The Office on NBC last night showed Michael, the boss, callously outing Oscar as gay. Corporate launched an investigation for insensitivity. Michael called a meeting to prove he was okay with gay. An incredibly tense meeting ends with Michael kissing Oscar on the mouth. The show ends with Oscar counting the money corporate paid him not to sue.
The show merits mention here because:
Entertainment imitates life.
Michael's response to being caught as a homophobe was absurdly realistic. Once caught and left to their own devices, discriminators do absurd things. A real life example, Senator Allen's decison to hold "Ethnic Rallies " when caught mocking Macaca, comes to mind.
Corporate paid Oscar too much.
Employers have no obligation to provide employees with a workplace free from sexual preference harassment. Gays are fair game. While Michael's kiss might amount to a battery (unwelcomed and offensive physical contact) and he may have committed a false imprisonment when he blocked the door to keep Oscar from leaving the meeting, the episode was written with Oscar (sort of) consenting to the kiss and deciding to stay in the meeting.
The concern about being insensitive to gays was, however, ironically refreshing.
In real life bad boss behavior does not play out with such comedy. Here is a question and answer about office harassment and defamation. There, a boss took a new female employee to lunch, returned hours later with them both drunk and later threatened to fire the employee who leaked word of it. In Arizona it seems the employee will have little legal recourse if fired.
I like entertainment better.
