I don’t like confrontation and will do anything to avoid it. Sometimes that is not always a good thing. I’m more likely to backdown and apologize even if I know something is owed to me. This week was dedicated to confrontations and getting what is deserved of me.
June 19: Asked a teammate for extra tickets for the football game. As you may recall, I’m a member of the Trenton Freedom Football team. For each game, we only get two free tickets. That’s usually never enough and most people end up asking other team mates for me.For the first time ever, I took a cue from one of my teammates and asked everybody if I could have an extra ticket. After a few days, I finally got my free ticket and I don’t think I was a nuisance to anyone. Fear averted.
June 20: Asked for a free ebook in exchange for a review. A company tweeted a deal for an ebook sold at $19.99 about not paying student loans. Considering there were no reviews for it, I figured I would ask for a free copy in exchange for a free book. The writers didn’t budge, so they are without a review and I’m without an ebook. The plus side is no one criticized me for asking! Fear averted.
June 21: Wore my hair in a puff/afro. I love my natural hair, but I’m always worried that everyone else might not. My dance coach always asked me to wear my hair very curly for dance team performances, so I decided to wear my hair in it’s natural curly state in fear that it wouldn’t be well received. Much to my surprise, most people loved it and I got several compliments.
June 22: Emailed a business in regards to diversity. I browsed a dance clothing company and realized that 95% of people in the catalogue were blonde. There was no sign of anyone with any diversity. I decided to email an administrator at the company to confront them about the lack of diverse representation and suggested I be the first African American model. While they didn’t offer me a modeling job, they also didn’t scold me for being so bold. Fear averted!
June 23: Confronted a business about low wages. I came across a job post advertising content creation job consisting of writing health related blog posts of 500 words at $10 each. Rather than ignore the post, I risked scrutiny by emailing the person and letting them know that they are essentially paying way less than minimum wage once they figure in the time for research, writing and edits. Of course I didn’t get a response back.
June 24: Called Rider University Financial Aid. No body likes speaking with employees for the companies they own money to . I think that feeling of fear and hate is intensified when it comes to student loans. However, I had to make the phone call to inquire about a payment I was late on. Though it wasn’t a pleasant conversation, I didn’t get yelled at or belittled and I was able to make my payment. I think it’s safe to say, Fear averted!
June 25: Took the lead on planning a friends party. I never take charge. It’s so much responsibility and it stressful. But today I ignored the stress and fears of messing things up by agreed to lead the planning of my friend’s going away/girl’s night out get together. The planning has only just begun so I can’t report anything yet. But I’ll keep you posted.
