"No offense, it's just business."
Why does that saying exist? Why do some people really believe that they get a pass if it's business? What happens here is that someone does something offensive in the business sphere and they try to excuse it by saying it's just business. That it has no personal content.
Would it make sense if the statement were flipped? What if people screwed others over in the personal domain and tried to eliminate their guilt by telling the aggrieved party not to worry. That it was just personal and no business issue was at play.
It seems that there's an assumption that the business domain is a special place walled off entirely from the rules of normal human behavior. Like it's some sort of parallel reality. If you hit people here it doesn't hurt...
Maybe "no offense" needs to be retired completely. If I feel offended then fix it. If you mean no offense, then behave that way. If you have to tell me that you mean no offense it's because you're doing something offensive. Why not just stop?
I'll admit that I'm guilty of this one myself. I think it's worth some more thought.
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1 comment:
I totally and completely agree with this. I actually just wrote about that saying as well. The way I look at it is, it means "I just offended you, but don't get mad".
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