The Life and Times of Blerds in the Workplace — Part III: Being an Open Blerd

[divider type=”space_thin”] This is the third in our three-part series The Life and Times of Blerds in the Workplace. You can back up to read Part I: What Kind of Blerd Are You at Work? and Part II: Customizing Your Desk. I prefer to stay Stealth Blerd at work. (See Part I of this series from Jordan for a definition and more information.) I’m already a Black woman in a tech field, I don’t need to give folks one more thing to stereotype about me. However, my first week at a new job, I was pulled out of stealth mode and put directly on Front Street. Let me tell you how it happened. I run into a white woman in the hall. She swears up and down that she knows me. She doesn’t look familiar. We part ways. A week later, she busts into my cube, and loudly exclaims: “I remember! You do Renaissance Faire!” My new coworkers, who live on scraps of gossip, the shitty free office coffee and the burning smell of fluorescent lights, jump up out of their chairs and circle round. Them: OOOOOH, Renaissance Faire? Do you know Sir Robert? He’s a friend of mine. Do you wear those corsets? How did you do your hair? Can I get a free turkey leg the next time I go? I was busted. I was a Renaissance Faire actor for years and of course, being one of only 5 Black people in the cast, I’d been recognized. There was no hope in continuing in Stealth Mode after that. I answered their questions patiently Me: Yes, I did faire. No, I don’t know your friend Robert. No, I don’t wear a corset, that’s Victorian not E…