# Has anyone ever actually been fired from work for "laughing at a joke"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042 "2019-05-16T09:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/1 "2019-05-16T09:09:00Z")
I’ve heard people say in public, “We’re so politically correct now laughing at the wrong joke can get you fired”. I would normally think it’s hyperbole but there’s been news stories of kids in school getting suspended for laughing at the wrong joke, and I was once given a talking to by my boss at work for laughing at the “wrong” thing on TV there and someone reported me, so I am curious if this has escalated to such. (For those who are curious, apparently there’s a rule at my work against watching Jerry Springer on any TV while eating lunch, but fellow employees will still turn it on. A certain employee apparently got that rule instated, and while everyone was watching Jerry Springer on TV and laughed at an over-the-top fight I got singled out by them since I’m a supervisor and should have been leading “a better example”) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/2 "2019-05-16T12:54:53Z")
I’d imagine it might be a sacking offence for an undertaker. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/3 "2019-05-16T13:04:46Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > (For those who are curious, apparently there’s a rule at my work against watching Jerry Springer on any TV while eating lunch, but fellow employees will still turn it on. A certain employee apparently got that rule instated, and while everyone was watching Jerry Springer on TV and laughed at an over-the-top fight I got singled out by them since I’m a supervisor and should have been leading “a better example”) Were you “talked to” for laughing, or for knowingly allowing people to watch Jerry Springer when you knew it was against the rules? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/4 "2019-05-16T13:53:45Z")
I imagine if this ever happened the worker was going to be fired and that the laughing was the last write up. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/5 "2019-05-16T14:01:34Z")
There aren’t a lot of jokes that I would think laughing at would be a firing offense, but managers & owners do a lot of things with poor justification. That said, I can think of a few “jokes” that are justifiably firing offenses - practical “jokes” that hurt someone\* or drive away customers, Holocaust “jokes,” lynching “jokes.” \*Or could hurt someone ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/6 "2019-05-16T14:11:18Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I would normally think it’s hyperbole but there’s been news stories of kids in school getting suspended for laughing at the wrong joke… When and where did this happen? ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/7 "2019-05-16T14:20:47Z")
Not fired, but Back in the early 90’s I was working for an Ambulance District and we received a memo that in part stated; “Levity will not be tolerated in the work place”. It turned out that our boss was in a serious meeting and left his office door open. We were down the hall in the kitchen and were laughing. I couldn’t tell you what we were laughing at anymore other than it was completely innocent, no off color jokes/language etc, just laughing. The boss was a very odd person and would send knee jerk memos like this on a regular basis. We chipped in and would buy his secretary lunch every now and then so she could give us a heads up when he had meetings with his door open. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/8 "2019-05-16T14:42:24Z")
> [@Emergency911](#): > > N > We chipped in and would buy his secretary lunch every now and then so she could give us a heads up when he had meetings with his door open. In similar circumstances, a long time ago, working a minimum wage short term job, the supervisor was out on a Friday afternoon and we were all joking around and laughing. The workroom door was open and someone in an office across the hallway was on the phone with a higher up and we got loud enough to be overheard. We were all threatened with dismissal if there was ever an incident like that again. But it wasn’t the joke, simply the perception that we were goofing around instead of working. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/9 "2019-05-16T14:43:06Z")
I work in a store owned by Orthodox Jews. If I started joking about the Holocaust (I would NOT do this) or Nazis or something, I’m sure I’d be called out. If I continued, they would fire me. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/10 "2019-05-16T15:26:08Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > There aren’t a lot of jokes that I would think laughing at would be a firing offense, but managers & owners do a lot of things with poor justification. In most of the United States, management doesn’t need a justification; you can be fired for pretty much any reason or no reason at all. Outside of civil rights issues (e.g., fired for being black) or certain retaliatory issues (fired for filing a wage claim or an OSHA report), this is legal. I don’t like what color shoes you wore, I don’t like that you’re a Cowboys fan, I felt like firing somebody today … all legal reasons. Given that, I’m fairly certain that somebody somewhere has been fired for laughing at the wrong time, and also fairly certain that it would be difficult to find evidence beyond anecdotes. “At will” employment = “fire at will.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/11 "2019-05-16T16:10:13Z")
I worked for a guy who was completely inappropriate and pretty much a total asshole. He went to a new post in Africa and I left the Foreign Service. I was told by a mutual acquaintance that he made a totally inappropriate joke about the Columbine massacre in front of his new ambassador. He was put on the next plane back to Washington and was fired. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/12 "2019-05-16T20:48:36Z")
I know several people (not “know of” but actually know) who were fired for making a joke at work. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/13 "2019-05-16T20:54:55Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I would normally think it’s hyperbole but there’s been news stories of kids in school getting suspended for laughing at the wrong joke You mean that when someone trips the kid on crutches and shouts “Look at the stupid crip!” that the crowd around the tripper points and laughing can also get into trouble, just for laughing at a joke? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/14 "2019-05-16T21:04:00Z")
I think it’s important to maintain the distinction here between _telling_ a joke and _laughing at_ a joke; the OP seems to be wanting to focus on latter rather than the former. _Telling_ a joke is a volitional act; you can not do it. _Laughing at_ a joke is to some extent involuntary; and the psychology of laughing can be more complicated than “Alice laughed at that; ergo, Alice thought it was totally appropriate, not to mention a hoot!” People can be surprised into involuntary laughter, even at something they sincerely think is really inappropriate and awful. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/15 "2019-05-16T23:51:54Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I know several people (not “know of” but actually know) who were fired for making a joke at work. But that’s not the question in the OP - the question is whether they were fired for “laughing at a joke”, with the clear implication that it’s for laughing at some kind of ‘non-pc’ topic. Things that I don’t think count: Being fired for making the joke - this isn’t getting fired for ‘laughing at’. Being fired for laughing at a joke that would also not be OK in the 1950s, like cracking jokes about the CEO’s failed marriage. Being fired for laughter itself, like Emergency 911s example, or for something like laughing when a funeral is going on. Being fired at the end of a long chain of offenses - if you’ve been written up for a dozen things and this is the last straw, it wasn’t this thing alone, you’re getting fired for the sum total. My experience is definitely that unless the company is hilariously unstable, the worst that happens on a first offense of laughing at some awful racist joke is that the teller might get in serious trouble, but other people are told that kind of thing isn’t cool and probably don’t even get a formal reprimand. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/16 "2019-05-17T00:21:09Z")
It would not surprise me that a couple [bigots] could be yukking it up about the [gender, ethnicity, religion] over in Marketing, and run afoul of HR. “But I didn’t tell the joke, I was only laughing at it” being the post hoc defense. “Oh man, they fired me for laughing at a joke.” No, you were fired for contributing to harrassment or creating an unsafe workspace. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/17 "2019-05-17T00:33:53Z")
[Billy Bush](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/billy-bush-trump-access-hollywood-tape-pussy-extraextra-host-a8906146.html)? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/18 "2019-05-17T01:20:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I worked for a guy who was completely inappropriate and pretty much a total asshole. He went to a new post in Africa and I left the Foreign Service. I was told by a mutual acquaintance that he made a totally inappropriate joke about the Columbine massacre in front of his new ambassador. He was put on the next plane back to Washington and was fired. So…it would be accurate to say that he ALSO left the Foreign Service? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/19 "2019-05-17T02:34:57Z")
Telling a joke, yes, certainly. Laughing? I doubt it, but many states can fire at will and there are quite a few crazy power mad bosses out there, which will fire for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042/20 "2019-05-17T03:10:37Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > But that’s not the question in the OP - the question is whether they were fired for “laughing at a joke”, with the clear implication that it’s for laughing at some kind of ‘non-pc’ topic. Thank you for pointing out that I did not answer the OP’s question, but instead provided an anecdote about workplace humor in general. :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-actually-been-fired-from-work-for-laughing-at-a-joke/834042.md?page=2)