# Is it okay to fart in front of other people at work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405 "2011-06-22T10:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/21 "2011-06-23T01:27:01Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > You’ve helped me remember my favorite expression for farting: dropping a cloud. We need us a thread for synonyms, don’t we? AKA Green Cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/22 "2011-06-23T01:40:09Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > AKA Green Cloud. Yes, indeed. Another favorite is “flatus” which I have heard as “flotch” or even “fluff.” But isn’t it fun to “deflate”? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/23 "2011-06-23T02:00:09Z")
When you say “in front of”, are you asking if it’s okay to put your ass in someone’s face and let one rip? Because that would be horrible. But farting in the company of other people? Intentionally? Well, no, that’s not nice. Go to the bathroom or the hallway or something. But isn’t it usually _unintentionally_? I know I’ve never _made_ myself fart at work, and I can’t imagine ever doing this. And if I passed gas at work, I would hope that it would not be so bad as to offend anyone and that they would understand that it was an accident. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/24 "2011-06-23T02:43:41Z")
The other day I sneezed, hiccupped, and then burped in the space of about thirty seconds. “What’s next?” my boss asked. We all kinda lost it, we all knew what was next. Thankfully, it didn’t happen – I’d never live it down! I wouldn’t deliberately do it, but if it accidentally happened, well, it happens. Better than the accidental belch during choir warmups in an otherwise silent room, I will never forget the look on the director’s face! ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/25 "2011-06-23T02:50:08Z")
I’ve never purposely farted in front of anyone, whether it’s at home, at work, or when I’m out shopping. I’ve always considered it to be horribly tacky and rude. Apparently I’m in the minority according to this thread, but I stand by what my mother taught me; if you have to fart, go to the restroom or some other private place where it won’t offend anyone. If I knew someone had a problem with the smell of vanilla, for instance (I dislike it intensely) I wouldn’t use a vanilla scent at work. And vanilla is just a problem for some people. NOBODY likes the smell of a fart. It’s just inconsiderate. Don’t tell my brother this, though. He thinks it’s hilarious to crop dust anything and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/26 "2011-06-23T02:51:49Z")
I mean, I salute your control and all, but it’s not like you necessarily intend to go around farting on people. (I mean, well, sometimes you do. I used to work with a bunch of guys. It was something of a badge of honor.) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/27 "2011-06-23T03:09:14Z")
My old workplace had a really slow elevator, a small empty lobby, and a glassed in foyer separated from the lobby by a heavy glass door. There was also a restaurant next door, and if the manager was late in opening up, the arriving kitchen staff would wait in our foyer if it was bad weather. Well, one cold winter’s day, I came into work, filed past the crowd of perhaps six or seven people waiting in the foyer, used my key to enter into the lobby, and pressed the elevator button, and waited. Now, I don’t remember what I had eaten the night before, but I had the sourest stomach I had had in a long time. Plus anti-depressants can give you gas like nobody’s business. And the best way I find to relieve that kind of pressure is to belch. So I wriggled around a little, getting the stomach gas all into one pocket. And I let loose. Several times. In a tiny, empty, and echo enhanced lobby. The noise shook the glass panes behind me… …where there were standing about seven people in the foyer that I had forgotten about. I remembered them as I heard them giggling. I turned around, and smiled weakly and waved. Finally the elevator doors opened. A nice, empty, and presumably sound-proof elevator. If only I had waited. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/28 "2011-06-23T03:30:57Z")
Its one of the few pleasures am currently having at work! Next best place for a silent but deadly is going up a full moving escalator in a mall! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/29 "2011-06-23T03:54:49Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > It depends. If you’re in the bathroom and someone else happens to be in there, then whatever. > > The occasional poot in the same area as a coworker? Whatever. > > If you make a habit of loud and extended farting, or trailing puttputtputt around the office, that’s a bit out of line. Exactly. Bathroom- anything goes. No apologies. Occasional small gas is Ok. Extended rip-farting? Head off to the bathroom, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/30 "2011-06-23T21:34:58Z")
No, not OK, generally. No one will likely say anything, but do you want to go around your office/lab/factory as the “Fart (Wo)man”? I daresay nobody does. People can smell that shit. Inferior to acquiring names like: “That Guy Who’s Hair Looks Like a Birdnest Who Rarely Bathes” or “The Woman with VPL and eight visible nipples,” I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/31 "2011-06-24T00:37:04Z")
Meh. I figure most people will make a reasonable effort to hold in farts in company, so if anybody’s letting rip multiple times they’re probably having a worse day than I am. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/32 "2011-06-24T01:49:37Z")
The limits of acceptability were clearly breached in [this](http://www.metro.co.uk/news/856428-farting-dentist-was-so-smelly-we-felt-sick) UK case. > [@](#): > > ‘He found it funny – if I spoke to him about it, he laughed and did it more.’ His deliberate farting to amuse himself at the expense of his colleagues seems to have been in keeping with the rest of his rude behaviour. A particularly juvenile and obnoxious way to assert dominance imo. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/33 "2011-06-24T20:10:46Z")
Fume hoods. Now, that’s living. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/34 "2011-06-24T20:37:49Z")
Here you go: The Dead Like Me interview with the farting job applicant: [Link](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBYQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3iX_HapU-YA&rct=j&q=dead%20like%20me%20job%20interview&ei=Z_UETojVBY23twfPmfHLDQ&usg=AFQjCNGJ9bpIJee-WxeBXatqhYQRVWgwTw&cad=rja) ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/35 "2011-06-25T00:47:28Z")
If you work with [these guys](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dm9rN6oTs), it’s almost obligatory. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a43kowi2ncI)…not so much! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/36 "2011-06-25T06:48:42Z")
Absolutely not. Like others have said, it’s one thing if you unintentionally let one slide, but I can’t imagine a work environment (or any environment, really) where it’s acceptable to crap yourself. Other than 10-year-olds, I don’t know anyone who gets great amusement from being crude. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/37 "2011-06-25T07:48:21Z")
If you work in a fart canning factory selling canned farts, it is okay to fart into the can before sealing. If you are a comedian and it is part of your routine, it is okay to fart at work. Other than that, you should leave the room if possible, or say “excuse me” when not possible. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/38 "2011-06-25T08:18:47Z")
We had a serial farter at my last job. It took all our efforts not to burst out laughing at meetings. We had to hold it in because he couldn’t. Not only would I never deliberately fart in an office building I also try to keep the sound to a minimum in the bathroom and believe in courtesy flushes. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/39 "2011-06-25T08:24:56Z")
In a “blokey” environment such as law enforcement it is always a source of amusement. I can only imagine what the armed services must have been like - especially if you let rip in a tank or such. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405/40 "2011-06-25T08:31:24Z")
Drop one just as you get out of an empty elevator. The next person to enter will be disgusted. The _next_ person will think it was the first guy, who may feel it necessary to explain that it wasn’t him, which will make him look even more guilty. Bwa ha ha haa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-fart-in-front-of-other-people-at-work/586405.md?page=3)