I’ll try to make this brief:
I work in a corporate office environment. A co-worker (not a cow-orker; she’s a friend) approached me at lunch for my opinion:
Do I ever hear her say “Jesus Christ!” as an explicative? Yes, I say. Often.
Does it offend me? (And bear in mind, the asker is a middle-aged Jewish lady; I’m an Episcopalian). Me? No, but I understand others might be sensitive to it.
Pointing out that she’s not the only one who uses this phrase in her aisle, she relates how another co-worker approached her and directly told her that everytime she hears “Jesus Christ!” used like that, it’s like “a knife through [her] heart,” and she justed wanted to say something to the offender before the matter is placed before Management.
So my friend is in a pickle - she doesn’t want to cause needless offence, but is wondering if such a sensiblity is enforcable? We consulted the employees’ handbook, but that only cautions against foul or openly derisive language.
So an open question to you all: Civility aside, should my blasphemous compatriot curb her tongue to mollify an indvidual? Or since it’s not specifically proscribed, should she do whatever she damn well feels?
I’ve grown pretty apathetic as far as going to church and stuff, but even now, the ‘g.d.’ word has always bothered me. I’ve never liked it, never liked hearing it. I don’t think I could easily articulate exactly why I feel that way…but in general, I try to shrug it off when I hear people say it. After all, it’s become a fairly common exclamation, which I’m not too happy about, but I can hardly change the behavior of thousands or millions of people just because it makes me uncomfortable.
Although, if I heard someone say it a lot, I might ask them to try to refrain from using it in my presence, out of respect for me.
I say Jesus Christ a lot and I am **strong ** atheist emotionally (soft atheist logically, since that’s all I can defend). That being said, I am fortunate to work in a pretty godless office.
If someone came to me and asked me politely to stop it, I would regard it the same way I would as profanity (which it IS to them, if you think about it). I would apologize, tell them it would take me a while to break my habit, but I would try and could they bear with me.
I would think it would be unutterably rude to do otherwise. Is it enforceable?
The only polite way to respond to a request not to use offensive words in a professional environment is to apologize for the offence and to say that you will try not to do it anymore. And asking someone not to blaspheme at work is hardly unreasonable.
If your friend slips up in the presence of the person making the request, she should gasp and proclaim: “I’m terribly sorry.”
The postings so far mirror the same conclusions that we came to today. As an alternative, I suggested to my friend that she try a minced oath, like “Holy Moses!”
As an aside, there was another woman with whom I worked (now retired) who was loudly devout. She would call upon Jesus Christ to bear witness to everything she did or that happened to her.
Constantly.
So all day long, I’d hear her say things like “O Jesus Christ, look at the size of this report!” or “Jesus Christ, give me strength to deal with these people!” and “Lord Jesus Christ, I’m so hungry!”
I kid you not - it was non-stop, to the point where I found it offensive! I knew it drove my quietly religious work-partner absolutely nuts. No-one ever asked her to knock it off, though.
Being as how it wouldn’t be any skin off this woman’s teeth to refrain from saying it, I think she should. If she slips up around the coworker, she should apologize. The coworker should accept the apology and remember that old habits die hard and not go running to the boss.
There’s no need for this situation to get ugly. Most people slip up from time to time, but profanity really doesn’t have any place at work. Sure, the words “Jesus Christ” aren’t profanity in and of themselves, but she’s using those words as if they are.
Maybe she could pick a less popular diety’s name to utter?
“A knife through her heart”? Jesus Christ! What a hysteric. It’s a big, wide, wonderful world out there, and some people had better get used to the idea that their sensibilities aren’t tantamount to law. I think it’s great that **Daithi Lacha’s ** co-worker wants to avoid giving offense, and I think trying to do so is good policy. I also think that the delicate Christian lady needs to recognize that Jesus is a big boy and can take care of himself. People of all religious stripes stumble across things which offend them all the time.
I agree with Abbie Carmichael. Couldn’t your co-worker try mixing it up a little? There’s a whole pantheon of deities to invoke; no need to make JC do all the heavy lifting.[ul][li]Allah, most merciful![/li][li]Holy Moses! (and a tip o’ the hat to Daithi Lacha)[/li][li]Saints above![/li][li]Blessed Buddha![/li][li]Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma![/li][li]Mother Mary![/li]Cthulhu awake![/ul]
Civility aside? Then no. Not at all. But…let’s here it for civililty. If it bothers her co-worker so much (for whatever reason) I’d say be polite and don’t say it. And on the other hand if she slips up and says it I’d hope the co-worker would be polite and understand there was no malice behind it.
Geez it would be so nice if it could be worked out on a level of mutual respect without having to resort to coroprate rule books.
I’m religiously C’tian & I’ll unthinkingly blurt out variations of JC & GD in times of frustration, so I don’t complain when others do, even if it stings a bit (heck, it stings me after I blurt them out).
I will say something tho to someone who comes out with “J F’in C”- usually something like. “You know, I don’t have the cleanest mouth & I don’t take offense to much, but that one kinda crosses the line.” And I say it nicely, but I can’t let that one totally slide.
And I’m more offended by some religiously-over-exuberant people who blurt JC out every other time (there were a couple SNL skits about that- one with Rob Schneider & another with Sally Fields, both of whom are finally confronted by JC played by Phil Hartman.)
[QUOTE=chukhung]
I agree with Abbie Carmichael. Couldn’t your co-worker try mixing it up a little? There’s a whole pantheon of deities to invoke; no need to make JC do all the heavy lifting.[ul][li]Allah, most merciful![/li][li]Holy Moses! (and a tip o’ the hat to Daithi Lacha)[/li][li]Saints above![/li][li]Blessed Buddha![/li][li]Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma![/li][li]Mother Mary![/li][li]Cthulhu awake![/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
[ul][li]Great Odin’s raven![/li]By the beard of Zeus![/ul]
I think it would be great if the offending co-worker spoke with the offended co-worker, apoligizing for the offense and vowing to do better. Should she let a big ol’ “Jesus Christ!” slip out by accident, I would also hope the other co-worker would be understanding in light of the fact that she is trying to not let it happen. It takes time to break an old habit.
As for the loudly devout co-worker who called on Jesus to help her constantly, I think that as a manager I would have asked her to tone it down a bit also. One can say such things quietly. I would have done so because I can see how that would or could be annoying to those around her.
Or, I could sum it up like this: People, use your inside voices please.
I was once in the amusing predicament of being an open atheist temp worker in a small Southern Christian printing press and was constantly yelling “Jesus Christ!” because I was hitting my head or stubbing my toe or generally doing my best to maim myself and aside from one question from my boss – a minister – about why I would use his name as an exclamation when I don’t believe, there was never anything said about it.
The OP’s co-worker needs to get the hell over herself.
I think it’s just a question of respect. If something bothers someone and they nicely (preferably without resorting to “tattling” to the boss) ask the offender to stop, then it’s just common courtesy to try to stop whatever’s offensive.
And I do like some of the names that have been suggested for alternatives to yelling J.C.
I concur. The co-worker is invading her privacy, if anything, by asking her to change the manner in which she speaks. A “knife through her heart”? Please.
The workplace is already far too PC (though thankfully not at my current local), Jesus Christ is about as inoffensive as “expletives” get.
I for one would be very happy to see a resurgence of the Shakespearean “zounds!” I’ve tried it a couple of times but I’m having trouble getting it to catch on.
(Regarding pronunciation, it’s short for “God’s wounds” and rhymes with it, rather than the common and incorrect version that sounds like “clowns.” Of course, now that I think of it, “clowns!” would actually be a pretty funny random utterance. Spill your coffee: “Oh, clowns!” Heh.)
True story: I was in a recording studio with a couple guys, one of whom was quite born-again.
The owner of the studio had just bought an extremely nice guitar. It was in its case, and the studio owner invited one of us to open the case. One of us did, and upon viewing the instrument in all its splendor (it really was a nice guitar), enthusiastically remarked “Jesus Christ!”
Whereupon born-again guy let out a heavy sigh and said irritably “He’s not in there!”
From where I stand, using the name of Jesus Christ as an expletive is offensive and it is blasphemy. I’m a Christian. Using Christ’s name as an expletive is wrong, I have no problem asking people to please stop taking my Lord’s name in vain, at least when they’re around me. I have always found my requests to be respected. I am known to use many a colorful f-word in the course of doing business. People know I’m not asking them to stop because I’m a prude. They understand that’s my Saviour they’re talking about. It is even more bothersome to me when it is a non-Christian who is making the ‘offensive’ statements.
And the ‘devout’ woman quoted by Daithi Lacha as saying ‘Jesus Christ look at the size of this report’ - that’s blasphemy too. I would ask her to stop.
