*Rant* about People at Work (long and cranky)

I will try to keep this curse-word-free. The people I work with are driving me insanse! Not only because of the jobs they do but thier mores and ideals or whatever you want to call them.

Examples:

My boss thinks its just fine to make racist jokes as long as there is no one of that certain race in the area. He doesn't do this in front of me, but I sometimes hear. Another co-worker does this as well but he looks around to make sure I cannot hear him first. He is the king of sexist jokes, though.

One young woman believe that cats smother infants. Told her infants are in much more danger from their own parents than they are from cats.

Another believes getting her 6 month old lab mix neutered is just mean. "He came with those and he should keep them" is her excuse. Should tell her that about her ovaries.

Another is upset because her 5 month old puppy cannot get into doggie day care because he isn't neutered. She and the other woman are all kindsa upset that someone could be FORCED to neuter their pet to get him into daycare.

I am just tired. Seems I am constantly fighting against something at this place. I try to explain that responsible pet ownership allows other animals to live. They see it all as an infringement on their "rights". I tell them 10,000 pets are PTS every day - they won't listen.

I try to explain that each time they pass on a racist/sexist joke they make this world just that much harder for my nieces to grow up in. They know one of these nieces but of course their disgusting jokes aren't "meant" for her.

The women laugh at the jokes as much as the men do. For years, I have been speaking out against all of these things - all it does is make them mad at me and make it a tougher place to be.

Heaven forbid if anyone has an ethnic sounding name or does not speak English well!

The last place I worked (10 years ago) had a zero tolerance policy on the sexist/racist remarks.

Are all work places like mine? Am I dreaming to think there is some job where I don't have to hear bleepity-bleep stuff like this? I so want out of here!

Thanks for reading/listening!

That would be so very frustrating. I know what its like to be upset with coworkers/bosses..although thankfully I don't have to deal with dumb pet owners or sexist/racist jokes.

Have you talked to your boss about it in private about how the jokes are inappropriate and you don't feel comfortable working under those conditions?

May sound normal to some people, but where I used to work in a Care home, my now ex colleagues used to wait until we were in the staff room to talk about the residents...and some of the comments were pretty nasty!

I used to sit there and think OMG! you just said that?!! It can be REALLY annoying

OMG I would not tolerate the racist/sexist jokes at all! My attitude would not be very nice First off...I would soooooo be sarchastic with the one dude and *make fun of him behind his back* by saying "Wanna hear a joke? How can you tell when <insert persons name> is about to tell a sexist joke?" Then pop your head up.

One word of advice, I basically tell most people to keep politics and opinions out of the office. You know, they probably aren't liking you're preaching about animals rights as much as you don't like how they're treating their pets.

I use to work with this girl that was vegatarian, PeTA advocate, etc, and I was so sick of her preaching to me if I wore leather or whatnot. People are going to want to stay ignorant whether you continue to educate them or not.

Anyhoo, start looking for a new job...too many variety of people to work with.

What kind of company is it? What size? Is there a corporate policy about saying and doing things that make the workplace hostile? I know that in many of the companies where I worked, such things were written down as policy and you could report someone to HR or via a hotline.

If there isn't any recourse, then I would start looking for a different job.

AB

Thanks, guys You are all sweet!

It is a small company, no one to go to. I just need to work up courage and get out of there.

I don't believe I preach at anyone - never bring anything up unless it is said in front of me. I don't say what I'm really thinking either I tried a few times a couple of years ago to talk to the boss. Since he is just as guilty, he doesn't believe there is a problem and that I am overreacting. The guys always say a woman is PMSing of she gets upset or concerned about anything.

There are better places, I know. I used to work at a place that was just a bit bigger than this one but wouldn't put up with anything like this. I probably didn't explain myself well. Its just frustrating.