Mrs. Prentice: Are you Geraldine Barclay? Nick: Yes. Mrs. Prentice: Where have you been? Nick: I've been attending to the thousand and one duties that occupy the average secretary during her working hours. Mrs Prentice: It doesn't take the whole morning to file your nails, surely? Nick: I had to lie down. I was sick. Mrs. Prentice: Are you pregnant? Nick: I can't discuss my employer's business with you.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A secretary avoids discussing personal health or pregnancy issues with her employer's mother, maintaining professional boundaries.
- In plain terms
- The secretary refuses to share personal health details with her boss's mother.
- What can you take from it?
- Professional boundaries protect personal privacy in the workplace.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should employers know about employee health issues?
- How do you draw boundaries between work and personal life?
Another view
It assumes employers have no right to know about employee health affecting work.
More from Joe Orton
Geraldine: At least give me back my clothes. I feel naked without them.
Permalink to quote #38 Prentice: This appalling situation is the result of my lax moral code. It's clean living and Teach Yourself Woodwork for me from now on!
Permalink to quote #40 Geraldine: We must tell the truth! Prentice: That's a thoroughly defeatist attitude.
Permalink to quote #37
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