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How formal is your workplace culture? Not with customers or the entire company, but with your regular coworkers/supervisor.
Do people occasionally let out a swear word, make suggestive or non-PC jokes, ping each other silly things, drink, or otherwise sometimes act more human than the standard buttoned-up inoffensive professional persona?
At my former non-profit agency they were crude, used every swear word, talked about sex in detail and the like. I didn't like it or find it professional at all. And they were all women! I couldn't stand being around them. They didn't drink at work but always went out drinking together, where they got louder and more crass if possible. This was a small agency of about 10 people. Someone did complain to corporate and they were told to minimize the swearing during office hours. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind the occasional swear word when necessary but not during every sentence. And no, I was not the one who complained. lol
The agency I work for now is much tamer and more professional to me. We talk and joke but it is never crude with too many details. Swearing isn't tolerated here but occasionally someone will swear when something isn't going right. This agency is also about 10 people. Both agencies deal with a high amount of stress and clients that frustrate us.
In my professional blue collar job, it's not uncommon for people to be routinely rude, and be all but at each other's throats. I hate it. After 25 years, it's still shocking that no one has killed anyone else. There were times it felt like a war zone. At least in a war zone you can actually kill each other and get it over with.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We are about 2,000 employees, but in several locations, just 450 here at my office building. Despite a corporate culture of political correctness, the suggestive or non-PC jokes, pinging each other silly things does go on, but in a subtle and quiet manner. We are aware of others and their tendency to be "offended" so care is taken to limit such frivolity to private contact.
Surprised at some of the upthread responses. I have never worked in a workplace where cursing is tolerated -- have been in the financial sector for 25 years. Repeated swearing or suggestive language would get you walked out with a do-not-rehire notation.
Previous engineering office I worked in was INCREDIBLY LOUD, boisterous, disruptive, with constant babble ranging from how drunk one person got last night to who stunk up the bathroom... Lots of swearing and perverted jokes.Was very hard to focus, and even harder to be taken seriously when on the phone with a client and they could hear all the garbage in the background. I left.
Current engineering office I work in is much quieter. It's a bigger building which houses a good 20 or so companies (maybe more). We joke around amongst ourselves, but never let it get out of hand, and as such, it's a much more enjoyable work environment.
There is all kinds of off-color joking that happens on the shop floor and swearing is pretty much par for the course. It's not uncommon to hear it once in a while out of the supervisors or even the production manager on a particularly challenging day. There is a lot of great teamwork on the floor as well, so there is a lot of joking and informality as well. No stuffed shirt culture at all.
In the office, it isn't much different. The office is usually pretty noisy with people chatting with each other, engineers debating ideas then joking with each other about who is going to get the bonus this quarter, salespeople teasing each other about drinking games and sales numbers, and members of the cleaning crew talking with the receptionist. Sometimes swear words do slip out, though nobody has complained to me about it. The dress code calls for slacks and a dress shirt w/ tie, but even the Plant Manager wears jeans and a polo shirt. Everybody in the office pretty much wears jeans and khakis--on Fridays it is jeans and t-shirts. I would have to say it is an informal culture and I love it. I could never work in a formal culture; they would have me out of there within a week, lol.
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I didn't like it or find it professional at all. And they were all women! I couldn't stand being around them. They didn't drink at work but always went out drinking together, where they got louder and more crass if possible. This was a small agency of about 10 people. Someone did complain to corporate and they were told to minimize the swearing during office hours. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind the occasional swear word when necessary but not during every sentence. And no, I was not the one who complained. lol 
