The Water Cooler

7:54 AM

@RichardU flip side is, in germany, that leave would be paid sick leave, so in a sense, the boss would pay for it :p

9:23 AM

@enderland I just made some changed to this question when I realised your answer addressed the "mentally ill" part of it that I removed. Should I roll that part of the edit back?

Pete

10:06 AM

That question has been dead for the past 18 months and the OP hasn't come back in that time. Was there a need for an edit?

Richard U

12:26 PM

@Magisch believe me, I know what employers can do. A previous employer of mine caused my stroke.

Christopher Estep

@Lilienthal Roll back the other part too. "Google office" isn't a standard or generic term. An open office is. Heck, I didn't even know Google used open offices. But I know what an open office is.

Lilienthal

@ChristopherEstep Roll it back or preserve that edit if I roll back the change to "mentally ill"? I already replaced "Google office" with an open plan office.

Christopher Estep

OH, I read it backwards lol. It's still morning here. Let me check again.

I like the edit. I'd keep it.

calling someone "mentally ill" who's a problem is (to me) like saying "that's gay" when you think something is dumb. It's a slur that causes the actual word to lose some of its meaning.

@Pete Was there a "need" ? Maybe not, but calling someone who's a difficult person mentally ill is deserving of an edit. And it's not like she's doing it because she wants rep or a badge. :)

enderland

12:44 PM

@MaskedMan I have indeed avoided specifying so far but since you ask, "he" is correct. :) — Lilienthal ♦ Feb 15 at 13:10

Christopher Estep

Damn it. He then. Apologies. :)

Weird, the avatar it shows me in chat is the anime one but not when I click the profile.

(and fwiw, the damn it isn't at him being a he, it's me getting something wrong. I hate being wrong)

Magisch

1:02 PM

@enderland I just came to realize I never even knew

for some reason it never came up

Lilienthal

@Magisch Perhaps because it ultimately isn't important? :)

Magisch

@Lilienthal You're right, really isn't in the workplace context

mind you, I don't really care either way

@Lilienthal Interestingly, here they refer to you as "he'll be joining..."

:P

enderland

@Magisch workplace.meta.stackexchange.com/posts/4323/revisions

Magisch

1:17 PM

Did I miss some controversy over this

Christopher Estep

1:33 PM

Honestly, I think I made the assumption because the tiny little avatar I'm seeing looks female. Which is why you never assume.

Lilienthal

2:11 PM

@ChristopherEstep I thought I removed my avatar, are you still seeing it somewhere? Or were you talking about a while back?

Christopher Estep

From your profile it looks like you did, but SE appears to be caching it for some reason.

Lilienthal

Yeah I'm aware that they do but I'd have expected any kind of caching to have been updated ages ago... Curious.

Ah, could actually be your client side cache though.

Magisch

@Lilienthal I think you need to click on the "Update profile info" link in the network profile to make it actually propagate

Masked Man

@ChristopherEstep Lilienthal's avatar is not the anime one, it is the default SE picture. Perhaps you were referring to me?

Magisch

I'm slowly losing track of this whole thing

not that I care a lot to begin with though so ah well

Masked Man

2:18 PM

or maybe I don't see it. Never seen an anime avatar on his profile.

enderland

I think the http --> https switch has wrecked havoc on chat avatars

Christopher Estep

that's what I see

Masked Man

That reminds me I need to get back to Anime.SE some time soon. My Workplace.SE reputation has overtook my Anime.SE reputation a couple of months ago, with ~~Sidebar Garbage Dump~~ Hot Network Questions expediting the process. ;-)

enderland

--- is for ~~strikethrough~~ in chat fyi

Masked Man

@enderland Hmm, nice, didn't know that. Thanks.

enderland

2:25 PM

@MaskedMan one of the many different quirks of markdown... 10 ways to do everything

Masked Man

Not sure what's the point of giving multiple options to achieve the same thing ... but I guess C++ led the way there. :P

@ChristopherEstep Never saw that, interesting.

Richard U

Wow, turn my back for a few minutes and ....

Though at this point I would prefer do-it-yourself dentistry to the project I am working on

SPavel

@MaskedMan It's a three step process

1) User feedback monkey identifies a complaint that doing X is hard

2) Company makes it easier to do X

3) Grogs complain that the change to X ruined their workflow, so company makes both options enabled

enderland

2:51 PM

I don't really know how you are going to get this answered meaningfully. Can you clarify what you are trying to ask so that it is less opinion-like and more actionable? Questions asking "what do you think?" aren't really a good fit for SE. — enderland ♦ 6 secs ago

am I missing something why that's not 100% opinion based?

Christopher Estep

"appropriate" is, by definition, opinion. But then so is almost every answer we give.

SPavel

I think answers we give are less "opinion" and more "based on my knowledge and experience as a professional"

Which sounds similar, but isn't really.

Christopher Estep

MY concern about company "sanctioned" prayer is that it could create a hostile work environment for anyone not wanting to participate.

enderland

I think there's also a difference here in "sanctioned prayer" vs "saying thanks for a meal"

Some sort of "thanks" is a lot different than "every morning at 9am, we all get together and do a company prayer"

Richard U

I want to be given breaks five times a day so I can face Mecca and pray. actually, I'm not Muslim, I just want the five breaks

Christopher Estep

3:00 PM

It's still a prayer because if it weren't, they wouldn't feel compelled to do it.

The real question would be whether one would be permitted or made to feel uncomfortable if they didn't wait for said prayer.

Richard U

@ChristopherEstep I'm joining all the world's religions so I can take every day off.

Christopher Estep

One of the oddest experiences for me was when I was visiting a client and the meeting opened in prayer. The client was the LDS Church (Mormon) and it the meeting was at their HQ. Perfectly reasonable given the organization but it's still odd to see in a business setting.

Masked Man

@RichardU I want to carry a kirpan and wear a burqa to office. I am neither Sikh nor Muslim, but it feels kinda badass to do that. ;)

enderland

3:20 PM

I edited that question a bit

I think the core question they are trying to ask is good

Feeds

3:31 PM

0

Q: What is our policy on spinoff questions?

There have been a number of instances when someone posted a question which was "inspired" by another question, especially questions thrown into the Sidebar Garbage Dump Hot Network Questions. The community's response to such spinoffs has been somewhat inconsistent. Some such spinoffs were found a...

enderland

I edited this a bit because I think what you are asking can be on topic here. I'm not sure how to better edit it though. — enderland ♦ 2 mins ago

Masked Man

3:44 PM

@enderland A daily team prayer sounds like a great example of a team bonding activity to support my answer here.

10

A: Is it ethical to make my team pay for a team bonding activity after work?

This sounds like a fantastic idea for team bonding ... except that it will work differently from what you expect. To make it more effective, choose an activity that costs an exorbitant amount but nobody likes, make it mandatory and do it after work hours. This would ensure that the team members...

Masked Man

4:26 PM

Finally!

A question from Skeptics in Sidebar Garbage Dump that 1. is a stupid claim 2. mentions 9/11 3. mentions a bazillion terrorist attacks AND has no mention of Donald Trump.

43

Q: Have there been more than 27,000 Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11?

I was browsing a hashtag on twitter (#StepsToReverseClimateChange to hopefully find how I can help myself), and saw a post by someone with this image attached: The image reads: More than 27,000 Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 More ice in 2015 than ever Tell me again whic...

islam terrorism

Christopher Estep

But what about Godwin? Doesn't anyone care about Godwin anymore?

Masked Man

@ChristopherEstep Trump is the new Hitler apparently.

Christopher Estep

4:46 PM

You should put the Godwin's of the 21st century. "Thanks Obama"

Richard U

@ChristopherEstep Only the Nazis would mention Godwin

Most of the crap we see now are memes filled with half-truths at best, outright lies at worst

Masked Man

@RichardU New question coming up on Skeptics: Is it true that most of the crap we see now are memes filled with half-truths at best, outright lies at worst?

2

Richard U

@MaskedMan LOL! Do you remember the "Performance review" generator on Dilbert.com? "Mr Jones has never been caught sleeping on the job. Many of his coworkers have commented on his work. Mr Jones demonstrates the importance of good hiring practices and the possibility of hiring more people like him should be discussed immediately".

Christopher Estep

7:26 PM

This question was edited by @enderland after almost all of the close votes and imho deserves another look.

21

Q: How appropriate is company-sanctioned prayer?

For reference, I'm in the US, in a particularly religious part of the country. I've noticed that at my company, nearly any time we have a meal during work (such as a conference or office party), whoever's speaking will lead the entire room in a (very much Christian) prayer or blessing before we ...

united-states company-culture

Christopher Estep

9:10 PM

@enderland Any chance JavaGuru is trying to just game the system for some reason? Look at his questions. He's been here 6 days though I can't imagine why anyone would. Just seems peculiar.

SPavel

For precious points?

enderland

@ChristopherEstep those questions seem.. difficult to pull off in a week

Monica Cellio

10:07 PM

@enderland I know people who end every pre-meal blessing with "in Jesus's name, amen". That is quite problematic for me, enough that I would leave the room if I knew in advance. I can thus imagine how any prayer or blessing -- which is, implicitly, to one or more divine entities -- could be as problematic for an atheist.

(I know I'm coming late to this discussion, and in particular I've already seen your answer there and your edit after my comment. But I'm chiming in anyway.)

enderland

10:29 PM

Yeah, it's a really tricky area

I don't think there is the answer the OP wants - a clear "this is wrong" or "this is right" perspective because it's always going to depend on the people involved and specific activities

Some people just like being obnoxious, too, like the person who made a fool of herself by reporting the United Airlines leggings thing recently (unfortunately in 2017 social media days she also succeeded somewhat in her goals)

Monica Cellio

Yeah, social media can amplify people who ought not be amplified. I saw something today about a woman who was livid that TSA patted down her "child", which made me think toddler or something, and it turned out he's a teenager. Who's probably mortified that his mother is dragging him through social media like that. Remember when being embarrassed by one's parents meant they did something annoying in front of your friends after school?

enderland

10:45 PM

I wonder what people who are kids over the past 5 years will think once they realize their parents have been posting about them for years

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