When I worked at Hoerner-Waldorf, our work conditions were pretty loose. Everyone was salaried, and our work conditions were similar, in a lot of ways, to that of a family business. A part of it was the times perhaps, or maybe the fact that Hoerner-Waldorf wasn't as large of a company as Champion International. We would joke around about a lot of things. I don't think anyone went out of their way to try to offend someone, but neither did we have to be particularly careful about it because people weren't so easily offended. When Champion took over the operations of Hoerner Waldorf, after a proxy fight, everything changed. We brought the union in so we made a lot more money and got more time off of work, but the work itself wasn't much fun anymore. When Champion closed its bag plants and I went to Duro, conditions were even worse. As a supervisor, I found it easier not to have any kind of personal relationship (and I'm not talking about sexual) with anyone else who worked there. Work was work, and my life was elsewhere. I didn't like it. When I went to work with the City of Los Fresnos, a city the size of a small town, things were more informal, particularly among the EMS and fire department. As an EMS instructor, I came to know most of the people who worked in EMS and quite a few of those in fire and police services, since most of them became either a student of a coworker at one point or another. Teaching through Texas Southmost College, I mostly taught off-campus courses so I wasn't a part of any of the growing political correctness that may have, even then, been finding its way into the educational system. Catalina Ambulance was a great place to work, and most everyone who worked there still looks back on Catalina as being among their best experiences in EMS. At Texas State Technical College, since I taught on-campus courses, I was careful about what I said or did as far as my students were concerned but I only had a couple of full-time instructors under me, as well as quite a few part-time instructors, so we mostly had a good time of it. When I bought into the ownership of ACT, a private ambulance company, that was also a good experience, for the most part. There were employee problems from time to time, but most of us were on pretty good terms. As a supervisor, director, program chairman, or as a part owner of the company, I mostly tried for an informal relationship. I was, of course, mindful that relationships could change, and was careful about sharing information, but we pretty much had a good time at work. From time to time, someone would get offended over something. It might be something I had said, something they might have heard or misheard second-hand, or something else entirely. Since I didn't make a habit of offending people intentionally, I was sometimes confused by it. If it was something that I could understand or that I could reasonably feel responsible for, of course, I'd apologize but sometimes it didn't make any sense to me so it wasn't something that I could fix. Once that happened, I was very careful about anything that I would say to or in the presence of that person. There was no more joking around, and I'd pretty much only talk to them when I needed to. Nothing would change as far as their job was concerned, but there was no more joking around or unnecessary conversation. Maybe that's what some people prefer.
I was offered a position for a pilot project which is now known as SNAP. When you talk about being offensive in any degree you would find it there. Diversity was the program director's key focus when she hired trainees. Some one was always being offended. I admired the director for how she was able to keep everyone that stayed through training from getting into ugly confrontations with one another. During that time 'diversity' was becoming a focus in the workplace.
Some people pretend to be offended, in order to manipulate others, or get attention. Some people think they know what will hurt someone else, and are offended for. them. Sometimes they go overboard, but they usually, but not always, have good intentions, imo. Usually people that are truly offended are just hurt, don't mention it, and disappear. Those are the ones I care about. Words can hurt. If you're talking to a few friends who know you, they know your heart, and the words you choose are not as important. If you're talking to an audience of 300 people, who don't know you, you have to think a lot before your speak. In cases like that you are likely a person of some authority, say at work, and people in authority should be held to a higher standard with their speech in those situations. Forums like these are difficult. You are speaking both to a small group of friends who know you, and at the same time, potentially hundreds of strangers who may be listening in. You just have to use your own judgement. Sometimes I say things that are not meant to hurt if you know me, but I just didn't think before I spoke. Just my $.02 rambling.
I had a capt named Leon before they ousted him to retire the last couple of years were great as he was a real person to everyone and one of us so many times he would contact you just asking if there was anything he could help you with, his attitude brought closeness to all he once said you know more about you job than I so tell me what I can do to help you and meant that totally, after he left we got a new one a real non person dud people started asking for transfers, being friendly with others was a memory of the past, our service numbers went down just a negative feeling was sensed by all then cutbacks due to low warrant numbers served new handbook of rules all politically ultra political correct in every way, 3 years later 50% or less still there we all knew the reason, prior we turned requests away for warrant service officers now we could not get them. A great productive place turned into a very negative place to work, you were advised just to keep quiet all the time to survive, also no more get togethers, after work parties all a memory. PC sucks!
It seems to me that what we used to do was to be considerate of other people, no matter what race they were, or what religion , or even what gender they were. At the same time, it was pretty common to use all kinds of slang terms for a lot of different reasons, and most of them were derogatory to the person being talked about. That kind of language was simply not supposed to be used in public, although it happened a lot in private conversations, I am sure. Now, were have enforced “political correctness”, and while I think that basically this is intended as a good thing, it has gone way beyond avoiding slang terms for people. It is now where a person is not properly referred to as a he or she, and there are so many possible gender combinations, that just being vague about all of it seems to be the best way to deal with this. Personally, I think that being considerate of other people should be something that everyone should do without being told they have to do it. Forcing people to do something only changes the words they speak, and not what is in their heart.
I do not know the cause, but it seems like we have become a different kind of people. Generally speaking, we take ourselves too seriously. Nearly everyone around seems to be mulling about their lives making some sort of proclamation as to what color they are or what sexual orientation they might have or what religious beliefs they profess. The thing is, I am not used to that because the unvarnished truth is, I do not care and am pretty forthright about it if the subject comes up in any fashion. But that’s generally the way most people in professional kitchens think. I have never worked in a kitchen that had any particular ego involved with the exception of the how good we are with food. We do what we have to do to make things a little lighter and sometimes race, creed, religious beliefs and sexual preference do come into the playtime part of our work but it’s in fun and is never meant to belittle or berate anyone. The only taboo in a professional kitchen is someone joking about someone’s ability to produce good food. Everything else is fair game. But that’s the kitchen. I really can’t say very much for some of the folks coming into a restaurant though. If things aren’t just so-so anymore, people get offended by just about anything. They simply take themselves and their positions in life way too seriously and for what? Recognition? If a person simply wants recognition in a restaurant, leave a big tip! Otherwise, take it somewhere else.
OK, I was asking because I had come across a website stating that employees in St Paul had been exposed to asbestos. Just wanted to let you know.