Teach your students that the boss is not your homeboy.

In this module, your students will learn that behaviors acceptable in the neighborhood often are not tolerated in the work environment. This one-hour drama is about Juan, who enters the work world expecting it to reflect his streetwise culture. Juan has none of the required job skills. Juan’s specific delusion of grandeur centers on his perception of himself as “macho.” Juan believes that he is superior in every way to those around him. His perception, although a common one, is also complex, carrying strains of easily offended pride, a quick temper, a refusal to take advice or orders from anyone and a tendency to view everyday interactions as opportunities to challenge authority and assert his own.

Juan’s misconceptions include thinking his boss and co-workers will forgive his lack of job skills and:

• Overlook his emotional outbursts
• Accept his resistance to following orders
• Allow him to bend the rules
• Overlook his use of street language and dress
• Tolerate his defiance of authority
• Recognize his superiority

Your students will see how Juan’s defiant behavior wears his parents down to resignation. When he goes to find his first job, however, he finds that defiant behavior is not indulged, and to keep his job, Juan is forced to challenge his perceptions about personal conduct in the workplace. Jaun discovers that any respect given to him will be based on work performance and the ability to comply with company standards. In the final episode, your students will see Jaun on the job, tempted from time to time to slip into his old habits but ultimately conforming to the realities of the world of work.