I give this advice to new hires out of college... and will give it my kids when they're older.
In this day and age, anything in email or your phone is NEVER dead. Therefore, never send anything, by text or email, you'd be terrified if it got out.
This is includes...
- Texts to your boyfriend (or friends) - They may become former friends and Ex's.... and bitter
- Emails within the company or to personal friends using the work accounts. IT CAN see these. For example, don't email a colleague complaining about your boss or maybe the CEO/President.
I actually sit a new hire down and give them 10-15 min discussion on this. Younger kids don't have the slightest comprehension of the dangers. (Unless a bitter X in high school "leaked" their shit... We've heard these stories).
When you need to vent or have juicy gossip... Meet your friends somewhere for drinks and have it out. Keep it off your phone or computer.
It's insane Gruden would put any of this shit in emails... lol. But he's the older generation and likely didn't understand that anything sent is never gone... ever
Newsflash - Guys bullshit and have meaningless shit talking to each other. If snowflakes don't believe me... try spending a few weeks on a jobsite. They're worse than High Schoolers and no topic is sacred. I know it may sound caveman like, but it's definitely a bonding thing. Everyone makes fun of each other... Hispanics, blacks, whites... It's like a competition to see who can be the most offensive in good natured fun.
If you can understand any spanish... oh boy. They're hilariously vulgar and not PC what-so-ever. Probably because they don't think anyone can understand them.
Thin skinned people are like lambs to the slaughter though... lol.
My guess is the NFL locker room is very similar to the vibe of construction sites.
Best example from 20 years ago... This guy on the jobsite had a cleft palate and deformed hand. The guys called him the "The Claw"... And he actually enjoyed it, I know it sounds crazy. But the guys wouldn't give him shit if they didn't like him. But imagine referring to him in a text or email these days and calling him the The Claw. lol... It would never look good. I bet PIerre (the guy with the fireworks hand) gets a ton of shit all the time.