THE ONLY BLACK GUY IN THE OFFICE
It’s All Fun and Games Till a White Person Asks to Fondle Your Fro
When workplace morale-boosting activities go from innocent fun to inclusion fail
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
At this stage in the WFH game, I’ve all but settled into the hyper-focused employee role. A great day for me is clocking in, knocking down tasks the way Lillard drains 3s, then peacing out to live my real life with my real friends. I’ve never quite craved office camaraderie as much as my 9-to-5 counterparts, and I’ve managed to duck-and-dodge happy hour hangouts, both physically and digitally. But something about couchin’ it daily — knowing in-person kickbacks are on pause for the foreseeable future — has shifted my spirit. After months of being anti during a somber news cycle, I decided to loosen up and join in on my job’s staff-bonding, morale-boosting activities. I literally have nothing better to do. What could go wrong, right?
I’m sure the members of my marketing team were shocked when I finally clicked “Accept” on a Friday afternoon happy hour invite, and even more tickled when they saw my IRL Black face pop up on the Zoom grid, swirling Jameson around in…
