Not a Happy Camper

I love my job. I really do. It can be dull and boring at times...like now when I'm waiting on others for information.

One thing I certainly do NOT love is how "corporate" it's been getting. When I first started here, almost eight years ago, it was very associate oriented - family. It was about work but it was also about working together as a team. There weren't nearly as many "rules" and "regs" as have been implemented over the last few years.

The newest, and the one I'm fighting, is the "strongly recommended" "Respectful Workplace" training. I don't know how many more of these ridiculous trainings I can attend and I am fighting this one with every ounce of my being. I've been force fed this "diversity" crap since I was in Kindergarten. If it hasn't worked by now it certainly isn't going to work.

I have never ever ever been written up or even 'talked to' about being insensitive to others. Of course...I am not particularly sensitive when it comes to certain things. Like Christmas. I say Merry Christmas and if you don't like it you can bite me.

It ticks me off that I am "expected to take advantage" of this "opportunity" to learn how to maintain "an atmosphere free of discrimination and harassment". Seriously? I can't believe we are wasting money on something called a "Diversity & Inclusion Council" while trying at the same time to cut costs.

I'm almost 30 years old and was raised in a time of making sure all kids "got along". A laughable goal since most kids are just mean. I remember a TV commercial that was on when I was a kid - it was one of those public service commercials they played during Saturday morning cartoons. A white kid and a black kid were out at the pool together. Friends. No big deal. The white kid says something about getting burned but how his friend didn't have to worry about it because he was already so dark. At which point the black boy informed the white boy that he could burn and it wasn't a very nice thing for him to say. OMG.

Even then I thought it was a stupid commercial. If that's the worst thing a kid says to another kid we're doing pretty dang good. I didn't even realize there were such things as "black", "white", or "racist" until later in elementary school when I was TOLD that white people were racist. It was news to me.

I was a MEAN little girl. Especially after my dad died. And not one time did I ever hate or harass anyone because of their skin color. I was an equal opportunity bully. I pulled a girl's hair once. I'm not proud of it. I pulled her hair on the bus because I thought she was gross...and annoying. But then again I was a little brat. Someone should have pulled my hair. I certainly didn't discriminate in who I was mean to...my friends were from different backgrounds and colors and we were all mean to those who weren't part of our "clique".

So now my work is trying to force me to take a class to teach me to be respectful of others. If my mom didn't get through to me by the time I was 18 who thinks my work can do any better job? It is beyond insulting. Not only that, forced diversity training doesn't work. It just makes people bitter and angry at having to attend such insipid and unnecessary meetings that take away from their real job.

I'm just so ticked off that my work is even wasting money on this kind of thing - that's money that could be applied to bonuses. They're suspending raises this year but throwing money down the toilet for this kind of crap.

No...I'm not the most sensitive person. But I am also not a racist. I'm not disrespectful to anyone because of who they are or what they look like. If I'm disrespectful it's usually because we're all joking around...and it's usually to my boss! Then again he's a white male so I guess it's okay to be mean to him right?

Arg!!!