3A ENGLISH SEM 6

 
LETTER A :  GREAT NEW JOB

Dear Polly,

I’m a Polytech Alumni from the SAGI programme. Three months I got this great new job that I’ve spent a lot of time in education and unpaid internships to prepare for. I’m so excited to finally have it! It’s a high-pressure job that requires a lot of attention to detail. I was assigned to a trainer called Sarah, also a Polytech alumni, who’s been here five years. At first we had a bit of a personality clash, but we’ve moved past that and I’ve come to value her as a very skilled employee who is a fair and patient trainer. I’ve gotten high praise from her and our supervisors, so everything seems to be going well.

However, since day one, Sarah has constantly complained about our workplace, mostly to our other co-workers while the supervisors are off duty. (We’re on shift work, so probably 75 percent of the time we don’t see our supervisors.) I have noticed that there has been a lot of turnover in the past year; two employees quit in my first two months. Also, there's this weird culture where each person seems to think they're the only one who does any work or is competent. People tend to jump to conclusions about each other's intent or state of mind when a mistake is made and, on the flip side, take it very personally when a mistake is pointed out. The tension seems especially pronounced between Sarah and the two managers in charge of our section.

So far, I like everyone and don't really understand where all this tension comes from, so I'm hoping to just keep my head down and be positive and friendly in the hopes that I won't get sucked into it. But how do I know if it's only a matter of time until my supervisors start singling me out, as Sarah seems to think has happened to her, if this is a generally toxic workplace, or if the problem lies with my trainer?

LETTER B :  HARD DRUGS

Dear Polly,

A few of my close friends on the BDE have recently started experimenting with hard drugs. Although they’ve invited me to join them each time, I’ve always declined because I’ve had bad experiences with drugs in the past. I don’t think I have a right to express an opinion on their choices, but a lot of our time spent together now revolves around them planning to get drugs and joking about their last highs. I value each of their friendships deeply, but I’m starting to feel left out and even a bit annoyed at the lightheartedness with which they approach the topic. How do I maintain my friendships and truly respect their choices without compromising my own values?

Dear Polly,

I am a person of color. I have a friend of the same race/ethnic background as me, who I’ve known for years. We met in Prépa, and although we’re not best friends, we’ve had a continuous, unbroken friendship that has weathered the ups and downs of life.

Recently, after seeing news about the Black Lives Matter protests in America and in Paris, my friend's girlfriend started posting racist statements about the protests, and the people who attend protests. I happen to be a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. I don’t expect every person to support or agree with BLM, but I draw the line when their disagreement becomes explicitly racist.

I tried debating my friend’s girlfriend on social media, but it went nowhere fast — my friend’s girlfriend does not believe she is being racist. Meanwhile, despite seeing and acknowledging my heated exchange with his girlfriend online, my friend was sending a steady stream of kitten and Yoda memes, as if his girlfriend hadn’t just posted a racist meme.

Shocked by his girlfriends opinions, I stopped replying to my friend, and was struggling with whether I should confront him about his girlfriends posts, or if I should just ignore them both. I decided to send him a message saying what I thought. There was silence for about a week, and then my friend responded that he was offended and insulted by my text, and that his girlfriend “is not racist.”

Did I do the right thing to confront him ? Was it not my place to call out his girlfriends racist post, since I am technically his friend, not hers?

LETTER D :  ONLINE EXAMS

Dear Polly,

What do you think of cheating on exams ? I see a lot of people using their phones or Internet to cheat on online exams now that we are in lockdown. Is there any way I can use my phone to cheat on a test without getting caught? If everyone else is doing it, why can't I ?

LETTER E :  SECOND HAND GIFTS

Dear Polly

My boyfriend has made a habit out of using birthdays and holidays as an opportunity to upgrade his lifestyle under the guise of generous gift-giving. He recently gifted me his used laptop — which he did spend money on, getting it cleaned up — for Christmas, after buying himself the latest upgraded laptop. My last birthday he gave me his used wireless speakers and took that opportunity to upgrade his own.

The thing is, I don't really use the speakers very much, and my current laptop is perfectly adequate and better suited for my needs. However, he gets upset if I politely decline, so these presents are really just taking up valuable closet space.

Am I ungrateful or am I justified in feeling a bit stuck in an ungrateful-recipient position? I’m also not able to figure out why exactly this irks me, and it seems wrong to fake enthusiasm as I’m walking gifts over to the closet.

LETTER F :  NO WORK TO DO

Dear Polly

Three weeks ago, I started a new internship at a large design office, and so far I have not been assigned any real work. I have been asked to do small tasks like cleaning a shelf or compiling information that takes me less than an hour to complete.

I’ve brought up that I don't yet have work to do and that I'm happy to help on any project to the person in charge of staffing my office many times, talking to her every day she's in the office in person and emailing her as well. (My coworkers recommended this and said it's completely normal to let her know when I don't have any work to do.) She always says, “OK, I’ll let you know if anything comes up,” and has yet to assign me work. She has also repeatedly said many times that interns should not go around asking for work themselves from other people and must go through her (though I have to admit that, at this point, I've been asking people who I know are busy to please let me know if they need any help, because I’m desperate).