Superintendent candidate job offer withdrawn due to calling females ladies.
- Thread starter SR108
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Probably test board material but what a F'd up world we now live in.
Well I can think of several different names he could have used to get fired, but "ladies" wasn't one of them.
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I never say ‘ladies’ unless I know the woman and know she is a lady.
The problem is that any man who was brought up to be a gentleman could use the term "ladies" reflexively because they were taught to treat women like ladies. They aren't trying to offend anyone and personally I take offense to anyone who claims to be offended by the use of the term "ladies" when addressing 2 or more females.
To be fair, the issue seems to be more about using a more casual term in ladies than addressing the audience more formally by name it title. And I think that’s actually a reasonable complaint - though I don’t know if it rises to the level of withdrawing an offer IMHO. That said, I think that couching it as a “microaggresion” is stupid, just saying it is unprofessional or lacking proper decorum would have been more appropriate.
The word “ladies” in and of itself is quite reasonable to use in the proper circumstance in correspondence.
That’s how I was brought up too.
so what is the proper business term. if they were men it is common to title an email/letter to 'GENTLEMAN'. Isn't the women form of that 'LADIES"?
Can’t call them ladies, can’t call them girls, can’t call them women…not sure what you can call them anymore (according to a small minority). Most women don’t get offended by being called any of these.
I run an organization of 750 employees and use the term “ladies” all the time out of respect. I have never been questioned. Wtf is wrong with this country?
This method has gotten me this far. From the looks of it, I’m going to keep on keeping on with it. Yikes. What a woke world we live in if we choose to.
It seems this is what it's coming to. Unavoidable in some places. My 16 year old niece had her 1st job last summer where she served people at a counter. Anyway, one day some black person told her boss that she served a white person before them but they were at the counter first. My niece didn't know it happened if it even did and the person complaining never told her. Her boss called her in and she was in tears over getting scolded by her boss. Then another female manager noticed after this and asked her what was wrong and told her that they know she wouldn't intentionally do that.
Point being, we live in an oversensitive world where people are quick to be offended and take action but are often just as short on real compassion. It's hard to avoid every easily offendable person.
The scary part is that this type of utter nonsense is not unbelievable anymore. This country is insane and half the country is voting for this lunacy.
In his letter he should have said ‘ Dear Board Members’ and be very careful about the spelling.
I don't believe that. But if you speak with someone so thin skinned that when you deviate from woke decorum they become offended I just move on from them and focus on the reasonable people available to speak with. There really are plenty of reasonable people still everywhere from my experience. But I haven't gotten to NY or CA lately......
He made a classic mistake. Always treat a Lady like a Whore, and a Whore like a Lady. He confused the two. God this Country is really nuts.
You are in charge so you can do as you please. Who is going to challenge you? I too have and will continue to use “ladies”.
I think it’s an over-reaction but never in a million years would I address my new female boss and her assistant as ‘Ladies’ in a formal email and most definitely not in an email where I am still negotiating my employment.
As opposed to "the other lunacy" from the far right and Trump cult. Sanity seems to have taken a vacation when it comes to evaluating both political parties these days.
These are the same pin heads who want to allow a male HS student to compete against HS female athletes because "he" identifies as a "she".
Ya think a bit of an overreaction? Geez.
Should’ve just been a teachable moment. Definitely a misstep by the candidate, especially in a formal written communication where he had time to review/reconsider.
I still use “Guys” when speaking to my team at work, which is 2/3 women. Many changed to “Y’all” or “Folks” in recent years but it just sounds forced and weird… I could never get there. I work for a fairly progressive company with a diverse workforce and nobody seems to mind “guys”. But it might just take one offended person…
I still use “Guys” when speaking to my team at work, which is 2/3 women. Many changed to “Y’all” or “Folks” in recent years but it just sounds forced and weird… I could never get there. I work for a fairly progressive company with a diverse workforce and nobody seems to mind “guys”. But it might just take one offended person…
When "ladies" is not only condemned as a form of address but outright seen as an insult to the extent that a person is fired or shot down for a job there's nowhere to go. We're done. Last one out shut out the lights and we'll see ya on the other side.
As I understand it, he was replying to a note received from the chair of the search committee. He knew her name and title.
If she signed her name ‘Cynthia’ on the inbound email, then he should reply with ‘Dear Cynthia’. If she had a formal signature block with her title then he should have used ‘Chair Kwiecinski,’. While he should not have had the offer withdrawn, this is not hard to get right.
Similarly, if a woman was applying to work for a male judge, military or elected official and addressed Hon. Stabbin, Lt. Col. Persona, or Representative Spinmeister as ‘Guys,’ she probably isn’t getting the job either.
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In business I NEVER refer to gender. I try to use the term ‘folks’. I sometimes use the term ‘guys’ if I know the group.
A friend of mine told me a woman asked him if he thought she needed help when he held a door open for her. He said ‘ma’am, I hold the door for who I am, not for who you are.’ I like that
A friend of mine told me a woman asked him if he thought she needed help when he held a door open for her. He said ‘ma’am, I hold the door for who I am, not for who you are.’ I like that
They are very emotional.
Exactly and holding the door doesn't have to be a gender thing. It's just a nice thing to do.
The bigger problem to me is that anyone finds any of this offensive. Maybe it's why that tech CEO was left to die in the streets in San Francisco trying to get help after being stabbed? Perhaps in some cities people are so callous now that it isn't worth the risk to help someone, even someone who might need that help to live.
My guess here is that they changed their mind on the candidate and used their fake outrage to justify it.
A better response would be, "I didn't think you needed help before, but I do now!"
