Boxed

It began when Tom had a ‘run in’ with a ‘Southern-Born’ program director, who wanted a box for listeners to place their names in for an on-air give away that evening. Tom politely explained that it couldn’t be done because a corporate rule demanding a two week period of on-air announcements prior to any giveaway.

“Sorry, but those are the rules,” Tom said as Southern-Born stomped off.

Minutes later Southern-Born returned, this time with a box of his own. With Tom seated, back to the doorway, Southern-Born bounced it off Tom’s head, demanding the box be ready in half-an-hour.

Tom stood up, “I’m not your nigger and I won’t be treated as such! The answer is still NO!”

That was Friday night, after everyone but himself, Southern-Born and a couple of disc jocks had gone home for the weekend. On Monday, Tom was called into the Station Managers office and told that ‘name calling wouldn’t be tolerated.”

“Who’d I call a name?” Tom asked.

“You used the n-word on ‘Southern-Born’ man,” the manager stated.

“No, I didn’t,” Tom corrected him, “I used it on myself, after he hit me in the head with a box.”

And though he successfully pled that he hadn’t called Southern-born the n-word, he was still written up and threatened with firing. Southern-Born however, was never disciplined for the assault or trying to circumvent corporation rules.