My friends and I had a conversation about “Racism in the workplace”: Have you ever experienced it? Well, I was working at Meyer’s Treasure Chest in 1986. Mr. Brinkler, the Collections Manager hired me to be a (bill) collector. Within 2 months I was promoted to Assistant Collections Manager. The department head created the position for me, as there had never been an assistant manager’s position before. Long story short: I was offered a job as an account representative with Chrysler Credit Corp. I turned in a 2-week resignation at Meyer’s. Days before I was to leave Meyer’s, Mr. Joe Munoz (the dept. head) called me into his office and made me an offer I could not refuse. He told me that, “He had been watching me, and was impressed with my style of collecting on past due accounts. He offered the new assistant manager position that was created, with health benefits, vacation & holiday pay and a $21,000.00+ per year salary. Chrysler Credit Corp offered $17,500.00 per year with a corp vehicle. In this newly created assistant manager’s position, I was authorized to hire 5 to 8 more (bill) collectors to train. Things were going very well for me at the age of 21. Then, one day on my way home from work, I saw Mr. Meyer Rosenbaum who was the 80 year old owner of Meyer’s Treasure Chest. Mr. Rosenbaum was standing in the doorway as I was exiting. He said, “Hey, there young man. How are doing?” I responded, “Fine sir. Thank you. How are you?” Mr. Rosenbaum said, “Great! Are you going my way?” I responded, “Which way is that sir?” He said, “Over by Northlland Shopping Center at the Towers.” I normally took the Lodge to 8 Mile to Stout; where I was living. I ended up giving Mr. Rosenbaum a ride home. Within the next couple of days I was called to Mr. Burt’s office. Mr. Burt was the VP of Operations. Mr. Burt questioned me about taking Mr. Rosenbaum home. He accused me of breaking the chain of command and/or for what he called having “poor judgment”. He said things like, “Do you know what could have happened if something would have went wrong with him in your car? You could have helped him get a taxi, but to take him in your car – that is something different….” My position was eliminated and I was fired. Does this sound racist to you? Also, for the record, I was driving a brand new 1987 Chrysler LA baron when I gave Mr. Rosenbaum a ride home.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:39:30 +0000
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