Man, I don't know where to begin. Also, I waited a full 24 hours after typing this out to post it to make sure I had a cool head. I still feel the same about posting it.
tldr; Brown guy gets hired on by the state government, local office is bigoted against any and all things. Training is a failure. Manager is also a failure and unprofessional.
I took on a job as a Business and Employment Specialist (basically a job coach) with my state's Employment Department at the beginning of April. It was a $10k pay cut, but with great benefits. They claimed to celebrate Diversity and Inclusion, and while that may me true, it wasn't for my rural office. It was absolutely toxic. “They don't teach history in school anymore, they teach INDOCTRINATION!” – A government employee to one of our customers.
The (7 week!) training we learned nothing. In my very regular and vocal feedback, I compared it to learning how to cook in a diner. We learned how to take someone's order, where the eggs come from, the history of humans eating eggs, how to care for the chicken, how to care for the pig, WHERE the bacon comes from on the pig, how to plate it all … but not how to seat the customers, or how to actually cook. My complaints fell on deaf ears.
During this time, I was getting to know my coworkers. They had a disdain for Diversity and Inclusion, and hated it at every turn. “That's reverse racism!” at a request to read up on how our state used to treat Black people. I also learned the one gay person in our office was asked to “tone it down.” I had zero clue she was gay at all, and painted my nails as a passive form of support (I'm a guy). I am of course talking to my manager the whole time with my concerns. She was asking me how I would handle it, so I was coaching my boss on how to coach people. She NEVER left her office, it was a very telling display of “I am a manager, you are not.” As someone with a few years of management, I let her know she should at least sit on the production floor when she wasn't in a meeting to connect more with the team.
Training was half days. The other newhire had mornings free, and training in the afternoon. He was able to shadow the lobby with the girl who managed the front-desk the first part of the day which was part of our training. Me? My training was the mornings with shadow time in the afternoons, with the dude that doesn't go to the lobby desk, and instead stays at his cubicle and falls asleep. I couldn't get any shadow time. Of course I let my manager know, nothing was done. Side note, he ended up explaining to us he had a neurological disorder he was getting checked out. Totally don't blame him, however, my manager should have found other accommodations for me to learn. I was not confident in any part of my job, not knowing any of the tools, and no shadow time. Other newhire (he was cool!) had previous similar work experience, so he's thriving: especially because he got the shadow time to get more familiar with the tools. The whole time they're assigning me random tasks because I have a background in workflows and policies, and I am KILLING those tasks.
The whole time, the bigotry and ignorance doesn't stop. Arguing loudly with customers in front of other customers (reminder, we are government employees), and inappropriate comments in front of them don't stop. At this point due to not knowing how to do my job and the lack of action taken from my manager, I'm actively disengaged with my regular job duties so I'm job searching. I keep my manager in the loop, and she's supportive. She approves my time off which I always talk to her about in person (not enough tenure to use vacation time, but I can use Leave Without Pay) and she knows where I'm going and what for.
I had a one final interview yesterday with a company, and I let her know it might be a longer one due to that and the fact my wife had a doctor's appointment. I was gone 2 hours and 30 minutes. The interview went amazing (just waiting to hear back), and I went back to work.
I go in the back way to hit the restroom first. My boss doesn't know I'm back yet because going that way didn't go in front of her office window (wasn't intentional) and I round to the break room. From there, I can hear my boss complaining to a coworker (NOT someone in leadership or HR, just someone in my similar role) about how often I'm not here, the amount and type of time codes I was using, why, and that she might need to go down the disciplinary route. To a regular coworker, none of his business, and with time SHE APPROVED.
No other word for it, I was appalled. I have years of people management experience, and that information should not be public except for those who need-to-know. There's only 1 member of leadership in our office, and that's my manager so NO ONE in my office except her and I should know that. I immediately round the corner, let her know this is an inappropriate conversation to have with anyone outside of myself, HR, or leadership. The coworker made a hasty retreat. We had at it for a good while: no one yelled, no one insulted, but I would counter everything. Examples:
Boss: You're not managing the lobby efficiently.
Me: I know, I let you know that weeks ago. [name] never worked the front desk so I couldn't shadow, and you did not come up with a resolution.
B: Well, I've talked to everyone you've reported. I can't tell you the outcome of those conversations, or if someone has ADA so they CAN'T sit at the front desk.
Me: I know that. Please follow your own advice the next time you decide to tell someone about the time off I was using and the reasons behind that. What if I was out because I was using FMLA?! It didn't stop you in the past telling me all about [name]'s coaching plan. Also, you need to be proactive instead of reactive. Yes you are having conversations. But if your house kept catching fire due to bad wiring, you're just telling me you're putting the fire out every time it catches fire. What you need to do is fix your wiring issue. It was still your job to ensure I got the training I needed to do my job.
In the end, I gathered my things and quit. She asked me to send an email to the team addressing that I was leaving due to ignorance and bigotry and some examples. I wrote the email, but sent it to HER and told her to do with it as she wished, and BCC'd a select few people. I'll post the letter in the comments, unedited except to remove names.
I was so excited to work there. The pay was JUST survivable but the benefits were great. Pay would have been great if it was just me, but I have a wife and kid. I was interested in job coaching and career planning, and how we could help those in need. I just couldn't hang with an office that hires good ol' boy types, a manager that doesn't know how to lead, and a lack of diversity acceptance on a local level from an entity that promotes diversity. As a person of color, that sucked. I have another amazing opportunity lined up that I am waiting to hear back on.
Also, I am in touch with the HR team, and the Union that represents the employment department where I worked.
Thanks for reading.