There was a joke in the USSR.
*An American and a Soviet man in the Nixon era are arguing over who has a freer country.*
*The American says — I can go to the square in front of the White House and start shouting down with Nixon.*
*The Soviet says I can also go to Red Square and start shouting down with Nixon.*
But there is another option.
*A Soviet says an American and a Soviet man in the Nixon era are arguing over who has a freer country.*
*The American says — I can go to the square in front of the White House and start shouting down with Nixon.*
*The Soviet says, But I can cover my boss with obscenities. And you?*
And yes. In the USSR, you could argue with your boss.
What about the USA?
36 comments
Depends on the boss.
Depends on the workplace and your relationship with your boss.
In my experience it’s generally frowned upon to swear at anyone (“fuck you, Bob”), but in some workplaces you can swear about the situation (“this project is fucked”) .
Professional office job? Probably not.
Blue collar job site? More likely, yeah.
Depends on the field.
You can swear at any boss once. Whether you’ll still work for them after depends on the boss and context.
Maybe old Soviet jokes aren’t the best place to learn about American social norms.
Yes, you can absolutely throw as many profanities at your boss as you would like. You might not have that job afterwards, but you can do it.
Could our Soviet friend go to Red Square and shout down with Stalin? Or, might that find him on the wrong side of the gulag gates?
In every job that I’ve worked, I would have gotten in serious trouble and/or fired for swearing at my boss.
Depends on your boss. I don’t swear at my boss, however I swear with my boss… So, I’d never call my boss a “fucking dickhead.” However if we’re dealing with his boss, without them in or around us, I might say “Yeah, he’s being a real asshole lately.” Something like that.
Depends a lot by what you mean by ‘argue’ or ‘swear’ at.
Like at my current job if my boss proposes an idea I know won’t work, I’m expected to push back on it. We might discuss the merits of what he’s trying to do and come up with a different solution. But that discourse is respectful.
But also jobs in the US are privatized whereas jobs in the USSR were socialized. There’s no expectation of freedom of speech at work for example, because freedom of speech only applies to government censorship.
And no, you couldn’t go argue with your boss in the USSR because you got sent to the gulags for not clapping for 15 minutes after Stalin quit speaking. And since jobs were handed out based on party loyalty, criticizing your boss was also criticizing the party. There’s plenty of documented incidents where this happened.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences. The First Amendment is about the government suppressing speech. Other people are free to ignore you, tell you to fuck off, or change their relationship with you based on your actions.
It depends on the boss and job in question.
I mean, the benefit to at-will employment is that you can quit at any time, so employers aren’t generally going to berate you or speak to you in a demeaning manner in most professional environments. I have argued with my boss, and seen him argue with his. I have cursed in front of my boss and he has cursed in front of me. But we don’t just shout obscenities at each other – not because I’m afraid of repercussions, but because that’s not a healthy way to interact with anyone.
Never a brilliant move.
I work for my uncle, so… meh.
We usually treat our boss with the same respect of other people in our lives.
Is it ok to have people come up and curse you out in your country?
That would be considered pretty rude here.
Swearing isn’t uncommon in my office. Now, if you are disrespecting and undermining your boss’s authority, then you might start being in danger of losing your job.
It entirely depends on your work environment/dynamic though.
We talk mad shit to each other all the time. We’ve done “extracurricular” substances together as well. That’s the kitchen life. Work hard, play hard and sleep just enough.
I’ve cussed in front of several of my bosses ,but my job is a relaxed blue collar job.Doubt you can do much cussing in a more formal white collar job.
We are so free that we can find a new job with a new boss that we don’t hate.
Only half joking. My question while reading your post is… why? Why would I want to swear at my boss? I’d rather convey my emotions like an adult, go to HR for whatever issue I’m having, or find a new job. It would never occur to me to swear at my boss.
Of course swearing around your boss is totally okay in certain offices.
You can argue with your boss, which doesn’t have to involve obscenities. Legally, you can swear at your boss. The US government will not take action if you tell your boss to fuck off. But depending on the boss, the workplace rules, and other contextual factors, you might get fired for inappropriate behavior.
In Soviet Russia joke makes you!!
Yakov Smirnoff
Doesn’t this depend on the individual boss in either country.
>And yes. In the USSR, you could argue with your boss.
Same in America, but not with every boss, same as in the USSR.
Depends on the job and the boss
As a counter argument, here’s an old joke that tells the opposite story:
Three generals, one from France, another from the Soviet Union, and a third from the United States, were having a debate about whose soldiers were the bravest.
To prove his point, the French general calls over a soldier:
“Soldier! Climb that flagpole, and once you are at the top, sing ‘La Marseillaise’, and then jump off!”
“YES SIR!” replies the French soldier. Without hesitation he runs to the flagpole, scales up it, sings the anthem, and jumps off, breaking his ankle.
The French general dismisses him. “Now that’s bravery!” he shouts.
“Ah, that’s nothing,” says the Soviet general. “Soldier!” he shouts. “Take this weapon, scale that flagpole, stand at attention, present arms, and jump off!”
“YES SIR!” replies the Soviet soldier. He runs to the flagpole, scales to the top, somehow manages to balance himself on top, comes to full attention, presents arms, and then jumps off, snapping his leg.
“Now that’s courage!” says the Soviet general.
“Courage? Ha!” snorts the American general. “Get over here, private!”
“YES SIR!” replies the private.
“Put on full combat gear, load your rucksack with these rocks, scale that flagpole, come to attention, present arms, sing the National Anthem, salute each of us, and then do a head first swan dive off the top.”
The American soldier replies, “FUCK YOU, SIR!”
The general turns to the others and says, “Now THAT is bravery!”
In my current job I wouldn’t call anyone I worked with an obscene name, although I do sometimes swear. If were to call my boss a cocksucker, I don’t think I would be fired, but he’d think less of me as a professional.
Other jobs are different. I once saw a chef threaten to pull off the restaurant owner’s prosthetic leg and beat him with it if he didn’t get out of the kitchen. The owner just laughed, went behind the bar, and poured more vodka into his styrofoam cup. Emotions can run high in the service industry, especially under pressure.
Maybe if you have an accepted offer, then you can tell him an honest feedback. Exit interview in an another venue to sent message across.
I work in advertising. We swear in the office all the time. Context matters though.
I could tell my boss “I don’t want to work on that project because it sounds like it’s going to be a real bitch to execute”…but I can’t say “I don’t want to work on that project because Jessica is a real bitch.”
I could tell my boss “What do you mean I don’t get to continue working on XYZ, I worked my fucking ass off to get XYZ where it is today”…but I can’t say “You can kiss my fucking ass if you think I’m not going to see XYZ all the way through.”
Would I be fired immeditaly if I said any of the above in the heat of the moment? Probably not…but corrective measures might be taken and if it became a trend it might lead to my termination.
In most professions, no. That would be considered unprofessional. We can usually argue with our supervisors if it’s done in a respectful and professional manner.
Legally you can. Professionally I would advise against it.
I can’t think of a reason why I would care enough about a job to actually yell at my boss, why yell at him when I can go down the road and get a better job.
The setting, context, and relationship all matter.
In your example, I say way worse things about presidents than I have my bosses.
The president isn’t my boss.
I’m constantly swearing at myself for dumb things I do. I’m ok with it.
I have only ever had white collar office-type jobs. You can argue with your boss. You can *maybe* have a heated argument with your boss. I know there are workplaces where people are constantly screaming at each other but they are rare. I had one job that was very high-stress and the boss was terrible, and occasionally he would get into screaming fights with people, including me a couple times. It was a bad situation and I eventually left.
You can be fired in America for any reason or no reason, with limited exceptions. So, in theory, you are always running the risk of being fired for arguing with/swearing at your boss. Still, it happens in some situations.
I can swear in front of my boss but I think if I swore at him, like “go fuck yourself”, I would be fired.