Fatima Doe (last name not her real name) worked in the pharmacy at Walmart. (As many know, the pharmaceutical field attracts a lot of very educated Middle Easterners. Fatima is a U.S. citizen [from Iran] who holds a master’s degree and is very intelligent, hard-working, and professional.)
A newly appointed supervisor told Fatima and everyone else to never speak in their native language and would not consider job applicants that sounded foreign for any positions that opened.
A customer came in to complain that his address had been entered wrong into the computer. His address had been entered incorrectly by one digit by another employee, and Fatima came to assist him. Although Fatima’s English is very good, the customer noticed her obvious accent.
The customer told her in a loud, angry voice (among other insulting things) that she shouldn’t be working there, taking jobs from Americans, and that she needed to go home and get an education. Her supervisor was standing about four steps away. When the customer left, Fatima asked her supervisor why he did not stand up for her. He pretended not to have heard everything, although the other two employees next to him did.
She told her supervisor that if he did not stand up for her and go talk to the customer, she would go confront him, herself. He refused and told her not to do it. After clocking out, she confronted the customer, anyway, and was fired.
For five months, she sent out resumes and never got a single interview. Her daughter, Taraneh, told her that she couldn’t get any interviews either, until she shortened her name to Tara. Fatima then legally changed her name to Sarah. She even told the judge why she was changing her name. After doing this, she landed 25 interviews within a few of months, and was hired.
We think discrimination doesn't go on because it isn't happening to us. It does, and we need to be aware of it.
Loren M. Lambert © November 4, 2013
A newly appointed supervisor told Fatima and everyone else to never speak in their native language and would not consider job applicants that sounded foreign for any positions that opened.
A customer came in to complain that his address had been entered wrong into the computer. His address had been entered incorrectly by one digit by another employee, and Fatima came to assist him. Although Fatima’s English is very good, the customer noticed her obvious accent.
The customer told her in a loud, angry voice (among other insulting things) that she shouldn’t be working there, taking jobs from Americans, and that she needed to go home and get an education. Her supervisor was standing about four steps away. When the customer left, Fatima asked her supervisor why he did not stand up for her. He pretended not to have heard everything, although the other two employees next to him did.
She told her supervisor that if he did not stand up for her and go talk to the customer, she would go confront him, herself. He refused and told her not to do it. After clocking out, she confronted the customer, anyway, and was fired.
For five months, she sent out resumes and never got a single interview. Her daughter, Taraneh, told her that she couldn’t get any interviews either, until she shortened her name to Tara. Fatima then legally changed her name to Sarah. She even told the judge why she was changing her name. After doing this, she landed 25 interviews within a few of months, and was hired.
We think discrimination doesn't go on because it isn't happening to us. It does, and we need to be aware of it.
Loren M. Lambert © November 4, 2013
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