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by chris_mahan 4279 days ago
No. It's never, ever appropriate. Ever.
1 comments

Appropriate versus inappropriate is irrelevant, in my opinion. Can it work? Yes. Is it more likely to backfire and make your team miserable? Yes. Is it something that creates a hostile work environment? Debatable, and definitely situational.

I would actually argue that when done right, this sort of smack-talk can be healthy and reassuring to the recipient. It's a bit perverse, but I like a situation where my coworkers respect me enough to make fun of my mistakes without me or them worrying that it actually calls my competence into question. I've worked with people who you can't poke fun at, and it's usually because they actually are somewhat incompetent and making fun of their errors would be cruel.

poking fun at people? It's not funny unless it's funny for everyone. Poking fun in a hurtful way is bullying.

Hopefully we never work together.

Oh, good lord. I thought I made it clear that I wasn't talking about poking fun in a hurtful way.

> Hopefully we never work together.

Indeed.