The Sift (June 27, 2014)

It's been awhile since I've posted one of these. But here's five links that captured my attention recently that I wanted to share.

SETH GODIN -- Deconstructing Generosity

KLEINER, PERKINS, CAUFIELD AND BYERS -- Internet Trends 2014. Every few years someone clues me in that there's a new IT out there. Always an informative and dense read.

ENGADGET -- Broadcasters' backup plans for thwarting Aereo include live TV streaming Jerks. Oh... wait... That was my idea.

ENGADGET -- US Supreme Court rules Aereo's streaming service is illegal under copyright law. Jerks.

INC. -- Cups: A Coffee Startup Taking on Starbucks

Are you KIDDING me?!??!?!

Jury duty.

Well, I guess nothing can be worse than having to drive from the valley to Beverly Hills every day for jury duty. But still...

Match.com: "Hey hey hey. Over here. Yoo, hoo, girlfriend!"

MSNBC.COM -- Ok, this is downright moronic. Woman's suing eHarmony because of its policy of only catering to the heterosexual community. This is all about picking a fight. There are plenty of other dating websites that do allow "men seeking men" and "women seeking women" and I'm sure there are some that only offer such pairings.

In my opinion, it's one thing to demand that someone sit at the back of the bus, or Wal*Mart passing someone over for a promotion because of their skin tone/hair color/sexual preference/accent/etc. and entirely another for you to sue because someone's trying to make money by catering to a specific demographic.

It'd be like a Christian suing JDate or me suing Goodwill-competitor "Out of the Closet" thrift stores for not offering non-flamboyant used clothing. Or Olive Garden for not offering Lobster and Hummis on the menu. (Ok, the last one's a stretch, but still...)

Of course, in our sue-happy culture, this is all about the lawyers and people wanting to get something for nothing just because they can say "boo hoo" and claim they've been slighted because they couldn't find a size zero at Catherines, a size 21 at Forever 21 or a well-made car at a GM, Ford or Chrysler dealership.

If it's the sophisticated matching that eHarmony does (and I've heard people say it's bunk and that they didn't find any matches) that they're after, then it probably won't work to find compatible matches amongst gay people. Instead of harassing eHarmony, go start your own gayHarmony with your own sophisticated matching algorithms designed for the gay dating scene.

*sigh*

Kill The Calls

MSNBC.COM -- Apparently there's some decent money to be made if you're getting bombarded by telemarketers and your number's on the do-not-call list. Suggests minimal time and investment, but you'll need to choose your targets wisely. More...

Sexy Harrassment

So here it was... day two of new employee orientation. (No, not a new job... just finally ran out of excuses to avoid attending.)

At the end of day one they had said "On day two, please sit at a different table with different people." So I did my part and sat at a table with two women my age. Eventually the table filled up... with more women my age or slightly older. Granted, this is a female-heavy employer, but still... I didn't mind, except that I quickly remembered that a big portion of the morning would be spent on the state-mandated sexual harassment anti-training. I guess the big key to whether or not it's sexual harassment -- at least the "hostile workplace" type -- is if it's (a) unwanted and (b) repeated, intimidating or severe, as determined by a "reasonable" person.

Not a huge deal, I guess. But there was some table discussion time and they began to all talk about how they'd been harassed at previous jobs. I think they were overdoing it. But eventually they realize I was sitting there fiddling with my pen and so they all turned to me and inquired as to whether or not I'd ever been sexually harassed.

I thought about it and then said "Well, I guess if 'unwanted' is the operative word, then no." They asked me to elaborate and I stumbled through an explanation of how guys enjoy the attention. They were surprised and one, brand new to the company, about my age said "So if I came in tomorrow and said 'Hey, James, you're looking sexy today -- that wouldn't offend you?" I said "I might think it inappropriate, but I'm going to still appreciate the comment." They were surprised by that.

As always, I was able to better unpack my thoughts on it long after we'd moved off the topic.

But as far as I see it, there are only a few ways that a guy can really be sexually harassed, at least in the "hostile workplace" version. (The other "this-for-that" is probably more of an equal opportunity offender.) But for "hostile workplace," you'd have to be (a) negative in an embarassing way (in the video they showed two women giving a guy a playboy magazine and a bottle of enhancement pills) or the aggressor would have to be (b) a dude.

For me, the rule is... "how pissed is my wife going to be if I relate [whatever] to her?" And she trusts me to shut down anything that's questionable, if women out there want to stroke my ego, I don't think anyone's going to have a problem with that.

Seriously, this session had them scared. Fortunately, I was able to educate at least the women at my table of how guys are willing to be treated. And now you.