When an office supervisor hung and American flag in the office, and one of her office-mates filed a complaint (yes, really), upper management took the flag down. They later reversed themselves and let her put the flag back up.
What should the manager's response have been?
"Grow a thicker skin."
There, problem solved.
If someone doesn't like something that's completely normal and not the least bit offensive, then it's their problem, not the flag-owner's problem.
Suppose someone had said they don't like the color blue (or insert your own color here). Then when a colleague comes to work wearing a blue shirt and pants, the whiner insists that that color "offends him" and demands the the worker never wear blue again in the office.
The reply would be obvious: There's nothing offensive about the color, and you're the one with the problem, not the guy wearing blue. Quit acting like an idiot.
Putting an American flag in an office, is just as inoffensive as wearing a blue shirt and pants, regardless of what some whiner says. Why isn't the reply the same?
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U.S. Flag Found on Floor After Emigrant Complains | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
U.S. Flag Found on Floor After Emigrant Complains
Employee invited to rehang flag
By FRANK HEINZ
Updated 11:15 AM CDT, Wed, May 27, 2009
An Arlington woman has now been invited to rehang her U.S. flag after first being told to remove it following a coworker's complaint.
Debbie McLucas, a hospital supervisor at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, hung a 3x5-foot U.S. flag in the office she shares with three other supervisors just before Memorial Day.
The timely display of U.S. patriotism was not welcomed by one of McLucas' office mates and she was told it had to come down, CBS 11 reported.
The coworker, who emigrated to America from Africa 14 years ago, was apparently so bothered by the timely display that a complaint was filed with upper management. When McLucas, whose daughter is serving in Iraq as a combat medic, was told of the "infraction," she was stunned.
McLucas said her supervisor removed the flag for her and placed it on the floor -- an egregious breach of flag etiquette, aside from being an offensive gesture to most Americans. McLucas was then told that the flag flying outside of the building would have to satisfy her patriotic needs.
Susan Moss, vice president with Kindred Healthcare, said in a statement Wednesday that the issue was with the size of the flag and not what it symbolized.
"We have invited the employee to put the flag back up. We share their love of country and we appreciate the service of their family members as well as all members of the armed forces," Moss said. "This was an isolated incident between two employees that we are working to resolve amicably."
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