Taking Things for Granted | Career Angles

As time progresses, we start to take things for granted. Do you remember in March 2002 when we all started to shelter in place, work exclusively by Zoom, and stopped seeing people in person for work? There was a newness to listing to the sound of children in the background that was both uncomfortable and kind for us to listen to. We knew the parent felt uncomfortable about what was happening and we all pooh-poohed it and moved on.

Now, months later, the sound of children in the background, the appearance of cats and dogs yields less mercy from too many of us and far more annoyance. We want people to handle their personal life like magicians who can wave a magic wand and make a four-year-old suddenly become quiet when s/he wants attention from their parent.

We also take for granted that the one person of color in our meeting knows and understands “the rules” for meeting conduct in a room where they are the only minority present.

Too often, their discomfort in those situations is not noticed.

Too often, the fact that they don’t speak up is misinterpreted.

While the others in the room posture for attention, often, the instinctive defense is to hope for invisibility, not notice.