I’m four months away from retirement as a contractor in IT. i.e. I could simply find another contract and, heaven forbid, I can’t, I’m still good.
It means I can joke around with them all I want, and do. In fact, sometimes I have to remind THEM that I have HR on speed dial. :D
Those of us over 40 (both sexes) actually joke about “warning” each other that we have HR on speed dial. We think the whole thing is absurd. But then, we’re from a different era and like joking around with each other and have nothing to hide.
That being said, there still are women in my age group that you DON’T joke around with. We all know who they are. :)
But life’s too short to worry about this nonsense.
At a former employer, a woman used the ‘sexual harassment’ ploy to climb the corporate ladder. Until she used it on the wrong man.......................
Forty is the age one can claim age discrimination. When I turned 40, I received a laminated handicap parking sign in my office mailbox with the caption Happy Birthday Old Timer.
A few seconds later, the HR director walked in. I told her that I had a problem and showed it to her.
She kept going between laughing and apologizing.
I told her that I needed her help. The HR Director at a rather large subsidiary of a publicly owned company actually sent an email to the “harrassers” notifying them that they had been implicated in a harassment complaint and needed to see her right away.
It was awesome. I saw my boss get his email and go pale, then he said “Your name’s not on the lost and if there’s any harassment going on, you’d be part of it.”
Another guy actually walked into her office and turned in his resignation on the spot.
Wow, talk about a great response. I walked in a minute later and we all got a great laugh.
Good times. As it should be. They didn’t let him quit,