Friend or No Friend, Unreasonable Request, and Discrimination

I have not spoken to a person in over a year. The person now says we can be friends. Huh?  Were we ever friends? I do not think so. A friend is someone who cares about you, asks you to do things and carves out time to spend with you. So, what prompted this nonsense?

This person and I used to work at the same place. This is the place that required me to call in each day when I was in the hospital and out due to having emergency surgery. It was an unreasonable request. I did not flat out refuse when I was asked to do it. I did ask to have this requirement waived because I had spoken with others who said they were not required to do so.  My request was denied. Anyway, this person had emergency surgery. I was told by a couple of other folks who we used to work with. One person even suggested that this person was treated better than I was.  

I reached out to this person, sorry they were in the hospital and asked if they were treated like I was required to call in each day and never received anything showing my employer’s support. A week went by, and the person did not respond.  I assumed I had my answer: this person was treated better than I was. Why? I do not know why. I took the opportunity to voice my opinion of this horrible employer and this person did not like it but told me we could be friends. I do not think so.  Why? Maybe this is a nice person. This person is two faced. This person was nice to my face, but never stood up for me and has not spoken to me in over a year. If I let this person in my life, I would constantly be watching for the knife to stab me in the back.

Do I think that I was treated differently because of my gender and race? It is possible. I witnessed too many discriminatory things while working there. I had a minority say to me, “It’s not my fault you’re white.” Men could go to medical appointments during working hours and not be required to make it up on the same day. If I went to the doctor during working hours, I was required to make up all the time on the same day. When I did not make it up, I received disciplinary action. I filed a formal complained, but it fell on deaf ears.

 

I have worked for many years, and I have witnessed lot of discrimination.

 

Here is some of what I have seen/heard:

You cannot hire him; he is a homosexual.

I only hire those who are younger than I am because older people do not take direction from younger people.

He is so obese; we do not have any chairs that would fit him.

Yes, she is constantly breaking the rules, but I cannot do anything because she is here on a green card.

I am going to give you disciplinary action because you went over your allocated bathroom time. You may only go to the bathroom on one of your two fifteen-minute breaks or your lunch hour.

I cannot do anything because she is black. 

If you support discrimination, we cannot be friends. I have and will continue to be advocate for others.