You are nicer than I would have been I see it as a duty to be polite, and a failure of duty to allow personal upset to cause me to outburst. I don't work in a blue collar situation. In my office work situation it could cause me to lose my job, it is not an accepted part of the job. And yes, at times I have failed my duty. The woman who sits next to me utters small epithets frequently, but then she is from West TX, and that is how we speak. So I just say to her, you are talkin' like West TX again ;-) I often get small insults from my boss too, often in front of other people, but I have learned to grin and bear it, but that doesn't excuse him. I can't judge either of them either, and usually I like them both. And I will not slap my boss with a glove and ask him to duel with me ;-) We are all in pain, and we should all shut up, if it causes us to be uncivil. Shalom