Just in case you were unaware, I am a straight white male who was raised Catholic. In my career, I have worked for just about every type of person.
I’ve had supervisors who were black women, white women, gay men, Hispanic men, gay Latino men, Hispanic lesbians, Jewish lesbians and immigrants from Jamaica, Israel, China, and Russia. One of the most significant aspects of living and working in New York City during my youth was the opportunity to work with and for so many different types of people from so many unique backgrounds.
I’ve had coworkers from South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. All of whom I got along with great. I enjoyed their company immensely. I once worked for a large advertising agency founded by two entrepreneurial women and with an almost entirely female staff. They were terrific employers, and I have fond memories of working for them.
If someone were to ask me what lessons I’ve learned from my vast work experience, one would be this. For the most part, I can say working for other straight white males has been a complete nightmare. Sure there were exceptions. But overall it was a horror show.
“But wait, don’t you have White Privilege?” you ask.
My response, “What’s that?”
I can only relate to you what happened to me personally from my own experiences. Many of which were terrible. Here are some examples;
I was once placed in a great position by a headhunter in the tech industry. It was in the web marketing department of a telecom company in San Diego, where I lived at the time. I was the sixth person they had tried in six months. No one lasted longer than five weeks. I however lasted five months. No one else had been able to handle the heavy workload until I came along. My boss was white, and the owners of the company were white.
Once a week my white supervisor sent my white headhunter glowing reviews of my stellar performance. She was thrilled to be working with a professional capable of doing the job. One who was very easy to get along with and whose skills matched their demands. It became clear to everyone early on that I was, “the right guy for the job.” After five months it was time to make it official and hire me.
Did I get the job?
No.
Keep in mind I was the only employee out of six who didn’t fail in this position. What does common sense tell you? If five people can’t do a job and one can then you obviously hire that person.
Not in my reality.
So what happened?
The headhunter who placed me in this position tried to negotiate the details of my employment. As it turned out this company didn’t want to pay me a livable wage. San Diego is a costly place to live and requires a certain salary just to make ends meet. The salary they were willing to pay would not support a single adult in the San Diego area. I would have been forced to go on food stamps. No joke.
I was impressed by the fact they never bothered to ask if I was married or had kids. Which at my age is more than likely. So they were offering me a salary incapable of supporting a family. I was shocked and stunned as was the headhunter. This job demanded highly sought-after technical skills as well as a great deal of education. What they were offering was utterly unrealistic.
Negotiations to buy out my contract and hire me full time fell to pieces, and one Friday afternoon I was let go. But not before they informed me they had hired someone else. They also assumed I would be willing to train this new employee to do the job I earned and got screwed out of. (Are you angry yet?)
Instead of hiring me they hired a much younger white guy. They hired him without even trying him out first. He was offered the job and put on staff without any test period. When I asked why I was told, “Well, he can do everything you can do and edit video as well.”
I responded with, “I’ve been editing video for years. If someone had just asked me that I would have told you so.”
Their response: “Well, he does 3D modeling too.”
My response: “So do I. I’ve actually won awards for my 3D modeling skills.”
Their response: “Well, whatever.”
The guy they hired instead of me lasted all of five weeks before he quit. He was not able to keep up with the job demands. So the position was vacant again. But did they call the one guy successful at doing this job?
No.
Weeks later I saw my position advertised on a job site. I knew precisely who placed it, that part was obvious. They listed, “Seven years of back-end web development experience required.” I can tell you people with that much experience get $75 an hour. But they wanted to offer me minimum wage.
In other words, the market dictates a specific value for sought after, in-demand skills. This meant nothing to them, where they got this idea is beyond me.
For those of you unfamiliar with the tech market, I’ll illustrate what went on here. The situation was analogous to this;
They wanted a brand new 2019 Trans Am sports car but for the price of a used 2007 Toyota Corolla. You and I both know if you went to a Trans Am dealership and made the offer I just spelled out you’d be thrown off the lot right after they laughed at you!
White Privilege?
So where was my white privilege? At the time I didn’t know I had any. If I had maybe I could have invoked it with my desired employers. “Hey guys, C’mon, I’m white. You’re white. Let’s stop this nonsense! Hire me and pay a decent wage. After all, if you don’t hire me, you might get stuck working with one of those ‘people of color’ and then where will you be, right?”
Somehow I don’t think so. Here’s another story.
I once worked for a software company in Illinois. The owner was a rich, white millionaire. The senior staff was entirely Caucasian as well. After working there for six months business took a turn for the worse and they were forced to lay some people off. I was one of forty who got the ax that day.
I was depressed and bummed out I had lost my job. I didn’t know what I was going to do so I applied for unemployment before I started my job search. A few days later the State Office of Unemployment called me to say my former [white] employer was contesting my unemployment claim! That means I wasn’t going to get anything to survive on!
Try this one on for size. When the unemployment office called them to verify I had been laid off my WHITE EMPLOYERS claimed I had lied! They told the state I had been let go for, “Disciplinary Reasons as a Result of Misconduct.” In other words, they caught me doing something illegal, and I got fired for it! An outright LIE! You see, if they confirmed my claim was legitimate their unemployment insurance premiums would go up. So they fought it. And of course the claims of all forty staff members they let go!
I was out of work and needed those unemployment checks to pay rent and buy groceries until I lined something else up. Without that money, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. Getting that phone call from the state was one of the worst moments of my life.
And guess what? They did the same thing to one of my coworkers. A WHITE coworker whose white wife had just given birth to their first white child only a few days ago! But that didn’t stop our former white boss from trying to screw him out of unemployment insurance either! And he had a BABY TO FEED!
See how EASY it is being white? It’s like being part of a great big club! We all look out for each other!
NOT!
Luckily the state believed me, and I got my benefits. But this didn’t lessen the shock of what they tried to do. I could not understand how such cruelty was possible in this day and age. It was like something you’d read in a Dickens novel.
Or how about this one?
A small company made up entirely of WHITE MEN offered me a great job in San Diego while I was still living in Illinois. On paper, it looked amazing! A real career opportunity. I could not believe my luck. Before I accepted the job, I asked if they would pay for my relocation expenses. They said yes but only after I completed my first ninety days.
They had been trying to fill this spot for over a year when I came along, so it seemed like a no brainer to me. If they hadn’t found anyone to do this gig in a year, there was no way I’d not last past the three-month mark.
Long story short, boy was I wrong. You see, these WHITE MEN told me they were about to be extremely busy and needed me to hurry up and move before their enormous work crunch hit. I gladly complied and showed up for my first day of work bright and early after relocating cross country. Full of energy and promise!
What followed was eight weeks of excruciating agony and boredom. Their anticipated workload did not materialize. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. They were betting on some significant contract coming in, probably trying to land a huge client. The deal must have fallen through because there was literally no work to do. The staff and I were forced to sit at our desks waiting for something, anything to work on. At one point I began rearranging furniture just to feel like I was accomplishing something.
The stress was HORRIBLE! These guys clearly had a lot riding on this deal. When it fell apart, it must have meant something close to Chapter 11 for their firm. Their anxiety translated into rage. Rage they focused on the staff. Like it was our fault. I’ve never been so abused in the workplace before. Friends asked me why I put up with it.
What could I do? I was between a rock and a hard place. I had just moved to San Diego and signed a one-year lease on an apartment. I had bills to pay. One of which was a $4,000 moving cross country bill I needed reimbursement for. I didn’t know anyone in San Diego; these guys were my only source of income. I felt trapped. What was I going to do? Mouth off to them and say, “Go to Hell!” I needed that job to survive.
Anyway, eight weeks after my first day the phone rang while getting ready for work. It was a Monday morning when my white male employers called to fire me over the phone. They claimed I had lied about my skills and experience, so I was let go. It was so obvious there was no work coming in I had to wonder why they made up that lie. What was the point?
I called several labor attorneys to see if I had a case for a loss of employment lawsuit. They all asked the same question, “Did you get anything in writing before taking the job and moving?” The answer was a foolish, ‘No.’ Lesson learned. In the business world, if something isn’t written down and signed it never really happened.
(By the way, if you’re reading this and ever get offered a job you have to relocate for, please learn from my example and get everything in writing!)
So now I was unemployed in a state I had only lived in for two months. This means under California State law, I was not eligible to collect unemployment benefits! I wonder what my new landlord would say about that? Oh, and don’t forget about my being stuck with a $4,000 moving bill because I didn’t pass my first ninety days.
See what it’s like working for other straight, white, Christian males? (In case you’re wondering, they were proud Democrats, just saying)
White privilege strikes again!
Another time I was in the running for a great job at a very prominent financial magazine. The most capitalist of all capitalist publications! The editorial staff was, of course, completely WHITE. And when I say white, I mean the Waspiest of Wasps! Just picture those stuffy old fogies you see in church every Sunday. The ones with every gray hair perfectly placed. Like some type of senior Ken Doll or the elders from the movie, ‘Footloose’ with Kevin Bacon.
The job was between two other guys and me. One was a legal Mexican immigrant who just happened to be gay. The other was a white guy.
Before the final decision was made the white guy bailed out because he received another job offer. When they reached a decision, guess who got hired? Right! The Mexican gay guy!
Wow! That good old white privilege struck again!
In case you’re wondering, I wasn’t mad. I was bummed, but the ‘gay Latino’ just happened to be a good friend of mine. We have worked together for years. So when he got the job and not me, I was disappointed but glad for him because he deserved it. And now he was a great contact at a prestigious magazine so I couldn’t complain.
By the way, at the time I never thought of any of this in the context I just laid out. This story happened two decades ago, and for twenty years I always said, “Roberto got the job and not me.” I never said or thought, “They gave it to a gay Mexican and not me!” for even a second.
While preparing to write this post I was thinking of my real-world examples where being white didn’t count for shit when this popped into my brain. But that’s what it’s like dealing with the left. When you think their way, you are forced to see everyone by skin color and race.
Let me detail the ‘Privilege’ I do feel entitled to.
I have over 30 year’s professional experience in my field, having worked for such institutions as The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. All in New York City at the world headquarters of each, as such my skill level is rather high for what I do and my professional temperament above average, which means I know how to get things done and done quickly.
So, in my opinion, I have ‘skilled seniority privilege.’ This should be taken into account when being considered for a job.
I also hold three different degrees. Two of which are from prestigious east coast design schools with stellar, international reputations. One is a Master’s degree.
So I have ‘higher education privilege.’ After all, what’s the point of getting a Master’s Degree? Isn’t it to make more money and be considered for top level, better-paying positions? Doesn’t having a Master’s degree open doors usually closed to those without one? Those who didn’t work their butts off and go into deep student loan debt to get it!
I have a Master’s degree now, so my earning potential has increased exponentially, right? (insert sarcastic look here)
At my age it is overwhelmingly likely for me to have college-age offspring or kids about to enter higher education, meaning I have dependents and those are NOT cheap. Plenty of friends my age have two or three kids in their late teens attending universities. Imagine their monthly expenses.
So in my book, that means I have the right to claim, ‘dependents privilege.’ Meaning I’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, a legitimate concern that should be considered by any future employer.
You can call me arrogant, but on some level, I just assumed working your entire life entitled you to certain perks in the workplace, like a substantial salary. I was raised to believe this. It’s something I saw as a child. For example, recent medical school graduates make less than doctors with more experience. A skilled surgeon who performed a significant number of operations is in high demand. More so than one with less under his or her belt.
How many times had I heard about the executive CEO of a corporation starting in the mail room as a lowly “office boy,” eventually climbing the corporate ladder until reaching the top? As a child, adults frequently pointed this out to me. Using the term, “climbing the ladder” to instill the concept in me.
You start at the bottom and over the years work your way up. After years of hard work and perseverance, you WILL BE rewarded.
NEWS FLASH: IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
Do you know what all my so-called “privilege” got me after working hard for 30 years?
Zero.
Zlitch.
Nada.
Nothing.
My skill level and experience mean absolutely nothing now when applying for a job. After all, why pay me what I’m worth when you could get three or four interns for nothing? And sure, they probably can’t do the job as well as I can but so what? We’ll fire them after three months and try a new batch. Eventually one has to work out, right?
Or why pay a well-trained American citizen anything close to minimum wage when you can outsource the work to Taiwan or India? Who cares what that is doing to our country!
My Master’s degree is a joke. Don’t even get me started. The only thing it qualifies me to do is teach more rubes dumb enough to go to college or university so they can rack up student loan debt, which is why the thought of teaching makes me SICK!
And having a family to feed and support? Do you know what the last straight, white male with hair as gray as mine and a beard as white as mine offered me at the end of the latest job interview I politely sat through?
$45K a year!
“We might do $50K for the right person.” He said.
$45K a year?! The last time I made $45K a year was 1994 when I was 28 years old with no dependents! Hey, Mr. Fellow Straight White Christian Male, ever hear of inflation before?! Do the math on what $45K a year gets you in 2019 as opposed to 1994 when gas was $1.56 per gallon!
THAT SALARY WOULD QUALIFY ME AND MY KIDS FOR FOOD STAMPS!!!!!!
There’s no way I’d qualify for a mortgage with that paycheck. What bank would give me one? How would I pay my bills? I live in an expensive west coast city, one that was super cheap to live in five years ago when I moved here. In fact, that’s precisely why I moved here! Because the cost of living was reasonable! Is it my fault that changed?! Is it my fault thousands of stupid WHITE Californians fled their disaster of a state and flooded into mine? Driving the cost of everything through the roof!
Now I’ve been displaced by other white people!
Hey! How’s that for you? Between skilled seniority privilege, higher education privilege, dependents privilege and of course, the almighty WHITE PRIVILEGE you know what I have to show for it?
A great, big pile of NOTHING!!! I haven’t had a raise in over twenty years!
I find it ironic I never even heard the term, “white privilege” until President Obama’s second term in office. The first black president. A man who came from a broken home without any privilege at all became the most powerful man in the world. How did a black man without white privilege rise to such heights of success? The very fact he was a two-term president defeats the entire assertion white privilege exists!
I’ve got a question for you;
In America, can a black kid whose father was a Muslim immigrant from Africa, a product of divorce, raised by a single mom without a wealthy, powerful family grow up to sit in the Oval Office of the White House? The people who believe in white privilege would give you a resounding “No!”
But Barack Obama did it.
How’s that for white privilege?
Let’s be honest here, do you know what “white privilege” really is? It’s the Socialist Democrats answer to the question black America asks them;
“Hey, we’ve had sixty years of social programs, affirmative action, diversity, forced busing, redistricting, social engineering, black and white buddy films, white guilt, progressive education in our public schools and the almighty ‘War on Poverty’ launched by LBJ in the 1960s and we are worse off than ever before! You guaranteed the eradication of poverty if we just listened to you and implemented all these programs, so we did. But now there are more poor people than before and infinitely more misery! Hey Democrats, why is that? What happened? Why didn’t your ideas work?”
Democrat answer: “Oh, um, ah…………. White privilege! Yah! That’s it!”