1. Don't go out with co-workers. 2. Don't make friends with co-workers. 3. Def. never drink with co-workers.
Have we really become this sensitive? There's a voice in me that's screaming 'fuck off' to this kind of attitude. I can't quite articulate why it infuriates me so much.
I don't think that's what's causing the outrage, here...
Which is all hilarious to me because I'm friends with a lot of my coworkers, drink with them, and even have had the audacity to casually (and mutually) flirt with a couple of them. Based on what I've been reading in these comments, my career ought to be crumbling down by now.
I think some commenters are focusing too much on the non-professional aspect and not enough on the power-imbalance aspect presented in some of these cases.
If you're used to the workplace mimicking the conventions of subcultures you belong to, the transition will be a drag, but, if you're alienated from the dominant workplace subculture, probably a breath of fresh air.
Maybe people should wear suits and ties then. You know, to make it abundantly clear that the workplace is a stiff and formal environment.
Corporate leadership is responsible for setting tone in the workplace, and the ethos that has been paraded in Silicon Valley since its birth is that everyone is a friendly collaborator, that ideas and people flow freely from company to company, as if in a casual manner, and the dress code reflected that.
Turning anything in SV into "stiff and formal" goes against SV's cultural soul.
Suits and ties are a step in the right direction, but I think what many of us would really like to see are non-gendered company uniforms along with well defined personal style guidelines (hair, makeup, et al)