Bad Day for Workplace Diversity
Some days the ignorance of my coworkers astounds and disappoints me. Today is one of those days.
Went down to the cafeteria today to get my morning cup of coffee, where I heard one of the maintenance guys telling the cafeteria manager that “Any man… any real man… needs a woman.”
Today at lunch a couple of the people I eat with were talking about one’s sister-in-law and the ways in which she was screwing up her life. She (the one whose sister-in-law was under discussion) made the comment that her husband should tell her sister to “Try praying to Jesus, because the goddesses she’s praying to aren’t doing sh*t for her.”
Well, I tried pointing out that her religion is her own business and probably a separate issue from the other things going on in her life, to which the response was along the lines of “Yeah, well, I just wish she wouldn’t force it on her daughter. Asking her to pray to the goddesses for her and stuff.” So I sallied again that most parents raise their children within their own religion, and it’s just as valid for her to ask her daughter to pray to her goddesses as it is for a Christian to ask her child to pray to Jesus. This prompted a response from someone else at the table along the lines of “She’s an impressionable young girl and shouldn’t have that stuff forced down her throat. If someone wants to be a witch then be a witch, but don’t expose your kids to it.”
At this point I withdrew from the conversation because I was getting angry and decided to follow the maxim of “Don’t discuss religion or politics in the office.” I do, after all, have to work with these people… sadly.
Went down to the cafeteria today to get my morning cup of coffee, where I heard one of the maintenance guys telling the cafeteria manager that “Any man… any real man… needs a woman.”
Today at lunch a couple of the people I eat with were talking about one’s sister-in-law and the ways in which she was screwing up her life. She (the one whose sister-in-law was under discussion) made the comment that her husband should tell her sister to “Try praying to Jesus, because the goddesses she’s praying to aren’t doing sh*t for her.”
Well, I tried pointing out that her religion is her own business and probably a separate issue from the other things going on in her life, to which the response was along the lines of “Yeah, well, I just wish she wouldn’t force it on her daughter. Asking her to pray to the goddesses for her and stuff.” So I sallied again that most parents raise their children within their own religion, and it’s just as valid for her to ask her daughter to pray to her goddesses as it is for a Christian to ask her child to pray to Jesus. This prompted a response from someone else at the table along the lines of “She’s an impressionable young girl and shouldn’t have that stuff forced down her throat. If someone wants to be a witch then be a witch, but don’t expose your kids to it.”
At this point I withdrew from the conversation because I was getting angry and decided to follow the maxim of “Don’t discuss religion or politics in the office.” I do, after all, have to work with these people… sadly.