School bully gets what he deserves

[Berkut]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

[DGuller]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

One of the very few people at my work who I know of being fired was fired for a confrontation that happened away from work, during happy hour.  Once the rumors got to the manager, the instigator was gone.

[DGuller]

and pretty quickly developed a strategy for dealing with it - basically over-react to the first person screwing with me

[Berkut]

and pretty quickly developed a strategy for dealing with it - basically over-react to the first person screwing with me

I am not claiming it was the *right* way to deal with it, just that it worked. Until it got my ass kicked - but that kind of worked too.

[Valmy]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing.

[Slargos]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

We're obviously working from different definitions. Isn't there an american catch all phrase for both verbal and physical harassment?

[Berkut]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

We're obviously working from different definitions. Isn't there an american catch all phrase for both verbal and physical harassment?

I don't think I've ever worked anywhere where verbal harassment to the extent that it could be called "bullying" is tolerated either. But maybe we do mean different things...

[Slargos]

Bullying is inevitable. No matter what kind of draconian "zero tolerance" policies are enacted, bullying will always exist (not only in schools but also perhaps more importantly in workplaces) as long as we don't invent some sort of behavioural modification chip.

People must work in a very different kind of environment than those I've been exposed to - I don't think I've ever been exposed to anything that would constitute bullying at any job I've worked at. In fact, I am pretty sure anyone threatening anyone else with violence would be very quickly fired.

We're obviously working from different definitions. Isn't there an american catch all phrase for both verbal and physical harassment?

I don't think I've ever worked anywhere where verbal harassment to the extent that it could be called "bullying" is tolerated either. But maybe we do mean different things...

It's a common problem in health care in both Sweden and Norway. Primarily in female-dominated workplaces I think.

[Berkut]

Actually, I would say I see verbal bullying while officiating...I am often surprised how much some people are willing to put up with...

[derspiess]

Actually, I would say I see verbal bullying while officiating...I am often surprised how much some people are willing to put up with...

Well, duh... if you wear a striped shirt you get to bully all you want.

[Jacob]

Yeah, the Scandinavian understanding of bullying is a bit different than what I think Americans, Canadians and Brits mean when they talk of bullying.

When the Anglosphere speak of bullying, there seems to be more emphasis on violence part of the interaction. The "classic scenario" as it were seems to centre around one or two mean people with a coterie sycophants picking on a victim, escalating to violence to back up their dominance.

In Scandinavia (and I think in Japan too) the fundamental dynamic is understood to be less about the violence per se (not to say that there's no violence or even less violence) and more about being excluded from the social group. The classic bullying scenario is the one where "everyone in the class" continually derides the victim and almost compete amongst themselves in coming up with creative ways to humiliate them; it can involve violence but doesn't have to. The main thing is to never let the victim forget that "you're not one of us."

It might have something to do with the relatively more homogenous society and slightly more collectivist inclinations in Scandinavia, that social exclusion is more at the fore.

My point is that the kind of thing a Scandinavian tends to think of first when speaking of bullying - the repeated subtle and not so subtle ways that members of the group cut out and pick on one mutally agreed victim - carries over more easily to the adult workplace than the Anglo conception of bullying which I think is more along the lines of "I'm going to socially and physically demean you and you're going to take it because if you don't I'll beat you up out by the bike racks."

In Scandinavia, at least in my experience, the "beat you up bully" is more likely to find himself the target of bullying as the peer group as a whole decides they're unacceptable. This doesn't mean less bullying, however, nor solves the problem of the socially weak kid being bullied.

[Legbiter]

In school fights pinning someone down or giving them bloody noses would usually suffice. Except that one time when I beat semi-unconscious Mr. Big with his own drink bottle.

[Camerus]

I dunno.  Here in Canada I've definitely encountered a lot of material on "workplace bullying", and it mostly all dealt with the verbal kind.  That the physical kind was unacceptable was pretty much a given.

[Warspite]

@Jacob: from my experience in American and British schools, verbal bullying was very much considered equivalent to violent bullying.

[Malthus]

In Scandinavia (and I think in Japan too) the fundamental dynamic is understood to be less about the violence per se (not to say that there's no violence or even less violence) and more about being excluded from the social group. The classic bullying scenario is the one where "everyone in the class" continually derides the victim and almost compete amongst themselves in coming up with creative ways to humiliate them; it can involve violence but doesn't have to. The main thing is to never let the victim forget that "you're not one of us."

Hey, that sort of sounds like the way we Languishistas treat each other continually. Especially when it comes to Slargos.