that who I associated with was really none of his damn business. (Did I mentioned I was fired from that job about a month later?)
I applaud anyone who does what they need to do to get where they want to be, whether it be pushing papers or dumping trash bins.
Edited to add: pushing papers and dumping trash bins example was not meant to imply that these are "menial" tasks, rather than a reference to my own experience of working to make ends meet.