Let's play a new game...

Instead of me giving my opinion, I am going to pose some questions and let you decide how you feel about what I’ve asked. I am not very confident that I can follow through with my side of this game, because I am prone to letting it rip, but let’s see how I do.

Is it appropriate for any representative of a company to ask an employee, who is being asked to travel on behalf of that company, if they would like their own hotel room or if they would like to share a hotel room with a fellow work associate? Have you decided? Yes? No? Okay, how about a little more? Is it appropriate for an employee to share a hotel room with their manager?

Have you tried to break this down further, deciding if the gender of the associate and/or the manager makes a difference? Have you decided why that would make a difference? Let me ask another question. Should a company ask an employee to sleep, shit, or shower in the same room as someone they work with? True, a lot of people shit at work, but do they change into their pajamas, undress, or snore in the same room as someone they work with? Does it still matter what the gender of that someone they work with is?

Have I been asked if I want to share a room with someone I report to while traveling? What do you think? How do I feel about that? What do you think?

Alright, I’m done.

No. I’m not. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? If you idiots can’t afford for me to get my own room, regardless of associate, reporting structure or gender, then maybe you shouldn’t ask me to travel. In what world is sharing a hotel room with someone you work with appropriate? Hasn’t anyone ever heard of the term HR nightmare?

Beyond the potential HR ramifications, am I the only one who knows the term work/life balance? Boundaries, anyone? What’s scary is that the person who asked me probably didn’t have a clue of how inappropriate the question was. This brings me back to my point. Why was the person who asked if I wanted to share a hotel room or wanted my own room put in that position to ask me in the first place?

How in the hell can a company that has somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 employees be so fucking stupid?

One last question. Has the world gone mad?