Some of you knew I had been looking for a job practically the whole summer since Spring Semester at school had ended. Took me until August to actually land one and it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for but shoot, I was gonna take what I could get. I was a front desk receptionist for one of the highest ranked Salons in Orange County. Hours wise it was ideal for me because they were flexible, not too terrible of a drive, and most holidays off. Pay wise, it was a struggle but like I said, I was gonna take what I could get.
In the beginning things were pretty good. The duties of a front desk employee at a busy salon were more than I had originally expected but multi-tasking and dealing with different personality individuals is something I happen to be very good at, so I picked up the job pretty quickly. What I didn't expect was some of the events that came about in the months that followed...
First would be the fact that I would be blamed for things that weren't my fault. Before investigations in the matter were conducted, accusation were already made. I'm honestly not the type of person who won't admit to mistakes, especially if they negatively effect someone else but at least make sure it was MY mistake before rep remanding me. It felt like because I was the new girl, I was made the scape goat for things that didn't go right. I would take it upon myself to look further into the situation and ask all parties involved what happened and I can't tell you how many times the conclusion was that it wasn't my fault at all. But hey, as long as I knew I had done no wrong I thought it was gonna be OK. It wasn't.
Second, it was expected that I act a certain way because I was part of the "front desk crew". This meant not befriending 'trouble makers' or those the management didn't necessary like, keeping an open ear to things being said around the salon so I could pass it on to those interested in hearing it, and to go along with the thinking of everyone else in the front. I'm sorry but I can't choose my own friends? Gossip? Not have my own opinions? Have you lost your mind? That certainly wasn't me and because I was unwilling to change that, it didn't sit too well with management.
Lastly and in my opinion, most importantly was the racism and ignorance that I experienced. Now trust, I've had my fair share of racist comments throughout my life, but never in a work place and never from so many different people. First it was fried chicken jokes, then asking why my son looks "white", then accusing me of having an attitude because I'm black and I hate white people(Hi. My mother is white but OK....), and when an anonymous client called to complain about a receptionist being unfriendly and making her feel bad about herself when she came in describing that employee as having dark hair and big eyes...I was the only person the salon felt met that description. I don't know about you, but if I were to describe myself, my complexion might have made the list. But I guess that's just me.... I'm not even going to list the comments made by clients because well...there would be too many. All the instances mentioned were done by salon co-workers and were any of these people written up or fired? Nope. Some weren't even talked to about it at all.
Despite all of these things I've listed I still continued working there doing the best at my job as I could. Bullshit and immaturity isn't going to stop me from doing what I was being paid to do or stop me from rising above. I'm not a quitter nor do I run away from things when they are less than pleasant. The world isn't pleasant so if that was the case I'd be running forever. The runner in this family is my sister, not I! ha ha! But unfortunately none of that mattered because they let me go anyways. Had me come work on my day off and at the end of my shift, pulled me in to the office and proceeded to feed me lines of crap of why I wasn't working out. None of which had anything to do with my performance as a front desk receptionist. To put it mildly, I am pissed. I am confused. I know not everything in life will make sense, but there's just too much about this that just doesn't seem right....
What are your opinions? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
