Sunday, May 04, 2008

That's sexual harassment training, and I do have to take it.

Admittedly, I'm a little slow getting this out, but my employer forced me (along with the rest of the company) to take an online sexual harassment course back in March. I learned a lot from those three to four hours, and I feel the need to share what I picked up:

- I like to spell harassment with two “r”s.

- I know how to properly respond if I see a black coworker being harassed by a transgendered employee. If I see a white coworker being sexually harassed, I am obviously dreaming and should immediately start thinking about Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley.

- My company cares a lot about making sure that I am protected from sexual harassment. In fact, they care so much that they went out and found a poorly-structured online course to handle the topic, pushed back the deadline to take the course to keep from interfering with people’s Q1 goals and dumbed down the test at the end of the course because enough people weren’t passing.

- I don't understand that the phrase "back away" means that the person backing away is moving more than two steps. Two steps back or less means that they are standing still…or perhaps moving forward.

- I can't comprehend the difference between color and nationality.

- I can get away with randomly rubbing women's shoulders, at least for a while.

- Sabotaging an employee’s work is a tangible employment action but not retaliation.

- If I ever ask a coworker out, I better pray to God that she accepts or I've just harassed her.

- There is an apparent plague of white male employees looking females "up and down." And sometimes they do this “slowly.”

- Sexual harassment is always perpetrated by a white male...at least whenever it is captured on video.

- Unwarranted tickling is a gray area that has not yet been covered.

- Watching videos discussing sexual harassment could be considered subtle, third-party harassment if observed by others.

- Indian people apparently have very fake-sounding Indian accents.

- If a coworker uses the word "retaliate" in a conversation with you, you are fracked.

- Old white men are lecherous, while old black men are distinguished, skilled at their jobs and good at coaching conversations away from sexual harassment.

- If the answer to a multiple choice question is a) and you select a), you are still wrong. (I believe this only applies if you are white and have a penis.)


As you can see above, the third text box on the right corresponded with the "a" word balloon, not the "a" word balloon as I thought it did.

New Blog Over On The Mind Blender

This one is all about the new found likeability of Tony Stark...

http://themindblender.blogspot.com/2008/05/thank-you-jon-favreau-for-letting-me.html