Use pronouns or face dismissal

Me too! If I see someone out of context I have a hard time. My dentist has his eyes lazered and I didn’t recognise him when I went for a checkup. I just assumed it was him (and it was).

Yeah I struggle with names as well.

And I'm not great at recognising people I don't know that well either...

Oops pressed by mistake - I was going to say if they choose to go by various ones (as does happen) then I would really be stumped as my memory just isn’t that good.

I never win the memory game.

Honestly - if there are more that two people around the table who request a pronoun that may be thought to be not what you’d imagine (or if the opposite happens - someone who you might look at and assume that theirs is something else) then I would get into knots and have to write it all down. God help me if they choose to .

What a faff.

Current pronouns shared round table at the start of each and every meeting?

If I get asked to use pronouns in my email signature, I am definitely going for "Your Highness".

Badges. Maybe we need badges - I’m not joking. I can never remember anyone’s name so it would have a double benefit.

It’s the there a police officer with 2 warrant cards for just this event? I assume P Bunce has 2 security passes for work.

Where pronouns change, how is that handled? If last week Alex was she/ her and this week Alex is he/ his, how do people know this?

Current pronouns shared round table at the start of each and every meeting?

Yes you're right re using in a meeting.

The issue on calls is you may never have met/ seen the people on the call. So you'd have to go and look them all up beforehand and keep referring to a list.

With unisex/ non English names you're not familiar with you tend to take your cue from the voice, that won't be sufficient.

Have they really thought about what this will mean in real life for especially larger or multinational companies?

If you have colleagues in countries that are not aware of this sort of thing, how will the info be disseminated to them? If you have someone in X country where this is not a thing, how do you explain that before all meetings they have to look up the pronouns of everyone on the call they haven't met etc etc

Especially days when there are large meetings or meetings with particular staff attending. It would distract from the actual meeting.

I worked somewhere where the personality of several attendees at our weekly early morning staff meeting meant that it just descended into playground flinging of insults and petty point scoring (and swearing, threats to leave etc). I used to miss the bus often on those days and just go to my office and do some work (and would be updated on who said what to who later).

I can foresee productivity rates going down and sickness with stress (for worrying about using the wrong pronouns) going up

Cross-post City Arizona.

You only use pronouns when someone isn't there though don't you?

This is a common misconception on these boards I've noticed.

You can say to somebody (in front of Donald):

Donald has just told me that he has painted his face orange.

(I had nobody in mind particularly.)

If I am told to put pronouns in my email signature, I will fully kick off.

The "inclusive language" guide is a sight to behold. Utterly contradictory and reads like it has been written by an over enthusiastic teenager.

You only use pronouns when someone isn't there though don't you?

No you don’t. Particularly in group discussions or meetings you use them quite a bit about people that are present.

Jane do you mind forwarding the details to Sue?
I’ve already sent them to her.

If you could all please send your updates to Ann, she will collate them into one document and put it in the shared folder.

Jack and I were talking the other day and he said he thought it wasn’t possible anyway. Is that right Jack? Am I recalling our conversation correctly?

Describing your colleague as fat is not necessary (I suppose unless you are trying to distinguish her from Thin Wendy).

"Which one is Wendy?"

"Oh, she's the large one."

That's ok isn't it? No untruths spoken.

Babs might enjoy that though.

You only use pronouns when someone isn't there though don't you?

That's the bit I find weird.

And the time it will take to look up everyone's pronouns during meetings etc.

I would just go with they for everything. But I suspect that won't go down well.

Describing your colleague as fat is not necessary (I suppose unless you are trying to distinguish her from Thin Wendy).

Using pronouns is a pretty standard part of sentence construction.

Like anyone, I would call Fat Wendy, Wendy in accounts, to be polite. And I would call someone trans they if I remembered. I won’t lie - I won’t call Fat Wendy, Thin Wendy.

I struggle with this issue tbh. Forced use of pronouns feels wrong, but on the other hand there are many truths that can't be said outright.

For example, it wouldn't go down well if I insisted on calling my workmate 'Fat Wendy' and refused to desist as it was a true statement.

Yes re pips bounce.

It's a total pisstake.

They are v high up. Powerful. And everyone needs to check themselves before speaking.

It's a total power trip.