Bring your whole self to work

Today is Diversity Day at my company, so we had a potluck. That part was a lot of fun … plenty of good food, so how can you go wrong?

 

But one of the slogans for Diversity Day was, “Bring your whole self to work!” The idea is that the company should cultivate enough emotional safety that people feel free to be open about who they are … so that nobody has to hide their ethnicity or nationality or religion or sexual preferences because we’re all just one big happy family. Or something like that.

 

And I can’t help but wonder … really?

 

I should feel safe bringing my whole self to work? Let’s see, that includes …

• Failed scholar
• Failed husband
• Multiple adulterer
• Drinks too much

 

Also, less dramatically, I suppose I could add …

• Permanently separated (but not divorced) from a Wiccan-Baptist-Mormon, bipolar, bisexual, promiscuous wife
• Pagan-sympathetic, Christian-sympathetic crypto-Platonist attending a Buddhist meditation sangha
• Eats too much

 

… Those things don’t make me look shocking or immoral … just kind of pathetic and boring.

 

I could talk about Sister Failure. That would sure draw a crowd. Of course it would draw them all to the other side of the building as people moved out of earshot, but still I suppose that constitutes a crowd.

 

Anyway, how is it supposed to be safe to bring all this to work? Also my boss is demoting me, supposedly to “rationalize” the org chart, which means that I’m looking for a relocation on the other side of the country. Should I bring all that in too? Hell, that part’s even work-related. But what do you bet that part’s all covered under confidentiality rules?

 

The potluck was nice. I’m always in favor of anything involving food. But the slogan? Sorry, I can’t believe that ….