# Politically hostile work environment, or over-sensitivity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125 "2019-02-07T16:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/101 "2019-02-07T19:59:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Once again, you are confusing possible cause and real effect. The dirty graffiti was going on for months before I asked about it, therefore I CAN’T be the reason they are doing it, can I? As much as people would like to excuse what they are doing by somehow transferring the blame to me, it just could not have happened that way. I agree that’s it’s pretty unlikely that you are _the_ reason (and I was not trying to imply otherwise). However, if your co-workers have decided, somehow, that you aren’t on board with the graffiti (and the other stuff), it may be possible that they’re making a point of it in your presence, to troll you. Regardless, I’ve said my piece on the topic, and the level of angst that this thread seems to be creating does suggest to me that the possibility that you’re overreacting is strong (even if I find your management’s tacit approval of the graffiti to be stupid and unprofessional). ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/102 "2019-02-07T20:02:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Regardless, I’ve said my piece on the topic, and the level of angst that this thread seems to be creating does suggest to me that the possibility that you’re overreacting is strong (even if I find your management’s tacit approval of the graffiti to be stupid and unprofessional). The fact that he’s bothered by something is evidence that he doesn’t have reason to be bothered by it? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/103 "2019-02-07T20:05:07Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > The fact that he’s bothered by something is evidence that he doesn’t have reason to be bothered by it? That’s not what I said, at all. What I’m saying is that he’s made several posts in this thread which come across, to me, as pretty upset and worked up. The title of this thread mentions “over-sensitivity,” and his final line in the OP is, “Am I making too big a deal of this?” I’m thinking that, yes, he may well be overly sensitive about this all. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/104 "2019-02-07T20:45:43Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > On the assumption the truck drivers spend the most time with the trucks than any other employees. I put all of 1 sec of thought into thinking this because it doesn’t really matter which employees are doing it. Management isn’t doing anything to stop it. Sorry, but 1 second of thought led you down the wrong path. Just as you said, truck drivers spend the vast majority of their time _in the truck_. They are not, generally, behind the trailer writing crap in the dust. It is likely not the employees where **Czarcasm** works, either. If he could get busted for wiping it off because it’s outside his job description, then anyone there writing on the trailers would presumably be subject to the same - unless you’re hypothesizing a job description that includes “Write incendiary messages on the back door of dirty trailers”. In all likelihood, the writing is being done by dock workers at the delivery locations before or after the trailer has been loaded/unloaded or by random people while the truck is stopped and the driver asleep/out eating/in a movie/etc. All we know is the following: 1. Some trailers have political messages written on back 2. Management has decided that removing said messages is not worth the expense of additional trailer washes. Everything else is unfounded speculation. As I said before, from my experience in the business, all manner of crap gets written on the back of trailers all the time. Unless **Czarcasm** can show that A) only “anti-left” messages are being written, or B) only “anti-left” messages are not being cleaned off, then there is no case for hostile work environment. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/105 "2019-02-07T20:46:56Z")
It would bother me, but I don’t have any useful advice about what I’d do about it. Probably nothing, as it sounds like that’s your only real option. At one of my work locations I have a coworker who listens to AM radio where Herman Cain and Rush constantly badmouth the left. This coworker will regularly making comments, to no one in particular, about how Democrats are ruining the country and how stupid someone has to be to vote Democrat. Why he thinks it’s OK to say this stuff in mixed company I have no idea, but it certainly makes the environment toxic. I understand voting for a certain political party is not a protected class, but come on. As an analogy, imagine if there was a bunch of rhetoric in a workplace about how people who buy foreign cars are ruining the country, how they’re stabbing their fellow Americans in the back and how they must hate America. Foreign cars still show up in small numbers in the parking lot but in the break room people still talk about idiots who buy Hyundais and assholes who buy BMWs. Then one day when “Buy American” stickers start show up around the office, people like HurricaneDitka will undoubtedly come along and say that anyone who complains about an innocuous sticker like that is being too sensitive and probably should just quit if it bothers them. It’s not the stickers, it’s that it’s clearly the a message tied to all the actual hateful words that get spewed in mixed company. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/106 "2019-02-07T21:04:09Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Sorry, but 1 second of thought led you down the wrong path. Just as you said, truck drivers spend the vast majority of their time _in the truck_. They are not, generally, behind the trailer writing crap in the dust. It is likely not the employees where **Czarcasm** works, either. If he could get busted for wiping it off because it’s outside his job description, then anyone there writing on the trailers would presumably be subject to the same - unless you’re hypothesizing a job description that includes “Write incendiary messages on the back door of dirty trailers”. In all likelihood, the writing is being done by dock workers at the delivery locations before or after the trailer has been loaded/unloaded or by random people while the truck is stopped and the driver asleep/out eating/in a movie/etc. > > All we know is the following: > > 1. Some trailers have political messages written on back > 2. Management has decided that removing said messages is not worth the expense of additional trailer washes. > > Everything else is unfounded speculation. As I said before, from my experience in the business, all manner of crap gets written on the back of trailers all the time. Unless **Czarcasm** can show that A) only “anti-left” messages are being written, or B) only “anti-left” messages are not being cleaned off, then there is no case for hostile work environment. If anyone is going to be behind the truck it will be the driver who has to do a walkaround inspection before leaving and after dropping it off in the yard. 1. Not some, but a majority have two specific political messages written on the back. 2. Management doesn’t seem to(or want to) recognize this as a problem, so they are not instructing employees to knock it off. All manner of crap gets written on these trailers all the time? I cannot recall ever seeing anti-right rhetoric graffiti on trailers, let alone to the extent I am seeing these two particular phrases. Now, as to this theory that all of these trailers are being temporarily defaced by “dock workers”. 3. These trailers go to many different docks up and down the west coast and several in the midwest, so are you claiming that there is some vast dockworker conspiracy going on here? 4. Why are all these dockworkers doing this to the trailers of one particular company, and not any of the others? I cannot “show” you that only “anti-left” crap is being written-you either believe that what I said is what is happening, or you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/107 "2019-02-07T21:21:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If anyone is going to be behind the truck it will be the driver who has to do a walkaround inspection before leaving and after dropping it off in the yard. > > 1. Not some, but a majority have two specific political messages written on the back. > … This doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it your current operating theory that many of the drivers have conspired together to write the same two slogans on a majority of the trailers? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/108 "2019-02-07T21:24:34Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it your current operating theory that many of the drivers have conspired together to write the same two slogans on a majority of the trailers? I am just describing what is happening. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/109 "2019-02-07T21:41:29Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it your current operating theory that many of the drivers have conspired together to write the same two slogans on a majority of the trailers? I’ll be honest - that sounds like the most probable explanation, given what I’ve heard here. They’ve got the means and opportunity. As to their motive, I’m honestly a bit suspicious that they _are_ deliberately trolling, because honestly why else would anybody do this? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/110 "2019-02-07T21:56:58Z")
There’s no big mystery here. They’re signaling their tribal loyalties to each other and as a bonus they’re threatening/intimidating people from the other tribe. And their employer is sympathetic to it. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/111 "2019-02-07T21:59:54Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Sorry, but 1 second of thought led you down the wrong path. And 1 second of thought should’ve told you don’t know enough to say this. As I said before, _it actually doesn’t matter who is doing it_. What’s with all the ink you’re giving this tangent? For all any us knows or cares, Becky from the McDonalds across the goddamn street is doing it. So the fuck what? The operative issue is management’s apathy towards these messages and what their persistence says about the organization’s culture. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/112 "2019-02-07T22:33:45Z")
Like the OP I drive a company vehicle while making a living and I drive through many areas that are politically diverse. I wouldn’t want political messages on my work vehicle because you never know who would see them and I don’t want to attract crazy people, I meet too many at work as it is. I totally endorse the idea upthread about wiping messages off with stashed push broom. If management gave me grief about thay, I would talk about professionalism, public image and safety. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/113 "2019-02-07T22:41:20Z")
> [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > Like the OP I drive a company vehicle while making a living and I drive through many areas that are politically diverse. I wouldn’t want political messages on my work vehicle because you never know who would see them and I don’t want to attract crazy people, I meet too many at work as it is. I totally endorse the idea upthread about wiping messages off with stashed push broom. If management gave me grief about thay, I would talk about professionalism, public image and safety. Unlike the previous poster I do _not_ drive a company vehicle-I am head of security at a trucking firm, and I don’t have time to waste walking around the yard and sweeping the backs of hundreds of trailers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/114 "2019-02-07T22:50:35Z")
Great. If you’re head of security, you are responsible for preventing unauthorized access to the trucks. Not sure how that keeps you from walking around the yard, but you know your job and I don’t. If you are head of security, then presumably you have a subordinate or two. And you even have some authority, as long as it involves security, over everyone in the yard. So, okay. Decide that security involves preventing unapproved graffiti on the trucks. The owners will have to agree with you, or approve the graffiti. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/115 "2019-02-07T22:53:16Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Democrat here, but I say…deal with it and be the better person. Their trucks, their message. Seriously, who gives a shit about bumper stickers? Its not like you’re changing hearts and minds with this. I don’t think it’s smart business on their part, but it is what it is. > > As long as no one is berating you personally, it’s business as usual. But if they start giving _you_ grief about your own beliefs, then its a hostile environment and time to get a lawyer. They’re not bumperstickers (at least as I understand it) – someone wrote something in the dirt on his truck. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/116 "2019-02-07T22:56:44Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > Great. If you’re head of security, you are responsible for preventing unauthorized access to the trucks. Not sure how that keeps you from walking around the yard, but you know your job and I don’t. > > If you are head of security, then presumably you have a subordinate or two. And you even have some authority, as long as it involves security, over everyone in the yard. > > So, okay. Decide that security involves preventing unapproved graffiti on the trucks. The owners will have to agree with you, or approve the graffiti. Done. I think I know my duties better than you do, and if management says it isn’t in my job description, and they don’t think it is a problem, so your so-called solution is done. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/117 "2019-02-08T00:41:40Z")
Hey Czarcasm. A trucking company with hundreds of trucks suggests loading docks. I suspect it’s just dock workers putting their little message on the back of the truck once it’s loaded. If there are hundreds of trucks, it must be quite a big firm. And I would assume you have quite a few dock workers. They probably come and go, and management is not concerned about it (I would be). Could you get management to agree to have you, as head of security, to post a few messages (bulletin boards whatever) in the loading dock area, that writing messages on the back of trucks is not permitted? If it is a big installation, I kind of doubt the drivers are doing this. They have other shit to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/118 "2019-02-08T00:53:33Z")
I’m not seeing how “as head of security” will make the the managers interested in him acting as a HR director. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/119 "2019-02-08T01:08:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > According to them I am the only one to ever bring it up, so what is there to orchestrate? Huh? Do you have friends who see the trucks and find them offensive? Encourage them to tell the company. That might be a bad idea in terms of your job security if your friends can be traced to you, but it’s surely not dishonest. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Man, I’m a Democrat and I’d be super uncomfortable if the company I worked for allowed something like “Republicans lie” on their public-facing property. Heck I’d be uncomfortable if someone posted it on the corkboard in the break room, even. > > I guess if you’ve reported it and no one cares, it is what it is ☹ Yeah, me, too. It would be a violation of my employer’s policy to do that, as well. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Unlike the previous poster I do _not_ drive a company vehicle-I am head of security at a trucking firm, and I don’t have time to waste walking around the yard and sweeping the backs of hundreds of trailers. Oh, I thought you had to drive these trucks. I wouldn’t want to drive a truck with a “sign” like that on it, and I WOULD wipe it off, and tell management that I was concerned both with the company’s public image and with my safety if someone complained. But if you’re not driving the truck, it seems less problematic. Would I be unhappy that management allowed that? Yes. I probably wouldn’t quit over it, though. And I’m pretty sure it’s legal. My guess is they could paint that on their trucks if they wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125/120 "2019-02-08T17:18:27Z")
This is the kind of shit that makes me go “reactionary”. That so many people seem happy to give complete powers of god to a boss. Maybe they secretly harbor desires to be in that position? Well my position (and it needs to be fully legislated) is to not be an asshole to your employees. All that should be required of an employee is to do their job; not support the bosses political party, or root for his son’s high school football team, or support his favorite charity, etc. Unless you, the boss, can do every task needed to run your business you will have to involve other sentient beings with opinions and desires and feelings. You do not get to abuse them. Fuck this “protected class” stuff, it ought to be inverted, an enumeration of what the boss “can” do to an employee , and it should be a very short list. Damn it already, can’t those who got a little further ahead in life just behave? Do we need to codify civility? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-hostile-work-environment-or-over-sensitivity/829125.md?page=7)