Multicultural Awareness Week

[resonant]

It's Multicultural Awareness Week at Teranerd. The company shows its Midwestern cred by celebrating with a potluck tomorrow. My Polish co-worker told me not to bring a Greek salad. "Everybody always brings Greek salad," my Cameroonian co-worker agreed.

Teranerd likes being multicultural. It matters to them. They make a big deal of it in the training. The guy who gave the diversity presentation to the new hires said to us, with a great big grin, "And you get to be part of all this awesomeness!"

Teranerd is, undeniably, a little bit corny. But I have to say this about working in this environment: I had never quite noticed how I was always waiting for every new co-worker to say something horribly bigoted until I realized that I wasn't doing it here.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

I had never quite noticed how I was always waiting for every new co-worker to say something horribly bigoted until I realized that I wasn't doing it here.

I hear you. The feeling's not quite gone with regard to gender roles...but race and orientation are good. It calms me down in innumerable ways, it does.

[out_there]

Teranerd is, undeniably, a little bit corny. But I have to say this about working in this environment: I had never quite noticed how I was always waiting for every new co-worker to say something horribly bigoted until I realized that I wasn't doing it here.

That's actually really cool.

"Everybody always brings Greek salad," my Cameroonian co-worker agreed.

Really? At work BBQs here -- not multicultural, just a heavily encouraged staff bonding thing -- people always bring desserts. The salads always go first, but there are plates of desserts left through the afternoon.

[starfish]

I am also finally at a job where I can rely on a higher level of discourse and no casual bigotry, and WOW IT'S SO COOL.