Snooping and Forms

Dick Puddlecote, telling us of Alex Deane’s recent exchange with his dentist, echoes with my recent experience of people snooping on stuff that is none of their business. In Alex’s case, it is the dental practice asking about drinking habits. The correct answer given by Alex is “none of your business”. Sure, if a health practitioner detects a condition that may be linked to certain lifestyle choices, a question about those choices may be appropriate. In context, such questions are fine. Out of that limited context, they are not. As a means of routinely gathering information, they are highly inappropriate.

As I’ve mentioned here recently, I am looking for salaried positions alongside attempting to kick start my self-employed work. As a consequence of this, every application comes with the now obligatory equal opportunities questionnaire. These things have been around for a while now, but have gone beyond one’s ethnic origins. Not that that was anyone’s business, but now the damned things poke about in what is deeply personal and private information.

My sister was watching me bypass one of these forms and told me that I should fill it in. I explained – patiently – that I never fill them in as a matter of course and principle. Yes, I do realise that the organisations concerned have to ask, have to monitor under pain of prosecution, but I am under no obligation to cooperate and I don’t. The people actually interviewing don’t see the information, so it makes no difference to the application. It would be an interesting experiment if no one filled them in. The employers would be complying with the law by asking, but received blank forms back. What then?

If I am invited to interview, the people concerned will see that I am male, and have pale skin. They may make a reasonable estimate of my age – and will probably under estimate by about five to ten years (everyone does). But, they have no need to know what my ethnic background is (it isn’t obvious), nor do they need to know what my sexuality or religious beliefs are and they will not be told. Frankly, I find it outrageous that anyone thinks it okay to ask, let alone expect a polite answer.

Unfortunately, my sister is an unreconstructed conformist. She has been indoctrinated by this stuff. Ask her whatever you want on one of these forms and she will dutifully answer. And therein lies the problem, she is the normal one. I, a resolute founder member of the awkward squad, am the odd one out. I am the one people look askance at when I say, “sorry, that’s none of your business”. I am the one making the unnecessary fuss, causing raised eyebrows and daring to defy the authorities’ demands for more information. My desire for some personal privacy, to conceal from health-care professionals and potential employers information that they do not need and is none of their concern is out of step, not the conformity of my sister. I’m a lost cause.

I still won’t fill the bloody things in, though…

19 Comments

  1. Roflmao, So it appears I am not the only one, do you get the rolling eyes and the exasperated sighs as well lol?

  2. On the subject of un-needed information, I remember hiring a car in Washington, DC.

    Car Hire Bloke: Do you have a phone number?
    Me: No.
    CHB: No phone number?
    Me: I’m a tourist, no phone.
    CHB: But we need a phone number.
    Me: Why?
    CHB: Because we might need to contact you in an emergency.
    Me: Describe an event which would require you to contact me in an emergency.
    CHB: Erm, um, erm…

  3. I bought a pay and go mobile phone for cash some years back. The sales guy had to get a manager to authorise the sale without my address.
    He genuinely could not understand why I refused to give it.
    His reason for asking? In case I loose my receipt.

  4. Yeah, I have two sisters like that. They faithfully respect my stubbornness, though, fortunately.

    Interesting that you talk about the requirement to ask. I’m currently trying to find out if dentists are not only told to ask, but mandated to refuse treatment for non-compliance as they seem to be doing.

    Now THAT will be interesting. 😉

    Ta for the link.

  5. My employers have recently asked for a copy of my passport, birth certificate or other ID as evidence of being eligible to work in the UK. This is despite my having worked for them since 1999. I expect this sort of practice to be more commonplace looking forwards.

    I don’t even bother trying to explain to people why I find this totally wrong. So many are conditioned not to think and to acquiesce to any demand.

  6. Dick, I’m not sure about dentists being mandated in the same way that employers are. As BeeTee points out, they are now asking for evidence of eligibility to work in the UK. I know that they have to do this with new employees, I wasn’t aware that they are starting to do it with existing ones. I suspect that this is a knee jerk reaction.

    As for Bucko’s anonymous PAYG phone, those days are seriously numbered.

  7. I was given one of those by the Land Registry office after seeing them about making an adjustment to the deeds on my home. I just left it on the desk.

  8. My (old) work suddenly asked all of to provide our passport so they could photocopy it (data protection guff or some such stupid reason) . All the lemmings at work proceeded to hand in their passports. I said no and the reaction was utter amazement. Why oh why would I think this wrong that they hold a copy of my passport on hold. Its the rules right……except no other employer has ever asked me to do it either before or since. Anyway I was reported to HR eventually. I continued to ignore their requests and they gave up in the end. I did manage to pi** off quite a few people in the process though.

  9. LR. I would be interested to find how many interviews you get from the outfits that send theses forms that you do not fill in.

    I agree and sympathise strongly with your point of view, but the realist in me says that your stance will not get you a job and you may well be wasting your time filling in the rest of the application form.

    But best of luck to you all the same and here’s hoping I’m proved wrong.

  10. Those questions are a source of enjoyment, surely? Writing (or, even better, helping some jobsworth spell)’Coprophage’in the sexual orientation box is one of the many small pleasures of living under a burgeoning dictatorship.

  11. I would be interested to find how many interviews you get from the outfits that send theses forms that you do not fill in.

    Three so far. The people who make the decision to interview or not, do not see the forms, so have no idea whether they have been completed or not.

  12. But are those people the same ones who decide whether or not you get the job? Not trying to move the goalposts LR, it’s just that I’m a bit of a cynic.

  13. Yes, that’s how it works. The recruiting manager decides who to interview and who to hire. They never see the equal opps forms as they go direct to the department that does the monitoring, which is different function entirely.

    In one case a few years back, they took it so seriously, the the recruiting manager received all of the CVs and application forms anonymised so that they had no preconceptions regarding things like age or implied ethnicity. I didn’t get that job. I suspect that my personality profiling quiz went against me. I always come out as too independently minded.

  14. Must admit that I always try to give the answers that I think they want to hear on those profile things, but have to be careful not to contradict answers that I give to other questions.
    So far so good.

  15. They’re really not tough to beat if you want to do so, however they are a reasonable indicator that if you need to lie on the profile you may well hate the job.

    As for the religious/ethnic/etc bull, I proudly proclaim my membership of the ancient and worshipful church of MYOB.

  16. These things have been around for a while now, but have gone beyond one’s ethnic origins. Not that that was anyone’s business, but now the damned things poke about in what is deeply personal and private information.

    Oh yes and I had to go through training as to why they were supposedly necessary – sheer bollocks.

  17. Of course you could always fill them in claiming to be a disabled black lesbian muslim with learning difficulties and then threaten to sue when you don’t get an interview “cos dey is diskrimminatin”.
    Who says that job seeking needn’t be fun?

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