# How much inappropriate banter goes on at your work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576 "2013-12-05T15:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/1 "2013-12-05T15:08:46Z")
Cuz’ they be talk’n crazy at my place! 😃 Not that I’m complaining. It doesn’t bother me, I find it makes a rather interesting place to work actually. ---
**Author:** ![highrollinwooded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@highrollinwooded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/highrollinwooded)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/2 "2013-12-05T15:15:37Z")
We are absolutely foul mouthed, loud and say inappropriate things! That’s what makes it bearable!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/3 "2013-12-05T15:15:47Z")
Not much, and it practically all comes from one guy I don’t have the authority to fire. Luckily, if you channel his energy into actual work, he’s great, and enough people are pissed off with his general demeanour that they know not to engage with him. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/4 "2013-12-05T15:26:53Z")
Depends on who’s on the schedule on my hospital that day, but we’ve had some pretty inappropriate conversations at the nurse’s station - for example, we discussed S&M and sex clubs the other day. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/5 "2013-12-05T15:29:53Z")
A fair amount, though it’s always good-natured. We’re a small, close-knit company, and we all know far too much about each other. OTOH, my former job was at an ad agency. The blue language and extraordinarily inappropriate humor there would make a pirate take offense. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/6 "2013-12-05T15:37:14Z")
It’s all fucking “appropriate,” regardless how it may appear to anyone outside the department. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/7 "2013-12-05T15:59:54Z")
I work on a trading floor. Someone yelling, “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” followed by another person speculating about imminent defenestration is a daily occurrence. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/8 "2013-12-05T16:33:43Z")
Pretty much none where I work. We’re boring. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/9 "2013-12-05T16:50:39Z")
Some. We don’t get into anything inappropriately sexual or personal. It’s mostly profanity and vitriol and funny/offensive gifs directed toward customers in our interoffice chatroom. Fun times 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/10 "2013-12-05T16:52:53Z")
Very very little. A swear here and there. The boss is british so every once in a while there’s a “Bloody hell!” which makes me giggle every time. Definitely no chat about sex clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/11 "2013-12-05T17:01:00Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > Not much, and it practically all comes from one guy I don’t have the authority to fire. > > Luckily, if you channel his energy into actual work, he’s great, and enough people are pissed off with his general demeanour that they know not to engage with him. You sit across from me, don’t you.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![thatguyjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@thatguyjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatguyjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/12 "2013-12-05T17:32:31Z")
Large employer (3,000+ employees), hyper-corporate atmosphere, 70%+ female employees, me male = none whatsoever. My little department is cool though I’m the only male. I’m just to afraid of someone else overhearing something out of context or who knows what. Everyone is generally on their best behavior at all times - me especially. I just do not need any kind of HR hassle to risk anything Mr. Rogers (RIP) wouldn’t say. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/13 "2013-12-05T17:40:11Z")
I’m at a Fortune 500 company with over 20k employees. I hear an occasional swear word, zero sexual banter. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/14 "2013-12-05T17:46:30Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Depends on who’s on the schedule on my hospital that day, but we’ve had some pretty inappropriate conversations at the nurse’s station - for example, we discussed S&M and sex clubs the other day. It depends on how it’s being discussed, KWIM? Several women at my old job got in trouble for getting into a conversation about how often they had sex with their husbands. They were NOT women you’d expect to sit around and talk about this, either, which was the weirdest part about it. I happened to overhear it, and said to another woman who was not a participant, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this.” At that same place, there was a woman who had a very tumultuous marriage, and I started working there while she was going through an especially bad patch. One day, she said, “He has to go to the bank after work. I hope a robber comes in and shoots him, so he will be dead.” :eek: If a man said that about his wife, he’d be hauled off in handcuffs! Good grief, if you’re that unhappy, it’s time to get a divorce. Same thing if you are telling people that you believe he’s sexually abusing the kids AND THEY DENY IT, something I’ve also personally witnessed. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/15 "2013-12-05T18:32:09Z")
Zero. Very conservative, very professional. It’s a large, international O&G company but here in the office it’s friendly and low key but absolutely no screwing around. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/16 "2013-12-05T19:14:58Z")
Zero. Twenty years of mandatory training on harassment, diversity, and the need to avoid a “hostile environment” have had the desired effect. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/17 "2013-12-05T19:34:16Z")
At almost all of the jobs I’ve worked at, there has been lots of inappropriate banter. I’m a quiet person by nature, so I keep my yap shut until I get a feel for a place, then it makes people drop their jaws when I come out with something that my mother might not enjoy hearing. 🙂 If I have my druthers, I’d rather work with men than women since I have more of an earthy sense of humour. Men who know how to make jokes without going over the line into sexual harassment are a delight. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/18 "2013-12-05T20:19:47Z")
I work in HR at a very large corporation - so almost none. Perhaps the occasional hushed profanity in private conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/19 "2013-12-05T20:40:00Z")
Very little, soft-spoken profanities swapped only with proven sympathizers and fellow users. Small university. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/20 "2013-12-05T20:59:28Z")
Well, all employees recently had to do an hour-long online unlawful harassment training, which unleashed a spate of entirely inappropriate behavior that lasted at least a couple of days. Buncha smart-asses. 😛 But for the most part, very little. Corporate environment, small department, all male other than me. Occasional swearing and mildly off-color remarks within the department, but nothing that would make most ordinary people blink an eye. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576.md?page=2)