Workplace Harassment
Everyone winds up being the butt of someone else's bad joke at one point or another and the workplace much like school usually has some good natured ribbing between employees, mostly for the purposes of letting off steam and stress and to make their job seem more enjoyable. However sometimes what is meant as harmless banter becomes harassment; or in worse case scenarios, starts out and is meant as harassment.
The simplest definition of workplace harassment is anything that causes you to feel so unhappy or uncomfortable that it makes it hard to do your job effectively. Now what it is that makes you so uncomfortable is entirely within your discretion. You should not under any circumstances ignore something that is bothering you simply because someone else has told you to let it go, or that it's "just a joke" and you should "lighten up". Even if the person telling you this is a superior.
There seem to be two main types of inappropriate humor in the work place. Those that directly involve a specific person such as sexual harassment, or more generalized jokes and comments that specifically demean a certain race, gender, age, sexual preference religion etc. The first is pretty straightforward. Bill is sure that his comments about Jane's figure should be taken as compliments and feels no compunction sharing his opinions even when she's not around. Or there's Amy who can't seem to stop bothering Scott about his weight. Harassment can be perpetrated by anyone and between people of the same or opposite gender, and if it is unwanted it should be stopped, regardless of whether or not it was meant to be innocent.
The second is a little trickier. You overhear Gail and her friend telling each other gay jokes in the hall, you know they're meant to be funny and you know they weren't directed at you, but you also know they're inappropriate and you don't feel you should have to be listening to them at work, and you're right. Same as if you hear jokes about a specific race or gender. Discrimination should not be tolerated by anyone, and if their bigoted humor is that important to them let them share the joke after work and away from company property.
People are afraid that if they report anything at work they will be considered a nark or a stick-in-the-mud but you are expected to show up to work every day, do your job efficiently, and be successful interacting with your coworkers, or even the public if you are in retail. How can that be accomplished if you walk around with your head down trying to keep yourself untarnished by unpleasant ear pollution. The best way to keep up a mature and static free environment is to be able to confidently identify when a "joke" has gone too far.
