Preventing Prejudice Against Personality In The WorkPlace

  • by: Jenna Kandyce Linch
  • recipient: employees, managers, everyone, general public, corporate offices
Discrimination comes in all shapes and forms.  It's especially found in the workplace when it comes to people with disabilities, race, religion, etc.  However, there is also discrimination against personality when it comes to workers who are up for a promotion.  Recently, I was such a victim of personality discrimination.  My name was submitted for a promotion by my general manager because of my hard work and because he believed I qualified for such a promotion since I possess all the skills and knowledge of the store I work for.  Having an outgoing personality in the fast food restaurant which by the way is a good thing to have as a manger, the person making the decisions of who gets to be promoted shot me down and told my general manager that she thinks the crew won't take me seriously due to the fact I smile and laugh a lot.  Yet, I have all it takes to be a manager and excel at running the store. But the person can't give me a good reason other than the fact that I smile and laugh too much when in fact, I am serious when it calls for it, I have the respect of the crew all ready, and I'm well liked by customers for doing the little things that they appreciate and going that extra mile.  So now the promotion is going to someone else who is more serious because it's a well known fact that the person who makes the ultimate decision on who to promote as manager does not like happy, outgoing, positive people.
I am not the only one this has happened to.  This is clearly discrimination against personality when one cannot give a good reason to not give the person a promotion other than they smile and laugh too much and have an outgoing personality.  Although EEOC does not cover discrimination against personality, I propose there be a law passed about discriminating against personality.  I believe that one should have more of a reason to dismiss someone other than they just don't like the outgoingness of someone else.  Moreover, I believe that promotions should be open to everyone and that the corporate offices or whoever in charge of making these decisions should not be biased and actually go in and watch the people up for promotion work to see how they run things and see how people react to them, both customers and crew.  I believe that whoever is in charge of promotions should give the candidate up for promotion a chance and actually go in and observe for a few hours the way they work, how customers act towards them, how they handle customers, and how the crew responds to them and how good they are at taking charge and making things happen.    
It is not fair to discriminate against someone who has the qualifications, dedication, skills, and commitment it takes all because you don't like their personality.  I believe if someone has earned that promotion, then they should be given it.  Personality, just like religion, race, and gender, cannot be changed and are all part of who a person is.  As long as the person has all the qualifications, skills, and knowledge that the job position requires, then they should be eligible for the promotion and be able to get it and have a chance at proving themselves first without being dismissed on unfair grounds.  Let's put a stop to discrimination on personality in the workplace.  People should not be punished based on who they are!
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