Babies in the office....
Discussion
Fotic said:
As a homosexual (apols if it's not the case!), just because you won't ever have babies, it doesn't mean you should resent them.
Anyway, threads like this always bring out the slightly aspergic, forever single types who hate people and are confused by babies. For normal people, it's quite funny to watch as it's such a normal human reaction to by pleased to hear of a new arrival and to want to see it.
And I'm guessing you have a Baby On Board sticker and get annoyed when people don't give you extra room so as to protect your little prince/princess. Anyway, threads like this always bring out the slightly aspergic, forever single types who hate people and are confused by babies. For normal people, it's quite funny to watch as it's such a normal human reaction to by pleased to hear of a new arrival and to want to see it.
Tyre Tread said:
NB. As the manager of a department I did once suggest that a new mother who brought her child in should hand it over to one of the other women and they take it in turn to hold the child while she, the mother who was being paid maternity pay, did some work. The women thought it was a horriffic idea and they should all be able to stand around together and coo. The men agreed it was only fair. - Guess what happenend next?
Is your real name David Brent?beanbag said:
Am I the only one that thinks this is wrong? We regularly get employees that have gone on maternity leave bringing their babies into the office and bleating on about them.
I work in an open-plan office and take calls regularly and when you get a group of women (never see a guy), banging on about nappy varieties or tips on teething, it gets seriously annoying. Luckily in this occasion, the child didn't cry, but it's not uncommon they do.
I was chastised today as I told a group of women I was in a call and if they could take their social elsewhere. I was given looks that would kill and asked if "I liked children or was just a grumpy sod".
I love kids, but it's a f
king office and not a social area! Anyone else have to put up with this nonsense?
So basically you got the hump because you got told off?I work in an open-plan office and take calls regularly and when you get a group of women (never see a guy), banging on about nappy varieties or tips on teething, it gets seriously annoying. Luckily in this occasion, the child didn't cry, but it's not uncommon they do.
I was chastised today as I told a group of women I was in a call and if they could take their social elsewhere. I was given looks that would kill and asked if "I liked children or was just a grumpy sod".
I love kids, but it's a f
king office and not a social area! Anyone else have to put up with this nonsense?If you'd said 'would you mind giving me a bit of quiet please so I can finish my phone call', you'd have got a better response I bet.
I find the groups of clucking women round a new baby massively good value people watching, and new mums don't usually hang around all that long - babies need feeding/changing and they're off.
Bringing babies into work is just another way for some people to try and prove that they have a life outside of work. I don't bring in my porn collection and wave it around the office to try and prove that I have a life outside of work so why should it be any different with babies?
Office cats - yes. Office babies - no.
Office cats - yes. Office babies - no.
vixen1700 said:
You wouldn't get that with office cats. 
No, you'd have some stranger neutering the poor thing.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
In the last company I worked for, the same used to happen on a fairly regular basis.
Basically 2 mothers on leave, and 1 mother who had already left the company 6 months previously, would regularly arrive at the office at various times of the day, be it morning, lunch or afternoon, at which point all but 2 female members of staff would immediately get up and walk away from their desk to chat and socialise anywhere from 10 minutes to 1/2 an hour, whilst expecting the remaining staff members to handle all incoming calls and workload in their absence.
After 2 weeks of this going on, the rest of us decided one day that we would get up and leave our desks at exactly the same time which left no one answering incoming calls. As expected one of the female employees, who always left her desk to chat, decided to complain to HR about our attitude and that we were being "sexist" towards them by doing so Probably not the brightest thing she could have done given that she essentially told HR that they were all leaving their desks and not working when they were being paid to 
24 hours later HR sent a company wide email signed off by all 3 directors advising that from that day forward if staff members wanted to chat to staff that were on leave / holiday that had visited the office with their baby, then it was to be done during official breaks only, not in the office but in the break room or outside the building, however generally encouraged them to meet up for lunch off premises.
They also made it mandatory that only authorised paid staff would be allowed inside the building, to prevent the former staff member, coming back in for a chat and making themselves at home in the office.
Basically 2 mothers on leave, and 1 mother who had already left the company 6 months previously, would regularly arrive at the office at various times of the day, be it morning, lunch or afternoon, at which point all but 2 female members of staff would immediately get up and walk away from their desk to chat and socialise anywhere from 10 minutes to 1/2 an hour, whilst expecting the remaining staff members to handle all incoming calls and workload in their absence.
After 2 weeks of this going on, the rest of us decided one day that we would get up and leave our desks at exactly the same time which left no one answering incoming calls. As expected one of the female employees, who always left her desk to chat, decided to complain to HR about our attitude and that we were being "sexist" towards them by doing so
Probably not the brightest thing she could have done given that she essentially told HR that they were all leaving their desks and not working when they were being paid to 24 hours later HR sent a company wide email signed off by all 3 directors advising that from that day forward if staff members wanted to chat to staff that were on leave / holiday that had visited the office with their baby, then it was to be done during official breaks only, not in the office but in the break room or outside the building, however generally encouraged them to meet up for lunch off premises.
They also made it mandatory that only authorised paid staff would be allowed inside the building, to prevent the former staff member, coming back in for a chat and making themselves at home in the office.
Johnnytheboy said:
It would be like a PHer insisting everyone come out in the car park and gush over their new car, whether they had any interest in cars or not.
My first job was like this 
No one paid any attention to the kids that go through into our building but you could regularly find our entirely male dept out in the carpark oohing and aahing at someone's latest toy
vixen1700 said:
Hooli said:
I'd understand if it was puppies, they are cute & fun etc.
We really don't get enough of that.
OP, just let them get on with it, and be thankful it's not yours!
I agree with those saying that babies should most certainly not be brought to work, offices in particular. Some people seem to go all gooey and think that babies and small children are great, I don't. The noise is so grating to me that when they start screeching I have to leave the room to avoid expressing my opinions forcefully to the owner of said child or muffling it in a manner prejudicial to its health. It's like a combination of foxes shagging and a thousand fingernails scraping down blackboards, I just can't stand it. Most places I can avoid or leave if they have small children present but I have no option but to be there at work.
A couple of experiences of being stuck on trains with screaming babies and toddlers charging up and down screaming have probably contributed to my phobia of public transport
. Fortunately my office is entirely men and I'm not sure there is a woman of childbearing age in the entire company so it's unlikely to be a problem here.
Parents seem to have this bizarre idea that somehow having children makes them better people than those without them and that other people should find their children pleasant and interesting, I find them neither. If people want to inflict their spawn upon the world then that is their right to do so but why they feel they deserve congratulations and special treatment from the rest of us is beyond me.
A couple of experiences of being stuck on trains with screaming babies and toddlers charging up and down screaming have probably contributed to my phobia of public transport
. Fortunately my office is entirely men and I'm not sure there is a woman of childbearing age in the entire company so it's unlikely to be a problem here.Parents seem to have this bizarre idea that somehow having children makes them better people than those without them and that other people should find their children pleasant and interesting, I find them neither. If people want to inflict their spawn upon the world then that is their right to do so but why they feel they deserve congratulations and special treatment from the rest of us is beyond me.
AlexRS2782 said:
In the last company I worked for, the same used to happen on a fairly regular basis.
Basically 2 mothers on leave, and 1 mother who had already left the company 6 months previously, would regularly arrive at the office at various times of the day, be it morning, lunch or afternoon, at which point all but 2 female members of staff would immediately get up and walk away from their desk to chat and socialise anywhere from 10 minutes to 1/2 an hour, whilst expecting the remaining staff members to handle all incoming calls and workload in their absence.
After 2 weeks of this going on, the rest of us decided one day that we would get up and leave our desks at exactly the same time which left no one answering incoming calls. As expected one of the female employees, who always left her desk to chat, decided to complain to HR about our attitude and that we were being "sexist" towards them by doing so Probably not the brightest thing she could have done given that she essentially told HR that they were all leaving their desks and not working when they were being paid to
24 hours later HR sent a company wide email signed off by all 3 directors advising that from that day forward if staff members wanted to chat to staff that were on leave / holiday that had visited the office with their baby, then it was to be done during official breaks only, not in the office but in the break room or outside the building, however generally encouraged them to meet up for lunch off premises.
They also made it mandatory that only authorised paid staff would be allowed inside the building, to prevent the former staff member, coming back in for a chat and making themselves at home in the office.
Your directors sound far too sensible. How refreshing.Basically 2 mothers on leave, and 1 mother who had already left the company 6 months previously, would regularly arrive at the office at various times of the day, be it morning, lunch or afternoon, at which point all but 2 female members of staff would immediately get up and walk away from their desk to chat and socialise anywhere from 10 minutes to 1/2 an hour, whilst expecting the remaining staff members to handle all incoming calls and workload in their absence.
After 2 weeks of this going on, the rest of us decided one day that we would get up and leave our desks at exactly the same time which left no one answering incoming calls. As expected one of the female employees, who always left her desk to chat, decided to complain to HR about our attitude and that we were being "sexist" towards them by doing so
Probably not the brightest thing she could have done given that she essentially told HR that they were all leaving their desks and not working when they were being paid to 24 hours later HR sent a company wide email signed off by all 3 directors advising that from that day forward if staff members wanted to chat to staff that were on leave / holiday that had visited the office with their baby, then it was to be done during official breaks only, not in the office but in the break room or outside the building, however generally encouraged them to meet up for lunch off premises.
They also made it mandatory that only authorised paid staff would be allowed inside the building, to prevent the former staff member, coming back in for a chat and making themselves at home in the office.
TurboHatchback said:
I agree with those saying that babies should most certainly not be brought to work, offices in particular. Some people seem to go all gooey and think that babies and small children are great, I don't. The noise is so grating to me that when they start screeching I have to leave the room to avoid expressing my opinions forcefully to the owner of said child or muffling it in a manner prejudicial to its health. It's like a combination of foxes shagging and a thousand fingernails scraping down blackboards, I just can't stand it. Most places I can avoid or leave if they have small children present but I have no option but to be there at work.
A couple of experiences of being stuck on trains with screaming babies and toddlers charging up and down screaming have probably contributed to my phobia of public transport. Fortunately my office is entirely men and I'm not sure there is a woman of childbearing age in the entire company so it's unlikely to be a problem here.
Parents seem to have this bizarre idea that somehow having children makes them better people than those without them and that other people should find their children pleasant and interesting, I find them neither. If people want to inflict their spawn upon the world then that is their right to do so but why they feel they deserve congratulations and special treatment from the rest of us is beyond me.
Jaffa?A couple of experiences of being stuck on trains with screaming babies and toddlers charging up and down screaming have probably contributed to my phobia of public transport
. Fortunately my office is entirely men and I'm not sure there is a woman of childbearing age in the entire company so it's unlikely to be a problem here.Parents seem to have this bizarre idea that somehow having children makes them better people than those without them and that other people should find their children pleasant and interesting, I find them neither. If people want to inflict their spawn upon the world then that is their right to do so but why they feel they deserve congratulations and special treatment from the rest of us is beyond me.
otolith said:
Odd idea that people who don't want or particularly like kids are either gay or infertile. Stockholm Syndrome, I expect.
It's the vehemence that's odd.I understand indifference towards kids but PH seems to have a lot of pent up vitriol that spills forth on this subject.
I'm afraid it can only attract ridicule.
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