Can we talk about the time a joke I made at a company picnic in Boise got me reported to HR?

It was a dumb comment about the potato salad, but the formal meeting changed how I think before I speak at work. Anyone else had a small thing blow up like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam75110d agoTop Commenter

Wait, they reported you over potato salad? That's honestly wild to me. I can't even imagine what you could say about mayonnaise and potatoes that would need an HR meeting. It must have been a really tense picnic, or someone was just looking for a reason to complain. That kind of thing would make me overthink every single word I said at work forever.

mary77610d ago

Actually, it might not be as wild as it seems. Sometimes these small comments are just the last straw in a bigger pattern. People can make offhand remarks about food that feel personal or critical to others. HR has to take complaints seriously to keep the workplace fair for everyone. It’s their job to look into things, even if it seems silly from the outside. A simple rule is to just keep work talk professional and avoid personal opinions on things like potlucks.

paigesullivan6d ago

Oh man, @adam751, I get what you're saying but it's rarely just about the potato salad. Like mary776 said, it's usually a pattern. Maybe someone kept making jokes about "store-bought" food being lazy, and the person who brought it felt singled out every time. HR has to check it out because those little digs add up and make people dread coming to work.