blatant racial discrimination

Patty is a proud black woman, 39, married with four children who was overlooked for promotion after working as a customer service officer for the same company for ten years.

"I believe that racial discrimination accounted for a white woman being given promotion over me," claims Patty. "I had been with the company longer than she had and after all of that time it's abominable that I am still at the bottom of the ranks."

"It's true that other black women have received promotions, " concedes Patty, "but not as many promotions are given to black women as they are to white women. It's blatant racial discrimination as far as I'm concerned."

"Workplaces, like schools and most organizations, are microcosms of the macrocosm - what is happening in the world outside is reflected within the workplace, " says Patty, "and when you're working in a team environment, like I do, you get to see the dark side of people - the racial hatred especially."

"It doesn't take much to get vilified at work," says Patty. "If it's not color it's religion or something else. Different skin colors, cultures and religions are always in the news as targets of hate in workplaces."

"By far the most common form of hate in workplaces is racial discrimination, " says Patty.

"If you pass an interview for a position and get a job, there is no automatic assurance that everyone in that workplace is going to be as free of prejudice as the people who hired you."

"Also, if you have been in a job for a long time, there is no automatic assurance that the new people coming in - above or below you in the pecking order - are going to be as free of prejudice as the people you formerly worked with."

"Yes, of course," laughs Patty, "there are laws in all civilized countries that decree racial discrimination to be unlawful, and yes of course most companies adhere to strict guidelines in this respect - but race hate still happens."

"You can't stop people hating other people for some reason or another and if racial discrimination were not so prevalent there would be no need for such laws, right?"

"Mostly, we expect to be fairly treated at work," says Patty, "but when we are not then in the case of racial discrimination we have legal redress."

"I went that route and I didn't have to prove I was better qualified than a white woman for the promotion."

"At the hearing I also claimed racial harassment in the form of my supervisor 'staring' at me, giving me more work than white employees, assigning me to demeaning tasks not given to white employees, singling me out for criticism, not giving me training for higher level jobs and denying me wage increases."

"After ten years with an employer you would expect better treatment than the sort of treatment I got," says Patty, "and my husband and I believed that I had a very good case against my employer."

"I was claiming not just promotion discrimination but also racial harassment, " says Patty, "and we were furious when my case was dismissed."

"I was told that most, if not all, of my claims of 'racial harassment' have been experienced by just about every working person - of every color - and that they constitute a common problem of antagonism between a supervisor and an employee."

"I was told that I could not attribute this harassment solely to the color of my skin, " says Patty, "although it could well have been the situation for all the judge knew."

"I have since been transferred to another team - mainly black," says Patty, "so I don't have to put up with the discrimination I experienced before."

"But, the whole issue still upsets me, " sighs Patty. "Any type of discrimination is abhorrent in the workplace, and employers could do a great deal to prevent racial and other types of discrimination raising their ugly heads by providing very clear guidelines in relation to hiring, firing and promotion practices - and having regular reminders for staff of their obligations to others."

"We may sign a document stating that we understand - and are committed to - certain values when we start a job," says Patty, "but rarely if ever is our understanding and commitment checked on a regular basis."

"It may be all very well for the laws of the land - the macrocosm - to support racial harmony," says Patty, "but not all microcosms - workplaces or small groups - are going to reflect these values. Instead, they reflect what is really going on in the streets."

"When women are thrown together and expected to work in teams," says Patty, "the first thing people are going to notice is the color of your skin, right?"

"You're in their face every day and sooner or later someone is going to drop their guard and let their racism and prejudices fly," says Patty. "If high profile people like Mel Gibson and Kramer can't keep their hatred for Jews or Blacks under wraps, then how are ordinary people expected to do so?"

"I thank God for a loving husband and happy children," says Patty. "Without a happy and supportive family I would never have survived all that misery on my own."

Patty's story first appeared as racism cover-up at work and is reprinted with permission.

jabbering idiots

As a result of the company she works for taking on board a policy of employing friends and relatives of existing workers rather than advertising new positions as they become available, Leigh is the only white woman left in her department and she is treated badly by the new employees.

"The company was once a very open and friendly place to work," complains Leigh, "but over the years it has become almost incestuous with an employment policy that favors cheap immigrant family labor."

"My employer is quite happy to appoint someone’s daughter, sister, mother or aunt because it saves on advertising the job," explains Leigh. "And while it's saving my employer money it's costing me my mental health."

"In my last job noise was a big problem" says Leigh. "I found it impossible to keep track of what I was doing when I sat next to the fax machine buzzing all day and the person in the next cubicle was also annoying me."

"He had a habit of speaking too loudly, and too often, and when he wasn't talking he was humming loudly."

"When he realized it annoyed me," sighs Leigh, "he did it deliberately. This sort of thing can drive you nuts in a very short time and I was so glad to leave that place and come here."

"Now, I'm finding how horrible it is to be working on a team with people who are related to each other, especially because they are of a different ethnic group and deliberately jabber in their native tongue all day around me."

"When I started here four years ago there was one ethnic lady on my team and we all got along well," says Leigh. "But then, as people left she got a relative of hers to take over the vacant positions."

"I am now on a team made up entirely of her relatives!"

"I am stuck in a small workplace where I have to put up with these women actually talking and laughing about me - using my name quite clearly in their foreign language," says Leigh "and it is driving me insane."

"They look after each other and make decisions without my input," says Leigh "and they have totally alienated me."

"Their language is totally foreign to me so they honestly do sound like jabbering idiots," says Leigh, "and to make matters worse they bring in their strange smelling food that make me feel nauseous."

"Whole days go by when they don't speak to me at all - even though they speak English perfectly," says Leigh "and you have no idea how depressing it is to be ignored in the way they are ignoring me. I try to start up a conversation and they just giggle and jabber and pretend they don't hear me."

"It's pretty obvious that they are trying to get me to resign so that they can get another one of their relatives into my job," says Leigh, "but I am 48 and it is not going to be easy for me to find another job - especially one so near where I live."

"I live down the road from my workplace - whereas these women come from the outer suburbs," says Leigh, "so even if I do find another job I will be forced to pass this place every day."

"It's no use talking to management about my situation because they must know what the situation is - they caused it!"

"I know that these women are earning a lot less money than I am" sighs Leigh "So it's definitely in management's interests to get rid of me, too."

"I've put up with this situation now for over a year and I'm really in a bind about it. One on one, these women are OK, but put them together and they're like jabbering jackals."

"I live alone and I have nobody to cheer me up when I get home," says Leigh, "and I suppose that works against me too."

"I would never take a job where I would be the odd man out," says Leigh, "so this situation has developed around me and I had no idea it would end up the way it has."

"I'm drinking a lot more now than I ever did," confesses Leigh. "It's not good to be drinking alone is it?"

"When I look at nature and see how many native species have been wiped out by introduced species I get to feel that perhaps I am being wiped out too."

"Maybe they have better survival instincts than I do and deserve to take over the place."

"It's survival of the fittest out there, isn't it?"

"I'm glad I never had any children because thanks to greedy types like my employer this land will soon be taken over by another race and I can't bear to think of the type of life white children will have in the future."

(Leigh's story first appeared as mother tongues and is reprinted with permission.)