ADVERTISEMENT

Things not to say at work....

so....work with an older engineer named Charlie. He is 78 years old, and has been around for a long time - a bit of a curmudgeon, and definitely not interested in keeping up with societal norms. He only works a couple of days per week, so he does not really interface much with the younger staff. He is also a bit of a rascal.

Yesterday, we had a small get together for a young lady who had announced her pregnancy. When he found out she was pregnant, Charlie, in his usual rascally self said "So, you got bit by the trouser snake, huh? Guess he hissed at you pretty good."

It got very quiet in the break room.

Charlie usually works on Fridays, but today, he is nowhere to be seen. Management said that he is taking an "extended time off" for the next couple of weeks.

Ouch.
Burgess Meredith / Grumpy Old Men?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SCBlueFan
When someone calls me “Sir”, I say that is not necassy because I was never an officer. The youngsters don’t understand.
 
I also use Ma'am and Sir when I speak to someone as a sign of respect, and also because if I did not I would have to duck to avoid my Father's hand swatting me on the back of my head. I recall giving him ample opportunity to teach me that lesson before he died in 1976.

I'm 61. When I was little we would always take the bus up to Steelton to go to the dentist. On the bus in Harrisburg my mom always made sure I gave up my seat if there was a lady who was standing. All mom would need to do was give me the look (Song remains the same, you know the look I mean) and I would jump. Fast forward to 15 years ago, the family took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. At Williamsburg they have buses that take you back and forth to the visitor's center where all the cars are parked. We are on the bus at the end of the day and the bus starts getting crowded. I notice a woman standing next to me and I feels mom's look (even though she is not there). I immediately get up to offer the woman my seat. My ex looks at me and says "What are you doing?" at the same time the woman says "Why are you doing that?" I kind of mumbled something about mom wouldn't let me sit while someone else is standing. She took the seat but both my ex and the other woman just watched me suspiciously the rest of the ride back to the visitor's center. Longest bus ride ever.
 
I'm 61. When I was little we would always take the bus up to Steelton to go to the dentist. On the bus in Harrisburg my mom always made sure I gave up my seat if there was a lady who was standing. All mom would need to do was give me the look (Song remains the same, you know the look I mean) and I would jump. Fast forward to 15 years ago, the family took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. At Williamsburg they have buses that take you back and forth to the visitor's center where all the cars are parked. We are on the bus at the end of the day and the bus starts getting crowded. I notice a woman standing next to me and I feels mom's look (even though she is not there). I immediately get up to offer the woman my seat. My ex looks at me and says "What are you doing?" at the same time the woman says "Why are you doing that?" I kind of mumbled something about mom wouldn't let me sit while someone else is standing. She took the seat but both my ex and the other woman just watched me suspiciously the rest of the ride back to the visitor's center. Longest bus ride ever.
Was the dentist Dr. Ebersole, or was he in Highspire?
 
I'm 61. When I was little we would always take the bus up to Steelton to go to the dentist. On the bus in Harrisburg my mom always made sure I gave up my seat if there was a lady who was standing. All mom would need to do was give me the look (Song remains the same, you know the look I mean) and I would jump. Fast forward to 15 years ago, the family took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. At Williamsburg they have buses that take you back and forth to the visitor's center where all the cars are parked. We are on the bus at the end of the day and the bus starts getting crowded. I notice a woman standing next to me and I feels mom's look (even though she is not there). I immediately get up to offer the woman my seat. My ex looks at me and says "What are you doing?" at the same time the woman says "Why are you doing that?" I kind of mumbled something about mom wouldn't let me sit while someone else is standing. She took the seat but both my ex and the other woman just watched me suspiciously the rest of the ride back to the visitor's center. Longest bus ride ever.

I'm the same way and I can't imagine why anyone would find it odd. We were at Disney World once and on a packed monorail leaving Magic Kingdom. My 7 month pregnant wife stood directly in front of the sole seated middle aged man. He never got up. I stared through him the entire ride and shared a couple words expressing my thoughts of him at the end. I still regret that's all I did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Limestone_Lion
I'm the same way and I can't imagine why anyone would find it odd. We were at Disney World once and on a packed monorail leaving Magic Kingdom. My 7 month pregnant wife stood directly in front of the sole seated middle aged man. He never got up. I stared through him the entire ride and shared a couple words expressing my thoughts of him at the end. I still regret that's all I did.
Maybe you don’t know the entire picture. Do you glare at every person who doesn’t “look” handicapped in the parking lot too? Shame on him but take the next bus if you have that much trouble.
 
rhea_hughes.jpg
That flag should have stayed on the ground.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bytir
18 years ago talking with two female co-workers. One says "I woke up with a sore throat this morning."
I asked "Did your husband wake up with a smile on his face?"

Co- worker 2 just bursts out laughing with # 1 just stands there with a puzzled look on her face for a few seconds before my question sinks in. Ah those were the days.
 
I'm the same way and I can't imagine why anyone would find it odd. We were at Disney World once and on a packed monorail leaving Magic Kingdom. My 7 month pregnant wife stood directly in front of the sole seated middle aged man. He never got up. I stared through him the entire ride and shared a couple words expressing my thoughts of him at the end. I still regret that's all I did.

Really not much more you could (or should) have done.
 
so....work with an older engineer named Charlie. He is 78 years old, and has been around for a long time - a bit of a curmudgeon, and definitely not interested in keeping up with societal norms. He only works a couple of days per week, so he does not really interface much with the younger staff. He is also a bit of a rascal.

Yesterday, we had a small get together for a young lady who had announced her pregnancy. When he found out she was pregnant, Charlie, in his usual rascally self said "So, you got bit by the trouser snake, huh? Guess he hissed at you pretty good."

It got very quiet in the break room.

Charlie usually works on Fridays, but today, he is nowhere to be seen. Management said that he is taking an "extended time off" for the next couple of weeks.

Ouch.
Well, I do hope you learned your previous lesson and did not hold the door open for her on her way out of the room. Seriously, how much offensive behavior can one "girl" be expected to endure in a day.
 
Last edited:
I'll bring this back to Penn State football...Probably about 15-20 years ago, the guy that runs the gates at the stadium (we'll call him Mr. Doe) was leading a state inspector around showing him some safety provisions to make sure that we were in compliance. It was one of those first games when the weather was still nice.

While walking from gate to gate with the guy from the state and another 2-3 people from PSU, a young girl (20ish) stopped him and said "Mr. Doe, here is the water you wanted." After she walked away, the state inspector turned to the other guys and said "must be nice to have something that looks like that bringing you waters all day". Mr Doe then told him "that's my daughter, xxxxxx". Dude from the state rushed thru the rest of the inspection and got the hell out of there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Limestone_Lion
I'm 61. When I was little we would always take the bus up to Steelton to go to the dentist. On the bus in Harrisburg my mom always made sure I gave up my seat if there was a lady who was standing. All mom would need to do was give me the look (Song remains the same, you know the look I mean) and I would jump. Fast forward to 15 years ago, the family took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. At Williamsburg they have buses that take you back and forth to the visitor's center where all the cars are parked. We are on the bus at the end of the day and the bus starts getting crowded. I notice a woman standing next to me and I feels mom's look (even though she is not there). I immediately get up to offer the woman my seat. My ex looks at me and says "What are you doing?" at the same time the woman says "Why are you doing that?" I kind of mumbled something about mom wouldn't let me sit while someone else is standing. She took the seat but both my ex and the other woman just watched me suspiciously the rest of the ride back to the visitor's center. Longest bus ride ever.
---
I understand why she is your ex.
 
I'll bring this back to Penn State football...Probably about 15-20 years ago, the guy that runs the gates at the stadium (we'll call him Mr. Doe) was leading a state inspector around showing him some safety provisions to make sure that we were in compliance. It was one of those first games when the weather was still nice.

While walking from gate to gate with the guy from the state and another 2-3 people from PSU, a young girl (20ish) stopped him and said "Mr. Doe, here is the water you wanted." After she walked away, the state inspector turned to the other guys and said "must be nice to have something that looks like that bringing you waters all day". Mr Doe then told him "that's my daughter, xxxxxx". Dude from the state rushed thru the rest of the inspection and got the hell out of there.
---
And I am sure they passed inspection!
 
Back in the 70s, I worked one summer as a teenager in a government electronics repair shop where all the full-timers were ex-military. You arrived in a smoked filled room with a stack of playboy mags next to an oscilloscope and a centerfold model pinned to the wall. At times and during lunch, some of guys would drink a beer or two.
The foreman was a well liked WWII vet but he was a little nuttso. Great guy but he had no boundaries with his lewd comments - he was essentially a master at one line porno jokes as well as the long ones. One of his fav things to do was to play Santa Clause and invite some of the women that passed by the shop to sit in his lap. Some took him up on the offer and others just blew him off. Everyone just considered it harmless fun.
Went back for a friendly visit sometime in the late eighties and I heard the foreman had retired, the mags and centerfold pics were gone and smoking indoors and anyone caught consuming alcohol on the job was terminated. Oh, and playing Santa would get you in plenty of hot water.
 
Maybe you don’t know the entire picture. Do you glare at every person who doesn’t “look” handicapped in the parking lot too? Shame on him but take the next bus if you have that much trouble.

I saw him stand waiting for 15 minutes then walk into the monorail car without the slightest issue, so I'm pretty confident he wasn't handicapped. And it wasn't a matter of her being able to handle it, it's the principle of the matter. Waiting for the next monorail would take as long as standing for the ride, so that would make no sense. Guess your on the side of lazy ignorant classless middle aged man, noted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nitwit97
I saw him stand waiting for 15 minutes then walk into the monorail car without the slightest issue, so I'm pretty confident he wasn't handicapped. And it wasn't a matter of her being able to handle it, it's the principle of the matter. Waiting for the next monorail would take as long as standing for the ride, so that would make no sense. Guess your on the side of lazy ignorant classless middle aged man, noted.
Never on the side of rude jerks. He may have been one. You sound like you have the ignorant and classless down to a tee though. You stared him down and still regret that's all you did. Get a grip.
 
  • Like
Reactions: crayfish67
Some may remember this. Several years ago, I think it was somewhere in the upper mid west. Local TV the day after a rather big snowfall didn't pan out. The female anchor was segueing to the weather guy and says, "What happened to that 8 inches you promised me last night?" They both lost it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: crayfish67
Never on the side of rude jerks. He may have been one. You sound like you have the ignorant and classless down to a tee though. You stared him down and still regret that's all you did. Get a grip.

Given that I was there and you were not, perhaps it would be reasonable to consider I weighed those "unknowns" you're so concerned with for his sake and found them lacking.

If you think holding people to a standard with respect to their treatment of women, or obviously pregnant women, or my own obviously pregnant wife, is a blemish on my character, then I'll wear it gladly. Good day.
 
I'm 61. When I was little we would always take the bus up to Steelton to go to the dentist. On the bus in Harrisburg my mom always made sure I gave up my seat if there was a lady who was standing. All mom would need to do was give me the look (Song remains the same, you know the look I mean) and I would jump. Fast forward to 15 years ago, the family took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. At Williamsburg they have buses that take you back and forth to the visitor's center where all the cars are parked. We are on the bus at the end of the day and the bus starts getting crowded. I notice a woman standing next to me and I feels mom's look (even though she is not there). I immediately get up to offer the woman my seat. My ex looks at me and says "What are you doing?" at the same time the woman says "Why are you doing that?" I kind of mumbled something about mom wouldn't let me sit while someone else is standing. She took the seat but both my ex and the other woman just watched me suspiciously the rest of the ride back to the visitor's center. Longest bus ride ever.
Funny....I was in Russia in 2006 and watched a russian comedy video on the Aeroflat flight over. It was kind of a Laurel and Hardy video with two Soviet era Russians dealing with Russian culture. One of the episodes was about giving up your seat on a bus to a gal.

A week later, coming home, I am in the Kaliningrad airport and it is empty. I sit with my wife and another couple and have a beer. After a while, I feel a tapping on my seat....keeps persisting. I look over, and I didn't notice the place had filled up. A guy standing next to my chair was tapping his foot on my chair. Next to him is his older mom. I immediately knew, from the comedy skit, he was telling me to get up and give her my seat. tapping his foot was a nice thing to do to not cause me embarrassment and I respect that. Later, I did some research and there is a very distinct pecking order on seats there. Old infirm, old, handicapped, pregnant, women of any age, healthy old man, Man, teenage kid, was pretty much the pecking order. As a healthy man, on public transportation, you rarely sat.
 
Given that I was there and you were not, perhaps it would be reasonable to consider I weighed those "unknowns" you're so concerned with for his sake and found them lacking.

If you think holding people to a standard with respect to their treatment of women, or obviously pregnant women, or my own obviously pregnant wife, is a blemish on my character, then I'll wear it gladly. Good day.
Point taken. I agree that may be unfair.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nits74
In my first job, my boss's boss ran the entire design group. This is back in the day when there were a lot of manual drafting tables intermixed with CAD stations on a very large, open floor with designers and engineers working communally. The "Chief" was originally a designer who worked his way through engineering school and he was hard-nosed but fair, and, well liked. He loved seeing good design and drafting practices and wouldn't tolerate sloppy work. He berated people for not following standards and best practices.

When he saw especially good work, he would acknowledge it by simply bellowing out: "NOW, THAT'S GOOD PUSSSSSYYYYYYYYYYY........." and he would drag it out just enough to be sure everyone around knew that he was appreciative of one's work. I can only imagine how that would fly today. I still use it once in a while when I hit a good drive on the golf course but refrain from taking it to the workplace.
 
I was in a meeting last year at work. After an hour+ talking about irrelevant things I sighed deeply without realizing it. Everybody looked at me and one of the people asked if I had something to say. I said, “Yes I do. While we’re sitting inside this office there are all kinds of things we could be accomplishing outside that door but we have no idea what the hell is happening outside that door because we’re in here talking about what we could do instead of actually doing it.”
That essentially ended the meeting and I have been included far fewer meetings since.
 
Last edited:
Funny....I was in Russia in 2006 and watched a russian comedy video on the Aeroflat flight over. It was kind of a Laurel and Hardy video with two Soviet era Russians dealing with Russian culture. One of the episodes was about giving up your seat on a bus to a gal.

A week later, coming home, I am in the Kaliningrad airport and it is empty. I sit with my wife and another couple and have a beer. After a while, I feel a tapping on my seat....keeps persisting. I look over, and I didn't notice the place had filled up. A guy standing next to my chair was tapping his foot on my chair. Next to him is his older mom. I immediately knew, from the comedy skit, he was telling me to get up and give her my seat. tapping his foot was a nice thing to do to not cause me embarrassment and I respect that. Later, I did some research and there is a very distinct pecking order on seats there. Old infirm, old, handicapped, pregnant, women of any age, healthy old man, Man, teenage kid, was pretty much the pecking order. As a healthy man, on public transportation, you rarely sat.

I remember us discussing that trip before you left for the adoption. How is the young lady doing?
 
I remember us discussing that trip before you left for the adoption. How is the young lady doing?
Wow....good memory and thanks for asking.

She is doing well. I did not realize the profound challenges a gal would have after being abandoned by her parents and institutionalized until age 14 months. So much of development is done in the time and science is unsettled on what it means. So there have been challenges. On the other hand, she just got accepted into a very good private school for high school, we did the father/daughter dance recently, and she gets confirmed into church this spring. No complaints.
 
Wow....good memory and thanks for asking.

She is doing well. I did not realize the profound challenges a gal would have after being abandoned by her parents and institutionalized until age 14 months. So much of development is done in the time and science is unsettled on what it means. So there have been challenges. On the other hand, she just got accepted into a very good private school for high school, we did the father/daughter dance recently, and she gets confirmed into church this spring. No complaints.
We had friends run into that with Russian adoptions. But both boys turned out pretty decent in the end. A few tough years though. They did the right thing--as did you.

And "regular" kids can have challenges too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Obliviax
Sad. Look at what we become. Now we all are forced to look alike. Having a outgoing personality in the work place is looked down upon. This PC stuff has evened the playing field for many if you know what I mean.
 
  • Like
Reactions: crayfish67
Wow....good memory and thanks for asking.

She is doing well. I did not realize the profound challenges a gal would have after being abandoned by her parents and institutionalized until age 14 months. So much of development is done in the time and science is unsettled on what it means. So there have been challenges. On the other hand, she just got accepted into a very good private school for high school, we did the father/daughter dance recently, and she gets confirmed into church this spring. No complaints.

I was paying attention since I had lots of experience in the areas you were heading into heading off to. I sent you a long list of dos, don'ts, and precautions while travelling in the FSU. IIRC yinz stayed at the Marriott Grand while in Moscow. I know a few other couples who brought a child back from Kz, 2 great experiences and 1 really bad one. Happy to see that yours worked out well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Obliviax
Sad. Look at what we become. Now we all are forced to look alike. Having a outgoing personality in the work place is looked down upon. This PC stuff has evened the playing field for many if you know what I mean.
No. What do you mean?
 
I don’t have the specific verbiage that was said. But about 5 years ago my corporation very proudly announced the hiring of a new corporate VP of Human Resources. The annual sales meeting or some other big deal meeting was scheduled for a week after this guy started. Apparently, as the rumor goes, he must have had too much to drink and propositioned some company woman at a cocktail mixer. This is the person who is supposed to lead the charge and ensure that the organization doesn’t do crap like that.
 
ADVERTISEMENT