Bubble Wrap Them Gently....
Have you ever had diversity training? Thank goodness I had it with someone fun, because with the materials at hand, it might well have been stultifying.
Green. Yellow. Red.
Green Light: If you were having a high tea with your Grandma, your Great-Grandma, a posse of nuns, the Queen, and a team of ACLU lawyers, then you will probably be making "Green" conversation.
Yellow Light: Anything that might be misconstrued or make anyone uncomfortable. The vast majority of social interaction falls in this category, just so you know. (The examples for this during training had all the trainees saying that the people in the scenario were being oversensitive.)
Red Light: Hurtful things and other un-nice things. Zero tolerance: One offense equals three strikes. Examples sounded like they were excerpts from conversations recorded earlier in the day on the sales floor.
The yellow one was bugging the snot out of me. The literature said that, even if 99% of recipients would not be offended by the comment, the comment is inappropriate because there is that 1% who will take offense. I think that one percent needs to grow up. It's like the people who give you a hard time when you hold the door for them. There is nothing offensive in the gesture, but some eyes read offense into it.
Retail may not be the toughest work, but you still have to deal with difficult people, and--as I have learned from observation--people who are high strung do not do well with demanding customers. Take a chill pill, get over yourself, and grow a thicker skin; you are not that big of a deal and if whatever is said is a bit ambiguous, do not assume maliciousness on the part of your coworker.
There was a long (weeks) debate staged--for my benefit--between two of my coworkers on whether I was the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper, or John Dillinger. And this debate was based on nothing more than my dress, speech, and ethnicity...I don't know about you, but I think that almost qualifies as a red light. I might push for an apology.
If I was a humorless fink. ;-p
Green. Yellow. Red.
Green Light: If you were having a high tea with your Grandma, your Great-Grandma, a posse of nuns, the Queen, and a team of ACLU lawyers, then you will probably be making "Green" conversation.
Yellow Light: Anything that might be misconstrued or make anyone uncomfortable. The vast majority of social interaction falls in this category, just so you know. (The examples for this during training had all the trainees saying that the people in the scenario were being oversensitive.)
Red Light: Hurtful things and other un-nice things. Zero tolerance: One offense equals three strikes. Examples sounded like they were excerpts from conversations recorded earlier in the day on the sales floor.
The yellow one was bugging the snot out of me. The literature said that, even if 99% of recipients would not be offended by the comment, the comment is inappropriate because there is that 1% who will take offense. I think that one percent needs to grow up. It's like the people who give you a hard time when you hold the door for them. There is nothing offensive in the gesture, but some eyes read offense into it.
Retail may not be the toughest work, but you still have to deal with difficult people, and--as I have learned from observation--people who are high strung do not do well with demanding customers. Take a chill pill, get over yourself, and grow a thicker skin; you are not that big of a deal and if whatever is said is a bit ambiguous, do not assume maliciousness on the part of your coworker.
There was a long (weeks) debate staged--for my benefit--between two of my coworkers on whether I was the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper, or John Dillinger. And this debate was based on nothing more than my dress, speech, and ethnicity...I don't know about you, but I think that almost qualifies as a red light. I might push for an apology.
If I was a humorless fink. ;-p
Sounds like the trainees were correct. :P Good post, as usual.
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