BOY! was today an eventful day!
I just had to blog about this because I feel it is the most ridiculous statement and prejudice I have ever encountered in my life.
So I went to an interview today, and to say it went badly would be an understatement.
First of all this interview was arranged an hour before I left my house, so between picking an appropriate outfit and finding a taxi to leave my estate, let’s just say, I was running effectively late.
For the sake of long explanations let’s just call him my ‘boss man’ for now, but by the time I got to the interview, I knew things were going to go south for me.
So I got settled, and we proceeded with the interview. Boss man asked his brother to join in the interview as he was too busy.
So as the interview was going on, Boss man interrupts and asks to give me an advice, and of course I agreed.
To be honest, I thought he was going to comment on my tongue piercing, my being late or even my nails (because they are looking hideous at the moment)
But to my surprise, boss man says :
‘WHY DO YOU SPEAK SO British? You don’t have to speak so British because in the co-operate climate in Ghana, it is not advisable…!’
Ok so here is the thing, everyone that knows me or has ever heard me speak will testify that I am NOT ‘cockney’ neither do I sound ‘too British’…! So like you would imagine, this hit me like a slap across the face! I would have thought that I spoke very clearly and yes I will argue that I am very well spoken.
However, because it was interview setting and he was (at the time) still a potential boss, all I could say was that ‘THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I WILL TAKE YOUR POINTS INTO CONSIDERATION AND WORK ON IT’.
But now I ask myself, am I going to speak ‘pigeon’ in my next interview just to prove that I am Ghanaian?
So there you have it…for the first (and hopefully last time in my life) I HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO SOCIAL PREJUDICE!
me n som fb friends had dis conversation last week. on william bruce's page. all ghanaians wanna travel. so if u come back as a "been too" they will hold it against you. ive suffered from it. n so did organizations like vibe fm. dat why for now, iv left ghana for da locals! nice piece.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the benefit of speaking English if you can't sound British or better still English? Is it a big deal? If you speak Twi you probably need to sound Ghanaian right?
ReplyDeleteSo I find it hard to understand how "....." (local) will fill in those blanks anywae, people can be.
Look at it from this angle too, can you dance Salsa the Ghanaian way? no way? Its cultural, when u get to dance Borbobor you do it the Ewe way.
Reason why I never have a problem with people who can really slang, the do it as it is done if it is done that way. Period!
hmmmmm...interesting comments and view points...thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou know the saddest thing is I don't slang...(well not intentionally) I have live all my life in London, had all my education there plus i am very well traveled so i have lost the thickness of the cockney accent. I do believe i speak quite proper actually...but if that's too British for some...then i say SO BE IT...i don't even have a Ghanaian passport. its ridiculous...extremely sad and absolutely ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteGhana is full of fake Americans and Fake people all together so i guess they cant tell the REAL FROM THE FAKE ANYMORE...!