# Can someone explain to me the outrage over Steve Harvey's memo to his show's employees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 4, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801 "2017-08-04T20:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/21 "2017-08-05T20:11:58Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > The second sentence I agree with. But a ‘smear’ has to be false, or a half truth etc. It’s not ‘smearing’ somebody to publish a whole memo they in fact wrote (which doesn’t seem to be in dispute), nor it is ‘quoting them out of context’. You’re right. It’s not really a smear. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/22 "2017-08-06T12:00:46Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It doesn’t sound reasonable at all to me. You can’t work with people every day and expect no interactions with them at all. He’s not demanding NO interactions (note that he implies an ability to make appointments). He appears to be demanding that _impromptu_ interactions (if any, and I suspect that he prefers to minimize them altogether) be initiated by him. I struggle to find a reason to think of this as unreasonable. > [@](#): > > It’s very possible the staff will need to actually say something to him, but they are unable to do so by this policy. They can’t open his door. They can’t knock or use the doorbell and then stand by his door. On the contrary, they are quite explicitly instructed to do just that. And the notion that your average stagehand or what have you will suddenly be faced with a dilemma that can ONLY be resolved by Mr. Harvey strikes me as implausible. > [@](#): > > He’s saying “I will be here, but you lowly peasants should never dare to interact with me in any way.” Yeah, makes sense why people would be upset. Only the people with appointments (i.e., not staff) are allowed to ever talk to him. > > There’s wanting more freetime, and there’s taking it to an extreme like this. If you work with people, you should be able to interact with them on at least a basic level. Look, it says in the memo that meetings in his dressing room aren’t something he’s going to put up with. You think maybe that has recently been something he’s come to view as a problem? I do. Probably most of the meetings that were cropping up in his dressing room didn’t demand his participation or presence in the first place. If he DOES need to be present at a meeting, there’s probably a conference room where it (and every other meeting) can be held. Saying “Howzit” while passing in the corridor is probably sufficient interaction for him. He’s their employer, not their buddy. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/23 "2017-08-06T12:06:02Z")
That said, I find his talk show to be tedious. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/24 "2017-08-06T13:10:25Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > That said, I find his talk show to be tedious. it’s being revamped with his move to LA this fall. I suspect there will be more celebrities and less “how to get a man” talk. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/25 "2017-08-06T17:05:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I don’t get to talk to Steve Harvey? > > [No big loss](http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/steve-harvey-atheists-me-you-re-idiot). Goodness gravy! From the blog: > [@](#): > > Harvey, who also hosts a radio show and started his career in stand-up comedy, went on to say that Darwinism is essentially nonsense because he doesn’t think the universe “spun out of a gastrous ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys.” If that were true, he says, then “why we still got monkeys?” That logic, there, is so gazillion-D chess I think I popped out of my britches. Maybe he and Kyrie Irving can apply for teaching positions at Harvard. Thread perfectly summed up here: > [@xizor](#): > > I understand his sentiment, but it certainly could have been phrased better. > > “In the past x, y and z caused problems. So to help the show run smoother and insure everyone has a more enjoyable work experience, no more x, y and z. Instead, please use A, B, and C.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/26 "2017-08-06T21:03:58Z")
The memo sounds like someone with a big head wants the little people to stop bugging him with their unimportant dreary little shit, because he’s a STAR. Probably not unusual in his line of work, and if you wanna be in show biz, you have to kowtow and cringe accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/27 "2017-08-07T13:08:18Z")
Like others have pointed out, when you are in the top-of-the-heap role, you really need to manage time and access. It sounds to me like he could have done a better job of building his organization below him to handle this. If he had an effective Chief of Staff type of role under him, then that person could have crafted the message out the to team, “Please ask me first, before bothering Steve. After all, everyone’s paycheck depends on Steve doing his Steve thing, so best to make sure he has all the space he needs to do it.” Coming from that level, it wouldn’t have sounded (to some people) so much like Steve being petty. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/28 "2017-08-07T15:06:54Z")
It sounds like a perfectly reasonable request to me, just poorly phrased. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/29 "2017-08-07T15:38:08Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > The people defending it are basically saying he has good reason to act like a d-bag. No, people are saying that it’s not unreasonable for him to request this. If you’re being reasonable, you’re not really being a d-bag. He may be a d-bag for other reasons but putting a layer between himself and staff requests isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/30 "2017-08-08T13:06:36Z")
**[Moderating]** > [@friedo](#): > > Why don’t you try actually having a job before opining on management techniques. **friedo** , that’s out of line. I don’t know **BigT** ’s employment status, but I’m having a hard time seeing how “try actually having a job” isn’t a personal insult. And you could have expressed the same sentiment non-insultingly, as demonstrated by **muldoonthief** just two posts before yours. I’m going to make this a Warning for personal insults. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/31 "2017-08-08T14:25:15Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Like others have pointed out, when you are in the top-of-the-heap role, you really need to manage time and access. It sounds to me like he could have done a better job of building his organization below him to handle this. > > If he had an effective Chief of Staff type of role under him, then that person could have crafted the message out the to team, “Please ask me first, before bothering Steve. After all, everyone’s paycheck depends on Steve doing his Steve thing, so best to make sure he has all the space he needs to do it.” Coming from that level, it wouldn’t have sounded (to some people) so much like Steve being petty. This. As worded, it does make him sound like an ass. That’s why one has at least an assistant, if not several, to manage stuff like this. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801/32 "2017-08-08T19:06:37Z")
Whoa. I apologize for seeming to have abandoned my own thread. I somehow missed getting a notification of new posts and thought there hadn’t been many replies…until I got this new one and see there have been a bunch! I have a bunch of errands to run but I will check back later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-the-outrage-over-steve-harveys-memo-to-his-shows-employees/792801.md?page=1)