Shocking double standards when it comes to foul-mouthed insults in the workplace

In what world is it acceptable for a man to describe a female colleague as a “f***ing mong” during a workplace argument?

The world we have created, as an industrial tribunal reveals.

A world where words and terms once considered outrageous profanity are commonplace and opponents are expected to suck it up.

Be careful what you wish for. How quickly the f-word has gone from a jarring, redundant word to everyday language; Not so long ago, the punctuation of the unintelligible – dimbos struggling to speak without swearing, or out to shock – was fully permitted in the workplace.

Unless your workplace is the Westminster bubble, where swearing at an employee is against Parliament’s bullying and harassment policy.

Two simultaneous cases this week showed a double standard in society.

Reformist British MP Lee Anderson was ordered to apologize for breaching Parliament’s bullying and harassment policy after twice “verbally insulting” the security guard when asked to show his pass as he attempted to enter Parliament in November 2023 to enter the estate.

Anderson initially dismissed the allegations, calling the investigation biased, but later admitted to using inappropriate language, citing “challenging personal circumstances” that day.

Following the independent expert panel’s ruling, Anderson apologized to the House of Commons and the officer.

Meanwhile, 200 miles away in north Manchester, Judge Jetinder Shergill this week ruled that the dismissal of a delivery driver for describing a female colleague as a “bloody mong” during an argument about her weight was an unfair dismissal because the f-word is so common” in the public sphere, adding the caveat, especially in the north of England.

No, the North is not a hotbed of blasphemy; every other region is just as good at it too.

The woman — who said she felt “violated and shocked” and in tears after the “aggressive” attack in a conversation about attending a weight-loss club and donuts — reported him to management Booker, leading to his firing.

She said he also told her: ‘No wonder it takes 19 weeks to lose a stone. It took me less than 19 weeks.”

However, the judge disagreed with his dismissal and the driver will now receive compensation after ruling that this workplace was ‘lawless and toxic’ and full of comments like this with a ‘dysfunctional’ team of managers who were ‘part of the problem were. said the judge. The dismissal without warning was “harsh” and unfair, he said.

Presumably the assumption here is that we all have a choice about where we work and if the woman didn’t like the culture where this kind of insult was completely normal, she should have left or challenged the culture and tried to change from within.

The judge did say that “swearing should not be acceptable in a workplace, although the general daily experience, especially in the North, is that the F-word is used quite often, spoken in the public sphere.”

What about the insult leveled at the woman? Does that mean that because she accepted a job in the company, she has to accept what is happening to her or quit.

In this case, it appears that the message was that the driver should have been given a warning and not fired for the ‘violation’, and that the statement was against management rather than condoning the behavior.

The overriding message, however, is that in companies that have developed their own toxic cultures, everyone within them must accept – and expect – otherwise unacceptable behavior unless you are protected in the Westminster bubble. That can never be right.

An uncomfortable precedent at best; a shocking drop in standards and expectations in reality. We should despair.

Before dawn on Tuesday, during a short break in Southwold, my phone started pinging with messages from friends.

How can this happen? Asked again and again. What were the Americans thinking?

Kamala Harris became the second woman to lose the presidential election to Donald J. Trump in a country that was clearly not ready for a female president.

So many, men and women – what I find especially baffling – want a leader who is bigoted and misogynistic. They clearly want a sexist nation and are comfortable with the outcome.

It’s a hard and hard pill to swallow, but it’s a fact.

It is now up to the rest of the world to respond to what Trump says and does. Other countries do not have to accept his attitude.

We don’t need to travel and spend our money in a country that accepts such views from its president.

Heartbreaking case

It was heartbreaking to read how Norwich dog groomer Hayley Butcher died after weight loss surgery in Turkey.

At the age of 40, she felt stomach surgery was her only choice and was cleared to fly back to Britain just two days after her operation.

But complications from a bowel perforation and anastomotic leak, discovered after she fell ill in Britain, led to her death last month.

Why this beautiful woman was described as a happy, caring and ever-worried woman who felt she had to resort to the risk of surgery abroad may well emerge from the inquest, but what a tragic loss of life, promise and love.

Too often, the most outwardly happy and caring people mask their own unhappiness in certain parts of their lives. RIP Hayley.