I believe this should be posted, so that other cultures will learn from this experience. I have learned moving "higher up" in the medical field that ignorance is bliss.  I am really running into a lot of this with caucasion and hispanic type clientele (patients and staff).  And as long as they "stay around their own kind", they don't feel it is necessary to learn about other cultures..

 

I work as an intern in the field of ultrasound.  Ultrasound folks are the "prima donnas" of radiology..it's a highly skilled field. My rotation was at a hospital here in San Jose, for 6 weeks.

 

One  caucasion sonographer was well known for "working alone"..he's great in the field, but has a tendency to get "fixated" on things.  First he complained about my mistakes (i AM a student), then my muscularity - which i kept hidden under my lab jacket, then my smell.

 

He told me i wore a strong perfume, then complained to the superivsor and other staff - who didn't smell anything. i don't wear perfume.   Then he complained that it was my body wash, we found this was not true, then he said it was my lab jacket..No one smelled anything.

 

after a week of complaining about my "smell", he began waving his arms in the air whenever i came around him and yelled "Whew, my gawd!" then he began doing it around all of the staff members. and complaining that i should go home and use unscented soap..i did...No one else would say anything to him about it, they just blew him off. One staff member says, "Sometimes she eats peppermint candy, but it's not worth getting all bent out of shape over, i don't smell anything".

 

Then i figured it out..He did his arm-waving thing and yelling - right in front of the supervisor and several other staff members.  I turned and looked at him and called him on it. "I found out what the source of your problem is.  Those of us of different cultures who have a different grade of hair, need to moisturize it, usually, every day.  Plus, i use rosemary/peppermint to grow  my sides after they were burnt off from using too much heat. that's probably what you're smelling" I pulled back my hair to show the very short 1/2 bald sides compared to the rest of my shoulde length hair. Every one looked at him.

 

He just said "Well, do they make it unscented?" I looked at him and said "No, it's very natural, no one is having a problem, only you. This country IS a melting pot." and walked off.

 

He later realized he screwed up..and never even bothered to apologize about his actions.  But he took on the job of teaching me for the last day of my rotation. (whoop dee doo).  i kept my professional distance. and was mildly amused, that he worked very closely, sat close, but he never once flinched, or moved away as exaggeratedly as he had done when he was still fixated on my "smell."

 

Moderators please do not delete this message.

 

I'm sorry about this happening and I'm sure it won't be the last time it happens to anyone of us.

 

P.S. I had to cut down on my Rosemary because my mother said the smell of it made her sick.

 

What bothered me, was i had to  confront the issue in front of everyone who just seemed to accept the idea that he was unprofessional..and it was okay..just ignoring him seemed to make matters worse..

 

i'm just grateful, my sides were growing in when i DID pull my hair back...it would have been a sin and a shame to see i was using my rosemary, peppermint oil, for no good reason...the stuff works!!

 

Rosemary is a nice scent..hopefully, cutting down on the oil, won't do any harm to your hair growth?

 

 

 

By the way I'm about to delete this whole thread!!!!

 

j/k

 

**sheesh**

 

I've found out how asians use  this thing called Ting Ting..it was an eye opener..looks like a metal spider..i bought one..and i think it works..

 

so before you delete, i'm just re-iterating the reason why the post was made..i, too, was guilty of embarrassing myself regarding cultural practices.. when i was younger...

 

and i hope you've embarrassed yourself for usurping your power!! that was mean, and unecessary...you're a mean person!!

 

 

I really like that scent (rosemary)..and believe me...when that co-worker was "acting out"..I could have taken a few whiffs of it at the time..i found out later he's a redneck from Oklahoma...my mother is from Oklahoma, but she's never been that ill-mannered, nor raised her children that way..

 

The TING TING is a head massager that's about the size of your head. it looks like a spider.  it is made of copper, and at the end of each skinny "leg" is a ball..you spread the "legs" of the TingTing out just enough to surround your head, and it massages/stimulates your scalp..literally leaves it tingling..some folks use it for headaches, migraines, and for hair growth.  it comes in two versions..one you  can manually manipulate it, or they have one where it's motorized..you just set it on your head...it has 4 different speeds..you push the button, and it massages/vibrates the crown down to the temple.

 

At first, i thought it was a "rip off"...but when i come home from work, put the ting ting on..push the button, and let it do it's thing thing..i am glad i bought it..the  manual one is cheap..Look them up on Amazon.com..