Originally Posted by
madpogue
Actually that ^^^^^^ reply could find you with a "hostile workplace" action against you in a lot of workplaces.
It's only a toxic workplace where people can openly insult you and that's the norm.
Originally Posted by
madpogue
And thinking it through, rightly so. I know a lot of "fat" people who have every right to be the weight they are. I may internally pity them for it, but it creates more heat than light.
Does not give them the right to insult other people.
Originally Posted by
madpogue
Might be more appropriate to reply with something like "Yeah, I'm too cheap to keep fit by going to the gym." Allows the other party to come to their own conclusion (or just confuse them further....).
I feel like you're accepting their claim that you're an idiot for biking...I don't want to do that.
You have the gauge the situation. If it's the first time someone says something I'll often just roll my eyes and ignore them. I don't go around work constantly thinking of saying these kind of things.
But you also gotta have some self respect. I guaged the situation - it was a few coworkers standing around, the other coworkers also looked a bit uncomfortable with what he was saying, etc.
Funny enough we went on to become good friends at work. I never heard him say anything as offensive as that again to anyone else after that - he wasn't a chronic insulter or anything, he just said one thing. Sometimes if you let people know they've crossed a line with you they just back off and realize they went to far. Sometimes you form a better relationship at work when they hit a boundary and you let them know.