Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/686001
et's start by acknowledging that the world is full of different opinions, different cultures, and different ways of communicating. There is a good amount of literature about the way people from diverse backgrounds connect with one another: Most anyone who has worked with coffee growers in Central America has, over time and after several months of frustration, learned that "yes" is not so much an affirmation as it is simply the correct answer to most yes-or-no questions. These differences among cultures, among genders, and among ethnicities are what make the world a fascinating place. Equity is not about erasing those differences. It can be about championing them. Advocating is not discriminating, nor is it tokenizing. Praising me for being a good nurturer to a child, for example, is different than assuming I will miss out on womanhood if I do not have a child, or assuming I won't commit to my job as much after a baby comes along. I offer this example because it is something women often hear, and something many women have had to face as they seek to build their careers, and their families. In this article, you will hear from a series of people who have faced discrimination during their careers in specialty coffee. They may voice different opinions, or come from different cultures, or have dissimilar ways of seeing the world and communicating than you, but they weigh in here neither to chide you, nor to explain where you've got it all wrong. These voices are only here to share. It's up to you to choose what to do with the information. Put simply, in the words of Teresa von Fuchs of Irving Farm Coffee Roasters, "When someone is telling you their experience, you don't need to argue." "I was told by a boss that my job, quality control and green buying, was better suited for a young man." —Trish Rothgeb, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters; San Francisco "Sometimes people on the phone call me 'honey' and ask for the person in charge. 'That would be me,' I say." —Teresa von Fuchs, Irving Farm Coffee Roasters; Brooklyn, N.Y. "I got to a point where I recognized that I did all the right things and still wasn't getting the recognition like other male colleagues. I don't have data, but I have stories of men not wanting to listen to me because I am woman. I was told straight up I wasn't offered a job because I was a woman." —Talor Browne, Talor & Jørgen; Oslo, Norway "Someone sat down next to me and said, 'You were a barista and then you were a roaster, and now you want to be a Q-grader. We think you're getting a bit cocky.' The 'we' was a male-owned company, and the someone was one of only two female employees working there at the time" —Candice Madison, roaster; London, U.K. It's safe to assume that the reason freelance coffee marketer Jenn Chen's recent article on Medium.com, "On Gender and Racial Equity in the Coffee Industry," has caused such a stir is that she included anecdotes similar to these offered by Trish, Teresa, Talor, and Candice. It can be hard to know where to start with all of the information, and examples of discrimination. The specialty-coffee world is vast, and within the industry, women fill countless roles—barista, manager, roaster, competitor, salesperson, owner, you name it. Narrowing the equity conversation down one topic at a time is the only way to avoid feeling completely overwhelmed, so in honor of Barista Magazine, let's start there, with the barista. "I don't like in-person customer service," Jenn wrote in the article. "When you're a barista, you're in the power dynamic of the customer always being right." In the service industry, even if the customer is aggressive, we've been taught that our goal is to keep the customer happy. When I worked in New York City as a barista, I remember a customer telling me that I looked like I was 'made to pour coffee' with the hat I was wearing. I've had male customers ask to take me out for coffee, while I was serving them coffee. I'd had other female baristas get angry when they noticed a male customer's preference for getting their coffee served from me because of how I looked, which then caused problems between those women and myself. "There were definitely instances where men in the retail sector/ barista culture of Gimme! Coffee alienated women with their presence, words, and actions, but those individuals did not last long with the company—there was a strong cultural rejection of those individuals," says former Gimme! barista, roaster, and green buyer Colleen Anunu, now with Fair Trade USA. "I believe, and have always believed, that my queer identity/non-heteronormativity was a huge factor in my experiences and perceptions. First, I think it positioned me as a relative outsider to the sex-discrimination than more traditionally heteronormative women faced—my interactions with men were not loaded the same way. In this I think I may have benefitted in many situations. Second, I think it led me to interpret any discriminatory situations that I did face as related more to my queer identity than to my gender, thereby totally overlooking any gender biases. This is still something that I struggle with in regards to many of the coffee women blogs and articles—they don't really represent me or my experiences." To some, maybe a few comments about the way someone looks don't seem to be that big of a deal, but here is what I think about language. I now live in Nicaragua, where it is common to refer to people as "the black one," "the fat one," "the old one," or whatever their physical appearance might inspire you to say. Growing up in the United States, I learned political correctness in language about race and gender identity. I have learned to call people "differently abled" instead of "disabled," to use the term "transgender" or "gender-expansive" instead of "gender nonconforming." In general, I've been taught to not comment on someone's physical appearance, or, if I must do so, I have been taught to say something that could not possibly be construed as negative. Since moving to Central America, I have asked Nicaraguans not to comment on how I look even if they are trying to pay me a compliment. I have heard from some people that I am showing disrespect to another culture because it is, according to their customs, OK for someone to comment on my body, whether they are my friend or a random person on the street. I'm in their country, not mine, and I need to respect their everyday comments and opinions on who is skinny, fat, ugly, or pretty. For a moment, I am inclined to think I am overreacting (hmm, I wonder where that thought comes from) if I am annoyed that someone comments on my body. It turns out that many things are culturally appropriate in many countries, like saying whatever comes to your mind in a retail environment. Not one of the customers who had offended me was accused of being culturally inappropriate. They were, however, saying or doing something bothersome. Most of the time, when I brought it up to fellow employees, I was told to "just calm down," despite the existing calmness and conversational tone of my observation in the first place. Jenn says, "People think that we're just going to laugh it off when someone says something sexist or inappropriate because we'll be cool like that and not get offended. But the truth is we don't know how much power we have to say something." If you do assume the power, Teresa says, "then people just think you're nitpicky or erratic." Jenn adds: "People told me I just needed to build more confidence. When nothing comes out of you speaking up except people responding to you that way, you learn not to speak up L "I was told by a boss that my job, quality control and green buying, was better suited for a young man." —Trish Rothgeb, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters; San Francisco "Sometimes people on the phone call me 'honey' and ask for the person in charge. 'That would be me,' I say." —Teresa von Fuchs, Irving Farm Coffee Roasters; New York City, N.Y. "I got to a point where I recognized that I did all the right things and still wasn't getting the recognition like other male colleagues. I don't have data, but I have stories of men not wanting to listen to me because I am woman. I was told straight up I wasn't offered a job because I was a woman." —Talor Browne, Talor & Jørgen; Oslo, Norway "Someone sat down next to me and said, 'You were a barista and then you were a roaster, and now you want to be a Q-grader. We think you're getting a bit cocky.' The 'we' was a male-owned company, and the someone was one of only two female employees working there at the time" —Candice Madison, roaster; London, U.K. 60 barista magazine