Work Coach Cafe

A study out of Britain tells us there may be a place for curse words at work after all.

Turns out there are some benefits to letting go with a blast of 4-letter words that don’t include “love” and “nice”. Letting yourself indulge in a few choice words of anger may in fact be better for you than holding in all that stress. And it could even be better for the workplace!

Now this does NOT mean you should curse at customers or even anywhere near where they may hear you. And it also does not mean you should curse at your boss or directly at co-workers - unless you want a new job real soon.

But there does seem to be a team-building aspect to sharing feelings and emotion.

For instance, if you and your team have been working your butts off to meet a ridiculous deadline and you’ve managed to come in on time with what you think is an excellent product. And then your boss gets word the whole project is scrapped without anyone ever seeing your work. Well…that sure seems like a great time to let your feelings fly. And the fact that you all share these feelings and are there to comfort each other…that may actually lead to greater camaraderie and, as a result, a stronger team.

All right…I feel obligated to clarify that point. The study does not suggest for one minute that there is any benefit to being mean or using racial/cultural epithets or in any way using truly offensive words. You still have to be sensitive to those around you. And, in fact, a workplace filled with violent-tempered outbursts will most likely only add to your stress. But for most folks, a few choice curse words used in the right circumstance and shared with others can make everyone feel a LOT better.

You feel closer to co-workers who just went through what you did and are joining with you in releasing tension and feelings. You can smile later - for now…let ‘er rip!

Now I’m not saying I advise this for all of you. Just letting you know it’s a theory out there with some basis for consideration. (One that has worked for me at times, I must admit.)

But please…if you do indulge, just be smart about where you are and whom you are with when you let the words fly, ok?

Oh…and if sharing anger and frustration works so well when things go wrong, I’ll bet the ranch that sharing positive emotions such as joy and laughter would also work big time for you and your team!

Here’s the whole !@$*!%* story:

What the …? Workplace profanity boosts morale