I dunno, five hundred bucks this, five hundred bucks that, it’s time to give it a rest.
It’s like that joke about the glum-looking guy who complains that no-one ever calls him Spyros the housepainter, or Spyros the boatbuilder, or Spyros the shoemender, or even Spyros the bellringer. But one sheep, one lousy sheep, and all they can say is…
It sounds as though some of you are judging pseudotriton ruber ruber by what he’s done in the past and not by his legitimate feelings today.
Is being forced to sing comfortable for any of you? It’s not for me.
I don’t think prr did anything wrong at all. What’s comfortable and “no big deal” to some of you is a really big deal to others. Because you don’t understand it, it’s still unfair to jump on prr for posting about his feelings. His behavior doesn’t reflect his feelings - so why give him all the grief?
A group in my office holds “Life Lessons” every other week during lunch in one of the conference rooms. (I call it “Pizza for Jesus” since lunch is free to all who participate.)
The life lessons include a sermon-like talk from the minister who produces this whole thing. It’s a Christian thing.
One of my friends here asked me if I was going to “the Jews killed Jesus” meeting. She’s Jewish and was offended that the office was being used for a religious meeting. She’s gone to the Christmas party and will even send Christmas carts, but the actual teaching of Christian principles really hurts her feelings.
She’s sucking it up (as many above thread have advised) but it saddens me that the thought that Christianity is the standard. I’ll bet if my friends of other faiths wanted to hold meetings here there would be a big protest.
Does the meeting habitually make reference to the Jews killing Jesus? Is the sermon-like talk ostentatiously Christian-themed? Could you get away with singing “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” if people wanted you to join in? Has your bet ever been put to the test?
Incidentally, I asked myself in all honesty what I would do if I lived somewhere where I was expected to celebrate Christmas on my own time and money, if at all, but the office had a tradition of holding a Chinese New Year party complete with lion-dancing and all the trimmings. I imagined myself being urged to join in, or if I can’t sing in Chinese (and I can’t), then to bang a drum or have a turn under the lion. And you know what? I’d be all over that like oyster sauce on fried beef with noodles. I don’t think red is a lucky colour, I couldn’t give two hoots whether it’s the Year of the Rat, the Horse, the Dragon or any of all that, and if there are malevolent spirits about the place, I don’t see why they’d be at all perturbed by a firecracker or the clash of cymbals. But the godless heathens [sup]*[/sup] are welcome to their superstitions for all I’m concerned, and the world would be a smaller, chillier place without them, and if they want to invite me to take part, I’ll be damned if I liken it to being forced to take part in piss showers or shit-eating.
Rhetorical, as a place-holder for “ignorant, deluded religionists”
jali: Who pays for the lunch?
One of the architects sponsoring the meeting will pay for the lunch. I’m not sure it they are reimbursed by the church or if it’s a contribution to the cause.
One meeting mentioned something like that (I wasn’t there, but was told) and the word filtered back to Babs. The “life lesson” ends with a sermon and a request to join their church.
I posted the offending remark on the Feast of Steven, thank you.
Ah, okay. Just curious. Thanks.
It seems simple enough just not to show up for the party. Bring a pair of noise reduction headphones to your office and do your work.
You know, that does strike me as particularly inappropriate. A workplace is supposed to be inclusive and neutral. Religion is a private, personal thing, not something to have meetings about at work. I would not be comfortable with this scenario, and I would protest about it to Human Resources.
A couple of us feel this way, but we won’t speak out to avoid resentment by some of the participants.
It’s the assumption that their faith is* the *standard is what gets me.
If I understand correctly, they are not having meetings “at work”. They are having meetings on their own time on company premises. If no one is being pressured to attend (and I mean really pressured by superiors, not claiming the presence of such a meeting makes them feel uncomfortable and thus constitutes “pressure”), then there shouldn’t be a problem.
OTOH, if no one ever does try to hold a different religious meeting, it seems to be just a matter of projecting persecution. If any employee actually was turned down when asking to use a room to discuss (or pray in the manner of) Judaism, Baha’i, Wiccan, Buddhism, or whatever, then I would see a genuine reason for complaint. However, declaring “there would be a big protest” when there has not yet been a little protest only demonstrates your prejudice against the powers that be.
If it is a private meeting in a closed room, off company time, with no obligation or coercion to participate, then it really is no big deal.
Maybe I’ll schedule a meeting of a Satanic coven, replete with beheading of a few small animals and the smearing of entrails on naked bodies, to test out this theory. It will be “a private meeting in a closed room, off company time, with no obligation or coercion to participate,” but of course I’ll have to publicize this event to make sure that all resident Satanists are aware of when and where this meeting will be held. I’m sure it will treated as no big deal by all concerned.
Because that’s really very similar. :rolleyes:
Thanks for noticing.
If you’re being sarcastic, please tell me what a group of Satan-worshippers would have to do to hold such a meeting and be similar to a group of Christians. May we sing our delightful songs at top volume in an office environment during working hours? May we ask the organization to support our little gathering, by reimbursing our holiday party through petty cash? May we share our stories of our Satanic upbringings, or how we came to celebrate Satan’s power?
Or is the whole idea of Satan-worship in the workplace just too bizarre for you? If so, what accounts for this–the fact that you’ve got millions of followers who approve of Christian practices and the poor Satanists only have a few hundred maybe? What is that if not the tyranny of the majority?
No company HR department is going to countenance getting the SPCA mad at the company.
It is entirely possible that the company noted would object to meetings of Jews, Baha’i, Wiccans, or Buddhists. I just figure that condemning someone before they have actually committed an act is silly. (Unless you agree that condemning atheists for reviling god or committing sacriliges is a good thing?)
Leave out the beheading of the animals and the smearing of entrails on dead bodies and knock yourself out.
naked= dead?
Okay, I’ll try this next holiday season-- we’ll just behead a few small mammals (some puppies, a few cats, etc) that are already dead, purely for symbolic purposes, and then we’ll coat ourselves in the innards (symbolically removing only the clothing on upper portions of our bodies, so nobody gets upset by nudity in the workplace) and sing a few songs about Satan’s evil domination of the world, light some symbolic candles, etc.
I’ll let you know what HR makes of this, especially the response to the petty cash slips explicitly explaining what the food and other purchases were in support of.
My bad for getting my Satanic rituals confused. You smear the dead bodies on Anton LaVey’s birthday.
No you won’t. But it’s kind of funny to pretend that you will.
prr, you seem to have a hard tme recognizing how the world functions, and how to best get along in it.