Signs, signs, everywhere are signs
Over on his site The Gamer’s Nook, Scott talks about taking down a sign that had been displayed on his blog for awhile.
It’s interesting that he took down his sign at this time. On Thursday morning, I walked into my office and discovered that the “Attack Iraq? No!” bumpersticker I’d taped to my door—the same one that Scott just removed—had been taken down. As I walked around the corner to get some coffee, my manager called me into his office and informed me that HR had received complaints about the display of my political statements (I’d also drawn a flag at half-mast and upside-down on the whiteboard outside my office, which had been erased early that morning).
I note that neither my manager nor the HR director personally disagrees with me about Dubya’s war. And I also note that the company—which obtains the majority of its income as a federal contractor—does have policies which probably support the removal of my materials. On the other hand, that bumpersticker had been on my door for months, and I’d drawn the flag on Monday morning after the Azores meeting. BTW, that flag was more of an impressionistic US flag than a faithful copy. For instance, my hand-drawn stars were blue dots on a white field, and there were fewer than 13 stripes.
What bugs me in this incident is that whoever it was who complained took it right to HR instead of saying something to me. I probably would have taken down the (no longer really meaningful) bumpersticker and erased, or at least revised, the flag. Maybe not half-mast, maybe right side up. I would have asked the complaintant whether he/she knew that an inverted flag indicates distress.
One of the people I deal with at work quite often is a former intelligence operative with US forces in Europe. He certainly disagrees with many of my opinions on the war and on politics in general. We’ve talked and argued and agreed to disagree about current events while sitting in my office, with the bumpersticker and flag right there. He has never uttered a word of objection to the existence of my displays. Why couldn’t the anonymous complainers have shown me the same level of respect?
Comments
That’s so freakin’ sad. I worry that there will be a backlash against us anti-war folk; just read warblogger sites for the venom.
:/
I don’t want to make too big a deal of my experience. As I said, what I’d put on my door and my whiteboard at the very least stretched, and quite possibly exceeded, the existing company policies. As I told the HR director, I was about 1/3 angry and 2/3 amused that someone(s) in our company would be so petty.
I don’t see much in the way of backlash here, though I’m well aware that Seattle isn’t typical of America. After all, our Congressman is “Baghdad Jim” McDermott, one of only 11 Reps who voted against that “Support Dubya (and, oh by the way, the troops)” resolution. And Jim will take next to zero flak for that in his district.
Scott, it is not as if we aren’t already vilified by the Hannitys and Limbarfs of the world.
I relate to your story. I’ve been in your shoes in my workplace. Knowing that the others are too chicken-shit to approach the “liberal radical” sort of made me giggle. Pfffffft on them.
Robin, my current plan in this effort is two-fold:
a) Use cartoons (Tom Tomorrow, Doonesbury, Tom Toles, and the like) to express things in less direct ways. Parody and satire is always an effective tool.
b) Be passive-aggressive and report to HR if I see displays that offend me. Thankfully, there isn’t likely to be very much of that, as my workplace is full of healthcare, public health, and academic types.
Come to think of it, this second approach was suggested to me by my manager. He’ll be on the lookout for such stuff too.
PP—true, too true.
N—great idea; I’d complain, too.
It makes me glad that I work in a progressive company . . .
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