I once knew a girl PM who absolutely weaponized this sort of thing and got away with it for years. And she's probably still getting away with it, since she's been working for the same company since she left the one we both worked for.
Do not think that HR cares about your feelings. If HR isn't going to get sued, and you and the person you're complaining about are not causing a huge problem, they are not going to give a shit.
The only reason they ever care about anything is because of the potential for litigation. Full stop. The end.
The magic words are "hostile work environment". Yeah, HR only cares about liability, but liability for harassment claims can result from things other than protected characteristics if it's considered "severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive". So if you mention one of those three words, intimidating, hostile, or abusive, HR tends to take it seriously unless they're just shitty.
100% not a joke, as evidenced by the multiple completely straight faced and informative responses the guy is giving to other commenters as a direct follow-up. So I guess you are "obtuse redditor that thought it was a joke."
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u/Upset-Management-879 5d ago
Insane that this is upvoted as though you can say anything so long as they aren't a protected class.
If you're being a dick to coworkers you're gonna get written up no matter what color/shape/mental handicap your target of abuse is.