A demand too far?

Banning people from talking on any subject is wrong. This person has totally outmoded opinions. There are PEOPLE who want to talk about sport as there are PEOPLE who want to talk about 'Strictly' or whatever might be seen by some as women only subject. Are women today so feeble that they go into a corner and get upset because they don't like hearing about something they're not interested in? What next?

How silly, has Anne nothing better to spend her time on to justify her salary.

I tend to disagree, we are very busy and obviously it’s not one long chat from dawn to dusk, there are periods of total silence, and as were on the phones a lot of the time we’re not talking to each other.

But we do chat a lot, we have a laugh, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and we all get on.

Work always comes first, but I certainly don’t think it’s detrimental to have a conversation going.

Grandad has a point. Work conversation was usually limited to short bursts, on coming in in the morning, lunchtime and as people were gathering for meetings.

The only time we had time to talk for any time was when the company was going down the pan and we didn't have much work to do.

Sara65 Quote [Grandad, It’s quite possible to work and chat you know] End Quote.

Sara65, like many businesses in today's world our offices consist of a main open office with twenty eight separate workstations and only three individual offices along with two large conference rooms.

Should any member of staff wish to communicate with another employee then an electronic note can be passed between logged on workstations and replies sent in the same way.

If a member of staff wished to talk about non-related work matters then they would have to leave their workstation and walk across to the workstation of another employee to strike up a conversation.

In the above, the employee starting such a conversation and the staff member expected to respond to such an initiative would both have to stop work to engage in such a discussion. Therefore neither employee would be capable of working and talking as you state, for that would be impossible.

I could understand them being banned from talking about sport on the grounds that it can become boring ?
Seriously though it’s the thin end of the wedge if folks can’t dip in & out of topics in a natural flow of conversation .
Some of the places I have worked, a topic could be shut down pretty damn quick if some didn’t like it.!

If the football chat goes on and on and gets boring, what is to stop people starting up new subjects whenever there is a long enough pause to get a word in edgeways?

If they want to make a point about boring subjects, they could launch into a row by row account of their latest complicated knitting project. Better still, they could take that to work with them next day and demonstrate it. That should bore the footballers into stunned silence. It might not help office relations, but if one half of the workforce is bored already, at least it would equalise things.

Grandad

It’s quite possible to work and chat you know

It is the case in our office that the only time that any non-work related conversation takes place is when any employee may meet another at the water cooler. Those "water tower conversations" are always short, and even then it is often in regard to how in general work on any matter is going that several members of staff may be working on jointly.

So, it does make me smile when people paint a picture of staff in an office or any workplace in general just sauntering over to another person's workstation and starting a long-winded conversation in regard to any matter under the sun. Sadly that is not how employment is carried on in today's working world.

All businesses and offices are monitored with budgets and time schedules set for virtually all tasks that staff are required to maintain as an essential part of their everyday duties.

Most people do not take lunch breaks these days preferring instead to take a number of very short breaks at their workstation and finish a half hour early or "more commonly allow those breaks to accumulate and take a few hours of when the work allows.

Long conversations about football or anything else is always reserved for the pub following when a team has had a very long day or a week, and then I or one of the other partners in the business take them down there to show our appreciation of what they have carried out and achieved, and so it is with the vast majority of successful businesses today.

I think she has a valid point. As the only woman on a senior management team I found all the football talk tedious and excluding, and there was plenty of it.

I grew up in an all-male household who all loved football. Then had sons who were equally passionate about the sport. So my knowledge of it is patchily good. And will join in with conversation to go with the flow. But do find the game itself rather boring. Now, if it’s anything to do with horses, I’m in with a passion!

Notanan2 - sorry I got your name wrong in my previous post.

Nontanan2 - Unfortunately there are no rules that can keep someone from being a jerk!

Why can’t people who are not interested in a topic find someone else to chat to? Where I live (NZ) women are just as crazy about sport as the men.

Oh lord! Are we trying to show men how pathetic women are? What a crazy idea and how will it be enforced?

Buntypoochon, you need to start your own thread, then you’ll get ( hopefully), more replies.

Ridiculous! Apart from the fact I know just as many female sports fans - Six Nations starts at the weekend! Why should people be ordered what to talk about?

I heard this on the radio on Monday morning, when snoozing before getting up and thought I was dreaming! It's the silliest thing I've heard in a long time!

I can talk about football (3 football mad brothers and Dad plus ow DH and DS) and cars (DH and DS!) but realise that not all women can or want to. Not everyone is interested in soaps, Strictly, cricket, DGC, pets but we all have to listen when someone starts a conversation about them and be polite or excuse ourselves from the discussion!

I am a Manchester United season ticket holder and love talking about football

I really don't like watching sports except ice skating and gymnastics and then only take a mild interest. So, if I had to work with a group of people who talked all day about football (or any subject for that matter) it would drive me nuts and I would feel isolated. I think there is a time and place for everything. I wouldn't talk about baking, sewing or crafting excessively unless I knew they shared interests. Some people are fanatical about some things and find it difficult to talk about anything else. I know someone who talks about her grandchildren and nothing else, doesn't matter what the conversation is about (once our conversation was about vaginas!!) she will always brings it back to her grandchildren!!

Bunytypoochon, I don’t think you are being a bad mother.
How to tell her? perhaps a text or phone call saying ....We need to talk .. best wishes

Surely any talk anywhere, that pointedly excludes some of those present is ill-mannered and a form of exclusion whether you do it in the office, at a social gathering or in your own home.

I frequently came across 'men only 'type both in my work and social life .Who defines what is only for men and what is only for women.?

For goodness sake!!! Trouble is we are all discussing it and it made the news, she got what she wanted!! Even though it made her look ridiculous!

We will never gain true equality until we achieve a balanced approach to both women and men without extreme allowances having to be made for either sex.