Firings - Political correctness gone too far?

[MMMMMM]

A good friend of mine--a very nice, non-aggressive sort of individual--once asked an acquaintance at work if she would like to go out for dinner sometime. She said no thanks, and that was the end of that--or so my friend thought. That afternoon my friend got called down by his boss because the girl had complained of sexual harassment, and he got lectured and warned not to speak with her again.

I can see your point that firms may need to protect themselves. I also think the PC climate in this country is quite ridiculous.

[John Ho]

That is the most ridiculous overgeneralization I've ever heard. You can't (in your vast knowledge) accept the fact that young men working 50-70 hours a week for 6-7 years with only 2 weeks vacation a year (and little vacation time around the holiday season) could do something like this and still be highly productive, intelligent people? It's a very stressful environment and they were just unwinding. It was stupid and I understand why the company terminated them but this is a result of a litigious society gone mad.

Ridiculous.

[John Ho]

I agree. The company has all the liability if they don't terminate their employment. Basically, any employee who received one of those emails could hold that over the company's head forever with the threat of a lawsuit.

Bad judgement on their part. It's sad, though, that we live in a world where you can't give a warning before turning someone's life upside down. They LIVED for that firm. I did not but while I was there it was an exciting time. We shorted the market during most of the bear and did great for our clients.

[John Ho]

Unfortunately, there are some guys who just can't take no for an answer. They ruin it for the vast majority of guys who might want to take a girl they work with out.

[MMMMMM]

I really think it's none of the corporation's business unless one party doesn't take "no" for an answer.

[adios]

I understand your point. It's best advised IMO to tread very lightly in a work environment.

[Glenn]

I don't know about this particular situation, but in general I am sick of all these sensitive nancy-boy wussies. I mean seriously, maybe what the guys did was stupid, but who would you rather have investing your money, some mean guy or some wuss who gets offended by a joke enough that he gets other people fired? How can someone handle the ups and downs of the real world if he can't take someone making fun of him. If someone's like "hey pretty boy" and he starts crying what happens when he loses $1000000 how does he not go on tilt? People need to get in more fights when they're young it's as simple as that [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img].

[John Cole]

Productive? Perhaps. Intelligent? Certainly not in my estimation. Quite frankly, as a teenager I had better judgment about matters such as these. (And, don't get me wrong: my judgment and taste in other matters may have been very poor.) I would not have considered this a joke or funny at 17. I would guess these productive, valuable assests have learned their lesson, and it's got nothing to do with polical correctness. Next time they decide to engage in a "joke" at someone else's expense, they may be a bit more circumspect. For them, their firing is a blessing, perhaps, and, in their next job, they can demonstrate, once again, their productivity and intelligence. I hope they can also show off their wisdom this time.

John

P.S. Next time they might decide to play basketball when they feel the urge to do a "little unwinding."

[John Ho]

You don't think what they did was funny? I thought it was hilarious but stupid to put themselves in that position.

But it's hard to deny it was funny. 99% of the people who got and received those messages thought it was funny when they found out about it. Just takes 1% to get fired though.

[MMMMMM]

If someone sent me that message by email I would think it funny.

If someone used my email account to send such a message to a co-worker I would be pissed--not at the message, but at the unauthorized use of my email account--but I could still probably be persuaded that it was funny provided the perps did it in a spirit of practical joking rather than with true malicious intent.

At one of our casinos in CT a rather rough-edged female player called one of the dealers a faggot (I assume after receiving a bad beat), and it could be heard 1 1/2 tables away. Maybe it's immature of me, but I thought it was funny--and would have thought so had it been directed at me instead. Out-of-place and absurd = funny in my view, generally speaking.

Persistent harassment is of course a very different matter.