Kicked out of work for wearing kilt

[Scotcop]

Hey we are all supposed to be plotting how to avenge my work-kilt experience, no talk about Galicia right now ok?

[Steve Barclay]

Complain through the proper channels- grievance procedure etc, and any threat of retaliation, seek legal advice is my suggestion. DO NOT be bullied into leaving if you otherwise like the job, bullying bosses need to be taken to task.

[BoldHighlander]

Hey we are all supposed to be plotting how to avenge my work-kilt experience, no talk about Galicia right now ok?

Ha! Ha! Right!

Again, as I said early on, & agree with others here, do not take this lying down. Go to the honcho who gave you the a-okay & report what happened, word for word.

I have to give you kudos mate for your response in the first place. I'm a Christian too, however I'm very much an 'old testament' type (as in "an eye for an eye"), thus if attacked in a personal manner (as you were) I'm afraid I wouldn't have been as charitable as you were!

[gordontaos]

I think that too many people have been thinking in terms of a lawsuit. A complaint that goes before the EEOC is usually first handled by a mediator, not a judge, and there are generally not attorneys present.
So, all you have to do is convince the mediator that you have been harrassed because of sex or national origin.
I have been on the receiving end of such mediation, and actually came out ahead. The mediator even told me, after it was over, that he knew that there was an open and shut case against me, and he was shocked that I was able to explain myself so well and change his preconceived idea. So... the mediators can indeed be fair, and it is not a setting of "legalese".
Also, while in the Air Force, I was able to get a formal apology from my immediate supervisor for action that he took against me. It took me 4 months to quietly research my case, but I was able to succeed against a huge bureaucracy.
Finally, as far as the "Major" thing goes, its about time to start calling him Mr., or Stan or whatever his first name is. As many others have said here, a retired 20 year Major is a failure. I worked as the personal assistant to the most highly decorated cadet in the history of West Point. He was also the youngest General in the Army when he retired. I addressed him as boss, everyone else called him Pete. He was only addressed as General when we were back at West Point or in some other purely military setting.
So, go for it. If they fire you you can still collect unemployment and the summer is rapidly approaching.

[Good Egg]

Finally, as far as the "Major" thing goes, its about time to start calling him Mr., or Stan or whatever his first name is.

Bearing in mind that it was only mentioned that the 'gentleman' in question was a retired Major, we have not been told that he still uses his rank.

Its entirely up to you how you choose to address anyone, there is no law that says you have to be polite. A retired officer is perfectly entitled to continue to use his rank if he wishes to. The fact that a General chooses not to doesn't alter that. If you decide to address him as 'Mister' in order to be rude that's fine as long as you are intending to be rude. Same goes for first names bearing in mind that the 'gentleman' in question is at least 20 years older than Scotscop.

I was quite rude about Majors earlier on, but I'm in a position to be so and had a bit of a pop at passed over Majors doing dodgy staff jobs. There is another sort of Major. Ex-rankers. In some ways these guys have had a much harder fight to get to Major and with few exceptions it is their ceiling. An ex-ranker who achieved his majority has something to be proud of although some of them find it hard to let go of the Sergeant Major bit...

[rsvpiper]

The man's a nob! did you get it in writing from the senior manager?

Like many ex service people they can struggle to accept the civie street is much more live and let live rather than conform or die! (Ex services myself)

But still is he normally a nob at work if so see point above

The balls in your court i would go over his head get a meeting with HR your senior man and him.......... then KICK him in the BALLS

Just my opinion mind

[GG]

I almost cannot believe that narrow minded bosses like him exist in 2010.

Greg

[Red Stag]

Scotcop,
Maybe you should remind your supervisor that Jesus didn't wear pants. If your bookstore sells any Celtic stuff I would have some of your kilted friends come into shop, bring it all up to the register and then ask if this was the place where a guy wasn't allowed to wear a tartan kilt on National Tartan Day and when they said "yes", leave everything at the register and then walk away. Since you had permission from a higher up than you should have stood your ground. I wore my tan Utilikilt to work Tuesday as it fits in with our dress code but I wore a shirt and tartan tie. Usually the shirt and tie is for salaried managers so a lot of customers came to me to complain about stuff. None of the "real" managers said anything to me about it. I had one old lady who works there who is known to be a bully and tattle tail make a snide remark about me dressing up when I wasn't a manager and I just ignored the old crone.

[-B-]

A lot of bad advice

One you should have never caved in but told the manager to go seek counsel with his superiors as you have been expressly allowed to were what you did. Furthermore you should have reported the tirate to the manager and demanded an apology both written and public from the offender. failure to do so would require you to report this incident to the regional manager, the companies HR department and the state labor board. This is precisely what there are harassment policy and laws you were harassed and use the term a lot in all of your discussions.

[Nighthawk]

A lot of bad advice

One you should have never caved in but told the manager to go seek counsel with his superiors as you have been expressly allowed to were what you did. Furthermore you should have reported the tirate to the manager and demanded an apology both written and public from the offender. failure to do so would require you to report this incident to the regional manager, the companies HR department and the state labor board. This is precisely what there are harassment policy and laws you were harassed and use the term a lot in all of your discussions.

Sometimes, you need to pick when to make your stand. In front of customers and other employees is not the time to do it, any more than it is the time for a manager to reprimand. Scotcop comes out looking like the professional who kept his cool while the manager comes across looking like very unprofessional, and worse, insubordinate. Scotcop could not have handled the immediate situation any better. If he had started shouting back, that would have given the superviser grounds for a write up and disciplinary action for insubordination. Scotcop showed that he can be relied upon to behave like an adult with self control even in the most vile of circumstances... and said manager has shown himself to be happy to create vile situations. Having handled the initial event the way he did gives him an almost airtight case to take to his higher-ups in the manner that you suggest. Now that the situation is over and Scotcop has shown his quality, it's time to...

...report the tirade to the manager and demanded an apology both written and public from the offender. failure to do so would require you to report this incident to the regional manager, the companies HR department and the state labor board. This is precisely what there are harassment policy and laws you were harassed and use the term a lot in all of your discussions.

Did you know that in the Pacific theater of war in World War II, Japanese casualties numbered something like 10 to every one Allied casualty? Do you know why that is? Strategy. It all comes down to good planning. I repost your strategy of complaint because you said it perfectly from that point on. The thing to remember here is that the supervisor obviously planned to launch his attack at a specific time. If you make a banzai attack against a well entrenched force, you will die. Meet strategy with strategy- plan it well. That's how you win a battle like this.