Religion At Work?

[sarahgrace]

Hey, it's me again. This weekend should be a good one. Here's the scenario:

 

Every person (pretty much) who works in the head office of the company i work for goes to the same Church here in Winnipeg. Almost all the managers are christians.. I am one of the few managers that is not. But of course, they still think I play for their team because they know I went to one of the private christian colleges around here.

 

Our company christmas party is this sunday evening. What do we do for our company christmas party? (This is not an explicitly christian company, btw, this is a multi-province retailing business in the secular market) We go to Church. I shit you not. We get to go to this dinner theatre that the church puts on every christmas. I get to get EVANGELIZED at my work Christmas party. See, it's a free dinner, then we get to watch the church christmas play, which is invariably followed by a 'jesus saves! keep christ in christmas! raise your hand to accept the lord!!' kind of message. AT WORK. Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?

 

Have any of you been evangelized by your bosses, indirectly or otherwise? How did you deal with it? I'll be taking a pop bottle full of gin and tonic, to keep me laid-back enough to not completely blow my top. I'm really happy that the majority of my staff are not christians, so i've promised them we can all share in the misery together and mock it mercilessly as a group.

 

Still though... it doesn't seem right. But oh well.

[AKR]

Hey, it's me again. This weekend should be a good one. Here's the scenario:

 

Every person (pretty much) who works in the head office of the company i work for goes to the same Church here in Winnipeg. Almost all the managers are christians.. I am one of the few managers that is not. But of course, they still think I play for their team because they know I went to one of the private christian colleges around here.

 

Our company christmas party is this sunday evening. What do we do for our company christmas party? (This is not an explicitly christian company, btw, this is a multi-province retailing business in the secular market) We go to Church. I shit you not. We get to go to this dinner theatre that the church puts on every christmas. I get to get EVANGELIZED at my work Christmas party. See, it's a free dinner, then we get to watch the church christmas play, which is invariably followed by a 'jesus saves! keep christ in christmas! raise your hand to accept the lord!!' kind of message. AT WORK. Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?

 

Have any of you been evangelized by your bosses, indirectly or otherwise? How did you deal with it? I'll be taking a pop bottle full of gin and tonic, to keep me laid-back enough to not completely blow my top. I'm really happy that the majority of my staff are not christians, so i've promised them we can all share in the misery together and mock it mercilessly as a group.

 

Still though... it doesn't seem right. But oh well.

 

 

wow, that's fuckin lame. you guys (staff) should just go have your own xmas party. i'd rather shoot myself in the junk than go to an xmas party like that.

[Johnmilton]

I agree. Take a stand and don't go... also encourage the people who are like-minded not to attend. What your fellow managers are doing is entirely inappropriate and also just goddamn rude.

 

I'd boycott and let everyone on your staff who's uncomfortable about going too know why you aren't.

[Kurari]

I agree with the others, just don't go.

[sarahgrace]

I agree with the others, just don't go.

 

The problem with not going is that it's going to look bad for me and come back to haunt me later, i just know it. The big bosses are so much more loyal and helpful if they think you're on their side. It's retarded, I know. But for now, I still need to pay rent. No, I'm not saying I'd be fired over it, I'm just saying that my job would get a lot harder and I'd probably have to quit from the stress.

 

And on the flip side, I don't want these people coming after me trying to win me back either. So I've taken a different approach...

 

My whole staff is going with me, fully aware of what the 'party' entails. I told them all 'look, you're going to be flagrantly evangelized so be prepared for that.' I also encouraged everyone to come because WE all enjoy each other's company and will have a good time wherever we are. Plus, it's a free meal, and a damn good one. not to mention that we'll be pre-gaming it at the local bar before we go. I will also be taking a 'water bottle' with me containing my dear Hendrick's Gin and Tonic. That should make the night go by easier. I think we all figure if we can share in the misery together, we'll be able to make a fun time of it. We're creative people that way.

 

But yeah, if I wasn't management I wouldn't go.

[riverbank]

Bleurgh .. that sucks. Oh well hope you enjoy the Christmas party as best you can, at least you've got your staff going.

[Mongo]

SarahGrace,

 

I am very much in agreement with the self-preservation approach.

 

One must consider all the impacts of a decision and lying and pretending in order to avoid the slings and arrows of people who are immorally and illegally harassing and discriminating against you is perfectly OK.

 

You don't actually seem to be all that bent out of shape over this so maybe you just want to vent.

 

However... if life changes and you ever want to raise hell over this, you might consider a few things.

 

1) Take detailed notes of specific events of religious harassment. The buzz term you should become familiar with is "coersive pursuasion".

 

When you go to your party, you might bring a video camera and tape parts of the sermon. Altar calls **ARE** coersive. They are immoral and vile.

 

2) Consider having an unrelated 3rd party submit a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission that does not name you. Have your friend send a copy to the CEO and Director of HR.

 

Even if a complaint were dismissed because no individual is named, the word would certainly get back to the CEO who would be a really stupid ass to keep up the practice.

 

3) Keep your eyes peeled for an employee that you can trust who is leaving for valid reasons. Feel them out to see if they felt harassed religiously. See if you can get them to submit a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

 

Do you have a lawyer friend you could match the departing employee up with, who could write a letter asking for a cash settlement as compensation for religious harassment? The possibility of this going public would convince them to offer a paltry amount and then they would probably stop this behaviour.

 

Once in my life I helped a departing employee write up a complaint letter that criticized a group of people who had not treated me (or him) fairly (not a good plan). I was discrete and played the game.

 

Another time a Director had been verbally abusing a lot of people and I had gotten into a spat with him over the phone once. I was told never to swear on the phone to a Director and that was the end of it (because of his reputation) until a few years later on the employee survey. I crafted a comment that basically said, "I am treated well in my department but others I frequently work with are under considerable stress over how they are treated; even coming to tears." They figured it out and the bastard was out in less than 6 months.

 

Final warning: as a manager, you could be cited for participating in or condoning religious harassment.

 

An angle you can play with after the party on this is to raise the question in writing (keep copy of email) saying that you were describing the party to a friend about the Christmas party and that they said that as a manager that by encouraging your direct reports to go, that you could be held responsible for any religious harassment complaints or law suits.

 

You can act dumb like the query is genuine and once they respond with "forget about it", you will have evidence that you can use yourself later on or perhaps to exonerate youself.

 

Again, this advice only applies if you ever become willing to stir up shit. If that is not your thing, then you have a great attitude about it.

 

Mongo

[sarahgrace]

Yeah, I don't think I want to stir up shit right now. It would be fun, but not worth it. In the big picture, it's a small company (I work for a shoe retailer in Western Canada) so it would be near impossible for anything to go down anonymously. I'd almost definitely lose my job if I started something. Thanks for the heads up on the possibility of a citation of participation in harassment, though... hopefully my staff know me well enough (there are only five of them, after all) to know where i stand on these things. I don't see it happening but it's a good thing to be aware of.

 

Yeah, I mean, i mostly needed to vent a bit. I'm irritated but not on a major scale. It's just the timing, you know? As a very recent deconvert, I'm still really hypersensitive to religious manipulation and I feel like I'm about to be pummeled with a wrecking ball.

[Piprus]

Yeah, I don't think I want to stir up shit right now. It would be fun, but not worth it. In the big picture, it's a small company (I work for a shoe retailer in Western Canada) so it would be near impossible for anything to go down anonymously. I'd almost definitely lose my job if I started something. Thanks for the heads up on the possibility of a citation of participation in harassment, though... hopefully my staff know me well enough (there are only five of them, after all) to know where i stand on these things. I don't see it happening but it's a good thing to be aware of.

 

Yeah, I mean, i mostly needed to vent a bit. I'm irritated but not on a major scale. It's just the timing, you know? As a very recent deconvert, I'm still really hypersensitive to religious manipulation and I feel like I'm about to be pummeled with a wrecking ball.

What a crock...

 

It looks like you've thought things out carefully, Sarahgrace, now maybe it's time to take inventory of whether the issue is bigger than it needs to be.

 

As you've said, your staff will be there with you, and they're not particularly into the religious thing, so already you've got company. And you don't have to really join in the evangelical thing, just "be there" and act like the fly on the wall. In other words, nothing lost by soft-pedaling. It's only for a short time, and then it's over and done. No harm to you, your own private thoughts, but your position is preserved. No bringing attention to yourself as an outsider, but no active participation either.

 

Good luck...

[Astreja]

Eek! (makes mental note not to send her resumé to any shoe retailers in town, just in case)

 

Good job giving a heads-up to your subordinates -- Nothing worse than going to a party and getting hit on.

 

Ixnay on a video camera, but a nice little digital audio recorder might be in order here. Definitely questionable stuff going on here, and something the Manitoba Human Rights Commission might be interested in. I strongly suspect that people who are overtly non-religious are likely being passed over for promotions, as evidenced by the statistically unlikely concentration of people from one particular church.