Reflective Essay: Diversity In The Workplace

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American Diversity I was climbing up the stairs when I saw her outside her door, always kind, delicate, looking great. “Are you coming from the gym?” My disheveled grey hair pulled back with a black plastic clip, leggings and snickers made that obvious, fortunately. “I am. Do you want to go there?” She’s new in our building, so I figured she wouldn’t know where the gym was, and immediately entered the “helpful mode.” But she seemed pretty self-assured as she answered in perfect English, perfect at least to my foreign ears: “No. I’m going to check the mail.” My new neighbor is Chinese. At least she looks Chinese, and the language she speaks on her iPhone also sounds as Chinese. Our relationship did not have a good start. The Bostonian designer …show more content…

“He usually does not touch the trash if the bin is overflowing.” I spoke like the class-A trash specialist I’ve become. With half of her body stuck out of their door, I could see his wife, an elegant woman I had only heard until now, as she spoke Chinese on the phone. As she had no shoes on, I could see she was very short, very well-dressed — all in black, lace tights and all —, putting my everyday lack of elegance to shame. Our neighbors were a nice, young Chinese couple, whose English, by the way, was way better than mine. I felt immediately friendly towards them, understanding that in their homeland there might not exist a “Valet Trash” service, I don’t know. What I know is that they both work, drive two huge American cars, and are often gone for the weekends. Yes, I started to pay attention. My whole point here is how great American diversity really is, how nice it is that humans from different backgrounds are able to live together, enjoying the civilized qualities of a first-world nation. In the case of foreigners, provided they are legal immigrants, or visitors with work permits, of

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