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 Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:13 am
Posting this based on what just very recently happened to me. You see, I work in the education dept at the college I attend. I received this email this morning from a professor I know well:
Please take this in the way it is intended...to help you out. You must have sent an email to someone with the signature that you always used that had some lyrics from a song....? I don't have details...but it upset a few key people in the education department. I would advise you to remove the lyrics from your emails.
don't get hurt or upset...just delete everything except you name and Livetext Assistant and phone number. We can talk when I see you.
These are the lyrics I used:
'I am all gone. It is very serious. Situation HELP. Situation SOS. I cannot understand myself. Where did you appear from? The light is shutting down. I am flying somewhere. Without you there is no me. I don't want anything. It is the slow poison. It is making me crazy. But they say it is all my fault.'- Ja Soshla S Uma, Taty (translated)
I am almost going to guarantee that someone took as being suicidal as I am known to write such pieces. However, if I find out they got upset because of the artist being "lesbian" (most people don't know it was a marketing scam), I will be pissed.
As a result, I took away the lyrics and the entire signature. I'm just stubborn like that, so no I won't even leave what they'd want me to. I only took it out because it might cost me my job if I didn't, not because I care of what others though.
Discuss:
Being censored, especially in places of work.
Additional notes:
Since it was brought up, this is my personal college email address, not my work one. I do not use it for work.
Most of the post is so I'd have someone to ramble to; I don't need to know the rights and wrongs; the situation has been settled for now.
Stick to the thread discussion, not my problem
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:30 am
You are probably going to take this the wrong way but with email for professional or work related purposes, I dont think its appropriate to put anything extensive in your signature (like lyrics, quotes, or photographs, regardless of their meaning or political/social/etc views). Most businesses only want your name and your position there and maybe contact information there.
I dont think them asking you to remove it was anything personal.
Now if they allowed others to have similar signatures and not yours thats another thing altogether and I would be upset about that.
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:54 am
It was not my professional email address. I do not use that email at work because there is another one used for work related purposes that the entire department uses. This was my personal college email address, which I do not use for anything relating to my work.
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:16 pm
oh well in that case i wouldnt have changed any of your signature, as long as you are only using it for personal use, you should be able to put whatever the hell you want in it. 3nodding
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:07 pm
That is what I thought, but since I work in such a "professional" department, it was probably traced back to there via either knowing offhand I work there or knowing that's where the livetext assistant works. Either way it had to go or it'd be a possibility they'd try to take my job from me, as I've said before. Therefore, I remove it for that reason, and not because I care one lick about what they think.
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:37 am
First off where are you from? Out here in Canada they could get into trouble for even suggesting you change your sig on a personal account. They have no rights to tell you what to do in your personal life and that goes for your websites and sigs. It would be considered discrimination and is actually against your freedom of speak, as long as it doesn't have hateful comments about some other community then there is nothing they can do about it.
So depending on where you are you might have legal grounds to confront them. Hell since the song is not lesbian you might actually have grounds anyways. I'm not to sure.
Personally I hate censorship and refuse to censor myself. I've been told to not return to conventions because I refuse to stay quiet about my sexuality. I never understood why someone would hire me to host a lecture on lesbianism and have a problem with me stating that fact that I'm actually gay. Now when I get asked to host a lecture or art workshop I announce right away to the person that I am gay and I will not cover it up. I've lost many jobs because of this, but I don't really care. If they have a problem with me being myself the that is their problem. If anyone here in my hometown causes a problem then they will have alot more then just me to deal with, that is for sure.
Anyways, I wish you luck in your situation.
jaa ne
Kat
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:14 am
I'm from West Virginia, US
Well I've been talking back and forth with my professor. What I've found out through her dodgy emails is that they took it as me going to hurt myself/commit suicide. My professor has tried to tell them that I've had that on there since last September. They must still not understand that I write angst/suicidal things even though they've seen my published work and such. It still makes me mad. I've worked with these people for almost 2 years now and for them to think that is insane.
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 1:56 pm
Rosenal I'm from West Virginia, US Well I've been talking back and forth with my professor. What I've found out through her dodgy emails is that they took it as me going to hurt myself/commit suicide. My professor has tried to tell them that I've had that on there since last September. They must still not understand that I write angst/suicidal things even though they've seen my published work and such. It still makes me mad. I've worked with these people for almost 2 years now and for them to think that is insane. Well, then... that tells me that you should keep your sig the way it was and screw what others say. If they fire you because of self expression then that goes against freedom of speech and they can go jump off a cliff. They can not tell you to change anything on your personal account and more so if it deals with suicide because that shows me that they just want to not think about suicide and believe it doesn't exist and that is their own problem. If you want to battle over it I think it would be worthwhile to do so. If not then just let it quietly go away. Either way, good luck Kat
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:57 pm
Kat, you make me smile sometimes. xD
Censorship... My parents don't believe in censorship (they're very liberal, yay), and neither do I. To hell with everyone who'll persecute you just for being yourself. I hate that I basically have to hide that I'm a lesbian at the summer camp I work at. Ugh. One girl knows already, and she's okay with it... but still. *grumbles*
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:28 pm
Kims_Prince Rosenal I'm from West Virginia, US Well I've been talking back and forth with my professor. What I've found out through her dodgy emails is that they took it as me going to hurt myself/commit suicide. My professor has tried to tell them that I've had that on there since last September. They must still not understand that I write angst/suicidal things even though they've seen my published work and such. It still makes me mad. I've worked with these people for almost 2 years now and for them to think that is insane. Well, then... that tells me that you should keep your sig the way it was and screw what others say. If they fire you because of self expression then that goes against freedom of speech and they can go jump off a cliff. They can not tell you to change anything on your personal account and more so if it deals with suicide because that shows me that they just want to not think about suicide and believe it doesn't exist and that is their own problem. If you want to battle over it I think it would be worthwhile to do so. If not then just let it quietly go away. Either way, good luck Kat Unfortunately, I really need my job to pay for my car insurance and such...stupid bills. I'm going to put my sig back up, but just replace the quote. This is pretty much the best job i have now. It's on campus, and they work with my hours and my schoolwork always comes first with them. I'll just use something not so... suicidal though it wasn't to be in the first place. Mom told me this would happen eventually, ever since she found some of the stuff I wrote back in high school. It doesn't bother her because she knows that I may write darkish stuff but wouldn't act on it.
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:00 pm
So I have replaced my signature and returned it as it was, except for the new quote. It was one of the quotes my girlfriend was using as her yahoo message. Not only did I like it, but in a way it responded to the problem. Oh and it's by Dr. Seuss. Come on now. Who can argue with that?
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind."
Sums things up nicely, don't you think? And if I were to get questioned on my quote when I return to school, I can simply explain the meaning of it and the song and then tell them this spiel about why I'm not suicidal, ending with the new quote I have anyway by using the excuse I had been looking to replace the first one since it'd been there awhile.
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:02 pm
I still say that they're major asses because:
1.) not your work mail
2.) you can feel how you want to feel, be it suicidal or not (everyone close to you knows you aren't)
I say you tell them to pull the flag out of their asses and help kids who are actually suicidal.
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:12 pm
blkdrgnmstr I still say that they're major asses because: 1.) not your work mail 2.) you can feel how you want to feel, be it suicidal or not (everyone close to you knows you aren't) I say you tell them to pull the flag out of their asses and help kids who are actually suicidal. As much as I'd like to say that, I can't. These people don't only have my job, but that's the department of my major...and I'd rather be on good terms with the professors, especially those who's classes I have left to take. I know those close to me know I'm not suicidal, which is nice because I'd threaten them if they thought I was.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:28 pm
So I thought I'd let everyone know how this all ended. I just remembered about it. So here's the final story:
I go back to college and visit the educ. dept to give my boss my work hours and class schedule and we have a talk. Turns out, it was the professor I was thinking of who turned me in. She was my art professor for the week long course I took.
Turns out, this particular professor took the signature as a sign of me hitting on her. This woman is old and only came out of retirement to teach the class. She's a bit hippy like in mannerisms. It was very vain of her to think that I'd hit on her of all people. Of course my boss doesn't know I'm lesbian so she was definitely able to tell the professor that that wasn't like me at all and that I wasn't. It was so funny to recall later on. I shudder to think of myself hitting on that woman. That's just beyond gross.
So there you have it. The stupid overreaction of a vain professor
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:32 pm
sorry to say this. but that lady has self image problems. If she thinks everything revolves around her..even in your own personal email signature then she is one crazed old person. domokun
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