AIBU: swearing ban at work

[JammieJones]

We’ve all recently been moved around offices and I’ve ended up in an office which has a swearing ban. I’d been there 2 hours when I was told by member of staff that she doesn’t like swearing and doesn’t want it in her office. I hadn’t sworn she was just letting me know.

We are the same level at work and after asking other members of staff who’ve worked with her for a long time she really really hates swearing and pulls people up on it.

Fair enough she doesn’t want people screaming fucking cuntbadger across the office but crap, damn and bloody are also on the banned list.

I realise I’ve come into “her” office but AIBU to think she can’t police other adults language (especially as we are all the same grade). I don’t particularly like the egg sandwiches she eats every day but I’m not going to ban them!

I wouldn't be able to stop 🤦‍♀️ my place(s) of work are extremely sweary outside of customer hearing.

The conference calls with other managers are the worst culprits.

I’m surprised by the response to this.

Where exactly is it that all of you work that you swear all day? And why so much encouragement for the OP to swear.

I swear at home. But I don’t in work and think it’s very unprofessional. I’ve seen colleagues swear repeatedly over things and just find it a bit embarrassing really. Unprofessional and embarrassing.

Please do shout fucking cuntbadger across the office OP 🤣. Also of course she can't ban swearing!

I don't like swearing either. Would never ask others not to though.

I just vary my vocabulary boundlessly so it sounds like I am - as one colleague put it - "being all intellectual... like" and people do swear a bit less over time. Makes me giggle anyhow.

No television would be made and you’d all stare at blank screens every night if my industry banned swearing.

We are very very fucking sweary and delight in coming up with new ways of using the glorious English language.

I had a friend, she was so lovely in everyway, except when she brought me up on my constant swearing.
One day she said 'Just, you know if you omitted the swearing from your sentences you'd use less energy and get it said quicker' lightbulb moment for me... unfortunately my reply was 'You're fucking right!'

Swear in a foreign language, and smile when you do it. Use google translate. Russian is a good language... Kur is a good one, means prick
Don’t forget to smile

Marketing is pretty sweary.

Especially when they sit with the sales team.

Actually I’m not keen on swearing in the office (I think it sounds unprofessional and anyway I think an articulate remark is more effective/humorous). I would never ask people not to swear but you might find that you automatically tone it down a bit. I guess you both need to compromise a bit.

I would ignore it personally if she’s not your superior. If she complains then I’d also complain about her egg sandwiches.

Ugh. I’ve worked with one of these before now.

It’s not the swearing ban per se, it’s the individual that is part of the furniture, that feels they have complete authority over your working space and how you behave in it, when they have no right to do so. I’ve spent many an evening planning ways to wind said person up but mostly a blank stare like they’ve just said something in an alien language and carrying on where you left off, usually sufficed.

That would make me fume. Who the fuck does she think she's talking to?

IT and finance are pretty sweary too. . .

I'm a nursery manager. I obviously don't swear around the children or when talking to parents but in my office I swear. Not at my staff but might call something shit, say fuck when I forget something, I throw a good few for fucks sakes around on a daily basis and will swear in conversation with staff members. There is a member of staff who said she doesn't swear and doesn't like it. She said this when I had been there for about a week and swore in front of her then apologised for my language so I watch what I say around her because I don't want to make her uncomfortable.

There is no way I would be told that there is a swearing ban by someone else. I would have to start swearing near her and then head tilt and ask why she was listening to my conversation with someone else if she pulled me up on it.

The only person who can pull off shouting "Language" when someone swears is Captain America.

The only person who can pull off shouting "Language" when someone swears is Captain America.

Haha I'd been about to suggest showing her that clip- and the way the Avengers take the piss out of Cap for it!

cunt

cock

shit

www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/fuck

and Latin is incredibly useful.

It's worth it - I had a teacher who positively encouraged me to swear in multiple languages, the more expressive and imaginative the insults written on the blackboard when he walked into class, the better. It meant I actually studied several languages in depth, rather than just French and German - his biggest grin was for the Old English ones.

I work in construction, I'm the only fucking woman, there's a fucking lot of fucking swearing going the fuck on all fucking day for fuck's sake. Fuck that

What’s she going to do to you if you swear?

I suspect it could be construed as bullying. The ultimate arbiter is surely the employers workplace policies ? It's certainly an interesting question from a legal point of view. Any lawyers views might be valuable ...

I can turn the air blue with the best of them but even I'd agree swearing is unprofessional in a work environment.

There's times and places to swear - at work isn't one of them.

She would die in our office. We’re all adults though and we don’t swear AT each other (at ourselves and our computers once in a while maybe) so I don’t see the problem myself

Swearing good for people, says Ukrainian health minister

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48867640

You don't have to follow her rules so that's that. If she doesn't like it then tough.

What gives her the right to police other people's use of language? Most people in my office are naturally quite sweary but there's one person who is very, very religious and we know she feels uncomfortable with swearing. She has never complained about it or tried to 'ban' it or anything, you can just tell it makes her uncomfortable when it happens. So we all try not to do it when she's in the room, just because we're nice people, she's a nice person and we don't want her to feel uncomfortable. But that's because she doesn't expect us to modify our behaviour to suit her. Had she tried to 'ban' us from swearing or shouted "LANGUAGE" at us like a schoolteacher telling off a naughty child every time, then I'm pretty sure it would have the opposite effect and we'd all think "fuck you, I'll say what I want"!

Surely it's an unwritten rule to not swear at work!

Dear god no! University here - not student facing I hasten to add, but everyone swears, even VC has been know to say in Governors meeting 'If we can't do xxxx we're fucked'