What's in a NAME? Enough to NOT be HIRED, I guess...

Another Slice-Of-Life true account I just thought I'd share with one & all.....A companion piece, if you will, to:

http://www.whitewomenblackmen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15087


http://www.whitewomenblackmen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15343

Ennyroad, this is a *pain* to HAVE to say that such FUBAR attitudes towards life & people STILL persist in this alleged "englightened & sophisticated society"..


Never mind that *this* incident happened over a decade-and-a-half ago...



One of the studios, live-action not animation, where a pal of mine worked before coming to Cartoon Network in 1998, was looking for a script editor to assist with the writing of dialogue and such for live-action material.

A fella named Leon Shea sent in a very impressive resume to the Head Manager. Very scholarly & educated - majoring in English Lit & all.


He was asked to come to the office for an interview..


The Head Man, to make a gross understatement, was *extremely* taken aback...when he met the prospective hire....

One very scholarly & educated English Lit major named Lian Xia...born in China & emigrated to The States with his family at 2 years of age..



The Head Man stammered & stuttered : "So....YOU'RE 'Leon Shea', huh? I....I was expecting someone a little more..."

Xia : "Irish?"

The Head Man (In a croaking voice) : "...yeah!"

Xia (Putting on his porkpie hat & sunglasses) : "Well, then...Top O' Th' Fuckin' Goddamn Mornin' To Ye, Lad!"

and turned and stomped out the door.



Not to worry, he *does* hold a senior position at R&D Prod. (Home of the re-imagined "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA"..


As far as The Head Man...he didn't hang around said job for much longer.

Surprised?

And, as an aside, never one to waste any good ideas, back in 1992, film director BILL BENNETT witnessed this erudite & sophisticated exchange....and *remembered* it for his 1996 film "The STOLEN HEARTS" (U.S. title "TWO IF BY SEA")with SANDRA BULLOCK)...and utilised said exchange as incidental dialogue between YAPHET KOTTO (In the role of Detective O'Malley) & some yokel who voiced the SAME vile bullshit that said Studio Head Man oozed outta his pie-hole.



As an aside (II), if there was an Oscar category for "Best Snappy Patter And Comeback To A Stupid Statement" - THAT film woulda gotten it just for THAT bit, IMO.


The OTHER piece of LOL dialogue in said film was:

Bad Guy # 1 : Did your mother take Thalidomide?"

Bad Guy #2 : "Duhh, when?"




Of the Head Man, nothing more is known..


Probably for a *reason*....




















OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK

 

I think that people who try to accuse others of playing the race card all the time this topic you've started right here and sentencing discrepencies are the two main things that get brushed under the rug. For all those people that say get a job and work harder nd stop complainng they never have an answer for the name situation. Theres so much solid evidence to support discrimination based on ethnic sounding nams.. I use to whenI was younger always critisize the Chinese for havin a last name like Chen, Dong, or Tan and having a first name like Joe, Ethan, or Amy. With my first name being Déanjelo (D'Angelo) I sometimes wonder if that hurts my job search which always goes bad..

 

Ive read reports about employers not hiring people due to their names being hard to pronounce or not being of their cultural norm. But at the end of the day trying to judge a persons race due to their name is pretty ignorant.

 

you know what not being able to say a person's name is something i always try to avoid. Even if you read my name "Deanjelo" and could not pronounce it you could always address me as Mr. blah blah. Instead of not trying to ofend someone bybotching their name you just send them back on to the job search circuit. Thats idiotic, tragic, and lame...