# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/21 "2013-12-05T21:11:22Z")
There are a few, VERY few, white males in my office who talk trash. ALL of them regularly get away with murder because, for whatever reason, the women they talk trash to LOVE it. Even prim, proper, Christian married women seem to enjoy the ribald banter and the double entendres. If I said the same things, I’m sure those same women would punch me and report me to Human Resources! Beyond that, well, my experience has been that black employees engage in jocular trash talk and sexual bragodoccio with each other on a regular basis, and nobody seems to mind. Indeed, my hunch during the Clarence Thomas hearings was that Clarence Thomas did indeed engage in trash talk with Anita Hill and other women at his office, but that he’d just assumed they were all in on the joke together and that nobody was genuinely offended. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/22 "2013-12-05T21:46:26Z")
All inappropriate, all the time. Just gangsta, rough, vulgar, obscene up in here. Even in the most casual conversation, someone is bound to ‘cuss’ 7 or 8 times. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/23 "2013-12-05T21:48:24Z")
Where I last worked the one racist quickly got fired. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/24 "2013-12-05T21:52:24Z")
Little to none. We all are required to take training on avoidance of sexual harassment and discrimination every 2 years. We all know when things start treading in the wrong direction and thus, redirect. However, going out on a walk or lunch off site with just the guys, and anything goes. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/25 "2013-12-06T05:46:18Z")
Although I have worked on some wards where talk about sex was OK when patients weren’t about, the last 10 years were spent in an English hospital were I was so paranoid about saying anything remotely un PC that I didn’t talk about much at all. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/26 "2013-12-06T16:28:58Z")
In 30+ years of software engineering, both very small company and very large one, almost none. You might hear someone say “Fuck that shit!” in a meeting, but that would generally be me and then I’d quickly change the subject to divert attention. So, a little profanity, but nothing subject-matter-inappropriate (sexual, sexist, racist, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/27 "2013-12-06T17:49:27Z")
Next to none. The expected approach at our company is friendly and informal, but always professionally sensitive. I wouldn’t even raise my voice there. I like it that way. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/28 "2013-12-06T18:32:36Z")
None, unless you count my boss telling me allllll about her bowel problems. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/29 "2013-12-06T18:44:20Z")
None, in any of the places I’ve worked. Some even had employee training sessions devoted to making sure we didn’t do or say anything that would be taken as racist, sexist, any -ist, insensitive, or otherwise inappropriate. I see TV shows and movies and read stories about offices with outrageous sexual banter, flirting, and political iincorrectness, and it seems to be from a different planet. ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/30 "2013-12-06T18:53:07Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I work in HR at a very large corporation - so almost none. Perhaps the occasional hushed profanity in private conversation. That’s funny, in my experience HR people - particularly female HR people - are likely to say the most inappropriate things. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/31 "2013-12-06T19:20:56Z")
We’re cops. So no, nothing inappropriate at all. Ever. ---
**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 6, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/32 "2013-12-06T19:33:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We’re cops. So no, nothing inappropriate at all. Ever. Yer funny. You made me snort out loud. 😃 ---
**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 6, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/33 "2013-12-06T19:34:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We’re cops. So no, nothing inappropriate at all. Ever. Is this meant to be a joke? Cuz my uncle is a retired cop, growing up listening to him and his buddies talk was way crazy. Funny as hell, but out there. I only ever saw them off the clock though. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/34 "2013-12-06T19:43:32Z")
It’s constant where I work - small factory - and we’re a close knit group with most of us having been there 15 - 20 years, so friendly. But the language out in the shop can turn the air blue some days. In the office where I am it isn’t usually that bad - most of the foul language comes from one guy - but we do have guys in there trying to light farts and stuff like that. Us girls like to get on the intercom and make silly announcements to the shop from time to time, just to liven things up. Stuff like that. It’s a fun place 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/35 "2013-12-06T19:59:47Z")
I work at a company that makes penile implants. Every once in a while a small group of us will descend into immaturity. It lightens the mood. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/36 "2013-12-06T21:56:45Z")
> [@highrollinwooded](#): > > We are absolutely foul mouthed, loud and say inappropriate things! That’s what makes it bearable!! 🙂 Welcome to my world. Most of us have worked together for a decade. We even know each others’ IQs (it was team building exercise). When we leave the office we kind of have to clean our act up. Everybody has a nickname too. I’m Honey Badger. Naturally, we’re the loud group. The people on the other side of the room are all quiet and dignified. Sometimes they send a polite email over asking us to please respect their need for silence. I want to send back an email that says “Get some headphones and stop whining!”, but of course I never will. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/37 "2013-12-06T22:11:09Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#): > > I work at a company that makes penile implants. Every once in a while a small group of us will descend into immaturity. It lightens the mood. 😃 It’d be hard not to. Well, I suppose it would be hard no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/38 "2013-12-07T00:06:13Z")
None whatsoever. This is a law firm with 2,000+ lawyers and who knows how many non-lawyer employees. There is no trash talk or banter of a sexual nature at all. ---
**Author:** ![OneOfOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@OneOfOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneOfOne)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/39 "2013-12-07T00:50:51Z")
Small tech company (25 people) probably not as inappropriate as we could be, some profanities, some truly weird and immature and surreal conversation will happen at least once a day. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576/40 "2013-12-07T00:54:32Z")
I work in Medicare product management and the first of the year is almost upon us. If you were at my work place, you’d hear a lot of f-bombs this time of year. That and hysterical laughter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-inappropriate-banter-goes-on-at-your-work/675576.md?page=3)