So last week (give or take – been so busy it’s all a blur these days) I wrote a blurb about going through CPR/AED training. It was great to get my recertification, and even if the instructor was less than stellar, the material was VALUABLE and I felt it was a really good use of my time.
Today, I had to go through – and I swear I’m not making this up – “Unconscious Bias” training.
Suffice it to say, 2.5 hours of my life I will never get back and not only did I not learn anything of value, I’m actually irritated that I was forced to go through this excersize for no other reason than to check yet another box on the Home Office’s “woke corporations” checklist.
They gave us this disclaimer:
So I gave them these responses:
And:
And since they asked:
Long story short, “everybody has unconscious biases”… these things happen “automatically” when your brain is essentially on auto-pilot. BUT, even though it is automatic and “unconscious”, you need to think about your unconscious biases all the time, so you can keep them in check. Oh, and if you are a woman or non-BIPOC person that hires or promotes a woman or BIPOC person, don’t think that lets you off the hook, you are still biased. And always will be.
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up!
The department I run has 12 employees, aside from myself. In addition to me, there are exactly TWO other Caucasians in my department. (and one of them is literally in his 2nd week on the job-the ONLY applicant in the last 4 months that both showed up for his interview AND passed the background check) The entire facility has a tad over 300 employees and I would be hard pressed to locate 20 Caucasians. Yeah, we’ve got 99 problems, but diversity ain’t one.
As a nation, I’m afraid we’ve reached peak stupidity. At least I HOPE this is the peak.
But hey, kudos to the two ladies that put this grift together, packaged it up all nice and pretty and sold it to Corporate America. I’m sure it beats working for a living!
I need a drink…or three.
Thanks for stopping by!
The Boring Old Man 