Surviving a frat-house work situation

[iwillrisenow]

I am currently working in a secular office environment outside of my home country, the U.S., where I am the only non-native female employee. The guys I work with are all young (ages 23-34), American, and single. They are extremely plain-talking with jokes, derogatory comments about women, and inappropriate comments about and requests from the young people we work with (can PM more specifics on that if anyone wants to talk one-on-one). One guy let a couple of racial slurs slip out. I’ve been there about half a year and find it an extremely demoralizing environment. My question is, how does one stay spiritually strong when surrounded by such attitudes and worldviews on a daily basis? I try my best to minimize time spent in the main room where the talk happens and keep myself busy and distracted or with headphones in my ears, but even that can only do so much.

 

[TurboVW]

I was in a similar situation at my last job. I’m 25, and I wasn’t art of the cool group because I didn’t talk and joke around like they did…although there have been times where I’ve unfortunately participated.

It’s difficult, but you’ll also realize you’ll hear similar things at almost any job, but possibly less frequently.

Is there a church near your work? I’d pop in at a nearby Catholic church on my lunch break to center myself.

I also reported a co-worker who made an anti-Catholic joke to HR, and he stayed quiet from then on. I’d say if you ever hear a terribly offense remark about women again, just go to HR. You have the right…even if you may face some retaliation should your co-wokers find out.