A Radio Ban.

Corporate America.
We’ve all been in it at some point or another.
Workers over worked and under paid, weird rules, bosses that are clueless.

Well Ryan still works there – in Corporate America.
The plan is to get him out of it – but that’s currently in the works.

Anyways.
A whole new wave of ridiculous recently happened.

In his corporation, at one of the locations – someone {an employee} decided to sue his company due to be “offended” by what another employee was listening to.
They didn’t complain to a manager, or anything of that sort – they simply decided they were going to sue the company.
Seriously- over music.

After this little incident – it went company wide that all radio or music sources are not allowed on the premises.  All radios were required to be taken out of the facilities – nationwide.

• Those at their computers listening to music through the speakers can be written up.

• Headsets are not allowed – due to safety reasons – this one I do understand.

Disappointing that one bad apple had to ruin the whole corporate barrel.

Ryan was extremely frustrated about this – and I totally understand why.
Music is something that is listened to  my everyone at that facility. If ever a song came on that was vulgar the station was changed.  There was zero problems at his location.

We discussed this situation when he came home the evening the ban was officially put into place, his radio in tow, and we came to the unfortunate conclusion.

If someone played Positive, Encouraging KLOVE – someone else is bound to be offended because it’s a Christian radio station.
If someone plays heavy rock – someone is bound be offended.
If somone plays country, or rap, or spanish, or alternative – someone is either not going to like that kind of music or be offended.

Ryan’s location had zero problems – someone didn’t like a radio station – they simply asked the person to change the station. No problem. Easy – peasy. 

Most other company have “set stations” that can be played in the facility, and how hard would it be to anonymously have every employee fill out a form saying the kind of music that they are offended by, and what kind of music they are fine listening to.  No names, just an anonymous poll.  No one singled out.  Just a straight across the board ‘here it is. Speak your piece.’

For whatever reason – so many people feel like they are “entitled”. So many feel like they should take any opportunity to “sue someone else”.

Sure, there are reasons – legitimate discrimination, or illegal termination, etc. etc. – to sue a company – but a freakin’ radio!?!

Obviously that employee ex-employee really wasn’t thinking – where else in the industry is he going to get a job?  Potential employers aren’t going to be interested in hiring someone that sues a large corporation for something so petty.  And what court is actually going to take him seriously?  No prior complaints – nothing.  Just up and decided to be a jackass.
Then again, who would have thought that these lawsuits would have passed:

• 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. You remember, s he took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving.
• Kathleen Robertson of Austin,Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.
• Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City,Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of th e Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahomajury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.
•  Ex-student Jason Wilkins sued the University of Idaho in July of 1994 for $940,000 to pay for injuries he suffered when he fell through a third story window while mooning students. Wilkins had climbed onto a three-foot-high heater to reach the window but claimed the university should have posted warnings. 
• Forbes magazine recently reported an incident whereby a man attempted to kill himself by jumping in front of a subway car in New York; however, having failed, he won a $650,000 judgement from New York City because the train hit him.