Xander ,'Get It Done'
Spike's Bitches 40: Buckle Up, Kids! Daddy's Puttin' the Hammer Down.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Someone brought in a homemade chocolate peanut butter cake today. She put it in the staff room and sent out an email that said, "help yourself!"
We do that, too. (We eat a LOT around here.) But in addition to the no-strings-attached free food, we also have the forced-conviviality events 3 times a month.
Ptui.
Scola, it took you WAY longer than I expected!
Doesn't anyone read Miss Manners anymore?
"Well, she's just a killjoy poopy-head! It builds morale! It makes the company not such a dull place to come to every day!"
At my company, there is a mailing group just for the women of the company, where they all go out to lunch on the occasional Friday--that is, the one's who work the office-type jobs, not the tech support jobs where we actually have to be at our desks doing our jobs, not out Lunching With The Girls. The last email was "amusing", there was even a "Wow, this has gotten so big, with some many gals working here now!"
It's a software company, so the only women working here were in HR and reception and a couple in Sales, but now there's all these women showing up in Tech Support and Customer Service and all that--gosh! Welcome to Happy Valley, Utah, set your calendars back fifty years.
We do low-key office birthday parties. A few baked goods, a card, maybe some flowers for the women. And we spend half an hour chatting about non-work stuff. It isn't terribly painful.
Happy Valley? Seriously? Ok, there is a place I belong less than I belong here.
Sorry, I'm busy at work today. Also, out of practice.
"Well, she's just a killjoy poopy-head! It builds morale! It makes the company not such a dull place to come to every day!"
This is -- almost verbatim -- the excuse my co-workers give for why they POUND ON THEIR DESKS several times a day. And by "pound on their desks," try and call to mind the rhythm that starts "We Will Rock You." That's what they do, on their desks -- METAL DESKS -- several times a day.
Oh yes. And they've been asked to stop. It only makes them do it more. Because the only person with any authority who sits near them (meaning, she's the only person with authority who *witnesses* the pounding) thinks it's "funny."
My cranky!boss and I have a long document that we're ready to hand off to someone above Funny!Authority!Woman, about how pounding on desks is disruptive and inappropriate office behavior and the fact that they've been asked to not do it yet persist is utterly rude.
We just know that when we finally do go above her head, we're going to ignite a shitstorm of massive proportions, so we keep delaying.
Why a shitstorm? Well, imagine the mindset of people who think it's "funny" to POUND ON THEIR DESKS several times a day in a normal office environment. If they're forced by the BIG MEANIES IN EDITORIAL to stop their fun, they're going to be PISSED.
Every day is a carnival here.
if it's disruptive, they've been asked to stop, yet they persist- they are creating a hostile work environment and your company could be sued for tolerating it. Is the HR manager aware of the issue?
also: sheesh!
"Happy Valley" is 90% tongue-in-cheek, but go anywhere in the state and everyone knows Happy Valley is Utah Valley, where Provo, Utah, home of Brigham Young University, is. People think Salt Lake City is the heart of the Mormon world, but it's not. Salt Lake is just the brain, the heart and soul is here in the valley where I live. LDS folk are actually a minority in Salt Lake City, there's a thriving gay/lesbian community, brewpubs are very successful, and many of my neighbors believe that only the church office building and the temple preserve the entire city from becoming Sodom and Gomorrah.
Maybe it's only 80% tongue-in-cheek. I know that a lot of my neighbors think that if they only believe hard enough, that life will be perfect, their children will be perfect, their marriages will be perfect, and those icky people who think differently than they do will all go away.
I'd probably be happier elsewhere, but my very presence is like a dot of penicllin in a virus culture, creating a small but spreading clear area where other things can grow.