My DEI Stories

 Folks,

Once again, I made a long YouTube comment that needs to be preserved for posterity; once again, I've made a good comment that cannot and must not be forgotten. It's about my encounters with what's popularly called DEI, short for diversity, equity, and inclusion. I think that a more appropriate acronym is DIE, because anyone practicing DIE will die sooner or later.

Look no farther than Boeing Airplane Company and its embarrassing incidents that have made worldwide news. Because Boeing is more concerned about having people with the right pigmentation rather than the people with the right skills and experience, they had a brand new 737 MAX airliner lose a door in flight; their Starliner capsule was stranded in space; and so on. Boeing, whose quality was once legendary, has become a shadow of itself. People used to say, "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going"; that's how much better their aircraft were than anyone else's! You knew that, if you set foot on a Boeing airplane, you'd be fine. Thanks to their commitment to DIE, people now say, "If it's Boeing, I ain't going".

Anyway, I've pontificated long enough. By now, if you have two brain cells knocking together, you've figured out that I'm not in favor of DIE. One of Bo Refec's recent videos covers the topic of why men are leaving the workforce, and DIE is part of the conversation. I left the below comment in response to his video. Now, on to my comment...

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Bo, though I'm retired, I have three stories to tell WRT DEI. DEI has been going on for a long time; it simply wasn't known as DEI back in the day. One story comes from my time in Corporate America, while the others come from my time in college and after college. These stories go back to the 1990s and early 2000s. DEI was being practiced then, but it wasn't called DEI; it didn't have a name. However, any white male who's over 30 or 40 will tell you that this shit was going on long before DEI had its now notorious name.

When I worked in Corporate America, I worked for a big company; they had a household name that everyone would know. However, they used Lotus software there, while I'd learned MS Office in school. One day, I had to call the help desk for something; I think it was about how to do something, but I can't remember for sure. A girl answered my call, and she helped me with my issue. That was no problem.

Before hanging up, I was curious about her background. What had she done to get a job at the help desk? What was her degree in? I expected to hear her say it was something computer related, or that she had a special IT cert, etc. She didn't. She had majored in THEATER in college! I was like WTF? You got a help desk job with a theater degree? I didn't say that, of course, but I certainly thought it-both at the time and years afterward. The company no doubt gave her special training, so she could do the job she was doing.

Even then, I had an associates degree in a STEM discipline, and I'd done some programming in college. I'd wager that I knew more about computers than she did, yet I'd have never gotten an interview, let alone GET the job!

The second story concerns a black gal I knew in college. She was cute and well spoken. She was also clueless; that was the consensus on her. Nevertheless, she managed to get a job at a company that had been part of Ma Bell, the phone company back in the day. Ma Bell was broken up, and she worked for one of the companies spun off from Ma Bell. Again, I couldn't even get an interview with a company like this, let alone get a job with them! This is in spite of the fact that I worked my ass off; I'd made both the dean's list and honor society. I think that I should've at least gotten a look.

The third and final story comes from my time after college when I'd finished my STEM degree; I'd gone back to get my full bachelor's. Times were tough, and jobs in my field were hard to come by. To get money coming in, I signed up with some temp agencies to do office work. One of these was owned and run by women; that'll be important in a moment.

When you sign up with a temporary employment agency, they give you tests; since I was applying for office and admin positions, they tested me on MS Office. I tested on all the major apps; I tested on Word, Excel, Access, and Powerpoint. I got 95%-to 99% on all four exams. Furthermore, I had Microsoft Office Specialist certification too. Oh, and I could easily type 50+ wpm too, faster than most people. Do you know that they never sent me on one office job? Do you know they only tried to send me to like warehouse jobs? Again, with my demonstrated skills, I SHOULD have gotten some consideration for doing office jobs! I only blew away their tests, and I had MOS certifications to boot! Needless to say, I didn't stay with that agency. I ultimately worked for another one on a long term assignment until I got a STEM job.

But yeah, discrimination against white men is REAL! I know, because I've experienced it on multiple occasions. I don't mind being beaten fair and square; if someone outsmarts, outhustles, and outworks me, that's my problem; shame on me. However, when I won't even get a look because my genitalia and skin color; when I won't get a look because of some DEI BS; that bothers me-especially when I put in the work to achieve competence and excellence. And we wonder why doors fall off of brand new, Boeing airliners-incredible...