Friday, July 24, 2009

Harassment at work

Are you being harassed at work? Do you even realize that you might be a victim of such harassment?

Let me ask you a few questions then…

=> Do you feel uneasy coming to office and meeting with your peers and boss?
=> Do you hate going out anywhere, even to a lunch, with them?
=> Do you feel like you have been trapped with no means out every time you come to work?
=> Do your peers or boss, make sexual based jokes and comment on women/ men’s physical attributes in mixed company, making you feel uncomfortable?
=> Do they tease you “with” other men/ women, at your work place, to the extent that you are not comfortable talking to that person even on official business, making your work life and efficiency suffer?
=> Do they use unparliamentary words that leave you feeling disgusted?
=> Do you have to worry about your clothes as you will be getting off colour comments on them?
=> Do they find nothing wrong with their behavior despite your telling them you are not amused by it?
=> Have you or your associates been penalized for complaining about this behavior?

These are just a paltry set of questions, but if your answer is YES to any/all of the above questions then you are being harassed at work place. And its time to take some action!
It is unethical, unprofessional and definitely illegal.

Why am I suddenly talking about this topic? I read this great book called “ Emotional Intelligence to Survive and Prosper – Coping with Toxic Managers, Subordinates… and other difficult people” By Roy H. Lubit, M.D., Ph.D.

Its only as I read this book that I realized some of the things I was feeling was not just unique to me, but an universal problem. Ironically, I didn’t even realize what I was facing until I read the book, thinking that I was just me who is feeling miserable.

Do you know that upto 50% women and 10-20% men are harassed at their work place.

Please put a stop to this. Its your right!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My foray into violence

Hmm!!! Can I call it a foray... not sure, but this is the first time I came eyeball to eyeball with violence.

I have written about how much violence disgusts, pains, shocks blah blah blah before. But for the first time it frightened me and I was not even directly involved.

I never realized how much the TV and News papers distances the happenings around the world until yesterday.

I was leaving for home in a metro bus listening to Jagjit Singh, when I realized some disturbance behind me. I was too immersed in my own thoughts to even turn and see.

The stage came and the TC got in to check our tickets when there was a shout and the sounds of a person getting hit. There was this guy being hit and kicked by three other guys. And the hitee was actually inciting them to hit him some more. Then the four guys got back into the bus and the hitee started loudly demanding that the bus be turned towards the nearest police station. When the conductor did not heed, he went straight to the driver and started pulling him off his seat.

Now another concerned traveler got into this foray and started pulling the hitee away. When he refused to listen, the traveler too started hitting the man.

By now my eyes started burning and I realized that I was watching the whole thing without blinking. So I blink, only to find that the hitee had pulled out a knife and was brandishing it in front of the traveler, threatening to stick it into him.
My God! Do things like this actually happen in real life???

The hitee was boasting that he had been to jail twice before for knifing someone and did not have any problems going once more and screaming at the traveler for hitting him.
And in another blink, the traveler had pulled the knife from the hitee and thrown the man out of the running bus. The hitee calmly got up, brushed himself and went away.

I was staring at the whole thing wide eyed, open mouthed and scared witless.

Trust me when I say, violence in real life is much more horrific and unrealistic than when seen through the TV. *phew*

Monday, July 20, 2009

Idyllic weekend

Think of this….

A Saturday evening, you have pop corn and juice and pillows all set up. Its raining outside and you can smell the wet earth (mmm!). You have nothing in your mind except that its Sunday the next day and no work. The lights in your room are dim and the system is showing movies …

1. Pride and prejudice (How many ever times I read and see the movie, I adore Darcy.. clichéd but so what ?

:-)… I even had my copy of the pride and prejudice and was checking out my favorite quotes)
2. Emma (Another Jane Austen. Not quite my favorite but still a fine one)
3. Ever After – A Cinderella story
4. You’ve got mail (God knows how many times I have seen this movie.. love Meg Ryan in this)
5. Kate and Leopold (Hugh Jackman. Need I say more..sighhhh!!!)

6. The Wedding Date (The hero tells the heroine and I quote " I would rather fight with you than make love with anyone else"... wowow!)

… dreaming a bit, smiling a bit and loafing a bit. :-)

And lets not forget the books rented from the library ….

Oh Yeah! Idyllic indeed… and this is exactly what I did last saturday :-) ...