Ok, buddy, here we go. Your response from a professional Black female. Office parties are boring, fake and a waste of time. From a Black perspective, we have too many things to do than to sit around drinking and eating bland food with the same white folks we have to see all day. We'd rather spend time doing our own thing. Capice?
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Name : Jamara, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Anchorage, State : AK Country : United States, Occupation : Office manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, Blacks often don't attend office parties because we know there tends to be a certain amount of discomfort. We can almost always count on not hearing the music that we like. Additionally, the foods tend not to be to our liking..... cold spreads, non-hot hot wings, celery sticks,etc. Cook Something! I have to give you credit for having a pretty diverse office. Try to take some input from others before planning the next office party. In your defense, your office is very diverse and some people are just lazy and don't want to do anything outside of work w/their co-workers. You should get the black managers to put the heat on them to encourage them to attend these functions. Good luck in the future and thanks for caring. Party on T-nutz
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Name : Frosty nutz, Race : Black/African American, City : San Antonio, State : TX Country : United States, There may be no surefire answer to your question. Firstly, Blacks are people and people have different attitudes and feelings towards things, which may or may not have anything to do with race. However, just looking at the numbers you gave, I can see why you are concerned. Sometimes blacks feel they need to put on false pretenses around whites. Not because they want to or because of low self esteem. But, because they dont want to be stereotyped. As if others are waiting for them to do something 'black.' Some may have not attented because they didnt feel being on the spot, because letting your hair down so to speak may show others your non-professional side. Speaking personally, I would not want to be my relaxed self for fear of doing something stereotypical of a black person. It could be something as trivial as eating watermelon or using slang. So, when the party is all said and done, my coworkers may look at me differently. It still an OFFICE party. I am in no way saying this is right or wrong, its just a theory. What about office politics? Remember high school and all the many cliques. If all the blacks tend to stick together and one or two of the 'cooler' people say they are not going then many other people will not show either. This may be something as simple as the 'in' and 'out' crowd. You have a diverse group of people, but are they diverse in their thoughts and experiences, are they closed-minded? Just because you have all shades of people at your company does not mean that people will automatically join hands and sing 'Ebony and Ivory.' You may want to look for more open-minded and employees when you hire people. Things like this happen often. Do not take it personally. For your next office party why dont you do something fun, where ever one can partake like lazer tag or a mystery dinner? Call it a retreat or something so people have to go. If you do lazer tag mix the teams up that way people get to know each other not just work with each other. Youre in sales be creative! Much success with your company, others could stand to follow your example. Good Luck:)
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Name : Tammy, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 22, City : DC, State : DC Country : United States, Occupation : financial analyst, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, JENNIFER: I AM A CAUCASIAN FEMALE WHO WORKS WITH BLACKS OF BOTH SEXES AND WHO USED TO HAVE A BLACK FEMALE SUPERVISOR THIS SUPERVISOR TRIED TO COERCE ME INTO DATING A BLACK MALE THAT I HAD NO INTEREST IN AND ONLY TELLING HER TO HER FACE THAT IF SHE CONTINUED TO TRY AND COERCE ME INTO DATING A BLACK AGAINST MY WILL WOULD RRESULT IN HER BEING CHARGED LEGALLY WITH RACIAL AND SEXUAL HARRASSMENT ENDED THE ISSUE....
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Name : ANON23921, City : ANON, State : NA Country : United States, I am a white female who experimented: I went to work for a company where whites are in the minority. I had a black female supervisor who supported the company's 'team-oriented work efforts'. The company sponsored 'dress down/causal Fridays' as do many companys. The supervisor took this one step further: she iniated a so-called 'team lunch' at a local eatery--with a shared check--paid for by each team member--the company does NOT compensate employees for meal breaks. This supervisor CLEARLY expected employees (of which I was the ONLY white) to participate in the Friday event. At one such event, the supervisor began to ask me very personal, very ILLEGAL questions about my personal life. I kept my feelings of unease to myself.... The following week, the supervisor and several of her cronies renewed their very personal, very prying questions about my personal life. I finally just got up, left, and threw away the food. The third week, the supervisor insisted that I attend the lunch event. I told this nosy individual that I had other plans (which I did) and that I would NOT be able to join her and the others for the meal. I ALSO went over the supervisor's head and complained about the situation AND CONSULTED A LABOR ATTORNEY WHO IS FAMILIAR WITH RACIAL AND SEXUAL HARRASSMENT.... THAT BLACK BITCH HAD NO LEGAL RIGHT TO ASK ME SUCH ILLEGAL, PERSONAL QUESTIONS--MUCH LESS, A RIGHT TO TRY AND USE HER POSITION TO COERCE ME INTO DATING SOME BLACK MALE I DON'T (AND DID NOT WANT TO KNOW.)
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Name : anon23673, City : anon, State : NA Country : United States, I am a white female who experimented: I went to work for a company where whites are in the minority. I had a black female supervisor who clearly supports(ed) the company's objectives of encouraging team work. The company has a policy of having dress down and/or 'relaxed' Fridays. My supervisor iniated a policy of taking the entire 'team' to a local eatery for a meal on Fridays. One was expected to participate in the Friday meals--and, since meal times are NOT compensated, PAY A PORTION OF THE CHECK--regardless of what one ordered. (I was the ONLY white person in the group.) At one particular meal, this supervisor began to ask me very personal, very illegal questions. I had to wonder WHY she was attempting to pry into my personal life....but, I did not think anything more about it until the following week, when she and several of her cronies began to ask me illegal personal questions again. At that time, I was very angry and got up, threw away the food and left the restaurant. The following week, this supervisor insisted that I attend the 'team meal' at the same eatery. This time, I told the supervisor that I WAS NOT PAID FOR THE TIME and HAD OTHER PLANS. This nosy individual tried to imtimidate me.... MY ANSWER TO THIS BLACK BITCH WAS TO GO OVER HER HEAD, COMPLAIN TO MANAGEMENT/PERSONEL AND TO CONSULT A LABOR LAWYER CONCERNING THIS SUPERVISOR'S RACIAL AND SEXUAL HARRASSMENT. I WAS HAPPY THAT I CONSULTED THE ATTORNEY: THE SUPERVISOR HAD PLANNED TO TRY AND USE HER POSITION TO COERCE ME INTO DATING A CERTAIN BLACK MALE THAT I DID NOT KNOW AND DID NOT WANT TO KNOW... THAT INDIVIDUAL HAD VIOLATED MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS AND I TOOK THE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS!
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Name : anon23672, City : anon, State : NA Country : United States, I AM A WHITE WHO VOLUNTEERED TO WORK WITH A COMPANY THAT HAS A MAJORITY OF BLACKS (I WAS ONE OF A DOZEN WHITE EMPLOPYEES). THE BLACK SUPERVISOR MADE CLEAR THAT 'MEMBERS OF HER TEAM' MUST HAVE TEAM SPIRIT AND PARTICIPATE IN A WEEKLY MEAL DURING UNPAID MEAL LEAVE. I DID NOT MIND UNTIL THIS SUPERVISOR BEGAN TO ASK ME VERY PERSONAL QUESTIONS ABOUT MY BACKGROUND, ETC THAT I REFUSED TO ANSWER...... I WALKED OUT OF THAT MEAL AND THE NEXT TIME THAT SUPERVISOR DEMANDED THAT I PARTICIPATE (AS THE ONLY NON BLACK) I TOLD HER BLUNTLY THAT I WAS NOT BEING PAID FOR THE TIME AND HAD OTHER PLANS (TRUE.) I LATER LEARNED THAT SHE WAS TRYING TO FORCE ME TO DATE A PARTICULAR BLACK MALE THAT I DID NOT KNOW AND/OR DID NOT WANT TO KNOW..... I CONSIDER(ED) THIS INDIVIDUAL TO BE VERY RACIST....RACISM IN ALL OF ITS GUISES NEEDS TO BE RECOGNIZED!
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Name : anon23679, City : anon, State : NA Country : United States, I guess that there is supposed to be some type of reward for being nice to people of different ethnicities. What? Did you think that you had an obligation to go out of your way for Black people? That's part of the problem with this country now. If a white person goes out of the way to make someone of another race feel comfortable, then they think that they are not racist because they were nice to someone of a different color. This is a typical racist attitude. If color really didn't matter, then you would not treat black employees any differently than you do the white employees
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Name : Marron-Bella22137, Race : Black/African American, Age : 23, City : Anniston, State : AL Country : United States, Occupation : Clerical, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, free drinks i'm there.
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Name : J21097, City : L>A, State : CA Country : United States, 
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