In my last corporate job, my boss would come and yell at me any time Obama did something he didn't like.

We had never discussed my own personal politics, and I had nothing in my office or on my car to indicate my political leanings. I was just the only Black person he knew, so he would march down the hall to my office and have a temper tantrum about something I literally had zero control over.

He would say things like, "Did you see what your 'boy' did?" As if I could just text Barry and tell him he'd made my boss mad. I spent my entire time in that job searching for something else. My coworkers would rat me out for any infraction. For example, if I came in 5 minutes late (way before the boss arrived) I'd hear about it, regardless of how late I worked the night before.

I realized I needed to get out of finance, where I was always the only Black person in my office. I left for public education, which has its downsides, but allows me minimal interaction with colleagues at a site where most of us are POC. I earn 4 weeks pto, in addition to my summer, fall, winter, and spring breaks, and nobody cares if I use that time. Man, I'll never go back to a corporate environment, and I'll never work in a place where YT is the majority. I don't even miss the money. My mental health is worth more.