I’ve always considered myself fair. I mean, i pull off English with a private school twang when necessary. I mingle in the dodgy corners of kasi (township) with the ease of a mongrel mutt. I do cigar-lounges and sip cognac with the BEE tender-preneurs. However the one thing is hate is undermining someone because of their perceived status in life. That’s the British class system which messed up the Indians and the British are long gone.
Anyway, lemme get to the point. As anyone who works in corporate will know, the kitchen is the gossip exchange of any company. Those walls hold more gossip than all the security and cleaning staff combined. So with our new office renovations we’ve got a bigger kitchen, however the hard-board walls ensures the skinner isn’t so private anymore. The hushed whispers and suppressed giggles might as well be over a loud-speaker. Needless to say this has annoyed those who sit closest the kitchen.
Now the point of writing this post is as follows. My annoyance flared when the tea-lady is continuously being harassed because of staff making a noise in the kitchen. The door is often slammed behind her. She gets reprimanded for keeping the door open. The sheer cowardice of not addressing the problem rubs me up the wrong way. So much so i jumped into the fray this morning. Maybe not well calculated as again she took the backlash.
What grates me is that this lady is old enough to be my mother. Hell,her son is as old as my elder siblings!!!! I doubt her employers even recall her name. Not the name she received cause her first Madam couldn’t dare injure her tongue! No, never that one. Her “Christian” name. That which she received at her baptismal. Nothemba! I won’t demean her by calling this incident racist. Never that. Just oppression borne of sheer ignorance and arrogance.
As much as our youth are unruly and have lost respect, its sad to see it amongst my peers. Are we such a frightened community that only the short black dude who’s always making race jokes can stand up for this? I’m saddened, furious and in the nature of my short brethren will be taking this fight on for as long as it doesn’t harm this dear lady.
I just hope there are more people out there championing such causes. Thanks for listening
Writer's Block 