Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

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Vorpal
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Vorpal »

blackbike wrote:Bullying is what many people now call being asked to work hard and efficiently, and not to take lots of time off sick.

Of course, this doesn't mean the word loses any of its older meanings, just that language evolves.

I think it is bullying to 'require' someone to work 55 hours per week and not otherwise compensate them when they are contracted to work 37,5. Even though it is common practice in some jobs in the UK.

Asking them to work hard? well, it depends on what kind of pressure is being put on them and what the job is. Your post sounds a bit dismissive, but I've seen the threat of dismissal be used to overwork people. Where do you draw the line? I don't know, but I've been treated badly enough at jobs to walk out. But that's harder when someone has a family depending on them. Or financial problems.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by rmurphy195 »

blackbike wrote:Bullying is what many people now call being asked to work hard and efficiently, and not to take lots of time off sick.


Nope, not quite right, but it is what people who don't work very hard and have to be pushed, think.

I have worked very hard, putting in extra hours where needed to get the job done.This way of life suddenly became wrong with a change of management and was criticised (after 30-odd years of doing it). And no, this wasn't by Union reps or similar trying to maintain working practices and prevent other people looking bad, it was management deliberately marking down at review time to save money (and in one case to save them looking bad since I was "setting a precedent" and if I "carried on doing it then where would we be" I was told). That's a form of workplace bullying. Had I been in the voluntary sector at the time I would, as one correspondent has said, happily walked out and taken my talents elsewhere rather than what I was able do, which was to focus more effort on appearances for as long as necessary, at the expense of the work.

But bad as it was it was nothing compared to what Armstrong has done, or the impact it has had not just on other riders (perhaps forcing them to follow the drugs route simply to compete, at the expense of thier health and well-being), but on others who tried to blow the whistle. Given the money he's made, in other areas perhaps cheating is not as appropriate a word as Fraud.

Re-reading "It's not about the bike" knowing the truth - or rather what LA has not been able to hide - is quite interesting ad parts of itdo leave a feeling of nausea.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by 661-Pete »

blackbike wrote:Bullying is what many people now call being asked to work hard and efficiently, and not to take lots of time off sick.
That isn't quite as crass as the OP's remark (for which I acknowledge, he/she has now apologised). However.... :evil:

I've been luckier than some, I suppose - if you set aside a certain measure of internet bullying which I've put up with (and which this is not the place to go into). I had an 'episode' at work about 25 years ago - pre-internet. After having worked on design and development of a new product and having just demonstrated a prototype to my colleagues, I was called in by my then boss. He told me, my work was no good, he was going to have it re-developed from the bottom up, and intended to put someone else (one of his buddies from a previous employment) on the case. To say, I 'objected' to this turn of events, would be to put it mildly: I think the stream of F-words must have echoed throughout the entire building! Anyway I stormed out of this meeting, typed out a 'back me or sack me' letter to the MD, then next morning stalked into the said MD's office, plonked the letter on his desk, and awaited his reaction.

The upshot was that my 'boss' was shuffled sideways to a position where he didn't come into further contact with me, I was told to carry on with the project, and was appointed team leader. So it looks like I 'won' that one. A few months later the selfsame 'boss' resigned of his own accord, along with his buddy (or possibly they were 'pushed'). Another 'win'? And as a postscript, a few years later I suspected selfsame 'boss', now working for a competitor, of sabotaging some of our equipment on a customer's site - if true, a criminal act which could have put people's lives in jeopardy. I only had my suspicions, nothing to pin on this guy. Perhaps with hindsight, I ought to have alerted at least the directors, if not the Police, but I kept mum.

So who was the 'bully' in this sordid little anecdote? With hindsight, I have many regrets about what happened, despite the fact that I still think my antagonist was in the wrong. But it was a long time ago.

Perhaps it wasn't bullying in the strict sense of the word. But there was certainly bad blood all around. And I know others who have fared far worse at their workplaces. At least I escaped sexual harassment :wink: .
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Mick F »

landsurfer wrote:......... ive never been bullied as an adult .....
People have tried but its not in my makeup to let it happen.....
You need to define "adult".
I was bullied for much of my early service career and it didn't stop until I was nearly 30.
I didn't consider it bullying at the time - it's only in retrospect that I recognise it as such.

Maybe the other cyclists didn't realise they were being bullied by LA at the time, and only when questioned years later did they say the were.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by landsurfer »

I think I've already apologized for this comment Mick.
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Mick F
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Mick F »

Oh heck, I'm not getting at you, I'm just commenting on the bullying technique and how it can happen without knowing.
Your apol is accepted of course and I'm not labouring the point.
Sorry if I offended. :oops:

I was trying to say that LA may have bullied, but maybe no-one complained at the time because no-one realised they were being bullied.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by blackbike »

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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Flinders »

Mick F wrote:Oh heck, I'm not getting at you, I'm just commenting on the bullying technique and how it can happen without knowing.
Your apol is accepted of course and I'm not labouring the point.
Sorry if I offended. :oops:

I was trying to say that LA may have bullied, but maybe no-one complained at the time because no-one realised they were being bullied.


I think at least some of them seemed to have realised it at the time. But having seen what he had done to other people, they knuckled under.

It's his bullying other people to do wrong when without that bullying some at least of them would not have done wrong which to me, makes him easily the worst offender, and the one who should be punished the most.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by rmurphy195 »

Flinders wrote:
It's his bullying other people to do wrong when without that bullying some at least of them would not have done wrong which to me, makes him easily the worst offender, and the one who should be punished the most.


Nail hit on head. Upshot is that LA has made himself untrustworthy to work either with or for.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by TonyR »

rmurphy195 wrote:I have worked very hard, putting in extra hours where needed to get the job done.This way of life suddenly became wrong with a change of management and was criticised (after 30-odd years of doing it). And no, this wasn't by Union reps or similar trying to maintain working practices and prevent other people looking bad, it was management deliberately marking down at review time to save money (and in one case to save them looking bad since I was "setting a precedent" and if I "carried on doing it then where would we be" I was told). That's a form of workplace bullying.


I wasn't there and don't know the details but on the face of it there is a different interpretation I could put on it. It used to be that people were expected to put in the extra hours to get the job done but these days there is much more focus on a good work life balance and making sure people are not working excessively on other than an occasional basis, even voluntarily and the Working Time Directive back it up in law.

If someone is regularly working extra hours then I will want to know why and do something about it. Are they being asked to do too much? Do they need help/training in managing their work? Are there ways we can change things to reduce the need for extra hours? Its not good for the individual or their family to be working excessive hours all the time and it should be discouraged. Which is what it seems your new management (perhaps more enlightened management) might have been trying to encourage.

Of course in some jobs there is the small matter of overtime which encourages people to want to work longer hours out of necessity or desire for more money and can create an extra hours dependency.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by PaulB »

If you read all the reports about the teams Armstrong rode for you will see that they were already doping before he joined them. Strange too that some of his former team members were caught after they left Armstrong's team and while riding for competitors. Who was bullying them to carry on doping once out of Armstrong's influence?

Armstrong deserved his 7 wins and would probably have won multiple Tours if the whole peloton had been clean - perhaps not all 7 but possibly 5. He stayed healthy and upright - unlike Froome - and trained specifically for the TdF with a team schooled to support him. His former team members who told their tales, escaped without any sanctions and kept their money are very disappointing - as are the sponsors who made millions on Armstrong's back and are now distancing themselves from him.

At the end of the day it's only a bike race and much as I enjoy watching the road racing, it is not that important. Sport, in general, seems to have been elevated to a position in society that it does not deserve. It is only entertainment. The Olympic Games are called that because that is all they are - games. Every sport has its share of cheats; just look at what goes on during a football match. Sit back and enjoy the spectacle. If you question every victory or outstanding performance you may as well stop watching sport altogether.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Flinders »

PaulB wrote:If you read all the reports about the teams Armstrong rode for you will see that they were already doping before he joined them. Strange too that some of his former team members were caught after they left Armstrong's team and while riding for competitors. Who was bullying them to carry on doping once out of Armstrong's influence?

Armstrong deserved his 7 wins and would probably have won multiple Tours if the whole peloton had been clean - perhaps not all 7 but possibly 5. He stayed healthy and upright - unlike Froome - and trained specifically for the TdF with a team schooled to support him. His former team members who told their tales, escaped without any sanctions and kept their money are very disappointing - as are the sponsors who made millions on Armstrong's back and are now distancing themselves from him.

At the end of the day it's only a bike race and much as I enjoy watching the road racing, it is not that important. Sport, in general, seems to have been elevated to a position in society that it does not deserve. It is only entertainment. The Olympic Games are called that because that is all they are - games. Every sport has its share of cheats; just look at what goes on during a football match. Sit back and enjoy the spectacle. If you question every victory or outstanding performance you may as well stop watching sport altogether.


Did all those other riders threaten people who didn't dope? Did they threaten other team members' wives? Did they try to ruin financially people who had worked for them in other capacities who spoke out? Armstrong has been accused of all these things by people who were once his friends.

Sadly, doping went virtually unchecked for decades, we all know that. Armstrong wasn't by any means the first to dope, and probably won't be the last to try it. But from all I've read, it seems to me that Armstrong was well out on his own when it came to the lengths he was prepared to go to.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by landsurfer »

Well said PaulB.
It's entertainment for the masses.
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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

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Re: Lance Armstrong on the BBC News

Post by Cunobelin »

blackbike wrote:Bullying is what many people now call being asked to work hard and efficiently, and not to take lots of time off sick.

Of course, this doesn't mean the word loses any of its older meanings, just that language evolves.



Been there.......

Trying to get a member of staff to show consideration for others and pull their weight.
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