5 ms·

You know, I've been thinking... It's also pretty unprofessional to wear jeans to work, and beer after 4:00pm on Friday is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. Al

• jamesaguilar 14y ago
  What's professional is defined by the context. It would not be professional to wear developer clothes or keep developer times as a bank executive. In neither context are sexual jokes considered professional. Actually, generally speaking you can be held personally liable for creating a hostile work environment if one of your colleagues if offended by your jokes and you keep making them (assuming you aren't fired for the behavior first). And in case you're hoping that eventually sexual jokes will be permitted, the arrow of history is pointing the opposite direction on that one. Workplace practices and laws used to be much more permissive of sexual conduct ("misconduct" as we would call it today) than they are now.
  • white_devil 14y ago
    > What's professional is defined by the context. What's professional is just meaningless uptightery. What actually matters is getting shit done, and treating others well.
    • jamesaguilar 14y ago
      Treating others well is typically thought of as a component of professionalism. How you "get shit done" is another component of it.
      • white_devil 14y ago
        The way you speak and the way you dress are also considered part of "professionalism". Those are the parts that I take issue with.
        • jamesaguilar 14y ago
          I don't really get why you would bring your issues with that into a discussion about sexual jokes, but OK.
          • white_devil 14y ago
            I don't really get why you'd draw this out all the way here, but OK. :p
• tomjakubowski 14y ago
  Starting a 'nerf war' at work is entirely unprofessional, and I hope to never work with someone who is so childish as to think that's reasonable workplace behavior.
  • dandellion 14y ago
    A 'nerf war' might be something acceptable as long as: 1. the work environment allows it 2. the participants agree to it 3. it's done in at the appropiate time (during a break, for example) Games and childish behaviour are different things and, according to one of my professors, not being able to distinguish between them is a sign of immaturity.
  • orf 14y ago
    I would hate to work where you work. Workplace nerf fights are pretty fun, team bonding on the cheap you could say.
  • kevincrane 14y ago
    I feel you. I too hate fun.
• numbsafari 14y ago
  So... what if the situation were just a tad different.. Let's say it was an Indian guy who is a tech evangelist for a successful startup and two guys behind him in a "private conversation in the middle of a crowded room" made jokes about how indian people speak or act. Those are jokes, and totally unprofessional in a work environment where you are representing your company that is sponsoring the event, right? But we should let that go because he was wearing shorts and t-shirt instead of a suit?
  • emiljbs 14y ago
    That's a very bad analogy though. Perhaps if it was an Indian who made a joke about how Indians talk/act, but even that's stretching it.
    • numbsafari 14y ago
      That doesn't make sense. It was a man making sexual jokes in front of a woman, not a woman making sexual jokes in front of a woman... and probably besides the point in any event.
      • codesuela 14y ago
        You are implying that any joke that is sexual is also inherently sexist.
      • run4yourlives 14y ago
        Actually, it was a man making a joke about a body part that women don't even possess. It's not a sexual comment any more than a fart joke is a sexual comment.
  • jwonsu 14y ago
    That's a terrible analogy. But if we must stick with your analogy it's more akin to an indian guy making a private joke to another indian guy about how indian people speak or act, and a mexican person in the row in front taking offense and reporting them. But even then that would be ignoring the fact that their joke was not targeted at any single person, or any group of people.
• clinth 14y ago
  He was in a public professional setting, representing the company with a badge that said Sponsor, which more than likely paid for his entire trip to go and represent that company there. He was on the clock. Off-hours work friendships are not at all comparable.