From now on it´s RyanAir all the way...accept no substitutes!!!

[Ronin]

This is the kind of campaign you can´t say no to

*note - there is a spoken reference to a certain sex-act that rhymes with "bow"...you have been warned

[FactionHeir]

I guess next time you fly business, you better have that video recorded with you to show your target "He said its free in business class"

[Hax]

I just decided to go visit my uncle in the States.

[Don Corleone]

Once a year, I have to wear my "Scrooge" mask, but I'm sorry, I didn't find it all that funny. The comment itself was kind of funny, at least I can see why you found it amusing.

But look at the German interpreter. She's clearly uncomfortable with the statement, and when the CEO follows it up with "What's German for blowjob", she blushes and looks down, a direct communication of shame and submission.

That was a textbook case of sexual harrassment in my book. I'm all about hummers. They're a wonderful thing. But humiliating female employees/coworkers? Just not so funny.

[Geoffrey S]

Can't say I see her reaction being that much different from the chap to the left. Both look uncomfortable; along the lines of 'our boss has made a poor joke, now what should we do?'. And it was a poor joke, illustrating the wit of a teenager.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I'm torn.

On the one hand, it could be construed as sexual harassment..

On the other hand, it was a funny and oddly appropriate joke (until he elaborated on his first comment).

Anybody who can't deal with an occasional theoretical blow job joke not directed at anyone in particular shouldn't be in business. That goes for men as well as women. If there is a massive history of using terms like it, then maybe bring it up to an authority, but a single instance is fine. We need to get our heads out of our asses if a comment like that can bring a man to court.

[Don Corleone]

Who said anything about taking him in to court? I said I didn't find his comments funny and that in my mind, they were harassment. You'll have to point out to me where I said to take him in to court.

I agree, the "beds and blowjobs" comment was fairly harmless. My issue was when he paused and put the female translator on the spot, asking her to translate the term to German. Did it ever occur to you that a professional woman might not want to have to discuss blowjobs during a press conference?

[Tribesman]

Well in that case Don perhaps we should ban women from being translators .

[Ronin]

You guys are waaaaaay to sensitive about this sort of thing....for christ´s sake.

it was a joke....you can debate if it was funny or not...but harassment????


I´ll just pose this question....if that joke was told on a room full of men nobody would consider it sexual harassment it would just be a joke.....just because a women is on the room it magically becomes something else????

If it was somehow inferred that the woman in question should take part in a sexual behavior I agree that it would be harassment......but just mentioning sex?...over here people would just laugh and the meeting would go on......

how much of a prude can society as a whole get?


P.S.- All I know is that from now on I´m flying RyanAir....you never know

[ICantSpellDawg]

Who said anything about taking him in to court? I said I didn't find his comments funny and that in my mind, they were harassment. You'll have to point out to me where I said to take him in to court.

I agree, the "beds and blowjobs" comment was fairly harmless. My issue was when he paused and put the female translator on the spot, asking her to translate the term to German. Did it ever occur to you that a professional woman might not want to have to discuss blowjobs during a press conference?

I assumed that by accusing him of sexual harassment he would disagree with the charge and the dispute would have to be mediated in a court of law - or at least a court of his peers at his corporation. If he uses numerous jokes like that on a regular basis he would be legally liable.

"Sexual harassment" should only be used if there is "quid pr quo" or a "hostile environment". The comment clearly had nothing to do with quid pro quo, so we must look to "hostile environment". Legally, hostile environment can be established if he were to use jokes like that "regularly". One instance does not create a hostile environment to me, so i guess we shouldn't call it "sexual harassment" at all. I don't know.

If I called someone a child abuser because he made an off color joke like that to a child it would be a wild overstatement and unfair for me to use.

But you are right - you didn't call for him to be brought to court. I simply didn't know what sexual harassment was.

[HoreTore]

I´ll just pose this question....if that joke was told on a room full of men nobody would consider it sexual harassment it would just be a joke.....just because a women is on the room it magically becomes something else????

I can certainly think of a number of men who would have a problem with such a situation.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I can certainly think of a number of men who would have a problem with such a situation.

My friends and I used to dry hump one another and simulate deprived crap. Always with clothes on and always tastefully...

If there was a girl in the room and we didn't give her the same treatment, it would be discrimination because how can we treat friends differently? So we dry humped them too. Mercilessly. and any pets that meandered into our den of drunken and clothed iniquity.

Long story short - men are hilarious and women are prudes. We should have never let them into the workplace if all they are going to do is make life unbearable for those of us with a sense of humor. We spend 10 hours a day at work and should be allowed to enjoy it!

I honestly very rarely talk about sex or sex acts on this forum, but when I do it shouldn't be construed as fostering a "hostile environment" if I do it once every few months.

[HoreTore]

My friends and I used to dry hump one another and simulate deprived crap. Always with clothes on and always tastefully...

If there was a girl in the room and we didn't give her the same treatment, it would be discrimination because how can we treat friends differently? So we dry humped them too. Mercilessly. and any pets that meandered into our den of drunken and clothed iniquity.

Long story short - men are hilarious and women are prudes. We should have never let them into the workplace if all they are going to do is make life unbearable for those of us with a sense of humor. We spend 10 hours a day at work and should be allowed to enjoy it!

Yes. I'm that way too(you have to be if you want to survive military service), but the fact remains that not everyone is. And there are people who will feel really bad from things like that. And I don't see making other people uncomfortable as a meaningful way to spend my life.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Yes. I'm that way too(you have to be if you want to survive military service), but the fact remains that not everyone is. And there are people who will feel really bad from things like that. And I don't see making other people uncomfortable as a meaningful way to spend my life.

I'm a prude in action and a degenerate pervert in words. I don't use sexual jokes too often because I don't find them all that funny except from certain people (usually when drunk), but when I do WHAMMO. They are the musings of a truly twisted sicko. I'm sure you think I am over estimating - let me assure you I am not.

Plus - you love making other peopl uncomfortable. What does it matter whether you joke about sex or oppressive socialist theocracy? No harm though - I do too. It should be up to the company as to whether occasional sex jokes are conducive or not to a productive and competitive working environment.

[Craterus]

My issue was when he paused and put the female translator on the spot, asking her to translate the term to German. Did it ever occur to you that a professional woman might not want to have to discuss blowjobs during a press conference?

That was just a follow-up to his comment. It was rhetorical. He never expected to get an (serious) answer to "What's the German for blowjob?".

The people look uncomfortable because a taboo subject has come up unexpectedly, there's no sexual harassment about this. In my opinion.

[CrossLOPER]

Honestly, he probably shouldn't have elaborated, even though the woman did not seem embarrassed or humiliated in any way. It wasn't really directed at her personally, so why should she be? Perhaps she may be slightly embarrassed that her boss has a juvenile sense of humor, but I fail to see how this is harassment.

[HoreTore]

I'm a prude in action and a degenerate pervert in words. I don't use sexual jokes too often because I don't find them all that funny except from certain people (usually when drunk), but when I do WHAMMO. They are the musings of a truly twisted sicko. I'm sure you think I am over estimating - let me assure you I am not.

Overestimating? Take a trip to Norway and join me in some drinking here, you might get a new sense of what "truly twisted sicko's" mean

Plus - you love making other peopl uncomfortable. What does it matter whether you joke about sex or oppressive socialist theocracy? No harm though - I do too. It should be up to the company as to whether occasional sex jokes are conducive or not to a productive and competitive working environment.

Bah. I play my commieness to get people angry, not uncomfortable.

[Husar]

My opinion is rather that the woman is pretty happy to have such a funny boss instead of some dry guy who never makes a joke, maybe she blushes a bit but theat doesn't mean that she has no fun.
I think it was just a good situational joke and everybody in the room probably knew it.

[Louis VI the Fat]

That video made me feel uncomfortable too. I'll join the sourpuss squad.

I don't think his behaviour was appropriate for a professional environment. The translator clearly felt very uncomfortable.

Blowjob jokes are for private environments, best left to business men who take their old boys network out to stripclubs to do business, or who communally visit the local brothels when travelling abroad.

[LittleGrizzly]

I would call it nothing more than an innocent joke, he pressed the matter for a second and then just let it drop, if someone is too delicate to hear that kind of langauge maybe they should have considered joining a monastry or something, he just lightened up an otherwise boring press conference with an off colour joke (and got alot of free advertising in the process)

To clarify i don't think someone should be talked to in this way all the time but if people should be able to handle the odd sexual joke, i think the setting was important as well, he was just trying to get a point across in an entertaining way and thats why he pressed the issue with the translator...

[Banquo's Ghost]

This is merely an enhancement to the existing service.

Anyone who has ever flown Ryan Air will know that customers are by them all the time.

[ICantSpellDawg]

This is merely an enhancement to the existing service.

Anyone who has ever flown Ryan Air will know that customers are by them all the time.

zing

[Hosakawa Tito]

That video made me feel uncomfortable too. I'll join the sourpuss squad.

I don't think his behaviour was appropriate for a professional environment. The translator clearly felt very uncomfortable.

Blowjob jokes are for private environments, best left to business men who take their old boys network out to stripclubs to do business, or who communally visit the local brothels when travelling abroad.

I agree with Louis. There's a time, place & audience for locker room talk, I don't believe that situation fits the criteria. I know in my work place, if the lady had protested and asked the supervisor/boss to refrain from such comments, he'd continue at his peril. Sexual harassment in the workplace generally starts out with such seemingly innocent joking.

[atheotes]

nothing harmful if this is an isolated incident....