07/18/2025
Hey y’all
You ever get a call
from a number you don’t recognize?
Middle of the workday.
I’m dialed in. Focused.
But I step out. I return the call.
Because I’m a professional.
And professionals respond—
even when the unknown number feels like a trap.
What I got wasn’t a call.
It was chaos.
A woman picks up—
scattered, unsure, like the phone started ringing
before she figured out what she was doing with her life.
No greeting.
No name.
Just me… trying to decode a stranger in real time.
It was like trying to get blood from a bureaucratic stone.
Eventually—after enough awkward silence
to age a bottle of wine—
she drops it:
Program Chair.
Like that title is supposed to clarify everything
when she still hasn’t told me what planet she’s calling from.
Her name?
Some aristocratic, hyphenated mash-up that didn’t survive caller ID.
I try to address her—
“Ms. [First Half]”—
and BOOM. She corrects me, mid-sentence,
then pivots to blame her phone carrier for… something.
I honestly lost track.
We were off the rails
before the conversation ever began.
Then—get this—
she gets so tangled in her own weird, nervy energy,
she says:
“I’ll have to call you back.”
Sure.
Go ahead.
But between you and me?
I don’t expect that call.
Because I upset her apple cart.
I didn’t play the part.
I didn’t bow at the altar of ambiguity.
You see, it’s not about her.
It’s about what she represents.
How a system hands out titles
faster than it teaches people how to use them.
How a woman can be placed in a position of influence—
and still call a man
with the clarity of a malfunctioning GPS.
Let’s be real:
You can slap “Chair” on your email signature,
but if you can’t say your name,
state your purpose,
and hold a basic phone call
without spiraling into a signal-strength monologue?
Then maybe you’re not leading anything.
We talk a lot about inclusion.
Empowerment. Equity. Representation.
And hell yes, we should.
But if we don’t pair that with actual competence—
we’re just changing the names on the office doors
while the dysfunction stays parked at the desk.
This isn’t about gender.
It’s about basic respect.
It’s about not wasting people’s time
under the guise of authority.
You called me.
You came unprepared.
You folded.
And now you won’t call back.
Because I didn’t make it easy for you.
Because I expected clarity.
Say your name.
Say your purpose.
Or get off the line.
Because the revolution?
It won’t be hyphenated.
And it sure as hell won’t be flustered.
This has happene
