A Storm in the office
Oliver felt very tired. He wondered when the day would get over and he could go home. Sleep was all he wanted.
The weekend had been short or, at least, felt like it. But it had been a satisfying one. A very wild one, in fact. On Friday night, he’d been to a friend’s birthday party in one of the local bars in Kowloon. It was much more than a bar really. The establishment owned several floors in the building near the Jordan MTR station. One floor housed the disco. The others had private party rooms. Each had its own KTV station and an attached washroom. The place was overflowing with Chinese people — young restless Hong Kong teenagers and old mainland businessmen. Their group, which consisted of friends and their friends, had occupied one of the larger rooms. Some sang along with the KTV, others played dice games. Everybody was drinking whiskey mixed with green tea as was the current trend. He was high. Everybody was high. He remembered wondering if anybody was doing chem. Thank God there had been no police raids. He dreaded the idea of getting caught with chem users.
And then he had seen her. She had looked so pretty then and they had clicked instantly. One thing led to another and he’d left the party with her.
The marathon love-making session, back at his place, was something he’d been craving for some time. They had ordered delivery and spent the entire time in bed. He had felt so overpowered by the whole experience that he’d forgotten about his date with Diano on Saturday night. He was in two minds. He did want to see Diano but a naked girl in his arms was better than the ones in Lan Kwai Fong. The discos would be packed anyway.
His entire body ached. He nursed a bad headache and felt irritated. He should have taken a sick leave instead. Sigh.
“Hi. Got a minute?” It was Joseph.
“What’s up?”
“Do you want a coffee?” Joseph’s big smile was missing.
“I had one an hour ago.”
“What about some juice? My treat.”
“What’s up? All okay?”
“Just wanted to say goodbye to you.”
“What do you mean goodbye?” Oliver stood up.
“Today is my last day. I’m leaving.”
“You’re what?” said Oliver with disbelief. Everybody knew Joseph was a loyal and hard-working employee who talked about the company as if it were his heart and soul.
“Yes. Anyway, if you are busy, that’s okay.”
“No, no. Let’s go. I’m feeling a bit under the weather anyway. I need a caffeine booster.”
They headed out of the office towards the nearest Starbucks, in the next building, without either saying a word. They bought their drinks and found an unoccupied table.
“What’s up? Why are you leaving?” Oliver could not believe Joseph had made such a decision.
“I’m tired. After working so hard, for many years, I’ve got nothing.”
“That’s not true. Everybody loves you. You’re a legend!” Oliver tried to cheer him up.
“I wish I were. Anyway, I wanted to see you for some reason. I hope you’ll hear me out.”
“Of course.”
“I know you’re part of the LGBT Employee Resource Group.”
“Yup.” Oliver took a sip. It had been a bad decision to have a Chai Latte. It tasted very odd indeed.
“Make sure you guys achieve something. After years of working in a hostile environment, being ridiculed openly and passed over for promotion several times, I’d thought something positive would happen after the launch of the resource group. But it hasn’t.”
“Wait. Are you saying all this happened to you for years?”
“Yes. Well, to be honest, anybody can guess I’m gay.”
“It isn’t obvious but I’ve heard rumours about you.”
“See. They talked behind my back.”
“That was a long time ago,” said Oliver. “I won’t tolerate it any more.”
“Anyway. I’m gay. I have nothing to hide. I live alone. When I came out to my parents, I had expected sympathy. But they abused me. I’ve been discriminated against all my life. In a way, I think I can live with that. My skin has become thicker over the years.” Joseph laughed.
“I know it’s wrong, but I’m happy you’re a stronger person than before.” Oliver couldn’t think of any better words to say. This was not a normal conversation. He sensed there was more to come.
“Thanks. You are a nice guy.” Joseph smiled.
“So you’re leaving because of that?”
“Yes. I can’t bear the fact that I was stuck at the same level even after years of hard work while people who came in later than me got promoted.”
“Oh.”
“Whenever some higher positions were vacant, I raised my hand. But I never got promoted. It looks like they’ll never give me a chance.”
“Did you have a chat with your manager about this?”
“Of course. He is a moron. He told me he couldn’t promote me because I don’t have a team reporting into me.”
“That’s strange.” Oliver maintained an unbroken eye contact with Joseph.
“Not really. What is stranger is he didn’t give me the opportunity in the first place. If you don’t give people the opportunity to manage a team, how can you know whether they are good managers or not?”
“True.”
There was a pause as Joseph drank his coffee.
“So you have a better position at this new place, right? I’m not going to ask where you are going.” Oliver smiled.
“Yes. Much better. But I guess, they’ll do the same too. My career growth is slower than a glacier’s movement.”
Oliver tried to imagine how slow that would be but soon gave up. He didn’t really know much about glaciers except the fact that one of them had sunk the Titanic. Wait. No. That was an iceberg. Feeling confused, he smiled.
“That’s better than no movement. I’m glad you’re happy now.”
“Thanks. But I want you to do something more for me. Actually, it’s for the people working here.”
“Yes?”
“Educate them. Don’t give up until they are aware of what is the expected behaviour towards LGBT colleagues. Don’t give up until the work environment is more professional.”
“That is exactly why I joined the group.”
“Good man,” said Joseph. “I’m proud of you.”
“But tell me one thing. Did you mention the real reason in your exit Interview?
“Of course not.”
“Why not? That’s a good opportunity to give some candid feedback.”
“Don’t be silly. When the people I’ve worked with for so many years didn’t realize my pain, what can a moronic HR person do? They’d just say some nonsense and make me feel more upset.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Oliver.
“Yes, I am. No point in complaining about anybody when leaving the firm. They will just think it’s a case of sour grapes.”
“Why? Feedback is feedback. They should record it down and somebody should act on it.”
“My brother, not everybody is as honest as you are. That’s the reason I wanted to talk to you today. I want you to ensure a proper channel is set up for following up on similar cases in the future. Nobody should be given false assurances that something would be done after sticking their neck out and reporting cases of discrimination.”
“Wait. Do you mean you’d raised it to HR before?” asked Oliver.
“Not really. I had raised it to the boss’ boss.”
“And?”
“Nothing happened. They laughed at me. They said I was overreacting since this is a very professional environment and all the managers have great personal integrity.”
“What utter bullshit!”
“Anyway. Today is my last day. I wish you all the best.” Joseph stood up signaling the end to their conversation. “I need to finish some last-minute tasks before I leave.” He smiled.
“Sure. I wish you all the happiness in the world,” Oliver said.
As they walked back Oliver decided to discuss the case with Kevin Taylor sometime soon. There was so much to do!
