Messed up situation at work. Need some thoughts.

D

d-geek

New Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
I work in IT at a light manufacturing plant for the last 3 years. I work at home most of the time, but show up for all the meetings for the projects I’m working on. If the person dose not work in IT, work on the sales team, or on one of the projects I have worked on there is a good chance I do not know you.

There are a lot of people that work out of the office. They have the system set up so you can call in to the meetings and listen in. the larger meting I’m at work for I call in and blue-tooth my CI to my phone.

Today was there monthly town hall meeting. I have to speak at every town hall meeting and give updates on the projects I'm working on.

The person that was running the meeting was someone that I have never seen. He called me up to talk and after he introduced me I pulled out my phone and turned down the volume on my phone because of the delay from when I talk till I hear myself talk.

The guy flips out at me. Tells me how unprofessional it is for me to be playing with my phone when giving a presentation. I told him I was deaf. He told me he did not care and for me to put all my electronics on the table; so I pulled out both of my phones, took off my HA, my CI, and set the microphone down. I know he kept talking, but was not looking at me so I have no idea what he said.

After about 30 seconds of him rambling I decided he was just another jerk. At that point I decide why do I care. I grabbed the pointer, walked to the center of the stage, and started my 15 minute presentation in ASL. During my presentation they pulled the jerk off the stage and one of my close coworkers got on stage to get me to stop.

When I finished I was able to hear the standing ovation I got from 150 coworkers. I walked back to the table, put in my HA, CI, and grabbed my phones. The company president went up after me. He thanked me.

As soon as the meeting was over I headed for the door and went home. I have gotten a few calls and emails today from work about what happened. I responded to HR and told them I would gladly have a meeting with them on Friday as this will give me time to decide how I feel about the situation.


I have talked to my GF (hearing) about what happened today, but I would like other peoples thoughts as well.
 
giphy.gif
 
More power to you, man. There really isn't a negative side to your actions. You did nothing unreasonable and didn't request anything unreasonable from anyone else. This forum is full of people who spent a lot of time sticking up for themselves and defending rights that I am now capitalizing on. My life is a lot easier because people much stronger than me did the same thing as you when they decided they weren't going to take crap from anyone.

So if you need some thoughts, my first thought would be thank you. Not just for making life easier for the next guy, but also for improving the lives of everyone attending that meeting who is a little more educated about deafness. :bowlol::ty: :hmm:
 
Look on the bright side. No one has to wonder anymore if that guy is an idiot.
 
D-geek:
He called me up to talk and after he introduced me I pulled out my phone and turned down the volume on my phone because of the delay from when I talk till I hear myself talk.

The guy flips out at me. Tells me how unprofessional it is for me to be playing with my phone when giving a presentation.
Click to expand...

D-geek,
it's a story of and a matter of etiquette and short fuse.

My question to you is - the guy was introducing yourself to you,
did you absolutely had to in this very moment correct volume on your phone?
like, really? really? did you??

Good manners require you do not pull out a phone and start fiddling with it while someone is talking to you.
At the very least, you should have waited for the appropriate moment, EXCUSE your self much, and explain you are deaf and you really have to turn down a volume on your phone, very sorry! do it fast then after doing that apologize again, giving the guy your full attention. a reassuring arm touch would be a good idea.

Being deaf is no excuse for being rude. in that aspect the guy was right.

On the other hand, the guy did grossly over reacted. By overreacting like there was no tomorrow he himself behaved inexcusably.
The only explanation - not an excuse - explanation for his temper tantrum was your lack of consideration for his person.
This is what happened, and this is why you feel uneasy. because despite received accolades for your speech etc, you know you shouldn't have pulled out that phone.

Fuzzy
 
Audiofuzzy said:
My question to you is - the guy was introducing yourself to you,
did you absolutely had to in this very moment correct volume on your phone?
like, really? really? did you??
Fuzzy
Click to expand...

Once he called me up to talk I thanked him and I pulled up my power point on the laptop. The guy had set down his microphone and started to walk away. I pulled my phone out as I walked from the table to the podium.

There is about an 8 to 10 second delay in there system between talking into the microphone to when it comes out of my CI. I have tried doing presentations without turning down my cellphone, but I tend to stop every time I start to hear my delayed self.

I can see what your saying to a point. But at the point that I took out my ears and put them on the table it should of clued him in. The company dose a “HOH sensitivity training / communicating with the HOH” on the first day of employment. I know about a fifth of the staff was HOH at one point.
 
Wow, what an interesting situation, you handled it perfectly. I hope you get to have that meeting on Fri so that this situation will be explained and understood by all. Good luck!
 
I wouldn't be too hasty about it. Listen to what HR has to say and then make job decisions later. Chances are, this will all blow over.

I would also add, when someone asks you to put all electronics on the table, you should not take off your hearing aid.
 
Thats good for you.. thats weird for the jerk to ask you to remove all of your HA and CI.. that jerk!
 
Gotta run in a minute but I see nothing wrong with what you did (after reading your second post also). I don't think he was rude at all.. Maybe he was turning OFF the phone for that matter-- the point is that the other guy doesn't even KNOW what he is doing with the phone. Why should d-geek apologize for anything?

As for removing all but his hearing aid... I can see why he did it.. the guy said put all your electronics on the table.. so.. he did. To me that was a good point to drive home that d-geek IS deaf and that he followed the guy's instructions to the letter.

I hope things go well with HR- I'm guessing they just want your side of the story (suspect that guy complained to HR about you but it sounds like you have 50-150 people behind you all the way).

Gotta say-- you had the balls to do something that I probably would have not done but it's awesome.
 
d-geek, I am not understanding what your phone had to do with this whole scenario.....
 
Tousi said:
d-geek, I am not understanding what your phone had to do with this whole scenario.....
Click to expand...

"They have the system set up so you can call in to the meetings and listen in. the larger meting I’m at work for I call in and blue-tooth my CI to my phone"

He's at work but he calls the meeting line and links his phone to his CI.
 
Audiofuzzy said:
D-geek,
it's a story of and a matter of etiquette and short fuse.

My question to you is - the guy was introducing yourself to you,
did you absolutely had to in this very moment correct volume on your phone?
like, really? really? did you??

Good manners require you do not pull out a phone and start fiddling with it while someone is talking to you.
At the very least, you should have waited for the appropriate moment, EXCUSE your self much, and explain you are deaf and you really have to turn down a volume on your phone, very sorry! do it fast then after doing that apologize again, giving the guy your full attention. a reassuring arm touch would be a good idea.

Being deaf is no excuse for being rude. in that aspect the guy was right.

On the other hand, the guy did grossly over reacted. By overreacting like there was no tomorrow he himself behaved inexcusably.
The only explanation - not an excuse - explanation for his temper tantrum was your lack of consideration for his person.
This is what happened, and this is why you feel uneasy. because despite received accolades for your speech etc, you know you shouldn't have pulled out that phone.

Fuzzy
Click to expand...
Regardless of whether or not d-geek is deaf, the other guy is the one who responded in an unprofessional manner. Even if he thought d-geek was a hearing guy with a cell phone, he certainly didn't handle the situation correctly. This is not the way to respond:

"The guy flips out at me. Tells me how unprofessional it is for me to be playing with my phone when giving a presentation."

It was not that guy's job to give a public phone-etiquette lesson to d-geek.
 
Reba said:
Regardless of whether or not d-geek is deaf, the other guy is the one who responded in an unprofessional manner. Even if he thought d-geek was a hearing guy with a cell phone, he certainly didn't handle the situation correctly. This is not the way to respond:

"The guy flips out at me. Tells me how unprofessional it is for me to be playing with my phone when giving a presentation."

It was not that guy's job to give a public phone-etiquette lesson to d-geek.
Click to expand...

And d-geek got a standing ovation from his 150 coworkers not the other guy . So this prove d-geek did nothing wrong. I would had been doing the same if I was there.
 
Reba said:
Regardless of whether or not d-geek is deaf, the other guy is the one who responded in an unprofessional manner. Even if he thought d-geek was a hearing guy with a cell phone, he certainly didn't handle the situation correctly. This is not the way to respond:

"The guy flips out at me. Tells me how unprofessional it is for me to be playing with my phone when giving a presentation."

It was not that guy's job to give a public phone-etiquette lesson to d-geek.
Click to expand...

That's what I said.

Fuzzy
 
Back
Top