Is Profanity at the workplace acceptable?

Question

I work in a leading IT services company. We have a pretty relaxed work atmosphere. But, a lot of my team mates tend to forget that they are in a 'office' after all, and use cuss words pretty often.

This is especially true of our team, which is all male, and as you can expect we have more than our share of FU's and MOFOs floating about. Sometimes, i have had our women coworkers give us dirty (offended?) glances too...

My question is, should we take advantage of such a relaxed work atmoshphere with a sort of anything goes language? Could this get me into trouble? My team is definitely not going to change..but i am pretty sure that others take offence and could f**k things up for us/me! if they escalate this to senior management

Answer 1

OK, this is simple in concept, dating back to the bible in one of the books somewhere where it is said, "There is a time and a place for everything" or some such.

The Byrds wrote a tune, "Turn, Turn, Turn" based on a Woodie Guthrie tune which said this, there is a time and place for everything. The workplace may not be the place for profanity, but at times it just might be. I am a programmer and I think I have worked in places similar to where you work and never was profanity acceptable except for the occasional ****-up we all have from time to time. I used the word intentionally just to see if Yahoo! Answers censors certain words. In a past life, I was in the Navy in submarines for 21 years, an all male, macho environment, in a very closely confined space which tends to magnify things. Profanity ruled for the most part until some of us objected to the use. Yes, there were certain times when it was appropriate, but not as a rule. If you are twisting a wrench on a nut and the wrench slips and your knuckles get banged up, it seems "****!" is an appropriate expletive to use, but this is not acceptable in mixed company. and not exactly acceptable in the business workpace either. I use profanity, but on a very limited basis, appropriate to the magnitude of the situation. When my knuckles get banged up, sure, but never if there is anyone else is around. My use of profanity is limited to my personal space. As they say, an appropriate time and place.

Yes, I think you should speak up and express your dislike and ask they refrain unless the situation is an apropirate one for the use as I did in the all male, macho submarines I was in. Profanity IS appropriate in some circumstances, but not as a general rule. So maybe you have a "relaxed" workplace, but that is no excuse for being crude simply on where you work. "anything goes" is not an excuse for being crude or impolite. Manners count. And profanity for the most part is simply, bad manners.

Answer 2

No profanity is not acceptable. Especially when in every work office there are policies on a board somewhere(for everyone to see) that states about using verbal profanity or curses.
When I was in the army, the only reason I would use profanity was to get some rookie kids attention...especially overseas.
Thats where they get the term "HEY YOU!" This indicating no matter what your doing if the NCO needs you for recon or whatever you have to go.
Sometimes people just naturally grew up around profanity and can't stop using it. You must emphasize to these people that if they don't control themselves they could be looking at termination.

Answer 3

The Byrds wrote a tune, "Turn, Turn, Turn" based on a Woodie Guthrie tune which said this, there is a time and place for everything. The workplace may not be the place for profanity, but at times it just might be. I am a programmer and I think I have worked in places similar to where you work and never was profanity acceptable except for the occasional ****-up we all have from time to time. I used the word intentionally just to see if Yahoo! Answers censors certain words. In a past life, I was in the Navy in submarines for 21 years, an all male, macho environment, in a very closely confined space which tends to magnify things. Profanity ruled for the most part until some of us objected to the use. Yes, there were certain times when it was appropriate, but not as a rule. If you are twisting a wrench on a nut and the wrench slips and your knuckles get banged up, it seems "****!" is an appropriate expletive to use, but this is not acceptable in mixed company. and not exactly acceptable in the business workpace either. I use profanity, but on a very limited basis, appropriate to the magnitude of the situation. When my knuckles get banged up, sure, but never if there is

Answer 4

ce may not be the place for profanity, but at times it just might be. I am a programmer and I think I have worked in places similar to where you work and never was profanity acceptable except for the occasional ****-up we all have from time to time. I used the word intentionally just to see if Yahoo! Answers censors certain words. In a past life, I was in the Navy in submarines for 21 years, an all male, macho environment, in a very closely confined space which tends to magnify things. Profanity ruled for the most part until some of us objected to the use. Yes, there were certain times when it was appropriate, but not as a rule. If you are twisting a wrench on a nut and the wrench slips and your knuckles get banged up, it seems "****!" is an appropriate expletive to use, but this is not acceptable in mixed company. and not exactly acceptable in the business workpace either. I use profanity, but on a very li

Answer 5

Profanity in the workplace is NEVER acceptable at a level above under one's breath. (in other words - no one else should hear it!) It's extremely unprofessional.

Think about this - what if a brand-new potential big bucks client walked into the office in the middle of an "f-u" session? Would you land them? Probably not. They'd more than likely turn and RUN out the door as fast as they can. What if someone brought their six year old to the office on "take your kid to work day"? Wouldn't you be embarassed if the kid went to school the next day and related a conversation to his classmates peppered with four-letter words? (Hello, parent-teacher conference!) Wouldn't you get offended if you walked into a situation where everyone's using colorful language?
(I've walked out of places where every other word is the f-word.)

Don't get me wrong - I'm not a prude, (I toured with a rock band,it takes a LOT to offend me) but I believe there's a time and a place for everything, and not everything is appropriate all the time.

Answer 6

Profanity is never acceptable in the workplace and can lead to sexual discrimination charges which can cost the company lots of money and the loss of many jobs.
It is not your job to police the others, unless you are a manager that they work for.
If you are that manager, you must stop it.
If not, don't use the language.
Apologize for co-workers as appropriate to distance yourself from it, and make a friendly call on a HR rep that you know..
Don't point fingers or name names, just suggest that the language in the department is getting rough and HR might to monitor it.
That should keep you part of the team.

Dave

Answer 7

No, it's NOT acceptable. I've worked in 3 call centers, retail & fast food over my working years. Anytime someone used profanity, the person was looked at as if they're stupid, immature, etc. I've also seen co-workers fired for using profanity, even accidentally. Is your job really worth using the F word, even when you can't get something working right for the 20 millionthed time?


There are other creative alternatives. My son overheard me saying the F word & now we substitute words. F word has become F bomb, freaking, or fruitlooping. I eliminated friggen as it's too close to the F word. For the Sh word, we use poopy. For Damn, we use dangnabbit, cornnuts or awww nuts. We also have a Potty Mouth jar that gets a quarter for every time we slip up. For almost 6 months, we'd have the jar 1/2 to 3/4 full. Lately, it barely has $2 in it. There are others that can be used & should be.

Since this has been ongoing at your job, I hope HR gets wind of it & has some training or developmental classes to offer. Be the leader & set the example for others by using alternative words. You'll get laughed at for awhile but in the end, your job will be there, your friends will eventually copy you & the possibly dirty/offeneded glances will stop. If not & things continue, I hope one of the ladies who gave those glances takes it upon herself to file a major complaint.

Answer 8

I am in the same situation. I work in a line of work which I went to college to prepare for and it, too, is an office setting. I live in a small town that pretty much tells the rest of the world to go fly a kite; we're not going to follow along. We are going to do things our own way. Consequently, we are also a blue collar town and though most offices in town probably aren't as unprofessional as mine is, we cuss a lot. I feel guilty about it because I want to be better than that, but I grew up with it and because it's permitted I fail to use proper self-discipline. It really is not acceptable behavior; I think it is just another example of cultural degeneration and along with the other examples, needs to be curtailed.

Answer 9

There are other creative alternatives. My son overheard me saying the F word & now we substitute words. F word has become F bomb, freaking, or fruitlooping. I eliminated friggen as it's too close to the F word. For the Sh word, we use poopy. For Damn, we use dangnabbit, cornnuts or awww nuts. We also have a Potty Mouth jar that gets a quarter for every time we slip up. For almost 6 months, we'd have the jar 1/2 to 3/4 full. Lately, it barely has $2 in it. There are others that can be used & should be.

Since this has been ongoing at your job, I hope HR gets wind of it & has some training or developmental classes to offer. Be the leader & set the example for

Answer 10

I believe that it is ok just now the atmosphere of your environment and be WELL aware of the people around you. Also consider the image you want to have in the workplace. Is it just a paycheck for you or do you really plan on moving up in the company?? You'll be surprised who's watching or listening when you don't even know it....

Answer 11

Profanity is definitely not acceptable in the business world, and esspecially the term often used by male employees, and occassionally females as well, is offensive, and used offten, I have often had to dIrect them to the Lavatory if they needed to "p**s on it or are pi**ed"at something. Immature, There are enough words in the english language to express the agrivation or frustration they may feel, with a more intelligent choice of words that are acceptable, and will not offend other coworkers.