Couple of years ago it was a mandatory requirement to attend WCB lecture on workplace bullying.
My first thought when I got the email and the date of my session was - what a load of crap.
It was then pointed out by my superior that my lack of attendance and participation would be noted and reported back to HR.
F'in idiots I thought.
Without going into details - I had my eyes opened during the 1 hour session - and I'll share what I learned.
The session leader was a Human Rights Lawyer who was also a WCB arbitrator on workplace bullying.
Great, here comes the rainbow kisses and unicorn fart speeches.
When evaluating bullying in the workplace the complainant is ranked between 1 and 10.
From memory I recall
1-4 being overly sensitive,
4-7 being typical person
7-10 being lacking empathy
Numbers aren't important - just the fact they have a middle ranking for typical person.
What caught my attention was the following:
Almost all complainants ranked 1-5.
Occasionally, depending on the situation , you would get a 6-7.
You never got a complaint from someone who ranked 8 or higher.
She stated that during arbitration, the bullying event was viewed from the prospective of a normal person 4-7 and how they would react to the situation. (Wait a minute - this is making too much sense).
People from 1-4 would almost always fail to understand why everyone would not find the situation intolerable (Usually found upset and in tears).
People from 8-10 couldn't understand what the issue was as "it was no big deal - since they figured everyone should just let #### roll off their backs.
A majority of the bullying cases she adjudicated was a result of two people from either end of the spectrum interacting. Since they were not able to understand the other persons point of view - minor events usually ballooned into major altercations.
She pointed out that the majority of issues arising from "average" people interaction - usually did not escalate to an arbitration hearing as the two people where able to understand where each was coming from - and were able to resolve the issue with minimal intervention.
Now here is the kicker. She stated that she often had to explain to the sensitive types (1-4) that even though they were offended /felt the way they did - they would not win the arbitration since what they were feeling wasn't what a majority of "average" people would experience under the same circumstances. In the next breath she said people on the 1-4 scale had difficulty understanding that while 8-10 scales would be classified as #######s in any normal social interaction - their actions would not constitute bullying until the majority of people 5-7 would consider their actions unacceptable - under the same circumstances.
If you at the higher end of the scale - your idea of selling Covid 19 Magazines and LGBT Magazines would not seem like a bad idea - and you would certainly not understand what the fuss is all about.
The bigger issue, is why would a company that seems pretty reputable - show such poor judgement in allowing such a person to run their promotions? What do they want to accomplish other than being "fresh" and "cool" and a "disrupter".
Just my observations - from an 8.
L
Based on the comments I've read so far it would be an interesting study to assign each comment based on the 1-10 WCB classification schema.