[WEB4LIB] Re: Internet porn in library: a 'hostile work environment'...

[Dan Lester]

Friday, May 25, 2001, 2:11:34 PM, you wrote:
DM> I am in 100% agreement with you.

DM> I hate that "new age" EEOC term- "hostile work environment."
DM> Let me tell you all something, that term is sanctimonious
DM> bureaucratic nonsense.

Of course it is. But so are a lot of the other contemporary
"politically correct" bits of nonsense floating around. The reader may
compile her/his own list, of course.

DM> Working in a library and accidentally
DM> being exposed to online porn is not creating a hostile work
DM> environment.

Right.  And the same thing can happen anywhere. What if I left a copy
of Hustler or some porn mag sitting around in McDonald's or Burger
King?  (Most likely another patron or one of the teenage crew members
cleaning the lobby would scarf it up quickly and never complain at
all).  Is it a hostile environment when you find an art book open to a
nude picture and the picture with a "deposit" left on it by some poor
horny guy?  Is it a hostile environment when you've got a patron on a
porn machine with (as a colleague describes it) "one hand on the mouse
and one on the joystick"?  I figure if I don't see his joystick and he
isn't doing anything blatant, and no one complains, it isn't my
problem. Supporting a couple hundred computers doesn't leave me much
time to go looking for more problems.

DM> A guy coming in with a semi-automatic pistol in
DM> each hand blazing away like he's in a John Woo movie is creating
DM> a hostile work environment. Being forced to deal with an axe
DM> wielding maniac is creating a hostile work environment. Having
DM> to deal with online porn is something that inconveniences one's morals.

Absolutely.  I've dealt with a guy with a (legal) ten inch hunting
knife on his belt, but threatening to use it on me while three cops
were watching.  Another guy had a .45 auto stuck in his pants.  No, I
don't know if it was loaded.  We've had our share of drinkers,
smokers, flashers, and lately a foot fondler (who was probably the guy
who was regularly searching for "stockings" and "footjob", as shown by
our proxy server logs).  You work in ANY public service job and you
may potentially face such things, whether in fast food, a store, a
library, a government office (you think people get upset about their
overdue fines, try working in the state tax office), a public school.

DM> And one other thing before I step down off of this soap box: I
DM> wonder if it ever occured to these people that some patron figured
DM> he'd have a little fun and see if he could whip up a little animosity
DM> amongst the librarians? How better to do that than to leave a picture
DM> of some totally depraved pornography on the screen for them to find?

You could be right, but it does sound like more than one patron.  But
nothing was said in the article about changes in policies that COULD
make a difference, as opposed to ones that are useless to make the
changes that some desire.

I'll bet that there is a hidden agenda....the claimants were passed
over for promotion?  didn't get the schedule they wanted?  are all
members of the same religious denomination?  have a lawyer who is
looking for his 40% cut and has convinced them he can get the 5% each
that would remain for each of them?  something else I've not thought
of?

I'd love to hear more from someone in Minnesota...but maybe all those
folks are involved and enjoined from addressing the issue.

Happy holidays to those who have them

dan


-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.postcard.org  www.gailndan.com