Just finished my Equality, Diversity and whatnot training at work.

It's quite honestly getting ridiculous.

The problem is, even if you avoid any 'banter' you can get a reputation for being standoffish and unpleasant to work with.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I make a mockery of each stupid sensitivity course.

These courses are traditionally court ordered for ppl who actually offended somebody.

By making these courses mandatory at work so the PR team can tick a KPI box and feel good about themselves.

they’re implying we’re all guilty without conviction..

We’ve created so much stigma and rules and butthurt we can’t have fun anymore. Almost like they want us to be robots or something. To be so afraid we can’t pay our bills, we’ll stop smiling, laughing or feeling connected to each other…

its just a case of being nice to others regardless of their differences,
its a workplace, not a pub.
I feel the course was wasted on you to be honest.

[quote]The clincher is the statement that - there is no clear definition as to what is unacceptable banter, as this is subjective to the persons involved.[/quote]

What bugs me most about this is that not only is it subjective, but it also depends on WHO is complaining

there are some demographics who have their complaints listened to more than others, if yall know what I mean 😂

The world is going crazy with all this nonsense. When I was in the army, we all laughed at each other for everything and nobody took offence. It was part of life. Now we're getting afraid to speak - we'll all live online or retreat to ghettoes with our own 'type' in case of accusations of racism, sexism, ageism or ism-ism.

Try having a proper conversation with your colleague (ie. listening as well as talking), then you will get a clearer sense of when 'banter' edges towards offensiveness.

Many are offended by being asked to take the course, so why isn’t the human resource department being retrained to avoid giving offence?

Ive made it a point to ask on any job hunting, "do you support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace?"

Then i listen to the answer. It usually falls into two camps. the ones who enthusiastically jump on the bandwagon, and ones who say "yes we do" and say nothing more. The latter group is usually more pleasant to work with.

I salute you sir.

That is exactly the lesson you should have drawn from that.

Keep your head down, and discuss nothing but work with your co-workers.

Yeah, this is why I keep most of my relationships pretty superficial these days

and I'm trying to find other means of income etc

You must feel soooooo empowered now......🙄

Likewise.

Why not just [i]work[/i], instead of shooting the sh-t anyhow?
No one is getting [i]paid[/i] for banter ... it's called [i]work[/i] for a reason.
If you don't have enough common sense to figure out what to say and not to say, then it's more difficult for you to f-ck up if you just do what you got hired to do in the first place 🤷‍♀️
Here's a hanky so you can stop sobbing ...

You want blame politicians and unions and regulation for the price of things, when in reality lazy f-cks just loafing at work are a big factor. Stop riding the clock and fraternize or f-ck with your phone on your own time and dime.