I don't usually talk about my job here for obvious reasons, but something happened in the office this morning that I just had to run by my panel of experts.
I'm out of town on business in NY right now, but apparently there was an after-hours burglary in our office suite last night. Some d-bags broke in and stole a couple of laptops. This is a common occurrence, and although I feel bad for the co-workers who may have lost precious data and files, it's not too big a deal in the grand scheme. Like I said, it's happened before, it'll happen again.
This morning, our office admin sent an email to all employees on our floor about the burglary, and asked each person to check their offices for any additional missing items. Since I'm out of town and can't do so, I replied, asking her to check on my coveted collection of Washington Wizards bobbleheads that are prominently displayed on my bookcase.[1] Cause we all know, you can easily replace a laptop if you do your backups frequently enough, but they only made 5,000 talking Gilbert Arenas dolls.
I'm just sayin', it's all about priorities and whatnot.
So anyway, she goes over to my office, and sends me an email a few minutes later confirming that the bobbleheads all appear to be there, unharmed. I breathe a sigh of relief, then notice a second email from her just moments later.
The gist of the email is that the cleaning crew reported seeing two black teenagers in the office suite around 8pm, and assumed they were with an employee. So, she was asking me if I just happened to be in the office the night before. The wording of the email made it seem as if she was sorry she had to ask, so I replied, letting her know I was OOTO, and that no offense was taken. She replied with a thanks, and I assumed this was case closed.
But it wasn't.
This afternoon, I got an email from a fellow black male employee, asking me if I'd received an email asking whether or not I had been in the office the night before. He forwarded the email to me and a few other black male employees who work in the same office. It was the exact same email I'd received from the office manager. A few of the others confirmed that they had indeed received the same email. So, in short, it appears that the office manager was on some Nancy Drew idd'ish, and did her own bit of sleuthing to see whether or not any of the black male employees in the office just happened to be there the night before. Needless to say, there are some pretty pissed off brothers in my office right about now, but I'm wondering if they should be.
In my younger days, I would see this as a completely racist gesture. It does appear that she only targeted black male employees when inquiring of our whereabouts the night before. While this might make some sense (she could have wanted to make sure the cleaning crew wasn't mistaking an employee for a thief), it wasn't exactly logical (what kinda moron steals laptops from the job he's been working at for 10+ years, as all the black males in my office have?), and definitely was in violation of some sorta HR rule. Which rule, I can't say exactly, but I'm sure it's in there.
But I guess my point of view leads me to believe this wasn't malicious at all. I know the office manager only in passing, but she's always nice, and I haven't observed anything that could even remotely be considered "racist" from her in the year or so she's been working here. Then again, if I didn't really know her at all, as most of the other black males (who are travelling consultants that seldom come to the office) don't, I would probably see this as an effed' up situation.
I guess it all comes down to a matter of perspective.
Question: What do you think? Was the office manager out-of-pocket for asking all the black men in the office whether or not they were there when the burglary occurred?
[1] Don't look at me sideways. Like ya'll don't collect frivolous junk too.
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My gut feeling is that she was simply trying to find out whether the guys sighted by the cleaning crew were in fact employees, nothing more and nothing less.
If they weren't, then they are now chief suspects. But if they were in fact employees, the conclusion would be "Okay, we're back to square one," not "It must have been an inside job."
So long as this isn't part of a behavioral pattern, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt, just like you would if she had put out an APB for men who were tall and heavyset, or had shaved heads, or wore wire-rimmed glasses, etc.
1. I don't collect frivolous stuff. So right now, you're on that island alone. LOL
2. She eliminated Black male employees as the Black males seen by the cleaning crew.
But this made me recall a statistic (take it for what it is we all know about stats) that said department thieves are more often than not White females. So while the department store (office) is concentrating on the Black folk, the White folk are cleaning them out.
As a Security Manager for my company, I gotta go with Chris and Symphony... you have to eliminate the people who are supposed to be there first, and they only had a weak description to work from.
Next it will be Drug tests for all the black males.She may not say it out loud but you can bet she's telling her boss,and all of her friends that it was an inside job.
Not to mention all of the pawn shops with in a 20 mile radius will have pictures of all the black employees.
Jusus.
anonymous forgot to take his meds again...
Brother Average Brother... its a good thing that the E-mail afforded you the time to digest the query, unlike the old days when the person would be in your face with the questioning. Then you may have to be cognent of the body language in your verbal "on point reply". Glad your bobble head was still there. I got Harrison from the Colts (devalued or valued due to current events}. Hope you all find the laptops to erase that nagging feeling of not knowing whats behind the mask that we wear so well today. Drather have the old days when you could see it, smell it... but then again I am now past the stage of caring about what hidden. Sounds like you may be getting there also.
I actually think the first anonymous poster makes a good point. Obviously she is not going to come out and accuse you openly via e-mail; but very often when things like this happen - you would be surprised what people are really saying or thinking when you cannot hear.
Well, if 2 black teenagers were seen in my office, my first thought would be that they're there with one of the employees. If she found out that they in fact were, that actually removes them as suspects, IMO, because they would have a reason to be there.
But who says the cleaning crew is telling the truth here anyway?
BTW, laptops are stolen as often for their data as for their intrinsic value. Just sayin'.
She should have asked the YT women too, remember the Barbie bandits?
Congrats on not taking it personally. I do however think she should have asked everyone.....not just black employees. It looks a little suspect.
Would the cleaning crew have even reported seeing random white people hanging around the office?
I think not.
Considering the cleaning crew is probably all mexican, maybe they would have!
Perhaps she was just trying to narrow down the field of suspects. However, her actions were highly inappropriate and unprofessional. Here's the thing: she's the office admin, not director of security. Furthermore, she puts the company at risk of a discrimination lawsuit. She needs to leave the sleuthing to the cops. Was the theft reported to the police, as it should have been?
She should have never circulated the e-mail. Period.
@symphony, I am aware of those stats. I once was a department manager @ Neiman-Marcus. I can't tell you the number of times security caught wealthy white women stealing. Of course, they never pressed charges. They simply gave them the opportunity to pay for the item, and banned them from the store for a period of time. These were well-known members of Atlanta's " high-society" set stealing Chanel and Armani fits. What was even more outrageous is that some of these women felt they were entitled to take something for free because they spent thousands of dollars @ the store on a regular.
Good point, ebw... I thought it was the security person doing the investigating. An office manager shouldn't have been involved. Still say it's not racist, but not really as appropriate.
Hello,
Are you sure that she only sent this e-mail out to the black male employees?
Anyways, it's messed up but that's the reality of life. Can no one give a description nowadays? Can no one do some investigative work on those descriptions?
And you all don't have any cameras?
The possibility that it is and inside job is very likely. I’m not a detective, but I would be checking out that cleaning crew and I would definitely invest in a hidden camera.
However, I don’t feel like the manger was “out of pocket” for asking the black males if they were in the office that night. I also feel she should have asked everyone (male, females, blacks and whites), not only would that have given her an opportunity to discover someone who may or may not validate the cleaning crew’s story, but she would have eliminated the chances of offending any particular race or gender.
We all know the black teenagers did it, she's just trying to figure out who they belong to.
@ chris N
Upon further review (I briefly mentioned this in passing the other day), it turns out that she indeed did not send the email to everyone, just a selected few. I still don't think she meant anything maliciously. I really do believe she doesn't have a clue of HR rules (she is in her early 20's - don't ask) and had no idea this sorta action could possibly put the company in jeopardy.
@ poopy
Yes, it's VERY possible the cleaning crew did this. They can feign ignorance due to the language issues and probably skirt being seriously questioned. I'm not equating one with the other, but I've caught various members of the cleaning staff stealing snacks, coffee, and other items from the employee break room, redhanded on numerous occasions when I work late. It's a stretch, I know, but I'm just sayin'.
And yeah, I'm takin' my bobblehead collection home, better safe than sorry.
@ Symphony
You know you prolly collect something trivial. Don't be fakin'.
@ mrcautious
No cameras in the office suite, only in the lobby. Not sure if building security looked into this, but good point.
It's hard to say.....The cleaning crew did say they saw two black teenagers in the building. Would it make any sense to ask the white folks. I am just saying from a logical point of view.
This is how people get themselves into trouble. The office manage should have just allowed the proper authorities do their work. She was completely out of pocket in that sense. She is not a trained detective. Actually I am starting to get pissed off the more I think about it.
She should not have taken matters into her own hands and thus be fired. Bitch
Average Bro: Prolly is not a word.
As far as the email from the office manager, it sounds like she doesn't have a clue. If there were a couple of white suspects wandering around, I doubt she would have emailed just the white people asking them about the situation. A blanket email should have gone out to everyone asking if anyone saw anything or any body who should not have been in the office, period. And the person who said the cleaning crew was probably mexican...give me a break. So what if they were? Thing is, if the cleaning crew saw someone in the office, did they see them walk out with laptops? Seriously...I use to work for a computer company, and people of all colors stole items all the time and they WORKED there! Oh and the woman who said rich, white women were stealing from Neimans, I am not condoning them for being theives, but its funny how you remember there skin color so vividly and use that information in this situation. Anybody is capable of stealing...and no, the office manager sounds like an idiot.
Average Bro: Prolly is not a word.
As far as the email from the office manager, it sounds like she doesn't have a clue. If there were a couple of white suspects wandering around, I doubt she would have emailed just the white people asking them about the situation. A blanket email should have gone out to everyone asking if anyone saw anything or any body who should not have been in the office, period. And the person who said the cleaning crew was probably mexican...give me a break. So what if they were? Thing is, if the cleaning crew saw someone in the office, did they see them walk out with laptops? Seriously...I use to work for a computer company, and people of all colors stole items all the time and they WORKED there! Oh and the woman who said rich, white women were stealing from Neimans, I am not condoning them for being theives, but its funny how you remember there skin color so vividly and use that information in this situation. Anybody is capable of stealing...and no, the office manager sounds like an idiot.
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