Humor isn’t universal.
Had a coworker who would routinely make jokes assuming alignment with his own extremist political preferences and it was uncomfortable like whoa.
Had a coworker who would routinely make jokes assuming alignment with his own extremist political preferences and it was uncomfortable like whoa.
It gets worse when half the team is laughing, and the other half are praying for you to be struck dumb already.
Giving up on laughter seems a "baby with the bathwater" approach to inclusiveness. I suppose being miserable is rather inclusive though :/
That said, there are certainly people that can only perform humor as a zero-sum game. But in my experience they are also generally the kind of people that subject their coworkers to uncomfortable conversations in a myriad of other ways.
If you come into a tight culture of people who will riff all day on harmless puns, or crack references to old Jersey Shore dramas, or whatever, it can be acutely alienating.
I wouldn’t personally want to work in a place so sterile, but I also feel confident in my ability to float around and either find a lively culture that suits me or work my way into a culture that once felt alienating.
But not everybody feels so confident in that, and sterile results-focused work communities get the opportunity to have these people thrive.
That sounds good for those people and for those organizations.
As long as the whole job market isn’t made to look that way, I’m not sure there’s a big critique to make.
Exactly. And people are saying "don't rob us of our culture." That ain't woke.
There's a line to be walked but it's not hard, it just takes practice.
[Tells joke about Bob] [No laughter] [Bob is on the conference call]
[Tells political joke] [Others think you're stupid but don't say anything]