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LOL I haven't read the whole thread but I'll address the OP's original question:
It doesn't matter whether you're an old fuddy duddy or not. The repairman's conversation was inappropriate. However, it wasn't so inappropriate that I'd report him.
What I would do instead is go out to a late lunch with a girlfriend, have a glass of wine, and the two of you laugh about this story. Be sure to include many details! Then branch off from there - I'm sure that like most of us, you have plenty of stories about awkward conversations with awkward people!
This guy - believe me, he probably has had a pretty rough time living with himself and his gooberishness over the years. He'll have to live with the ramifications of his inappropriate conversations without you ever reporting him, don't worry about that.
Yep have to agree with the fuddy duddy vote. My friend's daughter came up to me when she was about 5 or so and told me that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. I told her that she was absolutely right. Off she went to play without giving it a second thought. Children are gender specific. Not talking about it seems like a missed opportunity for a learning experience. What if your child comes up to you and asks what is that thing on that dog? What are you going to tell them?
What a kid says and what a professional contractor says aren't always necessarily appropriate to the social setting.
Reminds me of people who protest "I'm just being HONEST!" Well, should we really just say everything and anything because it's true? Come on.
The glaring question is, why is it only the repairmen or contractors, the guys who actually come into your home, who don't seem to have a filter? Everyone else manages to avoid blurting out whatever's on their mind. You don't hear executives or supervisors or co-workers talking in the workplace about the sex ed they gave their children at home. You don't hear teachers talking about that, in the lunchroom. For that matter, this issue doesn't arise with gardeners, or painters, or others working around the exterior of the home.
Are we supposed to infer that the blue-collar guys are just kind of dumb and clueless, and don't know any better? If so, why don't ALL of them do it? It's only a small percentage that does this, and IME only the ones who work inside the home, when women are home alone. Those same guys probably wouldn't bring up such topics in cases where it's a man at home, working remotely.
The glaring question is, why is it only the repairmen or contractors, the guys who actually come into your home, who don't seem to have a filter? Everyone else manages to avoid blurting out whatever's on their mind. You don't hear executives or supervisors or co-workers talking in the workplace about the sex ed they gave their children at home. You don't hear teachers talking about that, in the lunchroom. Are we supposed to infer that the blue-collar guys are just kind of dumb and clueless, and don't know any better? If so, why don't ALL of them do it? It's only a small percentage that does this.
Oh I don't know - I've heard some really inappropriate comments from men (and women) in all walks of life and with every sort of educational level (or lack thereof).
Oh I don't know - I've heard some really inappropriate comments from men (and women) in all walks of life and with every sort of educational level (or lack thereof).
Oh yeah -not on a regular basis but often enough to surprise me!
People around here tend to be polite. But just the other day, we were having some work done by a contractor and he happened to be Hispanic which is certainly fine by me - I do live in Texas after all so if that bothers me I guess I better move. Anyway, we were talking about good customer service (he'd had to come out after the guy before him installed something wrong) and he said, just straight up to my face, "Yep, I had a white lady say such and such to me the other day - my worst customers are white ladies." I'm pretty obviously a white lady, and I was definitely not being a "difficult customer" - in fact, my husband and I were being very cordial and conversational about him and not even complaining about the service we'd had the previous day, even though it was done wrong (we just wanted working cable - since we're paying for it).
What? OK, maybe it's true, maybe not, I don't know, but I didn't think it was particularly appropriate for him to say. I didn't file a complaint because I figured that sort of thing will catch up with him, if it hasn't already.
But when I was in staffing, I also had upper level executives say or strongly imply racist or sexist (or otherwise illegal discriminatory) preferences to me - I knew I was going to be in for a doozy whenever they prefaced a conversation with "OFF THE RECORD..." Ugh.
Yep have to agree with the fuddy duddy vote. My friend's daughter came up to me when she was about 5 or so and told me that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. I told her that she was absolutely right. Off she went to play without giving it a second thought. Children are gender specific. Not talking about it seems like a missed opportunity for a learning experience. What if your child comes up to you and asks what is that thing on that dog? What are you going to tell them?
what? what does this have to do with the incident with the repairman?
It would depend on how he said it, that is his tone, his seriousness, his suggestiveness, etc. If he laughed when he said it then no big deal but if he had a bulge in his pants then I would think differently.
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