Shropshire Star

Mark Andrews: Inappropriate emails, mobile phone etiquette, and why John Steed may not have been such a gent after all

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Addressing male co-workers as 'gents' is 'old fashioned' and inappropriate in the workplace, according to judge Dawn Shotter, who presided over an employment tribunal in Liverpool.

It didn't quite reach the threshold of 'unlawful sex discrimination', the learned judge ruled, but it was an example of what was 'unacceptable today', and represented 'managerial incompetence'. That's us told then.

The problem is, it is becoming increasingly difficult to work out what is 'old fashioned and inappropriate', and what is 'acceptable today'. The glib answer is that if you sound like a human being, you are probably sailing close to the wind. And if you sound like an AI bot that churns out American corporate jargon, you are, erm, good to go. 

But what we really need, I think, is more guidance. We need more judges to tell us what we can and can't say. And obviously, more taxpayer-funded lawyers and activists to debate this.

I suppose, what I'm saying, is we need an inquiry.

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The historian Dominic Sandbrook, raises the very good question about whether a true 'gent' would communicate by email. It is an interesting question.

I recall back in the 1990s an expert on etiquette opining that an overweight, middle-aged man walking down the road with a drink in his hand could not be considered a gentleman, 'and if he was carrying a mobile phone, so much the worse'. 

With hindsight, it might have been an idea to ask whether that applied to John Steed, generally considered to the epitome of the classic English gentleman, who inexplicably produced a phone from his hat in one particularly surreal episode of The Avengers. I'm guessing that was OK, because in the late 1960s such advanced technology would have been seen as cool, exciting and, of course, fictitious. Whereas by the early 1990s it was a bit, well, common.

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This interview actually influenced my reluctance to join the mobile phone revolution, although it didn't help that I was struggling with the hardware. It still amuses colleagues that I unwittingly spent several weeks as night-duty reporter with the thing switched off, because I assumed you only switched it on to make or receive a call. Well, if nobody tells you these things....

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Times have changed, and the days of the boorish loudmouth broadcasting every detail of his business down the trumpet on the bus and train appears to be a thing of the past. Because nobody actually talks on their phones any more. 

Indeed, try calling almost any supposed public service on a Friday afternoon, and see how long you are on hold for. During which time you will endure an endless cycle of recording messages suggesting you try the website instead. And if your are lucky enough to speak to a human, they inevitably tell you to drop an email.

I do wonder, though, how much this is behind general mood of discontent and pent-up anger that is so prevalent at the moment. Because, when we lose the art of communication, we lose the ability to understand one another. It never ceases to surprise me how many angry keyboard warriors turn out to be a total delight when you actually speak to them on the phone. 

And, in an industry where contacts are everything, you would be amazed at how many of our most valued and trusted sources began with a sniffy email or an irate phone call. It's good to talk.