[Mendenhall]

I had read the original post and the comment you are referring to, but I did not post in the original thread. While I think you do have very valid points and definitely some words to consider. When I got to this line I paused.

"Men and women need to learn to interact at work."

While I think it is very true the question I asked myself is, should my company be the training ground for people to learn to get along ?

The answer I came up with is a resounding no. I think that knowing how to interact with the opposite sex is something the individual is responsible for before even entering the work place. If they want to pay me to teach them manners then so be it, but I am not going to pay them to teach them manners.

Side note on patio11, I don't know or care who the dude is, from what you describe he sounds a little sketchy but you know how internet rumors etc are. Sometimes internet fanboys rush to support their hero, I didn't want to be confused with those :)

My opinion is, Nuke em from orbit, its the only way to be sure! but I do think your approach can be valid as well, just not the one I personally would take in this day and age.

Side note - I don't like the term terrorist being used so lightly.

[tzs]

> While I think it is very true the question I asked myself is, should my company be the training ground for people to learn to get along ?

> The answer I came up with is a resounding no. I think that knowing how to interact with the opposite sex is something the individual is responsible for before even entering the work place. If they want to pay me to teach them manners then so be it, but I am not going to pay them to teach them manners.

60 years ago, that would be spot on. Back then there was a very clear distinction between work life and social life. Furthermore, there was much more separation of job by sex so that even if you were engaging in a social relationship with an opposite sex coworker you would probably not have much interaction with them while at work.

The workplace nowadays, especially in many tech companies, is quite a bit different than the '50s tech workplace. Companies now often deliberately try to mix work life and social life, often aiming for an environment that is more like college than like a workplace. Startups often keep employees so busy that they must spend long hours at work, leaving little time to maintain an outside social life.

How this strange mix of work and social is handled is often quite different from company to company.

[smoyer]

I tend to lean towards patio11's solution simply because the description of the perpetrator made him sound like someone who already failed to grasp the limits of the social contract.

As for patio11's being sketchy, I think I've read everything he's written (starting on the Joel-on-Software forum) and while I don't agree with him on everything, I do believe he's got reasonable ethics and morals. Why use the word sketchy when you simply don't agree with his opinion? And bear in mind it was an opinion based solely on what was written in that Ask HN.

[icebraining]

Why use the word sketchy when you simply don't agree with his opinion?

The post described a pretty different situation that just disagreeing with him. Not that I'm taking it at face value, since it wasn't described in enough detail to evaluate it for myself.

[Mendenhall]

Good points, I was only basing my information on what she said about her previous experience with him, based solely on that I think he sounds "sketchy" but also notice in the same line I put "but you know how internet rumors etc are."

I don't just take her opinion on him as fact, I have had no personal interaction with him nor do I draw the conclusion he is actually sketchy, I just take it as one persons opinion about another and know either and or both can be skewed because of past history.

[vacri]

> Side note - I don't like the term terrorist being used so lightly.

Yet oddly, you're happy to use 'nuke them', and don't mention a problem with 'final solution' used in the exact same context as 'terrorist' was...

[mjolk]

"Nuke em from orbit" is a quote from the movie Aliens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q

I think (hope) it's being used in that playful way.

[Mendenhall]

I thought she was using the term nuke em playfully while she was using the term terrorist in a more serious manner.

[theandrewbailey]

> I don't like the term terrorist being used so lightly.

Eh. It sort of confused me in the context. I think that something like "zero tolerance policy" would have been better.