Call an entrenching tool a shovel, why don'cha?
I got a little snitty with a co-worker today.
She said of someone, "What a witch!" and did not intend it as a compliment.
I asked why she didn't call the woman a Baptist?
Then explained that it was just the same thing as calling her a Witch -- that if she was going to denigrate one person's religion she may as well spread it around.
"Well, I'm not going to say 'bitch' in a call center!"
"Just remember, it's harassment on religious grounds and I am not afraid to talk to HR about it. Are you willing to go that far?"
I did try to put a humorous spin on it and presented it as informational -- but everyone there knows I'm a Witch anyhow, I'm so far out of the broom closet I was never in that it may as well have burned down.
In the end, I think I got the message across -- and we're ok, as far as I can tell there are no feelings of being "picked on" on her part and as for me, I know she just hadn't thought of it that way before, so no harm, no foul.
Yeah, the whole PC thing also annoys me, but damnit, say what you mean! A bitch is a bitch and a Witch is a Witch; confuse the two at your peril!(Thanks, jeffs_page !) And no, being a Witch does not mean one cannot also be a bitch. Or at least assertive.
So...what's your take? Would you have spoken up if it were your religion being bandied about? What about "just any" religion?
She said of someone, "What a witch!" and did not intend it as a compliment.
I asked why she didn't call the woman a Baptist?
Then explained that it was just the same thing as calling her a Witch -- that if she was going to denigrate one person's religion she may as well spread it around.
"Well, I'm not going to say 'bitch' in a call center!"
"Just remember, it's harassment on religious grounds and I am not afraid to talk to HR about it. Are you willing to go that far?"
I did try to put a humorous spin on it and presented it as informational -- but everyone there knows I'm a Witch anyhow, I'm so far out of the broom closet I was never in that it may as well have burned down.
In the end, I think I got the message across -- and we're ok, as far as I can tell there are no feelings of being "picked on" on her part and as for me, I know she just hadn't thought of it that way before, so no harm, no foul.
Yeah, the whole PC thing also annoys me, but damnit, say what you mean! A bitch is a bitch and a Witch is a Witch; confuse the two at your peril!(Thanks, jeffs_page !) And no, being a Witch does not mean one cannot also be a bitch. Or at least assertive.
So...what's your take? Would you have spoken up if it were your religion being bandied about? What about "just any" religion?