this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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followed with 'I wasn't aware is so important to you. I didn't want to insult you and if you felt so, I apologize. The word fuck is one I use very often, but I'll try to control myself around you'

Note I didn't insult the coworker (no fuck you or fuck off), but simply said 'fuck' out loud due to a job error.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Don't add the while your around bit.

I'm going to work on improving my language, and I'll be mindful going forward, it's a very deep habit, so please bear with me.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Also, don’t say, “I wasn’t aware it was so important to you.” That’s definitely a trigger phrase.

Try, “Thank you for letting me know this is important for you,” (or “how you feel”) instead.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I am going to work on improving my language, and I will be mindful going forward. It's a very deep habit, so please bear with me. Thank you for letting me know this is important for you.

Not too shabby!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yes! Love it.

I hear "I wasn't aware" as sarcasm a lot.

"Oh SOWWIE I wasn't AWARE I couldn't shit on the floor!"

Vs

"Thank you for letting me know it is important not to shit on the floor."

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Dunno. I'd expect grown ass adults to be able to put their personal feelings aside for the sake of professional obligations. If your coworker is gonna get upset at everything, he's not in for a very good time.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I agree with the sentiment, but if we're going to make that argument based around professionalism, I would also have to argue that it's not very professional to use that kind of language in a work setting.

So maybe this is a situation where both sides can grow.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

it’s not very professional to use that kind of language in a work setting.

That depends massively on the profession, setting, and context.

Restaurant kitchen where something gets spilled, a trade where something unexpectedly breaks, a couple lawyers without anyone else around finding out their client is on camera admitting to the crime, etc. are all fine to say a calm 'oh fuck' as a reaction. Someone in an open office who yelled it because their code didn't compile would not be acting very professional.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

OP is a nurse in a hospital.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

If no patients were around then an excited utterance gets a free pass.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It may be more common among certain job types, but I don't think that makes it professional behavior to do so regardless of the type of work.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Than replacement words shouldn’t be acceptable either, you can either express your frustration or you can’t. A choose of word shouldn’t make a difference, it should be unprofessional to make an outburst at all if that’s the case.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

OP came to share a thing they're doing and you built this story as a extremely sensitive coworker?

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I work in a very large tech company. I curse like a fucking sailor around some people and use my church voice around others. Expletives lose their punch when used too often.

I wouldn't apologize or bring it up further. The time for an apology about language spoken in the heat of the moment is as soon after as possible.

The best apology is a change in behavior.

Good luck navigating this, you can see how contentious a topic it is by the comments in this thread. But it boils down to know your audience, and believe people when they tell you they have a problem.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I remember working in the London UK office and we curse non-stop over there it's great. Whenever our colleagues from SF would visit they would always be surprised how much we swear. I'd see them do the turnaround like, 'what just happened?'.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

is it an office. if so the apology should be more about your behavior in a professional setting not just around one person. If its blue collar it might apply if members of the public are around.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is a solid point.

In a polite environment like an office, if one person was offended enough to call it out, there's a huge chance others feel the same way.

I mean there will always be Karen's who flip out that you're just eating chips loudly.

But It's up to the company culture to decide how to approach it as a whole, rather than address it with a single person.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Somewhat. the office environment is the employers and generally follows a civil discourse type of rule. Again in blue collar if your on a site and everyone there is just a worker then usually swearing is commonplace but if your doing a job at a home and the homeowners are around its generally frowned upon. Public businesses usually do not allow it but will let it slip if its not confrontational or often. So basically the apology is more about the owner of the space I would say and whats appropriate.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I would censor the work f--k because it might come off like you're being passive aggressive and aren't really trying. Reminds of the time the actor that played Burke on Grey's Anatomy called the actor that played George a fa---t, then made a public apology saying he's sorry he called him a fa---t and that he wont say fa---t again, except he said the word. People got even more pissed, and I think he was fired from the show. 🤦

I previously made a comment on how I've learned to apologize if you're interested.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

I hate your coworker

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You don't have to say anything, just change the behavior around them. If you're required to apologize, "I'm sorry. I'll work on that." should suffice

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Not everything is about what we're "required" to do. If op wants to apologize, why try and talk them out of it?

*Edit to add this clip since it's been echoing in my head for weeks now and it's relevant: https://files.catbox.moe/ozpjht.mp4

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

It also sounds like based on the preceding post that they really are going to have to do this as the initial reaction to offending their coworker seems not to have gone down well with them and their colleagues at all. It looks like they're kind of having to do this to prevent things escalating any further which might be why their apology has needed to be workshopped and people are finding flaws in it. They're probably having to work through a fair bit of resentment before they can find an authentic apology in themselves. Good for them though, that can take a bit of reflection and the initial instinct can be to try and issue a non-apology apology but instead they're working through it to get it right.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I agree. Id prefer to just address it openly and directly.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Comes across as a snide non-apology to me. Regardless of whether an apology or whatever is warranted, the phrasing here sounds nothing like an apology if that's what you’re going for

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I wouldn't wory too much about that coworker, if they can't handle something as banal as fuck, it's their problem, not yours

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Until it's escalated, and then it's definitely OPs problem. Most jobs have something about professionalism written is their handbook. The coworker will win that fight with hr every time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Than they can fight that any outburst is unprofessional and they are being harassed for what other coworkers are doing.

Fuck Shit Damn Shoot Darn

No difference, zero, but personal offense for arbitrary reasons.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

True in theory, but in practice, those are pretty much universally accepted curse words. I personally swear all of the time when I know the audience I'm around, and hear people swearing from across my office, so culturally it's not a thing where I work or especially my previous manufacturing job. In places that have outside customers or patients, the expectation is generally different and varying levels of masking those outbursts is required, sometimes even saying things like "crap"is too much.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It’s part of my religion, are you trying to suppress my religious rights?

Or something like that, there's always an angle to play if someone wants to be petty or want to exert their “power” over their coworkers.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

This is a terrible apology. You make it all about then instead of your actions and then don't even say you won't do it, but only that you'll try to do it...and then immediately dropping the f bomb throwing out the window any chance that you're "trying" means anything.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

My neighbor passed away and a new family moved in. Talking with dad, I noticed he didn't swear much. I said a handful of curse words the first few times we talked. I noticed he was a little put off. So I just made a conscious effort to not curse around him. Never apologized, just tried not to. Pretty sure he's noticed and appreciates it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"I'll try and be more professional in the future."

This way you're not judging them or yourself, you're saying you understand that there's a code of behavior the bosses expect everyone to follow.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

"I'll try not to swear around you. I'm sorry. I will probably not be perfect, but I assure you I'm trying."

That's enough.

I assume you are genuinely sorry and have decided you want to behave differently around them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

So. Your co worker NEVER watches TV? You know? Where swearing is everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Really not a good apology.

It comes off as looking down on the other person.

Note I didn't insult the coworker (no fuck you or fuck off), but simply said 'fuck' out loud

So it is all just bad behaviour on your side. You can apologize for that: Your own behaviour. NOT the coworker's interpretation of it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I worked with someone like that who got their jimmies tussled by cursing. I said sorry in the moment they voiced their feelings and avoided them after that. I didn’t change how I talk or come up with a huge apology.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Don't go could turkey, you'll fail. Lizard brain is gonna respond with or without monkey brains help.

As much as you can, start with replacing fuck with frack or fine or fudge, or just make it funny. Stopping the cadence is harder than changing the word.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Lmao, you forgot the apology part.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

A quality apology consists of 3 things:

  • An explanation of what you did that was wrong, and why it was wrong
  • An explanation of what you're going to try and change about yourself, to avoid the same mistake
  • An expression of remose. I.E. the word "sorry" or "apologize".

Your proposed apology has all those elements, so you're already ahead of most folks. But there are a few suggestions for improvement in this thread that I think are also good.

"if you felt so, I apologize": I don't read this as you apologizing for how the other person feels, since you clarified that earlier. But I think it's fair that others might read it that way, so you're better off eliminating the ambiguity. You're apologizing for what you did, without considering that others might (validly) consider it inappropriate.

"I'll try to control myself around you": similar deal, it should be clear that this is about you, not them. And when it comes to swearing in a workplace, it's pretty-darn common to consider it inappropriate and unprofessional, no matter who you're around. Maybe part of your apology needs to focus on how the behavior is unprofessional, and you simply needed help recognizing that, as you're (possibly?) new to the professional working world.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, but the swearing is immaterial. That apology isn't, so let's break down the likely interpretation a bit.

I didn't want to insult you and if you felt so, I apologize.

This is probably the most egregious part, since 'I'm sorry you felt offended' isn't actually an apology, it just sounds like one. You're not actually apologising for anything you did.

No matter what it is you might have wanted or intended, the fact of the matter is that you did offend your coworker with your swearing.

The word fuck is one I use very often, but I'll try to control myself around you'

This part is fine-ish? I'd leave off the "around you", since it's extraneous. They don't need to know that you're deliberately taking exception around them.

I apologize. The word fuck is one I'm used to using, but I'll try to avoid using it.

Seems a better way of putting it. You made the error, you apologised, clean and cut. No need for unnecessary explanation that could be taken as excuse, or unnecessary exceptions that may taint your intended message.

Maybe accompany it with an apology muffin or something.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I apologize. The word fuck is one I’m used to using, but I’ll try to avoid using it.

This sounds like "I'm sorry I fucking swore around you, I'll try to stop that shit."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Ugh, so one thing that's annoying about apologies is that if you use the word "if" people usually think it's a bad apology regardless of everything else you say. Try to say things like "I'm sorry that it upset you" instead of "I'm sorry if I've upset you."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Good enough for me.

He didn't realize it was an issue, he won't do it again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Tell them to grow up. Adults use adult language.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

You've got way more patience than me. Just yesterday my own grandma was offended by my use of fuck randomly and I ended up defending myself instead of apologizing (she likes Tim Walz so I said the guy called Musk a dipshit and somehow that got me out of hot water lol). I don't think I'd even have that much tact with a coworker.

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