Taking Offense
What's usually called "political correctness" has affected workplace routine in many ways, many good, some not so good. The focus, though, tends to be on major issues, like sexual harassment and sexual or racial discrimination. We need to consider some of the minor issues.
What worries me about minor issues is what I'll call the "eye of the beholder presumption." This presumption is that if someone takes a remark as offensive, then it is offensive regardless of the intentions of whoever made the remark. Another way of putting this is to say that taking offense always trumps not meaning to offend.
It's certainly true that if someone is offended by a remark or joke, they suffer upsetness to some degree. If things get sorted out later, that's all well and good, but the upsetness was still experienced at the time. On the other hand, people's tolerance levels vary greatly, and some take offense at the least little thing and often import offensive meanings or implications from their own worries and backgrounds. What the eye of the beholder presumption does, then, is that it effectively lowers the threshold for offensiveness to the level of the most sensitive individual in the workplace.
Well, maybe that's to the good; maybe we all should be sensitized to a greater degree than most of us are. On the other hand, ratcheting up the level of touchiness can have some very unpleasant consequences. The first thing to suffer is humor. There isn't a joke told that might not offend somebody. Okay, so maybe that's okay; I've talked to people who seem to think you shouldn't risk humor in the workplace, and that casual workplace conversation should consist entirely of pleasant "how are you"s and "just fine"s. That might be boring, but perhaps preferable to conversation that might cause someone discomfort.
But things are never that simple. What is likely to happen if the risk of offending becomes the prime consideration in workplace conversation, is that people will start talking only to those who share their sense of humor and tolerance level. This might not be so bad in a social context; it is, in fact, how people tend to group themselves when they socialize. But it could be disastrous for the workplace. It could lower morale, create suspicion, foster resentment, and certainly impede the casual conversation that often makes tedious work bearable.
