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I'm surprised they didn't tell you about hostile working environment sexual harassment at your new hire orientation. Everyone at my company has to take a yearly online training.
Believe me, so am I. There was no such training at this company, but I did have such training with past employers. I guess it was left up to us to take the time to read the employee manual, including the section on harassment, sexual or otherwise.
All i talk about anymore at work is my kid. Maybe sometimes I'll talk about travel.
No hobbies, politics, personal life, etc. Even sports can get too personal if you like a team someone else hates.. I guess it's just part of the divided culture we live in today.
That sounds like a plan, but the nature of office work demands that you interact with co-workers, even superficially. When the day comes that one can be fired for backing a sports team, I'm checking out of the world and living under a bridge.
I'm surprised they didn't tell you about hostile working environment sexual harassment at your new hire orientation. Everyone at my company has to take a yearly online training.
Yes, we take it yearly as well. This is not about being "politically correct" but about not harassing people in the workplace or creating a hostile work environment. We just had another thread on here where a manager apparently thought strip club outings with his male coworkers were a-ok and plenty on this board agreed it was no problem even though the females subordinates felt uncomfortable and excluded. Clearly a lot of people are still in workplaces where this training is not given and "men should be men" even if it makes women feel uncomfortable in the workplace.
for every interaction you had with your female co-workers at this job (regardless of the label), would you do each and every one of them with your wife standing right next to you (or listening on the phone, or reading your emails)?
So I'm hired by what appears to be a dream company. They like my work. I tend to talk to folks in offices to relationship build so I can easily get what I need from them for the documents I create.
Did I look at someone too long? Did I make an offhand comment I thought was harmless? Or did someone overhear me say something and go to HR? I'll never know.
I post this as a cautionary tale. I am chatty, bordering on flirty with women who I get to know and think I can read real well. That ends here for me. Watch who you talk to or what you say in an office setting. And by all means, don't look at someone of the opposite sex for more than a split second.
Since you mentioned it twice, I'm thinking you may have an idea that you look at women too long? Maybe inadvertently at their body parts? Maybe as they're walking away, just at their butt...
Also all the the things you were wondering if you did or got caught doing, are inappropriate. You can't tell dirty jokes at work in mixed company and assume no one will get offended, this would have all been gone ever in your mandatory sexual harassment training that certain states enforce on employers.
Normally the person offended complains, the offender gets a warning, they stop-- or do it again and get fired. There has to be a paper trail and documentation so as to have a reason not to pay UI. I've never heard of one being let go for harassment with no warning, no wonder you were surprised...
...but then again you've been employed for decades and didn't know comments, leering, unwanted touch, were all unacceptable in the workplace? That's a firing waiting to happen, and also hard to believe.
As with all of these types of stories, we only know the original poster's side of the story.
My guess is that, if this story is indeed true, that the OP knows a lot more damning things than he is willing to reveal here (to make himself look better?).
I'm willing to bet he has said and done things that were very unbecoming in any modern workplace, things that are a lot worse than he would lead you to believe.
I'm also willing to bet that there were other factors besides this sexual harassment allegation that led to him being let go at only a few months at this job (work performance, or lack thereof). At 57 years of age, there isn't much wiggle room for us older workers these days due to age discrimination. Older workers especially need to mind their P's and Q's and show that they have energy and drive to get things done, and not spend time chit chatting or giving off bad first impressions.
My guess is that, if this story is indeed true, that the OP knows a lot more damning things than he is willing to reveal here (to make himself look better?).
I'm willing to bet he has said and done things that were very unbecoming in any modern workplace, things that are a lot worse than he would lead you to believe.
Agreed. I'm picturing the guy at work who makes rude comments about others sexual preferences, disabilities, race, etc, then gets all defensive when the women he "stands too close to" or "looks at for too long" or "relationship builds with" (in a flirty way) give him the impression he's bothering them. He may have been going around for years replying with such comments as "oh lighten up, will ya?!"
There is no more "lightening up" when it comes to making people trying to do their jobs uncomfortable, there is a "shut up, act right, or there's the door."
ETA: Which makes some us very pleased, as we have been putting up with this crap for decades ourselves
Believe me, so am I. There was no such training at this company, but I did have such training with past employers. I guess it was left up to us to take the time to read the employee manual, including the section on harassment, sexual or otherwise.
who would have thought employees are responsible for reading their manuals?
i'd just add that it's not how YOU perceive your conversations it's how the receiver perceives them. you may think your remarks were harmless, bordering on "flirty", the woman to whom the conversation was directed heard something different.
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