Story 292
During the height of COVID, I was a Director at Citi. I was recovering from cancer and chemotherapy, and my immune system was compromised. At one point, I was asked to attend an in-person meeting. I asked my manager if I could Zoom in; he said I had already requested too many exceptions. So, I created a document stating that my doctor had advised me not to come in.
The document was not from my doctor. I did it because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting paperwork from his office — if you remember, everything was backed up at the time.
I mentioned to a colleague that the document had not come directly from my physician. That colleague repeated it to someone else, and eventually the information reached someone who had long been hostile toward me. That person reported the matter to HR.
An investigation followed, and I was terminated.
I understand that what I did was wrong.
I accept responsibility for that decision.
At the same time, I remain convinced the outcome would have been different if I had been a man or a Managing Director. During my years at Citi, it was clear there were two classes of employees: those protected by status, influence, and connections, and those without that institutional support.
As an ethnic woman, when I made a mistake, there was no benefit of the doubt, no effort to understand the context, and no opportunity for redemption.
What happened to me was the result of my own poor judgment, but I believe the severity of the consequences reflect an institution devoid of humanity that is perfectly fine operating with two statuses of people – upper and lower class.