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OPINION Does “Acting professional” automatically equal code switching?

Alle'Oop said:
I was at a lunch one time when I first got into leadership at work. It was 3 senior managers, my sup and me who was his lead.

So at the lunch, dude was basically the head of everyone there, he was from Alabama and got off on self depreciating humor about being from Bama. He would call the way he talked “redneckoneeze”.

Now cause he felt he made fun of himself he felt that you can make fun of him and vice versa. So every now and then he would crack a joke at my sup who was Rican. And my sup would be self depreciating about being Rican.

That’s his comfort level, and you know what. I didn’t look at dude crazy cause I understand how this white guy feels like his identity is the same level as how the Rican dude feels about his identity. But it’s obviously deeper than that, but I get how he thinks he’s not offending anyone.

my sup played the game, me, at that age..when the round table comes my way. I don’t give a fuck who you are or what you do. Ain’t no Jamal jokes, ghetto jokes, black jokes, I ain’t here for that bullshit.

same time, them not feeling comfortable to speak relaxed without fear of offending. Kept them from inviting me to lunch’s and hindered my success.

draw a line and don’t cross it, but there’s nothing white about being professional
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*deprecating
 
Suge Knight going to a movie set to collect payment because he claims somebody “used his likeness “ without his permission is not acting professional.

If that dude really thought he was owed some money, the professional thing to do would be to have his legal team contact the movie director and possibly file suit.

He doesn’t necessarily need to “switch code”...

He needs to switch up his code of conduct.


Because look where he is now.
 
Acting professional isnt code switching. In my experience the only people that really try to label it that, are people mad you arnt going alone with whatever bullshit they're on.

For me code switching is going out of you way to make white people feel safe and that you're "one of the good ones", so to speak.
 
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1/2 said:
cool point....i mean nice, i get it

but I think the convo is based in normal people working in corporate environments

but yeah...the paid hitman that cleans his guns and does his homework is definitely "professional" over the drive-by killer

we hear you lol
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@Dwayne at it again lmao
 
Dwayne said:
Also professionalism is not a white or black thing.


We def need to understand that shit because folks like to act like it is.
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BDP™️ said:
It definitely is bro.

The traditional ”standard” of professionalism has always been white centric and anti-black
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the most "unprofessional" thing we can do naturally is grow our hair

fros, braids, locs, etc.


so there's that
 
Professionalism is about doing business, not making other ethnicities/genders invite each other to the cookout.
If that does happen, it's just extra. And still leads to a dance of being professional and not burning contacts.

All my clients have been black and there is still a level of professionalism that is expected.
That's just doing good business and I keep the standard across all I do business/work with.
Even when I'm the only black straight man in a room full of opposites.

Different social environments can of course lead to code switching.
The code switching is just part of being a cultured person.
Unless you just want to be ratchet, trashy, and tacky all your life. Good luck with that.
 
One point that isn't being addressed is that code switching doesn't always work in your benefit anyway. A lot of whites are oblivious to it, but not all of them are, and the ones that know a black person is faking for approval don't tend to respect that. They'd probably be more inclined to take advantage of that black person.
 
The Lonious Monk said:
One point that isn't being addressed is that code switching doesn't always work in your benefit anyway. A lot of whites are oblivious to it, but not all of them are, and the ones that know a black person is faking for approval don't tend to respect that. They'd probably be more inclined to take advantage of that black person.
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You've seen this?
 
Focal Point said:
Wild, never would have thought that would be something to consider
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It really comes down to who you work with. In the really bad case, we had two black admin. One was pretty unabashedly black maybe even a little ratchet but she was good at her job. The other was the same type of person but she was known to the black people at the company to put on a different voice and express different views if she was dealing with white people. A lot of the people at the company had the latter chick running around doing menial tasks all day that really weren't part of her job because they knew they could. They didn't even try that with the other chick because she was about doing her job and not brown nosing. Long story short, an opportunity for advancement came up and the switcher just knew she was going to get it. She didn't. It went to the other chick because everyone knew she was better at the job. The code switcher did all that extra shit because she thought she was endearing herself to the white people. The white people didn't care about that.
 
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