My White Boss Didn’t Believe I Was Sick Because I Wasn’t Pale

I didn’t know how to tell her that Black people don’t change color

Photo by Jeffery Erhunse on Unsplash

I was running a 103-degree Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius) fever and feeling terrible. I had hesitated about coming into the office that day, but there were lots to do so I made the ill-advised decision to go in. It was barely 10 am and my head was pounding with a migraine. My body shook from chills and a cold sweat d…