Thursday, October 23, 2008
A Learning Experience In Workplace Diversity
Posted by Rebecca Juro at 9:31 PM
http://transgroupblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/learning-experience-in-workplace.htmlalso
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/10/a_learning_experience_in_workplace_diver.phpThat's the way I'm trying to look at it anyway.
Last Friday, I was fired from my job. This was, unfortunately, not a surprise. I'd known for some time by then that I wasn't a management favorite and that fact was going to negatively impact my chances for promotion. It wasn't that I was actively disliked personally (at least I don't think so) but I do think management was scared ->-bleeped-<-less of me for reasons that had nothing to do with my job performance.
Best Buy, the company I'd worked for since March, hired me almost immediately when I applied. Why not? They were getting almost 30 years of retail industry skills and experience for an entry level pay rate. The problem came in when I watched as employees less than half my age and with not even 1/10th of my skills and experience were repeatedly promoted over me. Finally, after the third time in a row I'd been passed over for a promotion in favor of someone far less qualified, I said something. I went to my direct supervisor and asked him why I was not being seriously considered for promotion. This, as you might expect, was not well received. He didn't say it in so many words, but his attitude seemed to indicate to me that he believed that I should just shut up and be happy in whatever position they put me in because I should be grateful they chose to hire me at all. Since I didn't get a real answer from my boss to my question, I decided to try to use other means to get my answer.
