I once was working a temp job that one of my old managers recommended me to work there with her because she got hired on there as one of the stores big manager ( I forgot what position she held). So I apply there and I am super elated to start. Mind you this was a up scale retail store called “Barbara Jean” that sales all of the high end fashion, jewelry, make up, and small home décor such as candles there. Whenever I walked in I was super nervous because I have never seen any luxury items in my life such as a Chanel bag or heard of some of those brands that they had. Also I was scared that the other employees would treat me like shit because I was a temp, I was young, and I was an African American girl in a wealthy predominantly white part of town. I made a quick observation of who worked there and to my surprise there was me and another full time employee there that was African American (me and her quickly bonded). So after the first day I met everyone and I figured out what the objective was of my job which was to wrap gifts.
After the first week everything was cool. Everyone seemed “nice” but deep down I knew that these were not my people and that we came from a different world. So three weeks into this job the store manager, Christy that over sees the store sits down and she's starts talking to everyone really casually. Me and the other tempos are just waiting on more gifts to wrap up (this was a pretty slow day). Christy turns to me and looks at me up and down like I was scuff on the bottom of her shoes says to everyone yettttt looking directly at me, “ I don’t understand why there is so many people that are on my clock. Some one needs to volunteer and go home.”
The room is completely silent….
I look at her like she was stupid and said “ Well I was schedule for today so ask someone else to leave”
The room still silent and she's still looking at me. Now be aware you guys, that the manager that recommended me work there is in the room on her phone….. LISTENLY TO ALL THIS HAPPENING and she didn’t look up not once to help me out.
I look back at her Christy and said,
“ you know what I’ll go ahead and leave I have homework to do anyways. Y ’all have a good day.” ( I’m not really even sure what I said at that point but I wanted to run out of that boxed room as soon as possible!) I got all of my shit and left. I was so embarrassed and shocked about what had just happened. I had never at that point in my life dealt with anyone being that rude to me and I had no reason why Christy would treat me like that when I had never said anything to her but “hello” and “goodbye”.
So the next day I come in and she does the same exact thing to the other temp. Mind the other temps that work there their parents shopped at that store and spent big money on all of that crap. The other temp left but the next day me and her talked about it and she told me that Christy is just a major bitch and talks to EVERYONE like even customers. I was dumbfounded by that. I don't understand why anyone would want to put up with for fucking luxury items that will be out of style in a blink of an eye.
The moral of this really long story is that Christy made a judgement about me that she prearranged about me in her head without even getting to know me. She looked at me like I was trash without even know that I am an extremely intelligent young woman with a lot under my belt. At the time I was in environmental engineering working my ass to keep a 3.00 and had a full ride at my uni instead of selling handbags to zooked out housewives that were barely able to pay on their accounts. I still at this point in my life can never understand why she felt the need to approach me that way when she could have kindly asked me to leave. I never knew why the women that hired me didn’t say anything. I had so much respect for her but in that moment she lost all of it.Thinking about this memory still hurts me to my core.
Regardless of what social class you come from you should treat each individual with respect. There is so much to life than acting like any asshole.