This ain’t no big deal. Let it ride. I mean, what if it were a homosexual receptionist listening to Melissa Etheridge or Elton John? What if it were a Black Pride receptionist listening to a reggae station? What if it were an atheist receptionist listening to a Madalyn Murray broadcast from the 1960s? If that’s cool, then so is the Christian station.
That would be Clear Channel.
It’s not so much that it’s Christian talk radio exactly, it’s more that this individual has shown herself to be extremely intolerant of anyone not her race, language, creed or sexual orientation, and a lot of what I hear on these shows just affirms and justifies intolerance of “otherness.” The hypocricy is what irritates me. Also it seems like there is some self-aggrandizement/posturing type thing going on.
racinchikki, you have it much worse than I ever will. Thus supporting the assertion that I am simply being petty.
Siege, it sounds like you are not only a Christian, but a person with some empathy. This individual seems so concerned with what offends her
and is not proper that I doubt she has the ability to place herself in someone else’s shoes long enough to realize that perhaps *she * is offending someone.
There are certain things I enjoy doing that I would never bring to the workplace because I know they would offend someone–okay, probably everyone.
jsgoddess, I like your style. I am going to do just as you suggest. After all, only I can allow myself to be irritated or not. I choose how to react.
Concerning the state agency issue, I think it looks (or, sounds) bad to have anything playing at the front desk except maybe some very low volume classical.
But, I am in the Bible Belt and no one appears to mind but me.
I do listen to my own music at my desk (jazz or classical) but I am pretty much off by myself and there’s no one to irritate, more’s the pity.
htns, please. You ought to know that homosexual receptionists listen to Bronski Beat. Elton John is for homosexual accountants. You big silly.
Melissa Etheridge is another thing, though I’d think Alix Dobkin would be somewhat more to the point. If the position included secretarial duties, however, Holly Near would of course be de rigueur.
Please try to be a bit more au fait about these things in the future. Thank you.
matt_mcl
(who as a homosexual translator naturally goes in for the Pet Shop Boys and the early oeuvre of Tori Amos)
I thought it was pretty good too.
It’s not so much that it’s Christian talk radio exactly, it’s more that this individual has shown herself to be extremely intolerant of anyone not her race, language, creed or sexual orientation
It sounds to me that this is more about you having an agenda because you don’t like her beliefs, rather than the radio itself, and it probably wouldn’t have even crossed your mind to complain if she were listening to something you agreed with. Your feelings about her beliefs may or may not be justifiable, but no matter how you slice it you’re going to come across as a control freak. Especially since you only hear it when you’re away from your office. I’m not downing you for being irritated, few people want to hear anything that attempts to contradict what they already believe. It’s human nature. I know I wouldn’t be thrilled if I had to listen to Al Franken at work
OTOH, it’s a radio show. She’s not spreading rumors about you and the Xerox repairman. She’s not sitting around talking about how Hitler was just misunderstood. It’s a radio show, for Pete’s sake. One you happen not to like. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing You’re free to do your thing at work, and so is she (barring nutty stuff, of course). Nobody has the right to NOT be offended or annoyed at work. That’s what work IS. Working with people you’d never hang out with and getting pissed off at them regularly 
At any rate:
What a fantastically underhanded and cowardly way of dealing with workplace problems.
I agree with this. If you do end up complaining, have the balls to do it out in the open. There is nothing worse than a coworker who won’t be straight with you, and instead runs tattling to the boss. That shit should stop around the 4th grade. And it’s doubly insulting to even run to the boss first thing, anyway. You’re a big girl and so is she. Why not confront her yourself, nicely?
You assume she’ll get pissed, and you could very well be wrong. You can take it when someone confronts you, can’t you? If someone has a problem with you, you’ll listen and consider their side of things, right? Why assume that she’ll get all mad, then, when you haven’t even tried talking to her? Have you seen her get pissy in the past in similar situations, or do you assume that, because she’s not like you ideologically, that she’s not like you in any other way, either?
If you’re nice about it and tell her that you wanted to work this out between the two of you since you know she’s a “reasonable woman” instead of dragging the boss into it, she may actually turn the radio down and that’d be the end of it. She might appreciate that you operated under the assumption that she can be reasoned with one-on-one and that you didn’t try to jeopardize her job (which is an extremely shitty thing to do, and that’s usually what someone IS trying to do when they go complain to the boss about a coworker). In short, I think with this situation you can get more flies with honey. Everyone likes to be given the benefit of the doubt.
Then in the end everyone’s happy. She turns down her radio out of consideration for you, and she still gets to listen to her show (at a reasonable volume, between the hours of 9 and 11 …) .
Wow! siege said JUST what I wanted to say (and would have too, if I weren’t under the influence of cold medicine).
I started a post to agree with the OP, and it came out sounding something like “me too, me hate dumb preacher men, even though me christian”.
Needless to say, I deleted it. 
Actually, that’s exactly the kind of behaviour which has put people I’ve known off Christianity. I have some ties to the local Pagan community, and one reason some of them actively dislike Christianity or at least Christians is because of people who, as I put it, say “Jesus” every other word but are quick to condemn anyone who isn’t just like them. A lot of these people are odd ducks who, like me, simply are no good at being just like everyone else. I know I’ve tried and failed miserably each time. I know someone who has the local Christian radio station on, yet shows cruel, bigoted, intolerant attitudes drives people away from Christianity. It’s happened to friends of mine, and it nearly happened to me. They may make converts to Christ, but I’m afraid my nature is so different from someone who would be converted in such a way that I wouldn’t know.
Regina, thanks to this message board, I’ve become an old hand at fighting fire with fire when it comes to religion. It is sneaky and underhanded or subtle and gentle, depending on what spin you’re putting on it, but you could try this. Leave selected Bible verses on her desk such as Mark 7:6-8, Jesus quoting Isaiah:
Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus speaking again, right before He gives us The Lord’s Prayer:
(By the way, Matthew 6:7-8 contains a useful argument to those who are fond of speaking in tongues.) Matthew 23 also has some passages which might be of use.
Finally, I’ll give you my own attitude towards public displays of Christianity, even though I’m acutely aware of the irony. This is something I’ve written and would like to see published some day, but it’s also a very accurate representation of what I want my life and my faith to reflect:
Written December 2001 by the poster known on the SDMB as Siege
By the way, all Bible passages are from www.biblegateway.com. They’re one of the better reference sites I’ve found for Biblical matters.
CJ
We have a full blown Christian Choir in our atrium during the holidays. Lots of 'em. In robes! I just shuffle past to the cafeteria. It doesn’t happen in the actual work environment, but it’s just so in-your-face. But I get past it.
If I were you, I’d invest in a little Walkman. That way, your tunes can drown out her station. And I’ll bet your day will be a bit brighter.
You’d be surprised.
I once temped as receptionist for the executive offices of a large, private hospital in Hawaii. The office manager once made mention that music at the receptionist’s desk wasn’t “professional” (some other issues, obviously - she and I had some differences in opinion, but as she wasn’t in my CoC I let them roll off my back).
“Classical music is not professional?”
“Well…”
“You are the CEO’s secretary. I’m an NPR junkie and I hear the ads…just how much money does Kapi’olani give to NPR every year?”
“…”
End of issue.
As for Christian radio…I 'unno. I’m not a huge fan of noise near my own workstation - if it’s loud enough for me to pay attention to it it’s too loud and, therefore, detracts from my work. Does the receptionist’s radio detract from your work? No? Let it roll off your back. Does your neighbor’s C&W detract from your work? Yes? Talk to your boss.
An annoyance is annoying but it shouldn’t be a make-or-break job issue, y’know?
How about recording an hour of the radio broadcast, putting it on a CD (or tape if that’s the kind of stereo she has at her desk), and embedding a few “secret messages” in the audio? When she’s away from her desk on a break or at lunch, you switch in the doctored recording; she won’t notice the difference, probably. But then, fifteen or twenty minutes later, a low, whispering voice comes out of the radio: “Marjorie (or whatever her name is), God wants you to burn down the office and release your co-workers from their damnation…”
Note: Don’t actually do this.
If this was my company and I was the boss, I’d put a stop to it pretty damn quick.
But it ain’t my company and it’s not yours either. The boss seems OK with it, so I’d let it slide if I was you
Yes, I thought it was cool, too. Kudos.
I don’t think it untoward to ask for something nonsectarian be played. There are a lot of very neutral music stations available, ranging from clasical to big band/swing to soft pop blending anything from the 50s to the 90s that are programmed for offices.
As a pagan, I dont preach to anybody, and I seriously resent being preached at in a work environment. What I do in my spare time away from work is nobodies business. I dont care if you are a moonie, scientologist, catholic or the worst bible-pounding god-botherer ever born in southern Oklahoma. Heck, I have a wonderful marage with my husband and he refers to his episcopalianism as either catholic light or the scots heresy depending on his whim… and a very catholic friend of mine jokes we have promised that if I don’t try to feed him to the lions, he won’t try to burn me at the stake =)
I don’t know if you should approach the receptionist first, or management…I would probably be as nonconfrontational as possible and ask politely to change the station. I do realize we have religious freedom here, but I dont think it should mean that you are enabled to make people in your work environment uncomfortable. I know I wear no pagan oriented clothing or jewelry, and have no wierd piercings though for a time my hair was accidentally dyed purple=)
Thanks for the input, everyone. It has been extremely helpful. Especially jsgoddess and Siege. It was important to me to know what a variety of people thought. I am going to do nothing for now and try to practice my own tolerance.
AC, you’re a bit off. “it probably wouldn’t have even crossed your mind to complain if she were listening to something you agreed with?” “few people want to hear anything that attempts to contradict what they already believe?” How do you know what I believe?
Anyway, I think everything has pretty much been said. Thanks again, folks.