A good PTBC reader who shall remain nameless sent me this actual email exchange he had (still having, presumably) between him (a staff member of a company), and his employer’s “social coordinator” (for lack of a better term).
**Note that for this particular blog entry, as I sometimes do in order to allow a topic to stay visible and active, I’ve switched COMMENTS OFF for this blog entry and created a forum topic in our Town Square Forums instead. Please comment over there! (PTBC Registration / Log-in required if you intend to post comments there in the forums.)
As I do every year, I will be making lots of Blog entries about this sort of thing, and I don’t want a “fresh” (hardly) discussion starting each time in each blog entry’s comments —that’s where proper discussion forums really excel.
I’ve obviously changed the names to protect the guilty and the innocent. Our “insider” is dubbed “Normal Canadian”. The employers are named “Staff Person A” and “Staff Person B”.
From: [“Staff Person A”]
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 2:54 PM
To: [“All Office Staff”]
Subject: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
HO, HO, HO… not that anyone really wants to think about Christmas yet, however, the [“Company”] Christmas Party is scheduled for Saturday, December 2, 2006 at the [“Town Convention Center”].
More details will follow as we get closer to the date, so mark your calendars.
Thanks.
=========================
From: [“Normal Canadian”]
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:45 AM
To: [“Staff Person A”]
Subject: RE: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Hi [“Staff Person A”],
I’d like to volunteer to say the blessing before the meal at the Christmas party. Please let me know if I may be permitted to do so. Thanks.
[“Normal Canadian”]
=========================
From: [“Staff Person A”]
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:50 AM
To: [“Staff Person B”]
Subject: FW: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
FYI
[“Staff Person A” forwarded the previous exchange to “Staff Person b”]
=========================
From: [“Staff Person B”]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 10:46 AM
To: [“Normal Canadian”]
Subject: FW: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Hi
Thanks for volunteering. We would be happy to have you say the blessing, however I must caution you that as we are a community of many different cultures, ethnicities, believers and non-believers the blessing must be generic and can not refer to any supreme being. Thus the name [“Company”] “Seasonal” Party.
If you are still interested, please forward a copy of the blessing to me and I will pass it by the powers that be.
Thanks
Enjoy your day!
[“Staff Person B”]
=========================
From: [“Normal Canadian”]
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:54 AM
To: [“Staff Person B”]
Subject: RE: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Hi [“Staff Person B”],
I’m so glad you are mindful of the diversity of our employees (as am I). Your caution hasn’t diminished my interest in saying the blessing. On the contrary, it offers an exciting opportunity. I will prepare a blessing that includes our diverse people rather than excluding everyone except non-believers, secular humanists and atheists. My intention is to find out what religions are represented at our company and adjust the blessing accordingly. I will forward this generic (applicable to all) blessing as soon as I can. I will need to refer to several supreme beings so no one in our of many different cultures, ethnicities, believers and non-believers will feel alienated by the blessing. If this is acceptable, I will proceed with my preparations. I have attached a preliminary copy so you have an idea of what I am thinking of. How long was your blessing last year (number of words)?
Regards,
[“Normal Canadian”]
[ATTACHED] <
< File: Blessing.doc >
>
=========================
From: [“Staff Person B”]
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:35 AM
To: [“Normal Canadian”]
Subject: RE: PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Good Morning! [“Normal Canadian”]
It appears that there has been some mis-understanding around the “blessing”. Would you please come see me some time this morning, so that we can get it cleared up. The “Seasonal Reflection” must exclude any mention of religion, that is why in my previous email, I asked that it be “generic”.
I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm, however I also do not want you to put a lot of time and effort into something that we will be unable to use.
Thanks
[“Staff Person B”]
=========================
Friends,
It’s embarrassing to work for a company that is intimidated by phantom random ethno-religious groups and is unwilling to include everyone in something as simple as a before-dinner blessing. As a result, my wife and I will not be attending a “[“Company”] Seasonal Party” to be insulted with a neutered “Seasonal Reflection” that caters to atheists, non-believers and secular humanists while completely ignoring that over 90% of our employees are people of faith (Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc.). It offends my sensibilities and I encourage everyone reading this to refuse to attend parties on or about December 25th that fail to acknowledge the whole reason for having a celebration in the first place (Christmas).
I spoke with [“Staff Person B”] (organizer) after her last e-mail and she indicated that it is company policy to cower to people who are offended by any mention of religion or supreme beings (of course I’m paraphrasing her words). This type of pantywaist liberalism is not as innocent as it might sound. It is a blatant attack on the Charter Rights of people of faith and I’ve had enough.
Regards,
[“Normal Canadian”]
Just in case you thought political correctness only permeated the halls of academia, government and other places of ill-repute…
=========================
[“Normal Canadian”] to ProudToBeCanadian Joel
Thanks Joel. If you’d like to remove names and unleash it for discussion, that would be great. I mainly sent it to demonstrate what happens when someone (me) offers to do a meal blessing that includes everyone possible (one of the attachments was my draft which contained blessings for about 10 different religions… including secular). As you know, these people don’t want inclusion, they want exclusion of every religion except atheism and secular humanism.
[“Normal Canadian”]
And there you have it.
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