harassed by my sexual harassment classes...

J

JCBitB

Inspired
So it's that time of the year to complete my sexual harassment and discrimination education classes again and this year it's all hokey voice-over reenactments. Can't pass the class without the sound on, and I had to dive for the mute button because a client walks in while Jenny is moaning about Miguel's wonderful massage. Glad he didn't bring his kids in this time... can only guess what he thought I was watching... The upcoming conversation with HR will be entertaining.

Also, gotta love the mental images that accompany nifty terms like "sexually suggestive handshakes". Apparently they needed something more specific than a term like "inappropriate contact".

fun fact: it's unlawful age discrimination to choose a 42 year old over a 60 year old for an offer of employment based on assumptions that he will be more physically capable, but there's nothing wrong with deciding to offer employment to the 60 year old over the 42 year old based on the sole assumption that his age provides additional wisdom.

Where would I be without lawyers and politicians corralling me to the noble path with red tape? Sure glad they handle all that thinking stuff for me so I can worry about who's left on Dancing With the Stars and American Idol.

/rant
 
Mine was outrageously obnoxious this year...felt like it was worthy of filing a grievance and I'm practically a sailor.
 
That's why you should make it a habit of being an asshole to everyone: at least nobody can say you are biased.
 
warlockII said:
felt like it was worthy of filing a grievance
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Yeah, I feel like dropping the educator a note on racial sensitivity. The hispanics were named Louis and Miguel, the whites were named Mark and Jenny, there was a middle eastern man named Abdul, the black woman was named Latisha and was overweight with long funky colored nails who was constantly the one making complaints about jokes in the work place. Not one picture of her smiling or looking the least bit content in the whole course. The one black man in the series was named George, and I was totally surprised it wasn't Tyrone. Every inappropriate comment or joke was uttered by a sleazy white guy in suspenders.

I realize it isn't these people's jobs to come up with convincing characters, and they need to establish these folks identities ASAP to move the focus onto the situations in play, but I felt like they built off of insensitive stereotypes in order to educate me on stereotypes and insensitivity.

I suppose I was already slightly agitated by the subject matter and progressed through the course with a pretty jaded attitude tho. Hard to be in the best of mood with some of this stuff tho.
 
JCBitB said:
Yeah, I feel like dropping the educator a note on racial sensitivity. The hispanics were named Louis and Miguel, the whites were named Mark and Jenny, there was a middle eastern man named Abdul, the black woman was named Latisha and was overweight with long funky colored nails who was constantly the one making complaints about jokes in the work place. Not one picture of her smiling or looking the least bit content in the whole course. The one black man in the series was named George, and I was totally surprised it wasn't Tyrone. Every inappropriate comment or joke was uttered by a sleazy white guy in suspenders.

I realize it isn't these people's jobs to come up with convincing characters, and they need to establish these folks identities ASAP to move the focus onto the situations in play, but I felt like they built off of insensitive stereotypes in order to educate me on stereotypes and insensitivity.

I suppose I was already slightly agitated by the subject matter and progressed through the course with a pretty jaded attitude tho. Hard to be in the best of mood with some of this stuff tho.
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The people who make these training materials realize it's all BS. The only reason companies make you take the courses are to protect themselves from litigation. When you take the course and pass you are insulating the company from any liability. If you proceed to grab a secretary's ass after the company will fire you and any lawsuit from the secretary is guaranteed to be dismissed because the company "reasonably engaged in workplace education".

It's all because of lawyers and people trying to exploit a broken legal system. So the people making the training videos are laughing their asses off using stereotypes.

Be lucky you don't also have to take "safety training". Three straight days of that each year. Did you know you shouldn't operate a forklift without training? Or climb to the top of a rickety ladder with missing steps? If you watch these safety training videos you'd be convinced that everyone is a complete moron.
 
If Attorneys quoted their rates by the job, like a salaried contract amount, instead of hourly with a retainer, we'd have a lot fewer cases, and cases would be resolved a lot more quickly, because the attorney wouldn't be making more money by extending the case.

As for politics - term limitations for members of Congress, and no exemptions for Congress from the same laws they pass for America. For instance, they exempted themselves from Obama care, for some reason. Oh yeah, and the Congressional cafeteria has been bankrupt several times because the members do not pay their food bills, even though the cafeteria is not supposed to be free.
 
JCBitB said:
Yeah, I feel like dropping the educator a note on racial sensitivity. The hispanics were named Louis and Miguel, the whites were named Mark and Jenny, there was a middle eastern man named Abdul, the black woman was named Latisha and was overweight with long funky colored nails who was constantly the one making complaints about jokes in the work place. Not one picture of her smiling or looking the least bit content in the whole course. The one black man in the series was named George, and I was totally surprised it wasn't Tyrone. Every inappropriate comment or joke was uttered by a sleazy white guy in suspenders.

I realize it isn't these people's jobs to come up with convincing characters, and they need to establish these folks identities ASAP to move the focus onto the situations in play, but I felt like they built off of insensitive stereotypes in order to educate me on stereotypes and insensitivity.

I suppose I was already slightly agitated by the subject matter and progressed through the course with a pretty jaded attitude tho. Hard to be in the best of mood with some of this stuff tho.
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LOL - sounds like you need some additional "sensitivity training" !!!
(I'm kidding, but couldn't resist!)
 
If I wore a dress to work, I'd be fired by an HR lady wearing a pantsuit. Cliff nailed it. We are all living in lawsuit hell.

I am so thankful I am retiring soon.
 
FractalAudio said:
The people who make these training materials realize it's all BS.
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Absolutely, the whole scam is obvious. A giant winking game of CYA. I think part of what made me need to vent, is that I don't know where to start with what irritates me the most. You have your intelligence assaulted with mind numbing re-education designed by folks who don't care, so that everyone can play pretend.

And if you point out the absurdity without carefully gauging your audience it's likely you'll be accused of wanting to return to slavery and oppression. That's right folks, questioning your culture and society is nearing the same level of taboo as jokes that start with "So a jew and a blonde walk into a bar..."
 
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FractalAudio said:
The people who make these training materials realize it's all BS. The only reason companies make you take the courses are to protect themselves from litigation. When you take the course and pass you are insulating the company from any liability. If you proceed to grab a secretary's ass after the company will fire you and any lawsuit from the secretary is guaranteed to be dismissed because the company "reasonably engaged in workplace education".

It's all because of lawyers and people trying to exploit a broken legal system. So the people making the training videos are laughing their asses off using stereotypes.

Be lucky you don't also have to take "safety training". Three straight days of that each year. Did you know you shouldn't operate a forklift without training? Or climb to the top of a rickety ladder with missing steps? If you watch these safety training videos you'd be convinced that everyone is a complete moron.
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Thats right - it seems that only happens to Americans.

Greetings from a very thoughtful person from the old world... :)
 
BTW, I like those lawsuits. Please keep them coming. People here are laughing their asses off. Nobody around here could ever image somebody that stupid. I don't know why some Americans smoked their own brains in their hashish pipes... ;-)

We smoke weed, enjoy stupid lawsuits, and enjoy life as well as Cliffs epiphanies. Keep them coming - the lawsuits and even more the epiphanies!!!!
 
guitardoc said:
BTW, I like those lawsuits. Please keep them coming
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Ok, try this one on for size.

If I meet up with a client in a public place to discuss business and he makes disparaging remarks about a protected class in earshot of an offended individual, my company can be exposed to legal action if I don't begin a discussion with him about the inappropriateness of his remarks. Well THEN what? Am I required to convince him? A crafty person might even wonder if this is a viable tactic to impart some headaches on competitors...

There's lots of folks I work with that I don't intend to invite to my birthday party, and I don't feel like it's my job to make friends and be a social crusader while I'm on the clock. Seems like I'm meant to hold my worldview as the supreme example for others to be measured against and I'm encouraged to inspire folks to "get on my level". No thanks. In this hypothetical situation I would definitely redirect to conversation to the services I can provide, but if this person's parents couldn't instill some tact in the time they lived at home, why should I assume I can accomplish this in a 30 minute meeting? In my eye's they are a walking PSA of how not to behave and provide a higher value to society with their current worldview intact.

But after ALL this bitching I've done, I do have to take a moment to say I really needed those clips of The Office. I laughed so hard, and it was a welcome change. Art imitates life indeed.
 
FractalAudio said:
It's all because of lawyers and people trying to exploit a broken legal system.... If you watch these safety training videos you'd be convinced that everyone is a complete moron.
Click to expand...

Which might explain why we see ridiculous disclaimers like "Do not use lawn mower to shave your genitals."
 
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