F Bomb

Oh, my sensitive ears. I can handle hearing "shit" now and then and even one or two F this and that. However, when f*** is said every two or three words, that is just over the top. And in an office environment I've been working for nearly 30 years (oh wow! -- ok, take away 2 or 3 years) and have never come across this much language abuse.

Am I from the old school? I remember the early years when I first joined the workforce my co-workers could only get a "darn" or "drat" out of me. The bad language from my co-workers did not come out until after 5pm. I don't think I started using "damn" and "shit" until 10 years later. The F didn't come out until 5 years later after that. If it does come out now, it's a soft one and usually to myself or to Pointy.

I get the pleasure of sitting next to this guy and that is the way he talks. Every second to third word is f***. Thank goodness he is not in all the time. When people stop in his cube, they start talking like him -- f this and f that. When he's not around, they do not talk like that all. Professionalism goes downhill when he's around. If he was young, I would excuse it, but he's not. He's about my age. We are in open cubicles and everyone can hear your conversation if you talk in a normal tone. I share my cube with a co-worker. When the guy is in and starts on his F conversation, I look at my co-worker and we both shake our head.

This kind of language is totally unprofessional. I would understand if you were upset and that's just the way you express yourself. Definitely, not day-to-day business conversation. You cannot be cursing when you don't know when management will appear or when clients are around. It's a very good way to loose clients and not get promoted. But then again, the foul mouth person might get promoted while you act professionally.

I grin and bear it when "shit" and f*** becomes prevalent in today's informal discussions. When did this become the norm? Is it really necessary? Are we too lazy to find different words to express ourselves?