Work and Income staffer took fake ‘meth’ to ‘cultural diversity’ morning tea
thespinoff.co.nz/society/29-05-2023/work-and-...
thespinoff.co.nzPosted May 28, 2023, 9:23 PM UTC
21295
thespinoff.co.nzSeems like it was handled okay. Manager got tipped off, removed it and then had a word with the staff member about what jokes are appropriate in the workplace.
253
What people can miss is the need for a sense of black humour in these jobs. Lots of these kinds of departments have some really horrendous work/ clients, you have to be able to laugh at it sometimes.
The line, though, is definitely before taking fake meth to work - joke or not, it’s incredible risky to do just on the face of, yknow, being seen to bring drugs to work?
190
black humour
I think they prefer African-American humour.
Dumbassery aside, you are absolutely not wrong. A mates wife works in a front facing WINZ job, and she gets threatened with bodily harm, rape, gang 'retribution', and worse, daily. You 100% need black humour to get through the day without that sort of shit destroying your soul.
81
[deleted]
-12
He’s joking you muppet
19
It was an obvious joke you knuckle dragger, so obvious no one's gonna whoosh you
14
Oof, the most blistering gallows humour I've heard is from those working rape crisis.
26
Social workers, counsellors, youth workers etc usually have access to clinical supervision where they can talk about the impacts their work is having on them and developing ways to deal with that healthily.
Black humour is what comes out when you can't process those things in a healthy way. There was an article a few years back about the culture at a company that does facebook moderation, and the horrible culture that developed there because people where not given the time to process it.
When I heard front line staff at MSD don't get any supervision or support beyond 3 EAP sessions available I was appalled but not surprised. You're right, the front line staff there are exposed to really horrible things and they deserve support.
8†
As someone in a similar work environment I can comfortably tell you that black humour goes hand in hand with talking about the issues and seeking external support when needed.
Sometimes you’ve got to be resilient and support others and well as yourself - having some humour involved helps a lot. The nature of these sorts of jobs isn’t going to change, but people working in them want to do well and get good outcomes.
17
Black humour is what comes out when you can't process those things in a healthy way.
Totally disagree. I'm married to a clinical specialist who has to deal with some fairly hardcore cases. She has supervision and supervises other. We both laugh about our jobs at home in an inappropriate manner.
Doing it AT work, or in a public setting, is obviously inappropriate in professional contexts.
and they deserve support.
They do, but in my experience half the staff are literally terrible at their jobs. I spent quite some time on a sickness benefit and went to every appointment with a family member who is a lawyer, and introduced himself as such. That seemed to solve all the previous problems I had
16
front line staff at MSD don't get any supervision or support beyond 3 EAP sessions
Monday 9.43am - death threat, booked 3 eap sessions.
Tuesday 10.15am - rape threat, booked 3 eap sessions.
Tuesday 2.34pm - Family threatened, booked 3 eap sessions.
...
I do wonder what would happen to eap sessions if front line staff started to do this regularly. Cause I really do think they need to be able to take the support without any threat by their managers or coworkers.
14
I think to get extra EAP sessions beyond the first three (for a year) you need to get sign off from your manager. Which defeats the purpose of confidential EAP
16
Black humour is all well and good as far as I'm concerned.
But which culture is the meth supposed to represent? The humour doesn't work unless there's an answer to that question.
3
Meth is very diverse amongst the unemployed and working class in all reaches of NZ, from big city to small town. Farmers are starting to get in to into it a bit more apparently
4
Yeah, there's a distinct difference between black humour and humour that makes fun of people in difficult places in their life.
2
Absolutely no reason for this to be in the media. It was handled in-house, why does anyone else need to know about it?
23
Wpdwps ?
-3
Why the fuck is this a news story. Someone made an inappropriate joke that didn't quite land well, who gives a shit.
148
Why the fuck is this a news story.
Outrage bait.
28
The author of this article tends to lean towards rage bait fairly often.
8
Public institution, newsrooms tipped off by those in said institution, about how it may be reflective of cultural and potentially racial discrimination, even if exceptionally minor.
I don’t think it shouldn’t be a story? We either accept newsworthy ness allows for newsrooms to say when something ain’t newsworthy, or we demand everything is newsworthy.
4
[deleted]
1
But why is this a news story?
1
Because news agency needs content and wanted to use it as an example of a culture of "unacceptable behaviour" and attitude towards customers.
1
Pretty funny tbh.
147
Fucken hilarious 😂
54
In the right department/workplace this would have been very funny.
If you're constantly dealing with negative, borderline (and straight up) abusive clients day in and day out at any role in any workplace many people learn to adapt with inappropriate coping mechanisms, e.g. making off-colour/dark jokes.
Hospo, IT, call centre and social services are all high stress, high anxiety and low reward roles that you either adapt to in your own way or you burn out.
This should be a reflection on the level of stress they're under than reprimanding the staff member involved. I'd say half the work-force in any similar industry have inside jokes like this, even darker at times.
59
I work in a field like this - our workplace culture is not even close to like this. We empathise with people and problem solve our way forward as best as we can while remaining as safe as possible. Any dark humour is not directed towards the people we are trying to help because that would be bullying vulnerable people..
5†
I used to work for MSD IT.
One of the most fun things to do, for work drinks, was to talk to the secondees (almost always young women) who'd been bought in for testing. Usually front-line staff, but they'd work in IT for a couple of months testing stuff.
Get them telling war stories. Even 30 years ago, front-line MSD was fucking FERAL. I can't think it's got better.
(My manager used to say "Remember, the person that's using your change may have just had a chair thrown at them. Don't make their day worse by making it hard to use")
12
Well aren't you special.
8
I'm sad for you that you think basic human decency is special.
2†
If meth addicts are using govt money to support their habit then i don't blame those who work to "support" them for making jokes about how ridiculous it is.. hopefully this makes some realize how bad the problem is getting.
-2†
Nice job highlighting the exact problem with this kind of "joke". People who use WINZ are constantly stereotyped in this exact way and the result is a culture of total disrespect to people who try to access support. I got to experience first hand; the eye-rolling, sighing, taking their sweet time to start a booked appointment, and the DRAMATIC change in how I was treated when they realised I had a PhD and was in there applying for a one off grant to help me move for a job. Suddenly they were falling over themselves to help.
Not all WINZ staff, obviously, I did meet some nice people and I know it's a hard job. But I wonder how having this opinion of the people you're supposed to be helping makes it hard to actually help them?
13
What you saw here was probably them realizing they misjudged you, seems staff know how fucked up they are but they aren't the ones who can change things, but any publicity can shed light on issues.
-1
Jfc, I can't imagine having to work with the softcock that complained about this joke (Well, I can, but they're the worst kind of person). Full respect for the WINZ staff that need an outlet to vent about their most toxic clients.
53
Ah yes but:
The former staff member described an “us v them” or “we’re better than the client” mentality at Work and Income, adding “[there’s] very much a cultural acceptance of that”.
the former employee said. “The general regard for our clients is appalling, to be perfectly honest. Referring to clients as dropkicks [or] using terms like junkie or dickhead… which is totally unacceptable,” she alleged. “Some of the things that are happening are not following what would be accepted by the public.”
Hah, just a joke, so funny. Not.
28
It's even in the first part of the article that this one joke is indicative of the work place culture, not sure how everyone's missed that and are saying it's one joke out of context? I used to know two people who worked at winz, both have gone into great detail about their clients. Sure they get the abusive clients and it's totally fine to vent about that. But when I have someone messaging me like "I just had a food grant request and guess why lmao".... they clearly do place themselves above their clients.
22
[deleted]
1
No it's "dark humour" and these poor workers need an outlet for the horrible people they have to work with :'(
/s
No surprises this was Christchurch tbh, this is on the lighter side of what goes on there. The staffer is obviously a fool, but this is par for course for a lot of MSD staff.
11
Do you actually think dropkicks, junkies and dickheads don't end up in WINZ offices?
1†
All it accomplished is to perpetuate the stereotype that all beneficiaries are lazy, drug addled bums.
Yes there may be some like that, the majority however are not.
12
A friend who worked at winz said it wasn't the customers who were feral. I think about that every time a judgement pops up in my head.
8
We don't let any family members in there without a supporter. Only time it backfired was when my partner and I thought "we can support each other".
The WINZ woman told us the cheapest flat in our neighborhood (and we were caregiving an older relative in that locality so didn't have the choice of moving without the need then to get a car) was expensive and we should go into a flat share.
Me 45 running a new business that requires confidential management of data, him 50 dealing with severe MH issues and trying to occasionally see his daughters when their mother didn't block visitation. Yeah, a flat share would be great ... NOT.
We were so gobsmacked - she treated us like scum.
Had to go in with my Dad the following week to prove he was eligible for pension (living back here permanently). I was giving her the evils and would have asked for another agent if she had called his name.
Even then the agent didn't like me taking notes.
6
What is being discribed is not the staff having to deal with a few idiots. It is the staff treating ALL that come asking for help as "dropkicks, junkies and dickheads".
3
Extremists put their opinions on the internet. You're putting your opinions on the internet. Therefore, you're an extremist.
1
benny payments are basically a negligible percentage of taxpayer money
1
Get a grip NZ media the leaker and former staff member. It’s a non event and handled. I certainly couldn’t work the frontline at Winz with the shit they put up with, and if I did, any form of humour would be helpful, the darker the better!
27
This is probably hilarious to people who don't have to deal with MSD. Remember if you lose your job or get sick, you too could have the pleasure of interacting with people who have utter contempt for their clients, whether it's justified or not
23
I can see that this was a joke, and I think for the most part it was well handled - the manager removing the item and the employee being given some feedback on why this wasn't acceptable.
But organisations that deal with marginalised groups do often develop a culture that holds those groups in contempt - it's a pretty natural outcome of doing stressful, undervalued work, and it takes a lot of effort to counteract that.
Most people I've worked with in health and social care have been lovely and respectful towards/about their clients. A few haven't. If this becomes entrenched in a workplace culture, then care does suffer. And because the people who are accessing care are usually pretty vulnerable, there isn't always much pushback.
If the ex-employee had concerns that this was happening, I think they were right to whistleblow.
20
[deleted]
6
Reminds me of the James Veitch joke - "turns out you only need a few bags of flour, an afternoon, and a bit of creativity, and you can make a full on 'drugs' operation"
18
I now have a sudden urge to buy a shit-ton of rubber ducks 🤔
2
[removed]
17
Well handled, we all make mistakes when we’re young and hopefully this was a good lesson for the person.
15
The young mistake being that you don't realise you probably work with some uptight snitch who will get offended and complain and it's not worth the hassle.
22
Wild. Some people have no sense of “appropriate for the workplace.”
13
Like half the replies in this thread, yikes.
2†
I love a dodgy inappropriate joke as much as the next person. I have a dark sense of humour. I will laugh at almost anything.
But I also know what the appropriate audience is, and what is appropriate for a workplace. There are professional boundaries.
There is certain behaviours, conduct and jokes which are not suitable for a work environment.
Keep your dodgy jokes for your friends at home. Or low effort shitposts on R/NZ (sorry mods)
11
Especially when you are working for the Government. This is absolutely hilarious but it never should have happened and it’s crazy it took escalation to a manager for it to be removed
7
Just because someone finds it funny doesn't necessarily mean they think it's appropriate for the workplace.
1
No harm done.
12
I hope hes my next case manager sounds like a baller
9
Bahaha, sorry, this is hilarious.
9
I laughed.
I love that someone felt like complaining to the media.
7†
Hahahahahaha.
7
Some Michael Scott level stuff lol
7
Prison mike!
2
This never needed to go beyond "alright John, inappropriate for the workplace mate, take the fake meth off the lunch table".
The person who took this to the media must be most friendless, antisocial person alive.
Probably lurking the comments here, most likely.
Likely someone who thinks they are better than their peers at work, but in fact are a complete nuisance as demonstrated.
Unless than wanted to share the joke, that's their only saving grace.