Lol loosen up. It’s work, not life or death. I bet it’s possible to measure the amount of hours lost per year from staff being “unprofessional” too, but in the end if nobody had a sense of humour and fun then we’d all be boring drone morons and we’d lose even more hours per year from demotivation and topping ourselves.
Personally I recommend a revolution such that having fun and not drowning in “professionalism” aren’t freak occurences, but for now this’ll have to do.
When I read So I just ran around our facility in boxers I thought you were one of the cool kids, WW_III_ANGRY.
But then I went on to read it took $200 to get you to do this.
Now I just don’t know if you’re one of the cool kids or not =/
I work in a professional environment, and we definitely have our unprofessional moments. Generally everyone gets along quite well, which is amazing considering “everyone” is around 700 people in my office and another 400-500 working around town in other buildings or from home who pop in sporadically, so the place abounds with hijinks, but running through the building naked (or mostly naked)? A tenured employee could get fired if someone got pissed enough, even if it is damn near impossible to get fired once you’ve been tenured. One person getting offended and screaming sexual harassment is all it takes, and when you work with such large numbers there’s bound to be one.
Streak through a baseball game, or at a party with your friends. There’s a time and place.
Probably not…but within different degrees, depending on the kind of facility it is.
Do you work in the facility or do you live there albeit you did say ‘professionally’?
Would you have done it without the money? Could you have helped yourself or did something just come over you where you just had to answer to something greater within you?
Oh right, you’re talking about risks to your profession. Which means you’ve got it all backwards.
It’s not streaking that’s unprofessional, it’s sexual harrassment laws and suing in general that’s unprofessional.
Let me rephrase: it’s not streaking that’s irresponsible, it’s the culture of suing. Suing is all about denying any of the consequences of professionalism: “as long as you keep your accidents, breakdowns and silliness out of the workplace, that’s fine”.
It’s like professionalism means sweeping all its unwanted consequences under the rug. If work makes you want to run around in your boxers then damn well do it at work!
“Professionalism” needs to grow up and face itself.
I think you have that backwards, Silhouette. Professionalism is about maintaining that rug so that there are no consequences to be swept under it. Sadly, oftentimes, there are consequences that get swept under…like a boss or a higher-up abusing his/her authority by sexually harassing someone and getting away with it.
Sure, why not…but just remember there might be consequences. Is it possible that that person doesn’t get out too much and needs to have fun and a silly outlet for his/her excess energy? Aside from the $200, which best be saved - just in case.
"
So does the childish within us.
As the Good Book and the song -Turn Turn Turn says…To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Professionalism, Sil, is about maintaining a work environment in which everyone can be comfortable. If you are the kind of person who CAN’T be comfortable unless you’re running around in your underwear, a professional environment obviously isn’t for you. It’s not about keeping accidents, breakdowns, and silliness out of the workplace. Accidents are accidents, breakdowns happen and most people are actually pretty understanding, and silliness – what workplace doesn’t have some? Silliness is fine in a professional environment. Like the day a lady on my team stole a stuffed monkey from my boss’s desk, tied it up, took a picture, and left a ransom note. Just a little silly, we got a kick out of it, and notice it required no one being naked.
In my personal life, I don’t put much stock in what does or does not offend other people. I can’t care enough to worry about it. In my professional life, though, it is a necessary evil. I have to work with these people, after all, I wouldn’t want them doing anything that made me so uncomfortable I was distracted from my job, now would I? It’s only fair to return the same courtesy. That’s called professionalism.
I’m kicking myself for making a serious point out of such a light-hearted thread! But now I’ve started I just can’t stop…
Y’know I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. What we today call the “professional environment” is totally not suited to me, but apparently I don’t have a choice - I can’t (legally) live without a professional means to money to afford my means to live, which necessitates a “professional environment”.
So there’s two ways to resolve this problem: either I change or it changes.
The latter is somewhat more complicated, but I realised something a long time ago when I questioned what professionalism is ultimately for.
Which is the more fundamental human need? - to work or to live off the fruits of such work? Obviously the answer is the latter, you can’t work or do anything if you don’t live off the fruits of work i.e. you’re dead. But the second we reverse this, with the observation that “fruits of work are dependent on the quality and quantity of work”, we run the risk of forgetting why we work at all. Making too much of a fuss about “professionalism”, i.e. putting work first, necessitates that “we must mould ourselves around work” rather than moulding work around us. And this is the precise point where we volunteer ourselves as “slaves to principles”, as opposed to the ends of the process of work: we work for ourselves - NOT for the principle of professionalism. Herein lies how everything is structured around work to the point where play is almost a “sin”, making people feel “uncomfortable”.
So I’m sorry ladies, AR and BS (lol, did you notice how BS is next in the alphabet sequence to AR? ), I cannot condone my changing to fit in with professionalism and I’m going to have to stick hard and fast to changing professionalism around me (and the rest of you as well if you’re in too?).
With what I just said in mind, if you can’t deal with a little bit of discomfort then there’s something pretty wrong and decadent to you (lacking a sense of humour?) - perhaps most likely the result of growing up in an environment where the status quo is servitude to principles and forgetting it is US who professionalism is supposed to work for - not the other way around.
Well the owner of the company laid down the terms and we’re not a small company, we wheel and deal with major corporate accounts. But it flies if you’re good lookin you say huh =D>