nick·name:
1. a name added to or substituted for the proper name of a person, place, etc., as in affection, ridicule, or familiarity: He has always loathed his nickname of “Whizzer.”
2. a familiar form of a proper name, as Jim for James and Peg for Margaret.
Lets say your workplace decides that no nicknames are to be used. Further, this is due to someone being offended by a nickname foisted upon them. So this would be a knee jerk over reaction to an individuals choice to be offended (just to be clear).
It is my personal assumption that if you find yourself in the workplace, and someone starts calling you Stinky, to which you take exception, it is behooves you to tell said individual to cease and desist. If the person persists. Then a higher authority should be brought into play.
There are nicknames that grate or offend, there are those that compliment or coincide. One of my best friends got the name Froggy. He wore it with pride. Should the populace of a workplace be denied from accepted, long used nick-names due to an individual?
So lets say the implement this policy and suddenly you are called out by Bob for not calling him Robert? Well, that does fall within the definition, right?
1 comment:
A better approach is to have a line in an Employee Performance Review evaluating interpersonal respect. That would cover much more than just using derogatory nicknames, and the offending individual---or group, even---can be pulled aside and reminded , in vague terms that wouldn't single anyone out.
Such a large part of workplace dynamics involves this sort of thing, and a good supervisor knows this. There isn't a job out there that focuses 100% on the actual work needing to be done. It's why I preferred not to promote. I knew if I were in charge of mitigating interpersonal difficulties I'd no longer be able to leave work at work
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