Picking up from last time –
So, our day assistant editor got injured and wasn’t able to come to work for a couple weeks. So, we had to prioritize what we could survive without. And we had to change the shift of our swing and/or night AE so someone was there to help in the day.
Well, our night AE was a complete and total superstar. One of the best AEs in the building. And our swing AE was brand new, and didn’t really know what he was doing.
But our swing AE was good at seeming impressive – being charming, dressing super well, that kind of stuff. And our night AE was totally fine, but had a beard that wasn’t totally even, and classes that had a piece of tape on them. Like, it was 100% fine. But.
It was used as a reason by my boss’s boss to explain why our night AE couldn’t be the day AE. He didn’t “look” the kind of person he wanted around ‘should the head of the company come by’. And I just thought, ‘are you kidding me?!’
Now someone who doesn’t overdress for work isn’t a ‘protected class.’ It’s not like he said he wasn’t moving this person to a slightly more senior position (even temporarily) because of skin color or sexual orientation or something. But still! I couldn’t believe he wasn’t prioritizing TALENT! Just looks?! And said the quiet part out loud?!
He said he was never going to promote our night AE. And that was the straw for me.
This is where I’ll pick up next time.