I am here to remind you:
Nothing you made was for us.
Not the wide spaced office
where every voice but ours
echoes (no, we don’t need to be
talking our every working moment,
and we really don’t want to know
about your breakfast burrito), nor
your fluorescent lights, humming
such staccato, even you might
have needed headphones (if you
shut up long enough to listen),
nor your paint that pushes us
from frantic to everyday blues,
your ergonomic chairs made
for the narrow and straight, your
poorly acted webinars with no
automatic captions (even your
series on ethics where you asked
for feedback you didn’t actually want)
not your intranet sans email or phone
(who needs a real person to help, right?)
or your doors ajar only when you want
something after hours. Let me remind you
how your resource groups and mentors
are employees too tired to respond
(yes, I did reach out more than once)
your screens, your forums, your channels
demand our constant vigilance, processes
are housed in separated clouds, policies
crafted so only attorneys understand.
I could, if I wanted to, continue, but I think
you get the point. Or maybe you don’t want to.
Maybe that’s the real point, isn’t it? How
it’s easier to roll in big power like Trojan horses
when you believe we are all alone. When you
think no one can breach the inner wall, we
are each anomaly, lonely freaks of nature.
Here are some not so gentle reminders:
You told us to be assertive and proactive.
Collaborative, productive, growth minded.
Be forward leaning. Innovative. Authentic.
Ethical. Resilient. Creative. Okay, we are.
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, copyright June 23, 2024, all rights reserved
Posted in Katherine's Coffeehouse
