Sticks and Stones May Hurt, but Words Could Get You Fired!!

Sorry it took so long for my second post! Between work, family, and the holidays my time became scarce, but that turkey day behind us I’m going to be hitting saywhathector.com with everything I got! Now let the show begin

In my first blog I spoke about transitioning from military to civilian life regarding employment and searching for a job, in this post I wanted to touch on how we as veterans get re-acclimated into civilian life and the difficulties associated with that. So as veterans we are known to be upfront, honest, and sarcastic… especially sarcastic, but only a veteran can appreciate those virtues, but a civilian could take offense to it. We as veterans must be cognizant of that civilians are little more sensitive and haven’t been exposed trials of tribulations of war and deployments. When I first got out and went to work I found myself in hot water! I went to respond to a work ticket and the nurse who put the ticket in had something negative to say about the time in took me to respond to the ticket… So, me being the submariner I am, I quickly responded with a “I’ll remember to take my sweet time on your next ticket!” The nurse didn’t appreciate it and I was in my managers office explaining myself. He was a Navy vet himself, so he understood the struggle of reacclimating, so he wasn’t as hard on me as he probably should have. He told me, “Hector, you can’t talk to your co-workers like you did your shipmates! You have to conscious of their feelings.” He also said, “Hector if you follow these three rules of engagement at the work place you should be safe. Don’t talk about sex, religion, and politics and you won’t find yourself in my office for inappropriate behavior.” And for the most part he was right.

The last thing I’ll bring up is being cognizant of is releasing of bodily functions… other wise known as burping and farting. On a submarine, a true submariner would appreciate a good hearty fart or burp, but your civilian co-workers may not be so appreciative. If you wouldn’t do it on a first date or in front of your girlfriend’s parents, then you probably shouldn’t do it. Some of you are probably thinking that this shouldn’t have to be said but you’d be surprised about how many vets would break this rule…

Please comment, share, and let me know what you guys think!!! I will get back to everyone, I promise!