Saul wrote:

I don't know the Zaun case, nor is my comment meant to directly apply to it. But it does occur to me that maybe the problem in the workplace isn't so much the comments as it is how the comments are made. Are they overly persistent? Do they somehow reflect and agitate a power imbalance? Are they teasing but with clear kind intent rather than being a negative tease? Is the language appropriate? Do the parties know each other well enough, and is the working relationship solid enough, for flirting or other such comments? It does require an element, at least, of empathy for other people, as well as a sense of what's appropriate in a workplace social setting. Is the 'perpetrator' - and I use the word loosely - truly an asshole or just thick as a brick?
 

Well said Saul. Where I am employed there are customers and fellow employees I would never flirt with or tell politically incorrect jokes because I don't know them other than to say hello.  Others, I interact with on a regular basis and have got to know their personalities. They think, as I do, flirting [respecting boundaries without touching] is harmless fun. As for politically incorrect jokes, photos etc. the reaction is usually laughter, that's awful, more laughter. Bottomline. When in doubt, DON'T!

mace wrote:

Where I am employed there are customers and fellow employees I would never flirt with or tell politically incorrect jokes because I don't know them other than to say hello.  Others, I interact with on a regular basis and have got to know their personalities. They think, as I do, flirting [respecting boundaries without touching] is harmless fun. As for politically incorrect jokes, photos etc. the reaction is usually laughter, that's awful, more laughter. Bottomline. When in doubt, DON'T!

Thanks, mace. As for politically correct jokes - it takes great care. It helps to significantly include one's own 'identity' in the humour. Humour starts at home. And some 'jokes' are truly beyond the pale ... just rude and racist. Know who's in the room ... some people just don't 'get' any kind of humour. They're not wired for it, or whatever. Others are overly sensitive or easily hurt. That's their right. Someone who may have very well been passed over for a job because of their appearance really does not need to be subjected. This isn't Yuk Yuk's (where it can easily go south, too, as Michael Richards learned). We're not exactly voluntarily in the office, and coworkers have to deal with and trust each other on a daily basis. As with flirting and comments of even a remote sexual nature, it helps to remain very consciously respectful of others.

RadioActive wrote:

exchanges were initiated by females in the workplace that they were somehow OK

The part where he blames women is quite laughable....... "it was really the women's fault guys, I swear! Can I go back to my gig making half a million dollars a year and be a creep on the side?"