S1, Account 1: Alistair
I’m sitting across from probably the most talented person on my team (excluding myself), and even if his face was not riddled with contortions of disappointment, frustration and anger, even if he was beaming at me with all of his astonishingly perfect white teeth, his aura oozes a deep disgust and fury that I cannot possibly blame him for. If I’m honest. Yet…that’s never really been my strong point, so I find myself addressing his unspoken contempt with “I’m sure more opportunities will present themselves in the future. You just have to wait for your moment, state your case and no doubt the promotion will be yours”.
I know what I’m saying is a lie. He knows it is a lie. Because the fact of the matter is he has been the highest performing team member for 5 years straight, has years of experience, has the confidence and trust of the clients, has pretty much a spotless record, in fact there is little more if anything, he could possibly do to be better… but he won’t get that promotion. No, he’ll always lose out to nepotism, or someone that’s been recruited with “a little more experience”. At least…that’s what I tell him. The thing is, maybe if he joined in a bit more with the after-work drinks, or attended some weekends out with the work lads (we love a good pub crawl or a secret night of debauchery away from our wives and partners, shh don’t tell anyone!), it would help raise his profile and his case. I get that he has a rather sick dad who apparently needs quite a bit of attention, but he’s got a part-time carer — a few nights out a week can’t hurt. Or the other excuse he comes up with is his wife…as if none of us have wives or partners. So what? The key is not to get caught. And if you do get caught, apologise profusely, buy flowers, buy diamonds, take her on a shopping spree, play with the kids a bit more than usual…that usually does the trick. If she leaves, you don’t panic, just turn up at her work with lunch, send flowers and gifts every day for as long as it takes, and she’ll come back. They always do. Then after a while, back to business as usual.
But he doesn’t get it. He just doesn’t get it. The other day I overheard him talking to the other black guy in the office, Everton, and do you know what he said? He said this is the most blatant and consistent case of racial discrimination he’s experienced in his career. Can you imagine? I actually did a double-take. I had a mind to fling open the door I had prised slightly ajar to hear what they were speaking about (they seem to go off together quite a lot, I was beginning to think something very untoward was happening between the two of them), instead I coughed as I opened it as if I had just arrived to the kitchen. The only reason I didn’t raise it was because I don’t fancy being labelled a “racist” when it’s clearly a case of mediocre people-skills…and besides, I was late for my 1pm appointment with Sheila. And I do so love our rendezvous. She’s a nice interlude from the wife every now and again.
Anyway, obviously the conversation stopped and I found myself reflecting on how ungrateful some people are. Roy’s dad worked 80 hour weeks cleaning streets, buses, tubes, basically all the places that make our capital operate as the wonderfully glamorous city it is, and here Roy is, 40+ years later, earning more than his father ever earned in his life, with a house he owns, a nice car and a good job, a pretty wife in a good job too, but he wants to sulk about not getting a promotion and call it “discrimination”. Yeah…when I think about it, I can’t really see where he’s coming from. And if he would focus on what he has instead of thinking he’s better than everyone else and needs more, he would see that he’s got it very good indeed.
Originally posted: Feb 29, 2020