Discrimination in the Workplace Due to Being Male

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Today I will give you two examples of how I was discriminated against for being Male in the workplace.

From 1997 to 2003 I worked for a Christian Ministry named The Quiet Hour in Redlands, California. I was on Salary which means no matter how many hours I work I get paid the same. It also means I didn’t get overtime if I worked a lot of extra hours.

The person in charge of the Bible School was Laura and she was also on Salary. She would arrive to work several hours late and then leave work several hours early. All of us on Salary got paid for 9 hours of work per day. So while I worked for 9 hours every day and got my pay for 9 hours daily, Laura would work an average of 6 hours per day but get paid for 9 hours.

Understand that I was told by not only my direct Supervisor, but also by the Director of the Computer Department, my Vice President of Operations, and the President of the company, that since The Quiet Hour is 100 percent donor funded that we have to make the best use of the donor’s money they donate to our organization. I was actually told once that even if I am on my allowed break time and I went on my computer to check the weather or the news that I was in violation of proper use of donor’s money since I am not doing required work-related stuff on the computers provided by the donor’s money.

At one point I was actually called into the Vice President’s office and told that if I start work just ONE MINUTE early that I would be fired. I asked what the problem was since I am on Salary so I don’t get extra pay, overtime, or compensatory time off for any extra timed I put in. Again the Vice President stated that YOU ARE TO WORK FROM 7:30 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M. AND IF YOU SHOW UP AND START WORK ONE MINUTE EARLY YOU WILL BE FIRED!

I was shocked so I asked the question why Laura in the Bible School was allowed to show up 2 or 3 hours late for work, and she leaves 2 or 3 hours early from work, and yet that isn’t a problem while starting my work 1 minute early is grounds for firing me. They had no answer but I know what the answer was. They were discriminating against me for being Male while they gave the Female employees special benefits. Discrimination of any type in the workplace is illegal under the law and yet I was a victim of gender discrimination.

This carried on when I went to work for the Southeastern California Conference office for the Seventh-day Adventist Church located in Riverside, California. One of the Estate Planning Officers, Lloyd Janzen, wanted to hire me as his Trust Services Administrative Assistant. He told me that the Director of the Department, Roger Heinrich, flatly told him:  I DON’T WANT YOU TO HIRE ANDREW AS YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. WE’VE NEVER HAD A MALE AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT IN THIS DEPARTMENT!

Well, gee, that sure sounds like gender discrimination to me. And what happened next was disgusting. My Estate Planning Officer, Lloyd Janzen, retired from working and Roger Heinrich decided to return being an Estate Planning Officer and allow someone else to be the Director of the Department. Unfortunately for me Roger took over the Estate Planning Officer position Lloyd had so now Roger, the person who didn’t like me for being a Male Administrative Assistant, became my supervisor.

Oh man I cannot tell you the amount of abuse I took at his hands for no other reason except that I was a Male serving as an Administrative Assistant.

Yes, people, I was discriminated against for being a Male in the workplace and at the Conference Office the discrimination came from another Male.

I hope my several blogs this month have shown you that I have suffered immensely due to discrimination for being White, a Male, older than 50 years of age, and sometimes all three of them at the same time, and yet no Attorney would ever take my case to file a Discrimination lawsuit against the perpetrators.

But I didn’t do what some ethnic groups do. I didn’t protest in the streets. I didn’t riot and loot businesses and homes. I didn’t run to the malls and airports and riot and disrupt shopping and flights.

Overall I came through all this discrimination stronger and smarter than those who are weak and stupid and who caused all the discrimination against me.

Discrimination Due to Being a White Male in His 60's

Written By:  Andrew Eide

This post is about the discrimination I face for being a White Male and in my 60’s as I am currently 62 years of age. This discrimination, however, has been going on since I turned 55 so it is a common thing.

I want to work. Even though I am retired from the U.S. Navy and I receive a Retirement income I still want to work. The problem is that people refuse to hire me due to my age. That’s age discrimination correct? Then you add into the mix that I am male and White and you can see I have a triple whammy against me.

How can I be sure it is discrimination you ask? Glad you asked because I am here to tell you.

What do most businesses want? They want part-time workers so that they don’t have to pay into Medical insurance or into Retirement accounts. So I want to work part-time and I don’t need medical or retirement benefits as I already have them through the Military. And yet every job I apply for as a part-time worker they refuse to consider me. What reason can you give other than discrimination against me for being old, White, and male?

I see Black persons and Hispanic persons hired and they are in the 50’s and older so these businesses are hiring people who are in their 50’s and older. But when I apply they don’t want me.

Businesses also state how much they love to hire Military Veterans and yet when I apply to every company that tells me if you are a Military Veteran they want to hire you but they never hire me. What reason can you give other than discrimination against me for being old, White, and male?

Also most businesses who want to hire part-time workers state they love hiring retired persons as they have the experience, they possess great work ethics, and they have a loyalty and reliability that young workers don’t possess. And yet again when I apply with 42 years of work experience, great work ethics, and a loyalty and reliability level far surpassing young people today I am never considered for the job. What reason can you give me other than discrimination against me for being old, White, and male?

Discrimination for a Small Business Administration Loan

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Today I will discuss a personal experience of my friend Gary from the mid-1990’s when I worked at the Headquarters of the Commander Naval Air Force, United States Pacific Fleet, in San Diego (Coronado), California.

Gary worked in our Word Processing Center. Gary served for 20 years in the United States Navy as a Yeoman, which is an Administrative Assistant, and Gary obtained the rank of Chief Petty Officer before he retired and then he went to work in the Word Processing Center.

Gary is White and his wife is Hispanic from Mexico.

He realized that Police Officers are out on patrol and then they have to return to the precinct and spend from one to 4 hours typing up the reports of what happened on their patrols. Gary wanted to find an easier way for the Police Officers to do their reports. He wanted to make it simple for the Police Officers and reduce the amount of time they spend typing up reports so that perhaps they could spend more time on patrol.

Gary’s business concept was very simple. He would have the police officers call a number and dictate what happened for that incident and then Gary would transcribe that information into the report. That way when the Police Officer came in from patrol all they had to do was review the already typed report and sign off on it. Instead of taking 30 minutes to one hour to type up one report document the Police Officer would spend maybe 10 to 15 minutes per report saving the Police Officer and the Police Department lots of time and money.

Gary went to the Small Business Administration (SBA) office in San Diego and he made his proposal to them. Their response was shocking. The person at the SBA stated that Gary didn’t have the administrative knowledge or experience to perform this type of work so they denied him a Small Business Administration loan. Gary pleaded his case stating he spend 20 years as an Administrative Assistant, he typed up hundreds of reports during those 20 years, and he spent many hours transcribing dictation. Still the person at the SBA refused to give Gary the loan to start his business.

After three months his wife, the Hispanic from Mexico, encouraged Gary to apply to the SBA for a loan again. This time Gary’s wife went with him to the Small Business Administration office in San Diego. The instant the person at the SBA saw that Gary’s wife was Hispanic from Mexico they jumped up and offered to approve an SBA loan for Gary to start up his business.

Gary’s wife was shocked after hearing what the SBA did to Gary previously. I don’t know the exact words Gary’s wife used to chastise the SBA worker but it was something like the following:

WHAT? MY HUSBAND CAME IN HERE THREE MONTHS AGO TO APPLY FOR A SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION LOAN TO OPEN HIS BUSINESS OF TRANSCRIBING POLICE OFFICER REPORTS FOR THEM AND YOU TOLD HIM NO BECAUSE YOU CLAIMED HE DIDN’T HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE EVEN THOUGH HE SERVED AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FOR OVER 20 YEARS. NOW BECAUSE YOU SEE HIS WIFE, ME, IS MEXICAN SO NOW YOU ARE EXCITED TO APPROVE GARY’S SBA LOAN. NO! NO! NO! I REFUSE TO TAKE MONEY FROM AN ORGANIZATION THAT PRACTICES DISCRIMINATION! GARY LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!

From that point on Gary and his wife opened the transcribing business on their own with their own funds. Sometimes the people and organizations, such as our Government, who say discrimination is illegal, are the ones perpetrating most of the discrimination.

Discrimination in Job Promotions Due to Being White

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I served for 20 years in the United States Navy. As you may have seen from advertisements for Military they all claim they are “Equal Opportunity Employers” but I’m here to tell you that is not the case.

I was in the Rating titled Yeoman which means Administrative Assistant. The process for being selected for promotion from a First Class Petty Officer (Paygrade E-6) to Chief Petty Officer (Paygrade E-7) in the United States Navy is extremely competitive in the Yeoman Rating.

To be selected to promotion to Chief Petty Officer you must first take an exam and score high enough to become what they call Selection Board Eligible. Only those who scored high enough have their Service Records reviewed by a Panel of Senior Enlisted Personnel on the Selection Board.

So with the Yeoman Rating you would have maybe 1,000 Sailors who are Selection Board Eligible and only 10 get selected for advancement to Chief Petty Officer. With competition this fierce, with only a one percent promotion rate to Chief Perry Officer, you need to be on top of your game.

What they do on the Panel is to evaluate everyone’s Service Record and they assign them a number from 1 to 1,000. With that computation I am only talking about the Yeoman rating at the time of these incidents as every rating is different.) You would think that the ones numbered 1 through 10 would be the ones promoted to Chief Petty Officer right? Oh man nothing could be further from the truth.

To use an example let me show you a list of the top 10 persons using made up names:

1 - Yeoman 1

2 - Yeoman 2

3 - Yeoman 3

4 - Yeoman 4

5 - Yeoman 5

6 - Yeoman 6

7 - Yeoman 7

8 - Yeoman 8

9 - Yeoman 9

10 - Yeoman 10

Everyone below this list of the top 10 should NOT be selected for advancement to Chief Petty Officer as a Yeoman. Shocking as this is going to sound let me tell you what my Master Chief Petty Officer, who went to Washington DC to be on the Selection Board for Yeoman, told me really happens.

You have everyone listed from 1 to 1,000. Only the top 10 persons should be advanced to Chief Petty Officer. However what happens is that the Selection Board will ask WHERE IS THE FIRST BLACK PERSON ON THE LIST? Say there is no Black person in the top 10 listed. They will then find the first Black person on the list and regardless of where they are located on the list between 11 and 1,000 they will move them into the number 10 spot thereby knocking the person originally assigned number 10 off the list of the top ten. Hmmm.

Then they will ask WHERE IS THE FIRST HISPANIC ON THE LIST? If there is no Hispanic in the top 10 listed they will find the first Hispanic, no matter where they are on the list between 11 and 1,000 and they will move that person from number 50 to number 9 and knock the original person in the number 9 spot out of the top 10 list. Hmmm.

They do this again for an ASIAN and then for a WOMAN and if no Asians or Women are in the original top 10 list then two more persons will be moved up from their low positions to be in the top 10 and they will obtain advancement to Chief Petty Officer. Hmmm.

So the worst case scenario is if there are no Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or Women in the original top 10 list then when they move 4 lower-ranking persons into the top 10 list, and that knocks 4 persons out of the top 10 list so that they are no longer eligible for selection to Chief Petty Officer, then those 4 who got knocked off the list are victims of discrimination. Why would they be victims of discrimination? Since there were no Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, or Women in the top 10 then the only logical answer is those in the original top 10 were White Males. Got it? Good!

My question has always been HOW MANY TIMES WAS I ON THE ORIGIAL SELECTION LIST ONLY TO HAVE MY NAME REMOVED TO PROMOTE SOMEONE WHO FAILED TO GET INTO THE ORIGINAL SELECTION LIST IN THE FIRST PLACE? Since I was before the Selection Board 8 times in my 20 year career I would say at least 6 of those 8 times I was knocked off the promotion list due to discrimination.

Do you still believe that White People are NOT discriminated against when it comes to promotions?

Discrimination in Job Hiring due to Being White

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Today I will tell you of some of the instances where I was denied a job for no other reason except that I am White.

In 1982 I lived at my mother’s home in Oakland, California. I found a job listing that fit me perfectly. It was for someone with administrative & secretary skills who wants to teach young people entry-level administrative & secretary skills so that they could enter the workforce with basic knowledge to perform as a Secretary, Administrative Assistant, or Office Clerk.

The requirements for this job were listed as follows:

(1) Desire to teach young people entry-level administrative & secretary skills.

(2) Ability to type 55 words per minute or faster.

I applied and talked to a Black woman who was in charge of hiring. I explained that I have 8 years working as an Administrative Assistant and since I love my work I would love to teach young people entry-level skills.

She asked if I could type 55 words per minute or faster. I explained to her that while serving in the United States Navy from 1972 to 1980 I was tested numerous times and I was always tested at 70 words per minute or faster with high accuracy in spelling and grammar. I then explained to this Black woman that I would be happy to take a typing test, either in her office or at a testing facility, and that I am sure I would test out at 70 words per minute or faster.

Without hesitation she started screaming at me the following:  IF YOU CAN’T TYPE EXACTLY 55 WORDS PER MINUTE THEN WE DON’T WANT YOU! and then she ran me out of the office ending my job interview.

Why in the hell would she do that to me if it wasn’t due to her being racist and discriminating against me for being White? That had to be the reason since most of the young people that were obtaining administrative and secretary training from this organization were Black and Hispanic.

About a week after that horrible incident mentioned above I applied for a job at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California. They wanted an Office Clerk and they required a minimum of 5 years administrative and office experience and typing of 50 words per minute or higher. Two people applied for this position. I applied and a young Hispanic man applied. We knew each other and I knew that his experience and abilities was that he had only 4 years of administrative and office experience (which is 1 year LESS than the minimum requirement for the job) and he could only type 40 words per minute (which was 10 words per minute LESS than the minimum required for the job.) I was sure I was going to get hired for this position due to only two people applied for the job and I was the only one who met, or exceeded, the requirements for the job.

I was extremely disappointed when I called and was told that they hired this Hispanic man instead of me. When I questioned why they hired him when his administrative and office experience was one year less than the minimum requirement and his typing was 10 words per minute less than the minimum typing speed requirement they refused to provide an answer for me.

So I said:  OH I SEE HOW IT IS! YOU ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME BECAUSE I’M WHITE! THANKS FOR BEING RACIST ASSHOLES!

Now do you still believe that White people cannot be discriminated against when applying for a job?

Discrimination in Purchasing a Home due to Being White

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I am going to relate several instances where I tried to purchase a home and I was discriminated against due to being White. When I relate the stories to you please remember that in each case I discussed the requirements for the home purchase program involved with a Black or Hispanic person managing the program. While they denied me access to home purchasing programs they gave immediate access and assistance to Blacks and Hispanics.

My first incident happened in Connecticut when I lived there from 1980 to 1982. I found a really nice two-family two-story home in Norwich, Connecticut. The great feature about this home is the original inside staircase was still there as most two-family two-story homes have the inside staircase removed.

I contacted the organization that dealt with FHA Veteran loans. I went to the office and talked with the Black man who managed the program for the State of Connecticut. I asked him what the requirements were to quality for the program to obtain an FHA Vet loan. He said the following were the requirements:

(1) You must have served on Active Duty in any Branch of the Armed Services and you must have served for at least 180 days or more on Active Duty and have obtained an Honorable Discharge Certificate.

(2) You must have a total family income of less than $25,000 per year.

He said those were the only two requirements. Wow I was excited!

I told the man that I served for 8 years on Active Duty, which is classified as “180 days or more on Active Duty” and I have my DD-214 Honorable Discharge Certificate and our total family income for the year was under $25,000.

Immediately the man said: YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM.

I asked him three times what the requirements to qualify for the program and three times he stated the above two items to qualify for the FHA Vet home loan program. After the third time of telling him I have the Active Duty service requirement AND the Honorable Discharge Certificate AND a family income under $235,000  he told me again YOU DON’T QUALITY FOR THE PROGRAM I got in his face and told him the following:

I SEE HOW IT IS! THE ONLY REASON I DON’T QUALIFY IS BECAUSE I’M WHITE AND YOUR ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME! IF I WERE BLACK OR HISPANIC YOU WOULD APPROVE ME TO PURCHASE A HOME IMMEDIATELY! THANKS FOR NOTHING JERK! THANKS FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME!

I stormed out of his office and wasn’t able to purchase a home in Connecticut.

In 1982 I returned to living in Oakland, California where I was born and grew up. I have been a resident of Oakland since birth. I found a fantastic two-story home on Fruitvale Avenue just down the road from where my Mother and Brother lived. I wanted the home and the price at that time was around $25,000.

Oakland had a home purchasing assistance program called Oakland Bond Money and while normal Bank and Mortgage Company interest rates were running around 15 percent interest the Oakland Bond Money program was around 8 percent interest.

I went to the office that handles the Oakland Bond Money Program. I asked them what the requirements were to qualify for their program. The Hispanic person I spoke to said the following were the requirements:

(1) You must be a Resident of Oakland.

(2) Your family income must be under $20,000 per year.

So I told this person that I have lived in Oakland since the day I was born so I am a Resident of Oakland from birth and our total family income was around $13,000 per year.

The Hispanic person immediately told me:  YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM! When asked why I don’t quality they said YOU ARE NOT A RESIDENT OF OAKLAND! I reminded them that I was born in Oakland and that is on my Birth Certificate. I reminded them I have lived in Oakland all my life. I reminded them my family income is under the $20,000 limit.

Again the person told me that YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM! At this point I stood up, got in their face, and told them:  THE ONLY REASON I DON’T QUALIFY IS BECAUSE I’M WHITE AND YOUR PROGRAM IS RACIST IN THAT IT ONLY SERVED THE BLACKS AND HISPANICS IN OAKLAND! THANKS FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME JERKS! And then I stormed out of their office.

Now do you still believe that White people are not discriminated against?

Please don't even think of accusing me of being the racist person in these situations. I am telling you the truth of what really happened to me. I would be telling you these incidents even if it was a White person managing the program and they had denied me the loan even though I qualified. I would still call that White person who discriminated against me a racist and call them out for their discrimination.

Discrimination Against White People General Comments

Written By:  Andrew Eide

For January 2016 I will be discussing Discrimination. I am not going to talk about discrimination against Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians. My discussion will be my personal experiences with discrimination against me for being White and Male.

I turned 62 years of age in November 2015. Over my many years I have suffered numerous forms of discrimination mostly for being White but often for the additional reason of being male. During the month of January 2016 my main discussions will be about the discrimination I’ve faced for being White.

I will prepare different blogs to relate to you the discrimination I’ve received when trying to purchase a home, in employment, in the work place, and several other examples.

If you are one of those people who feel that White people cannot be discriminated against be prepared to be enlightened.