Practical Workplace Ethics in Austin, TX
Austin is a pretty liberal city, both culturally and politically.
The liberal culture has several practical implications, not too different from other big cities. The average Austinite is about one standard deviation to the left of the US mean, so is a political and cultural liberal.
Practically speaking, there are plenty of people here for whom politics is their religion. Let them be as they wish, in silence. It is an excellent idea to keep one's politics to oneself, especially at work, even if you think you might agree with the speaker. Many people here will experience visceral cognitive dissonance if you disagree with their world view.
Most workplaces adhere to common professional standards, with a couple of extra doses of political correctness added. Almost all workplaces practice and brag about diversity. It is best to stick to safe topics and learn the safe zone of conversation and behavior. Find a set of topics that are safe to talk about with anyone
Workplace humor needs to be kept strictly in the Overton window, mild, and never directed at a person's race, gender, physical or mental defects nor ethnic origin. Scatological or sexual humor is very, very risky. Keep it light and unambiguously inoffensive.
Dating at the workplace happens, sometimes successfully, but is very risky, and can have significant legal and professional consequences. Much better to build up a separate social life, do not mix work and pleasure.
It's really best to consider your job as something you have to do to make the money needed to fund the rest of your life. Don't mix it with anything else. Keep your love life, friends, family and work separated, and keep your mouth shut at work apart from necessary communications. Especially, and I speak as a veteran cube-dweller, do not consider your career as the focal point of your life. You will regret it when you are too old to change it. Make your personal life happy, and treat work as strictly a paycheck. You will be very glad you did.
The liberal culture has several practical implications, not too different from other big cities. The average Austinite is about one standard deviation to the left of the US mean, so is a political and cultural liberal.
Practically speaking, there are plenty of people here for whom politics is their religion. Let them be as they wish, in silence. It is an excellent idea to keep one's politics to oneself, especially at work, even if you think you might agree with the speaker. Many people here will experience visceral cognitive dissonance if you disagree with their world view.
Most workplaces adhere to common professional standards, with a couple of extra doses of political correctness added. Almost all workplaces practice and brag about diversity. It is best to stick to safe topics and learn the safe zone of conversation and behavior. Find a set of topics that are safe to talk about with anyone
Workplace humor needs to be kept strictly in the Overton window, mild, and never directed at a person's race, gender, physical or mental defects nor ethnic origin. Scatological or sexual humor is very, very risky. Keep it light and unambiguously inoffensive.
Dating at the workplace happens, sometimes successfully, but is very risky, and can have significant legal and professional consequences. Much better to build up a separate social life, do not mix work and pleasure.
It's really best to consider your job as something you have to do to make the money needed to fund the rest of your life. Don't mix it with anything else. Keep your love life, friends, family and work separated, and keep your mouth shut at work apart from necessary communications. Especially, and I speak as a veteran cube-dweller, do not consider your career as the focal point of your life. You will regret it when you are too old to change it. Make your personal life happy, and treat work as strictly a paycheck. You will be very glad you did.
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