wonder if I can understand it a bit more.
If you don't agree with something said about you (ie negative
criticism), is it illegal?
If it hasn't caused anyone harm, can someone still be sued because of
it? I would believe a burden of proof is required here.
What if the person who wrote it had good reason to believe it was true
at the time it was written? This is a plausible defense.
If you feel someone is saying negative things about you or your group,
company, etc, at what point do you just simply defend against it in your
own way in a professional manner and hope nobody takes the negative
comments seriously as opposed to threatening with legal action or
"other" methods?
In my mind, there is a difference between saying / writing negative
comments and untrue things, and a difference between saying them
intentionally and saying them because at the time that's what one
believed to be true until further evidence turns up.
And then there's the terms regarding saying untrue things (slander) and
writing them (libel), and just plain negative comments (which I call
Criticism).
You can't be sued for criticism. Most of the time you also can't be sued
for expressing an opinion. The words "I feel" or "I think" also apply
here.
I wish I had the capability to sue people for saying untrue things about
me. But at the same time I already have the skills to act professionally
when people express negative criticism. I can take it as a means to
better myself or to respond as to why the negative comments / criticism
is unwarranted. It's also the other people's responsibility to read that
response and act accordingly. Most of the time they have only their
point of view. They should be willing to understand the other side of
the situation.
It's really sad when they refuse to learn how to act professionally.
Maybe a class in Business communication is required.
Case in point. One day years ago while working at the restaurant, I had
woken up with a really bad pain in my back. This limited my capabilities
for the day until I could find some way to get my back into shape again.
One of the shift supervisors didn't like me, and even though I told her
that my back wasn't in the best of shape and she would have to pull a
bit more of her own weight, that still didn't stop her from ignoring
what I had told her. So while trying to take care of something, she
yelled at me from the front line because I hadn't acted fast enough for
her. I got mad and kicked a trash container across the back line floor.
She had a couple friends in and "encouraged" them to complain on the
toll free comment phone number.
A few days later they were back in, so was the annoying shift supervisor
girl and my boss. I explained to her friends that "we discussed the
incident and we agree it was unfortunately not handled in the best
manner possible." My boss was impressed by my response. The girls
accepted this statement, but nobody noticed that I did not apologize for
the incident in any way. But the annoying coworker never did that sort
of thing to me again!
I found out a few years ago she went on to get a nursing degree when her
obituary was printed in the local paper. I thought OMG. She must have
gotten cancer or something. I didn't wish for that.
Oh well. Things happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment