SHORT TERM EMPLOYMENT
By; Gerald A. Polley
A conversation I had at work the other day about the
possibility that one of my ancestors may have been an escaped
slave brought back the memory of Red. One place I was working had
a very hard time keeping help. People would stay only a few days,
or sometimes only a few hours. Red started working with us one
afternoon and one of my coworkers came up and said "Gerald,
I was telling Peter about that story you told me the other day,
that one of your ancestors worked on the underground railroad
smuggling slaves to Canada, and that he married an escaped slave
that passed for white. We wondered if you knew any good books
that told about this stuff."
I said "Not offhand, but I'm sure I've got something in my
reference notes. I'll look it up and bring you in a list
tomorrow." This was before the internet and computers. We
all went back to work but I noticed Red kept staring at me.
Finally, he left his work area and went into the office. I
couldn't see what was going on but I could hear him talking.
"I can't work here!" Red was saying. I can't work with
somebody that admits he has n***** blood, that even seems to be
proud of it! I can't work with somebody like that! It's against
everything I was brought up to believe. This guy is sick! Anybody
that would admit he's got n***** blood is sick! I can't believe
it! Either he's got to go or I have to leave."
"Well," the boss answered, "Gerald's the best
worker I've got, and if he has pride in his heritage and in the
courageous things his ancestors did, I see no reason why I should
fire him. If you have a problem with decent people, leave!
Otherwise than that, go do your work and shut up!" Red
stormed out of the boss' office, grabbed his coat, and walked out
the back door. The boss came out, took his time card, and punched
it out, then looked at it. "An hour and twenty five
minutes," the boss remarked, "I think that's a record,
the shortest time anybody's ever been in my employment!" He
looked at me and grinned. "You really should be more careful
what you say in front of people!" he joked, "Some
people are very upset about racial remarks!" Everybody in
the kitchen had a good laugh and we went back to work. Yes, some
of the people I worked with didn't work with me very long at all.
Red wasn't the shortest incident, believe it or not, but he was
pretty near to it!
THE END