I am not very politically correct; my claim to fame is that I managed to avoid all attempts by the HR department of the previous company I worked in to send me to all the diversity courses they planned. I always managed to be on a business trip… I was booked on a course, as during an interview with a potential employee, I made the very grave mistake of asking what her child minding arrangements were. I thought it was a fair question when she kept mentioning the fact that she was a single parent. I would have asked exactly the same question to a male single parent. In a small department, absenteeism is a serious issue.
I thought that my question was justified. Maybe time is catching with me but I recently had to deal with an employee of mine who clearly is more misguided than I am.
One of our suppliers is a lady who has two kids and always tries to arrange her meetings with us on Tuesdays when her husband can look after her children. My employee, let’s call him Peter, sent me an email saying that he refused to have his life dictated by a mother who prioritised picking up her children. I must admit that the comment was a shock as I totally admire the juggling done by my supplier and her family. I did not reply to his mail, just booked meetings once a month on the first Tuesday of the month with the supplier for the rest of the year for Peter and I.
At a trade fair a few months ago, our stand was very close to the stand of a company owned and ran by the wife of the CEO of a very large UK retailer we have been trying to wow. At some point during the fair, Peter went and spoke to her to ask her to speak to her husband about our products. How patronising is this? I spoke to the lady in question a few days ago and apologised.
Beware, dinosaurs are still roaming…
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