Work stinks - quite a rant
I am feeling very bitter right now.
I had had such a good day until I got to work. My tutorials were interesting and entertaining (especially the part where my tutor failed the game he was demonstrating), and I had a very nice (and amazingly productive) lunch with bookwormmel in Lygon Street. Then I got to work.
First of all, I was sitting at the window that faces full west. This wouldn't have been an issue except for the fact that I was too short to pull the blind down and too embarrassed to trouble anyone else to do it for me. That just put me in a hot and bad mood. Then an innocent question turned into a fifteen minute lecture.
I was reading an article that said something along the lines of 'these poor people are living in like, a Third World house omg how sad'. I approached the editor and asked 'should I change the 'Third World' because it's an outdated term or should I leave it because of the cultural connotations?' He then proceeded to lecture me on the stupidity of political correctness, called me a leftist, and jokingly threatened that even asking was reason enough to 'get rid' of me. He then called one of the journalists over and quizzed BOTH of us on what some other word ('outed') meant, and when I replied that it depends on the context, he once again told me I was being politically correct and what a crime against humanity that was (I may be exaggerating a little here). I somehow managed to resist the urge to shoot back, "Actually, it's not politically correct, it's just plain correct". I explained to him that I am a history student so I'm particularly careful about these terms (I did not explain, despite the temptation, that in today's world, the term 'Third World' is equivalent to 'Soviet Union' and 'League of Nations').
GAH. I know I can be a little pedantic about these things (which, quite frankly, is why they hired me in the first place), but all I asked was a binary question. A simple 'No, leave it as is' would have been sufficient. What a patronizing JACKASS. Thank GOD I'm not working on Saturday.
I had had such a good day until I got to work. My tutorials were interesting and entertaining (especially the part where my tutor failed the game he was demonstrating), and I had a very nice (and amazingly productive) lunch with bookwormmel in Lygon Street. Then I got to work.
First of all, I was sitting at the window that faces full west. This wouldn't have been an issue except for the fact that I was too short to pull the blind down and too embarrassed to trouble anyone else to do it for me. That just put me in a hot and bad mood. Then an innocent question turned into a fifteen minute lecture.
I was reading an article that said something along the lines of 'these poor people are living in like, a Third World house omg how sad'. I approached the editor and asked 'should I change the 'Third World' because it's an outdated term or should I leave it because of the cultural connotations?' He then proceeded to lecture me on the stupidity of political correctness, called me a leftist, and jokingly threatened that even asking was reason enough to 'get rid' of me. He then called one of the journalists over and quizzed BOTH of us on what some other word ('outed') meant, and when I replied that it depends on the context, he once again told me I was being politically correct and what a crime against humanity that was (I may be exaggerating a little here). I somehow managed to resist the urge to shoot back, "Actually, it's not politically correct, it's just plain correct". I explained to him that I am a history student so I'm particularly careful about these terms (I did not explain, despite the temptation, that in today's world, the term 'Third World' is equivalent to 'Soviet Union' and 'League of Nations').
GAH. I know I can be a little pedantic about these things (which, quite frankly, is why they hired me in the first place), but all I asked was a binary question. A simple 'No, leave it as is' would have been sufficient. What a patronizing JACKASS. Thank GOD I'm not working on Saturday.