Prickly business

We have a restaurant in our office building, my company a service management company is in charge of this restaurant. We are also in charge of information regarding the building and events within the company. That is my job amongst other things. I manage a few television screens on which I put important or interesting pieces of information which will then go in a loop.

During the last couple of months the restaurant (a self serve place) have been getting a tray back into the “dish area” on which lies a needle from an insulin pen.

A needle that someone pricks themselves with at lunch time and then they leave it on the tray.

After a while the restaurant asked me if there was anything we could do information wise. First we put up notices in the restaurant in various place. Asking people not to leave sharp objects on the tray on which the restaurant staff could hurt themselves.

It has now been three months and the needle on the tray business has not stopped. Last week one of the staff actually pricked herself on the needle. I was asked if I could put some more information out onto the television screen.

So I wrote a short piece in and we put it on the screen today.

My boss was standing behind me whilst I was writing, he read it and didn’t say anything.

An hour after it goes up on the screen my boss comes in and says to me in front of everybody “I used my VETO and shut it down!”

“Shut what down?” I asked cause I hadn’t got the faintest idea of what he was talking about.

“The television screens with your message” he said “I don’t think it is appropriate with our role here, the screens are supposed to be used for information regarding the workplace!”

“Well first of all, the message does regard our workplace and also it wasn’t MY personal message, people have been hurt from a needle and no one knows what the needle contains, it is not safe” I replied. “And besides, you read the message before I put it on the screen so why didn’t you say anything then?”

“Erm I didn’t think of it then but anyway I think the message you wrote was bad, it had a testy/nasty tone” he then told me and marched off.

I was not a little hurt and embarrassed and angry, my work mates were also slightly embarrassed.

So tell me is this message so nasty or testy or inappropriate?

“During the last few months a needle, the tip of an insulin pen, has been left with the dishes on a tray. Although it may seem that the needle is protected there has been an incident were an employee of the restaurant was pricked by the needle.

Please discard you insulin needle elsewhere.”