I'm from the old school of thought, that "don't ask don't tell" theory that means "keep your m-f-ing mouth shut".  When I was a young girl, we'd see things going on all the time, this was the 1950s and 1960s I'm talking about.  Cops would beat people up for no reason, just because of the racial climate.  It was a really bad time in our country and I didn't just see it on television, I witnessed it.  So, I was raised to keep mum at all times, especially when talking to the boys in blue.  Because the cops, not the drug dealers or the hustlers, were who we were most afraid of.

And that transferred into a distrust of any authority figure, whether it was a police officer or a supervisor or a preacher.  If you were "in charge" of something, baby, Uncle Kathy ain't have but two words for you "Hello" and "Good bye".  And on pay day Fridays, if you were the boss, I'd add a third word "Thank you". 

So I could identify with this one brother from Baltimore who e-mailed me looking for some help:

Uncle K:

I just need your advice on what I should do, because I'm bashing my head against the wall here. I'm the team lead for my division and there are three girls who work in my department.  These young ladies and I all share the same responsibility, I'm not their supervisor or anything, but I do have to report to my boss about what they are doing and how they are performing.  I've worked with these ladies for several years now, but lately, their work performance is at an all time low.  They leave to get their hair done when the boss is out, they take long lunch breaks, when they are at their desk, they're on the phone.  And I don't mind as long as they get the work done, but now, the work is suffering and I'm pulling double duty to cover their shortcomings.  I want to inform management, but I don't want to be labeled a snitch.  I've gone to them and told them about my concerns, but they brushed me off.  I've been documenting everything and I'm ready to go to my boss, but I know that times are hard and jobs aren't as easy to come by as they used to be. 

Thanks for your help. 

K. from Baltimore, MD

I would cuss them heffas out if I were you, but that's just Uncle Kathy being mad.  I can't believe these ungrateful heffas. You went to them and told them they were wrong, first off, they knew they were wrong when they left work to get their weave done.  That's some $hit they are supposed to do on weekends or when they get off from work, not while they are on the clock and surely not while the supervisor is out. But you know what they say, when the boss is away, the workers will play...

You done already went to them baby, and tried to be nice about it.  Now usually, I keep things to myself. I ain't never went to talk to no supervisor about nothing at no time in my life.  And what I'm about to tell you to do I've never done and this goes totally against everything I believe in.  But in your case, I need to make an exception because if you don't put a stop to this, you are going to be working 12 hour shifts just to try and cover for the work that they ain't doing.

Uncle Kathy can tell you're torn about this, cause otherwise you wouldn't have reached out to me. And I can tell you is also all about your business because you have been "documenting" what they've been doing. 

So, get your documents, your paper trail and your clip board. Head into your boss' office and lay it down.  You gave these ungrateful heffas a chance to change and it ain't get nothing but worse.  You have to nip this in the bud!

Now, if these women are as ghetto as I am, they already know it's coming and they've practiced cussing you out about 400 times already.  They might try something real niggerish like putting your tires on flat or laxatives in your coffee. So be prepared for some backlash or a broken jaw bone.  Be on the look out for anything these heffas might try to throw at you.  Don't be surprised if they fight dirty.