The Resignation

To the Board of Trustees;

I have been part of this organization for seven years and have been honored to be a part of rebuilding the Museum into a bigger part of the Community and building new events to bring people closer together.

However, I have also been insulted, disregarded, and disrespected on a consistent basis while working here. I've been harassed by some many Members and Visitors and other Employees, and I've been told to shut up and accept that fact that I'm a woman and this happens all the time.

I’ve been working since I was 15 years old. I first worked in the trade show industry, handling truck drivers and exhibitors and teamsters. I worked in that industry until I was 19, then worked in an auto shop before being offered a job at the museum. I accepted it because I wanted a job with responsibility and a steady paycheck.

I spent eight years in two industries that are famous for misogyny and female degradation, however I personally did not experience an abundance of either in those fields. Sure, I’d get a truck driver who didn’t want to wait in line to get his shipment loaded and someone angry because their car didn’t pass a smog check; but all of those incidents and others similar to it, I handled and I handled them very well. But at least when I reported an incident it was dealt with. Whenever I reported one while working here, I was stonewalled and threatened to keep my mouth shut.

Well, first of all, f*ck that.

I’ve been told to wear more/less make up, to wear more/less dresses, to fax files unrelated to Museum business, to connect members personal phones to my work computer to print pictures unrelated to the museum, been asked to be a “good girl”, been asked to send personal member files to others who are not on the board, been yelled at for not being able to do something because it was something only the curator/director/education coordinator could provide, to give up use of staff equipment from staplers to golf carts to members because they screamed in my face, been told to flush the toilet for someone who “didn’t have time to do it”, and so on.

I think the lowest point was when an old gross white republican tried to grab my ass and push me into his car and my boss laughed at me while I was screaming for help. But no one did.

How humiliating it was to scream and kick and throw blind punches like a petulant child while five people I worked with were four feet away and laughing at me. When I took my boss aside and told him how humiliated and how my trust in my coworkers was ruined, he told me to just smile and move on.

"It wasn't like he actually did anything."

This museum was founded by a club who fought to build this place, but it was turned into a Living Museum; however the club maintains to this day that they can run this place. You all spend so much time contemplating who to hire for a job none of you want to do, but the second someone steps through the door they are harangued by every single Member who think they can ask whatever they want and then get angry when the new staff member doesn’t do everything they are asked to.

I’ve been offered a few other jobs while I’ve been employed here, including one in Barcelona; but I’ve been loyal and continued working here so I can go to school. I thought that by being loyal I would be rewarded, or so I had been told by so many members when I first started here. But in eight years, I still don’t make minimum wage. My raises collectively add up to one additional dollar per hour, and I started at $12.50 an hour.

Why am I telling you all of this? You might assume this letter is written out of anger and maybe you stopped reading after the first word. I’m not. I was, for a long time, but now I want to move on. I can’t change someone else’s attitude or opinions, I won’t tell someone to ask for my forgiveness, and I will not be renegotiated to come back; I cannot be bought. I didn’t come here because I thought it would make me rich, I came here because I saw an opportunity to do something worthwhile and because people that I respected asked me to do this for them. I had my own reasons for agreeing to work here, but above money is honor and loyalty. I wanted to give back to the community that gave me a home and that welcomed me when I was a kid.

So you can imagine a fraction of my disappointment the first time someone yelled in my face about how useless I was when I couldn’t fax something, even though that person didn’t know how to send a fax to begin with.

I want to remind you all that to treat your staff with respect. If they tell you no, respect that they are doing their job properly and not spending time on the Museum's dime to waste it on something that isn’t part of their job description. When they ask you to make an appointment, they aren’t disregarding you or putting you off; they are making time specifically for you to talk to them. When they answer the phone in a hurry, it’s not because they don’t care what you’re saying; it’s because they’re in the middle of a project or maybe on their way to the bathroom.

Don’t stop them when they’re power walking through the grounds.

Don’t tell them what to wear.

Don’t tell them to smile more.

Don’t scream at them for doing their jobs.

At the end of the day, help the staff help you.

And if one of them is getting shoved into a car while screaming, step up and f*cking help them you useless c*nts.

Sincerely,

One Seriously Pissed Off Woman

P.S. A list of incidents will be sent to you shortly from my lawyer.

Suck my d*ck.