My thoughts distastefully wander back to the days when I began working for a dispensary. Was I aware I was being bait & switched? Complicated answer, what with my interview having been for an Assistant Manager position, and ultimately ‘landing’ the Intake job. For those not familiar with the industry, Intake is a job anyone able bodied can do. If you can scan & type, congratulations, you fucking qualify. A lot collectives even just have a surly looking security guard doing the job. In my second interview, I was offered the lowest position. Just as my heart fell, my genius unheard, one of my bosses lets me know the spot is ‘temporary’, that they ‘knew how over qualified’ I was for the position and that when there was an opening, I would be up for renegotiation. I knew accepting less than your worth can be dangerous, but taking risks is supposed to be what getting into a new industry is about. When you’re black, its never easy. Even for a black magician like myself. As the only cocoa person at my job, (the other black hire didn’t pass background, but of course was offered the same position, despite a ton of experience.) I made a point of being knowledgeable, reliable & an all around great employee. Just an intake clerk, but so much more. Instead of considering my effort a step towards conditioning me for the positions I am better suited for, I was considered ‘Super Intake Girl’. Cue backhanded ‘complements’. Forgive them, they have not a clue. I actually had one well meaning co-worker say, “Well, you are really good at the paperwork.” After I rolled my eyes in the back of my head until it came off; I re-attached my beautiful skull, and calmly explained how, as a 4.0 college graduate, that scanning papers all day is a waste of my talent. He was sadly nonplussed. Out of my few months here, only one day have I done something, anything else, besides greet people. One. It was cashiering, another job I am woefully overqualified for. End of the night, the count was $20 short, and I’ve never been behind the counter again. The next day, I went to grab water from the break room the day after and could overhear from the managers office, “…I don’t really want…behind the counter if that’s going to happen…” I didn’t have to figure out who they could’ve been talking about. And ever since all of the managers have been ever so careful to tip-toe around me, no mention of change in sight. My career here at this collective is set in stone because I never really had a chance. If they actually thought I would be dumb enough to steal $20, I’d be fired. It doesn’t matter that I spend the most money on weed there out of all of the employees, that I am the most knowledgeable female that doesn’t have a boyfriend that grows, that I have great people skills, or even that I am deeply passionate about the industry. When people have gotten fired or left, those spots went to friends. People that they could ‘trust’, I kept hearing that phrase, ‘they just wanted to hire people that they TRUSTED.’ It didn’t matter that they weren’t knowledgeable, or that they rubbed other employees the wrong way with their negligence, these new hires were TRUSTWORTHY. Nothing is more grating than watching a job go to someone who doesn’t deserve it & they proceed to fuck it up. But, for now, I’ll just be up here at the front, all overqualified and untrustworthy.