D's Story

I just got out of a place where the office manager belonged to one of those churches where people roll around on the floor and speak in tongues! I am sorry, but that just seems like one step away from snake handling to me. She was also a racist homophobe. She would make racist comments all the time as if it were perfectly okay to do so. I could not stand to listen to it. All of this really made it feel like a hostile work environment for me. One time that really amazed me was when she complained about some books the school had sent home for her daughter to read. She stood up at the front counter talking to one nurse who is her buddy, and the receptionist. There was apparently a book her husband threw a fit about that was about a young African American girl, and there was some Ebonics in it, and he refused to let his daughter read it, stating “We speak proper English in this house.” First, there are whole bunch of people in England that would dispute that assertion, and second, if the book had some Appalachian slang in it, I really doubt they would have disapproved. Then she started talking about a book called “Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach.” It is about a young Cuban cockroach who has reached the age of marriage. Among the suitors are a rooster, a pig, a lizard, and a mouse. She was outraged, and said she would not let her daughter read this because (and I am quoting her word for word) “That teaches my daughter that it is okay to marry outside her own race, and that is just wrong!” I looked at her, and I think my jaw just about hit the floor. What that really makes this stand out in my mind is the fact that the receptionist she was talking to has a husband of a different race and 2 biracial children, and the nurse has a biracial child from her first marriage. I still can't quite believe that she said that, and did not think anything of it. I know the receptionist was very offended by it, I can't speak for the nurse. I found it incredibly offensive to even have to hear it. One of her bosses, also very "religious" decided we would have bible study at lunch every few weeks. Of course we were told it was voluntary, but we felt like we HAD to go. He was also one of the first to complain about having to deal with poor people. Biggest bunch of hypocrites I have ever seen!