Make the injustice visible (in the workplace)
I’m so surprised how people get away with so much. I’m specifically talking about folks who oppress others, control others…I’m calling all of yall to speak up. I’m about to do it this Tuesday.
My manager is your typical abuser. He can be so nice, yet he can be so angry and mean. There’s normally no middle point. This guy should not be a manager because he does not know how to deal with his employees nor does he know how to talk to customers. As a manager things are gonna go wrong and you need to have some self-control to address these problems and come up with a viable solution.
Whenever any one of us makes a mistakes he blows up on us like we’ve done a terrible crime. When a customer disagrees with him, he engages in a drawn out argument with them. Although what they’re arguing about is not that important or doesn’t matter, he makes sure that they know that they are wrong and he is right. And just to add, I work with a company that is obsessed with customer service where we’re supposed to say yes to customers. When they are ague with us, we’re supposed to bite our tongues if what they’re arguing about doesn’t conflict with our company policies. And lastly, I don’t know how this guy got promoted to management. Every task he does, he grunts, complains, yells out some profanity. (Well actually, I know how he got promoted. Just last week, when upper management came by, he made the office spotless and acted like your sweetest and best employee. He knows how to act like a great employee, but when it comes to everyday situations, his default crazy guy comes out.)
I’m speaking up to upper management on Tuesday because of what happened last Friday. My co-worker forgot to finish a minimal task and probably didn’t notice, so he left for the weekend. When my manager found out, he called him back full of anger. My manager called him a jackass, said I don’t care if you have a wedding to attend Saturday, you get your ass here and complete this. You should feel so ashamed of yourself, I can’t keep on cleaning up your mess, you should feel guilty because you’re making your other co-worker stay.
In the end, everything my manager said was an act to make my co-worker feel horrible. In the end, my manager actually took 10 seconds to fix the problem.
The time has come where this injustic has to be made visible. I can see why people are afraid to report things like this because I felt all the feelings. I didn’t want to at first because first I was feeling like a tattle-teller, I worried I might lose my job, I worried no one would believe me, I worried my manager would find something to pin on me as revenge, I worried I would break the for the most part calm environment of my office, I worried some co-workers would no longer like me. I like to uncover all these feelings that prevent me from doing what’s right in my heart so I can challenge its validity and challenge its likelihood.
I’m moving beyond those fears because I’m getting to the point where I feel like I can’t function unless I do what I feel is right in my heart. Call me sensitive, but my belief against fighting against abuse is so strong, that my body can’t handle it if I don’t do something about. I guess I can call it a curse and a blessing.
Plan of action: talk to upper management and until I get someone to move on this, I’ll keep on going up. That’s how much I believe in fighting against folks who feel like they can just treat people this way. I’m doing this because I’m worried for my co-worker who my manager always picks on, I’m worried for my sanity in being able to continue my job, I’m worried for his future employees, and I’m worried for my manager. He probably has an inkling he has a problem or has no idea about it. This might be a blessing in disguise for him.
FYI: I would rather not have to speak up about his treatment of employees, but I’m knowing more and more than it’s my calling to fight against abuse. To reveal abuse. I have the skill and the eye of recognizing abuse. It’s not easy, the signs of abuse can be very stuble because abusers have a very sly way to manipulate and take away your self-worth that you won’t want to speak up or you’ll be too afraid to. I would also rather not because it takes a lot of guts, breaking into a system of living, and having people mad at you. I’ve done it twice before and it doesn’t feel good when you feel what you’re doing is right and others are mad at you for what you’ve done. One, because they don’t see the abuse or two, that person is their friend. I’d also rather not speak up because it takes a lot of mental energy away.
When I say I’d rather not, it doesn’t mean I don’t want the abuse to stop, it just means I know it takes a lot of work and standing up and not caring what others think. I also say I’d rather not so you understand that I don’t enjoy hurting people and embarassing people by revealing their faults. My point is, I don’t have this self-righteous attitude where I feel I’m perfect and everyone else is beneath me. I’d rather not because I am not perfect myself and we all have something to work on. But in these cases, only a few recognize the maltreatment and only a few feel they can’t function unless they say something like me. =)
I hope yall learned something. My point is: let’s learn how to speak up when managers or whoever mistreat people on a regular basis. It’s not okay, they need to be ashamed of themselves and taught a different way of dealing with people. A human life is so precious, so full of potential, that no one should be experiencing oppression from another human. No one deserves it and we need to help our people who aren’t strong enough to realize this. And if you are going through this treatment, step up and don’t be afraid to speak up for what is right. Peace!
Time to make a positive change 