I hope I don't get suspended for this, but I was just wondering about how TWW community feels about the topic.


When I worked in Charlotte, I worked for a bank that I now call "The Devil Corporation." They were obsessed with keeping everything so PC, it was ridiculous. They blocked almost every website, I couldn't tell any jokes (none of them were PC by their standards), and I was once repremanded for referring to a lady who worked at another bank as "that chick."

Now I work for a Law Firm and I can get away with saying whatever the FUCK I want

NO webpages are blocked

Everyone is just so comfortable around eachother here, and I like that. We can say what we want and know we aren't gonna get fired for it. People date eachother in the firm, nobody cares, not a problem.

The reason I just made this thread is because I have been sitting on my nut sack for the past hour, and when I stood up, without thinking I said "OW MY BALLS" pretty loud. See, i wasn't sitting on the testicles, just squeezing the sack in a way that made it hurt when I stood up. Basically, that's how comfortable I feel working here, if my balls hurt, I can let the whole fucking floor know that my balls hurt.

At THE DEVIL CORPORATION I probably would have been fired.

Here at the firm, this lady, probably 45 years old just laughed, some people didn't even flinch. We just don't give a fuck!

Because of the lay-back environment, and the fact that people don't have to be so PC here, It seems like worker morale is much higher at the firm than at devil corporation.

Thoughts?

11/30/2007 3:39:01 PM

PC is liberal censorship

11/30/2007 3:54:30 PM

but I work at a liberal law firm

11/30/2007 3:55:44 PM

Let me guess BoA. It is all about corporate culture. My buddy worked at an accounting firm and was expected to work 60 hours and had to deal w/ all that PC crap.

I work for Sony Ericsson where employees come and go at all hours, tell lewd jokes, and have even heard drug references coming from employees even a manager.

Banks are traditionally VERY conservative institutions.

-Employees expected to be in at 8 on the dot.

-Faux Paus is anyone leaving before 5

-Shirt and Tie expected

-40 hours is considered "slacking"

-Success is achieved by sucking lots of management dick, cut throating your coworkers, or successfully working that makes your superiors look good.

- PR everything

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 3:59 PM. Reason : a]

11/30/2007 3:56:11 PM

Close, The bank that starts with W

but they both operate the same way... as a matter of fact - i got a new boss from BoA before I left

11/30/2007 3:58:46 PM

oh the horror, a company that paid you made you adhere to a set of rules so that they don't get their asses sued.

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:11 PM. Reason : .]

11/30/2007 4:10:40 PM

^ the sarcasm wasn't necesssary, I understand why they did it. I also understand why where I work now, a LAW FIRM, being sued is less likely.

I was just noting how much happier people are here, where we don't have to deal with PC bullshit.

11/30/2007 4:16:33 PM

It's called "covering your ass from liability," and it's ingrained as a part of corporate culture. Most companies don't want to get sued by some hyper-PC lightweight with a bug up their ass, so they put policies defensively into place. Hence, PC culture.

Who the hell is going to sue a bunch of lawyers, though?

QED.

11/30/2007 4:24:39 PM

^^so then what are you saying?

just relating a personal story?

do you think that the "PC bullshit" is unnecessary? should it be changed? do you think people are being slighted by any of this?

i don't see why i should be expected to act without sarcasm when you really haven't said much of any consequence beyond relaying your personal working conditions and preferences where you work.

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:25 PM. Reason : .]

11/30/2007 4:25:22 PM

Quote :

"I understand why they did it. I also understand why where I work now, a LAW FIRM, being sued is less likely. "

Yeah, I get it - but law firms aren't the only Partnerships/corporations that allow their employees to be less PC. Lots of companies do it.

I am just pointing out the difference in worker morale between the two.

I wonder if all companies start out lax on the PC, then they get sued - THEN start the restrictions


^ I guess I wasn't clear that this isn't one of those HEY LETS ARGUE threads - just a tell me YOUR story thread

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:29 PM. Reason : ]

11/30/2007 4:28:19 PM

then ask to put it in the lounge or chit chat

11/30/2007 4:29:51 PM

Quote :

"I wonder if all companies start out lax on the PC, then they get sued - THEN start the restrictions"

You don't think that's a rather expensive way to do business? "Wait until we get sued, then do something?"

11/30/2007 4:31:06 PM

^^Jesus Tittyfucking Christ

^ Well what determines whether the workplace is PC or not? Why are some anal about it, and others don't give a fuck? Is there a determining factor? I know it isn't just law firms that are like this.


I could talk about my balls as an employee of MANY companies and it not be a problem

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:33 PM. Reason : ]

11/30/2007 4:31:25 PM

attn users with less than 1000 posts

11/30/2007 4:32:08 PM

^ haha, good one

11/30/2007 4:33:41 PM

Quote :

"Well what determines whether the workplace is PC or not? Why are some anal about it, and others don't give a fuck? Is there a determining factor? I know it isn't just law firms that are like this."

Again, risk aversion? Likelihood that someone is going to get a bug up their ass? (Clearly a function of the number of employees). Likelihood that they'd face a painful and expensive lawsuit?

It all seems to boil down to, "How likely is it that not being PC is going to cost us money?"

11/30/2007 4:35:54 PM

I'm almost there with ya, but for some reason it doesn't seem quite that simple to me.

I guess different states might have different laws or something, I dunno

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:41 PM. Reason : ]

11/30/2007 4:37:05 PM

Well, look at it from another angle. Why do companies put PC policies into place. Because they genuinely believe in it? Pshaw - only HR managers and patchouli-smoking hyper-liberals actually live in that world. They do it to minimize the risk of expensive harassment / hostile work environment suits.

So, then the question is, "Who has something to fear?" Well, people with lots of money (corporations), people with lots of employees (the likelihood of finding someone with sensitive ears goes up), etc. Who doesn't fear? Anyone who is unlikely to find themselves faced with a lawsuit - small shops, lawyers, homogeneous environments (think a mechanic's garage), etc.

11/30/2007 4:42:13 PM

I don't see the problem here. Insisting on a more disciplined standard of behavior isn't a bad thing. High-level corporate environments are actually more prone to racist, sexist, eliteist behavior. But, those places will still put these standards in place just to make sure the workers have the discipline to act like normal human beings while they're at work.
And what's wrong for suing over offensive behavior? I've had to leave jobs before, because the work place was too hostile, and I got no support from management when I tried to tell them about it. Conversely, the best job I ever had was also the lowest-paying job I've ever had, but because the management was really responsive whenever there was a problem between workers, the work environment was fantastic.
If you can't understand how someone else would look at your behavior as offensive, there's where the problems start to come in. If you get locked into the idea that "I'm right, and anyone who thinks I'm wrong is just crazy," that sets some pretty damn narrow limits on your life.
And, just to show you that I'm not bullshitting, I know that there are people that see the whole idea of setting behavior standards as censorship, and offensive. You are, in fact, in America, and we tout the idea of free speech, as if you can say whatever you want. But, don't forget that free speech is free responsible speech that shouldn't infringe on the rights of other people.
So learn what other people find offensive and don't say it. No, that's not a right that you just have, we just suggest that you do it so you don't get your ass kicked.

11/30/2007 5:28:43 PM

Quote :

"ell what determines whether the workplace is PC or not? Why are some anal about it, and others don't give a fuck? Is there a determining factor? I know it isn't just law firms that are like this. "

The senior management; as well as tradition within the respective industry. For example
the Telecom industry is relatively new so a lot of companies created by baby boomers or people
growing up in the 60's have a lot different attitude on "business culture" then someone
growing up during the great depression or an industry such as banking that has had traditions
of business dating back centuries.

Quote :

"Only HR managers and patchouli-smoking hyper-liberals actually live in that world. They do it to minimize the risk of expensive harassment / hostile work environment suits."

Get over your fucking partisan hack attitude. I would not say either political view is responsible for the particular
type of corporate culture/ PR attitude of a company. If anything it is the traditionally "conservative" industries that are the hard asses and have the strict policies. I am not saying this even a bad thing but relates to the type of business the company does.
An engineer tinkering with electronics or a paralegal sitting in the office researching law does not have to interact with officials or customers and
can get away with dressing casual. Whereas someone in the real estate industry must dress nice because they have to worry about impressions on a day to day.
I worked for Cisco Systems last fall and interacted with some of the most liberal people I have
ever encountered (lots from California and NY so go figure). Yet their corporate culture
was to the extreme of "Work Hard & Play Hard." People often worked from home, showed up to the office when the felt like it, there was a game room on the 2nd floor, many guys sat around and drank beer on friday afternoons, and one of the CoOps dated another female
CoOp while they worked on the SAME team. So its defiantly not a liberal lets be PR and proper business deal unless its someone like Al Sharpton running the company.

Another factor I think correlates with the strictness of a work environment (except for politics, jobs where error in judgement could cause human injury/death, or banking) is the education level of employees. Well educated and high payed employees can be afforded more leniency because they can be more trusted to perform their job w/o having a rigid work regime' in place. Going back to my Cisco example employees had very high job satisfaction and eventhough afforded many extra perks then most jobs still got their shit done and really worked their asses off when needed. Also, when a company relies on innovation for their success they strive to keep their workers happy who are responsible for coming out with the latest products and will effect the performance of the company in the market.

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 6:07 PM. Reason : a]

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 6:07 PM. Reason : aa]

11/30/2007 6:05:54 PM

It's not just the PC aspect, I should think, but rather the rigidity of the business as a whole.

The employees at The Devil Corporation didn't have low morale because of restrictions jokes, they had low morale because of restrictions, period.

Obviously a certain degree of structure is needed, depending on the nature and purpose of the organization, but in general I would think that increased rigidity (at least in Western societies) begets decreased morale.

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 6:47 PM. Reason : ]

11/30/2007 6:46:26 PM

Quote :

"... but in general I would think that increased rigidity (at least in Western societies) begets decreased morale. "

I'm not saying I disagree, but I wonder how such a phenomena would affect the military

11/30/2007 7:02:34 PM

Man, I almost always say whatever the fuck I want.

11/30/2007 7:04:49 PM

^^well, we've been around long enough that we find a way around shit.

11/30/2007 7:26:42 PM

Quote :

"I'm not saying I disagree, but I wonder how such a phenomena would affect the military"

Well, presumably one has a different mentality to begin with when one signs up for the Marines as opposed to Wachovia.

Also, military training serves its purpose of "recalibrating" the level of rigidity one accepts as normal. The post-training level may even be lower than what was experienced during training.



[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 9:43 PM. Reason : ]

11/30/2007 9:40:49 PM

Unless upper management is around pretty much anything goes.

11/30/2007 9:47:22 PM

Quote :

"Get over your fucking partisan hack attitude. I would not say either political view is responsible for the particular type of corporate culture/ PR attitude of a company. If anything it is the traditionally "conservative" industries that are the hard asses and have the strict policies. I am not saying this even a bad thing but relates to the type of business the company does."

I know this is really, really hard for you, since you've shown a habit of it already in the short time I've been posting, but uh... try learning to read already. (I mean, I know, it's hard. No wonder you managed to already get yourself suspended - clearly, reading things is hard for you.)

For one, I never said "all liberals are hyper-left-wing hippies." I said a particular subset of individuals - the hyper-touchy-feely hippie set, along with pretty much every HR manager out there, buys into this kind of stock PC bullshit for its own merits.

You may have noticed, were you one to say, actually be capable of reading, that I then proceeded to give a rationale for why we have this kind of PC policy - namely, because of liability prevention. As in, we have these policies not because of PC for PC's sake, but because it provides insurance against legal liability. And who is likely to embrace this? Those who are particularly conservative about risk - which has absolutely nothing to do with politics.

I know, that was dreadfully difficult to comprehend.

11/30/2007 10:06:14 PM

Quote :

"Thoughts?"

Thoughts? You're a goddamn hypocrite, and an idiot to boot for starting this thread.

You bitch and moan more than anybody else on this website whenever someone posts anything that can be construed as racist or even racially insensitive. Now you are gonna turn around and bitch about a company being too PC for you?

Well excuse me but fuck you. You're part of the problem, with your Al Sharpton routine. It's because of people like you who get offended so easily that companies have PC rules. Or did you think that only black people are allowed to be offended?

11/30/2007 10:32:37 PM

Quote :

" Thoughts? You're a goddamn hypocrite, and an idiot to boot for starting this thread. You bitch and moan more than anybody else on this website whenever someone posts anything that can be construed as racist or even racially insensitive. Now you are gonna turn around and bitch about a company being too PC for you? Well excuse me but fuck you. You're part of the problem, with your Al Sharpton routine. It's because of people like you who get offended so easily that companies have PC rules. Or did you think that only black people are allowed to be offended?"

11/30/2007 11:55:17 PM

I kinda see what Prawn Star is getting at.

I know somebody who works for a certain firm, and their environment is like that of fraternity. They take new recruits out to party and pick up on their vibe. And then they all sit around talking about the recruits and who will be the "best fit" for the firm. They ultimately pick people who are going to be "cool" so they don't have to worry about lawsuits that much.

The N-word is used disparagingly towards blacks by white/black folks in the office.

This (white) person I know that works there was very offended at first, but now they've accepted it.

It's sad, if you ask me. But maybe everybody is happier in the end that way...is that what you're suggesting, Dope?

12/1/2007 12:36:27 AM

the 45 year old chicka who laughed at your "ow my balls" exclamation...

she wants to do you.


bad.


get someadat milf action, brah

12/1/2007 4:50:44 AM

/user_logout.aspx


Go to sleep

12/1/2007 4:58:50 AM

you reckon?

12/1/2007 5:01:09 AM

Quote :

"Thoughts? You're a goddamn hypocrite, and an idiot to boot for starting this thread. You bitch and moan more than anybody else on this website whenever someone posts anything that can be construed as racist or even racially insensitive. Now you are gonna turn around and bitch about a company being too PC for you? Well excuse me but fuck you. You're part of the problem, with your Al Sharpton routine. It's because of people like you who get offended so easily that companies have PC rules. Or did you think that only black people are allowed to be offended?"

whoa whoa whoa, I think you have a reading comprehension problem buddy. I did not once bitch about the company being too PC. I was praising the company for NOT being PC!!!!

That was pretty clear in my post, maybe you should read it again... or maybe 3 or 4 times.

12/1/2007 10:00:48 AM

Quote :

"When I worked in Charlotte, I worked for a bank that I now call "The Devil Corporation." They were obsessed with keeping everything so PC, it was ridiculous. They blocked almost every website, I couldn't tell any jokes (none of them were PC by their standards), and I was once repremanded for referring to a lady who worked at another bank as "that chick.""

I didn't read that as praise for not being PC.

I doubt Prawn Star or rainman did either.

12/1/2007 10:06:56 AM

Quote :

"It's because of people like you who get offended so easily that companies have PC rules. Or did you think that only black people are allowed to be offended?""

but i never said i got offended by anything at either company. the post just doesn't make sense.

12/1/2007 10:17:15 AM

Honestly, what professional setting do you work in that "ow my balls" is kosher? I might whisper expletives under my breath, but there are enough different cultures and people around that I'm not going to stand up and say "God Mormons are weird" or "What the fuck is this bullshit" and not expect it to annoy someone.

I mean, I could see if there are like 3 people near you in some office, and you know them well and they like you, in which case your "ow my balls" comment isn't really approaching any PC boundaries, it would be no different than being out for a beer with your buddies

12/1/2007 11:29:48 AM

Just hang out around old guys. They'll say anything

12/1/2007 2:37:02 PM

i hate when jobs expect you to act like things matter

12/1/2007 3:36:42 PM

Quote :

"Honestly, what professional setting do you work in that "ow my balls" is kosher? "

I said it in the OP

Law Firm

12/1/2007 4:54:15 PM

I try not to be a computer at work

12/2/2007 11:40:08 PM

Quote :

"Basically, that's how comfortable I feel working here, if my balls hurt, I can let the whole fucking floor know that my balls hurt."

You sound like a newbie to this whole "work force" thing. Even if you _can_ let your boss and everyone else know your balls hurt ... don't. And do shy away from the risque humor except with your most trusted associates (preferably non-work ones).

The reason you sound like a newbie is that you don't know how long people's memories are. And those whom you subtly offend or fail to impress, they'll be the ones deciding your fate down the line.

Your complaints about "PC" culture are far from the realities of business. One day you might find yourself dealing with, say, paying customers continually and if you're smart, you won't come close to broaching their standards.

Work doesn't have to be boring and stale, but you should be on your very best behavior. Typically CEOs, the people who make the most money and have the most clout, are careful to be "on the record" all the time even internally. There's a reason for that -- and it isn't lawsuits.

12/3/2007 10:27:25 PM

Quote :

"I said it in the OP Law Firm"

Durr, it was a rhetorical question rookie. This ^ guy sums up what was meant in that rhetorical question.

I imagine if you work in a small firm (and I mean like 10 guys small), then the situation is different, but I really hope if it is much bigger than that you check yourself unless you want self imposed glass ceiling.

12/3/2007 10:33:00 PM

Quote :

"Even if you _can_ let your boss and everyone else know your balls hurt ... don't."

12/4/2007 12:32:06 AM