I am firmly of the conviction that the DEI fad is primarily a ruse to justify discriminating against whites and men. It amazes me that white actors, in particular, haven’t had the courage to protest and even sue: I suppose that living in the brutally woke show business bubble is sufficiently intimidating that they will accept the illegal stealing of their paychecks and the crippling of their careers. Before Grace died, I had scheduled a day to watch broadcast and cable TV all day and night, tallying up the demographics of the commercials, taking particular note of mixed race couples. By the standards employed by courts and the EEOC to find actionable discrimination based on racial composition alone even in the absence of any evidence of intent, the current treatment of whites is discriminatory, and obviously it is intentional. But I had to cancel my survey, so I don’t have hard evidence other than that of my own two eyes.

I’m digressing: sorry. The point of all that is that I may be one of the last commentators you would expect to register some support for the over-hyped benefits of diversity in the workplace. Yet I think I just experienced an example of when diversity has tangible benefits.

I had to take Spuds in for his annual comprehensive physical, including shots, this morning. I use the Banfield Pet Hospital in Falls Church now, though the Alexandria one is much closer, so I lose about 45 minutes that I would otherwise have on my deathbed. We used our neighborhood Banfield’s for many years, but during the pandemic the staff turned over, and suddenly all of the non-veterinary staff were rude, curt and seemingly hostile black women who never smile, never say”Hello,” “please” or “thank-you,” bark out orders, and seldom looked in my eye except with an expression of barely restrained contempt, perhaps based on their assumption that I was a descendant of Simon Legree. Talk about microaggressions. Their phone manner was the same.

It eventually became so stressful dealing with these women—stressful because the little unethical devil on my shoulder kept whispering in my ear to tell these women, loudly and with people in the lobby, that they were unprofessional and offensive—that I decided to take my dog and my business elsewhere. It seemed clear to me that along with having poor training, lax oversight and management, the Alexandria Banfield’s staff had developed a culture of arrogant black privilege and hostility toward white customers, or perhaps the world in general; for all I know, the staff treated black customers with equal rudeness. Nonetheless, all of the women were black and behaved in the same hostile manner, and it seemed to be self-reinforcing. The vets in the back, meanwhile, probably have decided that it isn’t worth fighting with the whole support staff, so they just tend to the needs of their four-legged patients while the abuse of the two-legged customers continues.

The Falls Church Banfield is like a little U.N. Today, while dropping Spuds off, I counted two African American women, two white women, one of whom is handicapped, a Filipino, two Asians, an Indian or Pakistani, and some brand of Hispanic. They were all professional, friendly, and a pleasure to deal with, and there was no sense of any “group,” just a well-managed, well-trained staff. (Women outnumbered men out front, but as with the Alexandria branch, the veterinary staff was more or less gender-balanced.)

It occurred to me that a diverse staff can be an effective prophylactic against toxic organizational cultures taking over, as the “Screw Whitey” vibe has poisoned the my neighborhood Banfield’s.

Competent management, hiring, effective training, and a professional staff not dominated by weenies also helps.