The new families in my work neighborhood are a mixed bag. Some are wonderful and helpful, some are a royal pain. I have had parents sign up for something on a Saturday only to email me by Monday morning asking about their confirmation. I guess they assume that it is automated, but I don't actually work on the weekend. I also had one who told me no sugar, ever! The boy scouts run a free program for us because we still have low income, but the higher income families also get free access. So the more affluent families are used to having a say in things like this, and it is awkward to be in the place where they are demanding a service that comes with typically high fees, while benefiting from the lower income of half of the school.
I would say that managing cultures is a really big part of what I do in work and personally. I am surprised by where I feel comfortable honestly. I grew up in upper middle class white America, I can play by those rules. However I am really comfortable in a room full of meditators who are recovering addicts. I also talked at length with one of the other facilitators who is a financial guy, white and in his 20's. He feels super uncomfortable at work to have anyone know he is vegetarian or that he doesn't drink. In my work I am managing the more white/affluent families moving in, the traditional families that are either hispanic or white people who moved here many years ago and are feeling awkward about the neighborhood change, oh yeah and my own staff who is now out of jail and continues to learn how to interact in this environment with her own judgments about culture and people. Where do I belong? Somewhere in the middle of the circus!
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