What constitutes harassment?

[D_Relentless Original]

Alright, who put this pubic hair on my Coke can?

~drinks it anyway~

\

:redface:

 

[nudeyorker]

Alright, who put this pubic hair on my Coke can?

~drinks it anyway~

There was an old Coca Cola slogan that went something like "Things go better with Coke", I'm not sure if that's what they had in mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttxy-bFwqVs

 

[invisibleman]

Alright, who put this pubic hair on my Coke can?

~drinks it anyway~

Those damn Coca-Cola drinkers.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

I didn't actually drink it. I just moved it aside. It was rather longish, red, and smelled of strawberry shampoo and mild vaginosis. Very easily traceable. You know who you are.

This "It's harassment if it feels like harassment" thing is bullshit. I'd be pretty pissed off if an overly-sensitive person got me fired because of an off-color joke or a bit of office flirting.

 

[Gillette]

And, as both myself and some of the definitions you quoted pointed out, it doesn't necessarily have to be repeated for it to qualify as harassment.

Them continuing to do it would make it actionable, in my opinion. It doesn't, however, mean that the initial act was any less "harassment".

Scrapping the Frasier episode and the UK one that doesn't offer any definition at all we're left with the following two points from my quote which don't mention repetition.

a feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented; "so great was his harassment that he wanted to destroy his tormentors"

Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behaviour. The term commonly refers to behaviour intended to be disturbing, and, when the term is used in a legal sense, it refers to behaviours which are found threatening or disturbing. ...

Just because person A feels harassed or finds something disturbing or threatening doesn't mean what person B said/wrote/did qualifies as harassment.

Here's a hypothetical.

Person A has been assaulted recently. They also use public transport to commute to work. While walking home at night they notice someone walking behind them who matches the size and build of their attacker. Person A feels disturbed and threatened by the other person's presence.

Does that mean the other person is harassing them?

What if this pattern persists for a couple of weeks but the other person remains completely unaware of person A's feelings. Is it harassment then?

This person lives two buildings away from person A and also commutes via public transport. He is not their attacker. If he is made aware of person A's feelings is he then required to use alternate transportation or a different route home? Change his work hours?

No.


On this site we have recieved complaints because a person felt harassed due to someone posting in the same threads as they had. Not disagreeing with them, nor even referencing them at all. Just posting in some of the same threads.

Horrors!

Feeling harassed alone does not qualify the behaviour as harassment.

 

[Gillette]

I'd be pretty pissed off if an overly-sensitive person got me fired because of an off-color joke or a bit of office flirting.

Fair warning. In the workplace that can happen.

Most, if not all businesses have policies regarding conduct covering behaviours of that sort that all employees are required to be aware of. Much like the ToS for LPSG. That's why single incidents can lead to harassment suits in the workplace. Your knowlegde of the policy is required so any infraction of said policy is deemed deliberate.

 

[Xcuze]

This "It's harassment if it feels like harassment" thing is bullshit. I'd be pretty pissed off if an overly-sensitive person got me fired because of an off-color joke or a bit of office flirting.

Quite. On this site members sometimes have alterior motives for crying foul. Harassments a good, strong word to cough up when u want someone banned. Its tactics.

Also, saying "if someone feels uncomfortable".. WTF! Sometimes people feel uncomfortable coz of their own paranoia & over-sensitivity. Why should another person be branded a harasser due to that? Thats BULL with a capital SHIT!

On this site we have recieved complaints because a person felt harassed due to someone posting in the same threads as they had. Not disagreeing with them, nor even referencing them at all. Just posting in some of the same threads.

Horrors!

Feeling harassed alone does not qualify the behaviour as harassment.

This rings a bell! A certain little squirt was trying to pull this crap with me. He seemed to think that I wasnt allowed to give an opinion on any thread that his sorry ass was on. So he'd whinge & report...

Funnily enough, I noticed the word "banned" under said squirts name just days later. How I wept.. :wink: with fucking joy!

Sadly, it was over a separate incident... Unless being an annoying crybaby is now a bannable offense too.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

This "It's harassment if it feels like harassment" thing is bullshit. I'd be pretty pissed off if an overly-sensitive person got me fired because of an off-color joke or a bit of office flirting.

Fair warning. In the workplace that can happen.

Indeed.

Many moons ago, when I still lived in Ireland, I had the (dubious :shhh pleasure of working for a few major American companies - when they started up in Ireland it was very common to import US middle management personnel (usually techies) to work with the Irish employees getting the subsid up and running (tho' top management remained 'native'). One such US employee was (shock, horror, mind you don't faint now) a black man. He was a very affable chap in his late 30s from Illinois. He chose to work in the open plan area with the rest of us so as not to appear aloof. His desk was next to the desk of a rather timid and homely 40-something lady from a small rural town. Being from where she was from, at that time (mid-90s), she had probably only ever seen black people on TV. (Ireland was a tad mono-cultural til about... oooooh lemme think, last Thursday ) She was terrified of him. Of course she had absolutely no reason to be, but she was. :frown1: He tried to assuage her fears by being friendly, cracking jokes and being self deprecating and so on. She complained to the top management on the Irish side that he was sexually harassing her and he was given the choice of going back to the US in a lower paid position or being fired. He quit before they could fire him. The man did nothing wrong at all - this stupid woman was just sexually intimidated by his skin colour. I was disgusted at the whole affair and quit the company soon after.

 

[B_cigarbabe]

SP I didn'tcome out to attack you , I suggested that all the Sr8t guy that you said were offending you in PM that lashing back out at them in public makes you appear to be the bully from someone who just became new to the chat. Pushing back fire with fire is not helping any, and its making the Chat room look like a violitile warfare. and you said that If I can't handle that that I should leave.


So everytime I chat on the site to even chat in the same space, I'm accuse of stalking you. Then yes I feel intimidated that I am not wanted.

Your friends tell me that I need to give you some time to show your soft side that you are not what you appear to be, and I can go along with that notion, that's why I spoke up about how you appear to me when you just got done demoralizing a person for whatever reason. When you talk harsh and insult harsh, then my postering to deal with you is going to be somewhat defensive. All the guys you complain about may have ended up there from self prophesizing the outcome with your attitude. A lot of people are afraid of you and then when you brag about how close you are to Kotch, makes them feel powerless to do anything about it.

As for the joking a ribbing that normally pass for entertainment. I am all for that, but its makes it hard to do that when there is real mean spirited intent in the Chat room. Kinds of ruin the fun for everyone.

There isn't a mean bone in Spoiled Princess' mouth Cowabanga you just didn't like that she wasn't going to discuss her daughters private business with you in front of the room.
Sorry Cowabanga but saying that Spoiled Princess is rude to anyone for no reason at all is a crock of shit. They only times Spoiled Princess, Patchy or I speak sternly to anyone in chat is because they have come in there calling names,almost always this is directed at the women when we don't want to private message with whatever guy wants to talk about his cock or they are homophobic towards the gay men in chat. We don't think we should have to tolerate that kind of nastiness anywhere. We haven't ever in the past nor will we in the future indulge in that kind of behavior you have described.
Spoiled Princess is extremely helpful and welcoming to all of the noobs nay to everyone regardless of their lpsg status. Unlike many of those who enter the chat room.
Starinvestor* Sorry to disabuse you of your notion of only drunks being in the chatroom's but that isn't the case starinvestor. I'm sure plenty of people drink while they are online including moderators but I don't see that as a problem.
As for xcuse trying to bait people into talking and naming names in this thread?
Why don't you and "the other guy" be the first ones since you've jumped in this thread and are so "gung ho" to find out.
Do tell your gossip!
cigarbabe:saevil:

 

[Xcuze]

As for xcuse trying to bait people into talking and naming names in this thread?
Why don't you and "the other guy" be the first ones since you've jumped in this thread and are so "gung ho" to find out.
Do tell your gossip!
cigarbabe:saevil:

Well someone beat me to it so I cant be the first, dear. Im not a follower so I missed my moment...

If youre referring to "little squirt" he's really not worth talking about. He vanished weeks ago so theres really no point dragging up his name. I was just using it to illustrate Gillettes point thats all.

Its not a juicy tale, trust me.

 

[invisibleman]

rec3000[/SIZE];1913674]Alright, who put this pubic hair on my Coke can?

~drinks it anyway~

There was an old Coca Cola slogan that went something like "Things go better with Coke", I'm not sure if that's what they had in mind.
YouTube - Things Go Better With Coke

Those damn Coca-Cola drinkers.

rec3000[/SIZE];1913728]I didn't actually drink it. I just moved it aside. It was rather longish, red, and smelled of strawberry shampoo and mild vaginosis. Very easily traceable. You know who you are.

<joking>Too late. Too late. You drank out of a Coca-Cola can wif a pubic hair on it. :biggrin1:</joking>

 

[Cowabanga]

Cigarbabe! I can't speak for the others, but from my own experiece of being in there on the first day, and I haven't use the PM to contact SP or Patchos, But took a right cross from them. For me if someone were to be lying about their penis size or sexual gender, I give them a benefit of the doubt before attacking, and even then why bother insulting over something you read over the net. It's not likely I'll meet anyone in RL, It's internet! I really dont care what they or anyone else think of me in regard to my penis size. I didn't name names, but SP took upon herself that she must be the target.

It's not worthy to mention names, because the temptation to turn this into a joke and humuliate are there for them to do as they please. I also see many that would take the low road and have fun ridiculing someone because they can and they are wittier and it makes for great entertainment. All I am saying the chat is what you make it to be, if someone irks you and you irk them back, there just going to be more of it and gets bigger and bigger. I have offer my friendship to anyone who wants to be my friend, and I don't care what thier ASL are.

I never said SP was rude to people for no reason, what I said was that fighting back being rude because they were rude is just making it look like a battlefield in the chat. I think that is where the difference lies between us. When I see people being rude for wahtever reason set an example of what pass ofr normal acceptable behavior in the Chat Room. And you winder why there are 10 good names of people who are on the fringe of violating the chat room. I didn't even know who anyone was and the first encounter I met was SP and it was not impressive and nothing at all of what everyone says she is all about. Now I certianly don't hold her the blame for the whole chatroom, as the people who complain about her could also be the one that started, so who do I know is the real culprit. That why from now on if anyone gets into a fight and harrass, that I'll be tuck away and copy and paste and let the mod figure it out. I am not taking the side of the whiner from either party. SP and Patchos can keep justifying to their heart content of the reason why they were rude to the guys that keep whatever they did to piss them off. Everyone is on a clean slate as far as I am concern, but as I get more aclimated, I'll know who is for real or BS.

 

[Gillette]

This rings a bell!

That bell gets rung with alarming frequency. I was actually thinking of an earlier incident when I mentioned it.

 

[Xcuze]

That bell gets rung with alarming frequency. I was actually thinking of an earlier incident when I mentioned it.

Well I never thought u were specifically talking about little me!

But it just resonated with me thats all..

 

[Ethyl]

Is one incident enough to be deemed harassment, or can there only be harassment if there are several incidents?

Dude, I only called twice. Relax, will you? :tongue: