NO NONSENSE
If You Can’t Stand Up for Yourself, Nobody Will
Speak up
I read an essay today about racial discrimination the author is facing at her new job in a foreign country.
It left me furious.
In her essay, the author describes the various forms of racist remarks hurled at her by her co-workers and bosses — her skin color, accent, etc.
But it’s not the racist attitude of her co-workers that left me furious.
It was how the author decided to deal with it.
I know I am not in her shoes. I have no clue how badly she wants the job. I respect that.
But, in my opinion, her let-go attitude despite the humiliation she feels isn’t the way to go. She is empowering those who are in the wrong.
Zulm karne waale se zulm sehne waala zyaada bada gunehgaar hota hai — A Hindi Proverb.
This old Hindi proverb loosely translates to “to accept being oppressed by someone is a bigger sin than to oppress someone.”
True, that time and the author’s hard work might change the attitude of her co-workers towards her. But it won’t fix the root cause of the issue. If not for her, someone else would be the victim of racist abuse by her co-workers.
It’s always important to catch the snake by its hood, not the tail.
I am fortunate to work in an environment where we don’t see racism in my daily work life. Even if it is there, it’s not as direct as in the case of this author.
But there is another non-racist form of abuse quite prevalent in my line of work.
For example, I once got a call from my boss that I had been offline for 16 hours on skype, and that kind of “lapse” would be accounted for in my performance review.
My response — “The company pays me for 8 hours. I have the right to be offline for 16 hours. Call me when you see me offline for 17 hours.”
She never troubled me again in the two years I worked with her. I had the best boss-employee relationship with her without any issues in my performance reviews.
What did I do? I stood up for myself.
I tell this to all the new hires — not to take nonsense from anyone, including me, at work. It is not worth showing up at work every day feeling miserable.
Stop the oppressor at the first sign of oppression.
Catch the snake by the hood.
The author is a wannabe humorist who can put smiles on faces of fellow humans in times of despair. But he writes about anything and everything that his heart says.
