2268 Have you experienced Double Standards?

Good evening, everyone, how are we all doing? Enjoying the colder weather? I know I am not.

Again, this week I wanted to discuss something on a more serious note. So, I have two questions for you to think about.

• Do you know what a double standard is?

• Have you ever experienced double standards yourself?

If you are unsure what a double standard is, then the simple answer is when one person treats two people differently for no reason. A great example is the older sibling getting in trouble for hanging a towel up wrong, but the younger sibling can leave their towel on the floor without being told it’s wrong.

Make sense?

Now, there are two sides to double standards. One often gets a benefit the other one does not get, to use my above example. The younger sibling doesn’t get in trouble and is allowed to carry on as is which counts as a benefit. The older sibling gets the worse side of this because they get in trouble even though they tried to do the right thing.

Double standards can be at home, at school, at work, and just about anywhere in life. Equally, it could be with anyone, your cousin, your parents, your siblings, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends, new friends and just about anyone else you can think of.

On some occasions they would make sense, perhaps a young child may not know they should try to move out of the way if they see a person walking with a walking stick, or perhaps wouldn’t recognise that a person may be blind. But you would expect an adult to move out of the way for a person who is using a walking stick or a blind person.

However, I HIGHLY believe that double standards should not happen in a workplace or an educational place. There are a few exceptions. If there is a medical reason why a person is treated differently from others, then 100% no arguments are there. An example, maybe a diabetic needs a break to eat something or to check their sugars. Maybe someone gets to go on their lunch break 5 minutes earlier so they can get down the stairs with the crutches without causing a massive crowd around the stairs.

The double standard that irritates me the most is when rules change depending on the person, not a medical need. For example, when I worked in retail, I was told by my boss that I MUST wear makeup… but no one else was given this rule? Not only is this a double standard but this is discrimination.

There are so many different scenarios where double standards can come into play. Maybe there is a ‘favourite’ where you work, and they get all the nice quiet shifts, and you get all the busy or late shifts. Perhaps there is a person whom you always make a drink for, or get lunch for, but they never offer you a drink.

It is quite common; I’ve heard many stories about one person getting whatever holiday they ask for and the boss approves it straight away. But you have to wait for ages for the boss to decide if you can have it or not, and then change their mind or gives the day off to someone else.

In my first full-time position, there was one person who made a very big mistake, which could have cost a company quite a chunk of money. This mistake was brushed under the carpet. But I undercharges one person by 50p… and I was told I had to write a report on exactly how I managed to undercharge someone and how I was going to avoid doing it again. It literally cost my employer more than 50p for me to waste time writing a full report.

So… if you agree with me saying that double standards should not be present in any professional/educational environment (unless there is justified medical reasoning). Let me know in the comments below, pop your story in the comments below, or if you would rather just tell me about it… head over to my ‘contact me’ page, which you can find by hovering over the ‘Home’ button on the top right.