Perth worker sacked for incorrectly addressing non-binary colleague

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Perth worker reportedly fired for incorrectly addressing non-binary colleague
The case has been reported by The West Australia who detail that the dispute arose after an older worker in his 60’s introduced a younger worker who is non-binary as “he’, despite previously being told of their colleagues preference for being addressed as “they”.
 

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I have nothing but sympathy for people with gender identity issues but if they really want to be called by a different pronoun they should have thought of something original instead of requiring the rest of us to use the term we have always used for more than one person. That plural term is one of the first words we learn as toddlers, it's ingrained and feels as wrong to use for one person as calling a car a house.

I think if I worked with a non-binary person I would have to use their name every time because I could do that more easily. I could say, "This is Pat, Pat works in the cash department," more easily than "This is Pat, they work in the cash department."
 
One of the parts of the German language that I found most difficult was Its use of gender pronouns where objects were assigned feminine or masculine identities. You had to remember the gender of objects and/or special situations. It seemed to me as a high schooler who was taking German to meet the then college entrance requirements of two years in foreign language as extremely cumbersome. I wish I would have taken Spanish instead. It would have been more useful.

But I'm getting side tracked. I have not yet been reprimanded for using an incorrect pronoun for a person. But I will rue the day I might misidentify a woman who wants to be a woman as a man.
 

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We hauled a couch clear across the state to give it to a grandson.
The grandson and his girlfriend friend had this guy living with them who wanted to be a woman.
The grandson and the IT came out and when it came time to grab the couch and carry it in the IT stood there looking stupid until I said “ if you want this couch you better pick it up and carry it in because I’m 75 years old and I’m not going to do it for you.”
Didn’t look like the he-she-it had any problems lifting IT’s half after that.
I don’t care if you paint your nails or if you wear long hair as long as you pull your weight.
Glad I’m old enough that I don’t have to abide that kind of stuff.
 
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I think that some of these girls have such a hard time trying to look pretty that they decide that by telling everybody that they decided to be a man they no longer have to try so then they can just let themselves go.
Most of the ones I’ve seen are way over weight and not very good looking.
So they hook up with other girls who aren’t exactly knock outs too.
Then they can go around and put on a big show for anybody who will look in their direction.
If that is a way they can be happy I’m all for it because I think everybody deserves some happiness in their lives.
Just don’t expect me to care one way or the another who you are or what you are or what color you want to dye your hair.
 
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We have a female who is trans and identifies as a male. He uses the ladies locker room and has to be addressed as he. It's weird for my brain to get it straight when he's using our locker room and I have a hard time remembering to address him as he. Thankfully "he" is mostly deaf and hasn't caught the mistake yet but I always apologize when I make the mistake. I don't know what else to do.

This is new to me so trying to adjust is awkward. But I think if it's an honest mistake, people shouldn't lose their jobs over it. I think that's taking it too far. If it's done on purpose just to be crappy then yeah it should be addressed.
 
I think there needs to be more of a defined line between every human's right to be what they want to be & live life the way they want... and expecting everyone around them to pander to it.
It's just such a gray area and I have always had a hard time in the gray area. I'm used to the black and white of it all. Now the world wants me to live in that gray zone. I don't know how.
 
It's funny.

Clerks call me all kinds of names...dude, boss, sir, chief...etc. But this one guy at this one Gas Station always calls me 'doctor'. I get a real kick out of it. I can't tell if it's just a nickname, or if he is really mistaking me for someone else who is an actual doctor.
 
This story is about bad management. Can you imagine being the person firing someone over this? I managed a lot of people, and I'd never have done so. People can have quirks, and that's fine. At the same time, social norms matter more. As such, a guy is addressed as "he", a lady person is a "she".
 
However reading the entire story, the employee simply refused to do a written apology. He actually did apologize right there when he had made the mistake to the employee, but of course the "Offended" employee decided to file a complaint.

In the long run what happened was that since he refused to write the apology, the company terminated his contract with them, but he ended up suing them for wrongful dismissal.

Happily the company settled with the employee they terminated for an undisclosed amount of money. Now they have the fun job of trying to replace an experienced worker.

Aussie worker is FIRED after calling colleague 'he' instead of 'they'
 
Thank goodness I retired before I had to deal with all that nonsense.
The men I worked with would have had a field day with "they".
They gave me enuf grief for being female. I can only imagine. :D
I can see our whole office demanding to be known by random pronouns. :D

Now that I think about it. I have been referred to as "we".
Usually by the husband when he came up with some job for "we" to do.
Like when he bought a snow blower at auction for "we" to do the driveway.
At the time he as on a walker. "We" put it out front and sold it. :D
 
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