Inauguration Day in my workplace

Just a little rant about how the Inauguration Day proceedings went down in what I would like to think is otherwise a professional office environment.

Midway through a closed door meeting with 3 of my colleagues, one of whom is black, a second black member of our office entered unbeckoned and ignoring the 2 white people present said simply "2 minutes" to the other black person and exited.

Somewhat taken aback by this abrupt intrusion, we looked at the person in our meeting with a "huh?" expression, and she responded "oh, it's the inauguration, WE are listening to it in a cube, I gotta go".

With that she left, and we (the remaining white population of our office) stood and looked on as every black member of the office crammed into one cube to hear the swearing in ceremony via radio.

We were not invited to join them (the office contains several self-avowed liberals) and the managers were somewhat taken aback by the way in which work was dropped and meetings walked out of without so much as an "is it ok if I take 5 minutes, I have to leave" type of request.

We all work day in and day out as a team, and for the first time I think many of us came to realize that the black members of our office still see things in terms of "us and them".

It's ironic that we have completely lost the shackles of racism, and yet our black colleagues still see fit to exclude us just because of the color of our skin.

Is this the change Obama speaks of?

Originally posted by Retseh
Is this the change Obama speaks of?

I doubt it. Also, how can you or anybody, by any stretch of imagination, hold Obama responsible for this?

I agree with your main point that this was very unprofessional behavior on the part of your colleagues. Had that happened at my place of work I probably would have said something about it.

I'm confused as to why the "white population" of your office wasn't listening or watching too. I understand you were at work, but really? Have you thought about the fact that one of those black colleagues may be sitting at their desk right now wondering why the white folks in the office weren't interested in listening to the swearing in? Perhaps you're reading more into it, just as that fictional black member of your office might?

In our workplace, all of us, spontaneously (meaning without any earlier planning) gathered around the TV and shared the moment together. It's a msall office, I must admit, all nationalities, both Republican and Democrat. We all just stopped and took it in. We even had some people come in off the street and watch with us. It was great.

Common, give them a break. First time you have a 'black' president.
Only happens once in history.

reply to post by Retseh


Lets hope not, but you know as I it is not what a person or group says it is what that person or group does. We will soon know the truth.

Did every Black employee receive a personal invitation? Would you have been told to go away if you had said, "Hey, I'd like to see?" Were the Blacks the only ones watching or listening to the inauguration? Perhaps the employees that were watching were so overwhelmed and caught up in the moment they weren't thinking and didn't mean any harm; just really wanting to catch the momentous occasion? Sometimes when humans get excited they don't always think of all the fine details. Just wondering.

It sounds like the girl in your meeting had arranged with the meeting interrupter beforehand to come and maybe give her a 2 minute warning, knowing that they were both interested in listening to the swearing in.

I think if it was another type of event... say, a rocket launch, and the space nerds in the office made sure to let the other space nerds know when it was happening, it wouldn't be such a big deal.

A lack of specific invitation doesn't mean you were excluded. If I were interested (which I would have been) I would have asked to joined them - even without an invitation.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Obama or "change".

We all work day in and day out as a team, and for the first time I think many of us came to realize that the black members of our office still see things in terms of "us and them".

I think perhaps at least one white member does, too.

It's ironic that we have completely lost the shackles of racism

Where on Earth did you get that idea?

Originally posted by Layla
I'm confused as to why the "white population" of your office wasn't listening or watching too.

Why was anyone watching at all? Shouldn't they actually be doing the work that they are paid to do instead of sitting around watching TV?

In the big companies you have to record the time you spend on each project and you charge those projects - and the customers. It's called FRAUD to charge them for work that you don't do.

If those people watch TV for 30 minutes then they had better stay 30 minutes late and work for free to make up the time, otherwise it's theft and fraud - especially when you talk about gov't contracted work - like at Lockmart, Boeing, Raytheon, etc.